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SERMON VIII.

THE CLAIMS OF THE FATHERLESS AND WIDOW.

DEUTERONOMY xiv. 29.

The fatherless and the widow, which are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied.

ONE of the strongest proofs of the theocratical government of the Hebrew nation is the provision that was so amply made for the relief of the suffering poor. In no human government that ever existed, can be found any statutes for the relief of human misery, that can be compared with the merciful and abundant provision made in the Jewish polity, for the children of want and sorrow. The stranger within the gates, the debtor and prisoner, and above all the fatherless and widow, as well as the ministers of the altar, are

the objects of the special regard of the almighty Lawgiver, and for them the most liberal provision is distinctly made by special statutes, enacted in the court of heaven.

It is the benevolence of the Jewish code, its adaptation to the wants and the relief of suffering humanity, that furnishes one of the most powerful arguments in favor of its divine origin. The ceremonial and national part of the Jewish economy has ceased to be binding upon man, and is superseded by the more simple and less onerous dispensation of the gospel; but all that is strictly moral in the Hebrew ritual, can never cease to be obligatory upon those who profess to receive the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the only standard of faith and practice.

And what part of the morality of the Old Testament comes home to the consciences and bosoms of men with more thrilling interest, than the positive injunctions contained, not only in our text, but in numerous other parts of the law of Moses, to provide for the poor and needy? What heart is so callous, so hardened to all the feelings of humanity, as can resist a claim like this? He that cannot feel for the fatherless and widow, let him go from the habitations of men, and herd with the beasts of the forest. He is not fit to dwell

with civilized man-nor with the savages of the wilderness, for even in their hard and untutored bosoms is found a cord that vibrates to the claims of charity.

Under the Jewish law, the fatherless and widow, as well as the Levite and the stranger, had a legal claim, every third year, to the tithe of the increase of the land. We have no such provision in the laws of our country, nor indeed is it so necessary under the Christian dispensation, where individual duty is so clearly defined by the light of divine truth. We are not, as under the Jewish economy, called upon to support the Levite by the tithes of our increase. In the present enlightened age and period of the world, and in our happy country, religion is wisely left free, and unshackled by a connection with the state. It needs not now the arm of civil power to maintain its existence, and to advance its prosperity. All that it asks, is the protection of the law, and liberty to live by its own energies. Nor in this enlightened period of the world, is it so necessary, as under the Jewish economy, to make legal provision for the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow; for where the principles of Christianity are widely diffused, and their benign influences experienced, the community

will feel that this interesting class of human sufferers have a moral if not a legal claim on their charity, which they cannot and will not resist. This moral claim, in the court of conscience, has the force of law. To urge this claim, I appear before you, my respected hearers, this evening.

I esteem it a peculiar privilege to be permitted to stand here, the accredited advocate of one of the most interesting, most important, and certainly most unexceptionable charities that can be commended to the consciences and hearts of men. We live in an age, distinguished for Christian charity and benevolence. Many, and we rejoice to say successful, are the pleas which are constantly urged on the public, in favor of religious charity. We love to hear the cause of the great charter of all our hopes advocated, and to anticipate the coming day, when not only every family in our beloved land, but every family on the globe, will, through the efforts of Christian charity, be furnished with a copy of the word of life.-We rejoice to listen, as many of us have recently done, to eloquent and soulstirring discourses and addresses in favor of that cause, which lay so near the heart of the ascending Saviour, when he commanded his disciples to

go out into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. These are great, and noble, and godlike efforts. They justly have many and powerful advocates-and, with the utmost sincerity, do we wish them God speed. But, while we cordially unite in all the efforts that are making for the evangelization of the world, we will not forget the cause of suffering humanity.

From the text we perceive that the fatherless and widow had a legal claim upon a certain portion of the income of the children of Israel. It will be our object in the following address to consider the moral claims of this interesting class of our fellow-beings upon our sympathies and charity.

To enforce these claims, it is only necessary that we make ourselves acquainted with the situation of those unhappy sufferers, who by an act of God, which no human foresight nor after care could prevent, have been deprived of their nearest earthly friend, and their more efficient provider and protector.

To constitute that class of the family of sorrow, for which we plead this evening, the strongest and tenderest of earthly ties must be ruptured. To these connections none of us