rious body, a spiritual body, fashioned after the Redeemer's own glorious body. It will be then, when it shakes off the trappings of the dust, and the low appendages of earth, when it rids itself of the winding sheet, and bursts from the shroud, that the victory will be gained; it will be then, that it can cry out, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory ?" I have trod earth's wild range, I have drunk of misery's cup, I have brought my soul low even to the dust; my brow has been clouded with care; my body has been consumed by disease; my days have been darkened by sin; I have felt death's cold touch; I have witnessed my friends around my pillow in silent agony; I have gone through the separation of body and soul; I have breathed my last breath; I have gone through the ceremony appointed for the dead; I have been confined in the bowels of the earth; I have seen corruption; my bones have been bleached before the wintry winds; my dust has been scattered, but now, through the mercy of my God, I have become again a living creature; I now can

cry out, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory ?" death now hath no more dominion over me. So shall every one of us be able to cry out at the resurrection; then neither death nor sin shall possess their power, death then shall lay down his sceptre for ever, and sin shall be no more.

We have now seen, my brethren, one of the consequences of Adam's fall, and the rescue, which took place through the mercy of the Saviour; we have seen, that when Adam fell, his punishment would have been an eternal death, had not the sentence of that eternal death been removed through our Saviour's intercession. But although Christ averted the strong penalty of our forefather's sin, it was not to be supposed, that man in consequence of the interposition of the Saviour was to enjoy again the delights of a terrestrial paradise, or to be translated in all the glory of an obedient son to his own abode. Adam had once the opportunity of being for ever happy, but that opportunity he had misused, therefore was he condemned to seek his own happi

ness, to find his own food by the sweat of his brow; yet was the Divine sentence alleviated by the promise, that from the seed of the woman should spring the Saviour of his race, the bruiser of the serpent's head. "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die;" but he did not die on that day; nor were the Divine words falsified; because the phrase is equivalent to when thou shalt, or if thou shalt eat thereof, thou shalt surely die. Nor did God sacrifice his justice, but he accepted then the promise of atonement from the Son, which in full time would make satisfaction for the sins of the whole world, and deprive the grave of its victory. Thus God at the same time preserved his justice, and showed his mercy to guilty man; the Saviour then in a measure conquered the grave; he permitted, if we may use the expression, the earth to hold the mortal, determined that when his voice should sound, that mortal should arise; that at his Almighty word the grave and the sea should restore their dead, and they become invested with immortality. Behold

him at the tomb of Lazarus! what power! what compassion! The Saviour of the world weeps,—though God, he felt as a man; he was moved, for the retrospect of man's transgression, the cause of death, came before him; his friend was dead, was buried; yea, corruption had resolved the corpse to its elements, the spirit had flown, four days had elapsed ere Christ came to the tomb, where Lazarus was laid.

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Lazarus," said he, with a loud voice, 66 come forth.” The voice, that called creation from nothing that summoned it into order and beauty-here called the creature from death; and as the Almighty fiat was given, nature relaxed her laws before her God, he that was dead came forth bound hand and foot, and shook off the cerements of the grave, as the Godman again exclaimed, "loose him and let

him go. go." Could, then, those, who were present, those, who were certified of the fact, Lazarus especially, Martha, and Mary, after so overwhelming an evidence of the Divine power, have doubted the doctrine of the resurrection? have questioned the

truth of life and immortality being brought to light by the Gospel? And when at the gates of Nain, he raised the widow's son, when also he raised the young damsel, did not similar evidences occur to the witnesses? These, brethren, are sufficient proofs of the power, which he had over the grave while on earth; and Divinity is ever the same, whether it rest in heaven or here; the same power, mercy, and compassion are its attributes. The last day shall disclose to those, who are alive, the truth of these observations; yea, all of us shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and "shall come forth; they, that have done good, unto everlasting life; and they, that have done evil, unto everlasting damnation."

But let us further examine the state to which all men arrive, and which goes by the common name of death. We have observed, that it is not an eternal death'; but only a separation of the soul from the body, at the reunion of which either rewards are

Here I must be understood, as using the words in their proper sense, not in that figurative sense, in which the Apostle applies them to everlasting punishment.