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': «' ■ • ■' ■ %'■_'.■_ ■■ ■' — \ :, ^-,/ •:-■ '■,''■■. ': . -: ■' "■•■ : ■ ■'■:: . . ■ . ' . " -', .M.- MICROCOPY RBOUITION TEST CHART (ANSI and ISO TEST CH^RT No. 2) 1.25 UA Mil Li I IH 1 u ■IUI4 1.4 14.0 2.5 1.8 I 1.6 ■*;:■ r\A ^ APPLIED IN/HGE Inc ^^ 1653 Cost Main Strmt Rochester, New York 14609 USA (716) 482 -0300 -Phone (716) 288 -5989 -Fox ■I . * .-- A SERMON, ¥ . '^ ■■ ■ X ON : ■ •*.-' ■'-■■ ■ OCCASION OF THE DEATH • ■-.■■'■.''.,■•.''' ■',•.■■ ■- . •' '- CLARENCE YONGE WELLS, ' ' ' ..• -. PRKACHEl) OCTO HER 20th i 1860, *, ■ ' - * ■ ' ' ' •. ■ ; . . ■ ■ ■ ■. - : . •- - . >' • AT-- ; ■ - ■ - ' -,; -v ■- . <, ST. PAUL'S CHURGH, TORONTO, . ■'•. ■ BY THI', . ; - ' ■ > REV. J. G. I). McKENZIE, M.A., INCCM-hBNT.. . ■■,"- '-■-3 ■• . - ■ - ■ ■— . \« -. - ■ ■ ' .;. ■ ".;.,-■" , ■-)#■;■-'■' • ' WEYMOITH: ^■;- ■■.'';>' :;-' ; .■".. -. :: PklNTKD BT P. AJlC,HER,. ItOYAI. IJBK^Y, MPtANAUK. - ' • ■ ■ ■. .'■ ■ ^.■•'1^::_:^-.-. ■:/! - - ■,.,.' ■■ . ■ ■ ^ L^ » . - ,j.i \ • .. ■■■■'•■f- ■ ■■■- ^sSi:. ■/•:..■ A SERMON, ETC. ^< Our Saviour Jesus C^Hst, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality ' to light through the gospeir— 2 Tim. i, part ofy. 10. We are not to conclude from these words of th< apostle, tW, before the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, there was no Vnowledg^ at all of a future state in the w^rld. The Jews, 'undoubtedly, had a very comforting assurance of immortality, and the GentUes were n6t all of them absolutely ig- norant and unconcerned about it; but the know- ledge possessed eyen by God's ancient people was an imperfect knowledge, compared with that which the gospel has communicated. "The- gospel has cast more light on the subject, Uan either natural reUgion, or the law of Moses was able to aflFord; it has dispelled all doubt and uncertainty ; it has given us a better defined hope, a surer proof, and a more evident demonstration."* - ' • Bishop Sherlock. .,¥> X ^ The gospel has done tliis in various wayu : — FiKSTLY.— Its assurances that #c shall rise again arc most distinct and emphatic. " I am the first and the last," saith cur Lord. " I am he that liveth and was dead ; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, and have the keys of death." " He that believeth in me hath everlasting life, and 1 will raise him up at the last day." " The hour is com- ing in which all that are in the graves shall hear the voifce of the Son of God, and shall come forth." " The sea shall give up the dead that are in it, and death and hell (Hades, the place of departed spi- rits,) shall deliver up the dead ihat are in them." Skcondly.— We are expressly assured that the happiness of the good shall be complete, unchange- able, and endless. This the scripture declares in a copious variety of terms. The writers of the New Testament seem to labour for expressions, and to want words strong enough to represent it. Image succeeds image, in the sacred writings, and comparison is added to comparison, to convey some idea of a state of happiness and honour which surpasses description. They call our reward, *' an exceeding and eternal weight of glory," an "unfading crown," *' an incorruptible inheritance." They telt us that " Xhe righteous shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father>" and shall for ever hold intercourse with the holy angels ; live with Jesus, the mediator of the new ^* covvuant; and sc-c (ioU, and njoice in bin pre- sence ; and that fear, and ignorance, and doubt, and trovible, and sorrow, and tears, are eternally excluded from those quiet regions. But, TinuDiA.— The strongest assurance which the gospel brings us is in its glorious record of the resurrection of Christ himself. This is St. Paul's grand argument for pur future possession of bodies bright, incorruptible, and immortal :—" He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." : The same apostle, with a marvellous conciseness, sums up the statement of the gospel's superior illu- mination on the subject |i|^PPy immortality, in these few emphatic worW-" Chri^ in you the hope of glory," . ■" The inheritance of a happy immortality, to the sinner amenable to God's violated law and merit- ing punishment instead of reward, is a difficulty,— Christ is the explanation of that difficulty: it is a problem,— Christ is the solution of that problem. Christians