HOSEA. c. xiv. v. 3.
In thee the Fatherleſs findeth Mercy.

AMONGST all thoſe virtues and perfections which con⯑tribute to the luſtre and dignity of human nature, Charity hath ever held the firſt and moſt exalted ſtation; as the beſt and trueſt repreſentative of the moſt high God, his Vice-gerent upon earth, commiſſion'd, as it were, by him to remove the wants, ſoften the calamities, and mitigate the ſorrows of mankind.

The age we live in can not▪ I fear, with any propriety be ſtil'd the age of wit or wiſdom, of learning, piety or virtue: but it may perhaps not undeſervedly be called the age of charity; never was there a time wherein ſo many hoſpitals, ſchools and foundations have been raiſed and ſupported amongſt us: it is indeed aſtoniſhing, when we conſider the variety of channels through which our bounty hath flowed, to reflect how full the current is in every one of them; but what can not the gracious providence of God maintain and preſerve! the ſame divine power which ſo marvellouſly filled the widow's cruiſe of oil hath [6] from time to time ſupply'd and repleniſh'd this perennial foun⯑tain; this copious ſtream ſtill glideth thro' our fertile ſoil, bleſſeth the earth with her increaſe, and watereth the furrows thereof.

In obedience to the commands of our great Lord and maſter, who ſo frequently recommends the poor and deſerted to our care and protection, Charity-ſchools, for the maintenance and protection of indigent children, have been erected, and liberally ſupported in every part of this kingdom, and the good effects of them are univerſally felt and acknowledged: but in every human inſtitution, there muſt be ſome human, weakneſs, ſome mark of the imperfection of our nature; in a nation like ours, and more eſpecially in the great center of it, there muſt always be a perpetual viciſſitude of manners; new accidents, new vices and follies will produce new wants and calamities, which will conſequently require new reſources to guard againſt, or remove them: large, numerous and extenſive, therefore, as our charity-ſchools were, they have been found in ſome meaſure inadequate to the purpoſes for which they were deſigned, and objects have of late years preſented themſelves which even this wide circle of benevolence cou'd not comprehend: they did not (cou'd not indeed from the nature of their conſtitution) comprehend a ſet of helpleſs and miſerable beings, excluded by their peculiarly unhappy circumſtances from the benefit of every public inſtitution, barren and leafleſs branches, cut off, as it were, from the tree of life, which, deprived of all moiſ⯑ture and nouriſhment, muſt inevitably wither and decay: theſe principally conſiſted of ORPHAN and DESERTED GIRLS, [7] who, after wandering about for a time in the utmoſt miſery and diſtreſs, ſoon periſhed with hunger, or, which was ſtill more to be lamented, fell an early ſacrifice to vice, infamy, and proſtitution.

An evil ſo dreadful and ſo alarming called for a ſpeedy and effectual remedy, as the effects of it were becoming every day and every hour more fatal to ſociety: when it pleaſed the gracious providence of God to inſpire the breaſts of a few ſearchers after Good with the deſign of erecting an ASYLUM for theſe wretched outcaſts, a haven of reſt and ſafety from the cruel ſtorms of this world which beat ſo hard upon them; this truly noble and benevolent purpoſe was immediately put in execution, and hath, by the prudent oeconomy of its direc⯑tors, and the liberal bounty of the ſubſcribers to it, been enabled to baniſh all thoſe evils which it was meant to re⯑move, and to anſwer every good end which it was intended to promote.

To bring good out of evil, to render the miſeries and diſ⯑ſtreſſes of mankind, productive of virtue and happineſs, is doubtleſs one of the nobleſt acts which human wiſdom can contrive, or human power can execute, as it is the neareſt and moſt exact imitation we can aſpire to of the Divine Being. That this is moſt evidently the deſign and endeavour of that amiable charity which I am here called upon to recommend, will appear indiſputable to every impartial mind, that ſhall but for a moment reflect on the few following particulars.

