year ago. Should he do so, we well know where the fault must lie; not in the quality of the meat, but in the appete of the eater. To prevent anything of the kind from taking place, let us strengthen and encourage one another by applying, as we may with great propriety do, the exhortation of the apostle to those who are engaged in forwarding the designs of the Society. Let us endeavor to show, that all such are engaged in well-doing, and therefore that they ought "not to be weary."

have described it under figures and images borrowed from the latter. There is a species of food necessary for the support of the mind, after which it is said to "hunger and thirst." There are garments, with which the spirits of just men appear clothed and there is a state of the soul which, through all its powers and faculties, is a state of health and salvation. Nothing of a corporal kind was certainly intended in that reproof given by the Spirit to the church of Laodicea-" Thou sayest I am rich and increased in goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not thau thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and

Manifold, in the present state of the world, are the wants of mankind; and the virtues of one part of the species, consist much in re-blind, and naked."* An attention to this lieving the necessities of the other. It is the leading feature in his character, on whom angelic as well as human spirits are directed to fix their attention, that " He went about doing good; in other words, as the explanation immediately follows, "healing all that were oppressed of the devil," and afflicted with the maladies and calamities introduced into the world by sin, of which that evil spirit was the author. An idea of a similar nature is always supposed to be conveyed, when we say of any person departed, that "he did much good in his life-time." Nay, to the great Governor of the universe, we have no other way of giving the glory due, than by proclaiming, as we are enjoined to do, that "Jehovah is good, and that his tender mercies are over all his works."+ Godlike are the labors of charity; and they who are employed in them are, without all doubt, employed in "well-doing."

The external indigence of our fellow-creatures, as it strikes directly upon our senses, is apt to be first and princepally noticed. The case of a brother or a sister destitute of food and raiment, of habitation, health, and comfort, calls upon us, for commiseration and assistance, in a voice scarcely to be resisted by the man, much less by the Christian. And to the praise of our age and nation be it spoken, no pains are spared to relieve all such objects of bodily distrees.

intellectual distress and misery, and the proper methods of relieving them, is excellent in proportion to the value of the subject, and the more dangerous consequences of their being neglected; and therefore constitutes the sublimer part of charity. When Christ healed bodily diseases, he did it principally that he might manifest his ability to heal those that are spiritual: "That ye may know the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, he saith to the sick of the palsy, Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house." t With particular disorders of the bodily frame some are afflicted, and some are not; and they whom our Lord healed of one, yet died afterwards of another. The saying in which all men are interested, and which ought, therefore, "of all men to be received," is, "that Jesus Christ came into the world to SAVE SINNERS."‡

But surely in vain did he come, unless the knowledge of this salvation be conveyed to those whom it concerns. This knowledge is not born with us, nor are we to expect it by inspiration from above. Heaven has revealed it once, but left it from thenceforth to be communicated by man to man. He whose lamp has been kindled, is enjoined to kindle those of his descendants, that so the Gospel may run and be glorified, to the end of time. This indeed has been the process ordained from the beginning; for of the patriarchal But the plan of the Society extends farther, religion, derived from Adam by tradition, and penetrates deeper into the constitution may that be said, which the Psalmist hath of human nature. It enters the cottage of said of the same religion in sum and subclay, and reaches the inhabitant contained stance, as it was republished in writing by within, the immortal guest doomed for a while Moses: "God established a testimony, he apto sojourn here below; succoring the infirmi-pointed a law, which he commanded our ties and necessities to which, during such its fathers that they should make known to their temporary abode upon earth, the soul of man children, that the generation to come might is become subject. For there is an inward known them, even the children which should and spiritual, as well as an outward and visi- be born, who should arise and declare ble, poverty; and that we may conceive them to their children; that they might proper ideas of the former, the sacred writers set their hope in God, and not forget the

⚫ Acts, x. 38.

V

† Psal. cxly. 9.

