stupendous edifices were raised which still strike the traveller with wonder and admiration as he follows the waters of the Nile, or ruminates amidst the ruins of Palmyra, or reflects on the ravages of time when surrounded by the splendid desolation of ancient Greece. No, the work was effected by ordinary mortals. One superior mind presided indeed, but all his great conceptions were carried into effect by the united efforts of men like unto ourselves. Far in the depths of the ocean there arise mountain-rocks which, from the bottom of an almost immeasurable sea, stretch upward to the surface of the waters. These are stupendous beds of coral, the work of tiny beings, which, age after age, attach themselves to the growing mass, and then perishing, accumulate, by insensible degrees, these mountains of the sea; which at once bid proud defiance to the fury of the tempest, and present everlasting monuments of the efficacy of united operations. In the same manner, that building up in the heart of a holy temple to God, and in the world a pure and holy church, which is the great object of true religion, is to be effected, not by one but by many hands; and as the building up of those stupendous rocks takes place by a series of the smallest depositions, so may every laborer, however little his means, give an efficient aid towards the edification of the church of Christ. What a general, however eminent in talent and prowess, would prove to be without soldiers, that is a reformer without associates. Cæsar, we are wont to say, won the battle. And Cæsar may have laid the plans and guided the measures, and infused the spirit that mainly contributed to success; but who bore the tug of war, the labor and toil of the day; who supplied the heart and sinews, that quailed not through fear, nor sunk even after the exhaustion of fatigue? Not Cæsar, but his comrades. And so it is in the moral changes which have taken place. Wickliffe was succeeded by Huss, and Huss by Luther, and Luther fought the fearful battle, attended by a host of gallant companions; and to the present day the completion of their labors, in so far as it is effectually sought, is sought, not by scattered and insulated efforts, but by the binding together of the friends of human improvement, and the united action of many harmonious and concurring members. Even he who came forth to the great work under the special aid of the Almighty, sought in co-operation, and the co-operation even of fishermen, the means of success; and his apostles, in their turn, never failed, wherever they established a church, to appoint some prophets, some evangelists, some teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifiying of the body of Christ, from whom the whole body, fitly compacted and connected together by the aid of every joint, and according to the proportionate operation of every single limb, thriveth to the improvement of itself in love. Men and brethren, the path of duty is plain before you; happy for yourselves, happy for the church, happy for the world, if ye walk therein. REPORT. To the Executive Committee of the AMERICAN UNITARIAN ASSOCIATION. GENTLEMEN, My connection with the Ministry to the Poor commenced under pleasing auspices in 1832. While still at Cambridge, early in the spring of that year, I was requested to preach in the vacant pulpit of the Friend Street Chapel. I cheerfully complied; and finding that the continuation of my services would relieve the gentlemen upon whom the supply of the desk had devolved, and promote at the same time the objects of the Chapel, I freely gave that also. The evening lecture was held each Sabbath, till the usual time of closing the house on account of the hot weather. Meanwhile, I had called upon Dr Tuckerman, and offered him any assistance, that I could give, in the visiting to which his labors had for some time been confined. It was with great pleasure, on my part, that I was immediately permitted to visit with him among the people of his charge. Almost every forenoon of the remaining spring, and following summer, was passed in his company, as he ministered to the temporal and spiritual wants |