[8] And firſt then,

The principal and peculiar recommendation of this excellent charity is, that here the fatherleſs findeth mercy. All theſe unfortunate little ones whom you now ſee before you, are ORPHANS; and ſurely a more melancholy or diſtreſsful circumſtance cannot be conceiv'd; left in their tender infancy to the mercy of a cruel multitude, and the bad examples of a licentious age; without a parent to guide or inſtruct them, without a ſhepherd to feed them in green paſtures, or lead them beſide the waters of comfort; this, my brethren, is a voice crying in the wilderneſs which we muſt all hear; this is a call on our humanity, which we can never reſiſt; thoſe to whom God hath graciouſly continued the life of their parents, ſenſible of ſo ineſtimable a bleſſing, muſt feel for, and compaſſionate the wretched beings who are depriv'd of it; and, on the other hand, if there are now before me, as I doubt not but there are, ſome who ſtill lament a father's care, or bewail a loſt mother's tenderneſs, they, I am ſatisfy'd, will anticipate every thing that could be urged in their favour, they will reflect and conſider, what a miſerable, what a deplorable condition thoſe muſt be in, who are deprived of this, and withal, of every other conſolation.

Parents, we know, there have been, and to this day are, ſo totally void of all feeling and humanity, as even to deſtroy their own offspring: can we wonder then to hear of others, who, in oppoſition to the dictates of nature, totally deſert and forſake them? ſuch was the wretched and truly pitiable condition of many, whom this ASYLUM hath relieved: it hath indeed ſometimes happened, that theſe miſerable ORPHANS [9] were left in their tender infancy, by parents who could not poſſibly avoid it: their fathers have been hurried from them by cruel neceſſity, or perhaps periſhed abroad in the ſervice of their country, whilſt their unhappy mothers have fallen a ſa⯑crifice to diſeaſe and penury at home; thus doth this uſeful charity, whilſt it relieves private diſtreſs, promote public hap⯑pineſs, and diſcharge the debt of gratitude, which ſociety owes to the induſtrious parent, by that ſupport and protection which it affords to his afflicted Child.

But the children educated in the ASYLUM are not only ORPHANS, but what will render them ſtill more proper objects of our compaſſion, Female ORPHANS. The moſt powerful argument in favour of this excellent inſtitution is doubtleſs its amiable partiality to that ſex which ever lays ſo warm, ſo irreſiſtible a claim to our ſupport and protection: a ſex by nature left more weak and defenceleſs than our own, liable to more dangers and temptations, leſs able to ſtruggle with difficulties, or to oppoſe the malice and ſubtlety of a corrupt and deſigning world. The female mind is formed in a ſoft and tender mold, peculiarly ſuſceptible of impreſſions, and as remarkably tenacious of them: how much then doth it import their future happineſs, that the firſt which they re⯑ceive ſhou'd be fair and good, and that to keep the waters from corruption, they ſhould be ſweet and untainted at the foun⯑tain!

Beauty, we know, is an univerſal light, it ſhineth, like the ſun, with equal luſtre on the palace and the cottage: it is [10] the free gift, the patrimony, as it were, of beneficent nature, who diſpenſes her bounties to all her children without regard to rank or condition: but beauty, as experience teaches us, is ſometimes a dangerous and fatal pre-eminence; all the ad⯑vantages of birth and education, have proved inſufficient to ſave the diſtinguiſhed poſſeſſors of it from ruin and deſtruc⯑tion: even where parents have been near to guard, and friends to admoniſh, too often hath it fallen a ſacrifice to the impulſe of paſſion, or the arts of the betrayer; but if affluence and knowledge are enſnared, how ſhall poverty and ignorance eſcape? it is ever a maxim with the wicked that guilt like ſor⯑row is lighten'd by participation, and that a companion in our crimes will palliate and diminiſh the iniquity of them; hence it ariſeth that the proſtitute and abandon'd part of the ſex, are ever active and vigilant to ſeduce the young and in⯑nocent, and lead them into the paths of vice and folly; to what certain, what unavoidable miſery then muſt be expoſed thoſe unhappy females who are left in their tender years to all the ſnares and temptations, all the arts and ſeductions of the profligate and deſigning! the arrows of misfortune are in their ſides, they are marked out as it were from the herd, for immediate deſtruction, and fly like ſtricken deer to the ASYLUM's friendly covert, to hide themſelves from their cruel purſuers, vice, infamy, and ruin. In behalf of objects like theſe, I need not, I am ſatisfied, addreſs myſelf to thoſe who are of the ſame ſex with themſelves: your ſympathetic hearts, untaught and uninſtructed, will dictate all that can be ſaid, and all that can be done: as women you will pity [11] them, as mothers you will feel for them, as Chriſtians you will, I doubt not, contribute to relieve and ſupport them.

