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AUXILIARY EDUCATION SOCIETY

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NEWBURTPORT,

SEPT. 1822.

BY S. P. WILLIAM* l&^&f/^ MJri

NEWBURYPORT,

PRINTED BY W. & J. GILMA1S",

9, STATE-STREET.

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X O do good and to communicate happiness, is the sum of all our obligations to man. Every act of beneficence therefore flowing from such intention, and guided by sound discretion, is a sacrifice well pleasing unto God. Regardless of his obligations to his own spe- cies, man is a blank in the moral creation. Not to en- courage others in the fulfilment of their obligations is to be little better. But to throw obstacles in the way of such as are laboring to do good, is to oppose the course of private virtue and public happiness. These senti- ments, within the last half century, have been impress- ed upon the public mind with a power and efficacy, un- exampled since the conclusion of the apostolic age. Their good fruits are already scattered in every quar- ter of the globe ; and by this test the tree which bears them is proved to be of celestial origin ; its leaves are adapted to the healing of the nations.

It is because it would be inconsistent with these sen- timents to decline the sacrifice, that 1 have consented to supplicate your interest in the object of the Society of Young Men, whose anniversary hag now for the first time attracted public notice.

That object, as you have been apprized, is the as- sistance of those indigent youth of our country, who as- pire to the office of the christian ministry. Concerning the many, and accumulating claims of the destitute, which obtrude themselves upon the public ear, it has seemed to me our duty to enquire before we act, and to proportion our gifts to the character of the object for which they are imparted. For a blind charity, is no more a virtue, than a dead faith. In regard to the par- ticular object therefore, for whose furtherance we are assembled this evening, 1 propose three enquiries. Is the object a good one ? Is its accomplishment practicable ? Does it deservedly hold such a rank among other charitable objects of the day, as to entitle it to a share of our alms-givings, as well as affections and prayers ?

Is the object a good one ? — I do not ask whether the ordinance of the christian ministry be of divine ap- pointment or of human invention ; nor whether the in- fluence of such a ministry be essential to the highest welfare of mankind. These are questions which wait not our decision. God has settled them from the begin- ning, and it is not our unhappiness to be united to an as- sembly who doubt the wisdom and justice of his decis- ion. But the question whose solution is to have an in- fluence in governing our actions is, will it promote vir- tue, and of consequence diffuse happiness, to aid young men of promise, and dependent on the public bounty, in their preparation for the sacred office? Is a multiplica- tion of well qualified pastors, beyond the ordinary means of supply, actually needed by the church? Are they so urgently called for, as to render necessary this extra, and in the extent proposed, novel method of increasing

their number ? By the correct decision of this question, the duty and even the expediency in my apprehension of encouraging this Society, is to be determined. With- out resorting to calculations, which on minds with no other data, have an influence as deceptive as such reck- onings are imposing, it will be my object to guide you to a conclusion by the statement of a few well authenticat- ed facts.

The first, and not the least important, is, that the ratio in which the population of the United States has increased, is greater by far, than that in which the num- ber of its religious teachers has increased. The second is, that there are actually more organized congregations, and within the bounds of the preshyterian church more by one third, than there are candidates of the same de- nomination, to supply them. The third fact is, and in this connection it is an all-important fact, that there are in the United States more congregations, in all respects prepared to receive and support, able and faithful teach- ers, than our country does at this time contain. This statement if correct, authorizes the sentiment, that it is the duty of every community without delay according to its ability, to contribute to the supply of this deficiency. We are not called upon, you will observe, to supply all mankind with religious teachers. All mankind are not prepared to receive them. You are asked to furnish a portion of the means of relief to that part of the com- munity, who are so prepared, and who are suffering in- calculably from their privation. But how is this to be done ? Would you diminish the number of able and good men in the other professions ? Would you call away from the sick chamber, and the hall of justice, from the counting room, and the ship's deck, every young man

