age when men's minds are taken | eight years that this society has been up with large and comprehensive in operation, there have passed from

schemes and plans, such an institution as this is likely to be overlooked and forgotten. But, my brethren, let it be remembered that no comprehensive plan can ever be matured into available performance, except by diligent and persevering labour in the minute details. The details of this little institution supply most encouraging particulars-instances which would delight the heart of the Christian philanthropist to meditate on, instances of little children, who had been arrested and carried as thieves to our common prisons, and who, after a short confinement there, instead of being thrown back into the society of their former vile companions, have been taken by the ladies forming the committee of this little institution, have been sheltered, fed, and clothed, have been instructed, made to work, argued with, and prayed with, affectionately entreated, and the ferocity of their little manners has yielded under this gentle process, and the virulence with which they have scowled upon their kind guardians, during the first few days, has given way to all the gentleness that belongs to, at least, a penitent, if not a truly Chris-eight years, re-appeared within the

out of the school one hundred and thirteen girls, taken from the scenes of profligacy that I have described; and that of those, one hundred and thirteen, there have been only two instances of re-commitment to prison. Now I appeal to those who are acquainted with the common history of juvenile offenders, whether this fact does not speak volumes for this little institution? It will show that the discipline to which they were subjected, while within the walls of this little seminary that the Christian attention of the ladies who visited it, and the Christian watchfulness of the matron who presided over it-that the prayer and reading which has been carried on amongst them-that the regularity of the work in which they have been engaged, has been so far blessed to them, that though we hesitate to pronounce, because we would not speak without a reason, that they have been thoroughly Christianized, yet to society they have been changed, for they have been moralized, that one hundred and eleven out of one hundred and thirteen, have not yet, at the end of the space of

tian state of heart. Some of these persons have afterwards been recommended to service, some have been restored after a considerable season to their parents; and, my brethren, whatever may be thought of the actual personal transformation of character that may have occurred in some of these instances; however difficult it may be for us to examine truly, and to pronounce truly as to that personal transformation, yet there is one fact connected with the history of this little institution, which will speak volumes to those who are acquainted with the habits and history of juvenile offenders-it is this, that during the

precincts of a prison.

My brethren, some of these girls, as I have already mentioned to you, have been put to service, and it will be gratifying, I doubt not, for you to hear that, in one instance, a young person in service has continued in the same family now for four years, and bears the highest possible character as a diligent and obedient servant. That another has returned from her service in order to nurse an aged sick parent, which she does, combined with reading of the Scriptures to that parent. That in this latter work she feels her inefficiency, and has lately called in a member of this Society to

supply her place at her mother's sick | support let it have it, if not let it cease

DELIVERED BY THE REV. R. ROBINSON, A. B.

AT THE COLLEGIATE CHURCH, WOLVERHAMPTON, ON TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1832, BEING THE DAY APPOINTED IN THAT TOWN FOR A GENERAL THANKSGIVING.

2 Samuel, xxiv. 25.-" The Lord was entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed in Israel."

WHEREVER we trace the dealings of Goo with man, the end and design of every operation of his mighty hand seems to be intended for the happiness of man. Various are the methods he pursues in reclaiming the scattered and wandering sheep of his fold-in bringing them back from the wilderness of sin, and restoring them in safety to the shepherd and bishop of their souls. “All things work together for good to them that love God." When he visits with affliction-when he sends through a country the plague or the pestilence-when he pours out upon us the vials of his wrath, and threatens us with all his storms-it is that he may bring us nearer to himself -that we may "remember that GOD is our rock, and that the high GOD is our redeemer." The mercy of Jehovah appears to be his most glorious attribute the brightest and the richest the attribute of mercy. "The stars gem in the celestial crown. The day may fall from their courses," and dawns upon the darkness of night-worlds may be crumbled into nothe spring smiles upon the dreariness thingness, and still there will exist and deadness of winter;-the wilder- in heaven mercy in the creation, preness and the untracked forest, in their servation, and redemption of man. season, blossom as the rose, and the The history before us is a manifest

universal earth sends forth its increase. The hours of sickness and sorrow are changed for days of health and happiness-the house of mourning for the house of joy-the arm that guides the pestilence for the hand that breaks the storm. And besides all, and above all, redemption rules the powers of darkness, and the "sun of righteousness" has arisen on a benighted world "with healing on his wings." These-the mercies of GOD-can never be exhausted; the loving kindness of the Lord can never be subdued. Before time was, and when the creation of the world was in the womb of thought, there was one attribute in heaven more resplendent than all; and when eternity has rolled and rolled on,-ages without number, that attribute will remain still as bright, still undimmed

VOL. V.

