make every thing seen and temporal feel too low and little to engage us. We see this in Peter. When our Saviour was transfigured, and Moses and Elias appeared with him in glory, Peter was so charmed, that he proposed building tabernacles, to reside there. But, says the Holy Ghost, he knew not what he said. For, to take but one view of the proposal, had it been complied with, what would have become of his house and wife and children? O! Peter, in his ecstasy, had forgotten these. These however must not be forgotten while we continue in our relations to them, and can fulfil their demands. But when we must leave the scene, it is wise and kind to allow us to be dead to it. When we are going, it is well to be loosened from our detentions. When life is ending, and the love of it can no longer be useful, it is a privilege to have our love to it vanquished by something better than life; and to be blinded to every thing we are resigning around us, by the sight of the glory that is to be revealed; and to be rendered deaf to every sound but the voice that cries, "Come up hither." After all, we may not have perfectly accounted for the higher experience of the Christian in death. But the fact is undeniable. It has been verified in numberless instances. How often have we witnessed it ourselves. How often have we found Christíans the reverse of all their previous apprehensions. We have attended them when they have displayed a dignity of sentiment, and expressed themselves with a force of language, to which they had been strangers before. The timorous have become heroical. They whose minds were contracted by ignorance, have burst into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. The illiterate and the vulgar have shown an elevation and refinement of taste, philosophers never knew; and servants and rustics have sung, "O glorious hour, O blest abode, The sacred pleasure of my soul." Fear not, therefore, O ye seed of Jacob. Encourage yourselves in the Lord your God; while you say, I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait; and in his word do I hope. Do not perplex yourfuturity which God has foreseen and selves about a provided for. "Take no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself; sufficient for the day is the evil thereof" -and the good. Your duty has only to do with the present; and the grace you are to seek is grace to help in time of need; active grace for the hour of exertion; and passive grace for the hour of suffering: grace for life, in life; and dying grace, for a dying hour. The Jews were not to live on a hoard. If in their anxious distrustfulness they laid up manna for the ensuing day, instead of affording them a wholesome resource, it bred worms; they therefore gathered it fresh every morning, and it failed them not till they could eat of the old corn of the land. Take another allusion. If you were travelling, and before you could reach your destination you had a trying river to pass, would it not be enough to relieve you to know, that when you came to the brink there would be a boat ready to convey you over? Must it be brought to you now in your journey? Though necessary for the water, would it not rather encumber you on land? Yet so it is; you are not satisfied unless you can take the vehicle along with you. You must see: but you are not to see"We walk by faith, and not by sight." III. The DYING OF THE CHRISTIAN IS OFTEN PECU LIARLY USEFUL BY ITS INFLUENCE. When our Saviour was foretelling the destiny of. Peter, he said, "When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God." He was to die by violence and crucifixion. Ecclesiastical history informs us of numbers who were converted to the faith by the death of those who suffered for the gospel. The scene naturally tended to raise their curiosity, and fix their attention: and witnessing the firmness of their conviction, and the dignity of their support; and seeing their gentleness and patience; and hearing their prayers for their persecutors and murderers; they became companions of them that were so used. And t'as led to the remark, that the blood of the martyrs was the seed of the churches. All are not called to die for the truth's sake: but the effect ascribed to Peter's death will apply to the death of every Christian. Not only is it important to himself, but the glory of God is concerned in it. "His God sustains him in his final hour. The useful death, however, is not that only which abounds with ecstasy and rapture; but also that in which an inferior degree of confidence is blended with patience under suffering, submission to the will of God, humbleness of mind, penitence at the foot of the cross, a concern to recommend the Saviour's service and to promote his cause. This, if it does not excite so much wonder and discourse, is more exemplary. A death, too, strikes us where we see a victory over the world; when the individual is willing to depart, though not pressed by the infirmities and pains of age: but in the midst of life; and leaving not a scene of penury and wretchedness behind, but every present attraction and agreeable prospect. We also prize a death preceded by a holy and consistent life. Some religionists are fond of the marvellous and the sudden; and our obituaries are often filled with the triumphant departures of those who began to pray a few days before. This is often peculiarly the case with malefactors. Few of these, if attended by certain orders of men, but in few hours are quickly ripened for a confident and joyful death. We do not wish to limit the Holy One of Israel in the freeness of his mercy and grace. But wiser people hesitate about these prodigies. They wish for more certainty, more evidence than can be satisfactorily obtained in cases, where the impressions of the condition can scarcely be distinguished from the operation of the principle: and therefore, while they may sometimes indulge a hope, they will rarely be disposed to proclaim it "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his sants. Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright; for the end of that man is peace." a -Yes, it is peculiarly worthy attention. How often has the death of the saint proved the life of the sinner: and also helped those much who have believed through grace. A dying minister's end has exemplified, and confirmed, and enforced his doctrine; and he has effected in the sick chamber what he failed to accomplish in the church. A dying father, disregarded before, has been heard to purpose, when he has summoned his children to his bed, and solemnly addressed them, as Bolton did his family: "See that none of you meet me in an unconverted state at the day of judgment." Or as David admonished Solomon: "I go the way of the world. And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee: but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever." What ingenuousness has ever resisted a dying mother-heaven in her countenance-her tearful eye-the grasp of her soft hand-her last trembling embrace-her expiring accents-"What my son, and the son of my womb, and the son of my vows are we here to part for ever?" The husband who refused to hear the word, though urged by beauty, and affection, and tears; when the desire of his eyes is removedis now won, by the last instances of her lovely conversation made sacred by death: and while he rears the monument to her memory, resolves to trace her steps, once-how painful now the thought -taken alone! the benefit of man, there is enough to induce him to say, "Not my will, but thine be done." Heaven will make amends for all-Yea, the usefulness itself is the sufferer's reward. And, Christians, let me from hence admonish you to be concerned to serve religion, not only by the life you live, but by the death you die. The Saviour's empire and claims extend to both. "None of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. Whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's." By faith, Jacob, when he was dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff." Dr. Rivet said, "Let those who come to inquire, see me; I ought to be an example in death as well as in life." Samson, when about -How affecting and interesting does grace ren- to die, prayed that God would strengthen him "this der the dying of the Christian-not only to his relations and friends, but to all who see or hear it. Not only is the attention then excited, but every thing is adapted to aid impression. Persons are now regarded with peculiar earnestness. They are supposed to be free from the influence of the world. They are regarded as sincere, and entitled to credit. All now is final-it is the last time they can be seen or heard, What a lecture is the event itself! It cries, See, every thing is vanity, the world is passing away. But here is a man that has hold of a better and an enduring substance, and displays a greatness that defies the ravages of death. The outward man perishes, but the inward man is renewed. He is bound, yet free. He is dying, and behold he lives-and not only has life, but has it more abundantly. The way of transgressors is hard, and they say nothing in praise of those things of which they are now ashamed. The people of the world never speak well of it at parting. But here is a man commending the ways of holiness, and bearing testimony to the excellences and goodness of the Master he has served to the last--"Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, O Lord. O taste, and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him." "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing." Oh! such a dying chamber is none other than the house of God, and the gate of heaven. There "is brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." There angels hear the acclamation, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law." Here, weaned from the world, and loosened from life, we have said, "Let us go away, that we may die with him." Here a glory has been shed, an influence has been felt, that has impressed the careless, fixed the wavering, emboldened the timid, convinced the ignorant. It has strengthened the saint to live. It has taught the pastor to preach. It has led the infidel to retire and pray, "Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!" Upon the principle of this part of our subject, we may make a remark concerning a slow or a sudden death. Unquestionably a sudden death is desirable, with regard to exemption and privilege. For what an indulgence must it be, to be spared all the forerunners and attendants of dissolution; and in the twinkling of an eye to pass from earth and to be with God. But it is less preferable on the score of usefulness. We derive nothing from the dying experience and language of such. A Christian is not to choose for himself; and if a lingering death will subserve more the honor of God and ور once.' This is the last time you can do anything in the world. It is the last arrow you have in your quiver, says an old writer, and you should take a good aim with this. Cato is made in the tragedy to complain, that he could die but once for his country. You can die but once