{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_64876/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_64876","id":"gutenberg_64876","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/64876","summary":null,"tags":["Bible. Numbers -- Sermons","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Church of England -- Sermons -- 19th century","Great Britain -- Census, 1861","Sermons, English -- 19th century"],"text":"Transcribed from the 1861 B. Seeley edition by David Price.  Many thanks\nto the British Library for making their edition available.\n\n\n\n\n\n                      \u201cTHE NUMBERING OF THE PEOPLE.\u201d\n\n\n                       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\n\n                                 A Sermon\n\n                  IN CONNECTION WITH THE CENSUS OF 1861,\n\n                               PREACHED IN\n\n                     ST.  THOMAS\u2019 CHURCH, ISLINGTON,\n\n                       ON SUNDAY EVENING, APRIL 7,\n\n                                  BY THE\n\n                            REV. GEORGE ALLEN,\n           _Theological Associate_, _King\u2019s College_, _London_,\n                                INCUMBENT.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                          PUBLISHED BY REQUEST.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                       B. SEELEY, ISLINGTON GREEN;\n                SEELEY, JACKSON, & HALLIDAY, FLEET STREET.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n  The profits of publication will be devoted to the purchase of the new\n                  Organ recently erected in the Church.\n\n\n\n\nTO THE MEMBERS OF THE CONGREGATION OF\nST. THOMAS\u2019, ISLINGTON.\n\n\nMY DEAR FRIENDS,\n\nTHIS Sermon was not written with a view to publication.  I have consented\nto its being printed at the earnest request of several of the most\nexperienced members of the congregation, to whose judgment, I felt it\nwould be but false modesty not to defer, when they assured me that they\nconsidered it might, under God, be the means of doing good, and that its\npublication would be a source of pleasure to you generally.\n\nThe Sermon\u2014prepared amidst the pressure of parochial duties\u2014is printed by\ndesire exactly as it was delivered from the pulpit.  I must therefore\ncrave your indulgence for whatever imperfections may be found in it.\n\nWith all its faults, however, I dedicate it to you as an expression of\nwarm affection and gratitude for the many kindnesses I have received at\nyour hands; and earnestly praying that the Almighty will graciously\nvouchsafe His blessing to this feeble, but I trust sincere, endeavour to\npromote His glory and your spiritual good,\n\n                                 I have the happiness to subscribe myself,\n                                        Your faithful Friend and Minister,\n                                                             GEORGE ALLEN.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n_Upper Barnsbury Street_, _Islington_,\n         8_th_ _April_, 1861.\n\n\n\n\nA SERMON.\n\n\n                             NUMBERS i. 1, 2, 19.\n\n    \u201cAnd the LORD spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the\n    tabernacle of the congregation, on the first day of the second month,\n    in the second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt,\n    saying, take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of\n    Israel . . .  As the LORD commanded Moses, so he numbered them in the\n    wilderness of Sinai.\u201d\n\nTHE reading the words of the text, dear brethren, will make it obvious,\nthat I desire this evening, to direct your attention to thoughts\nconnected with the great national act now taking place, the numbering the\npeople, _the census_.  Whilst the preacher of the Gospel should be\nexceedingly careful, not to allow the things of time and sense to form\nthe burden of his ministry, yet there is much wisdom and profit, in\nmaking use of those temporal matters which are engaging men\u2019s thoughts,\nas vehicles for reminding them of spiritual and eternal verities.  By\nsuch a course a fitting direction is given to the minds of _believers_;\ntheir contact with worldly duties is made a means of promoting their\nspiritual life.  By such a course also the attention of the _still\nunconverted_ is arrested, and those startling truths which tend to the\nawakening of the soul, find sometimes, by God\u2019s blessing, a lodgment in\nthe memory, because of their association with topics of worldly interest.