with joy at the expectation of the holidays which were then just coming on" shall I tell you why I call it sad?" and he then told him how suddenly he had been himself left an orphan, and how his father had, on the Sunday evening before his death, caused him to read a sermon on the text, "Boast not thyself of to-morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth." "Now," said he, cannot you see, when you talk with such certainty about this day week, and what we shall do, why it seems sad to me?" "It is one of the most solemn things I do," said he (referring to his habit of writing in his manuscript volume of sermons the date of its commencement, and not that of its completion), "to write the beginning of that sentence, and think that I may not live to finish it."

The approach of his forty-seventh birthday seemed to be looked upon by Dr. Arnold with feelings of special solemnity; and there was visibly marked upon his whole manner and bearing the effect of some deep impression. Some passages from his diary, given in his Memoir, will illustrate the posture of his mind :—

"June 2. Again the day is over, and I am going to rest. O Lord, preserve me this night, and strengthen me to bear whatever thou shalt see fit to lay on me, whether pain, sickness, danger, or distress."

"June 5. I have been just looking over a newspaper, one of the most painful and solemn studies in the world if it be read thoughtfully. So much of sin and so much of suffering in the world as are there displayed, and no one seems able to remedy either. And then the thought of my own private life, so full of comforts, is very startling, when I contrast it with the lot of millions whose portion is so full of distress or trouble. May I be kept humble and jealous! and may God give me grace to labour in my generation for the good of my brethren, and for his glory! May he keep me his by night and by day, and strengthen me to bear and do his will, through Jesus Christ.

"June 6. I have felt better and stronger all this day, and I thank God for it. But may he keep my heart tender! May he keep me gentle and patient, yet active and jealous! May he bless me in himself and in his Son! May he make me humble-minded in this, that I do not look for good things as my portion here, but rather should look for troubles as what I deserve, and as what Christ's people are to bear! If ye be without chastisement,' etc. How

much of good have I received at God's hand, and shall I not receive evil? Only, O Lord, strengthen me to bear it, whether it visit me in body, in mind, or in estate. Strengthen me with the grace thou didst vouchsafe to thy martyrs; and let me not fall from thee in any trial. Ŏ Lord, let me cherish a sober mind, to be ready to bear events, and not sullenly. O Lord, reveal to me thyself in Christ Jesus, which knowledge will make all suffering and all trials easy. O Lord, bless my dearest wife, and strengthen us in the hardest of all trials-evil befalling each other. Bless our dear children, and give me grace to guide them wisely and lovingly through Jesus Christ. O Lord, may I join with all thy people, in heaven and on earth, in offering up my prayer to thee through our Lord Jesus Christ; and in saying, Glory be to thy most holy

name for ever and ever!" "

Before the departure of the Rugby boys for the holidays, Dr. Arnold preached, on the 5th of June, the farewell sermon, which concluded the course on the things necessary to be borne in mind by his scholars, wherever they might be scattered in after life." "The real point which concerns us all," he said in that sermon, "is not whether one sin be of one kind or of another, more or less venial, or more or less mischievous in man's judgment, and to our worldly interests; but whether we struggle against all sin, because it is sin-whether we have not placed ourselves consciously under the banner of our Lord Jesus Christ, trusting in him, cleaving to him, feeding on him by faith daily, and so resolved, and continually renewing our resolution, to be his faithful soldiers and servants to our life's end." The last subject given to his pupils for an exercise was, "Domus ultima" (the last house); the last translation for Latin verses, Spenser's verses on the death of Sidney; and the last words in his lecture on the New Testament, "It doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." He observed with solemnity, that "the mere contemplation of Christ shall transform us into his likeness."

The words of his "In the evening he

Much of this seemed premonitory. biographer may describe the rest:took a short stroll, as usual, on the lawn in the further garden, with his friend and former pupil, from whom the account of these last few days has been chiefly derived.

His conversation with him turned on some points in the Oxford theology, in regard to which he thought him in error; particularly he dwelt seriously, but kindly, on what he conceived to be false notions of the eucharist, insisting especially that our Lord forbids us to suppose that the highest spiritual blessings can be conferred only or chiefly through the reception of material elements; urging, with great earnestness, when it was said that there might be various modes of spiritual agency, 'My dear lad, God be praised, we are told the great mode by which we are affected -we have his own blessed assurance- "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life."'

"At nine o'clock was a supper, which, on the last evening of the summer half year, he gave to the sixth-form boys of his own house; and they were struck with the cheerfulness and liveliness of his manner, talking of the end of the half-year, and the pleasure of his returning to Fox-How in the next week; and observing, in allusion to the departure of so many of the boys, How strange the chapel will look to morrow!'

.

"The school business was now completely over. The old school-house servant, who had been about the place many years, came to receive the final accounts, and delighted afterwards to tell how his master had kept him a quarter of an hour, talking to him with more than usual kindness and confidence. ...

