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and evil, God and man, we discern a heavenly knowledge and power setting us free from the law of sin and death. We shrink not from the effort necessary on our part for co-operation with the Divine plan; we gladly endeavour to free ourselves from the dominion of our own erroneous impressions as to the real value and meaning of things, and rejoice in that light, emotional and intellectual, which shines into our heart through the great verity—“ All things work together for good to them that love God." A verity—the basis of all true religion, all firm trust in God-which no human eye can fully trace, but which God reveals.

"Lead kindly, Light, amid th' encircling gloom, Lead Thou me on;

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The night is dark, and I am far from Home,

Lead Thou me on.

Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see

The distant scene; one step enough for me.

I was not ever thus, nor pray'd that Thou

Shouldst lead me on;

I lov'd to choose and see my path; but now
Lead Thou me on."

John Henry Newman.

CHAPTER X.

AFTER DEATH.

"I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope" (1 Thess. iv. 13).

"Not spilt like water on the ground,

Nor wrapped in dreamless sleep profound,
Not wandering in unknown despair

Beyond Thy voice, Thine arm, Thy care;
Nor left to lie like fallen tree;

Not dead, but living unto Thee."

John Ellerton.

"IN the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be" (Eccl. xi. 3). If we cast our bread upon the waters, that is, give liberally to God and labour unselfishly for the welfare of our fellow men, we shall find it again after many days, for no good action goeth without its reward. He who, in true charity, giveth “a portion to seven, and also to eight," shall be blessed. No man knoweth what evil shall be

upon the earth; but if the clouds are full of rain they empty themselves; and the tree, as it inclines toward the north or the south, so will it fall; therefore let the tenour of a man's life be such that when his state is fixed by death, it may represent the ripened, the best, and the real living condition of his soul,

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Slightly altered from R. F Littledale's translation from the Latin.

We rightly pray—

"Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our hearts; shut not Thy merciful ears to our prayer; but spare us, Lord most holy, O God most mighty, O holy and merciful Saviour, thou most worthy Judge eternal, suffer us not, at our last hour, for any pains of death, to fall from Thee." At the Burial of the Dead.

Nevertheless, we are not to judge determinately as to a man's future condition by the

apparent state in which he leaves this life. We may repent effectually in a moment, and be accepted of God; and we are not to think that a man whose life has been holy, but in a moment of passion is hurried into wrong-doing and dies, will be lost for the moment's error.

No advantage is taken of any by the Almighty; indeed, He is not willing that any should perish.

We do not sleep, or remain unconscious after death. The parable of Dives and Lazarus (Luke xvi. 19—31) is more than a parable; for though the facts are clothed with figure, the essential truth is that at death men at once begin to receive according to the things they have done in the body. The dying thief was that same day with the Lord in Paradise (Luke xxiii. 43). St. Paul said "We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord" (2 Cor. v. 8); and again—" to live is Christ, and to die is gain. I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ which is far better" (Phil. i. 21, 23). Hence, whether for the good, or for the bad, whom to receive hell from beneath is moved

(Is. xiv. 9), death is but a point in the endless path of our existence; it is a line which only separates the stream of life, so that the right merges into an ocean of bliss, and the left wanders and flows in a desert dark and barren.

The state of evil men after death is dark and drear indeed. Whether we think of Judas, who went to his own place; or of Herod, who was smitten; or of Pharoah, who perished in the Red Sea; or of Ahab, whose blood was licked up by dogs, death is very awful: evil men die as they lived. As their course has been gloomy, so is their decay unsightly. A career of worldliness and sin terminates in impenitence and despair. By the law of life, the fruit must be as the seed, the end as was the course; unless, indeed, the higher law of Divine Mercy is appealed to, and pardon interposes on a timely repentance.

"Man for judgment must prepare him;
Spare, O God, in mercy spare him!

Lord, all-pitying, Jesu blest,

Grant us Thine eternal rest!" Amen.

Wm. Josiah Irons. From Latin of Thos. de Celano.

The righteous are blessed in their death

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