\nI pray that my endeavour this evening to improve the occasion of this\nimportant national act\u2014the taking of the census\u2014by suggesting a few\nthoughts in connection with it, may be blessed of the Holy Spirit to the\nhonour of our God, and the good of our souls.\n\nI would classify my remarks, because I wish them to form the material of\nmuch afterthought on your parts, under these divisions:\u2014\n\n1st.  The propriety and uses of a national census, and our duty with\nregard to it.\n2nd.  The thoughts which arise from the questions of the census paper.\n3rd.  An omission in the census paper suggesting an important line of\nthought.\n4th.  The final census.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n(I.)  The propriety and uses of a national census, and our duty with\nregard to it.\n\nEnumerations of the people, more or less complete, have found place in\nalmost all nations.  They seem an obvious necessity in all collections of\nmen pretending to a national existence.  Without them all legislation for\nthe internal welfare of a country and for its external defence must be\nmere hap-hazard work.  Those to whom is committed the heavy burden of\nruling a great people such as this, have I think, a positive right to all\nthat information from the governed which may help them in the discharge\nof their onerous and responsible duties.  It is not patriotic, to use no\nloftier term, to look upon our government with the jaundiced eye of\nsuspicion, more especially when it exercises no undue inquisitiveness,\nand pledges itself, as the government of our day does by the terms of the\ncensus forms, that \u201cThe facts will be published in general abstracts\nonly, and strict care will be taken that the returns are not used for the\ngratification of curiosity.\u201d\n\nOf course, dear friends, I am not qualified to speak fully of the uses of\na national census\u2014a statesman only could do this, yet it is self-evident\nthat everything which tends to the amelioration of public evils and the\nfurtherance of the public good, must be subserved by the statistics so\ngained.  Not only distinctive legislation, but also all our schemes for\nthe extension of education and the promotion of the work of Christ\u2019s\nChurch can only find arguments, exactitude, and adaptation from the\nknowledge to be gained by a national census.  I could enter into some\ndetails, were it necessary or desirable in this place, to illustrate and\nprove these points: but I think you will all be prepared to admit at once\nthat it is self-evident, that the plans of our rulers, and the efforts of\nthe philanthropical among us to do good in their day and generation, must\nbe very greatly facilitated by the information the census papers, if\nfaithfully filled up, will afford.\n\nIt seems strange that a measure so obviously proper and useful should\nhave had so many difficulties to contend with, and that these\ndifficulties should not have wholly disappeared before the boasted\nenlightenment of the nineteenth century.  Prejudice must have been\nintensely strong in days gone by; for it would seem to have to bear,\ndeservedly, the chief blame for past neglect in seeking the important\ninformation which can alone be obtained through this channel.  It was not\ntill 1801, I believe, that the first actual enumeration of the people of\nEngland and Scotland took place, although an imperfect attempt to\nascertain the number of the population had been made in the previous\ncentury.  Since 1801 the census taking has become more general in the\nUnited Kingdom.  England and Scotland were again enumerated in 1811, and\nsince then at the decennial periods of 1821, \u201931 \u201941 \u201951; Ireland has\nalso been included in these latter census takings, and we may hope that\nas the people become more accustomed to the matter, and more thoughtful\nas to its uses, all remnants of the antiquated prejudice which hindered\nit so long, will die out.  I would help towards this desirable end by\nnoticing for a passing moment the most prevalent _objection_ urged\nagainst the census.\n\nIt is not in a few quarters that you hear, and probably in still more\nquarters the notion is held, that the census is unscriptural, and\ntherefore will bring down upon the nation a curse and not a blessing.\nWhence does this notion arise?  From a mistaken interpretation of\nScripture.  Do you not remember, says the objector, in a tone which\nimplies that he thinks he is about to demolish your case at once, Do you\nnot remember that David sinned in numbering the people, and that in\nconsequence a pestilence slew thousands of his subjects?  Yes, I remember\nwell the Scripture fact.  David sinned in numbering the people, but that\ndoes not therefore prove that numbering the people is an act in itself\nwrong.  