saw corruption. It cannot be doubted, that the merits and sufferings of the Son of God act prospectively and retrospectively throughout all time, enabling his servants to triumph over death and the grave; that his rod and his staff have been, and shall be, the support of good men in every age.

Thus it appears, that although death reigned from Adam over all, and to all his posterity, grace hath also reigned, that the blessing has mingled itself, and run on collaterally with the curse: and that if the malady of sin was deeply rooted in man's nature, a cure has been ever devised, and has ever been applied by each according to that measure of faith, which was respectively vouchsafed to them.

Thus if we are free from the law of sin and death, it is Christ who has made us free: if we are "fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God," it is Christ who has made us free of the heavenly Jerusalem, and reinstated us in all our forfeited rights and privileges. He has tasted death for every man. And "forasmuch," says the Apostle, "as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and

deliver them who through fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage."

But if Christ has restored our lost charter of liberties, it is only for those who lay claim thereto; in the same way as he who is free of a town, city, or any other body, can only make that liberty available to any useful or beneficial purpose by laying a personal and individual claim to the privilege. There are citizens by birth, who notwithstanding, for the reason now mentioned, enjoy not all the peculiar privileges of that relation: so also are there Christians who, although born to the privileges of fellowheirs and fellow-citizens with Christ, beyond this have no further interest arising from that fellowship; having not yet made themselves by their own special act and deed, free from sin. Outwardly they are free with "the liberty with which Christ has made them free;" but inwardly they are " entangled and enslaved with the yoke of bondage." They are still slaves to sin. They use their liberty for a cloak of maliciousness;` and though they call Christ "Lord, Lord,” yet they do not the things which he commands. Over such the second death hath still power. "My sheep," says the great Shepherd, "hear my voice and follow me, and I give unto them

X

eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand."

Thus has Christ overcome death: he has vanquished the grim monster in his own territories; having descended into the grave, and burst the barriers which would have detained him. Thus he triumphed over the enemy, and has also made him an easy conquest to every sincere believer. Death is now a harmless foe: the dissolver of our bodies, the taker-down of these tabernacles, but armed with no other terrors than what either our weak fancies or our sins. invest him with. For the sting of death is sin.

Christ having, as I before observed, extracted the sting, "the body is indeed dead because of sin," it undergoes the common penalty of our nature, incurred by Adam's transgression, and thence entailed upon all his posterity; but "the spirit is life because of righteousness:" over it the second death hath no power-"The dust shall return to the earth as it was, but the spirit shall return to God who gave it," arrayed in the spotless robe of Christ's righteousness, and presented blameless before the throne of God with exceeding joy.

Thus have we seen, my brethren, what is the Christian's hope and confidence in death;

even He who overcame death and opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers-Jesus Christ the righteous, who was dead, and behold he liveth for evermore, and has the keys of hell and death. That although in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. That in the faith of the Redeemer, Abel, Enoch, and Noah, Moses, David, and Samuel, were laid on sleep, and gathered to their fathers. In this faith the father of the faithful, even Abraham, looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. In this faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel, and gave commandment concerning his bones. And in this faith his father Jacob, when he was dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph, and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff-supporting himself upon that rod and that staff, even Christ, from which David, his type, in after ages found comfort. And in this faith, every Christian, in every age, falls asleep. Christ is that rod and that staff on which every Christian leans with humble but animating hope in the near view of death and judgment. This is that rod which upraised to heaven at that awful hour, divides the waves of this troublesome Jordan,

appist fari, lae te probe Eista restore the wat wide and unmortality. The 501wa uat dire and reine more, I dreased by thousand and tens of thousants. indo a sadow, a mere shadow of that gigante brutha Fond death" which avais iht Wickes and icepenitent in that place of vormen viene their vorm dieth not and the fire is na queries

Behold, my brethren, from the subject before se, the power and potency of the Christian's hope. Whilst the world and all things therein are fading from his view, as he enters the dark valley of the shadow of death, he has a remedy within him against natural fears and apprebensions, and the taunts and upbraidings of conscience. These are the only two circumstances which lend to death all its bitterness, and discompose the last moments of a dying man. one he opposes the example, the fellow-feeling, To the the sufferings of Christ, who has tasted death for him, and will enable him also to drink the bitter draught: who whispers to his sinking soul those heart-cheering words, "When thou