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My Brethren, the moving lesson which this divine Scripture embodies is easily elicited. It is, that every work of charity which from a love of Christ is unostentatiously operated in favour of a fellow-creature, is written in the book of life, as an obligation conferred on God; that such deeds, of whatsoever description they be, whether of supplying to the necessitous either food, or raiment, or cure, or comfort, or instruction, (which may supply the place of all) will devolve upon their doer the everlasting happiness of heaven; and that upon such benignant spirits shall be iterated from the judgment-seat of Christ the blessed sentence, which will confirm their inheritance of that "kingdom, which was prepared for them before the foundation of the world."

The truly apostolic institution, whose cause I am here to plead to you, contemplates in its whole compass that extensive benevolence to which our Saviour has herein annexed the choicest remunerations of eternity. While its main efforts are directed to the relief of spiritual wants, its subordinate exertions are productive of considerable temporal mercies, while its leading design is to secure the salvation of sinners by the promotion of Christian Knowledge, the steps by which it proceeds will not fail to promote incidentally the safest elements of earthly prosperity.

To go forth into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature, to spread abroad the glad and glorious tidings of man's redemption, to destroy the mantle which Satan hath cast over all people, to enlighten those who are yet sitting in darkness and in the valley of the shadow of death, to shed the waters of spiritual purification, and the beams of moral intelligence, and the domestic charities of Christian life, over every grade and caste of human existence; to speed the message of the covenant over every barrier which mortal wickedness or mortal folly shall erect against it; to teach the stranger and the stranger's children those heavenly lessons which alone constitute the dignity of life and the hope of immortality, to do all this unto the very humblest of our brethren, surely, surely these are objects of benevolence well worthy of the ambition of either men or angels; and these are the objects which we this day summon your liberality to aid and to accomplish.

The little ones of the earth, the least of these his brethren, in whose behalf our Saviour so fervently invokes our compassion, are the young and the ignorant, the sinful and the unconverted, whom it is our especial duty to educate and reform.

Every mouthful of the bread of life which we provide for these hungry, every cup of living water which we minister to these thirsty claim

ants on our bounty, will tend to enrol ourselves among those "blessed of the Father," who are noted as giving unto Christ. But by this employment of our time, our talent, and our wealth, we are not only advancing the final salvation, but we are working the present happiness of our fellow-creatures. To attest the truth and importance of this remark I call upon the best and noblest feelings of your bosom, and invite alike your reason and your affections to be my compurgators. Are you a friend to human nature ? Do you wish well to your country, your relatives, or your kind? Are you a patriot, a philosopher, or a philanthropist, and where will you find principles so likely to achieve the dearest objects of patriotism, of philanthropy, and of philosophy, as those for whose promotion I am now contending? What influence so promising to ascertain and keep in being the blessed boon of liberty as that, which, by first purifying, best capacitates the human mind for its enjoyment? What spirit so competent to breathe " peace upon earth," and "good will towards man," as that "divine philosophy not harsh and crabbed as dull fools suppose," which withdraws his passions from scenes of quarrel and contention, and fixes them in calm and grateful adoration on the God of peace, of mercy, and of love? What sentiment can so efficiently bind us in obedience to the laws of justice, and embue us with the

sense of honor and of kindness, as one which teaches us to despise every temptation to the opposite vices, by exhibiting, in the events of an hereafter, a superiority of allurement so just and so decisive? Every scheme that the ingenuity of man has devised for the amelioration of his race has failed to an extent and with a rapidity proportionate to its departure from these principles. "There are many devices in the heart of man but the counsel of the Lord shall stand!" Perish those dreams of Utopian vanity, which would erect the fabric of a nation's happiness, on any other basis than a nation's faith! Perish that bastard, ill-named generosity, which would proclaim to the captive and the slave, freedom without religion, and liberty without law! Perish those destructive writings of renegade genius, and every corollary upon them, I care not from what gifted mind they emanate, which would establish a law for nations incongruous with the laws of God! Against these principles, we fear not to avow that we bear a hostile front; we are ready to oppose those perilous experiments, whenever they shall be repeated, that have put the established religion of our land in jeopardy to obtain at best a doubtful good. The enterprise to which we invite you is not characterized by its novelty but by its usefulness. It is a duty coeval with the creation; it is to teach man the knowledge of his Maker, and to prescribe "the

worship of God in spirit and in truth." To these objects of the Society, simple and intelligible as I trust they are now become to all, I know that I am surrounded in this church by friends and allies. For the credit of human nature I can hardly expect to find within these walls one individual so blind as to overlook the purity and excellence of its intention, and hardly one so coldly disposed to religion, so little friendly to human happiness, so utterly reckless of morality, as not to wish us success. But it is more than good wishes, my hearers, that I am here to solicit of you. There is no charity, as St. James very pertinently observes, in saying to the hungry be thou fed, while you give him no food, or to the naked be thou clad, while you give him no clothes. As the advocate of this cause, as the minister of Christ, I must demand of you that liberality and positive exertion which the occasion warrants, so that your prayers and alms may go up together, like those of the good centurion, as a memorial unto God.

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But again, My Brethren, are you cautious in your bounty, and do you require a pledge that the object of your benefactions shall be ultimately attained? Your requisition is most just, and you shall be amply satisfied. We will not propose to you promises as a guarantee, or professions as a proof, of our intentions; we will not plead to you the reputation, the magnitude,