David sinned because he did a right thing from a wrong motive.\nShall we say that almsgiving is sinful because some give from ostentation\nand pride?  Surely not.  David numbered his people to gratify his pride,\nto see his way to the carrying out designs of ambitious conquest,\nconcerning which, because he knew he was doing wrong, he took not counsel\nof God.  And if we now number the people in this vain-glorious,\nGod-neglecting, proud, self-reliant spirit, then we too sin.  But surely\nto number them with the view, under God, of furthering the internal\nwelfare of the kingdom and securing the defence of the precious\nprivileges God has given us to guard, is not to act in David\u2019s sinful\nspirit.  Let us pray for ourselves and rulers, my friends, that God may\nbe recognised in this census taking, that thanks may be given to Him for\nany increase and progress in our nation this census may discover, and\nthat as He has cared for us in the past, we may make all our plans for\nthe future under the direction of His teaching and in dependence upon His\nblessing.\n\nBut in truth, dear friends, this objection from Scripture is fully met\nand controverted in Scripture itself.  God can never be the author of\nevil, yet you will notice in our text, and you will find the same thing\nin the 26th chapter of this book of Numbers, that God himself, at the\ncommencement and close of Israel\u2019s journey in the wilderness, commanded\nthe numbering of the people above a certain age.  What God has once\ncommanded cannot in itself be wrong, else were God the author of evil.\nThe right thing becomes a wrong thing in us, when we do it in a wrong and\nsinful spirit.\n\nAnd now, dear friends, if you are satisfied that the taking the census is\nnot only not contrary to, but sanctioned by Scripture, and that its uses\nare most important to the welfare of the state, bear with me if I urge\nupon you your duty with regard to the paper you will deliver into the\nhand of the appointed enumerator to-morrow.  _You are bound to fill up\nthat paper carefully and faithfully_.\n\nI might urge a _selfish_ motive to induce you to do so; the future\nwelfare of the state,\u2014politically, socially, religiously,\u2014depends in a\nmeasure upon the exactitude of the returns\u2014the interest of each is bound\nup in the interest of all\u2014what furthers the public weal will enhance your\nprivate benefit.\n\nI urge again this duty upon the ground of _your obligations to your\nneighbour_.  To the discharge of this care for his good, religion binds\nyou; and so also your position as a citizen of this country.  You have no\nright to say you will do, and have a right to do, as you please in this\nmatter.  You receive great and unspeakable benefits from being a member\nof an organised and governed society, where might is not right, but all\nare under the protection of the law; and for these benefits you give\nup,\u2014are bound to give up, a portion of your individual liberty, else were\nall government at an end, and submit yourself to such ordinances as those\nwho have public authority given to them in this realm consider to be for\nthe common good.\n\nAnd further, I urge a yet higher motive.  You are bound to see to the\nfilling up of this census paper carefully and faithfully, without any\nwilful deceit, _as a duty to God_.  \u201cThe powers that be are ordained of\nGod; he therefore that resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of\nGod.\u201d  That is a false, dishonest, ungodly axiom which finds place in the\nworld, that men may act, nay are rather to be applauded for acting\ntowards government, in a manner in which they would be ashamed to act\ntowards their fellow men.  To rob and deceive government is no less\nrobbery and deception, in the sight of God, than robbery and deception\npractised towards private persons.  Public conscience, methinks, needs\nthis lesson in many a particular\u2014in none more than in the matter of\nwithholding legal dues, and thus defrauding not only the public purse,\nbut also our fellow countrymen, our friends and neighbours.\n\nThis duty then is before us.  _The census paper should be filled up\ncarefully and faithfully_, because it is a duty to self, a duty to our\nneighbours, a duty to our God, so to discharge a work which has Scripture\nwarrant, and on which the material, political, social, religious welfare\nof our country so much depends.  