The royal preacher here pronounces the destiny of man. Several things are presented to our consideration in the declaration. First, the compound nature of man; he consists of a body and a spirit. Secondly, the resolution of that material body to its original dust. Thirdly, the return of the immortal spirit to its great Creator.

dence, it is only the alarm of a brute gazing for a moment; and we may indeed apply to too many the humiliating language which David employs with reference to himself: "So foolish was I, and ignorant; I was as a beast before thee." The report of a gun, or some circumstance of danger, will cause the oxen to pause and gaze; they forget it, and they graze again. So it is with man; for a moment he may be agitated and affected, and then he sinks into a lethargy, and remains insensible to eternal things. Oh, how necessary it is that there should be a perpetual voice to remind man of his mortality! God has instituted the Christian ministry; and though that ministry is designed to bring forth evangelical truth, to place it in a clear and conspicuous light, and bring it home to the conscience with fear-language. ful and impressive manifestations, yet it own image; in the image of God created is often powerless.

First, we are taught by the text, THE COMPOUND NATURE OF MAN. He consists of two very different natures, two very different principles-a mortal body, and an immortal spirit. During this earthly life these two principles are mysteriously united in one; so that man lives as a compound being. He was so formed by the Almighty: we have an account of his creation in brief, but clear and simple "So God created man in his

he him." This could not refer to the material part. For God is a pure spirit, and all we know of the essence of God is that he is a spirit; and the spirituality of his nature forms the basis of all those attributes in which he is arrayed: consequently no modification of matter can bear any resemblance to the Divine Being. We must look to something more than matter for the traces and features of Divine resemblance. Therefore we read, "The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul:" God breathed into him the breath of life, that principle in man which constitutes his existence-that principle in man which operates on external organs, and which pervades the material system, his God breathed into him. "There is a spirit in man; and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth Therefore it is an intellectual life: it is a life capable of thought, volition, and affection. The material part of man, that which meets the eye, is that with which we are best acquainted. Its growth is vegetative; that is, it is preserved in existence by a kind of involuntary means: God's care preserves the creatures he has made.

The subject presented by the text is one of a most solemn kind. Some subjects, in order to be understood, must be explained death requires no explanation; "the living know that they must die." Some subjects, in order to be believed, must be proved, must be argued, must be confirmed: death wants no argument; there it is. Some subjects are not sufficiently interesting to obtain attention; they are interesting to a certain class, not to all classes; they press with peculiar weight on certain individuals-they do not touch others: death, like the atmosphere, presses on all; death is a subject that should come home to every man's bosom and conscience; I must die as certainly as I live-as certainly as you live you must die: a few years will remove this large mass of human beings into eternity. "Then"-I know not when; perhaps the "then" may be very near-them understanding." perhaps the momentous hour may be approaching" Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return to God who gave it." Oh, may we be assisted in our meditations on this passage! Our thoughts now ruminate on solemn subjects; and I earnestly pray that we may be assisted to disengage our minds from all earthly and trivial concerns!

VOL. I.-28

It would be very delightful to dwell on the wisdom and the goodness of God, T

and the structure of the material system, | fluence on our minds. All the excellence and to show how exactly all the organs of man resides in his immortal spirit: in that system are suited to the operations there is no abstract excellence in the of the indwelling spirit. We cannot have body; just as there can be no abstract a more delightful manifestation of the excellence, no abstract intellectual or esbenevolence of the Divine Being than in sential excellence, in any combination of the structure of the human body. But matter. From our association with matstill though so exquisitely formed-as ter we are in danger of terminating our the inspired writer says, "fearfully and views with the material system. This wonderfully made"-it is mere matter, is the dangerous tendency to which that which has been combined under the form-class of men are exposed who study phying hand of Jehovah with exquisite skill. siology: the nature of their research has It is impossible to go into an examination of the internal structure, or the external organs of the body, without perceiving that there was a presiding intelligence over the whole; that God knew what kind of spirit he was about to lodge in the habitation. 66 Every house," says the apostle, "is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God." The human body is very frequently termed a house, a tabernacle. How do we know that every house is built by some man? Because it displays everywhere the signs of contrivance: there is intelligence and wisdom displayed in the whole. So when we take up the human tabernacle, we see the wisdom of God everywhere manifest in adapting the particular structure of the organ to the operation of that spirit which was to perform its functions through the aid of such organization.

