he stands in the valley of dry bones, Can these dry bones live? Yes! most assuredly when the Spirit of God breathes upon them. No longer then will it be a corruptible body, but an incorruptible. No longer subject to the pains, and sorrows, and infirmities which brought it to the grave; but a glorified body. The victory will be complete. The loss in Adam will be made good by the riches of the inheritance purchased by Jesus Christ. Here the Christian takes his stand. In this great article of his faith he triumphs, he rejoices. He sees the superiority of that Gospel which reveals such consolatory truths over every other religion in the world. Our great Leader has not merely promised that the dead shall rise; but he has actually proved, in the case of others as well as in his own, that the dead body can rise. The guards, the seal, the stone, could not detain him, nor can they detain his followers. He has gone before us, in every path; and we shall follow as united to him: which leads me,

3rdly. To speak of the final consummation, when death shall be swallowed up in victory. The strong man hath in this sense

had

long kept his palace. He has for ages power to destroy. He has been leading generation after generation to his dark abode. The earth has been a valley of Hinnom, a valley of slaughter. There has been a constant going down to the chambers of the grave. But there will be a coming up again from these dark chambers; a resurrection, a perfect restoration to light and liberty. Why did the holy psalmist sing so triumphantly, "Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors," but because the King of glory should enter in? And whom did the King of glory then lead captive; but sin, death, and the grave? Like a mighty conqueror he gave gifts unto men, as tokens of his victory; and what were those gifts, but the influences of his Spirit to lead men from earth to heaven, to wean them from the world with all its lying vanities, and to set their affections upon objects more worthy of them? Look at death in all its variety of forms, and then say how great must be the power of that Saviour who has taken away its sting? How awful, how heart-rending are the scenes which we are called upon to witness! Some

times we behold the victim snatched away in a moment: sometimes by a lingering, painful sickness. But has the page of history never told us, have we never seen, persons the most timid in themselves, strengthened and supported by the power of God, and rejoicing in the very moment of departure. Whence is this? It is from faith, as the apostle St. Paul proves at large, in his Epistle, Heb. xi. "Women received their dead raised to life again, and others were tortured not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection !" But whence, again, this principle of faith? It is from the victory which Christ hath gained! It is from his agony, his cross, his passion, his glorious resurrection and ascension, that all these blessings spring. Whence the martyr's triumph? Whence the song, "Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace;" but because the aged Simeon, and others who have since experienced the same faith, had seen the salvation of God?

My brethren, let me address you upon that solid foundation, on which alone either the minister of Christ or those who hear him can build their hopes of happiness.

M

The minister of Christ must rest his expectations for you, as well as for himself, upon the promises of God made to you in Christ Jesus. As you hope to have your sins crucified with Christ, so let me exhort you to rise to newness of life. It is the putting off daily the body of sin; just as we see some insects gradually shedding their winter garments, and at length taking wing and basking in the sunbeam; it is this change which takes place first in the soul, and then in the body at the resurrection, which prepares the servant of God for heaven! "Though ye have lien among the pots, (broken and shattered,) yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove, which is covered with silver wings, and her feathers like gold." Trials will come and shake every other hope; but the expectation of a Christian is built unchangeable covenant of God.

upon the

It is as

an anchor of the soul, sure and stedfast. The Christian sees, by faith, things which are invisible to sense. He knows what sin and death can do; but he rejoices in what his Saviour has done. 66 'I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” To

enjoy these truths, you must be born again You must have part in the first resurrection from sin to holiness. The Old Adam must be put off. The desires, the will, the affections must be sanctified. To be happy, you must be holy! To enter into rest, you must watch and pray. Death must be conquered before you meet him, or it will be a sad meeting for you. It will be fearful to go unprepared into the conflict. But in the strength of the Lord you shall prevail. The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon, was once the cry of God's exulting people. In the hour of death that sword will be the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Let us, in conclusion, endeavour to realize our present state, and our future prospects. It surely needs no additional argument to prove that our bodies are corruptible. Let that which our own eye beholds every day; let sickness, and sorrow, and death speak to this point. The very wish of affectionate tenderness expressed for the amendment and restoration of any dear friend, the hope of brighter days to come, the ebbing and flowing of disease, all speak