after. The occasions are thus constantly occurring, of suiting instruction to the wants, the necessities of individuals. Here light may be, and is imparted, and encouragement, and comfort, of no small importance to those who receive them. There are indeed those among the poor, who have as strong a sense of character as is felt by any among us; and others who have that which is of infinitely greater worth, a deep and strong sense of christian obligation. But there are many among them, also, who feel themselves to be connected with Society around them, by no other bond than that of their animal wants. And are they to be despised, and neglected, and left to the recklessness of ungoverned appetite and passion? I am called, likewise, to see sickness, under very different circumstances from those in which it is endured by the more favored classes of society; and to visit the anxious, and doubting, and fearful, and those who are suffering the anguish of disappointed hopes, and who need all that our religion can administer for their support and consolation. Nor is it, I think, a circumstance of small account, that I have placed and kept children in our schools, who would otherwise have been vagrants in our streets; and that unspeakable comfort has been given to many a parent, in the assistance I have rendered to them in regard to their children. I do not like thus to speak of my ministry; for I should much prefer to perform its duties quietly, and without any notice, but from those who are the subjects of it. But the occasion seems to demand this explicitness; and this must be my apology, if, in the opinion of any, I have said more than seems to them to have been required respecting it.

It is a solemn consideration, that in all the cities of

of whose rooms is sometimes even more offensive, than is their filth to the eye; and on whom charity would perhaps be worse than wasted, except as it is doled out in the necessaries of life, in the times of their most pressing want. And, to proceed no further, there are many, very many families, whose sin and misery are peculiarly to be ascribed to intemperance. The great, the peculiar curse of our land indeed is, the facility with which ardent spirits can be obtained, even by the poorest amongst us. Some, who will hardly, work more than is necessary to obtain a few cents a day, thus earn enough to make themselves pests to their neighborhood, and demons in their families. It is very painful even to speak of the vice and suffering, that are to be seen in the habitations of some of this class of the poor. I have heard from one and another of the maddened beings, who were themselves dependent for shelter and for bread on their wives, whom they were covering with abuse, those terrible screamings of profane expressions, in the utterance of which, the utmost powers of the voice have been called forth; and of which I can conceive of no other resemblance, than in that which we are sometimes told of the language of the finally condemned. There are cases, in which both the husband and the wife are intemperate. But there are cases, too, in which the most outrageously wicked and abusive husbands have most exemplary wives, by whose toils their families are kept together, and as far as is possible, saved from dependence. But the worst of these families ought not to be neglected. They ought not to be without a faithful pastor. I know men, who, fifteen months ago were broken down by intemperance, but who, for more than a year past, have not only been temperate,

but have not tasted ardent spirits. And I know others, who have begun, and are carrying on, a contest with this appetite, and who have done much for their recovery from its power. But even where the drunkard is not to be recovered, much, very much may be done for the comfort and encouragement of his family, and much to save his children from destruction. For objects like these, shall I plead with our public in vain ?

It is thought by some, that in a community like ours, every one who is honest, temperate and industrious, may always obtain the means of a comfortable support for a family. And it is generally true, that such as these may, for the most part, keep themselves from dependence on charity. But this is not always the case. Widows, and wives on whom devolves the whole charge of a family, cannot always find employment. The wages, too, for which they work, are generally so small, that with their best endeavors, in a time of health, very many of them can but pay their rent, and obtain the simplest food and clothing. Some, when they can get it, pick dry rope, or oakum, or hair, by which the most industrious get from twentyfive to thirty or forty cents a day. About the same amount, according to their ability in the work, is earned by making cigars, and by binding hats and shoes. Very many are employed in making the clothes, that are sold in the slop shops; but there are very few, who are constantly supplied with this work. For making coarse shirts, they have eight cents each; and from eight to ten for making duck pantaloons, and truckmen's frocks. Some of those who are so employed cannot, with their best exertions, and with the care of their children, earn more than twelve and a half cents, or seventeen cents a day;

some will earn a quarter of a dollar; and a few, who have' uncommon ability, even fifty cents a day. For the thicker and heavier apparel of seamen, a larger sum is paid. But the work is hardly more profitable to those who do it. The number is great of those, with whom, sometimes, it is not practicable to get either this, or any other kind of work. Now let the condition of these families, during a time of sickness, be seriously considered. Their rent, generally a dollar, or a dollar and a quarter a week, and often more, where the family is large, must still be paid. And no provision has been made, and in some cases no provision could have been made, for this time of suffering. O that they, who are living at ease in their possessions, and to whose families sickness brings no earthly want, which they are not at once able, and even without the smallest self-denial, to supply, could but fully comprehend what is often endured by the poor, when their families are visited by long and distressing disease! If a poor mother, with three, or four, or five young children, is brought to her bed by sickness, a nurse, at once for the charge of herself and her family, may be quite as important for her recovery, either as medicine, or the attendance of a physician. But this is an indulgence altogether unattainable, unless one is provided by private bounty'. And if sickness come either to a father, or a mother, or a child, among the very poor, the absolutely necessary expenses of the family are nearly doubled, by the extraordinary supply which is demanded of wood and oil, and for that provision for the wants of the sufferer, which is as essential for him as is bread for his children. With devout gratitude to God, I remember the multitude of cases, in which I have been enabled, through the bounty

of those who have supplied my poor purse, to meet and to answer these various exigencies of extreme suffering. And if any contributor to it will accompany me through some of the scenes through which I pass, in the abodes of the sick poor, I am sure that his heart will be gladdened by a remembrance of his charity. He, too, will bless God, that he has been an instrument of so much relief and comfort; and, it is not improbable, that the remembrance of it may be among the happiest of his recollections, when he shall himself lie upon the bed of disease, and shall know by experience the value of the relief which he has thus extended to those, who otherwise might not have received it.

Our Lord Jesus Christ came to seek, as well as to save, them that are lost. And, let it not be forgotten, that in the cities of Christendom there are hundreds of thousands, who, if they are ever to be brought within the saving influences of Christianity,-if the gospel is to be preached to them-must be sought out. The cry is indeed repeated every week from the corners of our streets, and so it should be, come in, that my house may be filled." But there are many by-paths, many lanes and alleys, many abodes of want and suffering, to which it reaches not. And is it the will of our Father in heaven, who regards not the rich more than the poor, that one of these little ones,-who cannot, or it may be are not disposed to, enter our temples-should perish? And how shall the gospel be preached to them, but by a ministry that shall be exclusively devoted to them? In a city like ours, there should not be a habitation, which is not visited by a Christian Pastor; not a family, to which the services of a Christian Pastor are not offered. This object is