A Short Address to the Friends of Him Who Hath No Helper

I FEEL an inexpressible gratitude towards you who have engaged in the cause of the African race; you have wrought a deliverance for many from more than Egyptian bondage; your labours are unremitted for their complete redemption from the cruel subjection they are in. You feel our afflictions--you sympathize with us in the heart-rending

distress, when the husband is separated from the wife, and the parents from the children, who are never more to meet in this world. The tear of sensibility trickles from your eye to see the sufferings that keep us from increasing. Your righteous indignation is roused at the means taken to supply the place of the murdered babe; you see our race more effectually destroyed than was in Pharaoh's power to effect upon Israel's sons; you blow the trumpet against the mighty evil; you make the tyrants tremble; you strive to raise the slave to the dignity of a man; you take our children by the hand to lead them in the path of virtue, by your care of our education; you are not ashamed to call the most abject of our race brethren, children of one Father, who hath made of one blood all the nations of the earth. You ask for this, nothing for yourselves, nothing but what is worthy the cause you are engaged in; nothing but that we would be friends to ourselves, and not strengthen the bands of oppression by an evil conduct, when led out of the house of bondage. May He who hath arisen to plead our cause, and engaged you as volunteers in the service, add to your numbers, until the princes shall come forth from Egypt, and Ethiopia stretch out her hands unto God.

RICHARD ALLEN.

Ye ministers that are called to preaching,
Teachers and exhorters too,
Awake! behold your harvest wasting;
Arise! there is no rest for you.

To think upon that strict commandment
That God has on his teachers laid:
The sinners' blood, who die unwarned,
Shall fall upon their shepherd's head.

But, O dear brethren, let's be doing--
Behold the nations in distress;
The Lord of hosts forbid their ruin,
Before the day of grace is past.

We read of wars and great commotions,
Before the great and dreadful day:
Oh! sinners, turn your sinful courses,
And trifle not your time away.

But oh! dear sinners, that's not all that's dreadful;
You must before your God appear,
To give an account of your transactions,
And how you spent your time when here.

Our Saviour's first and great work was that of the salvation of men's souls; yet we find that of the multitudes who came or were brought to him labouring under sickness and disorders, he never omitted one opportunity of doing good to their bodies, or sent away one that applied to him without a perfect cure; though sometimes, for the trial of their faith, he suffered himself to be importuned. And that he also often administered to the necessities of the poor in money, is plain from several passages of his life, one of which may suffice for the present, viz. When satan had entered into Judas, and our blessed Saviour had said, "That thou doest do quickly;" none of the other disciples knew for what intent he had so spoken; for some of them thought, because Judas had the bag or common purse, that either he had ordered him to buy what was necessary against the feast, or (as was usual, no doubt, otherwise they could not have supposed it) that he should give something to the poor.

To this unanswerable proof from our Saviour's practice maybe added his repeated precepts and exhortations; for his examples and doctrines were always of a piece. A new commandment, says he, I give unto you, that ye love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. This is my commandment, that ye love one another as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. I say unto you which hear, love your enemies, and do good to them which hate you; bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. Love your enemies, and do good and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest; for he is kind to the unthankful and to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful as your father also is merciful From these few passages may be collected the nature, extent, and necessity of Christian charity. In its nature it is pure and disinterested, remote from all hopes or views of worldly return or recompence from the persons we relieve. We are to do good and lend, hoping for nothing again. In its extent it is unlimited and universal; and though it requires that an especial regard be had to our fellow Christians, is confined to no persons, countries, or places,

but takes in all mankind, strangers as well as relations or acquaintances, enemies as well as friends, the evil and unthankful, as well as the good and grateful. It has no other measure than the love of God to us, who gave his only begotten Son, and the love of our Saviour, who laid down his life for us, even whilst we were his enemies. It reaches not only to the good of the soul, but also to such assistance as may be necessary for the supply of the bodily wants of our fellow creatures.

And the absolute necessity of practising this duty is the very same with that of being Christians; this being the only sure mark by which we may be known and distinguished from such as are not Christians or disciples of Christ. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

Hearken to St. Paul, speaking of this most excellent way or duty, and then judge ye, my brethren, of the necessity of putting it in practice. Though I speak with the tongue of men and angels, and have not charity, I am become as a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth nothing.

But these articles will receive a considerable light from the consideration of the second point, viz. the benefits and advantages arising from the practice of Christian charity.

In which, as the present occasion more especially points out to us, we may take a short general view of the advantages and benefits attending the exercise of that particular branch of Christian charity, which consists in the applying and bestowing some part of our substance, or the produce of our labours, towards the relief and support of the poor and needy; or in contributing towards such works of piety and mercy as are intended and contrived for the real good and bettering the condition of our indigent brethren, either by public or private ways of charity. And by this we improve our talents to the glory of God and the welfare of our own immortal souls.