for your family, the church, and the world. O let it adorn the doctrine of God your Saviour in all things. IV. THE DYING OF THE CHRISTIAN IS ALWAYS SAFE AND GLORIOUS IN THE ISSUE. We must take this into the account in doing justice to his end. For there are instances in which the Christian may not be able to express, or enjoy pleasure or hope in death. There are two cases of this kind. The first is, the case of divine rebuke for moral delinquency. For God, who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, has said, "If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; if they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments; then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless, my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. This, however, is not wrath, but anger. Anger is consistent with love, and springs from it. "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten." And he sometimes rebukes and chastens at the last. He hides his face, and they are troubled; and perhaps even their sun goes down under a cloud. But he retains not his anger for ever. Though they are chastened of the Lord, they are not condemned with the world; and though here he humbles them under his mighty hand, he exalts them in due time, for ever. The other is the case of constitutional malady. In this condition our heavenly bard died; and we have known others who have died under a physical depression, with which religious encouragements have contended in vain. But though their end was not peace in the exit, it was peace in theissue. Their despondency did not affect their right to the tree of life. They condemned themselves; but God delighted in them. And what an exchange; what a surprise did such sufferers experience! They departed, expecting to awake in torment, and found themselves in Abraham's bosom! They left the world in a momentary gloom, and entered into everlasting sunshine! For observe, I beseech you, the difference between the delusion of the infidel, and the mistake of the Christian. "I give," says Hobbs, "I give my body to the dust, and my soul to the Great Perhaps." "I am going to take," says he, "a leap in the dark." And such a man not only takes a leap in the dark, but into the dark. And from the darkness of ignorance, and doubt, and uncertainty, he plunges into the blackness of darkness for ever. But it is infinitely different with the Christian. He may take this last step in the dark, but he steps into day; perfect and endless day: where it will be said to him, "Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw herself: for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended." Thus, however he may expire, the result is blessed; and the day of his death is better than the day of his birth. It is the day, when, as a weary traveller, he arrives at home: when, as a sea-tossed mariner, he enters his desired haven: when, as a long-enduring patient, he throws off the last feelings of his lingering complaint: when, as an heir of immortality, he comes of age, and obtains the inheritance of the saints in light. Thus, whatever may be the manner of his death, for him "to die is gain." And what gain? Can the tongue of men or of angels express what the Christian by dying gainsIn exemption? In residence? In fellowship? In knowledge? In holiness? In pleasure? For when he closes his eye on the sorrows of life, he "shall not see evil any more." When he leaves this polluted earth, he has a better, even a heavenly country. When the earthly house of this tabernacle is dissolved, he has a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. When he leaves the wicked world, and the defective church, he joins the spirits of just men made perfect, and the innumerable company of angels. Now he sees through a glass darkly, then face to face. Now, when he would do good, evil is present with him. Now, the consolations of God are often small with him. Then he will be presented faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. For when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. But it doth not yet appear what we shall be. "In vain my feeble fancy paints The glory that surrounds the saints, One gentle sigh their fetters breaks; Faith strives, but all its efforts fail, Thus much (and this is all) we know- Have done with sin, and care, and wo, And is it for such we put on sable attire, and go mourning all the day? Is this thy kindness to thy friends? If you loved them, would you not rejoice because they are gone to the Father? Are they not now, from the most excellent glory, ready to exclaim, "Weep not for us, but for yourselves and children-you are the proper objects of pity, not we. You who are still in the conflict, not we who have gotten the victory. You who are yet in the body, not we who are delivered from the burden of the flesh. You who rise in the morning to cares that perplex you; fears that dismay you; disappointments that vex you; infirmities that depress you; not we who are for ever with the Lord." Ah! my brethren, if all this be true, what reason have we to adore the undeserved and infinite goodness of God. We cannot think too highly of this attribute; and it is well for our consciences that the proofs of it are so numerous and obvious. The earth is full of his riches. In the various seasons, he crowns the year with his goodness. He daily loadeth us with his benefits. He gives us all things richly to enjoy. But what would all these have been, with destruction at the end? Who remembered us in our low estate? Who turned the curse into a blessing? Who