rill that may be crossed at a single step. The Sun of Righteousness has been gradually drawing nearer and nearer, appearing larger and brighter as he approached, and now he fills the whole hemisphere, pouring forth a flood of glory, in which I seem to float like an insect in the beams of the sun, exulting, yet almost trembling, while I gaze upon this excessive brightness, and wondering with unutterable wonder why God should design thus to shine upon a sinful worm."

"The chamber where the good man meets his fate
Is privileged beyond the common walk

Of virtuous life, quite on the verge of heaven.
Heaven waits not the last moment, owns its friends
On this side death, and points them out to men-
A lecture silent-but of sovereign power-

To vice confusion, and to virtue peace."

Such is the character and such the resources of the Christian's triumph! Such are the circumstances that clothe with moral sublimity the closing scene of his mortal career! "Let me die the death of the righteous; and let my last end be like his."

How infinitely valuable and desirable is that religion which can give such divine support in a dying hour! It comes here to meet us in our greatest extremity. When the world is fading from our view, when friends weep in vain, when no light of science can illuminate our pathway or direct our steps, it comes and sheds a heavenly radiance over the scene. It gives security while passing through the dark valley of death, and unvails eternal glory to the mortal vision. Through this may we exclaim, "O Death! where is thy sting? O Grave! where is thy victory?" Let disease waste and destroy, let pain rack and dismay, let youth and beauty fade—yea, let the grave open its jaws, let the cold clods fall upon the lifeless dust; but, borne aloft and sustained by Divine power, cherished by

the presence of Christ his Redeemer, the Christian may exclaim, "I will fear no evil!" Nay, to the Christian death is gain. From the bed of infirmity and pain he goes to an immortal crown. Can we wonder, then, that he should have a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better?

"Death is the crown of life!

It wounds to cure; we fall, we rise, we reign!
Spring from our fetters, fasten in the skies,
Where blooming Eden withers in our sight.
Death gives us more than was in Eden lost;

This King of Terrors was the Prince of Peace."

VIII. LAST MOMENTS AND DYING WORDS OF DISTINGUISHED MEN.

"The tongues of dying men

Enforce attention like deep harmony;

Where words are scarce, they 're seldom spent in vain,

For they breathe truth, that breathe their words in pain."

So sang Shakspeare, the great poet of human nature. The dying words of men have always attracted attention, and have been treasured by friends as something sacred. The solemn hour of death usually subdues the worldly feelings and passions, and induces men to look soberly upon the circumstances of the present and the prospects of the future.

"A death-bed's a detecter of the heart;
Here real and apparent are the same."

There are, however, different degrees of mental supremacy in dissolution even among cultivated men, owing, often, to the differences in moral character, and not unfrequently to the nature of the disease or to some peculiarity of circumstance. Let the moralist inquire, if he will, how a man has lived, but all feel a curiosity, whether they will confess it or not, to know how a man dies.

Nor is this a mere matter of empty curiosity. These

dying words have for us lessons of deep significance. What a moral grandeur gathers around the death-scene of the great and good of earth when sanctified by a religious faith, and how fearful the contrast when the departing spirit leaves the world all unprepared, unaneled, unblessed, with all the terrible premonitions of a coming judgment!

An eloquent modern writer says: "Life's last hours are grand testing hours. Death tries all our principles and lays bare all our foundation. Vast numbers have been found to act the hypocrite in life who were forced to be honest in the hour of death. What atheists have owned their principles, what worldlings have bewailed their folly, when death approached! Misgivings of the heart, that have been kept secret through life, have come out in death, and many who seemed all right and fair for heaven. have had to declare that they had only been self-deceived. It has been said 'man may not dissemble in death,' hence the value of dying testimonies. We gather the last words, the last acts, the last experiences, and we treasure them up as indubitable evidences in favor or against the character of those that wore their value as tests of character, and all have felt their force."

An illustration of the boldness of the man sustained by Christian foresight is found in the last hours of George. Buchanan, "the ornament of Scottish literature." When in a dying condition, King James summoned him to appear before the court in twenty days. He sent in reply these words: "Before the days mentioned by your Majesty shall be expired, I shall be in that place where few kings enter." When the poet Goethe, after more than the usually-allotted term of human existence, was met by the summons, it found him still busy with the pen, the implement at once of his pleasure and his power, and he sank as a child, who,

with the glow of the day's activity still on his cheek, looking forward to a morrow of hope and joy, folds himself to sleep. "Let the light enter!" were his last words, "echoed, we may suppose," says his biographer, "from a region where all is light."*

Sir Walter Raleigh, being asked by the sheriff which way he chose to place himself upon the block, answered, "So the heart be right, it is no matter which way the head lies."

The last words of Nelson were, "Tell Collingwood to bring the fleet to anchor." Sir Thomas More, mounting the scaffold, said, "I pray you to see me up safe; and for my coming down, let me shift for myself." Frederick V of Denmark said, in his last moments, "It is a great consolation to me in my last hour that there is not a drop of blood on my hands." The Earl of Roscommon, when about to die, uttered, with great energy, these two lines of his Dies Irae:

"My God, my Father, and my friend,

Do not forsake me in the end."

Tasso died with the words "In manus tuas Domine" upon his tongue, having died before he could finish the sentence. Schiller, being asked, when he was dying, how he felt, replied, "Calmer and calmer." Maccail, an eminent and pious. Scottish gentleman, exclaimed, "Farewell sun, moon, and stars! farewell kindred and friends! farewell world and time! farewell weak and frail body! Welcome eternity! welcome angels and saints! welcome Savior of the world! and welcome God, the Judge of all!" The poet Keats, when asked, a little before he died, how he was, replied, "Better, my friend. I feel the daisies growing over me." Addison called a dissolute young nobleman, his son-in-law, to his bedside, saying, "I have summoned you that you

Salad for the Solitary.

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may see with what tranquillity a Christian can die." dinal Beaufort, who was accused of murdering the Duke of Gloucester, died in indescribable terrors. His last words were, "And must I die? Will not all my riches save me? What! is there no bribing death?" The demise of Beethoven was peculiarly impressive. He had been visibly declining, when suddenly he revived. A bright smile illumined his features as he softly murmured, "I shall hear in heaven," and then sung, in a low but distinct voice, the lines from one of his own beautiful hymns

"Brüder! über'm Sternenzelt,

Muss ein lieber Vater wohnen."

Washington, when dying, said, "It is well;" John Q. Adams, "This is the last of earth;" Madame De Stael, "I have loved God, my father, and liberty;" Commodore Lawrence, "Don't give up the ship!" Queen Elizabeth, "All my possessions for a moment of time!" Sir J. Stonehouse, “Precious salvation!" John Wesley, "The best of all is, God is with us!" Archbishop Jewell, "This day let me see the Lord Jesus!" General Wolfe, "Who run? the enemy? then I die contented!" Earl of Derby, and also Bishop Broughton, "Let the earth be filled with his glory!" Sir Philip Sidney, "In me behold the end of the world and all its vanities!" Mozart, "Let me hear once more those notes so long my solace and delight!" Hooker, "My days are past as a shadow that returns not!" Cranmer, Hooper, Herbert, and Ferrae, "Lord, receive my spirit!" Archbishop Usher, "O Lord, forgive me; specially my sins of omission!" John Locke, "Cease now!" addressing Lady Marham, who was reading a Psalm; Sir James Mackintosh, "Happy!" Thomas Jefferson, "I resign my soul to God, and my daughter to my country!" John Adams, "Independence forever!" Latimer, "Be of good comfort, brother Ridley, for we shall this.