Consider, my brethren, that all we have and are is entrusted to us by Almighty God. In him we live, move, and have our being. The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness (or plenty) thereof. We are consequently no more than his servants or stewards; the talents are all his; it is his substance that is distributed by him among us, to some more, to some less, as it has pleased him to entrust us with our own several portions or dividends; and to him we must give an account at the great day of reckoning, for every penny--for the improvement as well as for the principal.

Our blessed Lord has not committed his goods to us as a dead stock, to be boarded up, or to lie unprofitably in our own hands. He expects that we shall put them out to proper and beneficial uses, and raise them to an advanced value by doing good with them, as often as we have opportunity of laying them out upon the real interest and welfare of his poor children and subjects. By doing acts of mercy and charity we acknowledge our dependence upon God and his absolute right to whatever we possess through his bounty and goodness; we glorify him in his creatures, and reverence him by a due and cheerful obedience to his commands. By applying our substance to the pomps and vanities of this wicked world or the gratification of the sinful lusts of the flesh, we deny God's right to what he hath thought fit to place in our hands; and disown him as our master by laying out his substance in ways expressly contrary to his orders; we thereby glorify satan, whom we renounced at our baptism, and most shamefully dishonour our Maker by the abuse of his talents. When, therefore, we are called to a reckoning at that awful tribunal before which the most wealthy and powerful upon earth shall appear as naked and friendless as the poorest beggar, and when nothing but the goodness of our cause, and the mercy of our judge, can afford us the least support, if in that strict and solemn examination we have no better accounts to give in, than--so much laid out in luxury and extravagance, rapine and oppression; so much in a vexatious, litigious law-suit, or other idle, useless diversions, but little or nothing in charity. Shillings and pounds upon our vanity and folly, but scarce a few pence upon doing good! With what shame and confusion

shall we hang down our heads, and wish for rocks and mountains to cover us, not only from the view of our justly offended master, but from the eyes of angels and men, all witnesses of our disgrace!

Some may perhaps say, "Well, I have refrained from debauchery, folly, and idleness; I have earned my honest penny, and kept it, and laid up a comfortable provision for my family." Be it so--this is laudable and praiseworthy, and it were to be wished that many more in this country would do so much. But may not such a one be asked, have you been charitable withal? have you been as industrious in laying up treasures in heaven, as you have been in hoarding up the perishable riches of this world? Have you stretched out your hand, as you had opportunity, beyond the circle of your own house and family? Have your poorer neighbours cause to bless you for your kind and charitable assistance? Have you dedicated any portion of your labours to God who blessed them, by doing good to any besides your own? Has the stranger, the widow, or the fatherless ever tasted of your bounty? If you have never done things of this kind, but have hitherto slighted, overlooked, or put off occasions of this sort, your talent is as yet hid in a napkin, it lies yet buried in the ground, huddled up within yourself. And consider farther, that the real poor and needy are Christ's representatives. We cannot, surely, doubt of this, if we look into our Saviour's own account of the last judgment, 25th chap. of St. Matthew's Gospel, which plainly shows us that the inquiry at that great and solemn day will be very particular about our works of mercy and charity: "Inasmuch as ye have done, or inasmuch as ye have not done it to the least of these my brethren, ye have done, or ye have not done it to me." When, therefore, an object of charity, or an opportunity of doing good, presents itself, the prudent Christian will not once deliberate, shall I relieve this man or this woman? shall I assist this widow, this orphan, or this poor child? No: he rather considers it as a demand made upon him by Christ himself, and would be as much afraid to delay or refuse payment in such case, as if he saw his Lord and Saviour to ask it of him in person. The question, therefore, with him is this: Do not the holy Scriptures expressly

teach me that whatsoever I do to my brethren who stand in need, will be reckoned to me as if I had done it to Christ himself? Can I relieve them without relieving him, or can I neglect them without slighting him? What hope could I have of being received and accepted of him at the last day, or that he will then hearken to my cries for mercy and forgiveness, should I be regardless of the requests he now makes to me by his members and representatives? I earnestly desire my Lord may have mercy upon me; therefore will I cheerfully show mercy to this his brother, however little or contemptible he may appear. I ardently wish my Lord may show goodness to me at the great day of reckoning; therefore will I seize the present opportunity of doing good, which he, in his good will towards me, now offers to my acceptance.

The accustoming ourselves to those acts, separates our affections from earthly things, learns us to sit loose to the world, and secures us treasures in heaven.

