are going to join their connections. Hence, as well as from the pride of distinction, sprang the mausoleums of the great, a kind of family-tomb. Hence, among the Jews, the frequency of sepulchres in their gardens; where they seemed still to retain the departed near them, and maintain a kind of communion with them, and feel soothed at the thought of blending with them, in the exclusive and endeared abode. Hence Ruth said to Naomi, "Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried." Jacob said, “I will go down into the grave to my son." "But I will lie with my fathers; and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burying-place." "And he charged them, and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite." "In the cave that is in the field Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a burying-place; there they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah." Nor was this only the language of faith, but of nature. In vain I am told there is no reason in the thing, since there is no conscious community in the grave. There are beautiful insects, too fine for dissection; yet there is in them all the reality of organization. There are sentiments to be felt, rather than explained-instincts of the heart; it is nature-it is the God of nature that speaks in them. We often feel most forcibly an impression whose cause is hidden and undefinable. What occurs to the mind in a kind of distinct proposition may be met, and argued, and repulsed but a principle whose influence is re

ally, yet secretly and unaccountably exerted, resembles those invisible laws in the natural world, whose agency we can neither deny nor withstand. To which we may add, that whatever tends to diminish the gloom of the grave, and to render it more inviting, is to be cherished, and not despised.-But we have something superior to all. There are five things which a Christian should think of with regard to the grave. Jesus himself has been in it. It is a place of repose. It receives only a part of the man. It will not be able to retain this always. It must not only restore it, but restore it improved.

First, When you think of the grave, remember that Jesus himself has been there. How far did he, who is all your salvation and all your desire, carry his humiliation! He descended into the lowest parts of the earth. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so the Son of Man was three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. He not only died, but was buried, according to the Scripture. And hereby he not only said, see how certain my death is ; but, are you afraid to enter the grave? I will go in before you, and render it safe and attractive.-Yes, the Lily of the Valley, and the Rose of Sharon, was laid there, and has left a long perfume. Whenever I am committing the remains of a believer to the tomb, I seem to hear the angel saying, "Come, see the place where the Lord lay.".

"The graves of all his saints he blest,

"And softened every bed;

"Where should the dying members rest,
"But with the dying Head?"

Secondly, When you think of the

grave, remember

It is a place of repose. Hence Job adds, "I have

made my bed in the darkness." But who sleeps the less sound for the darkness? The darkness aids our sleep. And who, after the fatigues of the day, dislikes or dreads the refreshment of night? The sleep of a labouring man is sweet. He lies down and forgets his sorrow, and remembers his misery no more.

God has a hiding-place for his people even in life; and often says, "Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee; hide thee also for a little season, until the indignation be overpast. But here the clouds return after the rain; and as long as earth is their abode, bonds and afflictions abide them. Therefore, says Job, "O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave; that thou wouldest keep me secret until thy wrath be past; that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me!" God takes away his people from the evil to come. He foresees it; but they do not. He therefore lays hold of them, and places them in a sheltered retreat. And you often clearly see, after their removal, what some of your connexions would have suffered had they continued here a little longer. Ah! says one, whose purposes are broken off, (his very heart desolated within him,) Ah! what should I have escaped, had I been allowed an earlier retirement. For now should I have lain still and been quiet; I should have slept: then had I been at Yes-from the snares and vexations of the world; from the reproaches and persecutions of the ungodly; from the perfidy or weakness of friends; from the temptations of the Devil; from the conflicts of flesh and spirit; there all will be peace; all will be quietness; all will be assurance forever. "There

rest."

the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest."

Thirdly, When you think of the grave, remember that it has only a partial empire; it only receives what is corporeal and mortal. Here we are not going to enter into metaphysical reasonings. We understand but little of the connexion of spirit with matter; yet why should we doubt the possibility of its existence separate from it? Are we not conscious of some mental operations, in which the body seems to take no share? And when the powers of the body are suspended in sleep, is there not something that sees without eyes, and hears without ears? Do we not even then dream? and often with an amazing degree of activeness?

The heathens seemed to allow that something in man could exist, and would either suffer or enjoy, independently of the body-for of the revival of the body they never had the least notion. But we turn at once to the Scriptures, the only source of satisfactory information in a case like this. "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was; and the Spirit shall return unto God who gave it." Hear the statement of the Apostle. "Absent from the body, and

present with the Lord." And his own wish expressed to the Philippians: "I long to depart to be with Christ, which is far better:" i. e. far better for him, though to abide in the flesh was more needful for them. Now if he did not believe that his soul would be immediately with Christ, his desire is perfectly unintelligible. For by dying, he would have been no sooner with Christ, than he would by remaining alive, as to time; nor so near, as to enjoyment; for here he had access to him and intercourse with

him. How undeniably is this distinction admitted by our Saviour, and made the rule of his most solemn "admonitions. "Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." "I say unto you, my friends, be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear; fear him, which, after he hath killed, hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, fear him." To which we may add his promise to the thief on the cross; which, though often tortured, still refuses to support any other principle: "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, this day thou shalt be with me in Paradise."

This being premised and proved, we observe, that the souls of believers are in their bodies, as the lamps of Gideon in the pitchers: at midnight the pitchers are broken, and the lamps shine forth, and the victory is obtained. This, to drop the metaphor, this is the ground of consolation taken by the Apostle: "And if Christ be in you, the body is dead 'because of sin; but the spirit is life because of righteousness."

Fourthly, When you think of the grave, remember that its reign is not only limited as to subject, but as to duration. Even the body, which it does receive, will not, cannot be retained by it always; therefore the Apostle adds, " But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you."