who yet may be at this moment before a throne of grace, that a way of escape may be opened to them? or will they refuse their gratitude to Him who made them thus to differ, in being merciful as He is merciful? And let it not be forgotten that this is a species of charity to which few can have an opportunity of contributing, except upon such an occasion as the present so few can have access themselves to the unhappy objects of it. In what arrears to it, then, may we not be many of us, on this account! Let us ask ourselves, each of us, what is the amount of what we have yet done, yet given in the cause of these, of all the wretched the most wretched, yet no less the objects of a Saviour's compassion, and no less within the reach of a Saviour's blood, than we are ourselves. Or it may be, you doubt whether there be a willingness on their part to escape from their present course of life, to accept such a shelter from the storm. To receive all who would be willing to make their escape, would require many an additional institution. One who would gladly have spent more of his time in visits of mercy to those unhappy women, told me he had not the heart to do it, because of the importunate applications which he received from them for admission into some asylum, while there was no room in our asylums for them. What do you think of one, of whom I have now heard from the minister of your own congregation, who upon being refused to be received into an asylum for want of room, rather than return to her former haunts, spent the whole night in the fields under torrents of rain. Most wretched of the wretched truly! Outcasts they are from all. They will not be received by their own families, to which they are a disgrace. Without character, they will not be received into service. "There is no place," said one of them, in wild despair, to the individual to whom I have now referred, "there is no place to receive us but-hell." before God has fixed it, to plunge deeper and deeper into sin? Oh! and who can calculate the evil-something you have heard of it this morning-which one such lost woman, thus left to go on in her sins, propagates around her, contaminating and corrupting those of her own sex, while her house, according to the appaling description of it in the Bible," is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death.' But I am addressing a congregation, I ought to remember, with which it is unnecessary for me to be so urgent.Through your former liberality, since the institution was opened in 1835, 143 of these unhappy women have been admitted into it, 42 of whom have been either restored to their families, or recommended to service. There are 45 of them at present in the house, of whom it is most gratifying to have to tell you, according to the information with which I have been furnished, that “generally speaking they are very amenable, respectful, and obedient to the matron, grateful to their minister, and to the ladies' committee, for the interest they take in their well-being, some of them are particularly sensible of kindness, and feel and acknowledge, that they have many undeserved privileges and blessings. Many, who, when they entered the asylum, were in a state of the grossest ignorance, have acquired a considerable knowledge of Scripture. From being disorderly and indolent in their habits, many have become industrious and useful, very willing to work, and doing the work allotted them with zeal and cheerfulness, several of them who have obtained services have conducted themselves to the satisfaction of their employers, and appear very steady and correct." Oh! and that while your outward conduct is so exemplary, the scripture which you have heard this day, may be fulfilled within you, that you may look upon him whom you have pierced, till your hearts be pierced for your sins against him! The purpose for which you have been admitted into this asylum, and ́ are objects of such interest to others, will them indeed be accomplished, and your sins, though they were as scarlet, will be white as snow. It is now for you, my brethren, to do your part. Through what you have al ready done, the debt which the institution unavoidably contracted, (and which prevents us from enlarging, as we would, the place of our tent, and lengthening our cords, and stretching out our curtains, and affording a resting-place within them to many a throbbing, aching heart,) this debt had however been reduced, through the favor which God has given our asylum with the public, from near £4,000, to £2,000. But in consequence of the addition which has been made to the building within the past year, by which a gallery for the women, a lecture-room, 100 additional sittings in the church, and other important accommodation have been provided, the debt has again mounted up to £3,600. Meanwhile there has been a falling off, I must not omit to tell you, in the annual subscriptions. I am also instructed to say, that the present sleeping-rooms, being far too much crowded for the health of those who occupy them, a garret dormitory is very much wanting, as is also a separate apartment for the sick. I have to add further, that the expenses of the past year have been also considerably encreased by the Providential necessity, which the destruction of the Bethesda asylum by fire, imposed upon the directors of this, of admitting into it twelve of the Bethesda women. Yet, after the experience which we have had, we ought not to doubt, but that your bounty, my brethren, will correspond to the exigency. I would only ask of you, before any determine upon the amount of their contribution, that you would again turn from those who are the objects of it, to Him in whose name we ask it. Has your heart never swelled nigh to bursting at the remembrance of a departed friend, as you have thought within yourself how he loved you? Was there any thing you would not have done for him were he again alive? Think of him, then, who loved you, as all the friends that ever lived, put together, never loved, and so loves you still, and now asks you for some expression of your love. Think of him, of the expressions of love on His part, of what he bore for you, of what he has borne from you, till like her who as she thought upon it, washed his feet with her tears, and wiped them with her hair, and kissed them, and anointed them with her precious ointment, you also be ready "to spend and to be spent for Him," till you also be ready to lay your all at his feet. It is then, you will be prepared to give, as such a cause as this demands. When we are in such a state of mind towards our pierced Lord, (and is it not the state in which we would be always, even till he come to take us to himself, our hearts melting towards him, ourselves ready to spend and to be spent for him?) when we thus think of him, thus look upon him, are thus affected towards him, our contributions-flow they will-as did the tears of that woman. The Lord make the flood to swell within us, till it flow out, in a tide of mercy, yea, till there be a fountain opened within ourselves, for sin and for uncleanness. THE CONSISTENT WALK OF THE BELIEVER. A SERMON, PREACHED IN THE EPISCOPAL CHAPEL, UPPER BAGGOT-STREET. ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 1840, BY THE REV. HAMILTON VERSCHOYLE, A. M. Chaplain. 1 JOHN ii. 6. "He that saith he abideth in him, ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked." IT is the duty of the spiritual watchman to warn the people "from God." His warning must be addressed to two classes of persons, the wicked and the righteous. He has only discharged half his duty, when he warns the wicked, and proclaims to him, that if he goes on in his sins, he shall assuredly die. There remains another important branch of duty still. This will be evident to you from Ezekiel iii. 20, 21. No man ever questioned the propriety of warning the wicked—but many doubt whether it be needful to sound a note of warning in the ears of the righteous. But what saith God" again, when a righteous man (that is, when a man professedly righteous, a man that names the name of Christ) doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Nevertheless, if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul." even weeping; that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ; whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly: and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things;" they are men who profess to be the friends of Christ, but are sensual and worldly. The text contains a warning to the righteous, to those who are professedly followers of Christ, "he that saith he abideth in him, ought himself also so to walk even as he walked." It warns against unfruitful profession. It is necessary that such warning should be addressed to all assemblies of professing Christians; for, saith St. Paul, in Philippians iii. 18, 19. "many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you The text speaks in the singular number; it does not speak in general terms, and say, they that say they abide in him, but "he that saith." It knocks at every man's door, it speaks home to every man's heart and conscience, more forcibly than if it were expressed more generally. Art thou a man that saith, I abide in Christ?—see to it that thou art walking as he walked. King James was accustomed to say of a certain preacher, "whenever he preaches about death, I feel as if death were at my back." Oh! that God may make us, by his Holy Spirit, to feel now as if that hell which will devour carnal professors were at our back, and that heaven were open before us, which is the place prepared for "those who by patient continuing in well doing, seek for glory, honor and immortaliity.' There are three things which the text suggests to us-1st. What is meant by abiding in Christ. 2nd. The profession of abiding in Christ. 3rd. What kind of walk and conversation will justify our profession of abiding in Christ. It I. WHAT IS ABIDING IN CHRIST. is not merely the first acting of faith by which a man lays hold of Christ, but it is a continual acting by which a man keeps his hold of him. The Lord declares it to be indispensable, that we should not only lay hold, but that we should hold him fast, as in Saint John's Gospel, xv. 4. "Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye except ye abide in me." It is not the being once joined to the vine that will make the branch fruitful; it is the continual adherance to, and perpetual receiving out of the fulness that is in the stock of the vine. But some man may say "you speak of abiding in Christ, as a branch in the vine, yet my eyes have never seen Christ, my hands have never handled him he is out of my reachhow then can I have any good reason to suppose that my soul has been brought into that vital union with him which is necessary to life and fruitfulness?' Your ears, dear brethren, have heard the word of Christ. That is the instrument by which he effects this union between the soul and himself. The word of Christ, is, as it were, God's grafting knife, by which he cuts off the branch from the corrupt stock of nature, inserts it into the new and true stock, Christ Jesus the Lord; therefore, says our Lord, in Saint John's Gospel, xv. 7. "if you abide in me," that is a thing secret and hidden, it is not discerned; then he immediately adds, to bring the matter to a practical test, "and my words abide in you." I do not ask you to see with your eyes, or feel with your hands some joint by which your soul is united to Christ-but I ask you to consider, do the words of Christ abide in you;-if so, you abide in Christ. Are you habitually conversant with the words of Christ? Do you say with Job, "I esteem the words of thy mouth more than my necessary food;". do you say with Jeremiah; "thy word was found, and I did eat it; and it was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart?" Do you recognise any thing in your experience similar to the experience of Job and Jeremiah? If your conscience tells you, that the words of Christ do not abide in you, that they have not a place in you, that you do not delight to entertain them in your heart and take counsel with them, your conscience may well tell you, that you are not abiding in Christ. The thing which is more hidden is brought to the test by that which is more discernible. Take, for example, one word of Christ, in Saint John xv. "without me (severed from me) ye can do nothing." All that is important for man to know is contained in embryo in that one text. It is implied in the text, that we have a great work to do-it is expressed that we can do nothing without Christ. Are these things in your mind? Are you dreaming that you have nothing to do? Has that man nothing to do, who finds himself in a house enveloped in flames-in a ship ready to sink? Has a criminal on his trial nothing to do, who is suspended between life and death? And is not this the state of every man in the world naturally? Has not the God of supreme authority issued forth his commands, requiring perfect obedience in thought, word, and