is given us as a season of improvement for immortality; that it is given only for a limited term; that this term is drawing to its close, and that not a moment of it can be lost with safety.

state.

Let these considerations then, my fellow mortals, incite you to diligence in the work of the Lord. Occupy your talents as those who must render an account, and improve that time which shall extend its consequences into an eternal Every fleeting hour is carrying its report to heaven. Do your utmost that this report be favourable. Death, which concludes our probationary state, seals up the character, and transmits you, as you lived, to the tribunal of God. Repent then, while repentance will avail, and "work the work of him that sent

you while it is day, lest the night of "death come in which no one can work." "Whatever your hands findeth to do, do "it with thy might, since there is no knowledge, wisdom nor device in the

66

grave, to which we are all hastening." And, thirdly, Let this subject confirm your faith in Christ as the resurrection and the life.

When Jesus was about to retire from the world, he thus addressed his disciples: "Ye believe in God, believe also in "me." By his authority, and in his name, I would now exhort you in his words: "Ye believe in God," as the Supreme Creator and Ruler over all, and the source whence all your happiness flows; but believe also in Christ, The evidence on which you are called on to do so, is various and convincing. Jesus of Nazareth was a man approved of God by miracles, and wonders, and signs. He was mighty, not only in word, but in deed, before all the people. "Go your way," said he to John's disciples, " and tell him what things you have seen and heard; how

"that the blind see, the lame walk, the

lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the "dead are raised." By such miracles of power and mercy he established at once. the benevolence of his heart, the divinity of his mission, the truth of his doctrine, and the character of his religion. He proved himself to be the true and promised Messiah, the only Mediator between God and man, the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image

of his person. And though now he is set down at the right hand of the Majesty on High, he is still mindful of his friends and followers on earth. Through him they obtain the forgiveness of their sins, the sanctification of their natures, and a meetness for heaven. And when the time fixed in the counsels of the Eternal shall arrive, he will descend again from heaven, not as the despised son of Mary, but as a Prince, to gather the fruits of his labours and sufferings; not to die, but to give death the complete overthrow, and to change our vile body, that" it may be fashioned like "unto his glorious body, according to "the working whereby he is able even "to subdue all things unto himself."

We have been contemplating a striking proof of this power. As his call brought back the widow's son to life, so will it hereafter bring to life every child of Adam. The same voice that said, "Young

man, Arise," shall with equal effect summon before him all that has before us trode this earthly stage ;-us also, who are now journeying onward to eternity, and them which succeed us in the pilgri

mage of life. All the dead, both small and great, shall stand before his throne. Their dust may have been scattered by the winds of heaven; their bodies may have undergone many changes to us inexplicable; still we have a solution for every difficulty in the promise and power of God. He who formed man of dust can doubtless re-animate the same. He who gave life at first can surely restore it, can re-organise the scattered atoms, if necessary, and dispose them in the same order as before. He has already given us many proofs of his power over the tyrant of the grave. Did he not, by the voice of his prophets, call back from his grasp the bodies of different men whose spirits had departed? Did he not, while he sojourned on earth, restore to Jairus his daughter, to the widow of Nain her son, to the sisters of Lazarus their brother, whom they had buried? Did not, in the hour of his crucifixion, the graves open, and many bodies of the saints that slept arise? And as a further proof of the resurrection, he himself arose from the dead. "Our Redeemer liveth, and be"cause he lives, we shall live also."

Fear not then, my Christian brethren, "to go down to the grave; for Christ " will go down with you, and bring you

up again." Though your bodies must decay in the ground, yet they will be raised spiritual and immortal, and in these glorified bodies you shall see God, and be blessed in his immediate presence, throughout ages that shall never have an end. Let this glorious prospect reconcile your hearts to all the troubles and vicissitudes of life, and excite you to the utmost activity and diligence in your preparations for death and judgment. Knowing that the day of the Lord cometh as a thief in the night, watch always that he may not surprise you, but that you may be found with your loins girded and your lamps burning, ready to enter into the joys of eternity. Amen.