In the teachings of
our Lord we find that it is for sinners--for the lost and wandering
sheep, that he is most tenderly concerned. It is not those who by
careful training and happy temperaments have escaped the dangers of
life that God and good angels most anxiously watch. "For there is more
joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth than over ninety and nine
that went not astray."
The hardest work of all is to restore a guilty, selfish, hardened
spirit to honor, truth, and purity; and this is the divine labor to
which the pitying Saviour calls all his true followers; to lift up the
fallen, to sustain the weak, to protect the tempted, to bind up the
broken-hearted, and especially to rescue the sinful. This is the
peculiar privilege of woman in the sacred retreat of a "Christian
home." And it is for such self-denying ministries that she is to train
all who are under her care and influence, both by her teaching and by
her example.
In connection with these distinctive principles of Christ for which
the family state was instituted, let the following facts be considered.
The Massachusetts Board of State Charities, consisting of some of the
most benevolent and intelligent gentlemen of that State, in pursuance
of their official duty visited all the State institutions, and held
twenty-five meetings during the year 1867-8.
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