converted the avenue to hell into the gate of life? Who caused the spoiler to enrich us? and made the last enemy an inestimable friend? Let us not also forget the way in which this change is accomplished; the mediation of the Lord Jesus. Here is the mystery. We who were poor could never have been rich, if he who was rich had not for our sake become poor. Because the children were partakers of flesh and blood, he likewise himself took part of the same. He bore our sins in his own body on the tree: and died that we may live. He abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. He therefore says, "If a man keep my sayings, he shall not see death." He has indeed to pass through the state; but the bitterness of death is past. He has only to finish his course with joy: to fall asleep in Jesus; to depart to be with Christ, which is far better. -But, my dear hearers, will this be the case with us? Let us not think the inquiry needless, or incapable of solution. Here people often show their ignorance and presumption. They talk of the desirableness of death; but expose themselves to the censure of the prophet, "Wo unto you that desire the day of the Lord! to what end is it for you? the day of the Lord is darkness, and not light. As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness?" When some of you wish you were dead, what is it in reality, but wishing you were damned? You are just as near to hell as you are to death; and the one is as sure as the other.Be not therefore deceived. Whatever privations or sufferings you are now enduring, it is not better for you to die than to live. Much as you complain, these are only the beginning of sorrows, the earnests and foretastes of everlasting lamentation and mourning and wo. What says the voice from heaven? "Write, blessed are the dead that die in the Lord." These are all blessed; but these only. As for those who are not in Him, they are not under grace, but under the law. And, "as many as are under the law are under the curse." His righteousness is not theirs to justify them. His Spirit is not theirs to sanctify them. They have no title to glory. No meekness for it. No capacity for its services. No susceptibility of its joys. Finally. Let us now turn the medal. We have been speaking of the death of the Christian-but mark the wicked man, and behold the ungodlyWhat is his end? The answer would seem too awful for declamation; and we should not even present the scene, but to heighten the subject by contrast; and to prevent, if possible, your realizing it in your own experience. We therefore endeavor to save with fear; and knowing the terror of the Lord, would persuade men. And in this work of apparent severity, but real compassion, the sacred writers go before us. "What," says Peter, "shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?" "The Lord," says David, "shall langh at him, for he seeth that the day is coming. For yet a little while and the wicked shall not be; yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be. I was perplexed and pained at the sight of their prosperity, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end. Surely thou didst set them in as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors. As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image." slippery places; thou castedst them down into de- | what employment, have not men died? On what struction. How are they brought into desolation, are you relying to escape a death which has unex Does the dying sinner look back upon the past? "Vanity of vanities," says the reviewer, "vanity of vanities, all is vanity." His life appears a succession of fancies, dreams, and impositions. Nothing seems real-but his sins. These his neglect of prayer, his forgetfulness of God, the profanation of his Sabbaths, the contempt of his word and commandments-these, in their number and aggravations, revive and reproach-and conscience keeps them in view. -What satisfaction or relief can the present afford him? Every thing in his outward condition may be agreeable; but what is this to a wounded spirit? Righteousness delivers from death, but riches profit not in the day of wrath. What is honor to one who knows he is ready for the worms? Can flattery sooth the dull cold ear of death? What is the consolation of being praised where we are not -while we are miserable where we are! What does the future promise? He is separating from every thing he loves, to enter a state in which he has no hope, after which he has no desire, and from which he has no escape-a state of thought without the possibility of diversion; of passion without the means of gratification; of society without friendship; of enmity without restraint; of accountableness without excuse; of retribution without mer cy; of loss without recovery; and of misery without end? Who knoweth the power of thine anger? Even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath. In pectedly and prematurely carried so many of your connections and neighbors down to the dust? On youth? On strength ?