But still we cannot avoid coming to the humiliating thought that it is dust: it is subject to the laws of matter; it may decay by age; it may be injured or destroyed by force; there is no dependence on its continuance; it is frequently out of order; it is perpetually evincing its fragile and transient nature. How frequently are we the painful subjects of those evidences of mortality which surround us, and which exist within us! The seeds of mortality are sown in the soul of this earthly tabernacle; the seeds of mortality are lodged in this dust, beautiful as it may be they are vegetating, they are growing, they are shooting out in different directions, the fruit is hastening to maturity, that is, death.

Yes, we say that man is dust. This is humiliating: and, if it could be brought home, it certainly would have its due in

often led them into materialism; they have denied that there is any spirit in the body; they have altogether lost sight of the lofty and glorious distinction between mind and matter; they have employed their inventive powers to discover other causes for intellectual and moral phenomena than those which the Scriptures direct us to. They have represented man as nothing more than one of the clods of the valley; they have ascribed all the mysterious functions of vitality to the peculiar organization of the material system.

This is very affecting, indeed; because God has so wisely constructed the human system that it is admirably adapted to all the functions of the spirit. It is not the eye which sees; it is not the ear which hears. The organization will remain the same till dissolution, till the putrefaction of this piece of matter takes place; there will be the same exquisitely beautiful formation of the eye, the same adaptation of the ear-the same system through the whole: but there will be no power; the eyes will not see, the ears will not hear. The fallen jaw, the cold marble face, the senseless expression, prove that the vital principle is gone. "Let me bury my dead out of my sight." It no longer possesses any thing excellent-it is a vile body. Let the rich, and the great, and the noble, remember this. Let us value those things that belong to the eternal spirit; let us value those truths which relate to the inner man.

When the powers of the understanding are sanctified by divine grace, they are ennobled and even when they are not sanctified they excite our admiration, but with our admiration we mingle pity.

We see a human spirit which employs | good-an imagination that should be emits intellectual faculties only in relation ployed in shadowing forth celestial and to the present state of things. He has spiritual blessedness-a will that should genius of the highest order; he is a poet, ever be ready to hasten on the errands he is an orator; he has attracted atten- of God, and attach the individual to the tion and admiration to himself: but, alas! purposes of God-affections, modifica the blaze of his genius expires in the tions of that will, that should run in pertomb. His genius is not consecrated at fect harmony with the will of God! Oh, the footstool of the throne of God: those yes, it was a spirit breathed from God; amazing powers which render him a kind it was God's own offspring: it was a of intellectual phenomenon are hastening divine emanation; it was a ray from the to set in darkness: and there is an end inexhaustible fountain; it was man formof him. Some are ready to say-(my ed in the image of God. Oh, how fallen brethren, we must not give way to the and how inglorious now! mere poetical sentimentalism of the day) —that there is nothing about him, bright and brilliant as he may be, that will survive the dissolution of his earthly frame: those powers that are producing such an astonishing effect, those powers that are throwing out the brightness of intellectual discovery, that are applying themselves to the investigation of scientific truth those powers that are employed in the construction of curious machines-those powers that are so lofty, and striking, and wondrous-will pass away into the darkness of the bottomless pit; and all the dignity and glory, and all the majesty of the intellectual principle sink into the grave, and lower than the grave. I tell you, seriously, that thing in man will survive that deathless spirit which endears him to God, that which endears him to angels, that which gives him a high and noble dignity.

