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Church, that while, in other modes of worship which are supported by voluntary contributions, the poor can only go upon sufferance, since others have contributed to the raising of the building, and are still by their subscriptions paying for the continuance of the worship, they can enter the Church of England by right, and have as good a claim to sit within her walls as the richest and mightiest in the land—since her worship is provided for from funds which have been appropriated to her; and it is not because we give much or give little, that we can claim a seat, since that which we give is not our own but hers, which we return to its right owner; but we claim it individually, because we, whether rich or poor, are members of her communion, and have soul's to be saved; and it is on this account that she is called, and deservedly called, the church of the poor; and thus the grounds upon which she principally depends for support are, that in her “the poor have the gospel preached to them."

In all possessing the same right in her worship, she has the authority of the apostle himself to support her; as St. James, in his Epistle, writes, "My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ with respect to persons; for if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; and ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool; are ye not, then, partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?" Hearken, my beloved brethren: Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? But ye have despised the poor." And again: "If you fulfil the royal law according to the Scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well; but if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin,

and are convinced of the law as transgressors." And as St. Peter declares, in the Acts of the Apostles, "God is no respecter of persons;" so St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Ephesians, says, there is no respect of persons with him. And had not this been declared in the book of inspiration, our reason would have been sufficient to convince us of the fact; for although, when we look at men in general, we may feel, and properly feel, different degrees of respect to different individuals and different ranks of society, yet, in comparison of the Being who maketh the clouds his chariots, and rideth upon the wings of the wind, who measureth the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meteth out heaven with a span -of that Being who has at a word created thousands of worlds like our own, and made every leaf and every drop of water teem with life and animation, we feel that the distinctions among mankind are too insignificant to be regarded in the comparison; and this distinction becomes still more imperceptible when we consider that, how

ever we may differ in our outward happiness, however much the one may exceed the other in a worldly point of view, we are all, rich and poor, high and low, upon an equality in the grand and only point worthy of consideration-the immortal soul. The salvation of this should engage our chief attention, as well for ourselves as our neighbours, since the soul once lost is lost for ever, and all the riches that this world, or a thousand worlds beside, might contain would be utterly inadequate to compensate for its loss. There is only one method whereby the soul of every man, if saved at all, must be saved, that is, by the name of the Lord Jesus. The grand means which God has chosen for bringing sinners to the cross of Christ, is the preaching of the gospel; this being the case, our reason would agree with the principles laid down by the first preachers of the gospel, and assumed by the Church of England, that in the temple of God all are upon an equality, and that the rich have no claim which the poor man does not likewise possess.

From these general principles let us, my brethren, for a few moments, refer to our own particular case. Your hearts were, on the last occasion of assembling here, cheered by the prediction that the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. You were then reminded that you had it in your power to aid in the accomplishment, by each one, in the sphere in which he is placed, contributing to the spread of the gospel of Christ; and you responded to the call then made on behalf of the education of the children of your village school, by making, although some of those who usually contribute were away, a much larger collection than has been usually made.* So far, my brethren, you have done well. You have lately, too, added to your church an instrument whereby a very important part of the service of the church has been improved, and you have just made an addition to the burial-ground, all of which have necessarily been calls

* Sermon preached by the Rev. E. Murray, A.M., Vicar of Northolt, for the Hanwell National School.

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