Establishments for the Poor. 349 



therefore, all who enjoy such high privileges to employ 

 all the influence which their rank and fortune give them 

 to promote the public good. And this may justly be 

 considered as a duty of a peculiar kind, a personal 

 service attached to the station they hold in society, and 

 which cannot be commuted. 



But if the obligations which persons of rank and 

 property are under to support measures designed for 

 the relief of the poor are so binding, how much more 

 so must they be upon those who have taken upon them- 

 selves the sacred office of public teachers of virtue and 

 morality, the ministers of a most holy religion, a reli- 

 gion whose first precepts inculcate charity and universal 

 benevolence, and whose great object is, unquestionably, 

 the peace, order, and happiness of society ! 



If there be any whose peculiar province it is to 

 seek for objects in distress and want, and administer to 

 them relief; if there be any who are bound by the 

 indispensable duties of their profession to encourage 

 by every means in their power, and more especially by 

 example, the general practice of charity, it is, doubtless, 

 the ministers of the gospel. And such is their in- 

 fluence in society, arising from the nature of their 

 office, that their example is a matter of very serious 

 importance. 



Little persuasion, I should hope, would be necessary 

 to induce the clergy in any country to give their cordial 

 and active assistance in relieving the distresses of the 

 poor, and providing for their comfort and happiness by 

 introducing order and useful industry among them. 



Another class of men, who, from the station they 

 hold in society and their knowledge of the laws of the 

 country, may be highly useful in carrying into effect 



