can do, you do not discharge your obligations.  You have entered into the service of the Lord, and he requires you to do what you can.  It then becomes a matter of serious inquiry, “What can I do?” It is an interesting fact, that the great moral enterprises of the present day, both for the conversion of the world, and for ameliorating the temporal condition of the poor, are in a great measure sustained by the energy of female influence.  This influence is felt in every department of society; and must be, wherever the principles of the gospel prevail, so as to elevate your sex to the station which properly belongs to them.  I will endeavor to point out some of the principal channels through which it can be exerted.

I. You may make your influence felt in the Bible Society. You know the grand object of this society is to put a copy of the Holy Scriptures within the reach of every individual of the human race.  The spirit of Christ is that of the most expansive benevolence.  If you possess this spirit, and value the sacred treasure contained in God’s word as you ought, you will feel a thrilling interest in this cause.  Your heart will overflow with compassion for those poor souls who have not the word of life.  What, then, must be your emotions, when you consider that more than six hundred millions of your fellow-beings, as good by nature as yourself, are destitute of the Bible?  The population of the whole world is estimated at seven hundred and thirty-seven millions.  Of these, five hundred and nine millions are heathen, and one hundred and fifty-six millions are Roman and Greek Catholics; nearly all of whom are destitute of the word of God.  This leaves but seventy-two millions who are called Protestants; but a vast number of these, even in our highly favored land, are living without the Bible.  Can you say with the Psalmist, “Oh how love I thy law!  It is my meditation all the day”?  How, then, must your heart bleed in view of these facts!  “But,” perhaps you reply, “what can I do for these perishing millions?” I answer, Do what you can.  This is all that God requires of you.  Although what you can do will be but as a drop of water in the ocean, compared with what is to be done, yet it may be the means of saving many perishing souls.  You can become a member of the Bible Society.  You can act as a visitor and collector, both to ascertain and supply those families which are destitute of the word of life, and to obtain the means of supplying others.  And if no female Bible Society exists in the place where your lot is cast, you can exert your influence among the ladies of your acquaintance to form one.  And in his measure I would advise you to persevere, even though you find at first only two or three to unite with you.  All obstacles in the way of benevolent enterprises vanish before a spirit of prayerful perseverance, and untiring exertion.