Here, too, is "a song in the night." Sing it, Christian pilgrim, when earth's last hour is at hand. Sing it as you enter the valley. Sing it as the darkness deepens. Sing it when the light of earth's day begins to fade. Sing it when the earth is receding, heaven is opening and God is calling you. Sing it until the glory of the eternal morn breaks upon thine enraptured vision. Sing it until your feet stand upon that golden shore against which death's chilly wave never again shall dash, and where death is no more. Sing it, sing this song of the waters--"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." Why be afraid of Death as though your life were breath! Death but anoints your eyes with clay. Oh glad surprise! Why should you be forlorn? Death only husks the corn. Why should you fear to meet the thresher of the wheat? Is sleep a thing to dread? Yet sleeping, you are dead Till you awake and rise, here, or beyond the skies. Why should it be a wrench, to leave your wooden bench? Why not with happy shout run home when school is out? The dear ones left behind? O foolish one and blind. A day--and you will meet--a night--and you will greet! This is the death of Death, to breathe away a breath, And know the end of strife and taste the deathless life. And joy without a fear and smile without a tear, And work, nor care, nor rest, and find the last the best. --_Maltbie D. Babcock_ "=_Thy Rod and Thy Staff They Comfort Me_=" The rod is a protection from all the adversaries of the night. No enemy, not even the last enemy, death, can affright the soul in the care of the tender Shepherd, for He has extracted the sting from death. The staff is used for counting the sheep as they pass one by one into the fold. This action is sometimes called "passing under the rod." The language used here indicates safety and security. I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless; Ills have no weight and tears on bitterness. Where is death's sting? where, grave, thy victory? I triumph still, if Thou abide with me. --_Henry F. Lyte_ Christ hath _abolished_ death and brought life and immortality to light. The word "abolished" is a very strong one in the Greek. It has three root letters, a, r and g. Then the preposition _kata_ is added to it, thus making our English word "energy" which means "a working force." Then, in a way known to Greek students, the preposition gives the word, as it were, the force of a double negative. So the Apostle teaches us that Christ, when He came into the world and died on the cross, did something with death. He double-twisted it, He de-vitalized it, double-negatived it, made it inoperative, rendered it powerless, so that ever afterwards it would be unable to hurt the children of God.