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Children of the fame Father with us, Men of the fame Nature, Fellow Subjects and Fellow Chriftians: if they know but little of Christ, by whofe name they are called; if they live in Darknefs and Superftition, and in blind Obedience to popish Tyranny; they are but in the fame Cafe in which our Forefathers were, and from which we are happily delivered. How ftrongly do these Circumstances plead their Caufe! The Reverence we have for the common Father of all; the Benevolence due to our Fellow Creatures; the Love we owe to Men united to us in one and the fame Society; Compaffion to their unfortunate Cafe, which was once our own; Regard to the Name of Chrift, by which they and we are called; do with one Voice exhort, incite, and provoke us to this Labour and Work of Love, in which their present and future Happinefs, the Glory of God, and the Honour of the Gospel, are so nearly concerned.

There is another Confideration well worth your Attention, which though it affords not fo ftrong a Reason as those before mentioned, yet a ftrong one it does afford, to encourage you to go on with the good Work . you have undertaken; I mean the Profpe

rity and Welfare of the Conftitution and Government under which we live.

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The prefent Government and the Protestant Religion must stand or fall together; Papists are by Principle Enemies to both the more ignorant they are, the more determined and defperate Enemies they will be; as being free from the Restraints of Confcience and Reflection, to yield blind Obedience to their Directors.

The Papifts in Ireland, by the lowest Computation I have feen, are five to two. The Civil and Military Government are in the Hands of Proteftants, and in Times of public Tranquillity are fufficient to keep the Papifts in due Obedience: but whenever the Public has been diftreffed by internal Commotions, the Strength of Popery in Ireland has been fatally experienced. The Situation of Affairs in Charles the Firft's Time, brought them to take Arms; and the general Maffacre of the Proteftants is ftill fresh in Memory, in which thousands perished by Cruelties unknown even among barbarous Nations.

At the Revolution, the Popery of Ireland endangered the Proteftantifm of the three Kingdoms, by finding Employment for the

Arms

Arms of England, when they were wanted elsewhere to support the Cause of Liberty and Religion: and should we ever be so unhappy as to see our Religion and Liberty put again to the Chance of War, there can be no Doubt which Side the Irish Papists would take.

Even in the Times of Peace they are of little Ufe to the Public, being through Want of Education greatly unacquainted with the Arts of civil Life, and Strangers to the Improvements which make Men great and confiderable. They may be fit for Arms, but they are not fit to be trufted in a Proteftant Army: many of them indeed take to this Employment; and they are a Seminary for foreign Troops; a Strength bred up among ourselves, but always at the Service of our Enemies. So that when you compute their Numbers, and their Force, you must place their Strength to the Account, not of their natural Prince, the King of Great Britain, but rather to fome foreign Powers, and to thofe especially, of whom England has the greatest Reason to be jealous.

What fhall we fay then to this State of the Cafe? Shall these great Numbers con

tinue ftill to be our Enemies; or fhall we try to gain their Affections, and make them Friends as well as fubject to the Government? Shall we fee them ftill facrificing their Lives due to the Defence of their Country, in the Service of foreign Powers; or fhall we engage their Hearts and Hands in a nobler Warfare, in the Caufe of Liberty? Shall we permit them to remain untaught, uncultivated, ufelefs to themselves and to the World; or fhall we fhew them the Arts of Life and honest Industry, teach them to be happy, and of Service to themfelves and to the Public?

There can be no Doubt which Part is to be chofen. But as even the temporal Advantages proposed are not to be obtained but by fetting these poor People free from the Tyranny of Popery, and by opening their Minds to fee and receive the Truths of the Gospel; the Methods to be used with them must be fuch as are confiftent with the Nature of Religion, and fuch as the Circumstances of the People will admit. -And fuch only have you made Choice of.

When you receive Children, whose Parents willingly entrust them to your Care, (and others you seek not after) you act by

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Commiffion under the paternal Authority, and are authorised by the fame natural Right, when you teach and inftruct fuch Children, as Parents themselves are when they teach and inftruct their own. Whoever therefore has any Objection to the Work you are engaged in, muft firft difpute the Parent's Right to educate his own Children, before he can controvert yours.

If the Confent of Parents gives you a Right, your Charity, and Benevolence in undertaking a Duty, which the poor Parents are incapable of discharging themfelves, will not fail to give you a Reward in due Time. Ages to come, when they feel the happy Change, the Foundation of which is now laying, fhall blefs your Memory; and thousands yet unborn may owe their Happiness in this World, and their Hopes in a better, to this Work and Labour of Love.

Go on then, and may Succefs wait on your Care. The Wishes of all, who wish well to their Country, are with you; and every good Man, if he has nothing else to give, will bestow his Prayers, that this Work of the Lord may profper in your Hands.

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