many other instances, though the great end of Christ's dispensations will be fully developed in the world to come, and not till then, yet, as there are subordinate ends which may be answered here, we may, even in the present life, learn the designs of Providence in many things which once seemed dark, mysterious, and inexplicable.

Many of you, I doubt not, can reflect upon seemingly severe dispensations of Providence, which have produced the happiest effects, both in a temporal and spiritual point of view. There are few events of which the first aspect is darker or more depressing, than when the father of a family is removed from them by death, and leaves them unprotected and unprovided for in the world. Some of you have experienced this grievous calamity; but you are monuments which the hand of Providence has reared, to shew us, and to shew yourselves, how all things are made to work together for good to them who love God, and to their children after them. Others of you will be able to recount among your greatest mercies, disappointments, which, at the time when they occurred, you regarded as grievous calamities. To every man of observation, examples will likewise present themselves, in which he will be able to perceive how the goodness of God is evidently connected with the time when good men have been removed from the present scene of trial and suffering. He will see how God has, in mercy, taken them away from the evil to come; from events which have occurred in their families, of which no

warning was given them during their lifetime, but which followed hard after their decease events, the pressure of which would have broken their hearts, and brought them with sorrow to the grave.

From the insight which an attentive observer of the ways of Providence is thus enabled to acquire in the case of others, he will be better prepared to meet, with becoming resignation, similar events, when brought home to his own business and his own bosom. When a good man has reared a family in the fear of God, and lives to see his children comfortably settled in the world, and mindful of the one thing needful, he has attained the object of his greatest solicitude, and considers his labours, his prayers and instructions, as fully answered, as far as regards the present life. On the other hand, we suffer one of the heaviest afflictions incident to men, when we see those in whom we are thus deeply concerned, arrested in their progress by events over which we have no control, or pining in lingering and hopeless disease. Every circumstance is full of gloom, if it be a case similar to that of Abraham, or the widow of Nain's son. We can scarcely resist our inclination to ask, For what was their youth designed? Or, why were so many talents conferred, and combined with such amiable and endearing affections? Or, why was a prospect opened, which seemed to promise such ample scope for their exercise, for the best of all purposes the glory of the Giver, and the public good?

My friends, we see but a small part of the de

66

signs of the great God our Saviour. But even in this, as well as in the other instances adduced, we may see enough to satisfy our doubts and confirm our faith. But as this is a subject on which I can scarcely yet trust myself, I shall rather quote the observations of others in similar circumstances on it, (which have afforded me no small relief,) than venture at present upon my own individual case. Their youth is not spent in vain, who have early learned to love God and serve him. Their affections and their talents are not given them in vain, if they are able, even for the limited term prescribed, to apply them successfully to the duties which they are capable of fulfilling. Their example itself is not in vain, nor the temper of their minds, if they are enabled, by the grace of God, to display the virtues which a state of suffering requires, and by which God is as effectually glorified as by a life spent in active duty. Their patience, resignation, and trust in God; their calm and deliberate preparations for eternity; the faith which overcomes both sorrow and death; and the blessed hope which enables them to count as nothing all that they relinquish in the present world-these are unequivocal evidences that the great end of their existence is fully answered, and that they are made meet for being made partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. Attainments in science may be lost, they may become detrimental to the possessor. A well earned reputation may be blighted by the baleful eye of envy, and by the envenomed tongue of calumny. But he who

esteems all human knowledge as dross, in comparison with the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ, and has felt its transforming power, shall find his taste for that superior knowledge fully gratified in the presence of God: for he shall see him as he is, he shall be like him, and shall know even as he is known. The brilliancy of human genius, like the meteor, indicates a perturbed state of the elements, which threatens desolation and death; but the wisdom that cometh from above, and which maketh wise unto salvation, occupies a purer region, and, like the steady fixed luminary of heaven, shines brighter and brighter unto the perfect day. And what is there in all the honours and distinctions of this world to be compared with a life and death of which these impressive memorials remain? If they are the memorials of those who were united to us by the ties of nature, affection and grace, we have the satisfaction to know, that, as they lived and died in the Lord, so they now occupy that station in the world of light and glory which is best suited to their previous attainments, and where their thirst for knowledge and improvement will be fully gratified." And well might they exclaim with their dying breath, when favoured with a glimpse of what awaited them, O what a glorious change, what a glorious change, what a glorious change!

When we thus see every feeling and desire of youth giving place to the glorious anticipation of the great salvation of God, their dying testimony gives a demonstration to the world of the divinity

of our holy religion, more decisive and more impressive than any abstract arguments whatever can afford, And if we are followers of them who, through faith and patience, do now inherit the promises, we may rest assured, that what we lose on earth by the hand of God, and in meek and humble submission to his will and his indisputable right to resume his own at his pleasure, we shall gain an hundred fold in heaven; and shall have good cause, when we see them again, to exclaim, in our turn, O what a glorious change!

Thus much, and more than this, is implied in the assurance which our Saviour has given us, that what we know not now we shall know hereafter: for we are elsewhere informed, that the time is coming when we shall no longer see through a glass darkly, but with open face shall behold the glory of the Lord; yea, when we shall see even as we are seen, and know even as we are known. These sublime expressions, though perhaps we cannot at present fully comprehend their meaning, must imply, that when this veil of flesh is taken away, we shall see in a much clearer and stronger light the reasons of those dispensations of Providence which now seem most dark and mysterious. We shall then discover the happy consequences of those trials and afflictions with which we were exercised, and trace the wisdom and goodness of God even in the most gloomy and distressing scenes through which we have ever passed. The secret steps by which the most important events have been conducted will then be revealed, and the glory of the