To people who are heartily in love with this world, who can see no greater happiness than wealth or power upon earth can afford them, such advantages, I own, are in no sort alluring. To talk of placing their affections upon possessions beyond the grave, or of lessening their present gains, in hopes of future benefits, is much to the same purpose as setting a most beautiful prospect before a blind man, or the most delicate meats before one who has lost his palate.

The person who has a due regard to his eternal salvation; who knows by experience how apt the love of earthly things is to draw off his affections from those of a heavenly nature; who remembers that he ought not to love the world, nor the things that are in the world, because the friendship of this world is enmity with God, and that whosoever will be a friend (or lover) of the world is the enemy of God; who reflects that a time will come when he must part with all that is dear to him here: how necessary it is, therefore, to wean his mind from these perishable things, that they may give him no pain or uneasiness in quitting them, and is convinced that the whole world is of infinitely less value than the least inheritance in the kingdom of heaven. Such a one is always prepared to exercise himself in acts of mercy and charity; giving

up a part, whenever opportunity offers of doing good, in token of his readiness to give up the whole whensoever God shall please to call upon him for it; and rejoices in the means afforded him of laying up treasures subject to no waste, rapine, or corruption, at the small expense of a trifling sum here; nay, is ready, should it appear necessary, to follow the advice of our Saviour to his little flock, "Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens which faileth not."

In short, the love of this world is a heavy weight upon the soul, which chains her down, and prevents her flight towards heaven. Habitual acts of charity loosen her from it by degrees, and help her in her struggle to disengage herself and mount upwards.

A dying person would give the whole world, were it in his possession, for any rational assurance of acceptance with God, and an inheritance in the kingdom of heaven; why then will any man, who knows he must one day die, neglect the insuring it to himself by such works of mercy in his health and strength, as he may be assured will help him to mercy in a dying hour? Blessed are the merciful, saith our dear Redeemer, for they shall obtain mercy.

Another advantage arising from acts of mercy and charity is, that they secure us the blessing and protection of heaven.

Blessed is he, saith King David, who considereth the poor and the needy; the Lord will deliver him in the time of trouble. The Lord will reserve him and keep him alive, and he shall be blessed upon the earth, and thou wilt not deliver him into the will of his enemies. The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness. To be slow and uneasy at almsgiving, argues a strong distrust in providence, either that God cannot or will not make up to us what we thus bestow. To suppose he cannot, is to deny his Almighty power, and consequently that he is God. To imagine he will not, is to suspect his truth, who has not only promised eternal treasures in heaven, but has also engaged his sure word that he will repay it, even upon earth, as if it were lent to himself. He that

hath pity upon the poor lendeth to the Lord; and that which he hath borrowed, he will repay him again.

With how great reason did our Saviour so solemnly charge his disciples to beware of covetousness, since we see it borders so nearly upon infidelity? How strangely inconsistent is the narrow-hearted man with himself, with his own settled principles! He desires a blessing upon all that he has; he earnestly wishes for wealth and prosperity, yet cannot find in his heart to lay out a little of what he has to secure that blessing, that prosperity he aims at for himself and family, in doing these good and charitable actions which Providence throws in his way, and which God has assured him will purchase it! How much more rationally does the open-hearted benevolent Christian act, and upon what sure and steady principles does he proceed! This trifle, says he to himself, which I now bestow, may possibly be of some small present inconvenience to me; but it is given to God, and he will never suffer me to feel the want of it. My Saviour has kindly insured to me whatever is necessary in this world, by promising, that if I first seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and these things, which others are toiling and sweating after, often to no purpose but vexation and disappointment, shall be added unto me. Here are both earthly and heavenly blessings laid before me, so that I cannot fail of a return from God, though he hath expressly ordered me to hope for nothing again from those I give to. I shall therefore assuredly reap aceording to my sowing--in this world, if God sees it good for me, but most certainly in the blessings of the next, if I grow not faint or impatient. My alms will ascend up before God for a memorial; and as he has taken the payment upon himself, I am convinced that even a cup of cold water thus bestowed, by those who have no more to give, will not lose its reward; for Jesus has promised, and in him all the promises of God are yea and amen.

Having thus gone through the proposed heads, and shewn the nature, the extent, and necessity of Christian charity; having pointed out the benefits and advantages arising from the practice of it, and how it secures to us the blessings both of this world and the world to come,

it now remains that some common objections be considered, with a short application to the present design. Objections, I know, are many; and each person unwilling to contribute towards a charitable proposal will find out one of some kind or other, to ward off the blow that seems to aim at his very heart. Numerous, however, as they are, they appear so trifling, as to deserve little particular consideration, and might well enough be examined in bulk.