who has piety and talents, which would adorn the pulpit ? Alas ! those professions have no such men to spare. Men of such endowments are useful and necessary in ev- ery department, in every occupation of life ; and wretch- ed is the community which exists without them. We must go then to the unformed mass of society, we must search out the worthy among that mass, who as yet are not enlisted in any profession. This is the only mode which providence has left us, for supplying the wants of our destitute congregations. Thus instead of weaken- ing, you will strengthen the bands of society ; and by promoting a greater equality in virtue and privilege, you will extend and diffuse, instead of contracting the means of general happiness. Bear it in mind then, that the object presented you, comprehensive as it is, tends not to produce any fatal disproportion, in the several classes of society, or between the number of preachers and the congregations this moment ready to receive and able to maintain them. And who among the discerning, the sober, the benevolent of our country, can hesitate to admit, that such a supply should be at least in a train of accomplishment. Yet since such a provision is not the work of a day or a year, common prudence prescribes an early and steady attention to all the necessary means for securing it. If then from time to time there are to be found in the church, such youth as promise to serve well her interests, as desire to serve them, as need nothing but cultivation and the means of subsistence for a few years, to qualify them for such service, is it not our duty to bid them God speed ? To encourage them, so far at least, as to loan them the price of an education, on the condition that one half of it be ultimately returned to ihe fund whence it was taken ?

Can we refuse such men this aid, and the community suf- fering spiritual thirst, this cup of cold water, and still be said to love our neighbor as ourselves ? Is it altogether just to the individual, is it quite generous to the public to say to such a youth? young man your aim is too high. Your parentage and your condition in life is too low. He who comes out of Nazareth should think of nothing but the work bench, or of carrying the goad behind the plough. Was it less just and generous, in application to the son of Joseph and Mary, than it is to many of the sons of our mechanics and farmers and tradesmen ? I am sensible that our pious youth may be useful in the hum-* blest occupation, and did a criminal ambition only, prompt them to a higher calling, it would be both a wise policy and a just retribution to deny it gratification. I am sensible too that their desire to extend and enlarge their usefulness in the profession on which they have fixed their hearts, may prove ultimately abortive. But the same thing it is to be remembered might once have been said in relation to every man, whom public or pri- vate charity has reared. Yes of some men whom I could name, who have adorned the highest stations by preeminent excellence, and usefulness in every depart- ment of civil and literary and religious occupancy. But had it been said and said with effect, where had been the blessedness which has come upon the world through the charity scholars of Europe and even of our infant country ; men whose names and achievements will be remembered with christian gratitude, as long as the pro- fessions and the fields are remembered, in which they labored. That talents and goodness, wisely directed and vigorously employed, render man useful in every sphere in which he occupies them, is not to be doubted.

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But it is as little to be questioned that to produce the most perfect state of society, every man should engage in that kind of business to which his common or peculiar cast of character, may be best adapted : and of this we are to judge not so much by the .condition in which providence has placed him, as by the endowments which God has given him. The youth therefore found in the most abject state, the tendencies of whose heart and mind clearly indicate that he was not born for private life, ought to be redeemed from his condition : and it would be neither unwise nor cruel,, though it be too much in every instance to expect, for the man of afflu- ence who wastes his money on a skull that cannot or will not learn, to bring about a change in the circum- stances of these youth. Some of the higher classes of society however, have so far sanctioned this opinion, as occasionally to raise boys of genius, by a generous and discerning patronage, from hopelessness, to honor. The pulpit and the press shall give them merited commend- ation, that they set their minds to discover the precious ore in its state of comparative inutility, and their hearts to adapt it to the Creators ends, in multiplying a thousand fold its value to society. The gem which but for this, had never reflected the brightness of its mak- er's wisdom, has thus found a place in the king's coro- net, and the herb which would have' wasted it juices in the desert, saved whole cities and provinces from an un- timely grave. Ah hearer forget not, that he to whom you look for immortality, he on whom the salvation of the world was suspended, was a carpenter's son, a root out of a dry ground, and ask yourself when you hear the unthinking and illiberal, pouring their contemptuous sneers upon the objects of these young men's solicitude,

ask yourself, ask them, if the doctors of the temple who looked with jealous eye on Mary's son, would have lost any thing, by encouraging his aspirations to guide their nation to the kingdom of heaven ?

