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some parts and some practices of our daily life as already dying men.
And, to begin with, I have such a great faith in good books, whether we
are to live or die, that I am impelled to ask you all at this point, and
under shelter of this plain-spoken prophet, What books have you laid in
for your deathbed, and for the weeks and months and even years before
your death bed? What do you look forward to be reading when Jordan is
beginning to swell and roll for you and to leap up toward your doorstep?
If you get good from good books--everybody does not--but supposing you
are one of those who do, what books can you absolutely count upon,
without fail, to put you in the best possible frame for the river, and
for the convoy across, and for the ceremonies of joy on the other side?
What special Scriptures will you have read every day to you? "Read,"
said John Knox to his weeping wife, "read where I first cast my anchor."
An old lady I once knew used to say to me at every visit, "The
Fifty-first Psalm." She was the daughter of a Highland minister, and the
wife of a Highland minister, and the mother of a Highland minister, and
of an elder to boot. "The Fifty-first Psalm," she said, and sometimes,
"One of Hart's hymns also." What is your favourite psalm and hymn? Mr.
James Taylor of Castle Street has several large-type libraries in his
catalogue. Mr. Taylor might start a much worse paying speculation than a
large-type library for the river-side; or, some select booklets for
deathbeds. The series might well open with "The Ninetieth Psalm" in
letters an inch deep. Scholars die as well as illiterates, and there
might be provided for them, among other things, _The Phaedo_ in two
languages, Plato's and Jowett's. Then _The Seven Sayings from the
Cross_. Bellarmine's _Art of Dying Well_ would stand well beside John
Bunyan's _Dying Sayings_. And, were I the editor, I would put in Bishop
Andrewes' _Private Devotions_, if only for my own last use. Then Richard
Baxter's _Saint's Rest_, and John Howe's Platonico-Puritan book,
_Blessedness of the Righteous_. Then Bernard's "New Jerusalem," "The
Sands of Time are sinking," "Rock of Ages," and such like. These are
some of the little books I have within reach of my bed against the hour
when the post blows his first horn for me. You might tell me some of
your deathbed favourites.

2. Who will be your most welcome minister during your last days on
earth? For whom would you send to-n