Chap. II.]

CHRISTIAN CHARITY.

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shall fully accomplish their enterprise, it is not too much to say,that they will benefit, in the highest sense and degree, the es-tates, the health, the habits, and the morals of millions of this andthe coming generations. What charity has ever been more dis-interested in its origin, comprehensive in its aim, noble in itsobject, or exalted in its purpose, than this ? What numbersmight have been saved to themselves, to their families, and tosociety, if this enterprise of charity had been undertaken earlierby half a century ? The same observations apply, with no di-minished force, to the modern system of Sunday School in-struction, one of the most unostentatious, but effectual ways ofbenefiting mankind, that have ever been devised in any age orin any country. No charity is more pure and elevated in itsnature, more free from all possible objections, more fruitful in itsconsequences, or more encouraging in its returns of good, thangratuitous instruction. Many thousands of instructers, influencedby the love of God and mankind, are now imparting the firstelements of education to hundreds of thousands of children, andare thus training up multitudes to be useful and respectable inlife, who might otherwise, in all probability, be lost to themselvesand to society. It would not be difficult to refer to other va-rieties of that branch of charity which respects the temporalwelfare and interests of mankind, if my limits permitted.

2. Christian charity requires a sacred regard to the spiritualand eternal interests of our fellow-men. To aid in the dissemi-nation of our pure and holy religion, among all estates and ordersof men, not only in our own country, but throughout the earth,is one of the highest and most indispensable duties of everyChristian. Religious instruction is a privilege, which multitudesin this and many other countries cannot procure for themselves ;it must, therefore, be provided for them by those, who are sensi-ble of the blessings which Christianity alone can confer, and areimpressed with the importance and the duty of imparting Chris-tian instruction to all those who do not, and without their aidcannot, enjoy its benefits. Hunger and thirst must be satisfiedat all events, and those, who feel their pain, will be sure, in oneway or another, to find the means of satisfying their cravings ;but religion, although equally the highest duty and the highest