man. Tell me not that we merely add a few weeks, or at most a few years, to what at longest is an inconsiderable term; and that, since the man must soon die, it is no great advantage that we succeed in deferring for a little while an inevitable doom. If man perished with the brute, it might be fair thus to depreciate the labours of the Institution for which I now plead. But immortal as man is, every moment of life is immeasurably precious. Placed as he is in a scene of probation, his everlasting portion depending on what he does and secures whilst on earth, a single day may be worth to him incalculably more than an empire's ransom: he may not yet have repented, and sought salvation through Christ; and the single day may present him yet one more opportunity. Oh! the single day may decide whether heaven or hell shall be his portion through eternity. In restoring those who, without such aids as the HUMANE SOCIETY offers, must be consigned to the grave, you do a vast deal more than bring back certain of your fellow-men to the cares and

pleasures of life. You give them, if yet the impenitent, another opportunity of saving themselves from the worm that never dies and the fire that is not quenched; you give them, if they have already repented, a lengthened period in which to strive for the loftier prizes in the kingdom of Christ. I know not what may have been the character of those who are now present amongst us, and who owe it, under God, to the ROYAL HUMANE SOCIETY that they are still numbered with the living; I know not whether, had no succours been afforded, they would now have been with the spirits of the glorified, or with the spirits of the lost; but this I know, that they have now the power of securing for themselves an immortality of blessedness. And therefore do I also know, that possibly, in the case of these very individuals, the HUMANE SOCIETY may be instrumental in effecting that which is unspeakably the noblest and most important of achievements,-the salvation of the human soul, the transfer of man from the flame, and the scourge, and the rack, to the peace, and the gladness, and the crown. It is on such

lofty ground as this that I rest the claims of the Institution of which I have now undertaken the advocacy. It were easy to address oneself more to your feelings, but it cannot be necessary. Every one can picture to himself the scenes which are continually occurring. You can think of the agony, the distraction of a household, when one of its most beloved members, who, but an hour before, was in the fulness of health and of spirits, is stretched forth to all appearance a corpse-no lustre in the eye, no warmth in the flesh, no pulse in the veins. Death, it would seem, has actually taken place, and the soul has forsaken its earthly tenement. But there are kind and eager beings at work, who will not thus readily surrender all hope. It may, after all, be true that "the child is not dead, but sleepeth." They labour, therefore; they employ various means which experience has prescribed; and withal there is a silent upgoing of the heart in prayer to the Creator; for the promise is not forgotten, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find." And, lo, the colour is coming back into the cheek, and

there is motion in the torpid limbs, and the sunken eye is again speaking with consciousness; and the thrilling words, "Thy son liveth," are flung from rejoicing voices on the ear of the parent, who had just bowed himself under the hand of God, and striven to say, with an almost broken heart, "Thy will be done." It is in the multiplying scenes such as this that we ask you to co-operate. They are scenes which may take place under your own roof. The casualties which engage the solicitudes of the ROYAL HUMANE SOCIETY are those from which no rank and no wealth can secure exemption. It may be, therefore, that I plead for your own children, and for your own kinsmen. I plead against that deep wailing which would be heard in your families, if accident occurred, and no remedy were at hand, and the cold dark grave must be hollowed for one who engaged the warm affections of the domestic group. I. plead against that bitter, that cutting remorse, which would be produced by the consciousness, that, through a refusal to assist our Society in extending its operations, you had deprived

yourself of its aids, when the one dearest to you on earth sank in the waters, and seemed to reproach you, by his bubbling cry, for having left him to perish. And yet more, I plead against your barring against yourselves the avenues of prayer, and thus leaving yourselves without access to the God of all grace. Give, and it shall be given you, is the scriptural rule ; and if, therefore, you shew yourselves indifferent to the wants of your fellow-men, on what grounds can you expect the supply of your own? Oh! God has most graciously said to you this day, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." Take you good heed, that in your own cases the promise be not virtually nullified, because the poor have asked of you, and nothing has been given; the suffering have sought from you, but found no compassion; the perishing have knocked, knocked by the shriek and the groan of those over whom the flood suddenly closes, but no asylum has been opened which might shelter them from the grave.

Compton & Ritchie, Printers, Middle Street, Cloth Fair, London.