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566
SAFETY
IN
THE GRAVE,
DISC.
XII.
soul
?
Whence
are
all thy
sighs
and
thy
daily groanings
?
What
are
thy distresses
of
flesh
or spirit
?
Summon them
all
in
one
view,
and
see
whether there
be
not
power and
glory
enough
in
a resurrection
to
conquer
and
silence
them
all,
and
to
put
thy
present
sorrows
to flight
?
"
Dost
thou
dwell
in
a
vexing and
persecuting
world,
amongst
oppressions and reproaches
?
But
those
who
reproach
and
oppress are
but
mortal creatures,
who
shall shortly
go down to the dust, and then they shall tyrannize
and
afflict
thee
no more
:
The great
rising-day
shall change
the
scene from oppression and
reproach
to
dominion and
glory.
When
they
lie
down
in
the grave like beasts
of
slaughter, death
shall feed on
them,
and
the upright
shall have dominion over them
in
the morning,
when
God
shall redeem thy soul from the
power of
the grave
;"
Psal.
xlix.
14, 15.
Thy God
shall
hide thy body from
their
rage
in
his
own
appointed resting
-
place,
and
he
shall receive thy
soul, and
keep
it
secure
in his own
pre-
sence, till
that
blessed
morning break upon
this
lower
creation
;
then shalt thou
"
arise
and
shine,
for the
glory
of
the
Lord
is
risen
upon
thee
;"
Isa.
lx.
i.
"
Do
the calamities
which thou sufferest
proceed
from
the hand
of God
?"
Art
thou disquieted
with daily
pain,
with
sicknesses
and
anguish
in
thy
flesh
?
Or art
thou surrounded
with
crosses
and disappointments
in thy
outward
circumstances
?
Are
thy spirits sunk
with many
loads
of
care and pressing perplexities
?
Canst
thou
not
forget
them all
in
the
vision
that
faith
can give thee
of
the
great
rising-day
?
Canst
thou
not
say
in
the language
of
faith,
"
The
sufferings
of
this
present
time are
not
worthy
to
be
compared
with
the glory
that
shall be re-
vealed
in us
;"
Rom.
viii.
18.
Then
the head
and
the
heart
shall ache
no more,
and every circumstance
around
thee
shall
be
pleasing and
joyful
for
ever.
"
Or
art
thou tenderly
affected with the
loss
of
pious
friends; who have
been
very
dear and
desirable
?
Perhaps
thy sensibilities
here are
too
great
and painful
:
They are
such indeed
as
nature
is
ready
to indulge,
but
are
they
not
more than
God
requires, or
the gospel
allows?
Do
not
thy
thoughts
dwell
too much
on the gloom and
dark-
ness
of
the.
grave
?
O think
of that
bright hour
when
every
saint
shall rise from the
dark
retreats of
death
with
more complete
characters
of
beauty, holiness and plea-