I do not think, dear friends, that I am\nacting contrary to my ministerial office in thus speaking, for I remember\nI am the teacher of the religion which says, \u201cSubmit yourself to every\nordinance of man for the Lord\u2019s sake, whether it be to the king as\nsupreme, or unto governors as unto them that are sent by Him for the\npunishment of evil doers, and for the praise of them that do well;\u201d the\nreligion which says \u201cHonour all men.  Love the brotherhood.  Fear God.\nHonour the king.\u201d\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n(II.)  And now, dear friends, let me invite you to ponder over a few\nthoughts which arise from the _questions_ of the census.\n\nThe census paper lies before us, and as we glance at its headings, we\ncannot help feeling that it makes a certain _stand-point_ not only in the\nnational, but also in our personal history.  It bids us cast our eyes\nback upon the past.  It cries to us, in no hesitating tones, as to the\npresent, \u201cMan, know thyself.\u201d  It compels us to look forward into the\nall-undefined future, and wonder what shall be.\n\nAs the questions bid you write concerning yourself and others, surely\nthey bid you ponder over personal and relative duties.  Have they been\nfulfilled in the past?  Are they being fulfilled at the present?  How\nwill they be fulfilled in the future?\n\nYou write in _your own name_,\u2014your _Christian_ name.  Is it a cheat, or a\ntrue outspeaking of your character?\n\n_You write your age_.  How long have I lived?\u2014ten, twenty, thirty, forty,\nfifty, sixty, seventy years.  The past, the past! the things of which God\nrequires, how spent?  How long have I to live?  When the next census\ncomes, will my name be enrolled in it?  There must come a time when it\nwill cease to be entered in human records.  How soon?  Some died the very\nday of the last census; some the day, the week, the year after.  It may\nbe thus with me this time.  Am I ready to die?  How long have I to live?\n\nYou write _the name of your wife_.  She sees you write it.  Are not both\nreminded of solemn vows plighted in the presence of, and in dependence\nupon the strength and blessing of God?  Have those vows been fulfilled or\nbroken?  Are they being now fulfilled?  Are ye helpers or hinderers of\none another\u2019s salvation?\n\nYou write _the names of your children_, \u2018the heritage and gift which has\ncome to you from the Lord.\u2019  A fearfully responsible stewardship!  By\nlip, and life, how have you trained them?  How are you training them?\nHow will you train them?  Is it in the nurture and admonition of the\nLord?  Is it for time or eternity,\u2014for mammon or for God,\u2014for hell or for\nheaven?  No man liveth to himself.  You must influence their present and\neternal state.  How?\n\nAnd, _young people_, I have a word for you.  Your father and mother call\nyou, and you stand by their side as they enter your names and ages in the\ncensus paper, and so record you as their sons and daughters.  Is it not\nwell for you at such a time to pause, and think, and ask, Have I loved\nand obeyed the parents God in mercy has given me, as I ought to have\ndone?  Have I honored my father and my mother according to the first\ncommandment with promise?  Have I copied His example, of whom, though He\nwas Lord of All, it is written concerning His conduct as the Son of Man\ntowards His parents, \u201cHe was subject unto them\u201d?\n\nThe next heaviest curse to the curse of those despising the Saviour, is\nthe curse awaiting those who set light by father or mother.  See to it,\nmy young friends, that that curse light not on you.\n\nYou write in _the names of your dependents_.  Think, do you obey the\nScripture injunction, \u201cMasters, give unto your servants that which is\njust and equal, knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven\u201d?  Think,\nwill any of them be able to present against you the condemning\naccusation, \u201cNo man cared for my soul\u201d?\n\nYour names are being written in, _ye servants_.  Should not the question\narise in your minds, Am I a servant such as God would approve, \u2018obeying\nin all things my masters according to the flesh; not with eye service, as\nmen pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God: whatsoever I do,\ndoing it heartily as to the Lord, and not unto men; knowing that of the\nLord I shall receive the reward of the inheritance; for I serve the Lord\nChrist\u2019?\n\nYou write _your occupation_.  Is it a calling you are ashamed to write?\nWe will suppose it is a lawful one.  Arises not the question, How\nfulfilled?  With industry,\u2014with honesty?  Am I free from the deceits and\ntrickeries so common in profession and trade, labouring to have a\nconscience void of offence towards God and towards man?  