have this explanation and this so- lution in the concentred light of accomplished prophecy, authenticated miracle, and unquestion- able fact: the Jews had it only obscurely; the Gentiles not at all. Both had difFerent degrees of hope ; but neither could give that reason for their hope that we can give. '•'i-- ■4 1 .0 e The captive, imprisoned for the tlurk crime of treason, and languishing in misery and in iron, under sentence of death, would naturally be amazed were his dungooii door to be thrown open, his chains stricken off, and himself bade to walk put ^ free and pardoned man. And to his amazement, incredulity would be added, were he assured tha^ it was again in his power to rise to the highest honours in the court of the Prince whose laws ho had outraged ; whose authority he had conspired to undermine. His incredulity would continue until the conditions of the deliverance and* the bounty were explained to him ; until sufficient reasons were af^signed for such an-ustonishing dis- play of bcnevoleuco. The captive sinner, who has been roused by God's awakening Spirit, and has learned to fathom, in some degree, the depth of his own vileness ; who has endeavoured to calcu- late, in humiliation an^ fear, the magnitude and the multitude of his transgressions, may be con- ceived as thus holding counsel with himself:^ "How is it that,, this blessed book of God, holds out to me, not only a promise of pardon, but a title to heaven,— a bright and animating prospect of reward. Such goodness is too high for me ; I cannotjittai^ unto it. My heart and my reason at once discard the notion, that my mere repentance, apart from a vicarious atonement^ can put me in this state of freedom and hope, as those who deny my r.ord*H divinity pretend, Kvtn if rupentanco, without an atoning Hacrifico, could avert the ven- geance, and soften the deserved indignation of an offended God, can it give me a title to reward / Can it put a iceptre in my hand, and a crown on my head ? Can it raise me from the degradation of a sinful mortal, to the ranks of the high nobility of the skies ? Nay ! it is Christ in me, who is the hope of glory. I have not earned this glory ; it is not my natural birthright ; it is the purchase of my .Saviour's spotless obedieiice, and expiating blood. For a wretched chUd of want and de«j>air ; for the rebel, the outcast, aud the beggar he bought it ; He, who for me, lay in a manger, hung upon the cross, and now reigns in heaven ; wid, what is strangest of all, he has given himself to me, as ^ pledge and assurance that he has made me an heir of glory ; for Christ is in me the hope of glory. He has softened my heart; he has dis- pelled my delusions ; 'he has puiified my soul ; he has detached mine affections from the world and raised them to heaven ; he has brought peace to my mind— the peace of reconciliationj and with |. the peace of reconciliation he has brought the hope of glory. Thou alone, Lord Jesus, art my helper and redeemer, my trust and my stay. All my troubles on earth are sweetened and forgotten in the h6pe which thou hast given me of seeing thy face in the heavens, and sharing thy jby." . V ■' . A t Most precious; my dear bretliren, is this hope of glory— the hope peculiar to that dispensation of the gospel which hath brought life and immortality to light. It is not a hope that maketh ashaihed ; it is not a hope that perishes ; it is not a hope that shall be cut off, suddenly ended ; it is not a hope that is like a spider's web, easily tofn and swept away ; it is not that hope which in holy scripture is described like the giving up of the ghost; but it is a hope firm as the Rock of Ages upon which it is built, enduring as the joy of the Holy Ghost by which it i% inspired. When we last assembled in this house of God, one youthful member of our little society of wor- shippers was with us, who had contended against the pains and infirmities of mortal disease, to pre- sent himself then for the last time, as it proved, in . the sanctuary. In suffering and in weakness, he came to join in our praises and prayers ; but now we see him no more; he hath been removed, as \ye trust we have good grounds for believing, to a land of rest, whose blessed inhabitants worship in temples not made with hands. From a world where he could hold communion with his dear Redeemer only through the services of the churcki, and private