My brethren, when I look upon that band of young and helpless females, and think what, in all human probability, must await them, if not continued in this house of mercy; can I but feel, that I have an anxious task in hand? Yes: without a large contribution from you this day, some of these little ones must seek another shelter; or, rather, I would say, for them shelter there is none. It is of great importance for you to bear in mind, that, if there should be a failure in this day's collection, that failure will be met by a corresponding reduction of the parliamentary grant while, on the other hand, every additional pound you give, will secure an increase of the government allowance, to the same amount. It is this which makes the charity sermon, of such peculiar importance to this establishment. May, then, the result of to-day cheer many an orphan's heart! May it enable the conductors of this blessed asylum to say to its present inmates, "Fear not, little flock: for God has touched the hearts of your benefactors; and you have still a home, and a refuge from the storm!"

But oh! may it enable them to do more than this! May it enable them to admit many, who are now, of necessity, excluded; and who plead, in vain, that they are, in childhood, wanderers upon the world; that no one listens to their

VOL. II.

complaints, and no man careth for their souls; that no one stops to hear them, when they ask, what they must do to be saved, or how they may find the road which will lead them to God, and to meet their father and mother again in heaven!

Oh! my Christian friends, on your individual contribution, the fate of one of these little ones, may depend. God acts by means: and your contribution may open a door, not only of temporal deliverance, but of eternal salvation, to some lamb of the flock, now wandering amongst wolves; but destined, through your instrumentality, to join the band of innocents above, and to rest in the arms of the great Shepherd of the sheep. If you are now doubting, how much you ought to give, lean to the side of mercy; let compassion for the fatherless turn the scale. If you are hesitating between two sums, think of your own children; and remember how you would feel, if called upon to leave them, without your care, upon the world. Can you take a means, more likely to draw down the Divine blessing upon them, and secure your continuance with them, than to hear the orphan's prayers, and wipe away the orphan's tears?

Believe me that, if you give, this day, something more than you intended, on coming here, you will never repent it. You will lay out your

money on good security. What you bestow in faith, what you give for Christ's sake, will be abundantly repaid; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. The Lord will deliver you in the time of trouble. The Lord will strengthen you upon the bed of languishing, and make all your bed in your sickness. The Lord will recompense you, at the resurrection of the just. And oh! when, through the merits of Him who died, the just, for the unjust, we reach that happy country, where there is no death, neither sorrow, nor crying, what joyful re-unions shall we see ! Parents and children, friends and relations, all that were one in Jesus, and soldiers of the cross, will meet again. Yes, my brethren; win souls to God, and your reward will be, to behold them in glory. Provide the means, by which these little ones may be brought to their Saviour; and they will arise before an assembled world, and call you blessed. Their parents, if numbered with the Lord's people, will stand up in the assembly of the saints, and say; "Behold the man, who saved our child from temporal and eternal misery." Their angels, who always behold the face of God, will descend from their thrones, to meet you, and to claim your everlasting friendship. Their Saviour, whom all the angels worship, will say, " Inasmuch as ye did it

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unto one of the least of these, ye did it unto me." Yes, he will call you up, to sit among the princes and nobles of his kingdom. He will distinguish you by a name, far above all ranks and orders of this world below. Amongst the high aristocracy of heaven, your style and title shall be, "The father of the fatherless, and the orphan's friend."

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SERMON XIX.

REVELATION, vii. 14.

"THESE ARE THEY WHICH CAME OUT OF GREAT TRIBU

LATION; AND HAVE WASHED THEIR ROBES, AND
MADE THEM WHITE, IN THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB."

No man who reads the Scripture, can deny that it is his duty, and no man who reads the Scripture to advantage, can doubt that it is his happiness, to set the Lord always before him, to meditate on him continually, to remember him upon his bed, and to think of him when he is waking. Nor can the human understanding, thus employed upon so vast an object, fail to exult in the immensity of its prospects, and give full range to its capacities and powers, upon so various and boundless a field of exercise. And though the light of revelation, alone, can guide our footsteps safely, through the trackless space; and though to be wise above what is written, is but to grope in the darkness of our own presumption; yet it is the nature of that truth which shines from heaven, to set us free: and, therefore, to compare spiritual things with spiritual, and to