destruction: it is, in reference even to the material frame, only an escape from the toil and tumult of life, a brief cessation of activity; and then shall the body reappear with new faculties, and everlasting beauty: then also shall the soul be reunited to it, and the living man, in all the completeness and perfection of immortality, shall enter into that rest, which remaineth for the people of God. These are no doubtful expectations; for the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and all who have loved Him on earth shall meet Him in the air, and so shall be ever with the Lord. What a ray of brightness does this knowledge cast over the darkest lot of humanity! Who would be sorry, as men without hope, for them that sleep in Jesus, when apprized of the happiness which they now enjoy, and of the endless felicity which awaits them? Let us only follow them, as they followed Christ, and soon shall we also sleep in the Lord, and soon shall we be with them in Paradise: and when the King shall come in His glory, we too shall be caught up with them to meet Him in the air, and dwell with them for ever in His

presence, in the eternal enjoyment of that happiness which His presence implies-fullness of joy and pleasures for evermore.*

Secondly, and the same motives furnish grounds of consolation under all the other af flictions of mortality: hence the apostle, after guarding the Thessalonians from excessive sorrow on account of their departed friends, adds generally, Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

We cannot imagine a sorrow which considerations like this are not suited to alleviate For whatever be our troubles, whether extreme poverty, or bodily pain, or mental affliction from whatever quarter it may arise, the gospel presents to us, in the resurrection of the dead, and the prospects of a blessed immortality, a remedy for every evil. Do we indeed believe that we are only as strangers and pilgrims on the earth? Are we persuaded, that when this mortal life is ended, we shall cast off all the cares and afflictions which disturbed us; and that after this corruptible body shall have slumbered for a season, we shall ascend to meet the Lord in the air, and be with Him for ever? These are reflections which can lighten + Heb. xi. 13.

* Ps. xvi. 11.

the heaviest burden of mortality, and deprive even death of his terrors. Wherefore, says the apostle, comfort one another with these words: when you have occasion to console a christian mind, let not these motives be forgotten: remind each other of the declarations of the gospel, and of the high destiny which awaits you; endeavour to raise the contemplation of the depressed and the sorrowful, to the day of the Lord: let them dwell upon the realities of that scene, when this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and the free spirit, no longer confined by the chains and shackles of mortality, shall expatiate in perfect happiness through the unmeasured regions of that heavenly world.

What a blessing would the gospel prove, if all who are in trouble and distress could bring home to their minds the motives here suggested by St. Paul! How light would be our afflictions, if we could turn from them to the bright anticipations of the great day! What a source of never-failing consolation does such a subject present to us, if we are only qualified to apply to it! Are we then, my brethren, living in such communion with Christ, that we may hope to die

* Gal. ii. 20.

in the Lord? The life which we now live in the flesh, do we live by the faith of the Son of God?* Have we come to Him as guilty sinners to their Redeemer; have our hearts been created anew by His power; and under the guidance of His Holy Spirit are we seeking daily for a more perfect conformity to His likeness? Unless we possess that character, and are influenced by these desires, comfort the Scriptures give us none: but if we are indeed living to Him who died for us, by faith in His blood, and by obedience to His words, then may we appropriate to ourselves the consolations of the gospel, not doubting that to us, as well as to all the faithful servants of Christ, is the assurance held forth, that we shall attain to the resurrection of the just, and enter into the joy of the Lord.

* Gal. ii. 20.

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SERMON XVII.

THE ASCENSION OF CHRIST, AND THE EFFECTS

OF IT.

PSALM lxviii. 17, 18.

"The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels: the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place. Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts of men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them."

AMONG the festive solemnities which served to elevate the feelings and to animate the devotion of the ancient Israelites, there are few more striking and impressive than that which celebrated the bringing up of the ark of God to the tabernacle in Mount Zion. The multitudes who formed the procession consisted of the whole house of Israel: the sovereign under whose guidance they marched was David, one of the greatest of their kings, himself a prophet of the Lord, and a distinguished type of that