Death is so truly alarming to human nature and to shortsighted reason, so calculated by its external appearances to fill the mind with anxiety, that in order to suppress our fears and cherish our hopes, it seemed requisite to bring another existence into the nearest possible view, to render it in a sense visible, and to embody immortality. In the resurrection of Lazarus, as well as by other miraculous manifestations, this great purpose was effected. We perceive incontestably that death is not annihilation, and that the appearance which it assumes of an extinction of being is not a reality. _That_ power which was exerted in one case, reason says _may_, and revelation declares _shall_, be exerted in another; and that, by the voice of Omnipotence, all the saints shall be raised at the last day from the abodes of darkness and silence. It is here Christianity takes her firmest stand--here she discloses her brightest scenes! Glorious expectation of rising to eternal life, and through Jesus, "the first begotten of the dead," becoming superior to our most formidable enemy! What a train of happy beings will then be witnesses of his glory, trophies of his power, and inhabitants of his kingdom! This will be the jubilee of all ages, the anticipation of which is well calculated to suppress our anxieties, and quicken us to every duty. What mutual congratulations must have circulated through the family of Lazarus, when he was restored to the affectionate embraces of his sisters! What a renewal of love would take place on that happy day! How was their sorrow turned into joy, and their lamentations info praises! What a triumph of mind did they feel over the grave, and what expressions of gratitude to their Deliverer burst from every heart! But who can imagine the transports of that moment, when the same power that raised Lazarus from the tomb, shall be exerted upon every believer in Jesus, who shall "meet the Lord in the air," and be introduced to the eternal society of kindred minds; when the redeemed world shall assemble on the celestial shore, to recount their past labours and mercies, to renew their spiritual fellowship, to hail each other's escape from the conflicts, the temptations, and the diversified evils of mortal life, to behold the glory of Him who has washed them in his blood and saved them by his grace, to take possession of their destined thrones, and to mingle their strains of acknowledgment with the holy by innings of the blest! How _terrible_ then is death, but how _delightful_! Death is the _end_ of life; death is the _beginning_ of existence! Death _closes_ our prospects, and death _opens_ them! Death _debases_ our nature--death _purifies_ and _exalts_ it! "Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!"