Were we to confine our enquiry on this head to the benefit of the individual, we might pronounce the object worthy of some sacrifice. A vigorous intellect under the action of a good heart, and directed to the sacred calling, would find a happiness in his employment, which would amply reward us for the expence of cultivation. But we cannot restrict, the benefit to him. We must take into account the increased privileges of that large community to which he is devoted, and all the good which is generated through his influence, and all the triumphs of that mercy which they are to have an agen- cy in extending, through succeeding generations ; till the object, deepning and widning in its importance, ultimate- ly involves numbers and interests and destinies, surpass- ing mortal comprehension. Now christian could you do all this good alone, no power one would think could re- strain you from indulging the ambition to effect it ; but it is my happiness to tell you, that whoever does all that is in his poiver to ensure it ; in the sight of God, has done it all, and will lose nothing of the reward.

From the simple statement then of things as they are, we perceive that the object is a good one, and we ought to consider also that to be placed in circumstan- ces which renders it our duty to advance it, involves not only a high privilege but a deep responsibility.

But is the accomplishment of this object practicable?

Or is it one of those visionary schemes of doing good,

on which we can bestow only our wishes and our sighs,

in the conviction that vain is the help of man? Was it 2

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in fact, as has been sometimes assumed, the object of our education societies, to supply at once the christian, Jewish, and pagan world with evangelists and pastors, at the ratio of one for every thousand souls, presuming on the existence of adequate provision for their support, it might be idle to ask your approbation and your offer- ings. It would be impossible to carry such a purpose into effect. The very presumption written on the face of it would betray our folly, the attempt would lead to an indiscriminate seizure of every humble youth for the sacred service, and strip every other profession and walk of life of its worthiest and most useful occupants. It would be mischievous as well as weak, thus to build up the broken Avails of the temple, by robbing it of some of the pillars on which it rests. But this is not our crime. Much as a multiplication of religious teachers is needed, the supply is not to be procured by a hot-bed growth. No young man should be pressed into this ser- vice : none should be encouraged without some other evidence than that of his piety, that the Lord has de- signated him to this service. And of this, the evidence is to be sought in his spontaneous desires, in his natural endowments, and in all that goes to form a presage of ministerial excellence. Thus instead of dictating a prov- idence, we are concurring with the providence of God. Thus we become laborers together with him. Thus we bear our part in making provision for the salvation of the world, and move no faster than his wisdom and benevolence dictates, who sees the end from the begin- ning, and whose compassion is beyond the control of weakness, whose wisdom is above the aid of conjecture. If then the object be merely to supply existing de- ficiencies, and to be in a train of preparation to meet

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•the obvious demands of providence, as he shall open the ways which have not been trodden, there can be no doubt, that Christendom has power to accomplish the object. God has provided materials enough, both for the formation and support, of all the evangelists which are at present needed, without encroaching upon the other orders of society. We have heard from unques- tionable sources that the young men already taken up for this profession, have very generally answered the reasonable expectations of their patrons. That in every seminary in which they have been placed, they have maintained a respectable rank in the eye of their com- panions and their instructors.

If then, even in our own country, there has hitherto been found no want of the proper materials for filling the profession, and if there is more ground prepared for receiving the seed of life, than there are hands to dis- tribute it, is it not manifest that nothing is wanting, but the will of the christian community, to accomplish the end for which our education societies are instituted ? Should not every individual who is able, contribute something toward its accomplishment ? Should not the young men of this infant society, be strengthened by an accession of other young men, equally capable of engaging in the delightful work, of ministering to indi- vidual usefulness and to public virtue ? May we not all, augment a little, their resources, and thus encou- rage them to persevere in a charity which has strong claims upon all classes of the community ? I am aware that the hearts and the hands of very many of our ac- quaintance have been for some time engaged in the promotion of this object, and I am happy to avail my- self of so fit an opportunity to acknowledge my indebt-

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edness to some of them, for the honor of a place and a name in the parent society. The only question is, have we done what we could? Are there not some who have done nothing in aid of this good object, are there not many having done much, who can do more ? Shall we be unjust to any other portion of the community, in exact proportion to our liberality to that for which we speak ? Must we practice an uncommanded self- denial, to do more for the advancement of the interests in view, than we have already done ? Will our families suffer the privation of anything we owe to their comfort? Will they lose by the commutation, more than the na- tional family will gain ? Is it our error to go to the ex- treme of self-denial, and are our neighbors only prone to that of self-indulgence ? Are we so in loye with that kind of blessedness which is enhanced rather by giving than receiving, as to be extravagant in the frequency and fullness of our deeds of charity ? If to the present hour hearer, your conscience can testify that you have wrong- ed no man, and defrauded no man, nor injured yourself, nor abused the gifts of which God has made you stew- ard, by all your alms-givings, then may you lawfully in- crease your enjoyment, by offering a tribute of praise to the commendable zeal of this Society.

