feet repentant and forgiven. No person is so mad-
dened by sin tliat lie does not at times have glSams
of sanity, in which his wretched dwelKng, fare, and
dress aire seen. Bound by chains of evil, that cut into
his very soul; clogged by fetters, that hinder his
advance in all right ways ; dwelling among the skulls
of dead men slain by the hands of strange women and
bad men, he knows how sad, how terrible, how infa-
mous his condition is. The prodigal " came to him-
self," when he cried : " I perish with hunger. The
servants in my father's house have bread enough, and
to spare." Mary Magdalene, under such gleams of
sanity, sought the presence of the Great Physician.
How radical her curel How steadfast her faith 1
How faithful her watch at the sepulcher ! How affec-
tionate her tarry at the empty tomb, where she
addressed the gardener, and found in the stranger her
Lord and Redeemer 1

Into the company of the dissolute and hardened,
among men and women past feeling, for whom the
people of God have no hope, Jesus comes, as at
Gadara, rebuking the demon within, cleansing the
soul, and making the abandoned new creatures. The
bad song gives way to praises to the Lamb. A sweet
solace takes the place of the poisonous bowl. A new
passion drives out the demons of gaming and vice.
