"The list will lie on my study table, and I shall bring it round to all of you in turn," he said in his own straightforward genial manner. "I want you to think beforehand—not how little it will do you to give, but how much you can manage to spare, for the saving of our fellow-creatures' lives on this dangerous coast. Remember, each shilling that you do not give may mean the death of a man who is not ready to die,—may mean the loss of a husband, father, bread-winner, who can ill be spared.
"We need a lifeboat sorely, and you all know it. Not many months ago you saw with your own eyes a barque go to pieces on the rocks; and you can recall how many lives were lost that day, which, with a lifeboat at hand, might perhaps have been saved.
"A boat did go out, and it went too late; and if it had not been too late, it could not have got near enough to save the men. Had a lifeboat been on the spot, there would have been no thought of delay, and some, or even all, of the crew might have been rescued. The shortening days of autumn are now upon us, and the long dark nights of winter are at hand; and with each week the perils of our coast to passing vessels will be increased. I call upon you all to buckle to with determination, and to do your very utmost that no more lives may be needlessly sacrificed.
"The rocks are yours; the danger is your concern. Friends of yours may one day be in dire need, requiring a lifeboat to save them; and if not actual friends, they will at least be brother men. This is a matter which does not concern only one or two in the place.
"Perhaps you will tell me that it is one of those things which of course ought to be done, but that it is nobody's business in particular, and therefore not your business. Be sure of this, as you go through life, that if you hear of anything which needs to be done, and which is 'nobody's business,' that thing is Everybody's Business, and more especially it is your business. If God does not call upon one man in particular to do the thing, He calls upon us all collectively. Shall we disregard that call?
"No, this matter of a needed lifeboat is the business of all of us. It is not a case of 'nobody's business.' It is your business—and yours—and yours—and yours—each one of you, down to the little children.
"Everybody may help, each in his or her degree. Those who cannot give much may give little; but all may give something. If you cannot afford five pounds, you can perhaps afford one pound. If you cannot afford one pound, you can perhaps afford ten shillings or five shillings. If you cannot afford five shillings, you can perhaps afford half-a-crown—or one shilling. Nobody, I think, is so utterly poor that at least a few pence could not be given for such an object as this. If you had only two mites in all the world you might, like the widow of old, give those two mites, trusting to your heavenly Father for more mites on the morrow.
"Only, don't do one thing, which sometimes is done in the present day—do not give two mites out of a well-filled purse, and then, having eaten a hearty dinner, dare to class them as 'widows' mites.' They are nothing of the sort. The widow when she gave her mites gave her all. If you have given less than your all—less than all the living that you have—you have not given widows' mites.
"The point of the story lay, not in their being mites, but in their being the only mites that the widow possessed. If our Lord were again sitting by, as He did in those days, and if He saw some well-to-do person, with more money at home or in the bank, give one or two very small coins to our collection, when that person could well afford to give more, you may be very sure that our Lord would not say of such a giver, 'He hath cast in more than they all.'
"Our Lord does stand by, and does see. He is always near, and He sees everything. You cannot hide from Him the contents of your purse, or the figures in your bank-book, or the amount that you have been spending upon yourself in the past week.