peaceful prisoners, the ocean disclosing the bodies which had lain for ages in its watery caverns, and all the millions of the human family thronging with anxious solicitude to the face of him who sitteth upon the throne: We see the records of heaven laid open, those actions which had been done in a corner sounded in the hearing of all nations, and men, without the least deference to rank, or fortune, or any outward advantages, judged according to their works: We see the pitiable multitude of the damned standing on the left hand of the judge pale and ghastly, and at last retiring reluctantly to their own place; while the nations of the saved, with aningled shouts of exultation and thanksgiving, ascend with their Lord through the air, and take possession of that kingdom which he had prepared for them. The substance of "that life and immortality which the gospel brings to light," is contained in the following passages: "When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him; then shall he sit on the throne of his glory, and before him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate them one from the other, as the shepherd divideth the sheep from the goats; and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on his left:" Again, "the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and

remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we be ever with the Lord." Thrice splendid, thrice blessed assembly! may you and I, clad in the righteousness of Jesus as our robe, mingle in their society, and participate in their glories.

What is imported in bringing these doctrines to light was our second inquiry, and to this your attention is now respectfully invited. "He hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel."

1. There these great doctrines are clearly revealed, and incontrovertibly confirmed. All the speculations of unenlightened reason respecting a future state were only conjecture: her feeble eye, with its obscure, irregular light, could not penetrate the dark medium which intervenes between this and the future world, and ascertain whether man shall exist hereafter, or where, or how. Ancient sages among the heathen not only dif fered from each other on this interesting subject, but they often differed from themselves. Almost every new class of philosophers which appeared in the most flourishing ages of Greece and Rome entertained and avowed theories different from those who had preceded: some supposed that death wasa perpetual torpor or sleep; others fancied to themselves Elysian fields, where the spirits of their departed heroes and sages should range abroad in the indulgence of sensual delights; others imagined that

the soul upon its separation from one body migrated to another, and still remained on the earth: But to their most profound inquirers an existence or happiness in a future state was the object rather of desire and hope, than of confident expectation. Whatever were the conjectures of heathen philosophers relative to the immortality of the soul, none entertained a belief of the resurrection of the body. An impenetrable gloom covered the region of the grave, and the body once brought under its dominions, they considered as doomed to perpetual imprisonment. These facts, however, which were doubted by some of the wise men among the heathen, and denied by others, and no more than conjectured by any, are clearly taught, and unquestionably confirmed in the volume of inspiration. The christian can look upon death as "disarmed" of its sting, as stripped of all its horrors through the death of his divine Redeemer, and allconquering Prince: he can look upon the grave not as a dreary, cheerless dungeon, where his body must languish in everlasting chains, but as a peaceful retreat from all the toils and afflictions of this world, or rather as a bed of rest, where it will enjoy undisturbed repose until the morning of its redemption arrives; and as he descends into the tomb every cloud is dissipated, every apprehension is quieted by that assurance of his Lord, "I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me, though he

were dead, yet shall he live: I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death:" The christian, relying on these divine declarations, may exult in the elevated strains of the inspired poet, "my flesh also shall rest in hope: Thou wilt shew me the path of life; in thy presence is fulness of joy, and at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore." While his body descends to the grave, softened and prepared for its reception, his immortal spirit, amidst a retinue of angels, soars aloft to the regions of bliss, and reclines on the bosom of its God.

Nay, we have not only the evidence of faith founded on the testimony of Jehovah to assure us of this life and immortality, but we have the evidence of sense as an additional confirmation. Enoch, in the age of the patriarchs, was translated without seeing death the body of Elijah was miraculously transformed, and caught up to the celestial paradise; and although it was requisite that the Saviour should die, being substituted in the room of sinners, yet he afterwards arose as a pledge and pattern of their resurrection. The living God has thus brought "immortality to light," not merely to the eye of faith, but has in infinite condescension afforded outward, ocular demonstration.

As in the gospel the doctrine of "life and inmortality" is clearly revealed2. There its blessings are indiscriminately

announced for the reception of all nations. The economy of grace, under the christian dispensation, is much more liberal than during the reign of the law, and tenders its benefits not to a particular kindred only, but to all the kindreds of mankind. The light of life, which was confined for ages within the limits of a single country, has now burst beyond these narrow boundaries, and is shedding its radiance on every quarter of the globe, and "making glad" with its influences all the nations of men. The prophet of the former dispensation was directed in his mission to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and was confined in his range to the inconsiderable region of Judea; but a more unlimited field for exertion opens to the view of the apostles and their successors, and a more extended, unqualified commission is put into their bands. They are fully authorized, and explicitly enjoined to go into ALL THE WORLD; "to preach the gospel to EVERY CREATURE, and thus bring them to the knowledge of "life and immortality;"to baptize, and thus introduce them to the visible communion of the faithful: There are no limits now prescribed to the herald of the cross, but the boundaries of the earth, and the assembly, which he is instructed to evangelize, comprehends every "nation under heaven." And while he goes forth, exploring the field which is opened before him, and fulfilling his high commission, he may be animated by that prophesy