SERMON III. LIFE AND DEATH



PSALM civ. 24, 28-30.

"O Lord, how manifold are Thy works! in wisdom hast Thou made them
all: the earth is full of Thy riches. That Thou givest them they
gather: Thou openest Thine hand, they are filled with good. Thou
hidest Thy face, they are troubled: Thou takest away their breath,
they die, and return to their dust. Thou sendest forth Thy spirit,
they are created: and Thou renewest the face of the earth."

I had intended to go through this psalm with you in regular order;
but things have happened this parish, awful and sad, during the last
week, which I was bound not to let slip without trying to bring them
home to your hearts, if by any means I could persuade the
thoughtless ones among you to be wise and consider your latter end:--
I mean the sad deaths of various of our acquaintances. The death-
bell has been tolled in this parish three times, I believe, in one
day--a thing which has seldom happened before, and which God grant
may never happen again. Within two miles of this church there are
now five lying dead. Five human beings, young as well as old, to
whom the awful words of the text have been fulfilled: "Thou takest
away their breath, they die, and return to their dust." And the
very day on which three of these deaths happened was Ascension-day--
the day on which Jesus, the Lord of life, the Conqueror of death,
ascended upon high, having led captivity captive, and became the
first-fruits of the grave, to send down from the heaven of eternal
life the Spirit who is the Giver of life. That was a strange