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change of nature, returns to her wallow, would inflame bad passions, provoke evil ing in the mire.

tempers, give a tone of levity to the con-
versation, or give birth to uncharitable
surmises, to uncharitable observations
upon others-that there be nothing in our
habits and practices, which would be the
occasion of sin to others.
A large pro-

Am I addressing any in affliction? And in what congregation should we not be addressing such? Dear sufferers, the Lord comfort you, as he comforts those, who are thus brought to mourn for their sins; for those sins, without which, afflic-prietor of omnibus coaches in London, tion would be unknown in our world. And how often does the Lord in his mercy make sorrow such as yours a stepping-stone to that sorrow, which leaves behind it the peaceable fruits of righteousness, in those who are exercised thereby. Take one instance out of a thousand, and such a one I would chuse as that the greatest sinner should not have to say, it does not apply to me. We read in the 33rd Chap. of II. Chron. that when one, whose sins had been of a scarlet dye truly, that "when he was in affliction, he besought the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. And prayed unto him: and he was entreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord he was God."

The Lord grant, it may be good for you also to be in trouble, by its making you to be in trouble for your sins.

My brethren, do we indeed mourn for sin?

How careful we shall then be, to avoid every thing that would be a temptation to us to commit sin-not to go into company that would be dangerous to us,not to frequent places of amusement in which we might have reason to apprehend danger-not to expose ourselves, where the world has it all its own way; not to read books, which though we may think they would not shake our principles, might yet leave a stain upon our imaginations. We shall "hate the very garment spotted with the flesh." The admonition to the Corinthians-" Wherefore, come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you; and will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty," will be ringing in our ears continually.

And shall we not then be all eyes and watchfulness, that there be nothing about us, which would be the occasion of sin to others-that no words escape from our lips, which would be as sparks upon the tinder of corrupt human nature, that

as soon as he became a Christian, though it was at a considerable pecuniary loss, would no longer let any of his coaches, run upon the Lord's day. He could not go himself with his family to Church, with any satisfaction, while he felt himself to be accessary in any manner to the profanation of the Sabbath by others. What should we have thought of those at Ephesus, who made the silver shrines for the goddess Diana, if after their conversion, for the sake of the gain, they had continued the manufacture of idolatrous shrines. It was thought worthy of insertion in the history of the Apostolic Church, that many in that city, who were making their fortune by the practice of curious arts, as soon as they embraced Christianity, brought their magic books together and burned them before all men. Perhaps you did not know, children, that there is an account of a bon fire in the Bible—a bon fire, made of a collection of wicked books, and which were valued at fifty thousand pieces of silver; and will we make no like sacrafices? or is conscience satisfied, that we have none such to make? I know an Inn-keeper in England, who when he succeeded his father in the business, found a piece of cricket-ground attached to the Inn, and which was the source of its chief profits. But as it was also a source of much sin, upon the occasion of the cricket matches that were played upon it, he had no hesitation, however great the sacrifice, in putting away the stumblingblock, in parting with the cricket ground. Nay, if we be in any sympathy with him, who, if his eating meat, as he said, from any misconstruction of it, from any bad use that might be made of his allowing himself his Christian liberty, should be to others the occasion of sin, he would not put another morsel of meat into his mouth as long as the world lasted; if we have any feeling in common with Paul, we shall be ready to give up, what is as lawful as the use of meat, rather than be to others the occasion of sin.

Nor is it only watchful we shall be not to draw others into sin, but shall we not

also do what in us lies to draw others out of sin? We shall not be unconcerned about the spiritual welfare of an individua! under our roof. I was not more struck with any thing in the life of Henry Venn, than when upon one occasion he overheard a violent quarrel in his kitchen between his servants, he was as much affected by it, as if some great calamity had befallen himself. After speaking to them in the most serious manner upon their sinful conduct, he told them, that family prayer, while such tempers were allowed, would be a mockery; that they must all humble themselves before God in private, before he could allow them again to meet together for social worship. Accordingly family prayer was discontinued for a week, during which his own deportment bespoke the deepest concern and humiliation, and two days of the week he spent alone in his study, in fasting and prayer. This was something of the mourning of a family apart, and of its several members apart. But our own domestic circle will be the first only, round which wider and wider circles will form themselves, as the objects of like concern. Did the centurion Cornelius, while as yet he knew not Christ, discover such solicitude for his kinsmen and neighbours and near friends, that they also might hear the words whereby they might be saved, and shall we show no like solicitude, for our relatives and friends and neighbours? Yes, real mourning for sin, would be of itself a security, for abundant labours of love, in behalf of those who are yet in their sins. It would of itself secure, while we think of the ravages which sin has made and is still making, the world over, more than a nominal interest, in the labours of those societies, which have for their object to "turn men from darkness to light from the power of Satan to God." In every such attempt in behalf of our own sinful land, we shall warmly participate and co-ope

rate.

