and Tregelles, refer to the omitted narrative as found in John's Gospel. It is omitted as spurious by Tregelles; and it is put in brackets by the English revisers.”—Dr. G. W. Samson: "Revisers' Text Unauthorized."

Shall the servant of Christ avoid the responsibility of a sermon to men on such an occasion?

John viii. 11. "And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.”

This, for one who has died repentant. Compare Jos. vi. 17 (with Heb. xi. 31 and Jas. ii. 25); Matt. xxi. 31, 32; Luke vii. 37.

3. Cases of long sickness, pain, and weariness..

Job iii. 22. "Which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave."

Death long desired and welcome. said Cicero,

"I go out of life," "" as from an inn and not from a home."

Job iii. 17. "There the wicked cease from troubling ; and there the weary be at rest."'

Rest: 1. From the perplexities and trials of life. 2. From its burden and its toil. 3. From its longing and its fatigue.

Is. xxxiii. 24. "And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.'

What a land! No sickness; no sorrow; no sin. The "inhabitant": Heb. "neighbour." The neighbourliness of the other world.

4. Death by casualties.

2 Sam. ii. 23. "Howbeit he refused to turn aside : wherefore Abner with the hinder end of the spear smote him under the fifth rib, that the spear came out behind him; and he fell down there, and died in the same place :

and it came to pass, that as many as came to the place where Asahel fell down and died stood still."

The unexpected "hinder end" of the spear smote Asahel. Cf. 2 Kings ix. 24.

Also Kings xxii. 34 (with 2 Chron. xviii. 33), the bow "drawn at a venture."

Judges ix. 53. "And a certain woman cast a piece of a millstone upon Abimelech's head, and all to brake his skull."

"All to" is an abbreviated form of "altogether." Lev. x. 5. "So they went near, and carried them in their coats out of the camp; as Moses had said."

These were Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron. They were burned to ashes and gathered up from the flame. Luke xiii. 4. "Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower of Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem ? (Cf. 1 Kings xx. 30; Job i. 19.)

Men cannot be too careful how they undertake to interpret "judgments," lest one day they be measured out of their own bushel and fall short.

2 Sam. xx. 12, 13. "And Amasa wallowed in blood in the midst of the highway. And when the man saw that all the people stood still, he removed Amasa out of the highway into the field, and cast a cloth upon him, when he saw that every one that came by him stood still. When he was removed out of the highway, all the people went on after Joab, to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichri,"

"So strong in human hearts the thought of death," and therefore the wisdom of connecting with every death some gospel truth.

5. Sudden Death.

1 Sam. xx. 3. "And David sware moreover, and said, Thy father certainly knoweth that I have found grace in thine eyes; and he saith, Let not Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved: but truly, as the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, there is but a step between me and death.” Nearness of death.

"We term sleep a death, and yet it is waking that kills us and destroys those spirits that are the house of life.”Sir Thomas Browne.

old;

1 Sam. iv. 15, 18. "Now Eli was ninety and eight years and his eyes were dim, that he could not see. And it came to pass, when he made mention of the ark of God, that he fell from off the seat backward by the side of the gate, and his neck brake, and he died for he was an old man, and heavy."

Death from a broken heart.

"The good old man, after ninety and eight years, sits in the gate, as one that never thought himself too aged to do God's service. . . . No sword of a Philistine could have slain him more painfully, neither know I whether his neck or his heart were first broken."-Bp. Hall.

Prov. xxvii. 1. "Boast not thyself of to-morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.”

"O that we had spent but one day in this world thoroughly well!"-Thomas à Kempis.

(Cf. Jas. iv. 13, 14; Ecc. ix. 10, 12; Ps. xxxix. 4 and xc. 12; Heb. ii. 15.)

2 Cor. v. 10. "We must all appear before the judg2.ent-seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things do: Jane in his body, according to that he hath done, whether are good or bad.”

it 1

Death a summons to judgment.

"If I am not for me, who shall ?--If I am only for me, what am I?-And if not now, when?"-Attributed to R. Hillel.

Ecc. xii. 13, 14. "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil."

"The expression in the original-'This is the whole of man,'-has not, that I am aware of, any parallels by which it might be illustrated. The supplement of the word duty destroys its evidently designed comprehensiveness. It is not only the whole duty, but the whole honor, and interest, and happiness of man."-Wardlaw.

6. For those who have been much afflicted.

Ps. lxxi. 20. "Thou which hast showed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth.”

Rev. vii. 14. "These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."

Matt. xi. 6. "Blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me."

7. Death in child-bed.

Rachel. Gen. xxxv. 16. Phinehas' wife. 1 Sam. iv. 19. 8. A sailor's death.

Ps. lv. 8. “I would hasten my escape from the wirdy storm and tempest."

Ps. cvii. 29, 30.

"He maketh the storm a calm so

that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven."

Rev. xx. 13. "And the sea gave up the dead which were in it."

9. A rich man.

Ps. xlix. 6, 7.

'They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches; none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him."

Job xxix. 18. "Then I said, I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand."

Luke xii. 20. "But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided ?"

"Man," says the Talmud, "is born with his hands clenched, he dies with his hands wide open. Entering life, he desires to grasp everything; leaving the world, all that he possessed has slipped away."

10. A poor man.

Luke xvi. 22. "And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom.'

II. A repentant criminal.

Luke xxiii. 43.

And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise."

12. A careless person.

Job xiv. 10. "But man dieth and wasteth away : yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?"