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228 example of three who were dead brought back to life again. The daughter of Jairus, only just dead, before decay began: the widow's son, dead and carried out to burial, dead and under the dominion of decay: and Lazarus, dead and four days in the grave, bound by the winding-sheet and blindfold with the napkin, like the sin that is deadly, habitual, and blinding. The joy over such resurrections from the dead none can measure but the priest who has received back his "dead to life again."

Lastly, there is the consolation, still full of sadness and anxiety, when those who have fallen again and again, again and again return, and are received back once more. It is a joy with trembling. For those on whom we "have mercy in fear," "pulling them out of the fire," continue for a long time, perhaps for ever, a cause of constant fear. Nevertheless, when the pastor has done all he can for them, he may rest in hope. If souls will not be redeemed he cannot save them. God Himself respects the freedom He created and gave to them. They can destroy themselves. As life draws on, and the work of a priest in the midst of his flock has brought him into contact with the good and the evil, the innocent and the penitent, he can look round upon it as the sower in