Funeral Oration.

sorrow and affliction ; but mercy and peace from the throne of the Eternal shed their benign influence around his dying * pillow , and his last parting breath of sorrow Avas exchanged for the first of eternal joy . This faith , expressed by him

in such simple , truthful language , was a genuine principle sustained and strengthened by Divine grace in the heart . It is that faith which justifies and serves ; it is in truth the faith of God's elect ; and it is refreshing to find Avith what faith and

hope he was sustained in his last moments , Avhat joy and peace in believing . It yields , indeed , a melancholy yet pleasurable satisfaction in contemplating the subject—that notwithstanding the throng and crowd of earthly things , of earthly

pleasures and of hopes , as Avell as in his last and only sorrow he ever kneAV , he Avas enabled to press through them all , and thus to take hold of the hem of his Saviour ' s garment as it were , and like fche result of a similar faith mentioned in

the sacred Avritings , the same divine and benevolent look Avas cast upon him , the same gracious and encouraging reply Avas given , "" Thy faith hath saved thee , go in peace , " and his spirit fled to that God Avho gave it . Who can imagine the delights

of the soul surrounded now Avith guardian angels , Avinging their Avay through the celestial regions to the city of the living God , the heavenly Jerusalem ; Avhile voices SAveet as the seraphins before the throne of the Eternal , carol forth the song * of

joy , " Lift up your heads 0 ye gates , and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors , that an heir of glory may come in . " Death is a solemn subject to contemplate ; it is an aAvful ceremony through Avhich Ave must all pass . To put off the consideration of it to a more

convenient season AVill not stay the hand or mitigate the stroke . The patriarchs aud prophets—¦ Avhere are they now ? Kings , emperors , aud the rulers of the Avorlcl—the statesman , the senator , the philosopher , the learned and the ignorant ,

the young and the old , the grave and the gay , have all in their turn , from their towering ambition , or in expectant faith and humility , succumbed to its relentless law . If Ave make it a subject of our daily thoughts—if Ave turn now and then to

the grave , and look at the bed Avhere we shall soon take our repose , it Avill remove much of the horror and dread of death—it is an aAvful and a divine necessity . If all the generations of man that have existed from the first creation Avere still alive , what confusion and misery Avould be the

result , from the ferocious disposition of those Avho had nothing beyond the light of a fallen nature for their guide , to Avhom the Divine revelations were unknown , as Avell as from those Avho have despised and rejected them—even at the very

first commencement of human society , Cain rose up and slew his brother Abel . At the first creation Avhen Adam fell , the very ground Avas cursed for his' sake— - "In sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life , " Avas

the Divine sentence , "for out of it Avas't thou taken—for dust thou art , and unto dust shalt thou return . " There Avas no curse upon this dust , for it had been taken out of the earth before the curse Avas pronounced , and this dust contained Avithin . its folds a divine principle of life , for ifc Avas the breath of God Avhich animated it . This dust of

man , therefore , returning to the earth again , will still be precious in the sight of God—hence the care instilled into the heart of man to reverence and care for the remains of those deposited in the grave . Thus became the first Adam a living

soul . But Ave read also of a second Adam , born , from heaven a quickening spirit ; and as by the invigorating influences of the great luminary o £ day , nature springs forth and buds , and Ave enjoy those blessings the fruits of the earth ; so this ,

quickening spirit , all those Avho are born in him . by faith , and live through him , he shines upon , their affections , and they break forth into heavenly graces and produce abundant fruits of righteousness and of peace ; their dust therefore , is

sanctified and very precious in the sight of God . [ Here Avere some reflections of a Masonic character on the subject . ] He then continued : —Of death Ave . can offer no better idea than that of the course

of nature . The sun runs its daily course m its strength , and as ifc draAvs near to its close , its effulgence diminishes and its light becomes , mellowed and soft ; and as ifc sinks beloAV our horizon , a solemn gloom and stillness creeps over

the face of nature , and pervades everywhere as in the hush around the dying bed . The hills and . the valleys grow dark and become Avrapt in the quiet and rest ; of night as of death ; the stars , appear as the Avitnesses of God's truth ; the .

moon sheds her softened and reflected light , as if it Avould remind us of God ' s Avatchful and protecting care ofthe souls of the ri ghteous , and His . divine presence Avith them Avhile their bodies , sleep in the grave . This emblem of death in the ' rest of inanimate nature is also beautifully pour-