510 SAFETY IN THE GRAV,E, . [DISC. $I. image of his own. glorious body, fit heirs for the inherit- ance of heaven, fit companions for the blessed angels of light, and prepared to dwell for ever with himself. Reflexion. And shall not we who are the work of his hands have a desire to him that made us ? To him that redeemed us ? To him that has new created and moulded us into his own likeness ? Do we not long to see him ? Ravewe no desire to be with him, even though we should be absent from the body for a season ? But much more should we delight to think of being present with the Lord, when our whole natures, body and soul, shall ap- pear as the new workmanship of almighty power ; our souls new created in the image of God, and our bodies new born from the dead, into a life of immortality; g Cor. v. 8. Observation VII. The last observation is ofa very gene- ral nature, and spreads itself through all my text, and that is, " How much are we indebted to God for,the revela- tion of the NewTestament, which teaches us to find out the blessings which are contained in the Old, and to fetch out the glories and treasures which are concealed there ?" The writers of the gospel have not only pointed us to the rich mines where these treasures lie, but have brought forth many of the jewels and set them before us. " It is this gospel that brings life and immortality to light by Jesus Christ ;" Tim. i. 10. It is this gospel that scatters the gloom and darkness which was spread over the face of thegrave, and illuminates all the chambers of death. Who could have found out the doctrine of the re= surrection contained in that word ofgrace given to Abra- ham, I am thy God, if Jesus, the great prophet, had not taught us to explain it thus ; Mat. xxii. 32. " God is not the God of the dead, hut of the. living." We who have the happiness to live in the days of the .Messiah, know more than all the ancient prophets were acquainted with, and understand the word of their pro- phecies better than they themselves ; for they " searched what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ; which was in them, did signify, when it testified before hand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory which should follow ;" I Pet. i. I. But we read all this fairly written in the gospel. Do you think that good David could have Explained some of his own Psalms into so divine a sense,
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