Excerpt from Help Me, or I Perish!: The Plea for Penitentiaries; A Sermon Preached by the Bishop of Moray and Ross, Before the Church Penitentiary Association, at St. James Church, Piccadilly, on Thursday, April 24, 1856 Manifold as are the demands which are made upon Church men for their alms and offerings, towards the relief of the temporal and spiritual necessities of their brethren, yet is there nothing more capable of proof than this, that the vast wealth of this country is capable of meeting demands far more extensive than any which have yet been made, if the true principle of Christian almsgiving were not only in words recognised, but in deeds acted upon. I mean, that willing hearted sacrifice which is thewessence of true Christian charity. We find, my brethren, that we can part with more when we are compelled to do so, and yet that at the same time we abate not ought of our many comforts. An in creased Income Tax has led many to discover what love for God had failed to reveal to them, viz. That they could have given more than they have given; and the law of man has exacted what the law of love was powerless to win. When then we are met together, as we are this day, with the view of promoting a work of as true Christ-like love as it is well possible to conceive, I will plead with you to aid us in this work by the love of Christ as the motive-spring of your charity by entreating you to remember that, if God had not given us peace, you would have been made to part with yet more of that which God has given to you; and by inviting you to convert into a sacrifice upon the altar of Christian love, that portion of your worldly wealth which must otherwise have been exacted for the purpose of destroy ing your fellow-creatures. As citizens of the wealthiest country upon the face of the earth, you possess the means of largely aiding us - as members of the purest branch of the Christian Church, you are bound to show your readiness todo so, when our object is the very one which brought our Redeemer from heaven to earth - to reclaim thewanderer to bind up the broken-hearted - to set the captive free from sin and shame. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.