[1] Look how easily Jehu stamped Jezebel in pieces, and Tamerlane's troops of horse the Turkish footmen; or as the sturdy steed dashes out the little whappet's brains, so easily does Death, with the least kick and spurn of his heel, the halest complexion, the stoutest constitution,--triumphing like an emperor over all sorts of people; treading on the necks of kings and princes, as Joshua over them in the cave; insulting in the terms of Rabshakeh: "Where is Hamath? the kings of Arphad, Ivah, and Sepharvaim? Elam, Meshech, and Tubal, whose fear was upon the living, are they not descended into the grave? made their beds in the slimy valley, and laid their swords under their heads? Hath wisdom delivered, strength rescued, or wealth rescued any out my fingers?"--_Ward,_ 1577-1639. Oh, eloquent, just, and mighty Death! whom none could advise, thou hast persuaded; what none hath dared, thou hast done; and whom all the world hath flattered, thou alone hast cast out of the world and despised. Thou hast drawn together all the far-stretched greatness, all the pride, cruelty, and ambition of man, and covered it all with those two narrow words, _Hic jacet._--_Sir Walter Raleigh._ [2] We put far away the evil day, and therefore we are not duly impressed by the thought. But fourscore years and soon cut off, and we fly away; and how uncertain is our reaching that lonely verge of life, where the flowery meadows and the golden corn-fields slope gradually down into the bars and stony beach that fringes the eternal sea. The coast of death to most is an abrupt precipice; we are cut off in the midst of our days.--_Macmillan._ Why should a man defer that which ought to be the occupation of a life, which ought to command all his powers in all their vigour--why should a man defer that to the last few abrupt moments, to his departure from time to eternity? When a man is going to any distant part of the globe--say to America--what preparation there is! How much it is talked about! It is a long, a distant, an eventful journey. The man talks about it; his friends prepare in every conceivable way. Oh, what infatuation and stupidity, what folly it is for a man to make no preparation for this distant voyage--the voyage to eternity!--_Beaumont._ CORDS OF VANITY. v. 18. _Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope._ "'Sin' in the last clause is parallel with iniquity in the first--a noun and not a verb. Both are said to be _'drawn.'_ The style of sinning here contemplated is fully given in the next verse."--_Cowles._