prayer, and the reading of the most comforting gospel of Jesus Christ, he Hath goi^e, as we feel ourselves warranted in hoping, to tjJat world ojr spirits, where the r ansomed pi the Lord are present with their Saviour; and hear the dis- course of infinite love and wisdom, from the lips of the chief minister of the church himself, the ' divine preacher of paradise. The amiable youth of whose endearing society and converse, in this world at least, it has been th|i|vill of our hea- venly Father to deprive us, was^nown to several of us from his earliest childhood, who had oppor- tunity of observing with afFeetionate interest, the fair growth and blossoming of those attractive qualities, vdlich won the attachment of all of us who knew him at all, even for a comparatively brief period, during the latter days of his short existence. To improve his example ; to incite others, and more especially the young, to follow after those blessed things which brought him com- fort and strength in his last hours; to make his early departure a remembrancer to all of us of the ^ncertainty of human life ; to notice some of those considerations, which are calculated to alleviate the grief of his sorrowing friends"; this is my office now ; not to speak the praises of the deceased, nor even to dwell upon the feelings which I myself entertained towards him, yet this I may be allowed to say, that, as it was in this church he renewed in confirmation the solemn vows of baptism, I felt a peculiar solicitude in his spiritual welfare. Most happy, therefore, was I, with others of his anxious fr JGhds, to find tha t the native gentleness and do- V i /■■■ ■..;■., 10 ■■ ■ ■ : cility with which God had endowed hiin, rendered him a willing and thoughtful recipient of heavenly truth, and greatly facilitated his special preparation for his approachiilg change. I had same fears at first-^and they were almost my only lears— that this very amiability might be regarded by himself not in its proper light, and might prove a snare to him. I was apprehensive lest it should be made a ground of reliance, and thus detract from the singleness and the fulness of his confidence in that atonement, without which there is no remission of sins; no reconciliation with God; no hope of a blessed immortality. From the very beginning, therefore, I felt it my duty to remind him, that sweetness of temper and unrepining endurance, are indeed, necessary christian graces, but are not in the slightest degree, meritorious in the sight of God. I cautioned him against indulging in any complacent retrospect of his former life ; but his subsequent demeanour was sufficient to assure me that the caution was scarcely needed. I never heard him make a single allusion to those pleasing traits of chiuracter which had gathered round him so many sympathising friends : he spoke not one word of the comparative innocence of hii^ life ; whilst, in answer to my inquiries, he professed his sole reliance on the blood of Christ for the pardon of his sins, and for acceptance with God; and, so far as^ outward signs of contrition form a safe crUerion for judging of the sUUc of the he»t, wc have every reason for entertaining the comoUng pervasion, that he cast himself at the toot of_ the cross with that thorough self abasement M .s felt and felt with the profoundest humJiation. even by christians who have attained to emment conformity to their Eedeemer, and have spent long and exemplary lives in tl.e observance of h,s laws, and the enjoyment of his love. , ,. .^. Sweetness of temper, amiabiUty of d.spo«tion and habits which are quiet, gentle, virtuov^, and pure, these-when they spring from th..,nght principle, love fo^ Christ-are amongrt th^fruiU id ^id^nces of -a living faith. B«t,Jet me. admonish you. especially my/ younger brethren, to shun most carefully the self-deeeptron ^f build- ing upon these, in any meUre, your hopes of saLtion: Even where the root of tl^ tree « holy, and its fruits are holy, you are n*,t justified and saved on account of those fruits: you receive vour acquittal from condemnation and your titte I heaven, not because you are kind and meek arid, amiable, but because Christ died forj(?u, and. Kis grace has eiiabledyou to exhibit the virtues „f his true disciples, artd to appropriate, the bene- fite of his atonement to the redemption of your ^. But woe be to those nominal chrvstia,^ who are destitute of christian graces, who pr^e^^ only pr et end, th at they love their Divme Master, fill .'