loud-
sounding, and the result at which I aim very light, the result ought
to follow all the more certainly; for believe me, my friends, the
reasons are good ones, Scriptural ones, practical ones, and ought to
produce the result. I give you the strongest arguments for showing
your Christian, English public spirit; and then I ask you to show it
in a very small matter. But be sure that to do what I ask of you to
do to-day is just as much your duty, small as it may seem, as it
would be, were you soldiers, to venture your lives in the cause of
your native land. Duty, be it in a small matter or a great, is duty
still; the command of Heaven, the eldest voice of God. And, believe
me, my friends, that it is only they who are faithful in a few
things who will be faithful over many things; only they who do their
duty in everyday and trivial matters who will fulfil them on great
occasions. We all honour and admire the heroes of Alma and
Balaklava; we all trust in God that we should have done our duty
also in their place. The best test of that, my friends, is, can we
do our duty in our own place? Here the duty is undeniable, plain,
easy. Here is a Society instituted for one purpose, which has, in
order to exist, to appropriate the funds destined for quite a
different purpose. Both purposes are excellent; but they are
different. The Offertory money is meant for the sick, the widow,
and the orphan; for those who _cannot_ help themselves. The
Provident Society is meant to encourage those who _can_ help
themselves to do so. Every farthing, therefore, taken from the
Offertory money is taken from the widow and the orphan. I ask you
whether this is right and just? I appeal, not merely to your
prudence and good sense, in asking you to promote prudence and good
sense among the poor by the Provident Society; I appeal to your
honour and compassion, on behalf of the sick, the widow, and orphan,
that they may have the full enjoyment of the funds intended for
them. Again, I say, this may seem a small matter to you, and I may
seem to be using too many words about it. Small? Nothing is small
which affects not merely the temporal happiness, but the eternal
welfare, of an immortal soul. My friends, my friends, if any one of
you had to support yourself and your children on four, seven, or
even (mighty sum!) ten shillings a week, it would not seem a small
matter to you then. A few shillings more or less would be to you
_then_ a tre