But, that we may view this noble ſtructure in every light that can beſt diſplay its beauty, ſymmetry and proportion, let us conſider what benefits and advantages may ariſe to the Community from this excellent inſtitution: let us conſider that the ASYLUM, in grateful return for that ſupport and protection which it receiveth from us, may, and already hath produced a number of induſtrious, conſcientious and faithful ſervants: a circumſtance in which our domeſtic eaſe and happineſs is nearly and intimately concerned; never perhaps was there a time when they were more wanting than at pre⯑ſent, owing, no doubt, to that univerſal ſpirit of diſſipation, that reigning love of pleaſure, that impatience of labour and reſtraint which hath of late ſpread itſelf thro' all ranks and degrees: whilſt thoſe accept the office of ſervants who are either unable or unwilling to perform it, the evil I fear muſt continue; how valuable therefore, and how truly laudable is an inſtitution which tends to remove ſo general a calamity, which teaches the children entruſted to its care (and that at an age when they are moſt capable of learning) every uſeful branch of houſhold oeconomy, inſtructs them in every thing that they ought to know, and, which is perhaps peculiar to this charity, in nothing which they ought not!

Many of our charities, it muſt be acknowledged, have erred greatly in this important particular: with parental affection [12] they have adopted parental weakneſs alſo; have counteracted their own deſigns, and by exceſſive tenderneſs and indulgence ruin'd thoſe unfortunate beings whom they meant to preſerve; too much care hath frequently been taken of their intellects and too little of their morality; and their education been thus render'd too extenſive and exalted for that rank and ſituation in life which they were deſigned for: an error which our ASYLUM hath moſt induſtriouſly endeavour'd to avoid; we imitate not the boaſted ſeminaries of the Romiſh church, where the moment their recluſe votaries are ſet apart for the ſervice of God, they become uſeleſs to ſociety: whilſt ours, on the other hand, are taken from the world, only that they may be of the greater ſervice to it; remov'd from the vices and temptations, and at the ſame time reaping all the ad⯑vantages, participating the improvements, and practiſing the duties and relations of public life.

It is with the greateſt pleaſure and ſatisfaction I have heard, that many of the children here educated, have by their extra⯑ordinary induſtry and application, by ſobriety, decency, and every method in their power, endeavour'd to repay the goodneſs of their benefactors; a circumſtance very proper to be menti⯑oned on this occaſion, as it reflects honour on the miſtreſs who inſtructs them, on the governours who preſide over this charity, and indeed on every perſon who contributes towards the maintenance and ſupport of it.

When theſe, thus happily, thus ſeaſonably, protected ORPHANS, ſhall leave their retreat, and come out into the [13] world, when experience ſhall have taught them, what ſnares they have avoided, what dangers they have been protected from; when they ſhall ſee how many of their unhappy fellow⯑creatures, perhaps the companions of their infancy, for want of this kind ſhelter, have fallen an eaſy prey to vice, and ſunk into the loathſome abyſs of ſin and miſery; how will their hearts overflow with gratitude to their generous patrons, with what eyes of tender acknowledgement, and heart-felt ſatis⯑faction will they look back on theſe delightful ſeats of in⯑nocence and peace!

Here they are ſheltered from the world, before they can poſſibly have received any fatal infection from it; before the ſoft wax can have taken any bad impreſſion: their duty towards God, towards their benefactors, towards the community to which they belong, are here the firſt things they learn, and conſe⯑quently ſtand the faireſt chance of being the laſt things which they will forget; thoſe can never be bad ſervants who are good women, and pious Chriſtians: ſuch, (and ſuch only we endea⯑vour to ſend out) will be induſtrious from habit, ſober from example, virtuous from principle, honeſt and faithful from conſcience, and from Religion.

To Religion indeed, that nobleſt foundation of every good, we doubtleſs owe our great, and, I may perhaps add almoſt unparallell'd ſucceſs; except the Lord build the houſe, their labour is but loſt that build it; except the Lord keepeth the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. Charity, we know, is the natural offspring of devotion, and love of man ſpringeth from the love of God. To the erection and enlargement of^* this ſtruc⯑ture we are, I am ſatisfy'd, indebted in a great meaſure for the [14] encreaſe and enlargement of thoſe frequent and liberal contri⯑butions which have enabled us to ſupport it; from this foun⯑tain of living waters have flowed all thoſe refreſhing ſtreams of benevolence, that from time to time have water'd our fertile garden; and whilſt the word of God is here preached, as it hath hitherto been, in purity, truth, and ſimplicity, without ornament, pomp or parade, untinctur'd by modern oſtentation, and unleavened by modern enthuſiaſm, the ob⯑jects of our care and attention, will I doubt not, continue to reap the bleſſed fruits of it.

