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CHAPTER XIII.

CONSOLATORY REFLECTIONS ON THE LOSS OF CHRISTIAN FRIENDS, SUGGESTED BY THE HOPE OF REUNION..

WHAT heart has not sickened! what bosom has not heaved with fulness of grief over the ravages of mortality! What a malignant principle is sin, which has every where sown so thickly the seeds of misery-which has spread around us a poisonous atmosphere, from the withering and destructive influence of which no living thing escapes! With what a terrible energy has it armed the last enemy! How has it invested him with a desolating power, which pervades all place and time! Neither awed by rank, nor subdued into tenderness by any form of loveliness, on which the eye delights to linger; the King of terrors takes his stated course through the earth, seated upon his pale horse, and followed by a melancholy train of agents, who go forth in every direction, and busily execute his purpose!

Death, considered merely in reference to its

immediate victim, is, however, but one aspect of the calamity, and that, oftentimes, not the most affecting in its nature and consequences. The evil, we too well know, is multiplied and prolonged in the sorrow of surviving friends, and thus the ample sithe of time, which mows down one generation after another, wounds more frequently than it destroys. But, amidst this general gloom, the day-spring from on high hath visited us; and, as no sorrow is more common or pungent than that which is produced by the inroads of death, so great consolation is provided for the christian in that merciful revelation, which is intended to meet all the exigencies of fallen and afflicted humanity. The same celestial messenger whose voice solemnly announces, that all flesh is grass, and that all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field, benignantly points out a solid ground of hope, and provides us with most substantial comfort in the word of God, "which liveth and abideth for ever." When death tears from the christian the earthly objects of his regard, and makes sad inroads upon his family and connexions, he is in great danger of sinking into despondency, and is apt to experience a kind of mental desolation, as though every thing were lost which renders existence a blessing. But this is a delusion alike injurious to himself and dishonourable to God. In the saddest moments of trial and deprivation, it is

both the duty and privilege of the christian to "rejoice in the Lord," to repose his hopes on an all-sufficient and unchangeable Being, and with this view, to remember that there is in Him an eternal fulness, which is infinitely more than adequate to meet the desires and ever-growing capacities of the loftiest spirit in the intelligent universe. If, through the mediation of the compassionate Advocate, who ever liveth to make intercession for us, we have fled to Jehovah for refuge, and are prizing his favour as the chief good, we have a satisfying and durable portion, suited to the highest aspirations of our nature, secured to us by the Divine power and faithfulness, and concerning which we may exclaim, with sentiments of rapturous exultation, "This is all my salvation and all my desire." In this case our interests are safe; they are under the control of Heaven, and the most painful events of life are but necessary parts of a discipline which is the result of infinite wisdom and love, and which will terminate in the possession of the greatest good. The happiness of the believer, therefore, is not, and cannot be, essentially impaired by any of the external changes which affect him in the present world. He is able, on the principles of his faith, to rise superior to all the accidents and reverses of this mortal life, without losing any portion of that sensibility which enters into all moral worth, and without which the

man is merged in the brute. Standing on the Rock of ages, he can look down, with the calmness of unshaken faith, upon the agitating billows, which are ineffectually dashing against its base, and say, "This God is my God for ever and for ever, and will be my guide even unto death.” "Thou wilt shew me the path of life; in thy presence is fulness of joy, at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore." When such a man, therefore, is deprived of loved kindred and associates, or is assailed by any of those storms of adversity, which so frequently sweep over the tempestuous ocean of life, he will find rich consolation in the Divine friendship, and will hide himself beneath the shadow of Jehovah's wings. His wounded and agitated affections will return to their centre, and meet with their proper object in the supreme Parent and common Friend of all virtuous beings. "What," he will be disposed to say, "are all creatures in heaven and on earth, who may be most deserving of my regard, and most able to increase my happiness; but the dim reflections-the faint and flitting shadows of the Uncreated and Transcendent Excellence in which all of them delight, and from which each derives a fulness of joy? What were the best friends, whose loss I deplore, more than a few scanty streams flowing out from the exuberant plenitude of the Divine nature? And it is enough, yes, more than

enough, in the absence of these rivulets, tainted as they were in their course, to know that the fountain of blessedness, whence they proceeded, is ever accessible to me."

These considerations point to the grand sources of happiness and consolation, laid open to us by the Saviour, who came to procure for our alienated race peace and reconciliation with God. And where they are appropriated by an enlightend faith, and acquire a due ascendancy over the soul, they fill her with holy inspirations, and, by giving her, in a manner, relative omnipotence, they arm her with an invincible energy and power of endurance, compared with which the efforts and capabilities of unaided and unsanctified nature are puny and inadequate to the demands made upon them in the moment of severe temptation and trial. But, through the weakness of faith, and the general imperfection of the human character, it is often difficult for the christian to avail himself, in any adequate degree, of these exalted consola

tions.

The gospel has, accordingly, provided for him other sources of comfort, which, though they are of a subordinate character, come strongly recommended to us by the advantage of being specifically adapted to his case, and thus offer to afflicted humanity the most complete and congenial alleviation. These arise chiefly out of the hope; which it has been our object to establish and

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