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by the breath of the Almighty; he sees them shaking, quivering with newly imparted life. However numerous the bones which constitute the human frame, he sees them, with Ezekiel's eye, coming together, bone to its kindred bone; he sees their scattered atoms ranged and marshalled in their proper place; he sees the sinews, and the flesh. coming upon them, and the skin covering them; he sees the breath of the Almighty infusing into them life; he recognises in their immortal bodies his parents; he beholds his beloved child-his companion-his brother-his friend; he sees them standing on their feet, their countenances beaming with celestial joys-intelligent-immortal!

With such impressions fixed upon the mind, well may the Christian exultingly say, O, death, thou hast lost thy sting! O, grave, thy triumphs will soon be brought to a close! Thy captives will be released, and eternal happiness be the portion of the followers of the Lamb.

To conclude; St. Paul, enraptured with the prospect of eternal life, sensible of the superiority of that claim to which the joys of heaven are entitled; blessed in that vision, with which he had been favoured, of those mansions prepared for the people of God-pressed forward as if running a race toward the prize of his high calling in Christ Jesus.

My brethren, we have tried for years the enjoyments of the present life, and have found them unsatisfying in their use, and transitory in their nature. While our eyes and our hearts have been fixed on those blessings which have surrounded us, and we have viewed them as durable and substantial, they have vanished as a vapour, and have left us comfortless and distracted at their departure. It is not in the things of time, my beloved parishioners, that real happiness is to be found; the impress of death and dissolution is stamped upon every enjoyment we possess; riches cannot secure us against the attacks of adversity; the children of the poor are heirs to the same difficulties; the same diseases which carry desolation to the cottage of the poor, lay waste the dwellings of the most wealthy;

the same grave which claims the beggar as its tenant, is prepared for the reception of the monarch; dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return, is applicable to every descendant of Adam. The trials, however, of the Christian will terminate in this world; there remaineth a rest for the people of God, is the declaration and assurance of Scripture; a rest, from the possession of which neither death nor the grave can separate him. Let no trials, ye followers of the Saviour, discompose your minds; however afflicted, however tried, however poor in temporal things, ye are the heirs of a kingdom, eternal in the heavens ; keep, I beseech you, keep your eye fixed on that period when those joys will be made your own; when every tear will be wiped from your eye, and sorrow and sighing be done away forever. Suffer not the grave to excite in your mind a disquieting fear; it is the Christian pilgrim's path to glory; Jesus hath stripped it of its cypress, and enrobed it in evergreen; though your bodies will be sown in corruption, they will be raised in incorruption; the Almighty will breathe upon his slain, and they will live; the tomb will surrender up its prisoner, and ye will ascend in triumph to your Father and your God.

SERMON VI.

"As he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and a judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time, when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee."-ACTs, xxiv. 25.

THE subject before us presents us with an evidence of the powers of conscience, and also of the force of Divine truth. It shows us that there are seasons in which all the barriers that we can raise against the appeals of conviction will give way, and fall prostrate before the majesty and omnipotence of virtue; that the principles of right and wrong are so deeply impressed upon our minds by the Author of our existence, that it is impossible to resist their influence, or to withstand their power; and that every man who violates the laws of God, and acts in opposition to the principles of moral rectitude, will feel the pains of self-condemnation, and tremble at his departure from equity and truth.

Though it is a truth established upon the basis of Scripture, that we can do nothing good without Divine assistance, still it is equally true, that, provided we will listen to the warning voice of conscience, and supplicate Jehovah for the ability to do what is right, our better principle will be invigorated by his grace, and we shall be enabled to comply with every moral precept. It is trusting to our own imaginary strength, which involves us in sin. Resolutions of a virtuous description, made in reliance upon divine aid, and solicited and sought in earnest and sincere

prayer, will always prove effectual; while determinations of amendment, made upon the presumption of our own powers, will prove abortive, and leave us exposed to failure upon every recurrence of temptation.

Had Felix listened to the convictions of his conscience; had he entreated the Almighty to assist him in subduing his corruptions, he would have succeeded; but as he banished the convictions of his mind to a more convenient season, his love of sin obtained the ascendancy, and with his eyes open, in opposition to the warning voice of God within him, he fell a martyr to transgression, and died as he had lived, the violater of God's holy laws.

In the elucidation of the subject before us, we will consider, first, the points of doctrine insisted upon by Paul; secondly, the penetrating effects to which his appeals gave rise; thirdly, the fatal consequences arising from the suppression of our convictions. First, we are to consider the points of doctrine insisted upon by Paul.

With the character of Felix, the Apostle was, no doubt, fully acquainted. His manner of life, and the habits in which he indulged, were too open to escape detection; and as he had sent for Paul, to hear him explain the peculiar features of the Christian religion, the Apostle conceived it an imperative duty to deal faithfully with the Roman governor, and to bring home to his conscience, the awful account he would have to render the Almighty for his conduct.

Felix, it is to be observed, had taken advantage of his elevated rank in society, to commit an act of violence upon the rights and privileges of a fellow creature; and in consequence of the power he possessed, and the impossibility of being called to an account by man for his violation of moral precept, had induced Drusilla to leave her husband, to sacrifice every principle of female chastity, and to live in habits of adultery with himself.

In the presence then of Felix and his wretched associate Drusilla, Paul brought forward the morality of the gospel. He held up the mirror to their view, in order that they

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might see and know themselves. He reasoned with them of righteousness and temperance: and in order to show them the impossibility of eluding the scrutinizing eye of an omniscient God, he pourtrayed to their view the solemnities of the last judgment; a period in which all earthly distinctions will be done away; a period in which Felix would be stripped of his ermine, and stand before the bar of Jehovah for trial; a period, in which he and Drusilla, and that husband whose rights they had violated, would be confronted with each other, and the most strict and impartial administration of justice would take place.

The Apostle reasoned of righteousness. He showed Felix and Drusilla, that justice was a law founded upon the basis of reason; that the poorest member of society possessed his rights, and that those rights could not be violated with impunity; that every man, however exalted by earthly distinction, was subject to the same law of equity, which was given to regulate the conduct of the poor; and that the individual who should wantonly trample upon the privileges of others, would be called to an account at the last day. He showed them that divine justice would be administered with an even hand; that the judge was omniscient as well as omnipotent; that no subterfuge could escape his all-seeing eye; that no false testimony could perplex the eternal God, and that the criminal, though he had wielded a sceptre, or been elevated to a throne, would be weighed in the same balance with the meanest slave, and be punished according to his deeds.

Paul reasoned of righteousness. He showed Felix and Drusilla, that "rulers are raised up as a terror to evil doers; but for a praise to them who do well;" that they should conform their lives to the precepts of equity, and not violate them; that it is their duty "to do unto others, as they would wish others to do unto them;" and that "with what measure they mete to others, it shall be meled to them again."

It was no doubt the expectation of Felix, when he sent for Paul, that the Apostle's discourse would have turned

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