THANATOS AND EUAGGELION.

BY REV. T. J. GREENWOOD.

PERHAPS no two words known to mortals stand in stronger contrast in the human mind than those which we have placed at the head of this article. We attempt not, of course, to write an exhaustive essay on them; but merely to present a few cursory thoughts, such as occur to the mind now, or may be awakened from the memory of the past.

DEATH, in whatever form considered, is always a subject of dread, or aversion, to the mind of man, when viewed in disconnection with thoughts which are above and beyond it. Morally, it carries with it, always, the thought which is breathed from the solemn spirit of revelation, of powers and privileges perverted, prospects darkened, hopes blighted, affections dormant, and a soul entombed. We look abroad upon the world, in the pathway of its career, and we find desolation, sadness, and tears; darker, gloomier and bitterer,

than spring from any other cause; and the heart of man knows no anguish which can compare with that which haunts the soul enslaved by its despotic power. The broad river of existence presents upon its troubled and turbid surface the myriad wrecks of all which mortals hold dear, floating piecemeal adown its rushing tide, till it seems the fresh-swollen stream that bears the gathered toil and wealth and hopes of man to a common ingulfment; and the huge wail of anguish that rises above the troubled waters is as the wild howling of the tempest, when Destruction's hand has beckoned her powers forth to the mad work of ruin. The great heart of humanity utters its mighty grief, that creation's bright parterre is marred by the destroyer's footfall; and conscious Guilt averts her face from everything, save the grim visages of horror and despair.

Under the baleful influence of this dread enemy of man, Vice, and Fraud, and Oppression, hold their orgies at noonday, and crime makes night hideous with its unnatural deeds. The innocent, the unsuspecting, and the helpless, are its victims; and youth and age alike are crushed beneath its

terrible and relentless power. A world of beauty is by it transformed to an Aceldama, and creation groans under the weight of the many woes of its infliction.

In proof, we may be spared the recital of examples. The wrecks, alas! are thickly strewn around

us!

From this death, however, there is release, even before that has exerted its power of which we have yet to speak. EUAGGELION comes with the breathings of a brighter and a better world, to shed her genial spirit abroad; like the mandate of the Almighty, in the morning of creation, uttered over brooding, darkling chaos, "LET THERE BE LIGHT, AND THERE WAS LIGHT!" The Gospel of the grace of God exerts its salutary and beneficent power, and they who sat in darkness behold its light. The terribleness of their condition is revealed; motives that had remained undiscovered are presented; energies that had been dormant are aroused; and he who was dead, while he had a name to live, quickened by that spirit which dwelt in infinite fulness in Him who is at once the light and life of man, is aroused from the death-bond,

struggles for liberation, yearns for an exalted condition, rises under the guidance of the welcome visitant, breathes the inspiring air of that liberty wherewith Christ maketh free; the image of the Holy One and the Just glows in the soul, and the redeemed one walks again among men, a warning, a motive, an exemplar, and a guide. No power, like this, can operate upon the asperities of the mind. No power can, like this, manifest that creative energy which can infuse life and holy aspirations into the spirit once depraved, and blackened, and dead. No spirit can, like this, "deliver the creation itself from this bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God."

It is, therefore, the chosen instrument of Infinite Beneficence and Mercy, for transforming a world of darkness, pollution and death, to a world of life, and beauty, and light! And hence the significant appellation, "THE GLORIOUS EUAGGELION OF THE HAPPY GOD!" It is the antidote of death in its reign of ruin.

But Thanatos has yet another, if not a sadder reign. The grim monarch waves his sceptre to close the earth-career of man; and what was once

life, and activity, and hope, has fallen forever in stillness. Another mystery, deep and awful, indeed, as the thought of creative power, is revealed to the living. Man dieth, and wasteth away; yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?

Death, literally, is the sundering of the fondest ties of humanity. And though, when the event transpires, no conscious guilt is mingled in the cup which the survivors drink, yet affection and sympathy gather around the lifeless tenement of the departed, and tears fall freely as the spring-rains upon the wastes of winter, over the cold and inanimate dust. We look now abroad upon the earth, and contemplate the moving myriads that constitute the great caravan of life, and we find that, from the little infant, whose first and only smile is kindled by the very exuberance of life within, on, on to the hoary-headed pilgrim, who at length lays down a weary life-burden at the portals of the tomb, all, all bear witness to the truthfulness of the early mandate, "Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return!" Ay, "passing away, passing away!" is murmured on every stream, whispered in every breeze, and breathed from every