Perhaps you would ask in turn, has this object been undertaken with proper motives, and is it pursued with judgment ? Who knows the heart of man ? Who can understand his own errors ? On this subject I can only say, I give my annual mite, and this church f and this Society of young men ; and probably all others associ- ated for the same purpose, cast in their offerings, in the

* The first Presbyterian Church in this town pays annually a sum suf- ficient for the support of one beneficiary.

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confidence that they who are entrusted with the man- agement of this business, are worthy to be trusted. Not that they are exempt from liability to err, or to be de- ceived, but that they act with all the wisdom and pru- dence and integrity of men under the eye of sagacious friends and watchful enemies, and under a sense of their accountability not only to the church, and to the public, but to God. And what better security could we have, were the whole management of this charity entrusted to ourselves. Be it as it may, we are at liberty to take the management of our own funds into our own hands ; and to withold our help from the necessitous while we have such liberty, partakes not a little of a suspicious policy. A careful attention therefore to our last enqui- ry, is all that remains to settle our opinions and regulate our conduct in relation to this charity.

Does this object deservedly hold such a rank among the various charities of the day, as entitles it to any share of our al ms-givings, affections and prayers.

It is not among the sentiments which I shall ever be proud to cherish and to utter, that an indiscriminate dis- tribution of our alms amounts to christian charity, even in the lowest sense of the phrase ; or that to be influ- enced by the boldness and importunity of those who so- licit our aid, is any just criterion of good will to men. To give or lend to every man, as the letter of the pre- cept enjoins, to every man I mean who is not ashamed to beg or borrow, would be to injure instead of benefit- ting society by encouraging corrupt passions, and vicious habits, and diminishing our ability to promote the high- est welfare of mankind. The machinery by which the real good of man is effected is too extensive and com- plicated for created attributes to invent or manage.

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None other than the wisdom of God can discern how far any action or course of action is ultimately beneficial to mankind. None else is able to measure virtue on the scale of utility. By his judgment therefore we are to be governed in estimating the comparative rank and ex- cellence of the objects of our charity. He has given us a perfectly simple safe and efficient rule of doing good. In extending the blessings of his institutes, we know we are conforming to this rule, and among his ordinances a preached gospel holds the most exalted rank in the sys- tem of means for improving the moral character and condition of man. Beneficence of some sort is the nev- er-failing fruit of that goodness which is enjoined in the second table of the law. But what beneficence in ex- tent of influence is like that of supplying the place which the Son of God occupied when he dwelt with men ? In extending the hand for this end you are sure of pro- moting the virtue and happiness of mankind, and have nothing about which to be solicitous, but what is secret to yourselves and your Judge, the purity of your motives. This charity then is of no doubtful tendency.* Nothing without the influence of the institution it regards, will give to man the high elevation to which the benevo- lence of God has destined him. The more extensively the christian institutes are enjoyed* and the more pure- ly observed, the nearer will the world approach the end for which it is upheld, for which it was redeemed. When all men are gathered to the throne of the Lord,

* The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, a " body intended to concentrate the wisdom and piety of that church," have told us that this is not a project of dubious tendency, nor of secondary importance. As early as the year 1805, it eng-ag-ed their attention, and has ever since been pressed upon the churches and judica- tories under their care with increasing- earnestness.

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they will walk no more after the imagination of then evil heart. But how shall this gathering of the people to Jesus be effected ? By a supply of pastors after mine own heart said the Spirit of the Lord— pastors who shall feed my flock with knowledge and understanding. Are we then convinced that the harvest is plenteous and the laborers few, and can any thing but inattention or infidelity lead us to displace this object from the rank to which Jehovah has exalted it ? The time will never come, unless it be a time neither of prediction nor pro- mise, when to the rick alone it shall be given to know and unfold the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven : or when the habits of the affluent shall equally well quali- fy them and the poor, to contend successfully with the difficulties to be encountered, and to endure long the privations and toils which are required, in the work of the evangelical ministry. It has been said that every district of country with a rapidly increasing population, should have anticipated the necessity of an equally rap- id multiplication of religious teachers, and provided an antidote to the evils they suffer, instead of leaving it to us to furnish a remedy for their neglect. But they have failed to do it ; and they need the very influence we are laboring to provide, to preserve them from more fatal neglects. And it should be remembered for our encouragement, that in proportion to our success, their need of charity will be diminished, and they will be- come co-workers with us in extending the blessing to the fields remaining to be supplied. We are called upon to remove an evil which has insensibly crept upon the bet- ter part of the world till only extraordinary efforts can effect its cure — an evil which without such efforts for those abroad may soon press heavily upon our people a!

