Page:The Parochial System (Wilberforce, 1838).djvu/144

 Lord ;" and He is righteous in all that He has brought upon us. Yea, even of His long-suffering and compassion, may we trace much in the nature of that punishment which has overtaken us. It cannot but remind us of our sin, and invite us to a national repentance. For how can we help remembering, that if the Church lands of our metropolis had been retained, we should not now have had to seek the means of providing churches for a half heathen population; and that if the tithes and Church lands of the country at large had been spared, we should not be wanting new parochial endowments. Thus does our punishment bring our sin to our remembrance, and it invites us moreover to a sincere and hearty national repentance, (a repentance not in word, but in act,) for we cannot begin to show any sign of it, by restoring anything to God, without alleviating the evil, and any worthy and adequate act of national repentance and restitution would wholly remove it.

God grant that His mercy may not be thrown away upon us. May we repent and make restitution to Him as a nation. Otherwise, if in spite of every warning and invitation, we will continue to withhold from Him His own; if we will not repent; what can remain for us but ruin? "Sin when it is perfected bringeth forth death." Are nations and churches exempt from this rule?