fess to be, we are Christians, not in name

merely, but in deed

and in truth, it ought no

more to be dreaded by us, than our rightly welcome bed of rest. There is a glorious waking nigh at hand, and even while they last, the slumbers of death's long, long night, shall be peaceful and sweet. That dreadful sting, which gives to the last enemy all his terrors, was extracted by Christ, when He bare our sins in His own body on the tree. "Through death, He destroyed him that had the power of death, and delivered them, who, through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage." With this blessed assurance, we need not surely fear to go down to the place where the Lord lay. His rod and staff shall support and comfort us. And, at length, He shall summon us from our home in the dust, that He may clothe us with the robe of immortality, and inspire us with a life that shall never be interrupted, and shall never end. "For we know that when the earthly house of this tabernacle is dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."

Rest, weary head!

Lie down to slumber in the peaceful tomb; Light from above has broken through its gloom; Here, in the place where once thy Saviour lay, Where He shall wake thee on a future day, Like a tired child upon its mother's breast, Rest, sweetly rest!

Rest, spirit free!

In the green pastures of the heavenly shore,
Where sin and sorrow can approach no more,
With all the flock by the Good Shepherd fed,
Beside the streams of life eternal led,
For ever with thy God and Saviour blest:
Rest, sweetly rest!

ANON. "H. L. L.”

If 'twere but to retire from woe
To undisturb'd eternal rest,—
How passing sweet to sleep below
On nature's fair and flow'ry breast!

But when faith's finger points on high,
From death's decaying, dismal cell:
Oh! 'tis a privilege to die,

To dream of bliss ineffable.

In balmy sleep our eyes to close,

When life's last sunshine gilds our even, And then to wake from long repose, When dawns the glorious day of heaven!

BOWRING.

Dearest of names, our Lord, our King!
Jesus Thy praise we humbly sing;
In cheerful songs we'll spend our breath,
And in Thee triumph over death.

Death is no more among our foes,
Since Christ, the mighty Conqueror, rose;
Both power and sting the Saviour broke;
He died and gave the finish'd stroke.

Saints die, and we should gently weep;
Sweetly in Jesus' arms they sleep;
Far from this world of sin and woe,
Nor sin, nor pain, nor grief, they know.

Death no terrific foe appears;
An angel's lovely form he wears;
A friendly messenger he proves
To every soul whom Jesus loves.

Death is a sleep: and oh! how sweet
To souls prepared its stroke to meet !
Their dying beds, their graves are blest,
For all to them is peace and rest.

Their bodies sleep; their souls take wing, Uprise to heaven, and there they sing With joy before the Saviour's face, Triumphant in victorious grace.

Soon shall the earth's remotest bound
Feel the archangel's trumpet sound;
Then shall the grave's dark caverns shake,
And joyful all the saints shall wake.

Bodies and souls shall then unite,
Array'd in glory, strong and bright;
And all His saints will Jesus bring
His face to see, His love to sing.

Oh may I live, with Jesus nigh,
And sleep in Jesus when I die!
Then joyful when from death I wake,
I shall eternal bliss partake.

SAMUEL MEDLEY.

The Great Assize.

ECCLES. xii. 14.

"For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.”

66

JOHN V. 22.

'For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son."

ACTS xvii. 31.

"Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead."

ROM. xiv. 10.

"But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ."

HEB. ix. 27.

"And as it is appointed unto all men once to die, but after this the judgment."

JUDE 14, 15.

"And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints, to execute judgment upon all."

REV. i. 7.

"Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen."

REV. xx. 11, 12.

"And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God."