love ?" But, my brethren, our Lord Jesus Christ is "the same, yesterday, to-day, and for ever;" those special acts of his, which are registered in the Gospel, are but the index of his present dealings with the children of men. He is now, as really, and, to angelic apprehensions, as visibly operative, in the conversion of each returning sinner, as when he lived upon earth. He is exercising, in his mediatorial kingdom, the same compassion, the same tenderness, the same mild persuasion, the same generous oblivion where repentance is sincere, the same gracious allowance where faith is weak, the same unremitting care to "stablish, strengthen, settle," all that will unreservedly yield themselves to his blessed attractions, and seek, by continual prayer, for his ever-present, all sufficient aid. If angels, then, rejoice, they most rejoice, at the Messiah's highest triumphs; they rejoice at the efficacy of divine grace; they rejoice, at the omnipotence of heavenly love; "There is joy, in the presence of the angels of God, over one sinner that repenteth !”

For, what is the repentance of a sinner? It is an effect of divine wisdom and goodness, in some respects, more glorious than the creation of an archangel. In creation, God speaks that He may be obeyed; in this deeper, and more

endearing process, He "waiteth that He may be gracious." And how dear this object is to Almighty God himself, we may form some conception, from our Lord's exquisite parable of the prodigal son. For, who is that Father, who, "while his son was yet a great way off, saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him?" It is Christ's own picture of the Eternal Father; with this difference, only, that as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are his thoughts above the kindest of man's thoughts, and his ways, above our ways. Yes; there are features in the divine reality, to which no imagery drawn from human life can do justice. The Father of mercies, not only looks for the return of his prodigals, but his gracious eye watches over them, in that far country to which they have withdrawn. He takes care of them, when they are lost to themselves. From day to day, from year to year, he meets perverseness, with patience; He pursues the straying spirit, through its wanderings; He converts what erring mortals call chance, into opportune correction, and saving discipline; he proceeds, inwardly and spiritually, in that very course, which our Lord outwardly and substantially exemplified. And with what end, my brethren? Our Saviour's words best make known the heavenly estimate: "This my

son was dead, and is alive again; was lost, and is found!"

Mankind has valued, and justly valued, those minds, which have been most inquisitive about the secret processes of nature, and whose experiments have best illustrated the phenomena of the physical world. But what is there, in the whole inanimate creation, that can bear comparison with that plan of infinite love, which would avert the misery, and insure the happiness, of beings that can never die? Could a whole universe of unintelligent matter, however organized, be fairly placed in the scale with a single soul, destined, by the laws of our being, to an eternity of bliss or woe? What process is there, of art or nature, which should interest us like that, by which a spirit, that awaits this awful alternative, is transmuted, from the likeness of Satan, to the image of God; is transferred from the depth of infinite peril, to an eminence of holy hope? Would to God, my brethren, that we, all of us, possessed a deeper sense of the misery and the danger! We could, then, form a more adequate idea, how precious are the first effectual movements, towards moral purity, and everlasting joy. Angels, and the spirits of just men made perfect, can alone fully comprehend the calamity; they alone, therefore, are competent justly to appreciate the

exultation. What services these gracious beings perform for the inhabitants of this lower world, we can neither determine, nor investigate; but of this we are assured, that, in reclaiming sinners to himself, the Almighty almost invariably employs the agency of man; we are invited, then, to be workers together with God; we are called, to be the followers of Christ, in his most endearing office of redemption; we are, this day, assembled, in this holy place, as the representatives of Him, who "came to seek, and to save, that. which was lost."

Amidst the gloriously diffusive range of public beneficence, if there be one institution, which towers above the rest, in usefulness, in mercy, and in exact conformity to the principles of our holy religion, it is the institution which you are assembled, this day, to support. To enlarge on this assertion, would be to retrace all that I have been endeavouring to impress; for it may be safely said, that every truth which flows from the text, bears upon this particular subject, as a most forcible motive; and finds, in this branch of charity, its most perfect exemplification.

In reviewing the situation, from which these once unhappy females have been relieved, I will not wound your feelings, by detailing horrors, which the agents of charity must witness, but