Do I remember,\nGod would have me \u201cdiligent in business, fervent in spirit, serving the\nLord\u201d?\n\nHave I _ceased to have anything to do with the busy avocations of men_?\nIs it that sickness has removed me from the active labours of life, or\nthat prosperous circumstances enable me to live at ease, apart from the\nvexations and cares of business?  How is the leisure,\u2014how are the means\nspent?  Both are talents for which account must be given.  What account\nshall I be able to render, when the Lord comes to reckon with His\nservants?\n\nThis census paper,\u2014_ten years_ have passed since the last came.  Ten\nyears!  How quickly flown: and yet a seventh portion of that span of\nlife,\u2014the allotted term, to the end of which so few, few reach.  Ten\nyears! how many _sins_ have the moments which composed them witnessed!\nMultitudes forgotten by me; not one unregistered in heaven.  Will they\nappear against me?  Have they been cancelled?  Have I sought pardon,\nwhere alone pardon can be found for them, in the cleansing fountain of\nthe Saviour\u2019s blood?\n\nTen years!  How many _troubles_ have they witnessed!  Troubles,\u2014ah, but\nhow many _mercies too_!  Think of THESE.  Troubles and mercies,\u2014which\nwere most in number in the ten years passed?  You can count your\ntroubles, can you count your _blessings_?  Are you willing, in the next\nten years, to make this exchange: to let the troubles of the past ten\nyears be the measure of your mercies in the next ten years; and to let\nthe mercies of the past ten years be the measure of your troubles in the\ncoming ten?\n\n\u201cBless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His Holy\nName.  Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits.\u201d (Psa.\nciii.)\n\nYes, the past of national mercies and personal mercies, calls for\nhallelujahs of adoring thanksgiving.  And that _past_ we ought gladly to\nhail, as the _pledge_ of continued blessing in the _future_.  Let us\nenter on that future,\u2014the way we have not passed by heretofore,\u2014singing,\n\u201cEbenezer, hitherto the Lord hath helped us.\u201d  \u201cThe Lord will provide.\u201d\n\nBut this thought of God\u2019s mercies leads me to notice a connected topic,\nviz. the _propriety and expediency of making special offerings_ to God on\nthis solemn epoch in our history.  It was suggested to me by a respected\nmember of the congregation, that _we_ should have special collections\nto-day; and the suggestion was urged by the most forcible of all\narguments, an appeal to Scripture.  Exodus xxx. 11\u201316 was referred to.\nIt is written there,\u2014\n\n    \u201cAnd the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, When thou takest the sum of\n    the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every\n    man a ransom for his soul unto the Lord, when thou numberest them;\n    that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them.  This\n    they shall give, every one that passeth among them that are numbered,\n    half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary: (a shekel is twenty\n    gerahs:) an half shekel shall be the offering of the Lord.  Every one\n    that passeth among them that are numbered, from twenty years old and\n    above, shall give an offering unto the Lord.  The rich shall not give\n    more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when they\n    give an offering unto the Lord, to make an atonement for your souls.\n    And thou shalt take the atonement money of the children of Israel,\n    and shalt appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of the\n    congregation; that it may be a memorial unto the children of Israel\n    before the Lord, to make an atonement for your souls.\u201d\n\nIn connexion with these verses, I have read the following remarks in a\nletter in the public press: \u201cThere has never, to my knowledge, been in\nEngland,\u201d says the writer in the religious periodical, \u201csuch a national\noffering as is here indicated; but there has been on three occasions a\nremarkable and progressive coincidence of calamity: thus after 1831,\ncholera; after 1841, blight, influenza, cholera; and after 1851, cholera,\nmurrain, war.\u201d\n\nI deeply regret, my friends, that such words as these have ever appeared\nin print; none could well be more mischievous, because none could well be\nmore likely to encourage the mistaken notion I met, and I trust\ncontroverted, at the beginning of my sermon.  The writer seems to imply,\nthat these calamities followed because an offering was not made.  It is\nGod\u2019s, not man\u2019s province to trace such connections.  