Yes, there is a spirit in man; and, oh, how noble is that spirit, contemplated apart from the desolating influence of sin -contemplated before it was touched and tainted by the virus of iniquity-contemplated when it shone in the beauty of its original form, when it was prepared by God to reflect his own image, and endued with an understanding that was to expatiate in the opening manifestations of divine truth; an understanding capable of perpetually new combinations of intellectual beauty and glory; an understanding that qualified the favoured being for intercourse with the eternal fountain of life; with powers connected with that understanding—a memory that should be a treasure of all that was excellent and

But the glorious gospel of the grace of God repairs the ruined house; it raises up the fallen nature of man; and it gives to the clayey tenement again a happy and immortal spirit. Remember that the best part of man is the deathless spirit. Think of this: you are dust, however clothed in purple and fine linen, however decked in the insignia of dignity and royalty, however separated and distinguished from your fellows-whatever may be your situation in life, however you may disgrace or adorn it you are dust, you are hastening to the dust. But there is a spirit that will survive that dissolution; and that spirit forms the proper dignity and glory of man.

The royal preacher teaches us THE reSOLUTION OF THIS MATERIAL PART of man INTO ITS ORIGINAL DUST. "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was; and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it." How difficult it is to prevail on man to contemplate his own dissolution! It is a subject studiously avoided; and yet it is to man of all subjects the most solemn, the most solemnly and intensely interesting.

There is no point of view in which man can be contemplated that will give to his spirit admonitory lessons of instruction more powerful, more practical, and more permanent, than the study and contemplation of his dissolution-his departure from this world. This dissolu tion may be preceded by the infirmities of old age, according to the beautiful description of the royal preacher in the verses preceding the text: "In the day when the keepers of the house shall trem

ble, and the strong men shall bow them- in the common and ordinary signification selves, and the grinders cease because of the term. But we are told explicitly they are few, and those that look out of that "the wicked shall not live out half the windows be darkened; and the doors his days." Visit the regions of silence, shall be shut in the streets, when the and death: go and explore the records sound of the grinding is low; and he on the tombstones in the opposite ground: shall rise up at the voice of the bird; go into any receptacle for the dead, and and all the daughters of music shall be you will find that death comes on all brought low also when they shall be ages, that death is not to be kept off by afraid of that which is high, and fears any circumstance whatever. No:-pashall be in the way, and the almond tree rents bury children, perhaps, oftener than shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall children bury their parents. How many be a burden, and desire shall fail; be- just appear, and a blight comes over them, cause man goeth to his long home, and and in the very bud of being they return the mourners go about the streets: or to dust again! How many just grow up ever the silver cord be loosed, or the to entwine themselves round the affecgolden bowl be broken, or the pitcher tions of their parents, to be the delight be broken at the fountain, or the wheel of their eye, the desire of their hearts; broken at the cistern: then shall the dust and just when they arrive at that age in return to the earth as it was; and the which friendship is formed, and love is spirit shall return unto God who gave it." matured, and the parent is already living This beautiful imagery may be distri- over again in his child, and the child is buted into three parts: the first is alle- enjoying the maturity of the friendship gorical; the second literal; and the third of the parent-death touches the child; again is allegorical. The middle verse, he drops, and the parent mourns, and "Also when they shall be afraid of that Rachel weeps for her children, because which is high," &c., is certainly literal: they are not. it denotes the tremulousness, and the I am aware that all this representation apprehensive character of old age. All may be given you, and yet no effectfirmness is gone; every thing produces ual impression be made on your minds. a palpitation, a trembling; the individual | Strange to say, that while all men negbecomes the subject of highly nervous lect their own mortality, the mortality irritability; there is general weakness and debility; he is sinking into the grave. In the former description there is reference to a frequent simile-a house and its inhabitant. There is a striking distinction between the habitation and the inhabitant. You perceive the exact adap-it; you cannot resist the evidence. Your tation of all the imagery to the relation in which the spirit stands to its decaying tenement. And, oh! experience will bear me out you, my brethren, are witnesses of the decaying nature of your earthly tenement: you already begin to feel the hand of time, the hand of disease, bringing on dissolution. There is dulness in the ear, there is feebleness in the step; there are all the indications that the habitation is about to drop, that this tabernacle of clay is about to sink into its native dust.

