JULY XIL

THE PROSPECT OF A FUTURE LIFE.

ON what are the chief hopes of the Christian founded? on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ; the latter is to me the foundation of my faith, my love and my hope. The seal of divinity is thereby impressed upon my religion, and on that event are founded the most important grounds of the hope and consolation of my life in this world, and of my existence hereafter. In regard to the immortality of my soul, the rational reflection on myself, on God, and on the government of the world, presents to me the most decisive and incontestable proofs; it is the gospel of my Redeemer, Jesus Christ, which principally imparts to that doctrine all its light and stability. Therefore, henceforth, let the paths of my life be rough and wearisome; let many problems and contradictions appear to me in the works and ways of Providence; now, henceforth, let the guilty prosper, and the good and pious suffer; I know that death is not the end of all, but that after death, there is another life, a state of retribution, and if I tread upon the paths in which my Redeemer has preceded me, they will lead me most assuredly like him to glory and to joy.

The thought of a universal mortality, frequently alarms my whole soul. My parents, and so many of my relatives and friends, have sunk into the grave; and I have followed the remains of so many of my acquaintance to their last resting place on the earth; but how miserable I should be, if my hopes did not extend farther than the terrestrial grave. How rejoiced am I therefore that I know that from this corruptible body, the materials for a new and glorified dwelling for the departed and immortal spirit will be prepared. I believe and hope in the resurrection of the body. The resuscitation of nature which had laid dormant through the winter, is to me indeed a beautiful type of the almighty

power, which can bring forth, beauty, life, and activity from death and corruption. But my belief in a resurrection is not founded on mere possibility, or supposition, but upon a certainty. I know that my Redeemer liveth, death is to me through him but a sleep, the grave the gates of life, through which I shall one day pass to a better and a more glorious life, and corruption is but the means to future glori fication and incorruptibility. O how this hope elevates my heart, how it penetrates through my whole soul with the most rapturous feeling. When I visit a spot, where the remains of the dead are entombed, and when I take a skull in my hand and contemplate it, and then reflect, that corruption will one day exert its power equally over me, then a shudder overcomes me, and my certain conviction of a future life becomes for a moment wavering and uncertain. But again I suddenly collect myself, and ask, but does not he live, who formed these bones, who in the now empty sockets once placed the most wonderful organ of my frame, who gave to the ear its hearing, and to the mouth its language? I believe that his almighty power can accomplish all things. And O how full of bliss and consolation is the hope of meeting again in Eternity. The wounds are painful which are inflicted by death, when it separates the parent from the child, the child from the parent, the hus band from the wife, and the tears are justified, which flow over their remains. But we do not lose our loved ones for

Our affectionate and divine Redeemer, who so fully satisfied all the wishes and the wants of our soul and our heart, will also know how to satisfy the longing which is implanted in our breast of a re-union in another world.

To thee, then my great and glorified Redeemer, am I indebted for the most consoling hopes, for the greatest of all earthly benefits, and for the most glorious prospects. Jesus Christ, thou wert dead, and livest now from Eternity to Eternity. O thou conqueror of death! thou source of life! thou founder of my blessedness! my heart is this evening full of rapture, at the prospect which thou hast

opened to me of a future life, and I know not how to express my gratitude. My eyes have not beheld thee, but I believe in thee, and hope that my faith will one day be changed into an actual view of thee, and my hope into an uninterrupted enjoyment. I am a participator in the great sacrifice of atonement, which thou didst offer for the sins of the world, and my soul experiences a peace, which my reason alone cannot grant me. But I also implore from thee the grace, that thou wilt fill my mind, with pure, holy, and heavenly inclinations; that thou wilt withdraw it from terrestrial things, and guide it to those which are celestial. As thou didst die, so shall we die in sin, and as thou didst rise from death to a new and eternal life, so let thy spirit awaken us, that we may enter into a new life, and not live for ourselves, but for thee, who diedst for us, and hast risen to eternal life. O let the joy with which my heart is at this moment filled, excite in me also the most active love and gratitude. O thou adorable preserver and friend of my soul! O banish from my heart every thing which is displeasing to thee, and do thou live in it, as alone worthy to possess and animate it. O Lord, I belong to thee. To thee will I live, in the arms of thy love. I will sink into death, and O what will be my feelings, when after the long sleep of death, my eyes will behold thee in the bright and glorious morning of the resurrection. O help me that I may believe as a Christian, live as a Christian, suffer as a Christian, and die as a Christian, and as such I shall live with thee eternally in the mansions of inexpressible joy and glory.