were here caused to flow, by death's cruel ravages or unmerited wrong, by stern adversity or keen repentence, are wiped tenderly from every eye by the hand of God. The occasion of those griefs has no more operation. Once landed on the celestial Ararat, the terrors and dangers of the flood are over. The scenes of sorrow and anguish, darkness and dismay, give place to brighter prospects and enlivening sunshine. And an eternal bow about the throne, assures them that the bitterness of death is past, and God in covenant with them for their perpetual pres

ervation.

Such is the blessedness of those happy spirits who have departed this life in the true faith and fear; so great is their reward in heaven. The utmost stretch of our conceptions will not reach their felicity. They are "before the throne of God."

But, in this glorious condition and exalted station, how are the spirits of the blest employed? No toil makes repose necessary, no feebleness requires it, and, therefore, no part of their existence is lost in sleep. Night and day they serve their Maker in his temple. In doing his will, in celebrating his greatness, in admiring his works, in imitating his love, in joining with the angelic hosts to offer perpetual praises to their common Lord, they spend their existence. They have no fatiguing duty, nor unwelcome business. They are disencumbered of wants and cares. "The Lamb who is in the midst of the throne" is perpetually leading them to the unsatiating pleasures of his Father's house, to fountains of life, of light, and of every elevated pleasure. To receive perpetually the smiles of the Highest, is their daily business; and their chief occupation, to praise his

name.

To this glorious company, my brethren, these departed friends have assuredly gone, whose Christian excellences we remember with delight. How great, then, that happiness upon which they entered when we bemoaned their departure with our tears. What disregard of their interest and pleasure, to wish them back to this vain and fluctuating scene. Let us rather learn to adore the goodness of the Being who provided a way of bringing the

object of our love to such a state of exaltation and bliss. We are wont to esteem those who esteem our friends, and feel grateful to those who merely wish them prosperity. How, then, are the bonds of our obligation to the Most High strengthened, what incense of gratitude should perpetually rise to him from our hearts, whose goodness hath brought them, when their allotment here was ended, into the delightful inheritance of the children of God! There cannot, methinks, be a more sacred claim upon our love, or more powerful incitement to our obedience.

Again. With this august body of saints, we, my brethren, though we sojourn on earth, are closely connected. In the mystical body of our Lord we have a communion with them. Their Head is ours. Their objects and their pleasures are those which we pursue. The seal of their redemption is that in which we trust; the subject which swells their celestial hallelujahs we celebrate in the sacramental supper. And the Being, by whom they are brought into glory, ascended also, we trust, to prepare a place for us. "Now, therefore," says the apostle, “ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God." In this high connection, beloved, let us walk with becoming dignity, purity, and circumspection. Let us listen to the remonstrances against vice; let us obey the incitements to every religious and social duty; let us indulge the noble and important resolutions which will arise in the bosom of every ingenuous person who sincerely considers himself as related, by his Christian privileges, "to the general assembly and Church of the first-born;" and "to the spirits of just men made perfect," and to Jesus the Mediator, and to "God the Judge of all."

Which leads me to remark, lastly, that the glorious rewards which the saints possess may also be won by our fidelity. "In the Father's house are many mansions," and he who comes to him through his Son "he will in no wise cast out." And is there any interest which it so much behoves us to secure as this? For what that this earth can proffer, and our most successful

exertions obtain, shall we relinquish such inestimable and eternal bliss? Let us rather give all diligence to make "our calling and election sure." Are we beset with temptations? Does the Most High seem to frown on us in sore chastisements? Is the "spirit willing, but the flesh weak?" Be not dismayed: in like manner were the saints tried, who have conquered and are crowned. Let us take their lives for our ensamples, and, in the uniform use of the means of grace, with eyes fixed on the hopes of glory, pursue the path in which they have journeyed, “who, through faith and patience, have inherited the promises."

SERMON XIV.

ON THE CHARACTER OF ST. PAUL.

ACTs, ix. 19-21.

"Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus. And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God. But all that heard him were amazed, and said: Is not this he that destroyed them which called on this name?"

AMONG the characters which the gospel history presents to

us, St. Paul holds a conspicuous place. Perhaps to none of the apostles is the Christian world more indebted, and none of them exhibits a life more wonderful and instructive. Brought to the faith of Christ by an extraordinary conversion; employed in the most arduous and important services; raised to visions surpassing the powers of human description; a son of sorrow, and a martyr for revealed truth; there are few persons whose lives are more fraught with the interesting, or have stronger claims to our consideration.

The conversion of this great Christian hero is this day commemorated in the Church. It will, therefore, be a proper, and, with the divine blessing, a useful employment of our minds, to attend to the principal points of his history, and to the reflections which they suggest. Of you all, my brethren, let me bespeak a patient and a candid hearing. It is a subject full of instruction for every mind. But in an especial manner, if there be in this assembly a man who is not yet satisfied concerning the truth of our holy religion, him I am anxious to interest. Would to God I could fill him with candour, and chain his attention to my theme.

For unless all laws of reasoning are arbitrary, and all grounds of evidence fallacious, he cannot rise from the faithful contemplation of the argumeut, which is founded upon the life of St. Paul, without confessing of Christ Jesus "that he is the Son of God."

Saul, or Paul, for by both names he is called, was, as he himself informs us, a native of Tarsus, in Cilicia. This town, famous for its trade and its literature, is supposed by many, to have been honoured, likewise, with municipal distinctions for its adherence to some Roman emperor. If it were not so, the father of our apostle must have obtained the freedom of Rome by merit, or by purchase; for it must be remembered, as furnishing an instructive instance of the providence of God, that Paul was born a Jew, but, at the same time, an heir to the privileges of a Roman citizen.

His education was liberal. Favoured by nature with strong and active powers, and brought up in one of the most celebrated schools in Jerusalem, "at the feet of Gamaliel," he united genius with great acquirements. His speeches, and the Epistles which have come down to us bearing his name, display equally the force of his mind, and his acquaintance with the literature of his day. Had he not, after the glorious realities of the gospel were unfolded to his view, counted all his human acquirements "but dung, that he might win Christ," we should be induced to remark, in honour of the man, that the most illustrious masters of reasoning and rhetoric, Locke and Longinus, have bestowed on him the meed of their praise.

As might be expected, the pride of earthly wisdom and the vanity of Jewish prejudice unfitted him for the reception of Christ and his doctrines. On the contrary, they qualified him to be an instrument for the opposers of Christianity; and, aided by the natural impetuosity of his temper, rendered him the assiduous and unwearied persecutor of its Author and its advocates. None of the foes to Jesus and his disciples was more known and dreaded. Every where his fame was spread as the implacable. adversary of the sect. Without regard to age or sex; without