deed? Has not the same God denounced a terrible curse against transgressors? Have you nothing to do to keep the commandments of God? Nothing to do to escape the curse of God? Yes, you have much to do, though perhaps you have not hitherto been aware of it. Yet, as soon as the soul is awakened to a sense of its obligations, this passage meets it with another important truth, "without me, ye can do nothing." You cannot keep the commandments of God-you cannot escape the curse of God without Christ; but with Christ, you can do all things-you can meet every demand of God's holy law by his perfect righteousness-you can escape every curse of that broken law, by the virtue of his finished atonement. Now, do these words abide with you? Are they habitually in your minds? Do you feel from day to day, as you rise in the morning that you have a great deal to do as towards God, in comparison to which every worldly business is as nothing, and do you habitually feel, that Jesus is all your sufficiency for these things? Do you cast your burdens on him? Do you throw yourselves, in your weakness and helplessness into his arms? If this is the habitual state of your mind, then there is an abiding in Christ, then I can say-Be of good cheer, you are a living branch in the living vine. We may sum up what we have said, in the words of 24th verse of this Chap. "let that therefore abide in you which ye have heard from the beginning:" that is the word of Christ, the word of his law, the word of his Gospel,-"if that which you have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son and in the Father;" but if you are negligent of that precious word, if it has not taken root in your heart, this is an incontrovertible evidence, that you are neither in the Son nor in the Father, and if you are not, you are in the arms of the wicked one, you are in your sins, under sentence of death, you are reserved unto eternal damnation, unless you repent, and turn to the Lord your God. Oh, repent and turn to him now, come, enter into Christ by faith, abide in Christ, he stands with open arms to receive every penitent sinner, and the motto written over the door of mercy is, "him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out." II. THE PROFESSION OF ABIDING IN CHRIST, "he that saith he abideth in him." This is not lightly to be passed over. God ought to be glorified, not only by our spirits, but by our bodies, by every member that we have, by our tongues. It is not enough for us, as Paul tells us, that we should believe with our hearts, but with our lips we are to make confession of him unto salvation.-Rom. x. 10. So important a thing is well-timed confession of Christ, that it is sometimes put for faith itself, especially in days when men are exposed to danger on account of their profession. This would not be sufficiently satisfactory at the present day when there is no danger, but when Paul wrote to the Hebrews, "they endured a great fight of afflictions," therefore, Chap. x. 23, he says, "let us hold fast the proession of our faith without wavering." Here the profession of faith is put for faith itself; because it is a hard thing for a man to confess Christ when the sword of the enemy is at his throat. Yet Christ requires, that we should confess him even at the very stake. When the Lord lighted our candle, when he illuminated us by his grace, he never intended, that that candle should be put under a bushel, but on a candlestick that it might give light to the whole house; he designed that his people should shine as lights in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. But this intent of God would be defeated if a man might say, it is enough for me to believe in Christ in my heart, it is needless for me to confess him with my lips. I say, Satan would be very well contented with that faith, which would be ashamed to acknowledge Christ in the face of the world. There are many who deceive themselves, sadly in this point. They say it is enough for me to be religious, I need not talk about religion, it is enough for me to have the reality of it, I want nothing more, I will keep it to myself. This is a deadly delusion. Suppose the whole country were up in rebellion against the King, would it be enough for you to say, I am loyal at heart, and yet to refuse to take any step to show your loyalty, and prove your adherence to your sovereign? Would not such a man be in danger of suffering as a rebel? I say, this world is up in rebellion against God, and is it safe for you to say, that you will not take part with Christ, that you will not range yourself under his banner and wear his uniform, and acknowledge yourselves to be his soldiers which you promised to do at your baptism? We read in St. John's Gospel, xii. 42, that many of the chief rulers believed on Christ, and they thought they might then be silent, and keep his name locked up in their bosoms. Ask them, why do you not profess Christ, they will say It is enough to have the reality of faith, we need not expose ourselves to shame and danger, for the sake of mere profession; and so" because of the pharisees, they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue." But lest it should be thought a light thing that they should thus hide their light, as sharp a censure as ever came from the pen of the Holy Ghost is added, "they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God." You may perhaps have incurred this very censure, when in company you have heard the name of God taken in vain, or something profane, something that ought to have been rebuked, and your lips were sealed, because you were ashamed to encounter the reproach of your godless companions. Now, what became of these chief rulers except they repented? Look to St. Mark, viii. 38,--"whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels." If then we fear to make Christ ashamed of us in the day of his glorious appearing, we must not be ashamed to confess him, and lift up our standard wherever we are. Yet we are to recollect, that the Scripture teaches us, not only to confess Christ, but how to confess him. A man might confess him in a way likely to prove injurious to the cause of Christ, in a spirit by no means christian. Therefore Peter says, in his first Epistle, iii. 15, "Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts," it is not enough to have him on your lips-"and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear." Confess Christ with humility and self-distrust, and this is the way to honor him, and to take your pro |