haue the tastynge of thys death, that thou shalte be temted wyth thys horror of deathe what is to be done then? whenscever thou felest thy soule heauy to death, make haste, and resorte to this gardaine (cf. Matt. xxvi. 36), and with thys faith thou shalt ouercome thys terrour when it commeth."-Bp. Hugh Latimer.

Is. xxxii. 17. 66 And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever."

"I should have thought mowers very idle people; but they work while they whet their scythes. Now devotedness to God, whether it mows or whets the scythe, still goes on with the work.”—J. Newton, in Cecil's“ Life.”

David says, "My heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord." For the idea of " sanctuary" cf. Ps. xc. I; xci. 9; Is. ix. 14; Hos. xiv. 5-7; Deut. xxxiii.; Ruth ii. 12; Deut. Xxxii. II. It is most frequent in the Psalms. See xvii. 8, lvii. 1, lxi. 4, xlvi. 1, xxvii. 5, xxxi. 20, lxiii. 7, lxii. 7,

etc.

Is. lvii. I, 2. "The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come. He shall enter into peace."

The death of good men is not only a heavy loss to a community, but often a most significant warning. 1. The indifference of the world. 2. The possible threatening evil, which is avoided by the righteous, and experienced by the wicked. 3. The quiet port, to which the righteous escapes from the storm. Ps. cxxvii. 2.

Luke ii. 29, 30. "Lord, now lettest thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word for mine eyes have seen thy salvation.

Truly "the desire accomplished is sweet to the soul," and when it cometh it is "a tree of life" (Prov. xiii. 12, 19). This

arms.

is old Simeon, who has taken the child Jesus into his So when a good person has received the simplicity of religious truth, he is always ready to sing his nunc dimittis." He is always prepared to go.

Acts ix. 36, 37. "Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas this woman was full of good works and almsdeeds which she did. And it came to pass in those days, that she was sick, and died.”

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Death in the midst of usefulness. A good woman, renowned for benevolence. Both Tabitha and Dorcas mean a roe-deer," a gazelle." The gracefulness of goodness. It is a word frequently employed. Cf. Sol. Song ii. 7-9. Note: 1. Dorcas was a great help in the church. 2. She added "alms-deeds" to good works," mercy to truth. 3. She was greatly missed and lamented. 4. Such an one should have her resurrection, in the lives and work of others. And Peter was sent for to attend the funeral,

v. 38.

Amos viii. 9. "And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day.”

In the midst of life.

'Unhappy if we are but Half-men, in whom that divine handwriting has never blazed forth, all-subduing, in true sun-splendour; but quivers dubiously among meaner lights or smoulders in dull pain, in darkness, under earthly vapours !"-Carlyle : "Sartor Resartus."

:

Num. xxiii. 10. "Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his !'"'

Balaam to Balak, after blessing Israel. The death-bed of the good is envied by-1. The impenitent; 2. The conscience-stricken; 3. The moralist; 4. The honest inquirer

after truth.-Balaam's character; these words wrung out of him; a confession in spite of his hostility. Especially see and note his false position as an advocate of a bad cause, which he is convinced must fail. Note: that if we would die the death of the righteous, we must live his life.

3. General.

Ps. lv. 22. "Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.

Christ's language, "Come unto me, ye that labor and are heavy laden." When additional weight is put into a building it needs additional supports. Truths like this are columnar. They are promises upon which we may rely freely and often. Not be moved: any more than a tree with deep and wide roots. Each particular burden may thus be "rolled" on the Lord. Cf. Ps. xxxvii. 5 ; Prov. xvi. 3; and Ps. xxii. 8 (margin, “rolled himself”). Ps. xlviii. 14. "For this God is our God forever and ever he will be our guide even unto death.”

The journey ended and the guide dismissed. We no longer need explanations and assistance. Henceforth and forever he is not our guide, but our God. Not any longer our sun and shield, but our "exceeding great reward."

Gen. xxiii. 4. "That I may bury my dead out of my sight.

Our comfort is in laying them away to rest. Keeping the spiritual and abandoning the perishable.

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'Burying-places were, as a rule, outside the citiescommonly at no less a distance than fifty cubits. In Jerusalem no dead body was allowed to remain over night. The favorite localities for burying were rocky places and

caves. Sepulchres were also prepared in gardens. Two bodies were not laid in the same niche, except those of a daughter with her father, or of a son with his mother.

After the final scattering of Israel, the desire to be buried in the soil of Palestine became so intense that it used to be said, 'He that rests in Palestine is as if he were buried under the altar.'"-Dr. Edersheim, in" Bible Educator."

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The knell that sounds throughout these chapters, in spite of the centuries of each antediluvian life.

At Saladin's banquet to Richard Cœur de Lion was displayed a lance, bearing a shroud, with this inscription, Saladin, King of Kings-Saladin, Victor of VictorsSaladin must Die."

2 Tim. i. 10. "Our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death."

"Abolished": Gr. "made thoroughly inactive." He has taken away the sting. The New Testament uses thanatos (dávaro5) for “death" except in Matt. ii. 15, and nearly always with an implied idea of penalty. Lord Bacon: "Men fear death as children fear the dark." Christ comes to destroy the works of the devil, of which Death is the chief. Cremer's Lexicon : "Death is a comprehensive term denoting all the primitive consequences of sin." (Sub voce dávatos.)

Gen. xxv. 17. ((

'And was gathered unto his people."

His people! Abiit ad majores-over to the majority on the other side, his ancestors, his own true kinsfolk. Where shall we find "our people" except in the King's country?

V. IN THE STATE.

1. A Ruler.

Is. iii. 1, 2, 3.

For, behold, the Lord, the Lord of

hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water, the mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient, the captain of fifty, and the honorable. man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator."

[Circumstances must govern, of course, in the particular application of these texts.]

2 Sam. iii. 38. "Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel?"

Generous recognition at death of virtues possessed in life. [See the admirable series of funeral orations and eulogies pronounced in Washington, D. C., on such occasions.]

Job xxiv. 22. "He draweth also the mighty with his power he riseth up, and no man is sure of life.''

Job xxiv. 24. They are exalted for a little while, but are gone and brought low; they are taken out of the way as all other, and cut off as the tops of the ears of

corn.

2 Chron. xxxii. 33. "And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the chiefest of the sepulchres of the sons of David: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem did him honor at his death."

He was 1. A reformer. 2. A man of public spirit. 3. A person of great heartiness (2 Chron. xxxi. 21). 4. A successful man. All this aside from his piety. It is right to honor good or great men at their death. We honor virtue itself when we honor its illustrations.

2. A public man.

2 Chron. xxxv. 24, 25. "And all Judah and Jerusa