which, moreover, he has made us this glorious promise, that in the day of judgment and final retribution our deeds of Christian love to each other shall be regarded as deeds of love to himself, and be rewarded with life eternal in the mansions of glory in the kingdom of his Father-who, my brethren, that thinks on these things, who that seriously reflects on these solemn truths, can fail to feel the obligations of Christian love, can hesitate to admit the duty we have endeavoured to inculcate.

Clear, however, as the duty must be, to every one acquainted with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to promote, by all the means in our power, the present comfort as well as the eternal welfare of our poorer brethren, it may yet be asked, what further can be necessary, what further can be done, for bettering the condition and increasing the comforts of the poor, in a nation where so much charity exists, where so much has been done already, where the laws of the land have made the maintenance of the poor a legal charge and burthen on the possessions of the rich?

Would any, however, who may be disposed to make such inquiries, attend our vestries, and there see and judge for themselves, of those who, together with the necessitous poor shamelessly present themselves for parochial support; would they visit our cottages, and judge, from the state of too many among them, of the condition of those by whom they are in

habited; would they, moreover, consider of the alarming amount of rates now levied throughout the nation to maintain the poor, even in the wretched, the miserable condition in which too many among them are seen to live, they could scarcely hesitate to acknowledge the pressing necessity for the speedy application of some effectual remedy, to check the effects of a degraded, pauperized, a broken spirit, which threatens to overwhelm in one universal deluge of mendicity that class of our fellow countrymen, which, consisting in former times of a bold, a manly, an honest peasantry, constituted alike the strength, the pride, and glory of the nation.

They could scarcely fail to discover the expediency, and to feel and acknowledge the necessity too, of some public measures, of some efforts to establish public institutions throughout the country, for encouraging the virtuous poor, by appropriate rewards, to proceed in the path of duty; and to check by salutary privations the profligate career of the vicious.

They could scarcely fail to discover and to acknowledge, not only the necessity, but the policy also, and the piety too, of attempting, at least, by some such measure of Christian charity, to better the present condition of the poor, and to restore them to that state of honest and commendable independence, which not only their own individual comfort requires, but which the welfare, we might almost add the very safety, of the State itself demands. For it seems to

be almost universally apprehended, and admitted too, that if pauperism continues to increase but for a few years longer, in the ratio in which it has increased for the last few years, the landed rental of the empire will scarcely be adequate to the sustenance of the poor alone.

These great and important objects our existing laws and institutions, wise, benevolent, and comprehensive as they are, do not contemplate, extend to, nor embrace they provide only for the actual wants of the poor, for those supplies which are necessary to their bare existence, but do not reach the evils to which we have before adverted, and which pecuniary aid alone, as we humbly venture to think, will never be found sufficient to check or to prevent.

These, as we humbly presume to submit, can only be guarded against, can only be remedied, by that general consideration of every circumstance affecting the condition, the interests, and welfare of the poor, which, while it includes pecuniary aid when required, includes also a wise, judicious, a discreet and feeling application of that aid; and extends to every measure, and every means of personal exertion as well as pecuniary assistance, by which the condition of the poor may be improved and their comforts increased.

The degraded, the broken spirit, and the consequently deplorable and demoralized condition of the poor can only, we submit, be remedied by that general, unrestricted, that kind and Christian consi

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deration of them, as brethren in Christ Jesus, which embraces every circumstance affecting their welfare in this world, and every means of advancing their eternal peace in the next, and which may lead us to seek the accomplishment of these great and de sirable ends, not only by pecuniary relief, but by active, diligent, and personal exertion too; by personal investigation of their habits, manners, and dispositions, and by a patient, kind, and affectionate attention to these as well as to their wants.

The evil we deplore can only, we submit, be remedied by THAT PIOUS CONSIDERATION AND REGARD of our poorer brethren to which God has been pleased to promise his blessing, declaring to us, by the mouth of his holy prophet,

"Blessed is he that considereth the poor; the Lord "will deliver him in time of trouble."

It is true, that the duty of the affluent to provide for the necessities of the needy is not only founded in the principles of humanity, in the law and religion of nature, but is moreover confirmed and enforced both by the principles and precepts of revealed religion; but yet the nature and extent of the claims of the poor, and of the obligation on the rich to attend to and relieve their wants, and the mode of discharging that obligation without violating the best interests of society and weakening the influence of those principles, the preservation of which is alike essential to the welfare of mankind at large and to the glory of God, are considerations which have ever

divided the opinions of all the wise and the good who have made them the subject of their deepest meditation.

Although the abstract principle of obligation on the rich, to minister to, and relieve the necessities of the poor is admitted by all; yet, in considering of the means best calculated to reduce this principle to practice, human wisdom, however deeply skilled in the science of political economy, has ever found itself surrounded with difficulties which, even to the present hour, it has never been able effectually

to overcome.

The greatest statesmen, the most profound philosophers, the wisest, the best informed, and the best disposed among men, have given up their time and devoted their talents to the consideration of this most important but difficult subject; the greatest natural powers, combined with the highest attainments of research, and aided by that almost infallible wisdom which results from experience, have been applied to the discovery of some practicable expedient, by which the wants and necessities of the poor might be provided for, without depressing that spirit of commendable independence, which is the main spring of honest industry, and without lessening the influence of moral character, and weakening the energies of moral principle thereby. But every measure which individual talent has hitherto suggested, or which the combined wisdom of the legislature has enacted into a law, has ever been found defective