*■■ ^f ■I M; •g^" V f 12 devoid of those social and moral virtues, without which there can be no living and justifying faith ; without which the personation of the christian character is a mockery ; and every fanciful notion, that we are dear to Christ, and secure of his inter- cession, a deep and dangerous delusion. The earthly career of our young brother has been soon terminated ; but in the dispensations of Divine Providence, it is no inconsistency that the ingathering of fruits should be in the spring-time of life ; that the freshness cf youth and the matu- rity of harvest, should go together. " Such words as * untimely * and 'premature,' are not found in the vocabulary of faith." God's dealings all come to pass in the right time ; and his time, we may be sure, is the best. In the christian's creed, the death of the tender infant, which is taken from its mother's anps, as the morning dew is exhaled by , the sun's rays from the flower, is not at all more untimely than th^ death of the patriarch, whose head has been blanched by the changes and com- , motions of a "hijndred years. Both are God's doing, and both must be equitable and good. And what if the delicate pl^^t which was the delight of our eyes be soon cut down! The heart, thus sorely smitten, will feel the blow ; and the natural emotions, of grief God will not rebuke. But let us not forget to lay hold , when we can, of his " com- forts which refresh the soul ;" let ujb not fail, in the 4, hour, of sorrowful meditation, to fall back upon thehopc of the Bospcl-.yhcre scripture warrant, us in applying that Hope-that " the flower .h.h hath faded in Adam, bloBsoms anew in Chnst, never to fade again." May you seek and find graee, my dear young friends, to lay this event seriously to heart, ihere ;: „o r:ason that the peaceful and happy death of our young brother should oppress you with gloom . but; I trutt it wiUmake you refleet. Some of you. if;ar, are not as thoughtful about the conce™^ of your never-dying soul, as you should be. J^ he it from me to chase a single sm.le from pur faces, ^hieh is the expression of innocent joy; but belieye me, levity and indifference as to the world of spirits arc sadly out of place ^^-'^^^^^ be called into that world at any momen of h » lives It is with a most engaging aspect that re- ligion meets you now, a, the adviser comfort^ and guide of vour departed brother. To him the „»inister of religion .va, a welcome visitor ; to Inm Religious counsels and religious truths were sweet ftoquent prayer brought strength, and God's word la! the rLst treasure. To what, but the sustam- i„g comforts of our blessed religion, are we^to i.ibe his Wnposure and resignation ben^J^ malady peculiaHj^productive Was it not thus from the beginning of Christianity, that those who died in the Lord were blessed t Has this ccunforting truth at any time been obscured or contravened f If so, the announcement which the angel enjoined the apo- stle to write, must be taken to refer to that tune. It will then be a prophetic intimation that the doctrine of the immediate happiness of the righte- ous afler death should become darkened, in some way, by a corruption of gospel truth ; but that, afterwards, "from henceforth," the darkness and the doubt which had for awhile prevailed in regard to the state of the departed saints of God should be cleared away, the consolation revived, and the persuasion re-established, as it was in the begin- ning, that, '' blessed are the dead which die in the Lordr Uas tW immediate happiness of the righteous eVer been called in question ? Has this, amongst other gospel truths, ever suffered perversion ? I know that great caution, and a peculiarly reverent discretion ought to be evinced in at- tempting the interpretation of those Scripture pro- phecies which are not explained or fulfiUed in holy Scriptuie itself; yet I may be permitted m :' '■) iO. •~c humility to «uy, that, to the be«t of my jiulgment, the general conclusion of commentators seeniH to bo woU founded that the prophecy ha« reference to the cruelties practised and the corruptions introduced by the church of Rome. In the verses preceding tlie text, we meet with predictions of persecutions and other circumstances, correspond- ing in a remarkable munnejr to the fierce and