less intricacy; How often he passes by us and we perceive him not: he works on our right and on our left hand, and we cannot trace: we hear the sound of his footsteps, unable to behold him! "He holdeth back the face of his throne, and spreadeth his cloud upon it." On the testimony of the scriptures a Christian will believe that "all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according to his purpose:" but how they co-operate is known only to HIM who "sees the end from the beginning," and whose wonder-working hand educes good out of evil. We know but little; and that little, how imperfectly! "Lo, these are parts of his ways! but how little a portion is heard of him?" Again we apply these words,

III. TO THE INVISIBLE WORLDS.

"Hell is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering."

We all look forward with anxiety and suspense to that unknown state to which we hasten. When we miss from the circle of our friendships, the companions of our way, we cast many a wishful glance across the abyss at our own feet, and make many a fruitless atte mpt to penetrate the obscurity that hides its secrets from our inquiring eyes. There was a time when the conscious heart of man vibrated with the palpitations of fearful anticipation and suspense, as he descended "the valley of the shadow of death;" for Revelation was not there to guide and to support his trembling and uncertain steps. Ah, then how bitter was the parting sigh! Then the strained eye-balls

were turned towards the mouth of the vale where the last glimmerings of light lingered; and as the invisible

hand irresistibly urged the reluctant wretch forwards, horror and dismay suspended all his faculties; chill despair crept through all his vitals, and brooded heavy at his heart; and a darkness which might be felt, oppressed and overwhelmed the departing spirit. Blessed be the hand that has rolled the cloud from the mouth of the grave, and for ever chased these accumulated horrors! "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again to a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away!" Now as we appoach that awful hour in which the strongest powers of nature fail, the visions of God burst upon the enraptured sight: the melody of heaven floats along the air, and thrills through the soul of the dying believer: angels wait to "minister to the heirs of salvation;" Jesus, the friend of sinners, is present to close the dim and fixed eyes: an energy more than mortal is vouchsafed; and death is swallowed up in victory!

It is no longer a matter of inquiry and of uncertainty, of conjecture and of hope, that the soul is immortal: the die is cast, and the fact is indisputably proved. "Life and immortality are brought to light by the gospel." A thousand dying testimonies have proved the stability of revealed truth. He who emerged from the dark dominions of death, as the forerunner of his people, spoiled him of his sceptre, and bore away the keys of his prison in triumph to heaven. The throne of the king of terrors already trembles, and nods to its fall. "The hour is coming when all that are in their graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and shall come forth." His empire shall be depopu

lated, his captives set free, his very being annihilated. Rejoice, O ye heavens, for the King of Kings has vanquished the Power which clouded your beauties, and which will extinguish the radiance of your orbs! Rejoice, for the Savior shall reign till all enemies are subdued under his feet; and "the last enemy that shall be destroyed, is death!" Rejoice, for he will create you anew, and rekindle all your faded glories, with a lustre which shall never be impaired! Shout for joy, ye redeemed, for the day of the restitution of all things draweth nigh!-Hear it, ye nations, and let the voice of triumph thunder through all your islands and all your continents! Hear it, ye angels, and strike your harps in sympathy with the sons of mortality, the fellow-heirs with you of the same kingdom; and aid their feeble voices, by adding the melody of your songs to their triumph over death! Hear it, ye spirits, of just men made perfect, and blend your joys with the gratitude of your brethren according to the flesh! Sound the trumpet of victory through the dreary chambers of the grave-the long-silent habitations of the dead; and while the unconscious dust lies sleeping in these low and mournful vaults, hail, in your invisible world, ye glorified saints, the dawn of that approaching morning, when your ashes shall be ransomed from the tomb, and time and death shall expire together!

It is also decided that a two fold portion awaits the departed spirit, a world of endless joy, or of endless woe. A prison where the heart hardens as it suffers; and the vials of divine wrath cannot be exhausted: or a world of bliss, the habitation of God, of angels, of departed saints, of holiness, of perfection, of inextinguishable happiness. In the scriptures, the imagin

ation and the reason are employed in contemplating regions of horror, in which the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched; but the man who rejected divine compassion is delivered over to remorse, and anguish, and darkness, and despair, and unknown misery: or, these powers of the mind are overwhelmed in the vision of the palace of God, and the unshaken kingdom which he has prepared for the righteous, and as the armies of the redeemed pass before us, the voice from heaven proclaims-"They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the lamb which is in the midst of the throne, shall feed them, and shall lead them to living fountains of waters; and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes."

When you have explored these invisible worlds by the aid of revelation, much obscurity still hovers over them. Their existence is clearly ascertained, but few particulars respecting these unknown lands, have reached these remote regions. We have yet every thing to learn respecting their nature, the nature of their inhabitants, and the nature of the employments attached to them. "Lo, these are parts of his ways! but how little a portion is heard of him?" And if all the operations of nature, the mysteries of Providence, and the secrets of the invisible worlds, were developed, still these all are but "parts of his ways!" We apply this language once more,

IV. TO THE WORD OF REVELATION.

Even in this volume "how little a portion is heard of him!"

Here, those truths which are of most importance to us as dying men, are plainly revealed. We feel forei

bly our relation to God, "the Judge of all." We behold human nature emerging from the ruins of the fall, and triumphing over the curse. We perceive the devastation introduced by the transgression of our first parent, repaired by the obedience and death of the Second Adam, who "is the Lord from heaven." We see Jesus "made a little lower than the angels" for our sakes, afterwards "crowned with glory and honor," as our surety and representative. He suffered "the just for the unjust to bring us to God." He was "lifted up that he might draw all men unto him." And "through him we all have access by one Spirit to the Father."

The Holy Spirit is represented as descending to apply all the blessings arising from his death to the wounded conscience. The image of God is restored to the heart. The bosom becomes an habitation of the Most High. It is no longer a scene of anarchy, the seat of tumultuous passions; but the residence of peace, and joy, and hope, and holiness, as the pledge of still more refined and exalted felicity to come.

Connected with these solemn truths are promises suited to every possible circumstance in human life, and adapted to all the difficulties which press upon the man in passing through this valley of tears. In this one book is found "whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report:" in a word, whatsoever things are "profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness." But when you have laid together all the discoveries of this volume, you must confess "Lo, these are parts of his ways! but how little a portion is heard of him?"