* Rev. iii. 17. † Matt. ix. 6. + 1 Tim. i. 15

works of God, but keep his command-lin London, who are in general very igno ments.'

rant, are ripe for every crime. Had the Through the degeneracy and apostasy of same degree of knowledge of which some. nations, losing the knowledge originally im- complain as improper for the commonalty, parted to their ancestors, it will sometimes been imparted to them, there is reason to happen, that parents can no longer instruct believe it would have civilized their mantheir progeny, or educate them in the nur-ners and corrected their morals. Some of ture and admonition of the Lord, in which our late eloquent and judicious historians they themselves perhaps have not been edu-have'set in a very striking view the barbaricated. Ignorance, instead of knowledge, is ty and misery of the middle ages, arising then transmitted from generation to genera- almost wholly from the ignorance which tion, of which each grows worse than the then overspread Europe. preceding till, at length, "darkness covers "Wherever gross ignorance prevails, the land, and gross darkness the inhabitants there either gross vice or absolute stupidity thereof;" a darkness that may indeed be will abound. It is by a school education felt, and ought to be bewailed, as it is a sure chiefly that we receive the rudiments of forerunner of ruin and excission." My peo-knowledge. Though men may be, and it ple are destroyed for lack of knowledge: be- is hoped are, improved by public discourses, cause thou hast rejected knowledge, I will yet, unless they have received some previalso reject thee; seeing thou hast forgotten ous instruction, they can reap but little the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children."I

But suppose this not altogether the case. It is among the evils of external poverty, and one of the greatest of those evils, to be the cause of that other poverty which is internal. The poor, unless care be taken of them in this respect by the rich, are by that very circumstance often deprived of the means of knowledge. Much of their time is of necessity otherwise employed; and when they enjoy any little intervals of leisure, opportunities and instructors are wanting.

It may be said, perhaps, What occasion have the poor for knowledge? For knowledge of many kinds, none at all: they are better without it: ignorance for them is preferable. But there is an ignorancethat above mentioned-which is attended with effects very prejudicial to the welfare of society in this world, and that of individuals in the next-productive of vice and ill manners, of confusion, and every evil work. Good may be known without being practiced; but it cannot be practiced if it be

not known.

benefit from them. It appears, then, to be an object of great importance to the public, as well as to individuals, that the meanest of the people should be taught to read, and be instructed in the duties of religion and morality.

This seems to be one of the most necessary steps towards the civilizing of a country; and this instruction may be given at an early period, before they are fit for labor, or at times when they are not otherwise employed."*

There must ever be in all communities a considerable majority of poor to perform the various labors of life. In return for their temporals, we should communicate to them of our spirituals. If they, by their labors, furnish us with "the meat that perisheth," it is but reasonable that we, especially as it can be done without much labor, should supply them with " that meat If they "give which endureth for ever." us to drink," we should in return present them with "the water springing up unto Their spiritual necessities eternal life.” are the same with those of the rich; they have equally souls to be saved, and stand therefore equally in need of the knowledge requisite to save them.

"If we inquire," says a late writer, in his admirable treatise on the subject of the This being perfectly known to the God Poor" if we inquire into the state of those of the spirits of all flesh, he has not been countries where the people are grossly ig-unmindful of them in the dispensation of norant, we shall find the most unhappy con- his grace, but has adapted his Gospel to the sequences arising from their deplorable situ- wants of all alike. ation. The savages in America are but in The evidence, on which its authority. a small degree raised above the irrational stands, is not veiled from vulgar sight by tribes the populace in Portugal, whose the clouds of metaphysical subtlety; it dewhole knowledge consists in a credulous pends not on intricate arguments, and tedisuperstition, are the most cruel and barbarous consequences, which the poor have ous people in Europe; and the lower class neither leisure to study, nor ability to un

* Psal: lxxviii. 5, 6, 7. † Isa. lx. 2. Hos. iv. 6.

* M'Farlan's Inquiries concerning the Poor, p. 246.

A

derstand. Jesus could not have performed |put it from him, and depart "sorrowful," the miracles which he did perform, unless while the other embraces it, and "goes on God had been with him; and if God were his way rejoicing." with him, then the doctrines taught by him, under the sanction of those miracles, were also of God. The apostles believed in him, because they saw his mighty works; and we believe them when they tell us so, because they could not have deceived the world if they would, and would not have done it if they could. A little plain common sense sees all this; and more need not be seen to induce any man to become a Christian.

