Plans which you have thrown aside, because
they seemed to fail, details which seemed to encumber you, accessory
work which formed no part of your original plan, all will be of use
to some one, somehow, somewhere.
You began, for instance, by wishing to educate the masses of London;
you are educating over and above, indirectly, thousands who never
saw London. You began by wishing to teach them spiritual truth; you
have been drawn on to give them an excellent secular education
besides. You intended to make them live as good Christians here at
home. But since you began, the interpenetration of town and country
by railroads, and the rush of emigrants to our colonies, have
widened infinitely the sphere of your influence; and you are now
teaching them also to live as useful men in the farthest corners of
these isles, and in far lands beyond the seas, to become educated
emigrants, loyal colonists; to raise, by their example, rude
settlers, and ruder savages; and so, the very fragments of your good
work, without your will or intent, will bless thousands of whom you
never heard, and help to sow the seeds of civilization and
Christianity, wherever the English flag commands Justice, and the
English Church preaches Love.
SERMON XI. BLESSING AND CURSING
(Preached at the Chapel Royal, Whitehall, Ash Wednesday, 1860.
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