Ver. 31.-Pharaoh comforted. After his death Pharaoh is comforted by what he beholds of his companions in the realm of departed spirits. He sees that the great ones who preceded. him are as badly off as he is. Those kings and princes were not his enemies; they were his allies. Therefore Pharaoh could scarcely gain comfort from a malignant satisfaction in seeing them degraded. Accordingly, Hengstenberg understands the 1-assagc to say that Pharaoh sighs. But might he not find some consolation in the perception that he was not alone in his calamity ? l. 'l'HEDE MAY BE SOME MITIGATION OF THE FUTUDE SUFFERINGS OF SINNERS. This is a dark and mysterious subjec~ne about which it is very unwise to dogmatize. Still, we cannot but remember that the same merciful God who rules on earth also reigns Ol'Cr all the realms of the dead. Certainly we have the assurance of Christ that all will not suffer equally; some will be beaten with many stripes, and others with few stripes (Luke xii. 47, 48). II. THE JUSTICE OF Goo SHOULD DE A CONSOLATION IN VIEW OF FUTURE PUNISHMENT. God will never exceed what is right. All his dealings will be fair and equable. His aim will be to maintain goodness, not to wreak personal vengeance on his victims. We should feel that righteousness is the supreme end of all things. The vision of sin is dark and dreadful. If there be any lightening of its gloom this must be seen in the fact that the Almighty God bas set his baud to destroy it. III. THE UNIVERSALITY OF DEATH SUGGESTS THE BELIEF THAT IT FALLS IN WITH THE DIVINE ORDER OF BUMAN EXISTENCE. It may be said that, just as sin is universal through man's own fault, so death is universal as the consequence of sin. Death i11 its horror is associated with sin: "The sting of death is sin" (1 Cor. xv. 56). But physio- logically, death belongs to the order of nature. Everything that lives dies. We regard thls fact with distress when it touches our friends, and perhaps with dread when it approaches ourselves. But we should learn to trust God, who orders all things well " Like o.s the damask rose you see, Or like the blossom on the tree, Or like the dainty flower in l\:lay, Or like the morning of the do.y, Or like the sun, or like the shade, Or like the gourd which Jonah had, E'en such lll man ; whose thread is spun, Dr:.w11 out, o.nd cut, and so is done. . The rose withers, the blossom blasteth ; The flower fades, the morni11g hasteth; The sun sets, the sLo.clow flies ; The gourd coosumea-and man he dies I " (Simon Wastell.) IV. THE DEEPEST COMFORT IN VIEW OF DEATH IS ONLY TO DE DRAWN FltOM FAlTil IN CHRIST. All else leaves but a desolate prospect at best. But Christ sheds a glorious light on the realm beyond. For those who trust and follow him death has lost its terrors. The grim under-world is transferred into a peaceful sleep, from which to awake in Christ. " I am the Resurrection and the Life : he that believeth on me, though he were dead, yet shall he live" (John xi. 25).
HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Ver. 2.-The noxiousness of a sinful nation. In order to justify the humiliation and .he calamities appointed for Egypt, the prophet mentions the evil which the king and cu. xxxn.1-32.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. 175