unscrupulous opposition nuj^nifested by the church of Rome to the progreS^jPr the Reformation. To encourage the Haints^tt pajsicnce in suffering for the truth even Unto death, the apostle showed that he heard a voice from heaven ordering him to write :^ — " Blessed are the dead which die in the )rd,*' (or in the true faith and hope of the gos- )cl,) even " from henceforth." Nothing is said to leave room for apprehending that the bl of those who so die in thc^^ord, is for on defprred ; but the doctrine of purgatory bfOn^t in bv tlvc'church of Rome does postpone that blessed- ipMLaiJpraHenting it as necessary that the souls even o^^<^ B0 w'<^§i^^ shield pass through a process of P^^i^B^^^^^'^yS^^^-^^""^' it may be, for a thfeAnKyears. ITii introduction of this grievous error, was of course a heavy discouragement to the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ ; it was, in point of fact, unwarrantably interposing, so lar as man rniild interpose between them and the immediate rest purchased for them by the Redeemer's blood,? V *; /4& Z\ mm ^^^ J^ Keformiitiou wun u recovery of tlie truth piliiiiM particular, and in othclr* ; and tli« hop« of tlui'vightcou« ugainst which artful mm hud con- ^spired, wu« restored to that fulnenH and tleariu'«ii in which (Jod lias been pleased to bestow it upon his people. "From henceforth," then, from the* period of the Ueformation, " IJlessed are the deaf^ which die in the Lord;" that is, from this period, (swh it seems is the import of the prophecy,) from this period believers will generally undorKland that encouraging truth, and not have to encounter the fears of purgatory, or to apprehend a dehiy of their felicity, when seized with the agonies of death, or called to suffer martyrdom for Christ's sake. Indeed, it is an undeniable fact, that the expectation of immediate happiness, was the joy ^nd support of those numbers whojerished at the stake, or were otherwise cruelly martyred during those times. This "voice from heaven" was attested by an internal suggestion of the Holy Spirit, who assured the ap6sUe that believers rested after death from all their labours and sufferings, and, conseqaently could have no purgatory to fear, and that their works followed them, to prove the sifieerity (jf their faith, and to ensure a gra- ■ cious'teward. ~.-4tf^-:-~-^.r--r.r~^ — ^- --"- --:■— ^-^^tt-tt- -^- ■ r --^ With this agree the words of various other p asftn gps of God's W9rd, peculiarly emphatic and distinct. "To-day thou shalt be with me in J-- • I in'. M2 paradise;" this was said to one about to die. It was placed before him as a reward ; there was no intervening time and no intervening place ; " to- day shalt thou be with me in paradise y" and in the case of Lazarus, no intervening time is de- scribed, and no intervening place ; immedi^^tely after death he was found in Abraham's bo8om\ Again, take this passage,— *' Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might; for there is no wotK, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom," /(and, consequently, no possibility of completing the soul's salvation by any kind of purification or probation) " iji the grave whither thou gocst." But this momentous truth is best established by quoting whole classes of texts, rather than single ones. Take those, for instance, which Prefer to the universal and entire satisfaction of Christ, and the cessation of God's -wrath thereupon, not par- ti^ly, but altogether. "There is therefore now wo condemnation to. theta that are in Christ Jesus;" that is, being justified by Christ, and through him forgiven, there is no relic of punishment any where awaiting them. "Being justified by his blood, we shall be saved fronfwtath through him." There is no wrath remaining ; we are justified and sav^d from it altogether. Again, take that class of texts which describe the day of judgment. "It is appointed unto man once to die, but after this the u judgment" St. Paul didiiiot say, "It i^ appointed unto irien once to die, tten to go through a state of purgation and cleansiig in the fire of purgatory, and then the judgment// No, there is but one step, as far as sin is concerned, from death to judgment; and to the pardoned, 4erefore, but one step from death to happiness, glbry,ani^ test. Again, what is the meaning of ail that class of texts which urge the necessity of repentknc^ andgood worlcs, and