vant.

and faithful to all men. His engagement to serve began by faith, and continues by faith. He is a perpetual serHis engagement is not for a time, but for ever. He is faithful to the last, and expects the Master's commendation: "Well done, good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."

It is a

The Christian's death.-"Depart in peace." departure of the soul from the body. The soul is the man, the body is merely the house in which he dwells, and death dissolves the connection between the inhabitant and the house. It is a departure from sin to holiness, from sorrow to joy, from earth to heaven. It is a departure of both soul and body from the world, and all its beauties, and all its cares; a departure from greatly loved friends, yet soon to be joined to them in a better world; and a departure from all earthly objects and possessions, however prized and loved. The kind of departure desired is in peace. When a Christian dies, he dies at peace with God, at peace with conscience, at peace with all men, and at peace with death itself.

The Christian's resignation.—“Lord, now lettest thou." He is ready to die. Having the Saviour in his arms of faith, washed in his blood, and clothed with his righteousness, he is waiting for his Lord's coming. In preparing to go to the sanctuary below, we wash and clothe; and so must we prepare for the sanctuary above. He desires to be released from the world, its sins, its cares, its sorrows, its joys. Farewell earth; farewell sun, moon, and stars; and farewell friends. He desires to be with Christ. He feels that to be present in the body is to be absent from the Lord. Like the apostle standing between heaven and earth, he says, "I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better."

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JULY 17.

Our Knowledge of the Dead.

"But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not even as others which have no hope."-1 Thess. iv. 13.

THE righteous dead are asleep-we are not ignorant of their state-and this should moderate our grief.

The righteous dead are asleep. -"Them which are asleep." They are at rest. Life, its cares, and sorrows, and toils, and its afflictions, may have been a burden; but the burden is laid aside, and there is rest from labour, temptation, persecution, and suffering. They are in security. A sailor could not sleep on the top of a mast, and we could not sleep soundly if we thought our habitation in danger from thieves or fire; hence sleep supposes security, and the righteous dead are secure. The soul is safe with Christ in paradise, and the body is safe in the grave dear to Jesus there, and in his keeping. They expect to awake again. Death would not be a sleep if this were not the case; but it is a sweet and safe sleep, and there shall be a joyful and glorious awakening on the morning of the resurrection.

We are not ignorant of their state.-"I would not have you to be ignorant." They are happy after death. We know that the soul is immortal-that as soon as it is separated from the body, it is received into paradise. "Where I am, there shall also my servant be." Hence, when our friends die in Christ, our hopes regarding them are not buried with the body in the grave. We know that the soul and body, now separated, shall be united again in happier and better circumstances. "This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." We shall meet them again, to part no more for ever. When death separates Christians on

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The dead are not

earth, the separation is but for a time. lost, but they have got the start of the living. Soon they shall meet again to part no more. Soon they shall engage in the same holy services, and sing together the same lofty songs.

This should moderate our grief.-"Sorrow not as others which have no hope." The heathen and the infidel have no hope of themselves or of their friends after death. They consign a husband, a wife, a son, a daughter, or a dear friend to the house of silence, never expecting to meet them again. No wonder that their sorrow is excessive. They rend their garments, tear their hair, cut themselves with stones, sit down in ashes, and weep bitter tears, because all their hopes are buried in the dust. Not so the Christian. He sorrows when he loses a dear friend, but it is a hopeful sorrow. He looks through its dark shadows to a brighter and better world than this, where all the followers of Jesus shall be reunited around his throne; where we shall meet our dear friends again, never to be severed; and where we shall love again, and love for

ever.

JULY 18.

Our Hopes of the Dead.

"For if we believe that Jesus died, and rose again, even so them also that sleep in Jesus will God bring with him."-1 Thess. iv. 14.

WHEN Christians die, they sleep in Jesus-God will bring them with Jesus at last-and this hope springs from Christ's death and resurrection.

They sleep in Jesus.-" Which sleep in Jesus." While they lived, they were united to him by faith. This union was real and certain, like the union of the branch and the tree. It was intimate and spiritual-a union of heart to heart, and soul to soul. It gave rise to communion and

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intercourse; and like a spring bursting from a fountain, it gathered volume and strength in its progress. It was a union which death did not dissolve. Although death dissolves all other unions, it cannot dissolve this. The Christian lives, and he lives in Christ. The Christian dies, but he sleeps in Jesus. He does not sleep in dark infidelity, stubborn fatalism, or cold atheism ; but he sleeps in the hope of awakening, and he sleeps like Jesus when he slept in the sepulchre of Joseph.

God will bring them with Jesus at last.--Jesus shall come again to our world in power and great glory, to judge all men, and consummate the bliss of his people. The time is fixed, but not revealed; the event is certain, though concealed; and "every eye shall see him." When Christ shall come, the spirits of the just shall come along with him; he shall raise their bodies from the slumber of ages, unite body and soul together, make both glorious like himself, and give them a share of his endless blessedness. As he rose the first-fruits from the dead, so the harvest will assuredly follow. As he rose the head, so all the members will come after. As he shall come in all the glory of his Father, so all the saints shall share it, and with him judge the world. Amazing destiny! excellent glory! who would not unite himself to the Saviour that he may enjoy it?

This hope springs from Christ's death and resurrection. "We believe that Jesus died and rose again." These are certain events evidenced by numerous witnesses, recorded in the word of God, and confirmed by undeniable miracles. Every Christian believes that Jesus died and rose again. This is the beginning of his happiness, the ground of his peace, and the spring of all his joy. As he firmly believes these facts, so he must believe that the resurrection of the saints is connected with the resurrection of Christ, will certainly follow from it, and will by and by

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be a fact as firmly established. Let us not imagine that the seed of the righteous dead can perish. The power of Christ shall make it grow and luxuriate, so that every city of the dead shall teem with new life.

JULY 19.

Christ's Grand Adbent.

"For 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."-1 Thess. iv. 16.

HERE we have Christ's grand advent-its accompaniments -and the result to the righteous dead.

Christ's grand advent.-"The Lord himself shall descend from heaven." It shall be personal: "Himself." He shall not come meek and lowly, like unto his first coming; he shall not come in a spiritual sense, as at the millennium; he shall not come by deputy, but visibly and gloriously. "This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." It is absolutely certain. He delays his coming, that all men may come to repentance. It may seem long to us, but it is not so to him. "One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." It shall be sudden and irresistible. In the twinkling of an eye the heavens shall disclose him, and however busy men may be with the affairs of earth, this grand event shall arrest every eye, engage every mind, and end every plan.

Its accompaniments. He shall come "with a shout." As seamen, after a long voyage, give a shout when they come in sight of the desired land, so all holy beings shall welcome Jesus with joy. As the shouts of the Israelites before Jericho rent the air, and were answered by the falling down of its walls, so the shouts of Christ's retinue