We shall hear a cry from Continental Europe, "Come over and help

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of those for whom there is no hope, but through the outstretched arms of an institution like this.

And will you not then be in prayer, for those who have received the commission to preach the Gospel, that Gospel which would bless every man iu turning him from his iniquity? You will be in prayer for us your ministers, that we may not run in vain, nor labour in vain; that as ambassadors for Christ, we may deliver our message faithfully, that we may deliver our own souls as well as yours; that while we have the treasure in earthen vessels, it may yet come in its purity, and in all its love, to you. At this moment you are in prayer, that the message which one of those honored ambassadors is attempting to deliver, may not be as water spilt upon the ground. My brethren, with what expectations shall we not be able to address you, if there be such prayer for us, united, fervent, persevering prayer if you be to us, what Aaron and Hur were to Moses ! Ob! then-many a one, on leaving Church, will go home in the state of mind, in which the Eunuch of Ethiopia returned from where he had been to worship-or if you go in company, it will be as the disciples on the road to Emmaus, talking together of all that you have heard, not of the world and the things of the world, and perhaps your hearts burning within you, as did theirs.

The Sabbath meal will be indeed "seasoned with salt." Fathers and mothers will be asking their children as they sit round the table, to tell them something of what had been taught them, or of what it may be, they have taught themselves, and will be going over together with them what they heard from the pulpit. And those who tasted that the Lord was gracious in the morning, will desire again to hear his word, and to join in his worship again in the evening. And what a week will follow, while the blessing of such a Sabbath rests upon it; while those who thus worshipped God on the Sabbath, would show forth his praise during the week! And will you not then be in prayer for us? In prayer, that the word which you hear from us, may be with power, that it may break down the strong holds of sin-Ah, and that it may come with power to those for whom this asylum has been provided, that they find rest for the soul, as well as for the body in it. I would ask for the prayers of the youngest of the congregation. It is in this way, if in any, out of the mouths of babes and

sucklings there may come strength-strength, which may make you and us strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

A dear brother minister told me lately, his countenance beaming, as he said it, that his appeal for such prayer to his congregation had been met in numerous instances by the children of it-that he can now feel as he goes up into his pulpit, many a child's prayer is going up to the throne of grace for him-and that minister was no other than your own.

Pour out upon us, thou God of all grace, the spirit of grace and of supplications, that as those who mourn for sin, we may be in prayer for the blessing upon every means that is employed for delivering those who are taken captive by it from their chains.

The intercessory petitions of our liturgy will no longer be petitions of form.— "We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord," will be said as if we desired to be heard. There will be some heart in the prayers which we profess to offer up for our Queen and those in authority over us, that the throne may be established in righteousness, that it may be surrounded with men fearing God, that our magistrates may maintain truth, as well as execute justice, that sin may be frowned upon in high places, and true religion bless the land.

Oh! for more of mourning for the sins which defile the land, and which are sending up such a cry to heaven for judgment upon it for which we deserve, not only a plague of waters, and that famine should stalk through the length and breadth of it, but that all God's four sore judgments should come at once upon our guilty, guilty country.

Ah! and you who are real christians, real mourners in Zion, yet let me ask you, whether you be such mourners as you would be even for your own sins? Have you never a consciousness, that it is not so much "against thee, against thee only have I sinned," that has distressed you, as that the sin has disturbed your peace of mind, and perhaps your domestic peace, or has involved other painful consequences? Let us look upon Him whom we pierced, till what wrings our heart be, that we should have sinned against Him-till what barbs our sorrow with its poignancy be, that we should have sinned against such a God and Saviour.