turning unto gU immediately in this life, on the express ground/ that there Is nothing further to be dofa towards/ salvation after this hfe? Such as— "Webeseedhjyou that ye receive not the grace of God h/ vain." "Behold, noio is the accepted time ; /behold, now is the day of salva- tion." "Exhort one another daily, while it is called to-day, ^t any of you be hardened through the deceitftiln^ss of sin;" while it is said, "To.day if ye will heat his voice, harden not your hearts. And the v^y fords of Jesus himseH, "I must work tlie 4rl^s of him that sent me while il; is day ; the night o&meth when no man can\ work." And, once mor J, consider that class of texts in which deathisipoken of as a.period of delight, and joy, a|id restym labour, as though nothing after that remain^ if toil, or fear, or pain, or punishment. "We LoV'that if our earthly house of this tabernkcle Were dissolved, we have a building of " God ThouL not made with hands, eternal in the v! H ^■4' "5,' 1 heavens." Tlie hea(|enly tiibernacle succeeds the earthly ; there is no purgatorial tabernacle. " In this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven^" Would language like this be suitable, if purgatory, pain, and punishment had to intervene? "To me to live is Christ, and| to die is gain. For I am in a strait betwixt two^ having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is/far better." Do not these earnest expressic^s of aa eager desire on the, part of the apostle to be eternally united to his Master, sound to US as/ though he expected that death would itmtecliaJtely admit him into that Master's l)resence i* uiid/Christ is not in purgatory, to meet the dying sinner there. With Christ, theii, as our friend, our surety, and our ransom, holy fcJcripture bids us confide our souls to the keeping of our loving Redeemer; and assures us, that in the bosom of our church, at the ransomed christian's dying hour, we shall rest in peace. There may be a failing and sinking of the flesh, but no fear of further unknown trial; trial by fire, how severe we know not, and how long we know not ; no apprehension is there of a myste- rious state of suffering into which the soul is to be plunged wthout help, without Christ, without God. What language does our church, our reformed branch of the Catholic church, hold out to the dying 'penitent who breathes out his soul in tran- quil /a^A before his Ood and his Eedeemer ?--Slie bids him die in hope, even as l^c has lived.in faith^ she bids him be of good courage, for that the Lamb of God iiatk taken away the sins' of the world; ahe teUs him^at he is fully, and without reservation, reconciled unto God, in his blood ; she bids him speak his last word in joy, and breathe his last sigh in peace ; in a word, the consolation which she brings is the consolation of the gospel, and is as the reiteration of the angel's announcement :- ^-Blessed are the dead which die in, the Lord; even so, saith the Spirit, for they rest: from their labours/3 Death, too, is a change fropi unreal to real life. Here our life is subject tb mortaUty; hemmed about, as it were, and har^sed by the weakness of the body ; but when .^bce we have 'been unclothed of this perishable fr^me, the spirit, now contracted, will be rele^^d unto freedom, unmingled, unobstructed, buoyant, and boundless. Here we live straitened and: afflicted with the body of this death; in heaven w€ shall live mightily and joyously unto God. It is the cheering conviction that all this blessed- ness and this ^lief are made sure to the christian after death-made sure to him, no matter how full of sorrow, sickliess, and suffering his life may be here below-it is, I repeat, this cheering conviction which affords us comfort, and moderates our grief in the surrender and the separation which it has 'h,^^ \ 26 been God's good .will to impose upon us in the death of an esteemed pMishioner— the wife of one of our christian patriarchs. She whom w6 lament this morning was identified, wc might say, with the history of this place; here she passed many of the brighter years of her life— -when youth and unfaded beauty and strength were her's —and that those years were fruitful in affectionate friendships is proved by the large number of sincere mourners who deeply feel the twofold visitation which consigned her, at first, to a long period of weakness and disease, and has at length removed her