ON OCCASION OF THE DEATH OF

MRS. PEVIN.

15th chap. 1st Epistle to the Corinthians, 52nd verse. "The dead shall be raised incorruptible."

WHAT words are these ? Under what circumstances, and on what authority, were they spoken ? Who was he, by whom they were enunciated? On what evidence was the opinion wrought? or, rather, thus-Was it a conviction of the mind from which they came? And again :-Do we admit their implication? or understand we the position which they avow? Dwell we, on the consequences set before us? the nature of the truth, and, if truth it is, the truth which they publish? That, The dead shall be raised, incorruptible. What testimony, what sufficiency of witness, had the author of these words, for their utterance ? Were they idly spoken? Does the connection, in which they occur, shew an inconsiderateness in him from whom they emanated, or, that they were of him an ebullition for a vain object? Come they upon us irregularly, unconnected in their context? an expression,at random, loosely? isolated? and are we surprized at the incongruity? Feel we their irrelevancy to what is subsequent? In a word, is the condition created in us, by all the circumstances,

for the consideration of the subsequence that of the dead is averred ?

I have, on various occasions, examined with you the grounds on which must be constructed, answers, if answers can be given, to these interrogatives. I trust, that, coolly, deliberately, anxiously, fearfullyyet fearlessly, truthfully, we have prosecuted the investigation. It is not, therefore, my present intention, to review these reasons; but, on the conclusion at which we have arrived, to consider the consequence of the truth which is involved in the text. For, we believe it to be a truth: avow it; feel it; to the world publish it; and, oh! increasingly would we live it, that: "The dead shall be raised incorruptible."

Arrest, does this truth, our contrary career? or, recalled, has it us, from a tenour of life as though we had no such faith? These are awakening questions, if, that, they arise seriously! And, that this view. should occupy us wholly, judge we! What is the truth, for truth we believe it to be, which we promulgate? That, "The dead shall be raised incorruptible!" Not, then, to reunite in things of earth, which are passing away. Not, then, again to struggle with the corrupt circumstances, that so often, now, thwart the purest desire, the fondest hopes; the sincerest efforts made for humanity. Not to feel our heart's blood flowing, our heads throbbing, for a cause, which, the more righteous we experience it to be, is the more opposed, surely, by what we feel to be corruptions. Raised, incorruptible! Concerns this us? The dead, raised! Are we of the dead? Dying, are we, in our being? Inevitably, numbered, shall we be,

with the dead? Borne from our homes, will our children? will parents? will brothers and sisters ? will wives? will husbands? will friends? will strangers? variously, lay us in the grave? And, from the dead, shall we be raised ? and incorruptible? What!. to die no more? to be in error no more? to have our minds circumscribed no more? Our loves, no more seared? Our affections, ever administering in holiness ? We, as the angels, before our Father who is in heaven? Look we to this? Whatever we do, done is it, accordantly, to this object?

Oh! these are views that do, and will, arise, in the Christian mind. They come of our fait-and, blessed we! to whom most clearly they shew our deficiencies; for, it is a faith, not to depress, but to encourage; not to condemn us, but our failingsassisting us to rise from them, unless we, foolishly perverse, act not in the light which it kindles.

Unmistakably, do Christians manifest, that the proclamation in the text, by them promulged, is truth? Is it the light, from them, lighting the world? As a city set on a hill, so conspicuous is it, that it cannot be hid? An irradiation, is the doctrine of the resurrection-a sun, in human being, warming, cheering, blessing, all people?

In such wise, we avow, will the glorious truth operate, that, "The dead shall be raised incorruptible," as it becomes really to be our belief. It must, it will, in conduct, change men: it will remodel society. As it constitutes our belief, so shall we live anew: in our impulses, our pursuits, we shall be born again: no longer will a lethargic habit be engendered by these

glowing words this kindling idea, of Jesus, to Nicodemus;-but, we shall be active in doing good; we shall be educed from evil; in understanding, we shall have entered into the kingdom of God.

The faith, published in the text-Oh! if it now actuated us if it was primary in all that we do-was it an ingredient in our minds-the constituent by which we walked uprightly, every one in the light of God's countenance-demeaning none, injuring none -but, blessing all-being to one and all-and especially therein to ourselves, all, individually, to allbenefactions? The faith, that, The dead shall be raised corruptible, yearningly succoureth in man an esteem for man; binds man to man; is just, in the elevation that it works; verifying, that, in spirit will the condition be, and not in the distinctions that often now are as enigmas to us-verifying, I repeat, that in spirit will the condition be, that will constitute our various qualifications for the enjoying of that incorruptible being.

My present purpose is, to awaken attention to the consummate truth, that, The dead shall be raised incorruptible. Do we individually believe that we shall be raised from the dead? As a part of the routine of the notions with which, by our parents, and by teachers, we have been endued, probably, we all imagine, that we do so believe. But has our rising from the dead occupied our thought? Painfully, have we feared, that we may not be raised from the dead? and, joyfully, have we risen from the investigation, with our every power modelled to the summary realization, thus, of the concernment of our being?

Verily, is the faith a main spring, in what we do? I could almost ask, first, do we believe that we individually shall die? Personally, I fear, while of all others believing it, unconcernedly, self is excepted. Unless we know that we die, the doctrine that we shall be raised from the dead cannot concern us. On this circumstance, on death, first, must we revolve. We must view death, consider death, feel death, to be the sure visitant to our homes,-taking us, the individual, m not from us always the removing of others; -but, personally, applying it, you all, that, I shall be taken, and the others left.

And we must feel this, in the midst of our connections and attachments, our fond associations, the -thrilling communications, of home. We must look

one on another, in our blisses, knowing that we must die. Thus, experiencing, what death is. The purer our loves, the more cultivated we are, the keener will this be. And we shall yearn concerning it, and keep it present before us, nor dismiss from us the knowledge, that we must die. In it, must be participated our joys. And herein shall we know what the meaning of the rising from the dead is. And we shall examine the evidences, therefore, with an ability competent to the undertaking. We shall know, that to raise us from the dead will be to quicken us, as to the present being, the enkindling of a consciousness of this time; the animating of us as we shall have left the earth, the renewing, the continuing as of this life-the state of mind in which we die. But then it will be that we rise to die no more; with our being, incorruptible; our powers consequently progressive;