If it be inquired whether the poor be capable of making any considerable proficiency in the school of Christ? experience will answer in the affirmative. With a little plain instruction, they can apprehend the articles of faith as contained in the apostles' creed, and the rules of practice as laid down in the commandments. They can learn to trust in God, their Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier: they can give him thanks for what they have, and pray to him for what they want. They can love

As the evidence is stated, so the doctrines of salvation are taught, with a condescen- their Saviour, and for his sake show sion to the capacities of all. To render them at the same time intelligible and agreeable, they are delivered in the pleasing form of history, and illustrated by comparisons and similitudes taken from the most familiar objects in the natural world, and the concerns of ordinary life. A poor man is thus taught, in a week, more than philosophy could teach those that were most learned in it, for a series of ages: he is taught to know God, and his various dispensations to mankind: and, with respect to morals and the duties of society, he is taught what every wise government would wish that its citizens might all be taught.

Let

kindness to their brethren, whom he has redeemed. One may often behold, among the lower ranks, that attention to the distresses of each other, that earnest desire, and, what is of more worth, that unwearied endeavor to remove or alleviate them, which do credit to the human heart, wherever they are found. A poor person, after laboring through the day, will pass the night in watching with a sick neighbor; while the rich pursue their pleasures, the scholar retires to his library, and the vir tuoso to his cabinet, safe from the importunity of the wretched, and where the voice of misery never penetrates. Accordingly we find it given as one mark not the pride of wealth nor science look of the divinity of the Gospel, and as the down with contempt upon the poor, since circumstance which discriminates it from they often possess and exhibit that charithe wisdom of the world, that it was ty which is the end of knowledge, the preached by Christ and his apostles to the comfort of society, the balm of life; and poor. Not for the reasons insinuated by by his proficiency in which, every man unbelievers, ancient and modern, that they is to be tried, at the judgment of the were either afraid or ashamed to preach it great day." Hath not GoD chosen the to the rich and the learned; but because poor?" Let not MAN, then, despise them. the former were clear from many prejudices Upon these grounds it is, that the Soand evil passions which adhered to the lat-ciety has been employed, for near a center, and therefore were better disposed to tury, in disseminating Christian Knowreceive it. These received it first, and had ledge among the poor. Thousands and ten the honor to lead the way to the others, thousands of children have been snatched who followed after, in due time, from every from the jaws of ruin, from ignorance rank and order of life, as they could be and vice, and educated in the fear of God, brought to give it a fair and impartial hear- in the charity-schools originally fostered ing. But be it ever remembered, when and reared through Great Britain and Irethis argument is under discussion, that the land, by their paternal care, and which, truth of God must finally rest upon its pro- at this time, contain above forty thouper evidence, and not upon the incident of sand. To this part of the plan the followits being accepted or rejected by those to ing testimony is borne by a celebrated prewhom it is proposed. Such acceptance or late, in a charge delivered so long ago rejection must afterwards be accounted for, as the year 1716, though published only a from the different tempers, dispositions, and few months since. He is speaking of the circumstances of mankind. And it requires great and necessary duty of catechisingbut a very moderate degree of acquaint-"The late encouragers of Charity Schools ance with human nature, to assign adequate are never enough to be commended for reasons why, when the same doctrine is their care and diligence on this head, by preached to two different persons, one should which they have deserved well of God and

man, and have done the church of England, | of the husbandman, with the quantity and and the pure religion of Christ, excellent quality of the seed sown, will then best apservice; and verily they shall not fail of pear, when the harvest shall crown his toil, their reward."* and "the valleys stand so thick with corn, that they shall laugh and sing."

A multitude of Bibles, Common Prayer Books, and a variety of religious tracts, Thus engaged in "well-doing," be not adapted to the capacities and spiritual exi- ye, therefore, "weary;" "for in due time gencies of the poor, amounting, within the ye shall reap, if ye faint not." Look space of the last fifty years only, to near back with joy and pleasure on what has three millions, have been printed and dis- been done; look forward with hope and tributed by the Society, not only through confidence on what may be done. The England and every part of Wales, the isles adversary is not weary of exerting his enof Scilly and of Man; but Palestine, Syria, deavors to suppress and extinguish the reMesopotamia, Arabia, and Egypt, as well ligious spirit among us; be not ye weary as to the conversion of the Heathens in the of exerting yours (as they always have East Indies, where schools and missions been exerted, to cherish and support it. have been established for that purpose. Consider the prospect which presented itTranslations of the proper books having self to the first preachers of the Gospel, been made, the inhabitants of these different countries have had opportunities of hearing and celebrating, "every one in his own language, the wonderful works of God."

