Проповеди и лекции

df and Kccurity of virtue. It ia titui that such effects flow from such small means in the Ti»itatioQ of prisons; because the objecta arc friCDdlGss. and the vieitDU form tlio only avenue by which the poor abject creature com* mimicalc« wiih lo?tt virtue and departed hope, opc*niiigas it were a vista through which he may cast glances bacL upon the paradise and bowen of peace from which he hath fallen, and oflbrittx a help to conduct him upwards, sore shattered though he may be by ihc disasters of hid fall. This ivretch. whom society and law Ha^-e givea np SIS ho]iele»ft, whom they wnylay like a w\\4 beast at large, or confine like a mad beast wbei lalcen; thi; wretch thus becomes the trophy of Christian charity; and if Christian charily had wanted nny of its attnbut&a above mentioned, il would have failed to reclami him, U\ likcworid* ly wisdom or nntural feeling, it had been uica in its objects, upon such an one il would never baro cast an eye, if it had looked fur grati- tude for erery ministration of kindness, then iDfiensibility of long practiced vice, and the suUcA- nesA of long etidurcd misery, would long deny any such retime ; and if it shrunk from sacrifice of time, or endeavour, nr aKsisUncc, it would hate wanted both tlie perseverance nnd the generosity lo complete such a reformation. In thos tr^ciof tbe operation of Chriiitiau chanty, and crowning it with success, I do but point out tike suitablnoei* ver ati-^ a IJLJ COD» C0NTieOVF:»&Y WITH THE 1,AKD. 955 of thiit instrument for the benefitof the distressed. It is an instniment of Gods devising; and there* fore be is both to be acknowle!dgt>d ami kioktvl up to in iutine, ami to have the glory of lis j^ucce^H. But of this caution there is little ne^, for it will Dtver be employed, save by those who are in close communioD wiih God, nnj havo drunk deep into the spirit of Christ, With ih© economists who etidcavour to bring: tbo intereftU of the present life to the service of virtue, with law which hangs its ihreata and t^-Trora over the rood of vice and ruin, we have no quarrel when wb affirm that the floftnesx, the piitience, ihe liberality which break the boue of hardened hLiman nature ig no where to be found but in the genuine descendants and disciples of Christ But if the disciples of Chri?^t. in their charity, were mcrHy to Uvisji their Dkcans, wilhatit any eye to the reformation, or the spiritual improvement of the subjecU of their bjunty, ihen might ttiey work a world of mis- chief: but if they keep tli