held such language as this towards any sincere penitent. It is the glory of our religion, that it professes to be able to save all classes of human culprits. Other systems may deal in nice distinctions, balance the various degrees of guilt, and promise the divine favour only to those whose history has not been marked by wide aberrations from rectitude, and gross violations of purity. But Christianity takes a different and a broader ground. It concludes all under sin, and provides a method of recovery suited to the condition, and commensurate with the exigencies, of all. It does not, indeed, espouse a doctrine similar to that so strenuously defended by the ancient Stoics, who maintained that there is absolutely no difference in respect to the moral demerit of crimes. It admits that there are many degrees of human guilt, which will be rigidly discriminated by the sovereign Judge, in pronouncing the sentence of final condemnation. But then it teaches us, that the least degree, if not repented of, will doom the violator of the divine law to endless misery, while the greatest will not be sufficient to exclude the truly penitent offender from everlasting happiness. It informs us, that the sacrifice of Christ, being of infinite value, has satisfied every demand of justice against the race of man, and that there is now no obstacle to the pardon of any transgressor, who manifests by repentance and faith, a sincere desire to obtain such pardon. This, brethren, is the amount of the message from on high, published in the gospel. And surely it would have been unworthy of the wisdom and benevolence of Heaven, to devise and reveal a scheme of salvation less comprehensive in its nature and provisions. There is no feature belonging to Christianity, so clearly and conclusively indicative of its celestial origin, as the fact, that it points us to a personage whose blood cleanseth from all sin, and who is able to

save to the very uttermost, those who come unto God by him. This, as we have said, is the glory of our religion. Let us always avoid every set of theological dogmas, which has the smallest tendency to obscure it.

Again, we may learn from the passage before us, some of the attributes of that repentance, which is required by the gospel, as a preliminary to the pardon of sin. We see that it implies a poignant regret for the offences which we have committed against the divine majesty. Nothing could exceed the sorrow of this female, whose tears fell in torrents on the feet of her Saviour. And what was the cause of her grief? Did it arise purely from the reflection that she had lost, in consequence of her vicious course of life, the favour of her friends, and the esteem of society? Surely not; else her first transgression, which must have awakened the same reflection, would have been equally efficacious in producing the same result. The bitterness of soul which she now experienced, proceeded from an entirely new train of thought. Her eyes were at last opened to see that her conduct, besides its injurious effect upon her character and happiness in this world, was a violation of the divine law, and placed her in the awful attitude of a rebel against that God, in whose hand was her breath, and whose were all her ways. She perceived that she had been criminal in a manner, and to a degree, of which she had not before the most vague conception. The overwhelming conviction came upon her, that she had abused the mercies, and insulted the authority of her highest-her heavenly Benefactor. Yes, this was the feeling which predominated in her bosom, and rendered her penitence so acute.-A second distinguishing feature of her repentance, was, that it was accompanied with some hope of forgiveness. Her remorse, however great, was not marked by absolute despair. She believed that

Christ was able to speak peace to her troubled soul, and, under the influence of this belief, determined to apply to him for mercy. The very fact of her application, would seem to prove, that she cherished an idea, that there was, at least, a possibility of its being attended with success. But the concluding words in which our Lord addressed her, establish the point beyond dispute. "Thy FAITH," said he, "hath saved thee; go in peace." It is evident, then, that the repentance of this woman was what some religious writers have termed, a "believing repentance." -A third attribute by which it was characterized, was the ardent love to Jesus which accompanied it. We cannot conceive of affection more humble, disinterested and fervent, than was displayed by this female. Her conduct evinced, that there was no kindly office, however menial, which she would not gladly have performed for Christ.

Another leading idea involved in the passage which we are considering, is that the individual who becomes sincerely penitent, will, in general, love and serve his Redeemer, with a zeal proportionate to the enormity of his previous career. This truth is beautifully illustrated by our Lord, in the case of the creditor and two debtors, which he proposed to the Pharisee, and from which he deduced the conclusion, that they to whom much is forgiven, will love much. It is natural, that the man who is arrested by divine grace, in the full tide of iniquity—in the midst of a course which was carrying him, with more than ordinary rapidity, down to the world of wo-should be penetrated with the deepest sense of the value and importance of the benefit thus conferred upon him, and should, consequently, cherish the most ardent affection for the Author of his deliverance from impending misery. How strikingly does the example of the apostle Paul

elucidate and confirm the principle to which we are now directing your attention. We know, that, previous to his conversion, he was one of the bitterest and most dangerous enemies to the cause of Christ. He had conceived a deadly hostility to the gospel, and he was not a man whose opinions exerted little influence over his conduct. Bold, energetic and restless in his disposition, he could not remain an inert opposer of a religious system which he disliked. He at once threw himself into the van of the persecution which was gathering against the followers of Jesus of Nazareth. So fierce and cruel was the zeal which raged in his bosom, that he spared neither age nor sex; and when he had finished, as he supposed, the diabolical work at Jerusalem, he set out on a crusade against the Christian fugitives, who had sought an asylum from death or imprisonment in the surrounding cities. Such was Paul before he became a penitent believer in the gospel. And what was Paul afterwards? The most devoted friend of Jesus, and the most resolute and untiring and successful champion of the cross. He laboured more abundantly than all the other apostles, because, as much had been forgiven him, so he loved much. He displayed his affection for the Saviour, by a series of unexampled self-denials, sufferings and toils in his service. So ardent and irresistible was the zeal manifested by him in behalf of the religion which once he destroyed, that a living writer of our own country, inheriting something of a kindred spirit, has hesitated not to affirm, that fifty such men as Paul the apostle would be sufficient, at this day, to evangelize the world.-To the case of Paul, we might, did time permit, add many more of a later date. Thus, the author of the Pilgrim's Progress was as distinguished, among those who knew him, for wickedness, before his conversion, as he was afterwards remarkable for his piety.

He felt, that much had been forgiven him, and he, therefore, loved much. He was sensible, that he was most deeply indebted to divine mercy, and he accordingly manifested his gratitude, by producing a book which we do not forbear to place at the head of uninspired compositions-a book which has gone through more editions, been more generally read, and effected more extensive and permanent good to mankind, than any other, with the single exception of the Bible.-And what was the early life of John Newton? He has himself told the story of his awful depravity. He says, that so utterly abandoned had he become, that he "made it his study to tempt and seduce others upon every occasion," and even "eagerly sought occasion, sometimes to his own hazard and hurt." In a word, such were his character and condition, while on the coast of Africa, engaged in the business of the slave-trade, that, according to his own statement, there were "few even of the negroes who did not think themselves too good to speak to him." And yet this man, so apparently lost to virtue, respectability and happiness, became one of the most ardently pious Christians, and eminently useful ministers of the gospel, that England has produced, brightly exemplifying the principle, that they to whom much is forgiven, will love much.-We doubt not, that the personal observation of our hearers may furnish them with instances illustrating, in a greater or less degree, the same truth.

Brethren, we may learn from this subject, that there is nothing so well calculated to increase our love to the Saviour and our diligence in his service, as the review of our moral history during the period in which we were indifferent to the concerns of religion. Where is the Christian who does not feel, that much has been forgiven him? Is it not an unquestionable fact, that we have all