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Untitled Article
submitted to the Committee , stating the names and addresses of the persons or families under his superintendence—the number of his visits to them—the subjects of the conversations , and the apparent results;—** To prepare and deliver to the Committee at stated periods a digested Report of all his proceedings . " That the Salary of the Domestic Missionary be paid out of the funds of the Association , but that his poor's purse be supplied by individual Donations .
• ' Extracts from the Reports of the Rev . Dr . Tuckerman , the Boston Domestic Missionary , to the American Unitarian Association . " From the First Semi-annual Report of the Second Year . Boston . United States ,
1828 . " It is incidental to the very nature of a City , that it should collect within itself great numbers of those who are dependent for their daily bread upon their dail y labour . The demand for labourers in a City , considered , as it always will be , in connexion with the facilities which a City affords for association witk many of the same class , and with the hope , often a very delusive one , of opportunities of more constant employment and of better wages than can be obtained in the country , will secure a supply far beyond what will
be required , in all the departments of the service for which labourers are wanted . Some , also , will be brought into a city by the hope of living in it in unchecked indolence and beggary ; and some , that they may here more securely indulge in vice , and support themselves by crime . From these and other causes , there always has been , and there always will be , a very large number in cities who are very poor ; who will feel , as it is not felt , because it is not so manifest , in the country , how wide is the distinction of their condition from that of the rich ; and who either cannot , from feebleness , or
sickness , or the want of suitable apparel , unite with us in worship in our churches ; or , from pride , or the influence of passions and habits not more commendable , unll not join with us in our public religious exercises . The question , then , arises , and it is a very solemn one , What are our duties in regard to the moral , the spiritual wants , of this very large class of our fellow-beings around us ? If we have the means , to a very great extent at least , of meeting and supplying these wants , of rescuing many , who are very near to us , on our right hand and on our left , from the degradation , and misery , and ruin of
sin—of sending to very many , who otherwise will not have them , the regenerating instructions and excitements , the supports and consolations , of our religion ; I would ask , is our worship , or are our offerings to God in our churches what they should be , while we are there blessing him for that dis-Eensation of his grace and truth which he has given to us by his Son , which , owever , we are ourselves withholding from multitudes who can receive them only through our Christian sympathy and benevolence ? To my mind , it is as plainly the will of God that there should be a permanent ministry for the
poor of cities—a distinct ministry for the special purpose of the poor , as it is that we , who are not poor , should meet together to worship him . This is the sentiment which I now wish to bring before the opulent , the pious , and the charitable of our city . There must be a ministry at large / or the poor of cities ; and the number to be employed in this ministry must be determined by the numbers in a city which cannot be brought under the pastoral charge of the ministers of its churches . Bear with me while I offer , in as few words as I can , the character of the service for which this ministry is required .
" I will ask you to suppose the city to be divided into quarters , and that , in one of these quarters , a Minister at large has entered upon the duties of his office He is , of course , to become acquainted with every family in it which is not regularl y visited by some minister of a church , and he is to feel that each of these families is committed to his pastoral charge . His first object is their religious instruction , in order to their eternal salvation . " Look , then , at the work of the religious instruction of this class of the poor . What is required for it ? What is to be anticipated froiu it ?
Untitled Article
316 City Missions .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1831, page 316, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2597/page/28/
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