you, even as the relations of the palsied man laid him at His feet who alone could cure him, she bids you look on these as the objects especially chosen by your Saviour, who is the model of your charity, as objects for the exercise of His. She, therefore, invites you to consider them as the special objects of His regard, for whom He offers Himself to you as security for repayment, with high interest, of your kindness to them. But more, she desires you to contemplate in their persons, however wretched, the chosen image of Him, who submitted not only to be poor and despised, but to become a worm and no man, to be bruised for our sins, and wounded for our iniquities.

Again, she offers you the opportunity of reclaiming those who have early wandered from the path of virtue; she shows you Magdalen kneeling at the feet of Jesus, in spite of the proud Pharisees who surround Him, and she bids you imitate that charity which He thus manifested towards the most despised and most uncherished class of His poor children.

But there is another class, dearly beloved brethren, whose claims I come here more particularly to advocate this day, in the name and on behalf of the God of charity and of mercy. It is the cause of those who have long since passed through the meridian of their lives, who perhaps in better days may have dispensed their charity to such as then needed it, or who more probably were always poor as they are I appeal to you on behalf of men who have now nearly arrived at the close of their long

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and weary journey through this world of sorrow, who have got through its temptations and miseries, and are now standing on the very verge of that eternity, which will shortly receive you as well as them. On the one hand, they are suppliants to you for mercy and charity, but on the other, as they stretch forth their hands in earnest prayer to God, they are most powerful intercessors on your behalf, who assist in supporting their last steps, and in lightening the burthen of their helpless old age.

Yes, dearly beloved brethren, I come to place before you the claims for peculiar charity which the aged poor-the old ones of our flock-have upon you, and to entreat you to contribute according to the means which God has bestowed upon you, towards the comforts of their declining days, and more particularly towards their relief during this season of hardship, cold, and inclemency,-a season that, perhaps, to many of them, will prove the last on earth, and may send them to be petitioners for you at the very throne of Grace. I will therefore endeavour to place before you, in a few words, the more peculiar rights, which the word of God and the teaching of the Church show them to possess, as a title to your kind and generous relief.

The feeling then which the holy Church of God more particularly claims from us in regard to these my poor clients, is that so aptly described in the words of my text, "Rise up before the hoary head, and honour the person of the aged man, and fear the

Lord thy God." As if the Lord should say to each of you: "If thou respectest My law,-if thou wishest to show towards Me reverential fear, manifest that feeling, by displaying it in favour of those who walk before you in your path, and who, in some degree, have claims upon you akin to those due to the title and dignity of a father."

"The boast of youth," says the wise man, "is in its strength, but old age is a crown of dignity."(Prov. xvi. 32.) This is a crown placed by the hand of God Himself upon the brow of age: by the hand of Him, without whose wise designs not even a bird of the air can fall to the ground. Whatever may be the vain imaginings of man, though the work of death may appear to him purely capricious, and to be guided by mere fortune, we know that the strokes of its scythe are directed by the hand of God, and that he who falls, falls because God has smitten him, and he who stands remains, because God in His wisdom has yet preserved him. "For whether we live, we live unto the Lord, and whether we die, we die unto the Lord. Therefore whether we live, or whether we die, we are the Lord's."-(Rom. xiv. 8.) When, therefore, we behold one man whose days are prolonged through successive generations, who has seen many fall before him, that seemed more vigorous than himself, but who yet stands majestic as the solitary pillar amidst the crumbled ruins of some ancient city, we cannot but look upon him with reverence, as preserved to be a monument of God's especial mercy and kindness in

his regard. It has required the watchful care of His Providenee to sustain him through the dangers of many years, to ward off accidents, and mitigate disease; and finally, to crown his head with those hoary locks, which even, among heathen nations, were deemed entitled to veneration. Well, therefore, may this be expected from us who see in them the token of Divine favour; and well may the young be commanded to pay them homage, deference, and love, on whom this has been bestowed. By thus acting they may claim, with confidence, a portion of that blessing that has been pronounced on dutiful children,-they may hope to reach that length of days which they honour in others, and ultimately to obtain the higher reward promised to those who obey the Divine command. So strong then is the claim to reverence from those whom God has conducted through the perils of this life to a venerable old age; for He has been pleased to communicate to them a portion of His own rights.

The term "elders," in the old law, belonged to the judges set over the people; and in the new law, the priesthood of God have been dignified with this title. The very word "priest," signifies "elder,” in its original tongue, as if to show that they who are called to be the real judges of the people, might, indeed, like the disciple of St. Paul, be young in years, and but little experienced in the ways of life, yet still were to be invested, in the eyes of their subjects, with that honour which so naturally belongs to the grey head. It

seemed sufficient to give them but the mere title of old age, to secure to them that respect and deference which are due to its implied wisdom and experience.

But, in truth, the aged may in some degree be considered, under the law of Christ, to take place among those consecrated and anointed elders of God's people. To them is committed the important office of instructing, by word and example, those who are younger than themselves. To them belongs, in a special manner, the duty of preserving, with the utmost jealousy, the form of sound words,-that sacred deposit of faith and worship which the Church has ever gloriously preserved. "Let not," says the wise man, "let not the discourse of the ancients escape thee, for they have learned of the fathers, for of them thou shalt learn understanding." (Ecclus. viii. 11, 12.) But in our days, and in our circumstances, indeed, we may well look with reverence, and almost with awe, on those who have escaped from the destructive hand of time, to reach this extraordinary age. We may well revere those who worshipped, not merely with our fathers but with our grandsires, at a time when in truth they were but a little flock and much despised, a time when they sought the holes and caverns of the earth wherein to adore the God of their fathers,—when they had to hide the fire of the sanctuary beneath the ashes, or, as was done by the priests of Israel when driven into captivity, almost bury it in the depths of earth, lest it should be trodden out. Well may we honour those who, in their youth, have borne a far