from us. It„,causes me much regret that I did nofpossess the privilege enjoyed by her many sorrowing friends^that of knowing her when traits of character could be best discerned from the movements of the unimpaired mind, ere God, in his wise and assuredly merciful providence, thought it good to shade with languor and sickness the sunshine of her days. I could wish that an acquaintance had commenced in a happier time— ^ had commenced when the ties of schoolfellowship bound me to one of her afHicted sons with the strength of a more than ordinary attachment^and regard. This, however, was not my privilege, so that I cannot now say so much ^as I desire con-, cerning the departed: though, you will readily believe that all I say is the language of one who unites with the most afflicted, in the depression Si 87 :•., ■■:■■:::'/■ ■' ''. which they feel U ^a« "ot until she becan>e . parishioner of mine that our intimate actiuainUnce commenced, and even then sickness ^^^-J^-f' in her a melancholy change. But what though, with her. "life's evening ray" was langmdand chiU ; what though it had lost its power to enliven and to cheer ; -it had a deep, though a «iddemng, interest notwithstanding. We dwell w«h fondness on the fair scenes of ehildhoo4, and love m afterlife to recal its joyous associations, even when those scenes have been defaced, and those ththe and pure associations come back to us 'had^d wih L gloom of the remembrance that what hath once been can be no more. I find no difficulty ,n comprehending, and I can cordially sympathise m the pang which those must have felt vrho sorrow- fdly witoessedthe gradual fading of a dear friend, whom they had known as a woman of uncommon attraction. What, then, is earthly beauty, or vivacity, or strength? Who wUl make these their confidence and their pride? , Who wiU s^er themselves to be beguiled by these from seeking God's enduring love, and preparing for the m- hlitance of things imperishable, in the christian s l/ome beyond the skies? But these are mournful Noughts, and these are far from being the only thb^hts connected with the decease of her whom we mourn. You have seen her visit the sanctuary. SujMlay after Sunday, when her enfeebled limbs I- M--: I -f ;28 scarcely sufficed to bear up her sinking frame. Ypu have seen her, time after time, approaching the holy table,.with tottering step, and with trem- bling hand receiving the memorial of her Redeemer's atoning death. You have seen her join in the ordinances of religion when the couch rather than the church would have been deemed by many a reasonable and a needful concession to bodily infirmity. And what though she were unable, at times^ to grasp all the associations of the devotional duties which she performed ? Were those duties profitless, or comfortless ? Cannot God's Spirit^ occupy the cliristian's mind, though, as to intel- lectual effort, it be even as a dismantled fortress and a desolate habitation ? .Are angels forbid to whisper peace— to minister mysterious consolations to the soul which seems to us to be subsiding into lethargy and to be hidden in the twilight of itid fading powers ? And may not many of those •hours which, in the latter years of the lamented deceased, were reckoned by us hours of uncon- sciousness, may these not have been really hours of precious, though silent communion with heaven: hours when the soul, in its apparent slumber, was visited by that God who, whether we sleep or .wake, continues still the sanctifier, the guardian, and the friend. But with the deceased, all this, we rejoice -to believe, is over; the twilight shadows of earth have been dispelled, and the morning of T a happy eternity, in unclouded beauty, has men upon her. The body is at rest, waiting to be renewed in strength at the resurrection; and from the mind, the cloud, we trust, has been for ever dispeUed: dispelled by the light of paradise, and by the surpassing intellect of the glorified samt. Mother and son are sleeping side by side, as to the body ; and as to the soul, are living, too, side by side, as we trust, in glory. Let us, then seek comfort by striving to realise, through faith, that voice from heaven (and from heaven only, not from reason, pot from philosophy, can we hear^it) which uttereth this triumphant and thrilling de- claration :-" Blessed are. the dead .fhieh die m ^e.Lord: Yea, saith the Spirit" (oh! may the S^