The value of life and charitable institutions : a discourse delivered before the Humane Society of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, at their semi-annual meeting, June 11th, 1805. ... / By Thomas Gray, minister of the Church of Christ on Jamaica Plain, Roxbury.

  • Gray, Thomas, 1772-1847.
Date:
1805
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The value of life and charitable institutions : a discourse delivered before the Humane Society of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, at their semi-annual meeting, June 11th, 1805. ... / By Thomas Gray, minister of the Church of Christ on Jamaica Plain, Roxbury. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    lie shrouded in the dust, your virtues shall still live in our fond recollections ; and, allured by your examples, we also will aspire to your rewards* Of this institution, which they, and so many worthies before them, thus warmly cherished, I am now to become the advocate ; and to solicit your charity in aid of its funds. We know the calls upon your benevolence are frequent, but we know also that you are never weary in well doing- What you give here, will not be lost. You will be amply remunerated at the resurrection day* Tender mothers S affectionate sisters ! perhaps this institution may be the means of snatching art only child, or a kind brother from a watery grave, and of restoring him to your joyful arms. This suggestion will plead our cause with sufficient eloquence, to your sensibility, and we are satisfiecl to rest it there. There is one reflection, which irresistibly forces itself upon us, on this occasion. How soon the time will come, when, notwithstanding all the efforts of humanity, every individual here assem- bled must fall a victim to the tyrant—“death. €C Glory, with all her lamps,” will expire ; wis¬ dom, with all her treasures, will perish in obliv¬ ion, and the world itself, will be dissolved. But there are charities, which shall never be forgot¬ ten—there are virtues, that shall never be lost And when this present arrangement shall come to an end, and these kind offices of benevolence shall be needed no more, then, with what pleasure