"

Elmsley, on this passage, gives the following references: Trach. I. Soph.
Tereo, fr. 10.; ibid. Tyndar. fr. 1.; Agam., 937.; Androm., 100.; Troad.,
509.; Heracl., 865.; Dionys. ap. Stob., ciii. p. 560.; Gesn., cv. p. 431.;
Grot. To which I may add the oft-quoted lines,--

"Ultima semper
Expectanda dies, homini dicique beatus
_Ante obitum_ nemo supremaque funera debet."

In farther illustration of this passage from Ecclus., let us consider the
_Death of the Righteous_.

"Let me die _the death_ of the righteous, and let my _last end_ be like
his," exclaims the truth-compelled and reluctant prophet, Numb. xxiii. 10.

The royal Psalmist, after reflecting on the prosperity of the wicked in
this world, adds:

"Then thought I to understand this,
But it was too hard for me,
Until I went into the sanctuary of God:
Then understood I the end of these men."--_Ps._ lxxiii.

And again:

"I have seen the wicked in great power,
And spreading himself like a green bay-tree;
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Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not;
Yea, I sought him, but he could not be found.
Mark the perfect man,
And behold the upright,
For _the end_ of that man is _peace_."--_Ps._ xxxvii. 35-37.: cf. the
Prayer-Book version.

The prophet Isaiah declares:

"The righteous man is taken away because of the evil;
_He shall go in peace_, he shall rest in his bed;
Even the perfect man, he that walketh in the straight path."--Ch. lvii.,
Bp. Lowth's Trans.

"Sure _the last end_
Of the good man is peace! How calm his exit!
Night-dews fall not more gently to the ground,
Nor weary worn-out winds expire so soft.
Behold him! in the evening tide of life,
A life well spent, whose early care it was
His riper years should not upbraid his green:
By unperceived degrees he wears away;
Yet, like the sun, seems larger at his setting!
High in his faith and hopes, look how he reaches
After the prize in view! and, like a bird
That's hamper'd, struggles hard to get away!
Whilst the glad gates of sight are wide expanded
To let new glories in, the first fair fruits
Of the fast-coming harvest."--Blair's _Grave_.

"How blest the righteous when he dies!
When sinks the weary soul to rest!
How mildly beam the closing eyes!
How gently heaves the expiring breast!

"So fades the summer cloud away;
So sinks the gale when storms are o'er;