All objections to charitable contributions may well be supposed to arise from covetousness, or an unwillingness to part with the present penny. Covetousness is indeed a Goliah, a giant of the first magnitude, which is always ready to defy and set at nought the best formed arguments and motives drawn from reason and Scripture, all the armies of the living God. All the common pretences to prudence in the manner or time of giving charity, all hints of reserving it for better purposes, generally centre in covetousness, in the love of money: and how wretched a fruit is to be expected from the root of all evil, as St. Paul expressly calls it, let every one judge for himself.

But the answer to all such pretences of prudence in bestowing, in short, is this: you may be deceived in the object, but you never can be deceived in your intention of charity, be the object ever go undeserving; nay, should I bestow money upon one in apparent necessity, who might abuse it to ill purposes, yet the good intention sanctifies my gift, consecrates it to God, and insures me a blessing, because it was done in his name and for his sake; while the whole abuse of it rests upon the guilty head of the vile person who thus basely misapplies my good deed. It may indeed be a reasonable objection against my giving a second time to that same person, but can be no excuse to me for withholding my hand from the relief of any other object which may appear another time to be in real want of charity.

And O! consider what a joyful thing it must be for a person in a dying hour to have a conscience free from offence, and to see their blessed Saviour, with his arms stretched out, ready to receive them when their breath leaves the body, and saying, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few

things, I will make thee ruler over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." Are not these, my brethren and sisters, pleasures worth seeking after? are not these privileges, this freedom, and these possessions of far more value than thousands of worlds like this we live in, which we must all leave in a short time, and cannot carry with us into another life? And can you ever sufficiently admire the goodness of God, or ever be thankful enough to him for his loving kindness, who hath set these glories and these enjoyments as much within the reach of the poorest slave as of the greatest prince alive? For it is not power and high station that can purchase these heavenly possessions: they are only to be gained by goodness and serving of God; and the lowest of us can serve God as well as the richest person here below, and, by that means may adorn the doctrine of the Lord your God in all things, and bring more honour to Christ than many of higher rank and condition, who are not so careful of their souls as you may be.

When, therefore, we shall leave this impertinent and unsociable world, and all our good old friends that are gone to heaven before us, shall meet us as soon as we are landed upon the shore of eternity, and with infinite congratulations for our safe arrival, shall conduct us into the company of patriarchs, prophets, apostles and martyrs, and introduce us into an intimate acquaintance with them, and with all those brave and generous souls, who, by their glorious examples, have recommended themselves to the world; when we shall be familiar friends with angels and archangels; and all the courtiers of heaven shall call us brethren, and bid us welcome to their master's joy, and we shall be received into their glorious society with all the tender endearments and caresses of those heavenly lovers. What a mighty addition to our happiness will this be! There are indeed some other additions to the happiness of heaven, such as the glory and magnificence of the place, which is the highest heaven, or the upper and purer tracts of the æther, which our Saviour calls Paradise.

In the temper of every wicked mind there is a strong antipathy to the pleasures of Heaven, which being all

chaste, pure and spiritual, can never agree with the vitiated palate of a base and degenerate soul. For what concord can there be between a spiteful and devilish spirit, and the fountain of all love and goodness? between a sensual and carnalized one, that understands no other pleasures but only those of the flesh, and those pure and virgin spirits that neither eat nor drink but live forever upon wisdom, holiness, love and contemplation? Certainly till our mind is contempered to the Heavenly state, and we are of the same disposition with God and angels and saints, there is no pleasure in Heaven that can be agreeable to us. For as in the main we shall be of the same temper and disposition when we come into the other life as we are when we leave this, it being unimaginable how a total change should be wrought in us merely by passing out of one world into another, and therefore as in this world it is likeness that does congregate and associate beings together, so doubtless it is in the other world too, so that if we carry with us thither our wicked and devilish dispositions, (as we shall certainly do, unless we subdue and mortify them here) there will be no company fit for us to associate with, but only the devilish and damned ghost of wicked men, with whom our wretched spirits being already joined by a likeness of nature, will mingle themselves as soon as ever they are excommunicated from the society of mortals.

For whither should they flock but to the birds of their own feather, with whom should they associate but with those malignant spirits, to whom they are already joined by a community of nature? So that supposing that when they land in eternity? it were left to their own choice to go to Heaven or hell, into the society of the blessed or the damned, it is plain that Heaven would be no place for them; that the air of that bright region of eternal day, would never agree with their black and hellish natures, for alas! what should they do among those blessed beings that inhabit it? To whose godlike natures divine contemplation and Heavenly employments, they have so great a repugnancy and aversion? So that, besides the having a right to Heaven, it is necessary to our enjoying it, that we should be antecedently disposed and qualified for it. And it being thus, God hath been graciously

pleased to make those very virtues, the condition of our right to Heaven, which are the proper dispositions and qualifications of our spirits for it, that so, with one and the same labour, we might entitle ourselves, and qualify ourselves to enjoy it.