I believe he has\nmisconceived the teaching of Exod. xxx. 11\u201316, and would make a temporary\ninjunction of permanent force.  I state what I believe to be the true\nmeaning of the passage, in the words of a most able biblical scholar:\n\u201cThis tax is not in Scripture mentioned in connection with any other\ncensus\u201d (save the one recorded in the first chapter of Numbers), \u201cand we\nare of opinion that it was only a _temporary_ measure to raise funds for\nthe making of the tabernacle.\u201d\n\nThe suggestion therefore kindly made to me, I have not adopted, because I\ndid not think the Scripture proof adduced was sufficient to make it\nimperative, and I was not willing to press upon your liberality by having\na formal collection.  Still I do feel the _spirit_ of Scripture would\nteach, that this is a very fitting season for making thank-offerings to\nGod, for His love in the past, and for the blessing of continued life.\nYou who so feel with me can act as your consciences dictate.  Would you\ndevote your offerings to the service of this tabernacle of God, the boxes\nat the doors can receive them.  Would you rather aid some special\nreligious work, missionary or otherwise, I shall be happy to become the\nmedium of conveying your gifts to the proper persons.\n\nThis census paper.  Ten years have passed since the last census.  How\nmany _changes in the family_ have taken place since then?  Some joyful,\nsome sorrowful.  Some _joyful_ surely: names that were missing then, are\nfound now; divided families have become united; little ones, blessed\nsunbeams from heaven, have been sent to cheer and gladden the home; and\npoor prodigals have come back again to the early loved threshold, and\nfound peace in a loving father\u2019s embrace, happy, if not only in an\nearthly father\u2019s, but in a Heavenly One\u2019s too.\n\nBut _sorrowful_ changes also, have those ten years seen; and as surely\nwill the next ten.  Another name than that entered at the last census, is\nnow recorded under the division, \u201cWrite the name of the head of the\nfamily.\u201d  \u201cThe head of the family!\u201d  He sleeps in the silent tomb.  And\nwhere is now the wife\u2019s, the mother\u2019s, the child\u2019s, the brother\u2019s, or the\nsister\u2019s name?  \u2019Twas written in the census paper in 1851; it must not be\nwritten in the census paper of 1861.  Their names are written on the\nchurchyard stone, the clods of the valley are sweet to them.  Ah, did we\nlove them as we ought to have done?  Did we love them as we wish now we\nhad done?  Happy, happy, those families, who, united not only in the\nbonds of nature but of grace, can look forward to the time when, through\nfaith in a living Saviour, they shall meet in that land where partings\nare unknown; that land where there shall be no more death.\n\n_Sorrowful changes_ have the past ten years seen.  Some filled up the\nlast census paper in a mansion who will fill up this one in a garret.\nRiches have taken to themselves wings, and flown away.  Ye who are\nprosperous now, remember the fleeting character of earthly possessions.\nSome entered then the names of children who have since dashed their cup\nof hope to the ground, and who will this time find entry, not in a\nfather\u2019s home, but in a felon\u2019s prison house.  Well, in heaven you will\nbless the stroke which taught you this is not your rest, and bid you seek\nthat abiding rest which remaineth for the people of God.  Aye, and even\nhere, amid gloom and sadness, light shall break in upon your darkness, if\nye rest, believers, upon the promise, \u201cALL things work together for good\nto them that love God.\u201d\n\nThis census paper!  Ten years _have passed_.  Ten years of the time given\nto work out my salvation with fear and trembling.  Have I gone forward,\nor have I gone backward in religion?  Am I nearer to, or further from\nGod?  Answer,\u2014am I more like, or more unlike my Saviour?\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n(III.)  These questions are not asked of me in the census paper.  No, my\nfriends; and the _omission_ of all reference to _religion_ in that paper,\nis just the very point which I think may suggest a most important line of\nthought.  Mind, my friends, I find no fault with the census paper for\nthis omission.  One perhaps could wish, that statistics as to the numbers\nof the various religious bodies, and the number of worshippers, could\nhave been obtained; but I doubt not, there were great difficulties in the\nway; and temptations to unfair returns, and indulgence of angry passions,\nmay thus perhaps have been avoided.  