district at large, a wide field indeed for the exercise of such benevolent designs.

Among the labouring classes of our poorer brethren in this district, there are some of every denomination, requiring, it is true, but one common aid in time of necessity, the means of subsistence for the preservation of their lives, but all so differing in other respects in their circumstances and degrees of necessity, as to render the application of very different means necessary to each particular case, by those who should seek to increase their domestic comforts and to better the condition of their lives.

The cases requiring such Christian assistance, the means to be applied, the measure of such means, and the mode of applying them, might form the subject of a Christian meditation in the chambers of those to whom the providence of God has so abundantly supplied the good things of this world as to leave them, without any anxieties for the means of their own subsistence, in the enjoyment of many hours of leisure, after a faithful and diligent discharge of all the various duties of their several stations. And from such charitable meditations, in union with the joint intelligence of the many valuable and respectable individuals in this district, and whose interest as well as their duty should direct their attention to the subject, we might, if combined with active co-operation in reducing to practice the results of such meditation and intelligence, anticipate, with the first projectors of the institution to which we have before

adverted, no inconsiderable addition to the general mass of happiness among our poorer brethren in this neighbourhood.

But without active co-operation in reducing theory to practice, whatever union of sentiment or of feeling may prevail on the subject, no good can be achieved, no progress made in bettering the condition of the poor, and stemming the torrent of those evils of pauperism to which we have before alluded. And if therefore a society could be formed either in this district in particular, or in this county at large, on the basis of that parent institution whose motives and whose objects we have already addressed to your consideration, and in union with and auxiliary to itFrom a society so formed to increase the comforts and better the condition of our poorer brethren in Christ Jesus, we might with infinite reason, from the best of all human authority, from the unerring test of experience in the fruits which have resulted from the benevolent exertions of the parent society, look forward with confidence to the happiest and most beneficial effects.

There are already in the metropolis of the Empire institutions for promoting the spiritual welfare of our fellow creatures throughout the world,

There are institutions for promoting Christian knowledge at home, for propagating the Gospel abroad, and for distributing the Bible throughout the Globe; and in every county of the kingdom, and in almost every district of every county, there are

auxiliary societies established in aid of the parent institutions.

There are hospitals and asylums throughout the land for the relief and comfort of the sick and the maimed, the halt and the blind, for the deaf and the dumb; and there are places of refuge for the destitute of every denomination.

And why not, my brethren, in addition to all these, for none of them embrace the truly Christian objects we have been endeavouring to impress on your consideration, why should there not be auxiliary societies throughout the land, in aid, and in revival of the parent institution, for increasing the comforts and bettering the condition of the poor.

If such great, such important, such substantial benefits have been found to result from the measures of the parent society, where they have been fully and firmly carried into effect, as those which were anticipated by the royal, the illustrious, the pious founders of it, what, my brethren, should lead us to despair of similar good? What should forbid us to hope for the same beneficial results from the establishment of an auxiliary society in aid of the parent institution in this county at large, or in the district in particular to which we belong?

And if there be any just, any reasonable foundation for such anticipations, and if, therefore, it be the duty of those who are most competent to the undertaking to attempt the establishment of such a society among us, it may be permitted me to add,

even in this place, that I know of no influence in this district more powerful, of no energies to be called forth which might be exerted in the formation of such an institution with a better hope of success, than the talents God has committed to the care and improvement of those to whom I have here felt it my duty respectfully to submit the consideration of this important subject.

If the beneficial tendency of an institution formed for such benevolent, such pious purposes as those to which we have before adverted,-if its excellency, value, and importance, be once felt and acknowledged, its paramount claims on our consideration will not for a moment be denied.

And how small a portion of your time, my brethren, withdrawn only from the ordinary recreations of life, and dedicated to the consideration of those means by which the parent institution has heretofore done much to better the condition of their poorer brethren throughout the land, might enable you to devise similar expedients, with such improvements as might be suited to the peculiar exigencies of the case to which you should apply them; and to render, through your combined exertions for their welfare, substantial and Christian service to every individual in need, and within the reach of your benevolent regards.

And to what nobler or more profitable end can your time or your talents be devoted? What purpose more sublime can engage the most exalted facul

ties of man, than that which, in the welfare of his creatures, has the glory of God for its end?

And what, my brethren, if we have devoted our leisure hours to attainments which have secured for us, not only the admiration but even the esteem of man-what, we may ask, shall these acquisitions profit us, if we have neglected those more exalted, those pious, and only valuable pursuits to which we are directed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ-the good of our fellow creatures, and the glory of God? What shall the largest acquisitions of this world's advantages avail us, if we have neglected to pursue that better part by which alone we may make our calling and election in Christ Jesus sure, and best advance the everlasting interests of our immortal souls?

What master can we serve, who has the power or the love to recompense our faith in his promises and our fidelity in his service with such inconceivablyglorious rewards as Christ, our heavenly master, has promised to those who love and serve and diligently seek him, and who prove that love by deeds of charity and kindness to their fellow creatures at large, and to the poor in particular?

May these considerations, my brethren, impressed on your hearts and minds, through the grace of God, lead you to give to this interesting subject that serious attention which, with all deference to your better judgment, we humbly conceive its importance demands. May they lead you to such measures, in aid of the existing institutions of the land, as may