apply; and, although they will, at once, be suggested to the mind of every thoughtful mourner, it may not be improper here to advert to them somewhat more fully, and to press them more directly upon his attention. In doing this, we may call in the aid of analogy, and pursue a train of reflections, which may help the bereaved christian to triumph over the past, and to exult in the anticipation of future scenes. sorrow not It is natural, among other topics, to turn our attention to the existing condition of those beloved friends who have fallen asleep in Christ, and concerning whom we are exhorted to " even as others who have no hope." In the present world it is a case of frequent occurrence, for persons to part with those whom they most love and esteem, and even to reconcile their minds to a separation, when such a sacrifice holds out to the objects of their regard the prospect of some temporal advantage, which may promote their comfort, usefulness, and respectability, in life. In how many instances do parents give up the most loved and promising of their children, and even cheerfully make the necessary arrangements for transporting them to some distant clime, where they may have the chance of rising to the possession of wealth and secular consequence! It is found, on such occasions, to be no small alleviation of the regret produced by the absence of friends, to be assured of their welfare; and, if the recovery of their society would involve some considerable sacrifice of their personal interests, almost every sentiment of sorrow and selfishness is absorbed by preponderating emotions of benevolence and joy. And what is there, we might ask, but unbelief to hinder the christian, who has lost, by death, the fellowship of holy associates, from appropriating to himself, on the most rational grounds, a class of consolations analogous in kind, and inconceivably superior in degree, to the best supposable alleviations which can be realized by earthly friends, who are placed at a distance from each other? It is true, he cannot see them with the bodily eye - he cannot catch the sound of their voice neither is there any direct or visible intercourse between him and the christian friends, who have left him behind in this vale of tears. As far as the intimations of sense are concerned, it is as though they had vanished out of existence, or nothing more remained of them than a mass of unconscious and decomposed matter. But what then? Is hope extinguished, and sorrow permitted to press, with unmitigated weight, upon the bereaved spirit? This were, indeed, the case, if the delusions of sense, and the dogmas of a vain philosophy could be borne out by corresponding facts. But what is the testimony of revelation, concerning the holy dead? Does it not assure us, that, even the very bodies of our departed and christian friends,the frail and material appendages of themselves, -will, in due time, feel the quickening Power, and come forth from the grave in the freshness and beauty of immortal life? What is the most common and familiar image which the Scriptures employ to represent their condition? It is that of slumber. "I would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep," was the language of the apostle, in his consolatory address to the Thessalonians; and He who is "the resurrection and the life," spake in similar terms respecting the death of one whom he had been pleased to honour with tokens and sentiments of special regard: "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go that I may awake him out of sleep." With what beauty and comfort is the similitude fraught, which is here condition of departed believers! termination even of animal life. more than the transient process sion of nature, which recruits our exhausted strength, and enables us, with fresh vigour, to enter upon the duties of our respective stations. In like manner, death does not involve the utter destruction of those corporeal frames, which once enshrined the souls of holy men. They will awake on the morning of the resurrection. The graves, in which they are deposited, are but beds of rest, applied to the Sleep is not the It is nothing the kind provi from which, when the Saviour calls them, they will arise, and experience a change inconceivably superior to that which is felt by the healthy labourer, who, after a night of undisturbed repose, opens his eyes upon the glowing creation, which he goes forth to meet, exulting, like itself, in the strength and freshness of resuscitated life. But the consideration, which is still more adapted to afford relief to the christian mourner, in those instances where such evidences exist as admit of its being applied, arises from the present condition of the disembodied spirits of righteous men; and certain it is, that if this argument had its full and legitimate effect upon his mind, it would be sufficient to repress all unbecoming transports of grief, and to give a preponderating weight to emotions of benevolent satisfaction, resulting from the knowledge of their existing circumstances. It is, indeed, true, as we have had occasion to remark, that the Scriptures give us nothing more than general, and, in many respects, indefinite descriptions of the happiness which falls to the lot of the believer, when he has finished his course, and entered into his rest. But it is sufficient for us to know, what they most unequivocally declare, that the righteous, who have left the world, have exchanged it for a region of perfect peace and joy. We are assured, that they are not lost to the intelligent creation that their sainted spirits are enriched by the same virtues, -- remembrances, and intellectual powers, which constituted the value of their friendship on earth, and embitter the idea of its loss that they are freed from all the evil of sin, and transformed into pure essences and irradiations of the Divine image, and that in close communion with the Saviour, and with all the great spirits of the moral world, they have attained to the highest degrees of felicity, which, in their present disembodied state, they are able to enjoy. "And I heard," says the apostle John, "a voice, saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord from henceforth; yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours, and their works do follow them." Such is the testimony of God respecting the condition of departed saints; and if the christian, who has paid the last tribute of affection to any of these holy and happy beings, would steadily look at their actual state, in the light of the divine record, without allowing the visions of his faith to be obscured by the cloudy atmosphere which the mists of sense and unbelief are apt to bring around him, we know not why the assurance of their existing and unalloyed blessedness should not yield him such measures of satisfaction as would more than counterbalance, and almost annihilate, the painful feelings, which may be awakened by the remembrance of his loss. Instead, therefore, of yielding to that desponding state of mind, which |