-What is your life? "It is even a vapor that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away." "Every man at his best state is altogether vanity." O! Thou, in whose hands our breath is, and whose are all our ways, so teach us to number our days, that we may apply our heart unto wisdom. And, my brethren, what is this wisdom? What is the one proper and rational part which creatures, circumstanced as we are, have to act? Is it not to prefer the soul to the body, and eternity to time?Is it not to agree with our adversary while we are in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver us to the judge, and the judge deliver us to the officer, and we be cast into prison? Is it not to flee for refuge to the hope set before us? Is it not to make the concern of Paul supremely and immediately our own ? "That I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death." LECTURE XI. THE CHRISTIAN, IN THE GRAVE. "If I wait, the grave is mine house." Job xvii. 13. THIS was in answer to the opinion and advice of his friends. They had repeatedly intimated, that many cases fear magnifies; and when the evil if he repented, and reformed, and prayed to God, comes, the reality falls far short of the apprehen- he might surely reckon-upon a speedy restoration sion. But here the event infinitely exceeds the fore- to health, and a peaceful abode, and a prosperous boding. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands condition. "If thou wouldest seek unto God bediction, it is plain, not from a few, but many declarations, that Job entertained no expectation of being restored in this life. "The eye that seeth me shall see me no more. For now shall I sleep in the dust, and thou shalt seek me in the morning, and I shall not be. My breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, the graves are ready for me. My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart. And where is now my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it?" "If I wait, the grave is mine house." He must therefore have reference to the most glorious of all events when he says, "O that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book! that they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever! For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me." of the living God. No wonder therefore the death of the sinner is represented in the Scripture as the effect of compulsion-" The wicked is driven away in his wickedness." "He shall be driven from light unto darkness, and chased out of this world." Some of these scenes are kept secret-perhaps they are misunderstood. They are ascribed to a distempered imagination. The terrified victim is supposed to be in the phrensy of delirium. Some, by the composing draught, are stupified, who would otherwise drive and keep every attendant from the room, Yet the reluctance and anguish and horror, are sometimes known; and make an awful impression for the time. But suppose there is nothing of this; and the sinner dies, as it is often expressed, like a lamb; the delusion is but for a moment. He instantly sees his mistake. But the immutability of his state renders the knowledge as dreadful as it is unavoidable. His disappointment is an unspeakable aggravation of his misery; and the consequences are remediless. O! that you were wise, that you understood this, that you would consider your latter end Then surely you would not give sleep to your eyes, or slumber to your eyelids, till you had a good hope through grace, that you were delivered from such a doom. -But you think the end is not near; and distant things do not impress. You put away the evil day. But can you put it entirely away? Yea, can you really put it far away? How long do you think of living? Fix the period. Place it at three-score years and ten-place it at four-score years-It is soon cut off, and you flee away-whither? What will become of you then? But how uncertain is your reaching this period! At what age, in what place, in what condition, in times, and make thy supplications to the Almighty; if thou wert pure and upright; surely now he would awake for thee, and make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous. Though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end should greatly increase." "If thou prepare thine heart, and stretch out thine hands toward him; if iniquity be in thine hand, put it far away, and let not wickedness dwell in thy tabernacles. For then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot; yea, thou shalt be steadfast, and shalt not fear: because thou shalt forget thy misery, and remember it as waters that pass away: and thine age shalt be clearer than the noon-day; thou shalt shine forth, thou shalt be as the morning.And thou shalt be secure, because there is hope; yea, thou shalt dig about thee, and thou shalt take thy rest in safety. Also thou shalt lie down, and none shall make thee afraid; yea, many shall make suit unto thee." Now, says Job, if I were to do this, and wait for the accomplishment of your promises, I should be disappointed. Not that it would be in vain for me to serve God; but he would not appear for me in the way of which you speak. He will not deliver me from my present afflictions in this world; or recover me from the disorder under which I am ready to expire-No. The case is mortal and desperate-" If I wait, the grave is mine house." This leads us to make two remarks. The first connects itself with a passage which he presently uttered, and which has given rise to much dispute. I refer to his noble confession. There are some who contend, that he means only to express his hope of a temporal redemption, or the revival of his former greatness. But, in answer to this poor and low interpretation, not to observe the solemnity of the introduction, and the grandeur of the sentiment and The second remark is, that when Job said, "If I wait, the grave is mine house." he was mistaken. Instead of a speedy dissolution, which he obviously looked for, "the Lord turned his captivity, and gave him twice as much as he had before. And after this, Job lived an