other done by the hand of Elisha, unto the only son of the Shunamite woman, who made for the prophet a chamber in the wall, and entertained him with bread so oft as he passed on his way.

But these two acts of raising the dead were done, observe you, by prayer to God, and in dependance on his divine power: and they are to be regarded, therefore, as single dispensations of his grace, whereby he rewarded the singular kindness of these two matrons unto his servants, and magnified the prophets in their sight, and in the sight of all the people. There is also another instance mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, wherein Peter, but not till after he had praved to God, raised Tabitha.

In all which cases, observe you, the servants of God sought and found help from him, taking no strength nor glory to themselves. But in this case of the widow of Nain, and in that of the daughter of Jairus the ruler of the synagogue, our Lord proceeded without any confession of inability, without any request for help, to do that which belonged to him, and was proper to him in his own right, and was always present to him and in his own power. And he nowand in his power he said it—said to them both, "I say to thee, arise." But his Apostles always said, "In the name of Jesus of Nazareth I say unto thee, arise:" and when the people were wont to wonder at the power of the Apostles, they said, "Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this, as though by our own power we did this thing?"

Not only did Christ in his own name work the works which he wrought, but the Apostles wrought others in his name also: by which we are to understand that he is "the resurrection and the life," as he declared to the sisters of Lazarus before he raised him; on which occasion it is to be remarked that he addressed these words to the Father: "Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me:" but he immediately added; "And I knew that thou hearest me always." That is, he referred this of Lazarus, as he did all his other acts, to the Father, that the people might believe that he came from the Father. Now, in doing so, he declared his continual and immutable union with the Father; the Father had him, and he had the Father. I am in the Father, and the Father in me: the words that I speak I speak not of myself, but of him that sent me." The Apostles derived their power from Christ; Christ identified his with the Father. He did the works in his own name, and desired the people to regard them as demonstrations that the fulness of the Godhead dwelt in him bodily.

In the same manner he says, "I have power to lay down my life, and I have power to take it again." But the Apostle says, that he was quickened by the mighty working of the Spirit. To explain which you will remember what was said in the former part of the day, and which I now crave to repeat.

In Christ there was a manifestation of all the persons in the Godhead: he was the Word, but besides being the Word, he manifested the Father and the Spirit. So that the Father declared himself by him; and the Spirit showed himself in him and while he asserted his own divinity, he taught and manifested the divinity of the Father and the divinity of the Spirit. And he is our way to him, and their way to us; in all respects, the Mediator between us and God. Such is the doctrine of his divinity which groweth out of this speech to the dead and inanimate clay, "Young man, I say to thee, arise."

He raised himself on the couch on which he was stretched, and began to

speak; thereby giving immediate testimony to both the eyes and ears of the people, that he was as truly living, as truly in the possession of all his faculties, as the foregoing instant they had known him to be dead, and were proceeding with him to the chambers of the dead. "He delivered him to his mother." And there the act solemnly concludes; sweetly and tenderly concludes; "He delivered him to his mother."

This union of power and tenderness is very sweet to the afflicted soul in all the actions of our blessed Lord; and that is another testimony to me of the divinity of his being. So that I know not which of the three things to admire the most-the Almighty power, the sublime majesty, or the tender feeling of the act. He laid his hand majestically on the bier, and said, “Young man, arise." This is the Almighty power and sublime majesty of the act; but the almighty power and sublime majesty were only the means by which the divine compassion testified itself. For the beginning of the act was, "He had compassion upon her, and said to her, Weep not:" and the end of the act was, “He delivered him to his mother." The impulse, the movements which called forth the divine action in the bosom of the Son of man, was compassion to a sorrowful woman, of whom he knew nothing but her sorrow and the divine action accomplished not its end, until the tears of the mother were dried up, and her lost son restored to her arms. Therefore, the thing to be most admired is, the compassionate feeling of the Lord for one of the daughters of Adam, distinguished from all the other daughters of Adam by nothing, save the greatness of her sorrow.

Now, what was there in this woman that there is not in any of you, ye daughters of the people of this land? Or what was there in her sorrow that is not in the sorrow of every afflicted mother? And what was there in the sorrow of Jairus for his daughter that is not in the sorrow of any of you the fathers of the people of this land? Let every afflicted father and every afflicted mother, and all the sons and daughters of affliction, know then of a surety, that the same Saviour who had pity on this desolate widow, will have pity on them, to bing up their broken hearts, and to comfort the days of their mourning. And in the day of your trouble make known your sorrow to him, who can be touched with the feeling of your infirmities, and was in all points tempted as you are. He who, unsought, had compassion on this widow, hath already compassion on every son and daughter of affliction; he who wept over the tomb of Lazarus his friend, weepeth with all his friends in the hour of their distress, and will bring them consolati ›n. Nay, more; he who wept over the stony-hearted and bloody-handed Jerusalem, still weepeth over his enemies and over his persecutors, praying to his Father, Father forgive them, for they know not what they do."

What less, therefore, shall I say to all who hear me more than this, that He who raised the son of this stranger woman, and stopped the issue of her sorrow by his Almighty power, hath for you all, yea, for the most prodigal and wicked of his enemies who now hear me, that most tender compassion which moved him, not to one act of power, but to empty himself of power, to empty himself of honour and of glory, yea, and of life itself, and to humble himself in the dust of death. "While we were yet sinners in due time Christ died for the ungodiv That death was to accomplish, for as many as believe, that which this act of

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power and mercy did accomplish for the widow of Nair-to restore to you; not a son, but that which is dearer than an only begotten son, to restore to yourselves your own glory, your own life that hath been lost; and to quench and to stop, not one issue of sorrow, but every sorrow of your hearts; and to bring in an everlasting peace and joy to you all, which the world cannot give, and which the prince of this world cannot take away.

