they are less disposed to question the wisdom and the rectitude of the divine government. While we cannot but regret, that worth so distinguished, and so long approved, should be subject to mortality; while we feel, and shall ever most sensibly feel the loss of the prudent adviser, the faithful friend, the bright example, the cheerful companion of our social hours; while the wound inflicted on one mourner's heart is too deep to be closed by the healing hand of time; yet in the removal of excellence, when full of days, we see nothing contrary to the established order of things; however lamentable the catastrophe, it cannot be said to be unexpected or unusual; and the mind can discover no plausible pretext to murmur or revolt. The venerable departed has yielded to the inevitable law of mortality. He has retired to his long home; to the house appointed for all the living. We are thankful that he was spared to us so long; that to him the cup of life was so bountifully mixed with pleasant ingredients; that it was alloyed with

so few bitters; we are delighted that so much virtue was carried so safely and so successfully through all its trials; that it weathered so many storms; that instead of falling under them, it struck a deeper and a firmer root, and produced richer and more abundant fruit; and that at length, when it was fully ripe, and not before, the harvest was safely gathered in. We rejoice, that after having passed through an unusually protracted time of activity, usefulness, and enjoyment, though he was visited at the close of his career with sufferings more intense, and longer continued than we might have expected or thought necessary, but not more than infinite wisdom knew to be expedient, he was permitted at length gently to fall asleep, and that his many virtues have now received their irrevocable seal, and are waiting in humble expectation for their ultimate and promised reward. Blessed are the dead who thus die in the Lord: they rest from their labours and their works follow them.

Upon an occasion so interesting, so so

lemn as this, how can we better employ our thoughts than in meditating upon the cheering and triumphant language of the apostle in the text. "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death," or as the words ought to be rendered in correspondence with the truth and spirit of the original, "The last enemy shall be destroyed, even death." These words contain three distinct propositions, each of which may suggest some pertinent and useful reflections. Death is an enemy-it is the last enemyand this enemy shall be destroyed.

First, Death is an enemy.

Death is an enemy to mankind in general; to individuals in particular; and to the cause and kingdom of Christ in the world.

1. It is difficult to explain how such an evil as death should have been introduced into the works of God. The account given in the book of Genesis can only be considered as an allegory, or fable, which is intended to convey the important instruction,

that death is the just punishment of sin. But it gives little insight into the historical fact as to the manner in which sin and death were originally introduced into the world. But though we may be confident that death was admitted into the creation for very just and substantial reasons, and that it answers very wise purposes, under the divine government, and will probably be ultimately beneficial even to the sufferers themselves, yet, with the present limitation of our views, and judging agreeably to present feelings and conceptions, we cannot but look upon death as a great and serious evil to mankind.

From generation to generation, death has been the destroyer of the human race. Men are universally born under the law of mortality; and neither youth nor beauty, neither power nor opulence, neither rank nor character, neither learning nor fame, neither virtue, piety, nor usefulness cân escape the inevitable doom. All mankind in all past ages, with the exception of one or two favoured individuals, have fallen

a sacrifice to the victorious tyrant, and all who are now living, and all the generations yet to come, till the final appearance of Jesus Christ, will in the same manner sink under the all-conquering arm of death.

If death were merely a mode of transition to another and better state of existence, it might still be asked, why should that transition be painful? But for any thing which the light of nature can prove to the contrary, death is a dark irremediable gulf, into which when a man once plunges he is lost for ever; from which there remains no hope of emerging again to light, and life, and happiness; and in which all past generations of mankind, and all that are to come, are destined to be swallowed up and lost in one vast mass of indiscriminate ruin and oblivion. Thus, judging from natural appearances, it is impossible not to conclude that Death is the enemy of man.

2. Death is the enemy of every individual in particular.

Death is the object of their aversion and