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God, and remember that we ourselves are mortal; we neither envy nor despise others, nor take a malignant pleasure in hearing their faults exposed." And now let Christians bear witness. One, who was at the same time one of our greatest philosophers, and most learned and pious followers of Christ, in reviewing his pilgrimage, as he approached the vale of years, declares, "I even think it an advantage to me, and am truly thankful for it, that my health received the check that it did, when I was young; since a muscular habit, from high health and strong spirits, is not, I think, in general, accompanied with that sensibility of mind, which is favourable both to piety and to speculative pursuits." And an eminent American divine, not long since gathered to his fathers, speaks thus in a letter to a young friend,-"There was a time, when we thought it was commanded you speedily to join the company of those who have entered on their reward. Thacher is gone,

and others stand feebly in their places, so that we are doubly grateful for every one who is threatened and yet spared. I dare say that you have felt as much thankfulness on account of the sickness itself, as on account of its removal, because you must have found it a most salutary discipline." And do you not remember the emphatic and solemnly impressive manner, in which, as if a new light had just burst in upon him, the late Dr. Arnold, a few hours before he closed his eyes, never to re-open them, bade his son "thank God for pain?" We might enumerate, almost to any extent, instances of a similar kind; we might refer to Cowper, to whose mental and bodily sufferings we are partly at least indebted for his poetry; to Lardner, from whom, in all probability, we should never have had, had it not been for his deafness, that inestimable work, the influence of which is felt much wider than its name is known,-" The Credibility of the Gospel History ;" and to Dr. Kitto, who

is, in this our day, pouring forth such treasures of general and theological information, and who was transformed from a common bricklayer into a literary man, by an accident, which cost him his hearing. and his speech! But need we go further than your own history and that of your kindred and friends, for examples-many beautiful examples of the thoughtless having been turned to reflection, the impious to prayer, and the hard-hearted to gentleness,—of those, in whom a rapid disease has been outstripped by the spirit's ascent heavenwards, by its progress in love and tenderness and great principles? What a weighty consideration, then, is it that "the touching decay, the gradual unclothing of the mortal body, seem to be a putting on of the garments of immortal beauty and life! That pale cheek; that placid brow; that sweet serenity spread over the whole countenance; that spiritual, almost supernatural, brightness of the eye, as if light from another world already shone through

it; that noble and touching disinterestedness of the parting spirit, which utters no complaint, which breathes no sigh, which speaks no word of fear or apprehension to wound its friend, which is calm, and cheerful, and natural, and self-sustained, amidst daily declining strength, and the sure approach to death; and then, at length, when concealment is no longer possible, that last, firm, triumphant, consoling discourse, and that last look of all mortal tenderness, and immortal trust,”—O, who would ever maintain that such unfading treasures are dearly purchased by any deprivation we could experience during our little threescore years and ten?

We cannot help thinking we have already accomplished what we proposed at the commencement of our discourse; but our subject is not yet exhausted,-one principal consideration remains to be disclosed. Sickness is the method appointed by our Almighty Father for transferring us from these temporal regions, which we now

inhabit, to those eternal regions at His right hand; or, as the learned and pious Whiston hath said, it is "the bridge, which carries the good man over from time to eternity, from sorrow to joy, from care and fear to his Father's house, from earth to heaven." How can our feeble pen adequately describe what "God hath prepared for them that love Him ?" We can only employ dim images of a glory and a happiness, which " eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, and which have never [fully] entered into the heart of man." Even the sacred

writers themselves seem to have been at a loss for a sufficient phrase, and therefore adopt everything that is blessed and lasting, as a figurative representation of the spiritual state; it was Paradise, with which we connect fond ideas of beauty, innocence and enjoyment; it was the bright firmament above our heads, whither we are wont to look, when we lift up our hands in prayer; it was termed heavenly Jerusalem, and eternal inheritance, and

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