who is penitent, labouring under such a fear, may safely rest assured, he has NOT committed that sin. For, certainly, those who have done so, are regardless of its consequences; and are left to the blindness, hardness, and desperate wickedness of their own hearts. I therefore repeat it again, for your relief, that if you are in sorrow, under an apprehension that you have committed this great sin, it is a plain proof that you have not done it. Let these reflections aid in promoting your relief; and may the Lord grant you the Spirit of truth; the Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever!

VI. I will offer you one more reflection for your consolation. The journey of life, however painful, is but very short. Let us, therefore, cast our eyes towards an everlasting home. Christ, by his grace, can bear you through all your sorrows, and grant you a hope, full of immortality and glory. The days of your mourning will soon be ended; and every tear shall be wiped away. By arguments of this description, the compassionate Saviour consoled his disconsolate disciples; let not your heart be troubled ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are

:

many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you: I go to prepare a place for you. John 14. 1. In that heavenly habitation, no cloud shall exist. The mind, which had been feeble, shall bend no more; but grasp in full vision, the realities of eternity, where there is fulness of joy, and pleasures for evermore.

With these charming prospects, I will conclude this discourse, by recommending to you the consoling words of David, which he wrote when he was under a very severe depression of mind; sincerely wishing that the Lord may enable you to adopt them as your own. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance and my God.AMEN.

APPENDIX.

RELIGIOUS service was commenced in the Lunatic

Asylum, by request of the Governors of the City Hospital, the superintending Committee, and the attending Physicians, in hope, through the smiles of the Lord, it might prove beneficial to the patients. There were about forty unfortunates assembled, and behaved with great propriety; several of them, of their own accord, kneeling in time of prayer. One female said to Mrs. Wetmore, "if I live to get home, I will crawl on my hands and knees, but what I will go to church." Another said to me, "how good it is to hear of a Saviour we once loved." On my going out of the yard door, one of the men hastily came and took me by the hand, saying, "Mr. Stanford, I thank you for coming here to comfort us." I asked him if he had attended service in the hall? He replied, " O yes, but then, Mr. Stanford, none can comfort us but Jesus Christ."

In future services in this Asylum, I shall think it most prudent to avoid particular reference to the mental derangement of the patients; as, like unfortunates of other classes, they shrink at being told of their unhappy situation. Still, I considered myself justified in describing their case, and offering them consolation, in this very plain introductory discourse.

THE END.