Page images
PDF
EPUB

my

forts steal from under me; the partners of tender hours; the friends who are as my own soul, be wrenched from me, I will not despond; Jesus my hope, is “the re"surrection and the life;" "The first fruits "of them that sleep." And because he lives, we and our friends, and all who sleep in Jesus, shall live also; live with him, the FOUNTAIN of life-holy and happy, through all the length of immortality. "O death! "where is now thy sting-and where, O

66

grave! is now thy victory. Blessed Lord! "thanks, thanks be to thee, who hast given "us the victory." O let us all go on in thy name, enlivened by the brightness of thy rising, and making mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only! Brethren, are you the disciples of a risen Saviour; let your hearts ascend to the right hand of God, after him, seeking the things that are above, the glorious things he hath promised to them that love him. Blessed souls! The high hope of immortality is set before them; Heaven's everlasting gates are open to receive them.

Sinners! ye who still lie in spiritual death, in the grave of corruption, awake,

arise, call upon your God; see your imminent danger. While the righteous come forth "to the resurrection of life," you, without repentance, must come forth, "to the re"surrection of damnation." Awake then -arise-arise, or be for ever fallen. Defer not till tomorrow. Tomorrow may see you sunk, and sunk for ever, into that gulph of misery, from which there is no redemption. Seek the Lord, while he is to be found, and call upon him while he is near, that through him, who is risen from the dead, and will quickly judge the world in righteousness, ye may yet be received into the kingdom. "O kiss the son, lest he be angry, and ye "perish from the way, when his wrath is "kindled but a little. Blessed are all they "that put their trust in him." O how your hearts would spring within you, and your hopes begin to bloom, did you but know him, and the power of his resur

rection.

Ye who indeed know him, who are already risen with him, let your whole life, be a life of faith in his name; walk ever worthy of "the lively hope," to which you are begotten by the resurrection of

Jesus from the dead, and give all diligence to adorn his glorious doctrine. Backsliding from Jesus, forgetting him and his resurrection, how would your souls languish, your graces die, and every thing around you seem gloomy and barren as the wilderness! But preserving inviolate your holy communion, looking unto him, the author and finisher of your faith, how the scene will brighten, all nature blossom and produce the peaceable fruits of righteousness. Keep then close fellowship with him. Seek his face continually. In the field of meditation, frequent his sacred tomb; yes, on the feet of love, and with the eye of faith, oft come and see the place where the Lord did lie. Such an inviting place, not even paradise, with all its pleasures, could produce. It is the resurrection of our hopes. Its salutary virtue extends to every age. It has influence divine to joy the hearts of all generations. Here then, O my soul, will I come, when deadness seizes my spirits. Be here revived my languid powers. My lawless passions be buried here. For ever lie entombed my foolish fears. foolish fears. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord; they rest from their labours, and when they awake,

"Let

they are satisfied with his likeness. "the voice of rejoicing and salvation be in "the tabernacles of the righteous, the right "hand of the Lord doeth valiantly. The

66

"Re

right hand of the Lord is exalted; the right "hand of the Lord doeth valiantly." "joice not then against me, O mine ene

66

my; for though I fall by thy hand, I "shall arise again; and when I lie in the "darkness of the grave, even then the Lord "will be a light unto me." "I know that 66 my Redeemer liveth." And where he is, "there I shall be also." "This corruptible "shall put on incorruption, this mortal, immortality."

66

THE

REASONABLENESS OF THE

ATONEMENT.

II COR. V. 21.

For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

To enter into heaven, and be for ever with the Lord, is the distinguished felicity which is set before us: And it is a felicity of such a nature, that we cannot be too diligent, too solicitous, that in the end we may be so blessed as to obtain it. The Apostle Paul, was fully apprized of its greatness and its glory, and therefore, not only pressed forward to it, with the most unremit

« PreviousContinue »