when they entered upon the task of Promoting Christian Knowledge; and consider the event: remember the "mustardseed," and view the "tree" which it has produced. Ye are fellow-laborers with I do not enlarge upon these several ob- them: and according to the measures of jects of the Society's bounty, because, his grace, and the course of his dispensain general, the world is now well ac- tions, Christ will be with you, as he was quainted with the nature of them; and with them. Apostolical is your work, the particulars may be seen in the annual and suitable will be your reward. Go on, account of its proceedings. That much then, and prosper, in the name of the good has been effected, is known to all those who have been concerned in carry. ing those benevolent designs into execution, or have by any means happened to fall within the reach of their influence; but how much, it will never, nor can be known, till manifested by that day which shall manifest all things. The diligence

*The learned and eloquent Bishop Atterbury's Charge to the Diocese of Rochester, in Mr. Nichol's publication of the Epistolary Correspondence, &c. vol. ii. p. 269.

Lord; looking forward to the triumphant hour, when the scene shall open of which that before us may serve to convey some faint resemblance; when the innumerable company of those rescued by your charity from the hands of the destroyer, and numbered among the children of God, shall be seen clothed in the robes of righteousness and salvation, arranged in shining circles around the throne, and heard singing Glory to their Redeemer, who sitteth thereon, for ever and ever.

DISCOURSE LXX.

THE ANTIQUITY, USE, AND EXCELLENCE OF CHURCH

MUSIC.

PSALM LVII. 8.

Awake up, my glory; awake, lute and harp!

THE sound of that noble "instrument, strained, will break forth into singing. It which for the first time we have this day is the proper expression of pleasure; it is heard, is in perfect unison with the words" the voice of joy and health in the dwellof the text. It is intended for the same ings of the righteous." Who shall contest purpose, and performs the same office. It THEIR right so to declare and make their calls upon us to employ all our powers and feeling known? They have been in posfaculties in the service of him who be- session of the privilege ever since the hour stowed them; to celebrate the praises of when, at the creation of the world, "the God, and give the glory due to the world's morning stars sang together, and all the Creator and Redeemer. For this end man sons of God shouted for joy;"* and they was formed: but it is an end which, in the will be found possessed of it, in the day present state of his nature, he is by no when, for the redemption of the world, means disposed at all times to answer as saints and angels shall sing together," Blesshe should do. Alive to earth, he is often ing, and honor, and glory, and power, to dead to heaven. Troubled about many him that sitteth upon the throne, and to things, to the one thing needful he is apt to the Lamb!" During the intermediate be inattentive. He sleepeth, and must be period between these two great events, awakened. "Awake up, therefore, my there is upon earth a mixture of evil and glory; awake, lute and harp! I myself will good; there is, on that account, a mixawake right early." Let the instrument ture of sorrow and joy; and the service accompany the voice, and the heart accom- of the church consists of PRAYER and pany both. PRAISE. We have sinned, we are afflicted, In the constitution of man, as the all-we pray: Our sins are forgiven, we rejoice, wise Artist has been pleased to frame it, we sing. there are certain tones of the voice, by If we consult the page of history, we find which the affections of the mind naturally that among all nations where music has been express themselves. The tone of sorrow at all understood and practised, it has been apis mournful and plaintive; the notes of joy, plied to this use, and employed in their reliexulting and jubilant. St. James, therefore, gious festivals. Whatever was the object of spake with the strictest propriety, when he adoration, in this manner was adoration paid. said, Is any afflicted? let him pray; is any And as it is notorious, that most of the rites merry ? let him sing." When the spirits to be found among idolaters, were originally are raised by good news, or any other very derived from the primeval church of God, pleasing consideration, every one whose and transferred to their false divinities, it is a actions are unobserved, and therefore unre- fair supposition, that what was practised by Short as the account of things and persons is one, had been first practised by the other. in the Mosaic history of an infant world, we read very early of those who "handled the

* Music was used by the Pythagoreans to dissipate the dulness of the mind at first waking in the morning: and it is said, I think, of good Bishop Kenn, that, immediately on rising from his bed, he seized his guitar, and played some sprightly strain, for this purpose.

† James, v. 13.