Henry Kirke White, though his tone was too gloomy, when he wrote, deprecating lii 9 early fate- " It is hard To feel the hand of Death arrest one's steps Throw a chill blight o'er all one's budding hopes And hurl one's soul untimely to the shades." ' Poets, both heathen and Christian, have often deplored the disease and violence whi~h, cast Y?nng lives headlong from t!1e precipice: And we !egard the youthful Dan? s recoil fro1;1 the_ cruel deat}1 which Saul designed f~r him as quite patnral, and m no sense d1scred1table to lus manhood. But there 1s more than this in his melancholy. l. THE OLD TESTAMENT WAY 01" REGARDING DEATH. In the days before Christ dimness overhung the ~octrine of a future existence. "Life and incorruption" had not b~en brought to hght. It ~vas the:ef?re reckoned a blessing to live long in Palestme. It was a s~re calam~ty to die m one's youth. The soldiers of Israel would encounter de~th m the exc(tement of batt!e; and such prophets as Elijah and Jonah could even wish for death ma hurt and discouraged mood of mind· but as a rule, even the most devout Hebrews regarded death with sadness and ;eluct~nce. No wonder that David, brought up in the ideas of his own age, not of ours should shrink from the cutting short of his days by violence, just when he had ~on dis- tinction, and begun to be of service to his nation. The horror of it hung above him for many a day; for even after many wonderful escapes we. hear him say, "I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul." This sadness or reluctance in view of death never left an Old Testament worthy like David except in the hour of battle, or under some such strong emotion as once made him cry, "Would God I had died for thee, 0 .A.bsalom, my son, my son I" At the end of his career he_ made express mention in his song of thanksgiving of his deliverance from the "sorrows " and the " snares of death" (2 Sam. xxii.). And when we see him in old age, anxiously nursed that his days might be prolonged, we catch no sign of a spirit longing to be free and assured of being with the Lord, such as one expects to find in the latter days of almost any eminent Christian. "Now the days of David drew nigh that he should die, and he charged Solomon hie son, saying, I go the way of all the enrth .." Com- pare the language in Pe. xiii. 3 ; xxx. 9 ; lxxxviii. 11 ; and that of Hezekiah in Isa. :x:xxviii. Contrast with this the contempt of death which was admired and often exhibited by the heathen. But the Hebrew feeling on the subject was really the more exalted, as having a perception of the connection of deo.th with sin, and a value for communion with the living God in the land which was hie, and therefore theirs, of which the heathen mind knew nothing. II. BRIGHTER VIEW Ol" DEATH IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 1. Contrast with the case of David in youth that of Stephen at Jerusalem, evidently young, or in the prime of life. His powers were at the full, and a distinguished career of usefulness among the Hellenist Jews opened before him. Those who entered into controversy with liim "were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he epake." Suddenly the enraged Jews seized him, and dragged him before the Sanhedrim on the capital charge of blasphemy. Well did Stephen know that· there was but a step between him and death ; but no melancholy fell upon his spirit. ".All that eat in the council, looking steadfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel." 2. Contrast witb the case of David in old age that of" such an one as Paul the aged," and his feeling when he was "ready to be offered," and the time of hie departure was at hand. He too was a man of sensitive temperament, and suffered keenly at times from dejection. He too was careful not to throw his life away. But when there seemed but a step between him and death, what an access of light, wlJat an advance of consolation and hope, had the servant of God in the New Testa- ment over the servant of God in the Old I David said,·« I go the way of all the e:a1-th." But Paul, "We are confident, and willing rather to be absent from the body and present with the Lord." 0 happy ending of this troubled life I O welcome escape from fleshly impediment, weariness, temptation, insufficiency, and sorrow I • III. CHRIST'B CONTEMPLATION 0"11 BIB OWN DECEASE. He who is the Son of David, tJB. XX. 24-42.] THE FIHST BOOK OF SAMUEL. 387
and tho Lord of Stephen and of Paul, saw in the very prime of youthful m;inhood that there was but a step between him and death, and that too a death of harsli violence such as his ancestor lrnd feared. There was, however, this difference between "the Man Christ Jesus II and all other men-that he knew when, where, and how he should die. It was to be at Jerusalem, and at the time of the feast. He foretold the very day on which he should "be perfected," and indicated that it would be by ,crucifixion in saying that the Son of mnn would be "lifted np from the earth." From such knowledge it is well that we are exempt. To know the place, time, and . manner of our death would tempt, perhaps, at first to carelessness; and then, as the date came near, would put a strain ,on our spirits very hard to be borne. Such a -strain was upon Christ, and, as the bitter death approached, his spirit was "exceeding- eorrowful." As David had his friend Jonathan to show him sympathy and endeavour to drive from his mind the presentiment of death, so Jesus Christ had his disciples, who, as lovers and friends, besought him not to think of dying ; but he could not take comfort from them. The cup which his Father had given him to drink, should he ·not'drink it? To him death was gain. He finished all his work and travail, then left the world· and went to the Father. "Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit."' We have much to learn from David, more from Stephen and Paul, most of all from our Lord Jesus. W·hat if there be but a step between us and death? It is a step which cannot be taken but as, and when, and where our Lord appoints. "Lord Jesus, into thy hands I commit my spirit I" "Absent from the body, present with the Lord."-F.