choly satisfaction on the fond and affectionate solicitude and anxiety with which they watch ed over their infant years, and guarded their steps in the slippery paths of youth; on the pains and expense which they bestowed on their instruction and education; how they kindly relieved their wants, and attended them in sickness and pain; how they solemnly warned them of the ways of the destroyer; how they led them by their wise precepts and pious example into the paths of peace; on the sanguine hopes which they delighted to indulge from the prospects of their opening talents, and on the fervent prayers which they addressed to heaven for their prosperity and success in life. The time is not distant when we' ourselves shall live no more; but if we are righteous, we shall be had in remembrance. If we are faithful to our God and to our children, they will bless and consecrate our memory when our heads are laid in the dust. Even their posterity may learn some good thing from them which we have imparted; and that happy day may at last come, when we shall be able to say before the throne of God, "Behold us and the children whom "thou hast given us.".

May we not even descend lower, and say that the righteous man is held in remembrance by the domesticks also of his family. The servants of a just, humane and generous master, remember with gratitude the marks of kindness and confidence which he has bestowed on them; they regret his departure with unfeigned sorrow; they respect his memory; when they go abroad into the world they celebrate his praise; by them his character reaches far and near, and is handed down with honour to the children of many generations.

2. The righteous are held in remembrance by the more intimate associates of their youth or of their more mature age.

The pressure on the mind is severe indeed when by the will of God we have lost the most faithful, the most affectionate of our associates; those of whom we had conceived the most delightful expectations; or those by whose means we had attained the most solid advantages for this world or for eternity. But their memorial is not lost; not the remembrance of their virtues and of their intellectual endowments; not the remembrance of their kindness; not the remembrance of their

usefulness to us; nor the remembrance of the satisfaction which we have enjoyed with them. And what is truly encouraging and truly worthy of attention is, that all that was precious and praiseworthy in a departed friend, remains in the memory, while all his imperfections are buried in the grave. It is their good and estimable qualities alone which consecrate their memorial within us, separated from all the infirmities which were once united to them. This, while it adds to the honour and respect manifested for the memory of the dead, is as useful as it is gratifying to the living. We remember that which was good: we forget every infirmity which was attached to it; we dwell with affection on every advantage and on every satisfaction which it yielded to us, and its living impression is rivetted on our hearts. We feel as if the image of the departed virtues, pure as the spirits of just men made perfect, were before us, and we are still united to them as by the cords of love. These recollections equally solemn and impressive, have a direct tendency both to comfort us in our sorrow for those who are asleep, and to purify our affections during the rest of our pilgrimage. We think of those who walked with

God; and their memorial kindles our abhorrence of the pollutions of the world, while it awakens our ardour to become followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. We think of the departed spirits who were once our companions below, as we contemplate the angels of God descending to bless our recollections and to watch our habitations.

This posthumous existence in the memory of those whom we once esteemed and loved is a powerful incitement to virtue and a strong consolation to the virtuous in the prospect of their departure hence. For to be remembered while he is no more; to be sometimes recalled to the memory of the living when he is removed out of their sight; to be wished alive again by some of his surviving friends when he is numbered with the dead, is among the fondest desires of man. On the other hand, the thought that as soon as our breath is flown our memory is obliterated; that our remembrance shall perish from the earth and we shall have no name in the streets, is depressing beyond conception to the human mind, and sinks man even lower than the grave which his body is to occupy.

VOL. II.

D d

3. But while the memory of the wicked shall utterly perish, or be recalled by all good men with detestation and abhorrence, the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance; and that not only among their family and friends, but also by all whom their labours have profited, their instruction enlightened, their example improved, or their bounty re

lieved.

The dispositions which lead men to employ their talents for the advantage of their fellowcreatures, and to do them good offices freely without any hope of a requital, create one of the first distinctions by which one man can be raised above another. If they are animated by the pure and cheerful spirit of religion they form the most interesting of human characters. The love which directs us, by a sense of duty, where to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to assist the weak, to comfort the poor, or to revive the sorrowful; the love which makes usefulness our happiness, and the help of every kind which we can bring to others our habitual solicitude, is love out of a pure heart, such as Christ requires and acknowledges.

When this affection becomes the habit of