F

even in those days, was boundless and incessant, and that there were some, who could feel the full effect of its force, and be subdued by its power. What a lesson is this to us? Compared with this-what a humiliating picture does Christendom of the present day present to our view? we have men who, when even the chastisement of God was upon them,

fulfilment of the declaration I have made. After David had sinned, and when the prophet of the Lord came to him to announce some visitation from heaven for his offence, he still clung to the mercy of God. The proposals here made for David's choice are these, "Shall seven years of famine come upon thee in thy land? or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies, while they pur-when the angel of destruction was

sue thee? or that there be three days pestilence in thy land? Now I appeal to you, my hearers, (for recent events must have taught you) whether of all the calamities which befall a nation or people, the pestilence is not the most grievous! Whether the disease that sweeps away multitudes indiscriminately-that walks in dead of night that attacks and consumes at noon day, is not, of all the visitations sent to the human race, the most fearful and alarming! And yet, wonderful as it may appear to us, David made choice of the pestilence. And why? Hear his own words. "And David said unto God, I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of the Lord; (for his mercies are great) and let me not fall into the hand of man." Here, then, we have from the tongue of David a sufficient reason for this apparently extraordinary choice. "Let me fall into the hand of the Lord" and why? "Because his mercies are great." And he immediately adds, "Let me not fall into the hand of man." We have in this passage the mercy of God and the mercy of man, as it were, directly contrasted; and David, who had, during an eventful life, drunk deep of the compassion of heaven, and suffered much from the hands of his enemies, hesitates not a moment to decide in favour of the clemency of God. This is one of the remarkable events in the life of David, and it teaches us, or should teach us, that the love of God to man,

slaying its thousands-not in the camp of the Assyrians, but on British land, -refused to acknowledge the visitation of heaven, and questioned the message of the most high.

In further pursuing the history of David, as connected with this subject, we are informed that "he built an altar to the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord was entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed in Israel." And may we not hope-notwithstanding the infidelity that stalks the length and breadth of this nation-that the prayers and petitions that have ascended from every temple of the land to the throne of grace-that the voice of multitudes as the voice of one man - may have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, and that the God of heaven may have relented, and said, as he once did before, to the destroying agent, "It is enough: stay now thine hand."

The mercy of GOD in attending to the petitions of the truly penitent, has been conspicuous in all ages and at all times. In the thirty-fourth chapter of Exodus, Jehovah represents himself "the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands." Survey him in his dealings with the Israelites of old: follow him into Egypt-see him by his representatives, Moses and Aaron-pleading for his people in the royal courts of Pharaoh ; enter with the camp of Israel the separated waves of the Red Sea; travel with his chosen people through the wilderness, and view him "in the daytime leading them with a cloud, and all the night through with a light of fire." And when "they provoked him in the wilderness," when "they grieved him in the desert," hear him affectionately expostulating with them, "Oh that my people had hearkened unto me that Israel had walked in my ways." In the times, too, of the prophet Jeremiah, when the idolatry of Israel had overspread the landwhen they bowed the knee to the idols which their own hands had made -when they prostrated themselves before stocks and stones-when they polluted themselves in the sight of the heathen-when the prophets of Baal were more in number than the prophets of God,-listen to him speaking by the mouth of that holy seer, "Return, thou backsliding Israel; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you; for I am merciful," saith the Lord, " and I will not keep anger for ever." In former times, when Sodom was doomed to destruction, the voice of the Lord God is heard declaring, that if ten-only tenrighteous persons could be numbered within its walls, the city should be saved from ruin. The mercy of God dwelt in the bosom of the deity from everlasting. It rested in heaven before the world existed. It appeared on earth at the creation. It entered the garden of Eden with Adam and Eve. It followed them from paradise. It was an inmate with Noah and his family in the ark. To the patriarchs -Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob-it was exhibited in a peculiar manner. It was with Joseph in Egypt, it illumined the ark of God in the wilderness, and settled with the Israelites in the land of Canaan. It appeared again, in all its brilliancy, at the coming of Christ.

It shed its rays over many a dark and benighted mind, and gladdened many a desponding soul. Since then, eighteen centuries have measured the boundary of time, and many thousands of our fellow creatures have rejoiced that they felt it, and have gone down to the grave in the blessed hope of seeing it hereafter. Many a time has the cot of indigence found in it an abundance of wealth. Many a visit has it made to the wretched cabins of penury and want-where disease and sorrow sate coiled together-where affliction deep and dark settled on the soul and gathered on the brow of the humble occupants; and many a time has it wiped away their tears. Elijah felt it by the brook Cherith. The widow of Zarephath witnessed it in "the barrel of meal, and in the cruse of oil." Lazarus in his grave; the malefactor on the cross; besides thousands whom it has guided in time, and gladdened in eternity.

The heavens above-the earth beneath-proclaim the mercy of God. The beautiful orbs that adorn the boundless sky, and stud the bosom of the trackless firmament, declare, in their majesty and splendour, the clemency of their Creator. "There is neither speech nor language, yet their voices are heard among them." The bright and revolving worlds hanging in the immensity of spacethe sun that "rejoiceth as a giant to run his course"-all, all pronounce that the mercy of God reacheth unto the heavens, and his faithfulness unto the clouds." The earth, too, sends forth in abundance food for the sustenance of man. This lower world speaks, in its teeming produce, that great is the mercy of GOD. While man-busy man, -occupied with a thousand cares-distracted by many an anxious thought, is heedless and inattentive to the giver of all good, the tender herb rising from the clod, and