Such promise our trust,
Though ashes to ashes,

And dust unto dust:

Soon, and forever,

Our union shall be

Made perfect, our glorious

Redeemer, in thee.

When the sins and the sorrows

Of time shall be o'er,
Its pangs and its partings
Remembered no more;

When life cannot fail,

And when death cannot sever,
Christians with Christ shall be
Soon, and forever.

MONSEL.

THERE are few themes which cloy sooner, or have been more thoroughly exhausted, than the shortness of terrestrial life, and the universality of death. For centuries men have talked, and sung, and sighed about it. From immemorial ages a sad, yet untiring eye has been upon the look-out for every

thing frail and transient, from which to borrow an additional illustration. But in the fields of metaphor there are no more gleanings. Even poetry dies for lack of aliment. The earth has come to be one great mausoleum; and every hillock, every dale we meet with, has its memento mori. We cannot, then, forget the subject. Each setting sun, each expiring year, forces it upon our notice. And thus will it ever be. So long as the moon sails through the heavens, so long as a dial marks the rapid shadow, or an arrow remains in death's quiver, so long will the mind be impressed by these considerations. That element of our natures, which renders us susceptible to such impressions from the fleeting uncertainties of present existence, is the same which connects us with the future, and sends our thoughts onward unto eternity.

There is an oracle in man which has spoken of fortunate islands, with their perpetual spring; which has told the wild Indian, too, that he shall renew the chase in a better land, far to the west. But dreams and traditions do not satisfy us. We need, and we have, a more sure word of prophecy. Is, then, the happiness of heaven without end? May the people of God cherish this anticipation with firm assurance?

God, in his word, has set forth this truth under various expressions. One is that of an endless life. "Of them that sleep in the dust of the earth some shall awake to everlasting life." shall into life eternal," go

"The righteous

"shall never see

death." Not without reason is death used to represent the sum of penal evils, and life made the symbol of all things desirable. Men struggle for life as for nothing else; and in this strong love of life is an earnest of immortality, an intimation · that the soul was not made for less than unending consciousness, a sleepless activity of mind and heart. We feel, too, that, in order to complete happiness, all this must be under the control of perfect love. This, alone can realize the highest idea of life. Such an image, thus meeting the deep demands of our nature, inspiration presents. "He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death;" for "this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life;"-all which comes through union by faith to him who is the author and giver of life. "This is the will of him that sent me, that every one that seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day." Hence, when a believer reaches the close of his present

journey, he does not leave the land of the living; he goes to it. In his exchange of worlds, it is death that dies. That day is to him the birthday of eternity. Then only does he truly begin to live; for he lives in union with Him who is the everlasting source of life.

Well did the great Apostle comfort himself and others with these words: -" "Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began." Nor was he deceived he is still alive; so is Isaiah; so are Abraham and Enoch. Yes; and though thousands of years have rolled over them, they are still in the morning of eternity. This sun, these stars, are all vanishing sparks. Orion, and Arcturus with his sons, will grow pale under the believer's eye. There will be no new dispensation in heaven; there is no cave of Machpelah, no tomb-stones, there. The trees there are not Cypress, but the Tree of Life, and the river is the River of Life, that flows from the throne of God.

The perpetuity of future bliss is presented to us under the figure of an imperishable possession, "an inheritance, incorruptible and undefiled, and

that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven."

To be rich is what most men intensely desire. Most vigorously do they prosecute their labors for that end; and, in the midst of perils, they go down to the sea in ships, penetrating the most pestilential regions, for the same object. Towards some, Plenty turns her horn. Yet the insecurity of wealth is proverbial. Who knows how long his property will be his own? Fire, flood, drought, the bankrupt, the burglar, are busy. And, if men escape these, for how long is the escape? We brought nothing into the world, and we can carry nothing out. It is a lease only that we hold, and that for no fixed period; the longest is but short; this day may end it. One possession alone is permanent. It lies where no thief approacheth, or moth corrupteth, and where is no more sea. It is not the gold of Ophir. onyx or sapphire is not found there. That inheritance is undefiled by fraud, cruelty, or avarice; it was purchased by the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

Our

The same truth is conveyed, also, by the figure of a permanent registration. Amongst us, it is no unusual thing for names to be wanting in lists of passengers and voters. Excommunication takes