And, after all, though I will not\nyield to any man in regret at, and condemnation of, the sad schism and\ndivision which exist in Christ\u2019s Church, yet I cannot help feeling, that\nthe absence of distinctive classification of religious bodies in the\ncensus, is just what will find place at LAST.  Then the question will not\nbe, were you Episcopalian or Nonconformist? but, Did you love the Lord\nJesus Christ in sincerity and truth?  And, with the Apostle, I say, may\ngrace be with all those who do so.\n\nBut, my friends, although the census paper asks you not this year about\nyour _professed_ religion, remember God is always taking His census, as\nto the state of your REAL religion.  In the never-failing memory of God,\nyour name, age, dwelling, and true description, are all noted down.  He\nis spying out all our ways.  We cannot keep any secret from Him.  \u201cAll\nthings are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to\ndo.\u201d  In His census taking, He makes two grand divisions,\u2014foes,\nfriends;\u2014not in His Church, in His Church;\u2014unbelievers, believers;\u2014lost,\nsaved.  Now, my friends, if you could see under which division God has\nwritten your names, think you, would it be among the lost or saved?  Nay,\nyou may know that _now_, for a certainty.  Listen to the Word of God:\n\u201c_Except ye repent_, _ye shall all likewise perish_.\u201d  Have you repented?\nDo you repent?  \u201c_He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life_,\n_and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life_, _but the wrath of\nGod abideth on him_.\u201d  Now have you believed in, do you believe in Jesus\nfor salvation, pardon, acceptance, peace, glory?  \u201c_Without holiness no\nman shall see the Lord_.\u201d  Are you fighting against sin, are you striving\nto be holy?\n\nOh my friends, it is, methinks, a proud thing to have one\u2019s name\nenrolled, by means of this census, as a citizen of free happy England;\nbut \u2019tis a far prouder thing to have it enrolled as a citizen of Heaven,\nof the kingdom which shall know no decay.\n\nOh see to it that you make sure work of your state before God.  It is a\nblessed thing to think, that though God may have had your name for many,\nmany long years in His census book among the list of the lost,\u2014His foes;\nHe is yet willing, nay is longing to transfer it, upon your repentance,\nfaith, obedience, to the list of the saved,\u2014His friends.  See to it, I\nsay, that the name you bear as your description, _a Christian_, be a true\nname, witnessed in your occupations of penitence for sin, trust in Jesus,\nholy living to God; for remember, remember, the\n\nIV.  FINAL CENSUS will ere long be taken, which shall consign each one of\nus to irretrievable woe, or usher us to inconceivable blessings.  Yes,\npresently, angels will play the part of enumerators.  They will not\nindeed seek information of you, for God knows them that are His, and them\nthat are not.  Then before the great white throne you will stand, and all\nyour life will be told.  There an assembled world must meet,\u2014not one\nmissing; and then the angels will play their part in the great, the final\ncensus.  Then will they discern between the righteous and the wicked;\nthen will they separate between the just and the unjust, the believers in\nJesus, and those who have not believed in Him.  Then will it be declared\nwhether my name, and thine, my friend, be written or not written in the\nLamb\u2019s book of life, and on that issue will depend whether we be\nregistered in the book of Eternity as citizens of hell, or as citizens of\nheaven.\n\nBrethren, now is the time to decide which it will be.  The choice, under\nGod, is in our hands to-day, to-morrow may be too late.\n\n    \u201cThere\u2019s no repentance in the grave,\n    Nor hope of pardon there.\u201d\n\nAnd _there_, in the grave, you may be, I say not before another census\ntaking comes, but before another day dawns.  The names of some of those\nwho are at this moment written in the census-paper as among the living,\nwill have to be withdrawn, erased, before that paper be handed to the\nenumerator to-morrow morning, and entered in another register, the\nregister of the dead.  It may be so in the case of some here to-night.\nWith which one shall it be so?  With which _one_?  \u201cLord, is it I?\u201d\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                         SEELEY, ISLINGTON GREEN.","title":"\"The Numbering of the People\": A Sermon in conjunction with the census of 1861 preached in St. Thomas' Church, Islington, on Sunday Evening, April 7","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":5299}