But how few live out half their days, even though they are not wicked-I mean

of the human race is the subject of poetry and eloquent discussion. We have a great deal of sentimental description of this kind. I want you to feel that you are obnoxious to the stroke: there is the point. Are you dust? Yes, you know

material frame, that is nourished, cheered, warmed, and invigorated by the atmosphere-your material system, that is under the government of material lawsyour material system may be deranged and disordered, and the operations of it may be impeded-your material system is dust. You know that: and what is the law? Why, it is to mingle with the dust. Here is a law that cannot be reversed. Your death is as much a part of your physiology as your growth, as your nourishment: you are as certain to return to dust as that you are made of dust. It is vain to attempt to ward off

the stroke. There is a law, "The dust | thing not only solemn, but deeply mysteshall return to the earth as it was," a lawrious in death. We lift our souls to the which has never been interrupted in its course but in two splendid instances, and certainly it will not be interrupted either for you or for me there is a law that bears us all to the chambers of death.

The dust shall return to the dust as it was. Dissolution may take place suddenly this has been the case very frequently of late. We question whether the Divine Being has not been intending to produce powerful impressions on our minds by such sudden interpositions. We have had our friends with us one hour, and they have been separated by the veil that conceals eternity the next hour: almost while we have been talking with them they have disappeared.

Great Spirit, to the abstract Spirit, to that Spirit who only has immortality in its strict and absolute signification, to that Spirit who only is absolutely and essentially spirit; our minds are overwhelmed, and we come down, and sink, oppressed with the contemplation of the Infinite Being, till we endeavour to relieve ourselves by the contemplation of created spirits. And when we have gone through all the various orders of spirits, we feel the mystery, as well as the majesty, of the subject.

What is a spirit? Philosophy tells us it is something distinct from matter. Matter can be examined, can be analyzed: matter is known to possess certain posiBut I forbear. Elaborate description tive qualities-solidity, extension, divisiis out of place. I would never indulge bility, and so on. Philosophy will go in mere poetical excitement on subjects into the examination of matter, and the which are so deeply solemn. You have laws of matter; and almost the whole not only the evidence within you, but encyclopedia of science is confined to the around you. Sacred be the feelings of range of material existence. Astronomy mourners: I would not intrude into the expatiates amidst those huge masses of hallowed spot. There is a grief which matter that move in solemn and silent a stranger must not intermeddle with; pomp over the surface of the beautiful there is a grief into which even friend- canopy above. There is the region of ship cannot be admitted; there is a grief astronomy, with all its sublime, and all too solemn, too sacred, to be approached its glorious conceptions; but it is mateven by friendship; and kindness itself ter, and subject to the laws of matter; may be persecuting, may be obtrusive. for all the movements of those mysterious Many of you and I cast my thoughts bodies are regulated by certain laws, back to the commencement of my minis- which do not touch spirit. And when try here-many of you have had to mourn you have said all you can about the cenover friends with whom you have asso- trifugal and centripetal forces, when you ciated, whom you have loved, with whom have gone far into the arcana of these you have taken sweet counsel. They wonderful subjects, you have only touchare not here; they are not in that pewed matter; you have not found a single where they used to sit, and meditate, and law or principle that touches spirit. You worship, and pray. They are not with come down; you range over the surface that household, gladdening it by their of the earth: and though you may be acpresence, and guiding it by their wisdom. quainted with every thing, from the cedar They are not in that room where you so that is in Lebanon to the hyssop that frequently sat with them. They are not springeth out of the wall, it is matterfound, for God has taken them. They are matter vegetated-matter in diversified turned to dust; the mortal part has been forms. resolved into its original grains of earth, and the spirit has returned to God who gave it.

Let us hasten to take the last view of the subject-THE RETURN OF THE SPIRIT TO ITS GREAT CREATOR. There is some

You come to chemistry; you examine the various minerals, and so on; you go into the bowels of the earth, and explore its various strata; it is still matter. Let us pursue philosophy, and follow it into its deepest recesses, whether lofty or profound; let us go through the