that they should all, in one way or other, be taken away from her, and fubjected probably

to much harsher ufage than they had hitherto experienced. The head is gone, and the little fociety is diffolved; they muft quit the beloved manfion where they have fpent their lives, and which they have made so neat and chearful at their own coft, perhaps with the labour of their own hands. The fmall remnant of books and furniture, that conftituted all their wealth, they fee difpofed of for the benefit of their creditors; and then-they have nothing to do but to difperfe themfelves where they can to feek fupport.

In this critical moment it is that these charitable establishments open their friendly arms to receive them, and each bears its respective part in miniftering to their neceffities*. The Incorporate Society takes the widow under its immediate protection, and allows her a decent penfion fo long as her condition and her circumstances continue unchanged. The Society of Stewards and Subfcribers, inflituted in the year 1749, undertakes the maintenance and education of her children till they are of age

* See the note above, pag. 152, 153.

to

cient

to be apprenticed; and when they are of fuffiage, The Society of the Feast of the Sons of the Clergy provides them with proper mafters, and puts them into a way of obtaining a comfortable fubfiftence, and becoming ufeful members of society.

in

Thus, you fee, each of these excellent inftitutions has its proper ufe and peculiar department; and all of them concur in forming one noble comprehenfive plan of national charity. But this plan can never be carried into execution without the aid of the wealthy and the great. The Corporation has indeed a fund of its own; but this fund, without occafional donations and benefactions, would be very adequate to the objects that ftand in need of its affiftance. As to the other two humane focieties, one of which educates the poor orphans which the other places out in the world; thefe, I fay, are entirely fupported by voluntary - contributions and fubfcriptions; and you will not, I am fure, through an ill-judged parfimony, "fuffer any of our little ones to pe

"rish

Yet, notwithstanding the apparent utility, and even neceffity, of thefe benevolent foun

Matth. xviii. 14.

dations,

dations, their friends have with no small concern observed, that they have for fome time past been rather lofing ground than gaining it. For this, various reafons have been affigned; but none, I apprehend, of fufficient weight to abate any thing of our ardour in fupport of fuch generous defigns. It has been thought by fome, that there is now the lefs need for a general contribution of this nature for the widows and children of the clergy, because there are in particular diocefes feveral local inftitutions of the fame kind. It is true there are; but they are not near so universal as might be wifhed: they reach only, I conceive, to a small part of the kingdom, and their operation is of course confined within a narrow compass. But were they much more numerous than they are, were they even fpread through every part of the island, yet ftill this original parent of them all ought to be preferved and foftered with religious veneration and care. For the growing increase of expence in many neceffary articles

of life makes a proportionable increase in the wants of the poorer clergy, which by this means keep pace with the provisions made in their favour; and they can but ill fpare the

lofs

lofs of any affiftance, whether general or local, which they have been accustomed to receive.

There is ftill another circumftance which may have contributed to the decrease of our collections, and that is the great number of other public charities of various kinds, which have of late years been established in this kingdom. And if this is really the cafe, we must not, we do not, complain. If others cannot be benefitted but by our lofs, we are content. But when we find ourfelves in the very center of the richest commercial city in the world †, we cannot poffibly entertain the leaft apprehenfions on this head. In any other place, perhaps, there might be room to fear that the ftream of beneficence, when divided into feveral new channels, might forfake the old. But be thefe channels ever fo numerous, your liberality can fill them all. It is as inexhauftible as your wealth, which is daily flowing in upon you from every quarter of the globe, and can enrich and fertilize a vaft variety of different regions at the fame time. Let then other charities fpring up in whatever

This fermon was preached in St. Paul's church, in the prefence of the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, &c. of the city of London. numbers

numbers they will; we look not upon them with an envious or a jealous eye; we confider them not as rivals, but as fharers, in your bounty, which is able to embrace both them and us. Far from wishing to difcourage, far from wishing to depreciate, other benevolent inftitutions, and to form invidious comparisons between them and ours, we fincerely wifh them, on the contrary, all imaginable success, in full confidence that in a capital like this it will not, it cannot, be any obftruction to our

own.

You yourselves are our witneffes, that there are none more ready to countenance every humane defign than the English clergy†. There is hardly one public charity to be named that has not fome of our order amongst its friends and fupporters; and if we have any gifts of eloquence, any powers of persuasion to boast, they are always ready at your call to recommend every generous plan that you think fit to patronize; your schools, your hospitals,

+ One very recent and remarkable proof of this ought not to be paffed over in filence. Mr. Hetherington, a private clergy. man, gave birth, within these few years, to a new and most judicious fpecies of charity. He established an annual provifion for fifty blind perfons, and appropriated, in his life-time, to this excellent purpose, a fund of twenty thousand pounds.

your