every churchyard "become a book of instruction, and every gravestone a leaf of edification?" Why should not the monumental stone, as well as the pulpit, direct us to behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world?" We are all dying creatures; the sentence of death has been passed on all why then should not the memorials for the dead point us to Jesus, "the life of them that believe, and the resurrection of the dead?” And while the sculptured stone records the vanities of earth, and the shortness of time, why should it not also make mention of the glories of heaven and the joys of eternity? that those who delay or linger in their course, may be excited" to press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus," and "so to run that they may obtain." Let the ministers of our church awake to a sense of their responsibility in this matter, and then we may confidently anticipate that each memorial to the dead will be a suitable address to the living.

INSCRIPTIONS.

DESIGNED TO MEET THE EYE, AND ARREST THE ATTENTION, ON ENTERING A CHURCHYARD.

1.

Stranger! welcome to this sacred spot; the last In nature's course, the first in wisdom's thought.

2.

Stay thy foot, who wand'rest here,
Among these sad, sepulchral shades,
Death, fast approaching, may be near,
And then how soon thy glory fades !
Behold, vain man! in every tomb,
Thine own, unerring, certain doom;
Repent, believe, the hour is near,

When thou in dust must moulder here!

3.

Here sleep the dead-how fast they sleep!
The marriage peal rings out-the funeral knell
Saddens our hearts-they neither ask, nor care for
whom.

No news from their dark world they ever tell,
Nor any seek from ours, to cheer its gloom.
How brief the time, for us, on earth to dwell;
Our world's death's empire, and our home's the tomb.

4.

What cause has man to build on length of life ?— Be death your theme, in every place, and hour;

*

*

*

*

No longer need

A brother's tomb to tell you, you must die.

5.

Time 'tis a hands breadth, 'tis a tale,

'Tis a vessel under sail ;

'Tis a short-lived, fading flower,

"Tis a rainbow in a shower;

'Tis a momentary ray,
Smiling in a summer's day;
'Tis a torrents rapid stream,
'Tis a vision, 'tis a dream;
'Tis an eagle in its flight,
Mocking its pursuers sight;
'Tis a bubble, 'tis a sigh,
Be prepared, O man! to die.

6.

'Tis well to stand where others sleep,
In death's still, dreamless slumber,
And 'mid the silence, lone and deep,
Thine own fleet moments number.

7.

May God awake thy fears: teach
Thee thy days to number, and to apply
Thy trembling heart to wisdom.

8.

And dost thou, stranger, come to gaze
On sculptured records widely spread?
Or search about for human praise,
So vainly lavished on the dead?
Alas! this stone shall only tell,
That mortal dust lies here below;

But in yon world above, for ever dwell
The souls redeemed from everlasting woe.

9.

Be wise, nor make

Heaven's highest blessing, vengeance; O! be wise,

Nor make a curse of immortality.