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home. Less exposed as we are from poverty, from a rapid growth, and other causes, than some sections of our country, even New England itself, is in danger. Without any deficiency of minds, or seminaries for form- ing and furnishing them, she is able to retain fewer of such pastors as she needs, than she actually trains and annually furnishes for the church. How deplorable then the condition of those states which have none of our facilities for supplying themselves. Let us not de- ny them our sympathy. While God prepares materials to our hands, and gives us the ability to make with them pillars in his temple, let us seize the opportunity and ex- tend as widely as we may, the hallowed joy of those who desire to enter in and worship there. Had we the same superior facilities for improving the commercial ad- vantages of our common country, or of any country, without defrauding our own, who would be reluctant to avail himself of the glory of the enterprize ? Who would say the object had no claim to his regard ? We have not failed to applaud the generous interposition of the nation who threw her weight into the scale of the American colonies, when contending for their national existence and honor ? Ah ! our countymen had much at stake, and the prize was worthy of the sacrifice of fleets and treasures. But how does it fade upon our chris- tian vision as it comes in contrast with the object now flitting before it, the rescue of our nation from the thraldom of sin, from the extinction of the light of God Almighty and the Lamb ! Oh hearer, the interests of two worlds are suspended upon our liberality , in this thing. It is among the dearest objects which ever made a claim upon our philanthropy. It is pure and holy in its aims. It is adapted to the exigencies of our country.

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It is fraught with the richest gifts of God to man. Its steady judicious pursuit, promises incalculable blessings to future generations — and this promise it makes with a higher credibility than that on which any risque or en- terprize in this world's business was ever undertaken. It is a promise founded on the experience of man, on the still surer basis of the pledge of God. These are our warrant for the confidence, that when in the field of christian cultivation we plant and water, he on whom the issue depends, will give the increase.

Let us suppose we were called by a neighboring territory desolated by an invading foe, to come up to their help against the mighty. Who among our young men, ready to fly to their aid on the single condition of being furnished from the public magazine, would not look with pity on the community who should say to them, your aim is too high, your help is not wanted, your wis- dom is to keep contented at the plough. Let them take the field wTho can run and war at their own expence. What would you say of those who thus repressed their ardor, only for want of generosity to furnish the means of their conveyance to the field. If there is any differ- ence in the two cases, it is infinitely against the oppos- ers of this charity. Ignorance and sin, invade many parts of our land, without the counteracting influence of the teachers of wisdom and piety; and spiritual indiffer- ence sees without an effort the desolations of Zion.

Will you hold back the peaceable soldiers of Jesus Christ ? or will you speak to them this language of en- couragement"? I cannot go up to the battle. God has not endowed me for such an enterprize. I cannot be- stow my person and my life, but such as I have give 1 unto you. Here I bring you the silver and the gold, an offering to our common nature, our common countrv,

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and our common Lord. It is an offering made by the sa° crifice of a few youthful pleasures, and the retrenchment of a few needless expenditures. It is sacred to your use. Go equip for the service, be faithful, be valiant ; play the man for our people and for the cities of our God, and the Lord measure you success as seemeth him good.

