to testify that the free mercy of God has been in communication with it;-and so, their " memory is blessed." It is so, again, when we consider them as practical illustrations, verifying examples of the excellence of genuine religion; that it is a noble thing in human nature, and makes, and alone makes, that nature noble ;-that this is what redeems it to its station of being '' a little lower than the angels;”—that whatever scoffers may say, or the vain world pretend to disbelieve, here is what has made such men as nothing else, under heaven, could or can. Here are the men that have been tried in all ways,brought in conflict with every evil of the earth, and the principle was in them indestructible. The world and Satan have been compelled to acknowledge, "These are not ours." True, the genuine, living examples have this honour in common with those who are become the objects of 66 memory." But the difference in favour of the latter is, that the trial is completed,-the consummation is gained,they shine "full-orbed" from heaven. From heaven, we say, and their memory is blessed, under the consideration that they are what the earth has contributed to heaven;— that in them it has been shown that earth may send its inhabitants thither;-that there was here what was judged not fit to be long confined and detained here. They appear as a conquest gained in this world, and taken away from it by the powers above,—a sacred, happy colony transplanted thither. Their " memory is blessed," while we regard them as diminishing to our view the repulsiveness and horror of Death. Our Lord's dying was the fact that threw out the mightiest agency to this effect. But, in their measure, his faithful disciples have done the same. When we contemplate them as having prepared for it with calm resolution, -as having approached it-multitudes with a tranquil resignation and fortitude, and very many with an animated exultation;-as having past it, and emerged in brightness beyond its gloom; they seem to shine back. through the gloom, and make the shade less thick. It is not as if we were the first summoned to dare the solemn adventure. We have but to do what they have already done; and the consideration that they, the most excellent of the earth, were to do it ;-next, to see how they have done it, and then to look by faith to the consequences they have found; this makes their "memory" an auxiliary to us against the fear of death. And whatever does that, is indeed a "blessed" thing. That "memory," again, contributes to promote the sense of a social relation with the state beyond the grave; presenting to view, from the other side, a grand society, to which Christians here do stand in the noblest relations, "The saints on earth, and all the dead, There is thus a medium of human interest and combination between the two so different regions; and the social sentiment can expand beyond the earth. While there cannot be a sensible intercommunication, a contemplative faith can carry a pious spirit ideally into the higher and happier society, so as to feel great delight,—a delight in which a certain mystical social element is felt to mingle. And then, this "memory" aids to vivify the anticipations of coming at length into actual communion,―to join some that have been personally known, and some of former ages, and distant lands. Their " memory is blessed," also, as combined with the whole progress of the cause of God on earth,—with its living agency through every stage. He has never, and nowhere, had a visible cause in the world, without putting men in trust with it. There might be his own immediate interference, there might, or not, be angels, visibly employed, but there were sure to be men. Think of what they have been employed and empowered to do,-in the propagation of truth,-in the incessant warfare against all manner of evil,-in the exemplification of all the virtues by which He could be honoured. Thus their "memory" is inseparably associated with all the most "blessed" things through all time, and it partakes of the blessedness. All those things, come to our view with a human visage; and have, by that, a stronger interest and attraction for us, than if they had been mere, pure acts of the Divine Power. Especially the important benefits that have come into our own immediate lot, reflect benedictions on the memory of those who imparted them. This grateful recollection often enhances the sense of the value of the good so imparted, and very much conduces to perpetuate it. And, now, is it not a reasonable object of Christian desire, to leave a memory that shall be “blessed?" Not a passion for vain-glory, not that so extolled aspiring to endless fame. But a desire that the remembrance which will remain in the minds of those who are to survive or follow, should not be one causing pain, disapprobation, or shame. A wish to be, in remembrance, numbered with the faithful and zealous servants of God and Christ. A wish to be so associated with good imparted, as to render that good the dearer and the more effectual. A wish to remain, as long as remembered, a motive, an argument, an incitement to all good to those who follow,—thus to do good here after being gone hence. A wish to be remembered so, that it shall be, to some human hearts a delightful and attractive thought, that they shall meet again the object of their memory. And let it not be a mortifying consideration, that, in most instances the " memory" must be of very limited scope, and not perpetual duration. The "memory" of the good, with exceptions comparatively few, gradually declines into oblivion on earth, but their everlasting remembrance is with God. But, their existence their living, happy reality-continues, and flourishes, and enlarges for ever; to have, also, the felicity of being ultimately brought again into the society of those in whose minds they have left a cherished remembrance. LECTURE LV. THE CONSIDERATION OF DEATH. DEUTERONOMy xxxii. 29. "O that they would consider their latter end." LATELY, in a social hour, I heard it proposed, as a question curious as well as serious,-to account for the general insensibility of men to the grand fact that they are mortal; -this being universally known to be an infallible certainty, how does it happen that most men, habitually, think of it very little, and are very little affected by it? We might employ a few moments beneficially, in, first, taking account of the fact itself (of this insensibility,)— next, seeing what can be brought in explanation, and last, briefly remonstrating against this insensibility. That there is, very generally, a strange want of reflection and concern respecting our condition as mortal, is most apparent, in many plain familiar proofs. Perhaps nothing in the world, that appears so out of consistency, is so obvious. The fact of a whole race dead, from the beginning of time to the present generation, comes with but little impression on us, except at occasional moments. In surveying history, it is with the men of past ages, as living, that our thoughts are busy. The thought, that they are all dead, and that this fact tells us what we also shall be, may not occur through many chapters. But there is no need of illustrations of such wide reference. The insensibility may be shown in more familiar exemplifications. Persons inhabiting a house of considerable age-how often are they reminded that persons formerly occupying its apartments, |