griefs and carried our sorrows, having been wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities, he appears all glorious and triumphant, let us worship and fall down before the Prince of Life, the captain of our salvation, let our devout homage be offered in the language of his Apostles, "Lord, to whom shall we go?" Let us join the chorus of those blessed spirits who cast their crowns at his feet, saying, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive honour and glory and blessing for ever and ever." Let us now ponder the inestimable mercies and blessings secured to us in the resurrection of Christ. And first it is a pledge and earnest that his sacrifice is accepted. It is the assurance of pardon from the Creator to his sinful, guilty creatures. If one man sin against another, the judge shall judge him; but if a man sin against the Lord, who shall entreat for him? The judge may interpose and punish the guilty, but for him who injures the judge himself, who is there to interpose? Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before the High God? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression? The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul!" In this language does Holy Writ describe the distress and anxiety of the natural man, whilst seeking

to propitiate his offended Divinity. In horrid atonement for their own sins, pagan parents, insensible to the strongest ties of nature, presented the reeking bodies of their own children as an offering acceptable to their senseless idols. The grand propitiatory sacrifice is now offered for the sins of the whole world. The spotless victim which alone could pay our ransom offered himself to God. Jesus died for our sins and rose again for our justification: he bruised the sting of death and we have now peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ. What joy to the trembling and desponding soul to behold the awful Ruler and righteous Judge of the world as a reconciled Father in Christ Jesus! How faint an image do earthly reconciliations afford of the conscious transition from enmity to peace with God, of deliverance from the guilt and power of sin, and of pardon and sanctification through faith which is in Christ Jesus! "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered." "Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity." "As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." The grave is no longer a gloomy mysterious receptacle into which the body of man is committed to be seen no more. Enlightened by faith,

we see a passage through the precincts of the tomb to the realms of everlasting glory. Exalted thus from children of the dust to be heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, no longer can the posterity of Adam regret the loss of that Eden in which their progenitor was placed. Heaven is now our inheritance. Jesus has opened to us the gates of those blissful abodes in which the tears shall be wiped from all eyes, and peace and love shall reign; he has himself taken possession of them in the name of the human race. Shudder not then at the coffin and the shroud, ye whose heads are hoary and steps tottering with age and its infirmities, if ye are found in the way of righteousness; from the grave consecrated by the death of Jesus, ye shall rise to everlasting youth and joy.

into dust again?

Are we visited with pain and sickness, struggling with some dreadful malady, which is daily exhausting the powers of life, and bringing us Patiently let us endure as serving him that is invisible, assured that when our frail earthly tabernacle is dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens. Is Rachel weeping for her children, and refusing to be comforted because they are not? Cease thy lamentations. Jesus

is risen again. If thy fondest delights and dearest hopes in the fair promise of their youth are blasted by the stroke of death, ease thy labouring heart with the sure and certain hope, that ere long thou shall meet again the peaceful and happy spirits of the children whom God hath taken to himself. Or are you deprived of friends who are dear to you as your own souls? Sorrow not as others who have no hope. Jesus is risen again, the connections you have lost and deplore are with him in the heavenly places, where if your faith fail not, you shall be re-united to them in one happy family, and God shall be all in all. It must be understood however that certain dispositions are requisite to the enjoyment of these consolations of christian hope. To be duly impressed with a deliverance, we must have been able to appreciate the danger. To taste the joys of a restoration to life, the pains of death must have laid hold upon us. Thus to estimate the blessings of our redemption by Christ Jesus, we must feel the want of a Saviour, we must be deeply impressed with the frailty and corruption of our nature. Such a sentiment however is by no means prevalent in the world. They who are not sensible of their own failings (and how large a proportion of mankind does this include!)

feel no want of a Saviour, and deem their own virtues and obedience a sufficient title to the rewards of futurity. To such persons the doctrine of redemption is a stumbling-block; they have nothing of the gospel but its morality; the idea of spiritual assistance, and an atoning sacrifice for sins they reject as enthusiastic notions. But with this self-sufficient presumption and reliance on our own righteousness, we are absolutely incapable of feeling that spiritual joy to which the text invites us. Attend to the import of our Lord's gracious invitation, "Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest; take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls." To those who are sensible that in their best religious services there is much to be forgiven, and that their attainment of eternal life will not be through the merits of their own obedience, but through the grace and goodness of God abounding towards them through Jesus Christ, and particularly through his death and resurrection, to those his true disciples only it belongs to say, in the language of appropriation, "This is the day which the Lord hath made, we will rejoice and be glad in it."