the principal charm, is alfo the firmeft guard of the virtue of the fex. She had loft even that fcrupulous regard to character and propriety of conduct in the eye of the world which is commonly the last virtue which a woman abandons. The diforders of her life were publicly known. But the vivacity of her feelings, which was probably the first cause of her errors, became, when directed by divine grace towards its proper objects, the chief fource of that lively contrition, and thofe tender expreffions of attachment to her Saviour, which render her penitence fo interefting. She had misfpent the generous force of her heart on objects that only deluded and disappointed her. But no fooner had fhe heard this fublime teacher fent from God, who pointed out to her the true road to happinefs, than fhe renounced her fins, and attached herfelf folely to him. Her repentance became as confpicuous as her vices had been public. Her vanity, nourished by the infidious flatteries of men, fhe mortified by the deepest humiliations. The feet of her Lord fhe wafhed with the tears of her remorfe, and her gratitude. Although he was not ignorant of the reproaches, and the fneers fhe

muft encounter in discharging thefe pious offices from the company affembled at the Pharifee's house, who were acquainted with her former habits of life, yet she resolved to constrain her feelings, and refolutely to meet them all. Her humiliations, her tears, and the facrifices which fhe made atteft at once the depth of her forrow for her offences, and the fervor of her love for her Saviour. They fhew us a woman of high fenfibility; but of a fenfibility that, having once been abused, is now the more profoundly penetrated with the fentiments of repentance-that, having once been wafted on vain and criminal objects, attaches itself now with the greater ardor to the chief-good. The advantages of perfon, and the decorations of art which fhe had employed to fofler vanity, or imflame the paffions, fhe now renounces or neglects. Having once difhonored religion, and offended virtue by the diffolutenefs of her manners, fhe is refolved to make them all the reparation in her power by the publici

ty of her converfion.-She inftructs us therefore by her love-by her humility-by her felf-denial-and by her zeal. These are genuine characteristics of fincere repentQ

ance and, by a few reflections on each in the following difcourfe, I fhall endeavor to develope the spirit of a real penitent.

I. In the first place, we difcern in her conduct the fervor of her love to the Sa

viour.

She flood behind him as he lay reclined at the table of the Pharifee, and fhed upon his feet a flood of tears. With officious tenderness the wiped them with her hair; and anointed them with a precious perfume referved for this pious purpose, from the lately abused flore of her wealth.* Those offices of hofpitality which were expected only from the master of the house,† she per

*The courtezans of antiquity not infrequently acquired large fortunes. Their drefs and furniture were rich. They were commonly distinguished for beauty. And their houfes being often places of public refort for men of talents and leifure, they were usually remarkable alfo for wit. Attention to thefe circumftances may be neceffary in order to perceive the propriety of fome expreffions in this difcourse.

In that age the master of the house always ordered his guests to be furnished with water for their feet, and frequently with a bath for the whole perfon before eating, and, after bathing, with ointment with which to anoint themselves. Their polture at table is known to have been reclining upon couches, which explains the attitude in which this woman is reprefented.

forms herfelf, and in the manner most calculated to express the fervor of her affection. Thofe tears were not merely the fireams of her repentance for her errors, but the burft of a tender heart overflowing with the love of Chrift.

In her pursuit of pleasure she had been unhappy. Deceived, probably, by faithlefs lovers, and difappionted in every creature of the happinels fhe had expected from it, fhe fought only, by perpetual change of object, to fill the painful void which all objects in fucceffion left. Her passions importunate and imperious, having involved her in difhonorable fituations, from which fhe had not the courage to free herfelf, urged her against reputation, against conviction, and, often, even against her wishes, to the pursuit of new gratifications from which he perpetually returned with fresh proofs of their vanity and mifery.

But when Jefus Chrift had opened to her the true fources of happinefs, and enabled her by the aids of his grace to break her unfortunate and criminal connexions with fo many objects that had occupied and

deceived her heart, her affections, that had been diffipated and wafted in a thousand different freams, now collected into one channel, flow to her Redeemer in a full and abundant tide. All her fenfibilities here enjoy a lawful, a delightful, and unlimited exercise.

Many confiderations would combine to increase the fervor of her devotion. Her disappointments from the world, and the fhocks with which her heart had met from her firft lovers, would prepare her to return to God as her exceeding joy. Her mind was opened, by divine grace, to the discovery and the love of infinite perfection, to which, amidst so many criminal loves, it had hitherto remained blind. Having been converfant only with the vile and deteftable forms of vice, the charms of virtue appeared to her with a transcendent and divine beauty.

But, at this moment, fhe most deeply felt her obligations to her Saviour. Jefus had restored her from the path of infamy to the path of honor. An outcaft from fociety for faults, for which no repentance can