Page:The Parochial System (Wilberforce, 1838).djvu/89

 of our own souls, and that we may not deceive ourselves with idle professions, and trust in our worldly goods, while we say and think that we trust in God through Christ. But we, on the other hand, have learned to think, that if works of piety or charity be done, it is enough; and therefore we would allure men to give, by contrivances which shall make it easy; by dividing the work between so many, that it shall cost nothing to each; by beguiling them of their money through charity sales and charity balls and concerts; and above all we would lay our hands even on that which is not our own, and give to God that which we have sacrilegiously wrested from its sworn defenders.

Surely when both are presented to our view, there is something in the charity of the world so poor and mean and contemptible, and something in the law of Christ so noble and pure and exalted, that our hearts cannot but burn within us, with an earnest longing to cast in our lot with Him, to be partakers with Him in His sorrow and His joy, in His poverty and in His glory. But here is the obstacle; the cross must be taken up, our own wishes denied, the world cast behind us. And shall we (like the young ruler) leave Him and go away sorrowful, to try whether our possessions can comfort us? Shall we be of those, who "seek excuses to withhold themselves from the favour of, and choose with pinching covetousness rather to lean unto the