SERMON

XIV.

The Peace of the Grave.

By JOHN MACKENZIE, V. D. M.

JOB, iii. 17. 18. 19.

There the wicked ceafe from troubling; and there the weary be at reft.

There the prifoners reft together, they hear not the voice of the oppressor.

The fmall and great are there, and the fervant is free from his master.

W

HENEVER we are ferioufly difpofed to turn our thoughts upon death, no view of that awful fubject is more apt to strikeus, than the complete equality which it introduces among the different ranks and conditions of human life; at the fame time, no view of it is more affecting, nor is there any fource from which we may derive more important confequences. The rivers and streamswhich run along the furface of this globe are all equal in their original, whether we confi der them in themselves, or in the commons caufes from which they all arife. Some puny fount, or contiguous mountain, taught them at first to flow; but, in their courfes along: X 3 the

the earth, they foon become diftinguished, and by a thoufand accidents. Some, fcarce iffued from their parent urns, are fwelled with fnows, and augmented by the continual acceffion of numerous ftreams; till, at laft, affembled from all quarters into mighty bodies, they roll over the world with fuperior majefty. Others, unaided by thefe accidental caufes, admit but fmall increafe, and run along in the fame humble channel. This distinction, however, is not of long duration: they are all to meet finally in one place. After having run their appointed courfes, and displayed, for fome little time, their different forces, they fall all into the fea, their common receptacle. Here their waters are blended, their courfes loft, and even their names unknown. 'Thus, as they were equal in their original, they are again equal in their end. This is a juft refemblance of human life. Men, as they stand in nature, are equal: they are equal, when they firft iffue into life, in every material circumftance; but, as they proceed, this equality is gradually diminished; it is at laft feemingly altogether deftroyed, and becomes to common eyes invifible. Some, in the courfe of their progrefs, are augmented with riches, with birth, with honours, titles, and fame; others are endowed with none of all thefe acquifitions, but continue in their firft humble obfcurity. Some, again, are hap. py, are fortunate, live in the midst of ease, of health, of mirth, and jovial pleasures;

others are unhappy, are unfortunate, pressed by many calamities, have their health impaired, and their spirits broken. Thus the original equality of nature is destroyed by various causes. But neither does this state of things continue long. A few years of this fcenery elapfed, and death restores this equality again, and renders the appearance of human affairs once more uniform. In the grave all the diftinctions of life ceafe, Nature refumes her rights, and all things are brought back once more to their original level.

Now this view of the event is infinitely interefting to two oppofite sets of men, though-in a different way, and for contrary reafons. To thofe who are fufferers by the prefent inequality which prevails in life, the prospect of its abolition must be a favourite fubject of contemplation. It must be fo in a ftill higher degree, when their fufferings are brought upon them by the oppreffive exertions of human power; and when they confider it as not only delivering them from their troubles, and pla cing them beyond the reach of their oppreffors; but as difarming their oppreffors themfelves of that power which they fo greatly abufed, and reducing them to a level with thofe over whom they tyrannized. This, indeed, is that hoped-for event which confoles them in the midst of their misfortunes; and which, in the hours of their bittereft anguifh, they figh after with unextinguifhable ardour. How juft, then, how infinitely pathetic and beau

tiful is this meditation of Job in our text? how deeply founded in the most original feelings of our nature? Overwhelmed with mifery and extreme despair, he is represented as looking forward to the grave as his laft refource; confidering it as a place where the long loft equality of nature shall be again reftored, where the troubled in heart fhall breathe from their calamities, where the wicked fhall ceafe from oppreffing, where the weary fhall reft from all their woes, where the long confined prifoners fhall be fet at liberty, where the rich and the poor, the powerful and the weak, the mafter and his fervant, fhall all fit together, in the fame general repofe, without rules, without rank, or precedence. To the oppofite clafs of men again, to those who are gainers by the prefent inequality, the event muft appear in a different light, and produce a different effect upon their fentiments. But, in this difcourfe, we fhall confine ourfelves, with Job, to the first clafs, and confider the grave in the fingle light. of a relief to the oppreffed.

In difcourfing farther, therefore, on this fubject, I fhall follow the order of the text, and obferve the following method.

ty returns to its firft principles, where Nature refumes her rights, and every man is replaced in his original equality.

I. In the first place, I am to confider the grave as a place where the wicked ceafe from troubling.

I mean not at prefent to addrefs the diffipated and the gay. Unacquainted, by their own experience, with the troubles of life, they can know them only by the information of others; and this information, fhould any one be fingular enough to offer it, they may listen to or not as they are difpofed. The troubling of the wicked is heard at a diftance, and affects not their repofe. It may ceafe or continue without disturbing their fyftem, or pro ducing any material change upon their fentiments. It is you, my brethren, who, like myfelf, have been tried in trouble, whom I now mean to addrefs. Come, then, and let us defcend together into the grave; let us vifit the filent kingdom, and draw comfort from those regions where the wicked only can despair. If we may judge of the purposes of Providence by the events of life, this world was not made for us, nor have we reafon to confider it as our portion.