Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1866-05-09
There is bnt one Book.

A few days before the death of Sir.
Walter Scott, there was lucid interval
of that distressing malady which had for
some time afflicted him, and to remove
which he had travelled in vain to London.
to Italy, and to Malta. He was again in
his own home. In one of these calm
moments of reason, gentle as an infant" /"
says his biographer, when the distressing
alterations of his mind had for a time
ceased, he desired TO be drawn into his
library and placed by the window, that
he might look down upon the Tweed
To his son-in-law he expressed wish that
he should read to him. From what
book shall read?" said he. "And you
ask ?" Scott replied; there is but one. ("
% l chose ;" said his biographer, f" John
XIV" He listened with mild devotion.
and said, when was done. well this is
great comfort; l have followed you dis
tinctly, and 1 feel as if I were myself
again.-Lits of Scott vi; 68S.
comment on the dying testimony Of
this eminent man in favor of the Bible
On the death bed there is but one book
that can meet the case. Not his own
beautiful poems, or his own enchanting
works of fiction were his comforters there
He had come to a point where fiction
gave way to reality; and we can conceive
of scarcely any scene of higher sublimity
than was thus evineed, when a mind that
had charmed so many minds, the most
popular writer of his age, if not any age,
in the solemn hour when life was about
to close, give this voluntary tribute to
the solitary eminence of theBible above
all other books. Would that his dying
declaration could be imprinted on the
title page of all his works, that wherever
they shall be read his solemn testimony
might go With them. that time is COM
ing when but one book will be adapted
to guide their steps and to comfort their
hC arts.
MAY l suggest to the readers of novels
and romances that the time is coming
when one after another these books viii
be laid aside; when the romance of life
will be exchanged for the sober reality
of death; and when the most gorgeous
and splendid illusions of the world will
give place to the contemplation of that
everlasting scene which opens beyond the
grave. Then you will need not fiction
but truth; not gorgeous descriptions, not
the enchanting narrative, not the wizard
illusions of the master mind that can
play upon the feelings and entrance the
heart, but the Word-the eternal Word
of God, who cannot lie, and the sweet
consultations Of that zone book" whose
beauties, after all, as much transcend the
highest creations of genius as its truths
are more valuable than fiction. We may
live amidst gorgeous scenes, amidst splen-
did illusions, amidst ehaDgeless clouds,
amidst vapors that float on the air apd
then vanish; but when we die We shall
wish to plant our feet. not OF eyanescent
vapors and changing though brilliant
clouds, but on the eternal rock, q posi-
ton which shall Be firm when the rains
descend, and the floods come, and the
winds blow. Matthew vii: 25.) And in
reference 10 that dark valley which we
must sll tread, that valley which appears
so chilly and dismal 10 man, along which
no one has returned to be our conductor
and guide, whatever may be said of the
Bible in regard to the past history Of the
race, or our own history in particular, or
the various inquiries which have come
before the human mind, it is indubita-
bly, then to be the only certain clamp
unto our feet, and light to our path"