This chain of thought, if pursued, will necessarily lead us, not only to behold the riches of divine grace and the out beaming of all the divine attributes, rendered eventually more glorious even by the intrusion of the most horrid evil; but also to consider death itself as the portal to eternal life. This consideration will immediately fix the heart in delightful meditation on the great work of HIM, who came “to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, and through death to destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the Devil.” Heb. ii. 14. And here such a bright scene will present itself to the eye of contemplative faith, as shall dispel the horrors of the tomb; gild with joy and triumph the shadow of death; and enable us to derive wisdom and consolation, even from the solemn apparatus of a funeral. Here we shall be led to meditate on the great and glorious end of the Redeemer’s incarnation, and the wonderful effects of his mediatorial undertaking. We shall behold him triumphing over sin in his cross, and leading captivity captive by his glorious resurrection. Bereaving death of its sting, and embalming the regions of the dead by his own burial;—shutting the mouth of Tophet, and opening to his people the gates of everlasting bliss; and still going forth conquering and to conquer, till sin, Satan, the world, and death, are made his footstool. These contemplations will suggest the grand preservative against immoderate grief; and administer that healing balm for woe, which the heavy calamities of this mortal life require; and without which, the pressure of them would be insupportable. Whoever is acquainted with the great doctrines of the gospel, and the saving influence of them upon the heart, is the only person duly prepared for the arrival of those alarming incidents, which often give such a vehement shock to the feelings of human nature. And, as no event whatever more sensibly touches the heart, than that which bereaves us of our earthly friends; consequently nothing can bear up the mind under such losses, but that which administers a ground of consolation, adequate to the cause of our sorrow. This, divine revelation can do. It assures us, that “blessed are the dead which die in the Lord:” that, though “one event happeneth to the righteous and the wicked,” yet that the souls of the former are “taken away from the evils” of time, and made possessors of the glories of eternity: that, therefore, “we should not sorrow” immoderately, as others which have no hope, but, “if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.” 1 Thes. iv. 14.