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them; or exposed to Mifery, to an untimely End, or to a Life of Shame and Reproach, by those evil Inclinations, which grew headstrong in them for want of being pruned in their tender Years!

You fee then what ftrong Obligations Parents are under to be diligent in the Dif charge of this Duty; which they owe to God, their Country, and their Children: And we might promife ourfelves happy Days to come, were there a Performance anfwerable to these Obligations. In many Cafes indeed Parents are difabled from discharging this Duty, through Ignorance and Poverty; and what muft become of fuch Families, where the Fathers and Mothers can scarcely, with all their Labour, provide Food and Raiment; fo far are they from being able to attend to the Education and Inftruction of their Children? And this Neceffity of many poor Families among us gave rife to the Inftitution of public Schools, maintained by Contributions for the Inftruction and Education of the Poor. An Inftitution which, however serviceable to the Poor of our Country, is calculated to promote nobler Views than those of private Interest and Advantage

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to any one Set of Men, and tends directly to the public Good, and the Benefit of all.

The Paffions of Men confidered, it is not to be expected, that those who are permitted to go wild and untamed in their Youth, fhould prove harmless, much less useful and beneficial to Society, in their more advanced Years. Neceffity is a great Temptation to Wickedness, and leads Men to use Fraud or Violence to fupport their Vices; and if they have nothing but their corrupt Affections to direct them, can it be hoped that they should withstand these Temptations? Idle and undifciplined Boys commonly prove loose and vicious young Men, and often fall a Sacrifice to the Severity of the Law before they become old ones. Thieves and Robbers must be punished, or the Innocent must be ruined; fo far the Rigor of the Law is justified: But is it not a deplorable Cafe, and to a Chriftian Country a great Reproach, that great Care should be taken to punish Wickedness, and little or none to prevent it? And yet this is the Cafe where the Inftruction of the Poor is neglected, and they are left to pursue the corrupt Inclinations of Nature to their own Destruction. This Mischief is in fome Measure provided for by the Charity-Schools;

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and by breeding up the Poor to be honest and diligent, the Rich are faved from the Violence of wicked neceffitous Men; the Poor are refcued from Wickednefs, and the Punishments due to it; and so many ufeful and beneficial Hands are gained to the Public.

Farther, Not only the good Order and Peace of civil Society is provided for by thefe charitable Inftitutions, but also the Peace of the Church of Chrift; by training up Youth to be orderly and well behaved Members of it: An End which every Chriftian, who has any Regard for his holy Profeffion, must take Pleasure in promoting. But carry this Confideration into its remoter Confequences, the Happiness to which many Souls may arrive through the Influence which a pious Education may have upon the whole Course of their Lives; and nothing will be wanting to give us a just Conception of the Usefulness of this Defign, or to encourage us to be liberal and generous in contributing to the Support of it. If every Gift bestowed for the Honour of God, or for the Good of our Country, or for the fake of a poor Brother, fhall have its Reward; how abundantly shall this Charity be recompenfed,

which ferves all thefe Purposes at once; which brings Maintenance to the Poor, Inftruction to the Ignorant, and opens to the Miferable a Way to Happiness; which provides for the Order of Civil Government, and the Peace of Christ's Church on Earth; referring all to the Glory and Honour of him, who is Lord of the World which now is, and of that which is to come? Give therefore according as God has bleffed you: Here are many who afk your Help; the Poor, your Country, the Church of Chrift, which intreats for these her helpless Children: And One there is who looks on, and will not forget the Love you fhew to the meaneft of his Members for his fake, Jefus Christ, our Lord: To whom, with the Father and the Holy Ghoft, be afcribed all Honour and Glory, benceforth, and for evermore. Amen.

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