Page:The Parochial System (Wilberforce, 1838).djvu/149

 in themselves, and adopted to prevent the necessity of self-denial, and enable us to serve God without sacrifice or expense? But if men have not the faith to receive this saying; if they must look only to immediate results; still, even on their own most miserable principles, such plans should be eschewed; for while they pull down that which is already set up, they tend, above all other things, to prevent new foundations. The project for applying the property of the cathedrals to parochial purposes, has already operated thus: it prevents personal sacrifice and exertion on behalf of the Church, as the legal provision for the poor checks the stream of private bounty. It is easier to say to a poor man, "Depart in peace; go to the parish; be thou warmed and filled," than to give him the things needful for the body: and in like manner, when an urgent case of spiritual destitution is described, men satisfy themselves with saying, "Apply to the Church Commissioners;" or, "That is a case to which the revenue of some of the suppressed stalls should be applied;" and so are content to do nothing themselves. Like other evil measures, it springs from an evil principle, and in return encourages and fosters that principle, and extends it more widely than before.

And again, such projects impress upon all