REFLECTIONS, &c. The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field. The grass withereth; the flower fadeth, because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it: surely the people are grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth; but the word of our God shall stand for ever. Isaiah xi. 6, 7, 8. Ir is computed that near thirty millions of the human race die every year! What an awful reflection is this! How great the multitude that are constantly dropping into eternity, and how numerous the paths that lead to the grave! Life, too, is but a short journey, and we soon arrive at the house appointed for all living. We may rather be said to die daily, than to live. We have not only the spoils of death around us, but the seeds of death within us.. We do not all, however, descend to the tomb in the same way. Some few are spared to the age of man, and then pass silently away. Others are cut off in the bloom of life, and in the midst of active and useful exertions. Some linger for a while under painful disease-they see their grave ready before they lie down in it. Others, wearied with life, and impatient under its ills, throw themselves into the arms of death: "they either shake their glass to make it run faster, or break it at once by violence." And some who bid fair to stand for a season, are unexpectedly called away by some mysterious dispensation of Divine Providence. Thus it was with our departed young friend. The public eye was upon him, and much was anticipated from his talents and zeal in the great work in which he was engaged; but Infinite Wisdom has seen fit to remove him to another world..., Well! what shall we say ? "Clouds and darkness are round about the Most High; but righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne."* The words we have chosen are not to be con * Psalm xevij. 1, 2. sidered only in relation to the opposers of God's ancient people, at the time of their deliverance from captivity, but are applicable to the whole human race. The voice said, Cry. And he said, what shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field." The mortality of man then is a subject with which we ought to be deeply affected. It is, indeed, that which makes but a faint impression on the mind; for, though the living know that they must die, yet there is a most strange insensibility as to this awful event. We can hear of it without concern, and talk of it without feeling; when it comes nearer to us than usual, we seem awake for a moment, just drop a tear or two over our departed enjoyments, converse a little on the uncertainty of life, and then fall asleep again, and dream away our existence; till at last, we are awakened by this very enemy, whose approach we have all along studied to forget, and which most of us, indeed, are ill-prepared to meet! But how unwise is this, thus to impose upon ourselves! Can any thing be more irrational? O that we were but wise--that we did but consider our latter end!"* In attending to these words, let us observe the state of man as here represented, and endeavour to derive from them some important and useful lessons. 1. Observe the Description.-Man is flesh! It is true he possesses an immaterial, immortal, principle; but his animal frame is frail and perishing. He is not composed of gold nor silver, marble nor iron, wood nor stone, nor any of the durable materials around him. Almost every object he sees or handles is less perishable than himself. There is nothing substantial in his nature. He is affected by almost every thing that touches him. An insect can contend with him; a worm can undermine him; a little air can stifle him; a few drops of water can drown him; a moth can crush him. The Almighty need not throw a mountain on him to destroy him; he need not call for a torrent to inundate him; he need not open a volcano to * Deut. xxxii. 29. How swallow him.--No. Weakness and death are in his very frame. It is but an earthly house; a temporary building; the various parts of which are kept together with labour and difficulty. The body must be daily fed, or it languishes: it must be clothed, or it is benumbed with cold: it must lie down for rest, or it will fall of itself: it must be perpetually exercised, or it will become the habitation of disease: it must be treated with attention and watched over with care, or it will be rendered unfit for the functions of life. many wheels are there in perpetual motion! the friction of which, if driven too fast, will set fire to the whole machine; or, if impeded or clogged, will stop the whole course. apostle Paul calls it a vile body ;* not, indeed, in respect to God's workmanship-but as it is flesh, formed of the dust of the ground, the habitation of many evil propensities, too often a hindrance to devotion, and must at last become noisome, and be cast into the grave. Here, too, we are all on a level. What is that mighty conqueror, celebrated for his military glory, and * Phil. iii. 21, The |