Page:The Parochial System (Wilberforce, 1838).djvu/76

 danger; as if at this very hour there were not thousands among us, who worship gold with an idolatry as gross as that of the most wretched apostate that ever bowed down to the gods of the nations; only the modern idolater is in danger far more imminent; because he knows it not, and calls himself Christian, and frequents the Church, and draws near to the Holy Communion, and is respected by his neighbours, and accounts himself a religious man, until he sinks at once and for ever into the pit of destruction. And then we proceed to show, that in the beginning of the Gospel there was need of greater sacrifices; that the mass of the converts was poor, and that a greater burden was in consequence thrown upon the rich few; as if there had ever been a time when sacrifice was so much demanded as it is now, if it be indeed true, as we have seen, that there are hundreds of thousands of our countrymen, perishing in sin and ignorance of Christ and His Gospel; and that the cost alone forbids us to give to each his parish Church, and to appoint for each a minister to watch for his soul. Men acknowledge that for every piece of gold expended we may hope, by God's blessing, to know hereafter of some soul snatched from the very jaws of death; and they tell us that it is hopeless that we should obtain the necessary funds; and yet they go on to say, that self-denial and the abandonment of this world's goods