Oh! for more of the abhorrence of

evil, and holy sensibility to the dishonour of God, which made the soul of Jesus so vulnerable, in this sinful and adulterous generation, which made the reproaches of those who reproached God fall, with such a weight upon him! If he was "a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief," it was his acute sense of sin that pointed all his sorrows. He bore our sins in his body on the tree, his soul was pierced by them, his life long. To have fellowship in the sufferings of Jesus, he must give us of his own sensibility to sin, or we cannot drink of the cup which he drank of.— Oh! and that He may give us of it, till even as He was, so may we be in this world.

Yet, before I proceed to what is now before us, I would present a consideration, of which every one will admit the force, of which indeed, you were reminded, my brethren, at the beginning, that blessed" are they who so mourn, for that they shall be comforted." Why is it for us thus to mourn, do we ask? It is, that our mourning may be turned into joythat we may put off our sackcloth, and be girded with gladness, that the bones which were thus broken may rejoice. It is, that becoming sensible of the load which there is upon us, we may seek the relief which there is for us from it-that feeling ourselves to be heavy-laden, we may gasp after the rest which is provided for the heavy-laden-that we may cry with mourning Hezekiah, "I am oppressed, undertake for me." It is, according to those words in the 6th chapter of Hosea, that he who has torn may heal us, that he who has smitten may bind up the wound, that "his goings forth may be as the morning"- as a bright morning breaking upon us after a tempestuous night, "that he may come unto us as the rain," as the refreshing rain, after a season of scorching heat, and exhausting drought

In a word, our Lord would have us to mourn for sin, that we may be prepared for hearing from him, "be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee."

Ah! and in the mourning itself, is there mourning only? Is there no star in the night? But does not the sun shine upon the dark cloud? There is a rainbow in such mourning. The covenant of God is in it, that the days of our mourning shall be ended.

Why is it for us, do we ask, thus to mourn? It is that in a little while, we may have sunshine without any cloud

whatsoever, that God may wipe away all tears from our eyes. He would have us to mourn in time, that we may not be among those who will mourn through eternity; that when those who laugh now begin their weeping, their weeping and wailing, and gnashing of teeth, we may enter upon our joy unspeakable and full of glory; that when he shall descend in the clouds, "and every eye shall see him, and they also who pierced him, and all the kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him," it may be for us to hear. "lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh."

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When we shall come to look back upon all our mourning here below, from what is prepared for us in that world of glory, it will indeed appear, as 66 light affliction which endured but for a moment. The Lord pour out upon us, (for the promises are to us and to our children, through faith in Christ, yea, to all that are afar off, as well as to Israel after the flesh, we also are Abraham's seed). The Lord pour out of the Spirit of Grace upon our congregation, that while His Grace is proclaimed, in the ministry of the Gospel, we may ourselves taste that he is gracious, so taste his graciousness, that sin may appear in all its exceeding sinfulness, and that in our whole life we may be as those who "abhor that which is evil. "

Do former sins rush into your mind, that conscience is afraid? Open your eyes, and as surely as Hagar saw the figure, when in her desolation her eyes were opened, there is before you, "the fountain itself opened for sin and for uncleanness." It is beside that fountain, while we wash in it, and are made clean, that the other fountain is opened within ourselves, and we mourn and are in bitterness, at the same time that we have such joy and peace in believing, and abound in hope.

The Lord give us grace to follow up apart, what has been now occupying us while we have been assembled together before him. For what would it be, after the solemn summons which we have received, to mourn and be in bitterness for our sins against our Lord, the next moment to make light of sin, and be as giddy and thoughtless as ever, the next moment to be hand in hand with his sworn enemies, the next moment to return as "the dog to his vomit again, or as the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire!"

Ah! and shall we not, before we now part, show ourselves to be those who mourn for sin? For where has sin made more cruel havoc, spread more heart-rending desolation, than among those for whom I am now addressing you? If there be any of its victims over whom to mourn and weep, are they not those young creatures, who, in their inexperience of the baseness of which our sex is capable, have been lured by them from the path of innocence, and then cast adrift, without a home, without a friend, without character, without support, upon a world lying in wickedness? For such is continually the beginning of the tale of woe. The ruin is the work of one, who, professing inviolable attachment, and masking his foul design with specious pretences and false promises, blindfolds his victim, then abandons her! In an account which is kept at Paris of the number of these unhappy women, who present themselves at the office which there is there for registering them, it appears, that in the course of ten years, there were not more than three or four, who had not been the victims of such deception and desertion. And what then becomes of them? If I may venture to lift the veil a little from the mystery of iniquity, and read one or two extracts from a paper which I hold in my hand, you will learn, what often becomes of them.

