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that shall be destroyed" may urge us with resistless power to the verge of the yawning gulph, and then-one fearful step-and the disembodied soul shall wake in the midst of the world to come!

I know not, my brethren, whether your thoughts have been led to this awful subject, so frequently as they ought to have been, within these hallowed walls; if they have not, the fault is mine, but not wholly, I trust, without excuse. It is the office of the ministers of Christ-and woe be to us if we discharge it not-to endeavour, by our exhortations, to arm the christian soldier with the "shield of faith, the breastplate of righteousness, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God." Our duty also, no less than our inclination, calls upon us to cheer the timid, to revive the faint, and to support the weary, followers of their Lord, with the prospect of the recompence, and the rest, that remaineth for ever for the people of God—while at other times, trembling for ourselves, and our own salvation, we must endeavour to persuade men with the terrors of the Lord; to point to the Almighty arm, which hath power to cast both body and soul into hell; and thus, as it were, to "pull men out of the fire," that they may be saved.

And when this is done, we are willing to hope,

at least, that enough is done-willingly would we draw a veil over the last convulsive struggles of mortality; and forbear to speak of the chamber of death, the knell of the parting soul, and the long deep slumber of corruption in the grave. It is painful to speak, to many more painful than edifying to hear, of this mysterious and revolting degradation of our mortal frame. When the eye of faith is calmly fixed upon the glories beyond the grave—upon the "bright and holy city of the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb, in the light of which the nations of them that are saved shall walk for ever "-it is, at best, an ungracious task to recal the glance which is cast upward to the summits of Zion, and bid it gaze below on the cloud which is resting still on "the valley of dry bones," and will rest there, even to the eye of the best and purest, till the dew of heaven shall descend upon them, and the "bodies that dwell in the dust shall awake and sing.”

It may be our wish, our only wish, when this mournful theme is chosen, to impress you with a conviction of the frailty of the life that now is, and to bid you “remember that you are but dust." But how few there are, whose thoughts wander not from themselves, and their own mortality, to the remembrance of those whom they have loved

and lost-to the distant who never may, to the dead who never can, be seen again till they meet in heaven! We may admonish our hearers to follow the example of the great apostle, and to "die daily,"-to prepare, by anticipation, for their own last hour, which, by a sudden derangement of the fearful and wonderful mechanism of life, may come and pass like the lightning's flash, ere one can say, it lightens !

Such may be the design, but not the effect, of our solemn warnings; we may unconsciously tear open the wounds, which are bleeding yet; we may too forcibly recal those harrowing scenes, which many have gone through, and all must expect to witness the withered form, and the wasted hand,

and the faint farewell, of one who loved us better than we shall be loved on earth again-and all those fierce realities of the primæval curse, which drown for a time even the accents of religious hope, and bow man down to the dust in the bitterness of his soul. Instead of considering their own approaching end, the heart of the parent may yearning for his lost child, the desolate widow for the husband of her youth-and when we would bid them "be wise and consider this," the voice of wisdom is unheeded; when we would breathe the consolations of the gospel, we find that we

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have struck too deep, even for that balm to sooth the pain we have inflicted; and the mourners "refuse to be comforted," because the dead are not.

Can you then wonder at our reluctance to call up these images of suffering and sorrow? We know that our language may appear to be an effort of ambitious eloquence, a cruel display of power over the passions and sympathies of humanity, when, in truth, neither eloquence nor power is needed, to bring back the scenes which can never be forgotten; and the rudest shock will oftentimes inflict the bitterest pang. We know that the cold and careless will hear us with aversion, or a contemptuous sneer—we know that the distinguishing character, the very name, of the gospel we are preaching, is "glad tidings of great joy,”—and, above all, we are assured that if our ministry have the tendency and effect of teaching you how to live, but little more will be required to teach you how to die.

But perhaps we may deceive ourselves-knowing that our speech will be unwelcome, we may too hastily conclude that it will not minister grace, or spiritual edification, to our hearers. In compassion to those who think too much of this awful change, we may forget that there are many who

sooth or flatter the broken heart of her who is bereaved. Judge not the ministers of Christ so harshly, as to believe that they can be actuated by worldly motives in the discharge of this sacred office. We know that the effect of these mournful reflections is diminished by frequent repetition; some marked and well-known occasions therefore must be selected; and we conscientiously believe that these convictions are never felt so thoroughly, so universally, as when they are called forth by a visitation such as this. It is most true that riches can neither buy, nor poverty insure, the “inheritance which fadeth not away,"-that all must render an account hereafter, from the peasant in his cottage to the king upon his throne-that no external pomp can add in reality to the majesty of death, or to the interest of the mysterious inquiry,. 'Whither is the undying spirit gone, and which way went it forth?' Few however, perhaps not one, can think so deeply as to feel the full force of this; we cannot divest ourselves entirely of external impressions; and the voice from the invisible world of spirits is never so distinctly heard, as when it is conveyed through visible and outward means.

And thus, when the remains of the poor and needy are borne along our path to their humble resting place, followed by the former companions

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