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Christian and Economic Polity of a Nation
Christian and Economic Polity of a Nation Author:Thomas Chalmers Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER II. OH THE ISFLUEKCI OP LOCALITY IS TOWNS. We do not know how the matter is ordered in London ; but, in the second-rate towns of our empire, it wil... more »l often be found, that, when a philanthropic society is formed in them ..for any assigned object, it spreads its operations over the whole field of the congregated population. This holds generally true both of the societies for relief, and of the societies for instruction. Take a clothing society, or an old man's friend society, or a destitute sick society, as examples of the former; or take a Sabbath-school society, as an example of the latter—and, in by far the greater number of instances, will it be seen, that instead of concentrating their exertions upon one district or department of the city, they expatiate at large, and over the face of its entire territory, recognising no other boundary, than that which lies indefinitely but fully beyond the final outskirts of the compact and contiguous dwelling-places. We do not offer at present to discuss the specific merits of any of these societies; and though, in the remarks which immediately follow, we attach ourselves chiefly to the last of them—yet it is not with the view of appreciating or vindicating Sabbath-schools ; but, through them, to illustrate a principle of philanthropic management, for which we can find no better designation, than the influence of locality in large towns. In most of the Sabbath-school societies with which we are acquainted, this principle is disregarded. The teachers are indiscriminately stationed in all parts of the city, and the pupils are as indiscriminately drawn from all parts of the city. Now, what we affirm is, that the effectiveness of each individual teacher is greatly augmented, if a definite locality be given, to him; and that a n...« less