Benefactor, and in reliance upon the promise, you will obey the command or not. After serious deliberation, you have come to the determination that the present temple of God shall make way for another, in which ample accommodation shall be made for the poor, and that those who have heretofore had an excuse for absenting themselves from public worship, shall have that excuse no longer. You have so far done well. Your Rector and Churchwardens have been indefatigable in their exertions, and those to whom you naturally look for an example have liberally come forward to aid you, rather than themselves, inasmuch as their accommodation was sufficient for them before; and, in this respect, they can gain nothing by the change. Strangers too have bountifully subscribed, and Majesty herself has aided the cause. It is a natural question, what have you yourselves done, or are you proposing to do? Are you forward in promoting the honour of your God, or are you negligent and careless respecting it? The means required are almost raised--a little exertion on your own part only is necessary to complete the object. I have no doubt that this exertion will be made, and it is with the view of hastening it, that I have this morning introduced this subject to your notice; but do not suppose that I am about to use language of supplication, in order to induce you to come forward. I know too well what your duty is. I know well that gratitude to Him who has overloaded you with blessings will, if properly felt, induce you to open your hands liberally in furtherance of his cause; and I have now shown you that your temporal interest may be most effectually secured by embracing this opportunity of coming forward in his service, who requires no duty without providing a reward for it, and will have no sacrifice made for him without repaying it a thousand-fold. If you will neglect the opportunity, you must not reproach us. We shall afford the means of aiding us to the poorest among you, assured that the widow's mite will call down upon it blessings from above. We shall then have discharged our duty; and should you find hereafter your property failing in your hand; your riches taking to themselves wings and flying away - your means of providing for your families gradually diminishing,-persons leaving you for others, or perhaps failing in your debt, -you may then, if you do not now, wish you had complied with the injunction of the text, and acknowledge the justice of that Providence whose requirements you so decidedly neglected, when you had so fair an occasion presented you of fulfilling them. I trust there will not be one amongst you, man, woman, or child, high or low, rich or poor, that will not contribute something to this glorious undertaking. And this, I entreat, not for the sake of the work, for that is in God's hand, and will surely be accomplished; but because I regard you all too much to be willing that one amongst you should be without the promised blessing; that one should be inactive when the glory of our all bountiful Creator and Benefactor is in view. Should there, however, be one who can look back upon the mercies he has received with indifference, who can forget the manifestations and interpositions of divine Providence in his favour, when without those interpositions he would have been an outcast in the wide world, who can spurn the bounty to which he is indebted for all things-if there is one who regards not the promised blessing of God, and dares to show to the world around him that he despises the command, the consequences must be on his own head; upon himself and upon his family he has no right to expect a blessing; but such a case, my brethren, surely cannot exist, surely all are ready to exert themselves to the utmost in so glorious a cause. Should this, however, not be the case, we must not hesitate; and even should difficulties arise, we must let nothing hinder us in cur course, until we see the object fully accomplished. And when at last all diffi |