TO THE PUBLIC. THE following DISCOURSE, as will readily be believed by all who read it, was written in great haste, under the pressure of numerous distressing cares, and in the midst of unavoidable interruptions. The causes which compelled a hasty draught, in the first instance, prevent a deliberate and corrected copy. The Author submits it therefore to the public, nearly in the state in which it was delivered; and his apology for so doing, is a belief that its avails will be a mite, at least, put into BENEVOLENT HANDS, to buy BREAD FOR THE HUNGRY, AND RAIMENT FOR THE NAKED. The circumstances under which it was written will, the Author trusts, soften the edge of criticism; and the motives which induce him to consent to its publication, meet the approbation of humanity. Be this however as it may, should the funds of the SoCIETY be benefited by the sale of it-should the arguments unfolded in it, awaken the public attention, and excite the public sympathy towards AFFLICTED, UNFORTUNATE, AND PERISHING HUMANITY-above all, should it excite, by the Divine blessing, to the practice of CHRISTIAN CHARITY, the Author will have received for his labor an abundant reward, and for any censures which it may occasion, sufficient indemnity. A DISCOURSE. JOB, XXIX, 11, 12. When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me : witness to me because I delivered the poor that cried, the fatherless, and him that had none to help him. THUS spake the prince of Uz-whose history, no less singular than affecting, is filled with disaster, and unfolds to our view an instance of the most sad and sudden reverse of fortune. On the morning of an eventful day, which proved fatal to every earthly hope, this venerable man arose in affluence and prosperity: his herds were grazing in their pastures; his oxen ploughing in the field, and his flocks whitened the hills. His sons and 'his daughters, united by a thousand endearments, and participating in the felicities of social life, gladdened a parent's heart, whilst they met to express their mutual love, and regale themselves at their éldest brother's house. Flattering, unclouded prospect! But ah ! how soon was it overspread with darkness! In an hour this seeming glory perished; and he who arose in the morning, in so much affluence, the greatest of all the men of the East-plundered of his property-bereaved of his children, sat down at night in wretchedness, to bewail his untimely loss, and weep over the ruins of recollected greatness. "Then Job arose,and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground and worshipped, and said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb and naked shall I return thither; the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." Resigned as Job was to personal humiliation, he Could not refrain from lamentation at the remem-brance of his former charities-charities which it was How no longer possible for him to bestow. Casting an eye over the suffering poor, who had heretofore been fed from his table, and whose loins had been warmed by the fleece of his flock, and affected at their present pitiable condition, left without a friend to solace or a benefactor to relieve them, he exclaimed, O that I were as in months past, as in the days when GOD preserved me. When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me; because I delivered the poor that cried, the fatherless, and him that had none to help him. Then the blessing of him that was ready to perish |