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DEATH-APPALLING IN HIS TRAIN.

Or, absorbed in pure devotion,
Will no mortal trace remain?
Can the grave those ties dissever,
With the very heart-strings twined?
Must she part, and part for ever,
With the friend she leaves behind?

No: the past she still remembers,
Faith and hope, surviving too,
Ever watch those sleeping embers,
Which must rise and live anew:
For the widowed lonely spirit
Mourns till she be clothed afresh,
Longs perfection to inherit,
And to triumph in the flesh.

Angels, let the ransom'd stranger
In your tender care be blest,
Hoping, trusting, free from danger,
Till the trumpet end her rest:
Till the trump which shakes creation
Through the circling heavens shall roll,

Till the day of consummation,

Till the bridal of the soul.

Lo! it comes, that day of wonder,
Louder chorals shake the skies:
Hades' gates are burst asunder,

See the new cloth'd myriads rise!
Thought repress thy weak endeavour,
Here must Reason prostrate fall:
O the ineffable For Ever,'

And the Eternal All in All.""

CHAPTER VIII.

Death-arrested in his progress, and finally destroyed.

Grave-the guardian of our dust!
Grave-the treasury of the skies!
Every atom of thy trust

Rests in hope again to rise!

Hark! the judgment-trumpet calls!
"Soul-re-build thy house of clay-
IMMORTALITY thy walls,

And ETERNITY thy day!"

MONTGOMERY.

When an enemy has long asserted dominion, and ruled with a sceptre of iron over a widely extended empire; abridging the liberty and destroying the happiness of its subjects; the heart of 'the patriot rebounds with joy on every incursion which is made on the limits of his influence and authority; and exults in the prospect, however distant, of his final overthrow. The reign of

death has been extended over successive generations of men, and its ravages will be continued until the day of general resurrection. We have seen its effects on our neighbours and kindred; and forebode the period when we ourselves shall lie prostrate beneath the power of our common foe. What heart, therefore, does not rejoice to know that his triumphs have been met by signal reverses; that in conquering, he himself has been conquered; that the curse has been turned into a blessing; and that the time will arrive when he who has been the merciless destroyer of the human race, shall himself be destroyed?

The destruction of death is the distinguishing prerogative of the SAVIOUR, and is intended to constitute a splendid part of his mediatorial triumphs. Of him it was predicted, "He shall swallow up death in victory:" and in another prophecy he exclaims, "I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine eyes." To the Jews he said, "Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in their graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth, they that have done good to the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil to the resurrection of damnation." And amidst the ravages of death, and the desolations

of the grave, he proclaims his character, “I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die."

In the Old Testament, the sacred writers present us with some interesting exhibitions of divine power in restoring individuals to their friends and society, after a temporary suspension of the functions of animal life. The case of the widow's son at Sarepta; the child of the Shunamite; and the dead man whom his friends were carrying out for burial, and who revived on touching the bones of the prophet Elisha; might be mentioned as subordinate proofs of the possibility of a resurrection. We pass over these, however, in order to fix our attention more minutely on those examples, which are recorded in the evangelical history, of the power which the Redeemer displayed, in the days of his flesh, over the invisible world. With what ease does he deliver the prey from the mighty, and make the lawful captive go free? He only speaks, and the stream of life returns into the cold and pallid corpse, circulates through every vein, and penetrates every pore; giving motion to the limbs, health to the countenance, and expression to the eye. Bereaved parents clasp their restored children in their arms, and each exclaim, "It is meet that

we should make merry and be glad; for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found."

We have an instance of the dominion of the Saviour over death, in the case of the RULER'S daughter. She had just attained her twelfth year; an age peculiarly endearing. Her father, who had heard much of the power and grace of Jesus, hastened, in the hour of extremity, to implore his aid; but, while he was touchingly preferring his suit, a messenger arrived to say that it was too late-death had executed his commission, and had removed, from this probationary scene, the object of his tenderest affection. Still he is encouraged by the compassionate Redeemer only to believe, and his daughter should be made whole. On entering the house they find that those who were in attendance had already performed for the dear departed some of the last sad offices; the precious remains were laid out for interment, and the minstrels were making a noise. "And all wept and bewailed her but he said, Weep not; she is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn, knowing that she was dead. And he put them all out, and took her by the hand, and called, saying, Maid, arise. And her spirit came again, and she rose straightway: and he commanded to give her meat. And her parents were astonished: but he