"It was between five and six o'clock on Sunday morning that he awoke with a sharp pain across his chest, which he mentioned to his wife, on her asking whether he felt well, adding, that he had felt it slightly on the preceding day, before and after bathing. He then again composed himself to sleep; but her watchful care, always anxious even to nervousness at the least indication of illness, was at once awakened; and, on finding from him that the pain increased, and that it seemed to pass from his chest to his left arm, her alarm was so much roused, from a remembrance of having heard of this in connexion with angina pectoris, and its fatal consequences, that, in spite of his remonstrances, she rose and called up an old servant, whom they usually consulted in cases of illness, from her having so long attended the sick-bed of his sister Susannah. Reassured by her confidence, that there was no ground for fear, but still anxious, Mrs. Arnold returned to his room. She observed him, as she was dressing herself, lying still,

6

but with his hands clasped, his lips moving, and his eyes raised upwards, as if engaged in prayer, when, all at once, he repeated, firmly and earnestly, And Jesus said unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen, thou hast believed; blessed are they which have not seen, and yet have believed;' and soon afterwords, with a solemnity of manner, and depth of utterance, which spoke more than the words themselves, But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.' From time to time he seemed to be in severe suffering, and, on the entrance of the old servant before-mentioned, said, 'Ah, Elizabeth, if I had been as much accustomed to bear pain as dear Susannah was, I should bear it better.' To his wife, however, he uttered no expressions of acute pain, dwelling only on the moments of comparative ease, and observing that he did not know what it was. But the more than usual earnestness which marked his tone and manner, especially in repeating the verses from Scripture, had again aroused her worst fears, and she ordered messengers to be sent for medical assistance, which he had at first requested her not to do, from not liking to disturb at that hour the usual medical attendant, who had been suffering from indisposition. She then took up the Prayer-book, and was looking for a psalm to read to him, when he said quickly, "The fifty-first,' which she accordingly read by his bedside, reminding him at the seventh verse, that it was the favourite verse of one of the old almswomen whom he was in the habit of visiting; and, at the twelfth verse, '0 give me the comfort of thy help again, and stablish me with thy free spirit,' he repeated it after her very earnestly. She then read the prayer in the Visitation of the Sick, beginning, 'The almighty Lord, who is a most strong tower,' etc., kneeling herself at the foot of the bed, and altering it into a common prayer for them both.

of

"On the entrance of the medical visitor, Dr. Arnold described his pain, which was ascertained to be spasm the heart. The physician then quitted the house for medicine, leaving Mrs. Arnold now fully aware from him of her husband's state. At this moment she was joined by her son, who entered the room with no serious apprehension; and on his coming up to the bed, his father, with his usual gladness of expression towards him, asked, 'How is your deafness, my boy?' (he had been suffering from it the night before,) and then, playfully alluding to an old accu

sation against him, 'you must not stay here; you know you do not like a sick room.' He then sat down with his mother at the foot of the bed, and presently his father said in a low voice, 'My son, thank God for me;' and as his son did not at once catch his meaning, he went on saying'Thank God, Tom, for giving me this pain. I suffered so little pain in my life, that I feel it is very good for me: now God has given it to me, and I do so thank him for it ;' and again, after a pause, he said, alluding to a wish which his son had often heard him express, that if he ever had to suffer pain, his faculties might be unaffected by it, 'How thankful I am that my head is untouched!' Meanwhile, his wife, who still had sounding in her ears the tone in which he had repeated the passage from the Epistle to the Hebrews, again turned to the Prayer-book and began to read the exhortation which occurs in the Visitation of the Sick. He listened with deep attention, saying emphatically, 'Yes,' at the end of many of the sentences. There should be no greater comfort to Christian persons than to be made like unto Christ.'-'Yes.' 'He entered not into his glory before he was crucified.'-'Yes.' At the words, 'everlasting life,' she stopped, and his son said, ‘I wish, dear papa, we had you at Fox-How.' He made no answer; but the last conscious look, which remained fixed on his wife's memory, was the look of intense tenderness and love with which he smiled upon them both at that

moment.

the

"The physician now returned with the medicines, and the former remedies were applied; there was a slight return of the spasms, after which he said, 'If the pain is again as severe as it was before you came, I do not know how I can bear it.' He then, with his eyes fixed upon physician, who rather felt than saw them upon him, so as to make it impossible not to answer the exact truth, repeated one of his former questions about the cause of the disease, and ended with asking, 'Is it likely to return?' and on being told that it was, 'Is it generally suddenly fatal? Generally.' On being asked whether he had any pain, he replied that he had none, but from the application of the external remedies; and then, a few moments afterwards, inquired what medicine was to be given, and on being told, answered, Ah, very well!' The physician, who was dropping the laudanum into a glass, turned around, and saw him looking quite calm, but with his eyes