poor? How wonderful, how passing strange is it, that such a ministry is not everywhere to be found in the cities of the christian world! How absurd is the assumption, in respect to cities, a third or a half of whose inhabitants are never brought within the pale of their establishments for social worship, a third, or a half of whose inhabitants, are hardly recognised as beings of the same nature with their more prospered neighbors, simply because they are poor, and ignorant, and vicious; that is, simply because they are in the very condition from which Christ came to save them; how absurd, I repeat, is the assumption, that these are christian cities! Are these poor, and ignorant, and vicious fellow beings, less dear to God, or less accessible to christian influences, than their more intelligent and prospered neighbors? Are their vices, on the whole, more injurious either to themselves or to society? And if Christianity is ever to be dispensed to them, how can it be, but through the interest which the intelligent, and the rich, and the virtuous shall feel in providing for them an intelligent, and a devoted ministry? A truly christian sensibility to this claim of our religion upon the more prospered classes; a sensibility to it, which will be satisfied only by obtaining a ministry for the poor, in character and extent such as Christianity requires; a feeling of its importance, which will secure fit instruments for it, because it will not cease to demand, till it obtains them ; — this state of feeling in the intelligent, and affluent, and virtuous in cities, whenever it shall be stongly called forth, will make an era in the history of our religion. Would that God would raise up some one, who can reach the ears and hearts of men as I cannot! I am not more certain of anything, than I am that this ministry among ourselves is conducing

to great good. But what I pray for, is not a merely occasional, and temporary service in this office; not a service to be rendered either by the young, who are at school for another, and as they think, a higher ministry in the churches of the more prospered; or by the old and worn out, who have expended all their energies in other labors. There is wanted here the fulness of human strength, physical and moral; an intellect and a judgment, which will command respect from the minds with which they are brought into connexion; and a deliberate choice, which is not to be changed, of this service above all other services. These is here wanted, too, that uniformity and continuance of influence which can be obtained only from the permanence of the minister in his office. Such a ministry, if committed to proper instruments, will gradually throw more light on pauperism and crime, than may be looked for from all other sources. And it will do more, than can be done by almost any other means, to save vast masses of our fellow beings from want and wretchedness and ruin.

There is yet another means of arresting and of suppressing these great evils, which I name the last, because, while it is the first in importance, it seems to be the hardest to be brought to application. Allow me, in a few words, to explain myself upon this subject. We live in a very benevolent community. But Christianity requires a far higher benevolence than that of giving money. Its aim is, to unite men as a family of brothers. Whatever may be our property, our intelligence, our office, or our titles, Christianity requires us to recognise the poor beggar and the convicted criminal, as the children of our Father, and possessors of a common nature with ourselves. They have fallen, at least, tens of thousands of them fallen, — under 4

VOL. V. - NO. LIV.

circumstances, in which if we had ourselves been, we might have sunk as low as they are. And from whence arose those circumstances? From the fault of the individuals suffering under them? Sometimes, without doubt. But I have referred to circumstances, and I might have referred to many more, which, though not within the control of the individuals who are brought by them to abjectness and crime, may be controlled and entirely changed by others; and which, brought under christian influences, would save thousands from degradation and wretchedness. This view of the condition of society, and of christian duties with respect to it, demands an attention which has never yet been given to it. Men have so long been told that poverty and crime are unfathomable gulfs; that their springs, or the causes producing them, are beyond human power; and that, to a great extent, they are alike necessary and irremediable evils; that, even by multitudes of the wise and good, nothing is deemed more chimerical, more a mere dream of enthusiasm, than a proposition to lay open the causes of these evils and the means by which far the largest amount of them may be remedied or prevented. And yet I am quite as sure that Christianity has given us these means, and that they are entirely sufficient for these ends, as I am of the existence of pauperism and crime. And I am quite as sure, too, that the errors of judgment, and the mistakes in conduct, into which not only legislators, but many others, have fallen on these subjects, are attributable 'wholly to the fact, that losing sight of christian sentiments of human relations, dependencies and obligations, they have looked alike for the causes and the cure of these evils, where neither was to be found. The poor and criminals have generally been regarded only in their civil re

lations; as members of the body politic, who are to be affected only by political ordinances; and respecting whom the great question has been, how may they most effectually be coerced? or, what is the immediate cost which must be incurred for them? No error can be more vital than. this. Sunk and degraded as we see them, even the lowest and the worst of these unhappy beings has a moral nature; and moral as well as physical powers and wants. Many, too, even of the lowest and the worst, by wise preventive measures, might have been saved from the degradation in which we see them. But you might as well attempt to raise them from their degradation by any other than moral means, as to meet the demands of their hunger by giving them air. Is it asked, what provisions are made by Christianity for the accomplishment of this great redemption? I answer, that they are to be found, not in the peculiar doctrines of any sect in Christendom; but, as I have already said, in a christian sense of human relations,- of the connexion into which Jesus Christ intended to bring man with man, and of our responsibilities for all our means of usefulness. And is it asked, how is this mighty change to be wrought through means so simple? I answer, let all the intelligent, the affluent and influential among us, who call themselves Christians, bring home to their own souls what Christ has taught uponthe topics to which I have here referred, and there would not then be a single poor or vicious family or individual among us, which would not soon be brought within the sympathies of our religion. How many widows, now suffering under the most distressing embarrassments and perplexities, would then be comforted and encouraged, aided in the direction of their industry, and made comparatively happy? How many intemperate men and wo

men, whose greatest excesses arise from the feeling that they are outcasts and uncared for, might be recovered to a sense of character and to virtue ? How many children, both of virtuous and of vicious poor parents, under the restraints and encouragements of this new alliance, might be recalled from vagrancy and filial disobedience, placed and kept in our schools, in due time apprenticed at useful employments, and made respectable and happy members of society? How many filthy families might be made cleanly? How many families, now living in disorder and wretchedness, principally because they have no connexion with any one who is not as low as themselves, might thus be taught, and made to feel, the blessings of order, and foresight, and providence for the time to come, and mutual respect, and care for each other's happiness? How would the distresses of sickness among the poor be thus alleviated? From how many moral dangers, from which they know not how to escape, would they thus be rescued? And is there a man who has a disposition for this service, who might not find leisure for it? Or is there a man who has a christian feeling for his suffering brother, who would not soon acquire a tact, if tact be required, for this service? This feeling of relationship, and this connexion of the classes of society, is one of the most obvious of all the dictates of Christianity; and nothing short of Christianity will ever bring about any great and permanent melioration of the condition of the poor, or any great and permanent means for the prevention of pauperism and crime.

One word more respecting the most important of all the claims of charity, and I have done. One word more in regard to the young, who are peculiarly exposed to pauperism and crime. I have referred to these child