then come and offer thy gift.
Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him."
You know all about Zacchaeus. I need not tell his story over again. But
as I write these lines I take up a London newspaper and my eyes light on
these lines: "William Avary was a man of remarkable gifts, both of mind
and character. He dedicated the residue of his strength wholly to works
of piety. In middle age he failed in business, and in his old age, when
better days came, he looked up such of his old creditors as could be
found and divided among them a sum of several thousand pounds." Look up
such of your old creditors as you can find, and that not in matters of
money alone. And, be sure you begin to do it now, before the horn blows.
For, as sure as you take your keys and open your old repositories, you
will come on things you had completely forgotten that will take more time
and more strength, ay, and more resources, than will then be at your
disposal. Even after you have begun at once and done all that you can
do, you will have to do at last as Samuel Rutherford told George
Gillespie to do: "Hand over all your bills, paid and unpaid, to your
Surety. Give Him the keys of the drawer, and let Him clear it out for
Himself after you are gone."

4. And then, pray often to God for a clear mind between Him and you, and
for a quick, warm, and heaven-hungry heart at the last. And take a
promise from those who watch beside your bed that they will not drug and
stupefy you even though you should ask for it. Whatever your pain, and
it is all in God's hand, make up your mind, if it be possible, to bear
it. It cannot be greater than the pain of the cross, and your Saviour
would not touch their drugs, however well-intended. He determined to
face the swelling of Jordan and to enter His Father's house with an
unclouded mind. Try your very uttermost to do the same. I cannot
believe that the thief even would have let the gall so much as touch his
lips after Christ had said to him, "To-day thou shalt be with Me in
Paradise!" Well, if your mind was ever clear and keen, let it be at its
clearest and its keenest at the last. Let your mind and your heart be
full of repentance, and faith, and love, and hope, and all such saying
graces, and let them all be at their fullest and brightest exercise, at
that moment. Be on the very tip-toe of expectation as the end draws
near. Another pang, another gasp, one more unutterable