368 CONOt1ES'r o'VE DEATH. dued death, and that by his own dying. A wondrous method d Victory ! a surprizing conquest ! and he lives for ever to destroy it in his appointed time. HIow great and honourable must he be in the eyes of all mankind, who has vanquished so universal a conqueror ? How desirable is his person, and how delightful the sound of his name to every believer ! for he suppresses all their enemies and shall destroy them even to the last. Howwell does he fulfil the great engagement ? Hoseaxiii. 14. Iwill ransom them Front the power ofthe grace: Iwill redeem themfrom death; O death, I will be thy plagues; Ograve, Iwill be thy destruc-, tion; repentance shall be hidfront mine eyes. Let us salute him the Prince of life, Acts iii. 15. and adore himunder thatcharac- ter. He disposseses death of all its dominions. He approves himself a complete Saviour of all his saints, anda Redeemer of his captive friends. H. We may learn also from this head of discourse,the power and excellency of the gospel of Christ, for it discovers to us how this great enemy is vanquished, and when it shall be destroyed; and thus it lays a foundation for courage at death, and ives us assurance of a joyful rising-day. Death being abolished by the Mediation of Christ, immortality and life are brought to light by his gospel; 2 Tim. i. 10. That is, there is a brighter dis- covery of the future state, and of everlasting happiness, than ever before was given to the world. Here in the name of Christ, and of his gospel, we may give a challenge to all other religions, and say, which of theta has borne up the spirit of man so high above the fears of death as this has done ? or has given us so fair, so rational, and so divine an account howdeath has been overcome by one man, and how by faith in his name we may all be made overcomers ? How vain are the trifles with which the heathen priests and their prophets amused the credulous multitude ? What silly and insipid fables do they tell us of souls passing over in a ferry-boat to the other world, anddescribe the fields of pleasure, and the prisons of pain in thatcountry of ghosts and shadows, in so ridiculous amanner, that the wisemen of their own nations despised the romance, and few were stupid enough to believe it all. Ifwe consult the reli- gion of their philosophers, they give us but a poor, lame, and miserable account of the stateafter 'death. Some ofthem denied it utterly, and others rave at random in mere conjectures, and float in endless uncertainties. The courage which some of their heroes professed at the point of death, was rather a stubborn in- dolence, than a rational andweli-founded valour ; and not many arrived at this hardiness of mind, except those that supposed their existence ended with their life, and thought they should be dis-, solved into their first atoms. Aristotle, one of the greatest men amongst them, tells us-that futurity is uncertain, and calls death the most terrible of all terribles.
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