Pardon me hearer, but I must repeat it, the chris- tian ministry is the light of the world : and dreary as the shadow of death are the abodes in which this lamp never shone, in which it no longer illumines and burns. Through your efforts associated young men, the evils which some are suffering who are now destitute of this light, will be removed, and some of the blessings wThich spring from its diffusion will be conferred on men ready to perish. If you are not weary in well doing, you may without prophetic eye, look forward to the period, when under the influence of some Brainerd, or Buchanan, or Mills, chosen of God, and raised from obscurity by your bounty, an enterprize shall be conceived and executed over which the assembly of the redeemed, together with the angels shall rejoice. How delightful then, will be the thought of having elevated the eye, wishfully intent on such an object, but cast down by the discouragements of an infidel father, or the poverty of a widowed moth- er ! How delightful even now to think of cheering the spirit, having no ambition but to tread in the footsteps of the crucified, and tell the world what it has itself al- ready learned, the value and the freeness of a Savior's love. But it is not among the most delightful only, it is, among the most prolific of charities. It is not sending forth a rivulet, but opening a fountain. It is not merely giving a cup of cold water to the traveller, but bringing to thousands of pilgrims, the waters of eternal life. Of no trivial importance, are the order and peace the in-

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dustry frugality refinement and other social blessings, accumulated on society through the influence of a good minister of the gospel of peace ; but at the mention of the salvation of the souls to which he ministers, we de- spair of estimating or comprehending his value, though the excellency of the power be altogether of God. But how is the youth, rude in knowledge, unpractised and unskilled in the science of man, and unlearned in every thing which commands the intellect and the heart, to be fitted for every variety of pastoral duty, without a course of preparatory study ? And being without re- sources at home, to Avhat but the public patronage, is he to look for the means of becoming a public blessing ? In other professions, the indigent youth, anticipates the profits of his future labors, but in this, he anticipates on- ly the profit of others and a mere subsistence for himself. For him, young men, not for yourselves, you have con- descended to ask our aid. For him, did I say ? No rather for souls who without his aid will perish. For fields which will be desolate, if he do not plant them ; for plants which will die in the rearing, if his hand do not water them. Nay you are come to plead with this assembly for themselves perhaps, and for their children.*

* Of the celebrated preacher of Hanover, Virginia, afterward Presi- dent of Princeton College, there is a tradition, which cannot fail to in- terest and perhaps it may stimulate the reader to go and do likewise.

Mr. Robinson, who brought into form and order the Presbyterian Church in Virginia, when about to leave the infant flock so much in- debted to him, was urged to receive a proof of their gratitude, in a libe- ral pecuniary compensation. He declined it. It was urged upon him. He refused it. His friends found means to convey it into his sack. On dis- covering the fact, before parting, he said to them, " I see you are resolv- ed I shall have your money, and I will take it, but not for my use. There is a young man of promising talents and piety now studying with a view to the ministry. His circumstances are embarrassing. He has not funds to support him. This will relieve him. I will take charge of it, and ap- propriate it to his use ; and so soon as he is licensed we will send him to visit you. It may be that you are now by your liberality educating a minister for yourselves." So it happened. Davies who received the charity became the pastor of that flock, and the chief ornament of the evangelical ministry in Virginia.

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You are come to tell them from the word of the Mo£t High, that the capital they vest in this stock, will pro- duce in this world an hundred fold, and the product will continue to increase from generation to generation. Ev- ery association which digs from the quarry and polishes, one such stone of the church, lays the foundation of ma- ny churches, and many associations, successively formed in the same fair image, and bears a humble part in com- pleting the fabric of human happiness and consummat- ing in the eye of man, the glory of its author.

If such be indeed the character and rank and ten- dency of the object you present us, we, as well as our beneficiaries may feel ourselves addressed in the com- mand of our ascending lawgiver : Go preach the gospel to every creature. Go, rich man, through the agency of that abundance of which you are the steward, and preach the gospel. Go poor woman, with your two farthings, and take your part with the affluent, in the privilege of enlightening mankind. Go pennyless youth, who have hands and skill to labor, and in the fruits of the ground, or of the commerce of the seas, help to bear the good tidings of peace, to every creature. Go de- crepid and palsied ! yourselves subsisting on charity, still bring forth fruit in old age, and through the availing prayer of the righteous, aid us to send forth laborers to gather h\the whitened harvest. Thus christians, each in his own best remaining way, enlighten and purify, and comfort the world. Thus go, and as you are able, teach all mankind with emotions and with hopes more delight- ful than the best of modern poets taught, that

Wherever " stands the messenger of truth, The leg-ate of the skies, with theme divine, And office sacred, and credentials clear —

There stands The most important, most effecual guard, Support, and ornament, of virtue's cause."