Islington) George (Vicar of St. Thomas's Allen

“ Now have you believed in, do you believe in Jesus for salvation, pardon, acceptance, peace, glory? “Without holiness no man shall see the Lord.” Are you fighting against sin, are you striving to be holy?
Oh my friends, it is, methinks, a proud thing to have one’s name enrolled, by means of this census, as a citizen of free happy England; but ’tis a far prouder thing to have it enrolled as a citizen of Heaven, of the kingdom which shall know no decay. ”

“ Arises not the question, How fulfilled? With industry,—with honesty? Am I free from the deceits and trickeries so common in profession and trade, labouring to have a conscience void of offence towards God and towards man? ”

“ You are bound to see to the filling up of this census paper carefully and faithfully, without any wilful deceit, as a duty to God. “The powers that be are ordained of God; he therefore that resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God.” That is a false, dishonest, ungodly axiom which finds place in the world, that men may act, nay are rather to be applauded for acting towards government, in a manner in which they would be ashamed to act towards their fellow men. ”

“ The propriety and uses of a national census, and our duty with regard to it.
Enumerations of the people, more or less complete, have found place in almost all nations. They seem an obvious necessity in all collections of men pretending to a national existence. Without them all legislation for the internal welfare of a country and for its external defence must be mere hap-hazard work. ”

“ What God has once commanded cannot in itself be wrong, else were God the author of evil. The right thing becomes a wrong thing in us, when we do it in a wrong and sinful spirit.
And now, dear friends, if you are satisfied that the taking the census is not only not contrary to, but sanctioned by Scripture, and that its uses are most important to the welfare of the state, bear with me if I urge upon you your duty with regard to the paper you will deliver into the hand of the appointed enumerator to-morrow. ”

“ Still I do feel the spirit of Scripture would teach, that this is a very fitting season for making thank-offerings to God, for His love in the past, and for the blessing of continued life. You who so feel with me can act as your consciences dictate. Would you devote your offerings to the service of this tabernacle of God, the boxes at the doors can receive them. Would you rather aid some special religious work, missionary or otherwise, I shall be happy to become the medium of conveying your gifts to the proper persons.
This census paper. Ten years have passed since the last census. ”

“ There an assembled world must meet,—not one missing; and then the angels will play their part in the great, the final census. Then will they discern between the righteous and the wicked; then will they separate between the just and the unjust, the believers in Jesus, and those who have not believed in Him. ”

“ Ten years! How many troubles have they witnessed! Troubles,—ah, but how many mercies too! Think of THESE. Troubles and mercies,—which were most in number in the ten years passed? You can count your troubles, can you count your blessings? ”

“ Every one that passeth among them that are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering unto the Lord. The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when they give an offering unto the Lord, to make an atonement for your souls. And thou shalt take the atonement money of the children of Israel, and shalt appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of the congregation ”

“ Should not the question arise in your minds, Am I a servant such as God would approve, ‘obeying in all things my masters according to the flesh; not with eye service, as men pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God: whatsoever I do, doing it heartily as to the Lord, and not unto men ”

“ Have I ceased to have anything to do with the busy avocations of men? Is it that sickness has removed me from the active labours of life, or that prosperous circumstances enable me to live at ease, apart from the vexations and cares of business? ”

“ Prejudice must have been intensely strong in days gone by; for it would seem to have to bear, deservedly, the chief blame for past neglect in seeking the important information which can alone be obtained through this channel. It was not till 1801, I believe, that the first actual enumeration of the people of England and Scotland took place, although an imperfect attempt to ascertain the number of the population had been made in the previous century. Since 1801 the census taking has become more general in the United Kingdom. ”

“ Aye, and even here, amid gloom and sadness, light shall break in upon your darkness, if ye rest, believers, upon the promise, “All things work together for good to them that love God.”
p. 21This census paper! Ten years have passed. Ten years of the time given to work out my salvation with fear and trembling. Have I gone forward, or have I gone backward in religion? Am I nearer to, or further from God? Answer,—am I more like, or more unlike my Saviour? ”

“ The census paper should be filled up carefully and faithfully, because it is a duty to self, a duty to our neighbours, a duty to our God, so to discharge a work which has Scripture warrant, and on which the material, political, social, religious welfare of our country so much depends. ”

“ I might urge a selfish motive to induce you to do so; the future welfare of the state,—politically, socially, religiously,—depends in a measure upon the exactitude of the returns—the interest of each is bound up in the interest of all—what furthers the public weal will enhance your private benefit. ”

“ And if we now number the people in this vain-glorious, God-neglecting, proud, self-reliant spirit, then we too sin. But surely to number them with the view, under God, of furthering the internal welfare of the kingdom and securing the defence of the precious privileges God has given us to guard, is not to act in David’s sinful spirit. Let us pray for ourselves and rulers, my friends, that God may be recognised in this census taking, that thanks may be given to Him for any increase and progress in our nation this census may discover, and that as He has cared for p. ”

“ By such a course a fitting direction is given to the minds of believers; their contact with worldly duties is made a means of promoting their spiritual life. By such a course also the attention of the still unconverted is arrested, p. 6and those startling truths which tend to the awakening of the soul, find sometimes, by God’s blessing, a lodgment in the memory, because of their association with topics of worldly interest. ”

“ To the discharge of this care for his good, religion binds you; and so also your position as a citizen of this country. You have no right to say you will do, and have a right to do, as you please in this matter. You receive great and unspeakable benefits from being a member of an organised and governed society, where might is not right, but all are under the protection of the law ”

“ To rob and deceive government is no less robbery and deception, in the sight of God, than robbery and deception practised towards private persons. Public conscience, methinks, needs this lesson in many a particular—in none more than in the p. ”

“ It seems strange that a measure so obviously proper and useful should have had so many difficulties to contend with, and that these difficulties should not have wholly disappeared before the boasted enlightenment of the nineteenth century. ”