O, these acts of mercy falling from our Lord's hand, as words fell from his mouth, what were they but the few and unfrequent drops before the plentiful shower for which the earth languisheth: they were as the few straggling ripe ears of corn before the plentiful harvest, for which all men hungered: they were but as the early cluster of ripe grapes before the vintage, for the joy of which all men long. The harvest which was to feed the famished soul, the vintage which was to replenish the world's downcast soul with fulness of joy—that was accomplished in the death of Christ. It was the harvest of which these few acts were but as the straggling ears of corn-it was the harvest wherein the Prince of Life emptied himself, and exhibited his powers in the sight of the world, that the earth might be filled with life again. And having passed into the realms of death, where sin and Satan reign absolute; he stripped them of their strength, spoiling the spoiler, and leading captive the captor. So that, if the heavenly host which sung the overture of our redemption at the birth of our glorious Lord, sung it in these words, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men"-that same chorus might have sung the finale of our redemption in these words-"O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?"

Therefore, you who believe in his name have a constant fountain of consolation opened, to which, in all your distresses, you have a free access, and to which let your souls hasten, that they may be filled with joy and gladness. And especially in your trials and afflictions, be assured of the consolations of your Lord, for he is then very near to you, and desireth that you should take everlasting consolation to yourselves. If to this woman-whom there is no reason to believe that he had ever before seen, or knew anything of her worth-he should have out of mere feeling for her lamentation, extended this grace; then why should any one doubt to intreat him with the voice of their weeping, and to speak of their calamities, that he may dispense to them the consolations whereof they stand in need? But how much more his people who have entered into covenant with him, whom he hath justified while yet sinners, to whom all trials are sent that they may profit by them, all afflictions that they may be chased out of sin, and promoted to greater holiness.

I do pray the Lord to bless this instance of his tenderness, that it may prove life to the dead, spiritually dead, in trespasses and in sins. And as the uncalled and unsanctified among us are represented by the young man who lay stretched on the bier; so, I judge, the living and sorrowful mother may be represented among us by those whom God hath quickened with the principles of everlasting life.

with

cry For it is not less fitting that we, whom God hath redeemed, should heavy lamentation over our spiritually lifeless brethren, or sisters, or parents, or And surely the Lord will more tenfriends, than she did over her lifeless son. derly regard the spiritual weeping and spiritual lamentations of his spiritual

people for their brethren, or sisters, or fathers, or mothers, who are spiritually dead, than he regarded the natural lamentations of those whom we have no reason to believe to have been of his people.

Therefore, brethren, beloved of Christ, as many as the Lord our God hath called, I entreat you, by the love which Christ bore to the ungodly, for whom in due time he died, that you have a sorrow over your unquickened brethren or children, and entreat the Lord, for their sakes, that the Lord, of life may say to them,." Awake thou that sleepest, arise from the dead, and Christ shail give thee life:" and at his command they shall arise, and speak among us the words of living men, to the salvation of their own souls, to the edification of our faith, and to the glory of God: which may the Lord grant, and to his name shall be the praise.

THE MORAL INFLUENCE WE EXERT AFTER DEATH.

REV. J. CUMMING, A.M.*

SCOTCH CHURCH, CROWN COURT, COVENT GARDEN, DECEMBER 14, 1834.

"He being dead yet speaketh."-HEB. Xi. 4.

THERE can be no question that the text, in its primary import, refers to the faith and accepted sacrifice of Abel; and that the Holy Spirit conveys the important truth, that the departed son of Eve proclaims a useful and healthful lesson, even from the chambers of the tomb-namely, that the blood of Jesus our sacrifice is the ground of all our hopes and acceptance, and that by Him alone, as the living way, is there access to the Father. But we may fairly depart from the personal and specific idea involved in the text, and present it as one of those general and great principles which have a bearing on all-a lesson to the living, and a truth concerning the dead. Every son of man, as well as Abel," being dead yet speaketh." Every man that plays a part in the great drama of human life, leaves, at his departure, an impress and an influence, more or less extensive and lasting. The grave of the peasant and the mausoleum of the prince, are alike vocal. The sepulchral vault in which the scion of royalty was laid the other day, as well as the cold, wet, opening of the earth in which the way-side beggar was buried, utters audible and actuating oratory. From every one of the dead a voice is heard, in some circle of the world's inhabitants, which the knell of their departure does not drown-which the earth and the green sod do not muffle-which neither deafness, nor distance, nor anything that man may devise, can possibly extinguish. Every churchyard speaks often far more thrilling accents than the senate house or the congregations of the living.

No fact is more self-evident, or more universally admitted, than the text; and no fact withal is more generally disregarded by the living. Do not the sayings and doings of your departed relatives often arrest you in the busy stir of human life, and, according to their tone and character, supply you with fresh incentives to holiness and religion, or to godlessness and impiety? Do not their words often echo in the cells of memory? Do not their features and their forms start into bright contrast with the darkness of actual absence, and light up the chambers of imagery with early recollections? Do not the sounds of the one, and the sight of the other, reach your hearts, and tell upon your resolutions, your actions, and your hopes? And, just in proportion to the width of the sphere in which the departed moved, and the strength of intellectual and moral character they possessed and developed, will be the duration and the plastic Occasioned by the death of the Rev. EDWARD IRVING, A.M.