BISHOPS AND THE POOR.
A nobleman once advising a French bishop to add to his house a new wing in modern style, received this answer:—"The difference, my Lord, between your advice and that which the devil gave to our Saviour is, that Satan advised Jesus to change the stones into bread, that the poor might be fed—and you desire me to turn the bread of the poor into stones!"
Ethelwold, Bishop of Winchester in the time of King Edgar, sold the sacred gold and silver vessels belonging to the Church, to relieve the poor during a famine,—saying that there was no reason that the senseless temples of God should abound in riches, while his living temples were perishing of hunger.
Butler, Bishop of Durham, being asked for a charitable subscription, asked his steward what money he had in the house. The steward informed him that there were five hundred pounds. "Five hundred pounds!" cried the bishop; "it is a shame for a bishop to have so much in his possession!" and he ordered the whole sum to be immediately given to the poor.