world in a state of tumult and uproar: but now they are gone by, and passed away; like so many idle shadows. Ambitious monarchs have put away those tarnished crowns and sceptres, for which they waded through seas of human blood-illustrious statesmen have laid aside their splendid badges of office—and mighty warriors have dropped from their hands the sword and the shield. Forgetting all their well-digested projects of aggrandizement, and divested of all their transitory honours, they have made their bed in darkness, and laid them down. in the dust. So all the grandeur and glory of the world pass away, and, "like the baseless fabric of a vision, leave not a wreck behind" He bringeth down them that dwell on high; the lofty city he layeth it low, he bringeth it even to the dust; the poor shall tread it down, even the feet of the poor, and the steps of the needy.

If we look into the records of our own memory, we are there also presented with the volume of death, and a gloomy register of things irrecoverably past and gone. How many of our early companions have made their rapid passage into the land of forget

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fulness! They once looked high, and aspired to eminence among their brethren; but now, their hopes are all blasted, their prospects are cut off, and their image is vanished out of the city. They were once our inseparable associates, and their fellowship furnished us with one of our choicest gratifications: but we can now remember only, that such persons once existed.

If we look round upon the world at the present moment, even amid all its pride and pomp, it presents us on every side with images of dissolution and death. In some places, war and pestilence, earthquake and storm, are making dreadful havoc of the human species: while, in every part, discases of a thousand different names are carrying on their silent though sure operations against the life of man. Sickness. languor, and pain, the harbingers of death. have found their way into all our houses. and are there performing their appointed work. Nay, they have already made repeated assaults upon our very persons, giving us many a bitter foretaste of what speedily must happen. Mourning chambers, opening graves, with the sable habits of numerous

passing strangers, are every day and every where reading to us impressive lectures of mortality.

Such is the state through which we are making our progress, where all things are given up to unavoidable destruction, and in which death is feeding upon our chiefest comforts and confidences with his iron teeth. Yet, even in such a state, we are not left without ample and solid grounds of hope. Beyond all the darkness and dreariness of this fading, dying world, a sacred light arises, and a cheering prospect opens to our view-for the Lord God shall swallow up death in victory. The promise is pronounced, the decree is gone forth, the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it, and it shall surely come to pass. The expression here employed is peculiarly significant; He will SW ALLOW UP death in victory. As a stone cast into the sea is so absolutely swallowed up and lost, as to forbid the hope of its ever being recovered; in like manner the tyrant death, after all the triumphs he has obtained, shall himself be so vanquished and bound, so swallowed up and overwhelmed in the unfathomable deep of the divine judgments,

as never more to have a name or a place in the creation of God.

In the meanwhile, we continue in this low and fluctuating state till our appointed hour arrive, that solemn hour which shall gather us to our fathers. How near or how remote that time may be, we have no means of ascertaining: neither the time when, nor the manner in which this awful change is to brought about, can possibly be foreseen. As to the time when; we have marked our friends and acquaintance passing through it at all periods of life, from early youth to the extremest age. As to the manner how; we have seen some dragged through this shadowy valley in the bitterness of their souls, marking every step of their way with lamentations and groans; while others have been led through it without terror or disquietude, either animated with cheerful hope, or soothed into silent submission. On a near prospect of this gloomy valley, an ancient saint could once exclaim-I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.

Where a

little child would fear to hazard himself alone, he will not fear to follow a beloved father. Held by the hand, encouraged by

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the voice, and guarded by the eye tender parent, the most timid child will venture into places from which, without the presence of such a guardian, he would shrink back appalled. He knows his father's love, he trusts his father's prudence, and confidently rests upon his father's promise: hence he dismisses every fear, and freely follows where his father leads the way. And thus the dying Christian leaves himself in the good hands of that allwise and gracious God, of whom it is emphatically asserted, Right dear in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. Whether the shades of death envelop him suddenly, or whether they draw gradually about him, he encourages himself thus-The Lord is my Shepherd. He hath admitted me into his fold, and numbered me among his sheep. I carry his mark in my forehead, and many tokens of his love are treasured up in my heart. I have often felt his power, and tasted of his grace, in the house of my pilgrimage: but now he calls me into his more immediate presence, that

I

may see him face to face, and enjoy uninterrupted communion with him all the days of eternity. I hear the summons with unspeakable