The Lord, we read in Scripture, was with Joſeph, and all that he did proſpered in his hand: the Lord we truſt, my bre⯑thren, is with us alſo: thanks be to the great giver of every good gift, our ſucceſs has exceeded even our fondeſt hopes, and our moſt ſanguine wiſhes cou'd ſcarce have formed a more delightful proſpect than that which is now before us: the duty therefore, of this day, ariſeth from the united prin⯑ciples of gratitude and benevolence; we aſſemble in this place to return our unfeigned thanks for paſt mercies, and to implore the continuance of divine favour; the heat and labour of the war is over, and we meet in joy to celebrate our victory, the nobleſt of all victories, a victory over the human heart, over the ſelfiſh cruel paſſions of avarice and inhumanity: may the triumphs we already boaſt be the harbingers of more ex⯑tenſive conqueſts ſtill behind, and our paſt ſucceſs prove the auſpicious omen of future proſperity!

Let us then with an eye of pleaſure and complacency con⯑template the beautiful picture that is now before us: let us behold Benevolence ſurrounded by her attendant virtues, adminiſtering to the neceſſities, and cultivating the minds [15] of theſe happy children: temperance preſides over their meals, humility cloaths, induſtry inſtructs, and modeſty adorns them: theſe are the matrons that ſuperintend, theſe are the guardians that watch over and protect them: theſe will plead ſtrongly for the precious charge entruſted to them; theſe, we truſt, will intercede for their beloved care, will ſoften the hearts of the obdurate, open the hand of the tenacious, and melt even the moſt unfeeling into tenderneſs and commiſeration.

True charity, my brethren, like true beauty, wants not the paint of art to ſet off, or the gorgeous robes of flattery to adorn her; to be diſtinguiſhed ſhe need but to be ſeen, to be admired, ſhe need but to be known: I have only endeavoured to point her out unto you, and may venture to leave the reſt to your own generous hearts: many perhaps there may be, many I doubt not but there are now before me, whom a larger ſhare of the good things of this world hath rendered more able, many whom the grace of God, joined to their own ſerious reflections, hath made more willing than ever they were before, to diſtribute; many there are who wait but to know to whom they ſhould do good, before they do it; ſuch, I am ſatisfy'd, the little imperfect ſketch, which I have drawn of this inſtitution, will induce to contribute towards its maintainance and ſupport.

Amongſt all the fair daughters of charity, thoſe poliſhed corners of our chriſtian temple, the ASYLUM, ſeems to boaſt ſuperior charms, and to ſhine forth with diſtinguiſh'd luſtre: like that innocence which ſhe preſerves, and that virtue which ſhe protects; ſhe may be betrayed, ſuſpected, or tra⯑duced, but like them, ſhe will ſtill be cheriſhed by the good, and received by the worthy: whether we conſider the diſtreſſes [16] which ſhe relieves, or the miſeries which ſhe prevents, the bleſſings which ſhe beſtows on the preſent age, or the felicity which ſhe inſures for the future, ſhe muſt appear in every light moſt amiable and praiſe worthy; her form is pleaſing, her manners plain and unaffected, her religion pure and undefiled: in a word, ſhe attracts by her ſimplicity, engages by her be⯑haviour, encourages by her tenderneſs, animates by her ex⯑ample; as if it were her ambition, and a nobler ſhe cannot have, to imitate in all things that gracious and benignant QUEEN who hath condeſcended to patronize and protect her.

To conclude then;

Whatever may be our ſtate or condition in this life, we are all of us, like thoſe whom I have been here endeavouring to recommend to you, ſubject to dangers, temptations, and diſtreſs: no rank or ſtation, how exalted ſoever, can totally exempt us from thoſe ſorrows or misfortunes which are the common lot and portion of mortality: who is there amongſt us, that may not ſometimes wiſh for an ASYLUM? ſhall we not then, whilſt we have it in our power, beſtow that ſhelter and relief on others which we ourſelves may one day ſtand in need of? let us ſhew mercy to the fatherleſs, if we expect it from the father of mercy; ſo ſhall we preſerve to our minds that peace and tran⯑quility, which alone can render us eaſy and contented in this life, ſo ſhall we find reſt to our ſouls, in that bleſs'd ASYLUM of peace and happineſs, which God hath prepared for the virtuous, the charitable, and the benevolent, in that which is to come.