There are those of their own sex, women in the last stage of depravity, hackneyed and trading in sin, who are upon the watch to take advantage of such, in the hour of their helpless destitution; they offer them, on condition of their surrendering their persons to them, to clothe and maintain them, and supply them with all they want.

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"As soon as a helpless female falls into such hands, her fate is sealed. She is destroyed. She is compelled to walk the streets, and to reap the wages of iniquity, not for herself, but for her owners. And should she attempt to escape, the most brutal treatment awaits her. of the reach of sympathy, and even beyond the protection of law, these unhappy women are often kept by heartless tyrants in worse than Algerine slavery. The clothes which they wear, are often the property of the mistress whom they serve: and if they attempt to escape, she, or some other person employed by her, charges the poor wretch with felony, in attempting to steal the clothes she wears

and she is dragged back to endure more barbarous usage, and to continue in a calling which her soul loathes, earning the wages of wickedness, a penny of which, though starving, she dare not use! Thus it is at this moment, with multitudes of these unhappy women, acutely feeling their abject state, subjects of horror to themselves more than to others, filled with bitter remorse for past crimes, and forming one plan after another, but all, alas! in vain, to escape from slavery and degradation."

These harpies of women are also active agents in the work of seduction.

They watch stage coaches, prowl about bazaars and milliners' shops, and even go to work-houses, and similar establishments, to hire female servants; and whatever unfortunate innocent falls into their fiendish grasp, they sell to ruin.— Not only do those of the metropolis, (the writer is speaking of London) not only do they travel 70 miles, perhaps, into the country-and no expense is spared for accomplishing their diabolical purpose,but a regular trade is kept up with the continent, and young and unsuspecting creatures are brought over, in the expectation of high wages, and abundant means of earning an honest livelihood."

Through such means it is calculated, that in London alone, there are not fewer than 80,000 females, reduced to a life of infamy, and of these 10,000 from 11 to 15 years of age! But enough of such details. It may be thought more than enough; and I shall be readily excused from going into any like particulars respecting our own metropolis; particularly after the statement connected with it, which upon a former occasion, I felt it to be my painful duty to submit to this congregation.

institutions as this, to bring them to the fountain. It is as in the case of the steam-packet which was lost in one of the late storms. At a time when all on board had given themselves up for lost also, another vessel appears in sight, and they make a signal of distress; but had it not been put into the heart of the captain and crew of that vessel to act the noble part they did, every soul on board the sinking packet must have sunk with her, for all that help seemed so near at hand. The Lord put it into your hearts to make this institution available to rescue some, however, of the many who have made yet more fearful shipwreck, to save them from the gulph in which they are sinking, to bring them within the hearing of that name, which if they now hear, it is only as it is profaned and blasphemed.

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I would call upon the youthful members of the congregation, in behalf of those, scarce beyond the age of childhood, the morning of whose life has been so awfully clouded over. For let not any shrink from taking part in this work of mercy, as though there were contamination in it. For whom did He upon whom the Spirit descended in the likeness of a dove-he who was "holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners"-for whom did he discover more earnest solicitude, for whom make more persevering efforts, that he would not let her go until he blest her, than for that woman who became the first fruits of Samaria? Yes, I would call upon my young hearers, to use their influence with their parents, in behalf of those for whose ear the name of parent has no such charm as it has for theirs-who know nothing of the tender affection, the watchful care, the privileges of instruction with which you are blest-who have no mother But what is it not now to hear my to cherish them, no father to protect brethren, that these lost women, lost and them, no brothers and sisters to be innodegraded as they are, yet, are not cent companions to them, no home-all irrecoverably lost, that the fountain such ties have been snapt asunder; no, which has been opened in the wounds of not a friend have they in the wide world, the sinner's God, for sin and for unclean-unless those become such to them, with ness, is accessible to such as these also, so that the apostle after denouncing against fornicators and adulterers, exclusion from the kingdom of God, could yet add, "and such were some of you, but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God."

It is for us, through the means of such

whom the friendless find mercy.

And yet, without any such advocacy of yours, may I not appeal at once to parents themselves. As they cast their eyes upon the olive-branches blooming round their table, will they refuse their sympathy to parents less happy than themselves, to fathers and mothers whose hearts have been broken by their children,

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