hundred and forty years, and saw his sons and his sons's sons, even four generations." How often, in the risings of His grace and of his providence, does he not only deliver, but surprise his people. The day seemed setting in with clouds and darkness; but at evening time it was light. "We would not, brethren," says Paul, "have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life: but we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us." David, also, was soon able to refute his own unbelieving conclusion: "I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes: nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplication when I cried unto thee." And is there a Christian here, but can acknowledge, to his praise, that he has been better to him than his fears; and done for him exceeding abundantly, above all he was once able to ask or think? -Yet Job's recovery, with regard to life, was not a cure. He was only reprieved. The sentence was left suspended over him still-"Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." And thus, the words were true in his case-" If I wait, the grave is mine house" and his house it was. And thus, my dear hearers, the words furnish a motto for each of you. Whatever be the object of your hope, here is your destination. You may wish, and you may wait; but here is the end of all your solicitudes. Whatever is your present abode, here is your last. You may now occupy a strait and mean tenement, or a large and splendid mansion: but you will neither be incommoded with the one, or delighted with the other, long-Here is the residence to which you are all hastening-hastening even while I speak-The grave is mine house. Let two things engage our attention. Let us I. CONSIDER WHAT IS AWFUL AND REPULSIVE IN THE GRAVE.-And II. WHAT THE CHRISTIAN CAN FIND TO RELIEVE IT. Thy long extended realms, and rueful wastes, Where naught but silence reigns, and night, dark night." This is fine, but Job excels it. "Before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death. A land of darkness, as darkness itself; and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness." What a solemn grandeur pervades this representation! What an evidence does it furnish of Burke's observation, that obscurity is a source of the true sublime; and that, even in poetry, a powerfui impression may be made, where no distinct imagery is represented. -Let us take three views of the grave; they are all awful and affecting. First, We may regard it as a monument of human guilt. What error can be named, that is not connected with diminishing apprehensions of sin? Hence we must seize every opportunity of producing the needful conviction, that it is an evil and bitter thing; evil with regard to God, and bitter with regard to ourselves. Men think lightly of it, but it is more poisonous than the gall of asps. They cannot be induced to hate it, and fear it: and yet they may constantly and easily see its hateful and fearful effects. If they will not believe in the hell that it has prepared for the devil and his angels in another world, they cannot deny the desolations it has produced among the children of men in this. Once all that moved upon the earth was buried in the deluge-Could you have witnessed the spectacle without horror? But the same sin which then destroyed all the human race at once, acts no less fatally now in killing them all successively and individually. The time is nothing; the execution is the same. Earthquakes, and wars, and pestilence, and famine, are of more rare occurrence, and few comparatively can view the effects: but you can all trace the ravages of disease; you can all see men going to their long home, and the mourners going about the streets. Repair to some Golgotha. Enter a church-yard. Throw your eye over the inscribed stones, and the turfed hillocks; think of the undistinguished mass on which you tread and then ask the question, which Jehu asked when he saw the remains of the sons of Ahab-" Who slew all these?" Why every burying ground, according to its size, is a jail with so many cells, some holding one, and some more prisoners: and they who are lodged there are not confined in consequence of a debt due to nature, but to the justice of God. There is no grave in heaven; there was no grave in paradise; and there would have been none in all the earth, but for sin. Man was indeed originally capable of dying, as his experience soon evinced; yet no accident without, and no malady within, would have endangered his being, or diminished his vigor, but for sin. While innocent, he was immortal-not from the inherency of any immutable properties of nature, but from the divine appointment and preservation, of which the tree of life in the midst of the garden was either the means or the pledge. "The wages of sin is death." "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death came on all, because all have sinned." Secondly, We may view it as a state of extreme degradation: Of whatever we are invested with, we must be despoiled at the gate of the grave. Even the costly and tempting attire that ministered so much to the vanity of the wearer, and the danger I. CONSIDER WHAT IS AWFUL AND REPULSIVE IN THE of the beholder, is here stripped off; and if any substitute be allowed, it is the shroud and the windingsheet-though thousands are denied even these. "We brought nothing with us into the world, and it is certain we shall carry nothing out." "As he GRAVE. "The grave, dread thing; Men shiver when thou'rt nam'd. Nature appalled Shakes off her wonted firmness. Ah! how dark |