HEN the sad bereavement just noticed took place, Mr. Scott was something over fifty years of age, and in this, the autumn time of his life, the fruitfulness of which its spring time and summer time gave such rich promise was not wanting. His powers at this time were in their full maturity, and his sorrow gave a mellowness and tenderness to his thoughts which they had not possessed before. The thought that the shadows of evening were drawing near doubtless led him to think of the night not far distant, and of the necessity for working while it was "called today," and the result was a girding himself for the best labors of an active and useful life. His plea for a return to the example of the apostles in presenting the message of life and salvation to dying men, had been eminently successful; thousands of converts were made every year, giving ample demonstration that "the gospel was indeed the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth," and that "the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul;" and the faith grew strong in his heart that the truth of God, which had wrought so mightily in the conversion of sinners, would be the instrumentality through which would be accomplished that union of his people for which the Savior when on earth had prayed.

      To correct, as far as lay in his power, the evils of division, and present a firm basis for the union of all the people of God, became now an all-engrossing thought, and resulted in a tract of over one hundred pages, in which the subject was handled with a force and felicity which have seldom been equalled. [196]

      Dr. Richardson, himself a polished and graceful writer, says: "I regard the performance as the most extraordinary work of the age in the religious department, not only for the logical force with which it evolves the great master truth, the Divinity of Christ, but for the clearness and energetic beauty of its style and the wonderful power of analysis which it displays." And A. Campbell, one of the foremost scholars and thinkers of this century, said: "It is one of the best tracts of the age, and the best on the Divinity of Christ that has in forty years' reading come under my eye." Higher praise could not have been given to it, nothing has since been written to equal it, and to surpass it would scarcely be possible.

      This was followed in a short time by another brief treatise on the "Death of Christ" scarcely inferior to the former one; full of tenderness and sweetness which such a theme could not fail to draw forth from a mind and heart like his.

      In the meantime, he married Miss Annie B. Allen, of Mayslick, Ky., in 1850, and for some time was at the head of a flourishing female academy in Covington, Ky. Here his wife, whom he characterizes as "a most blessed woman, but inclined to consumption," died in 1854 of that insidious disease, leaving one daughter, Carrie Allen Scott. The union, though short, was a happy one, as his young wife was extremely amiable, truly pious, and deeply devoted to her husband. Her death caused him to give up the academy and to devote himself to evangelical labors, which were quite successful, and to the composition of the most elaborate work that ever employed his pen. [197]

      In the last week of 1855, he paid a visit to Bethany, and his spirit was greatly refreshed. He says he was received with the greatest cordiality and hospitality, and that it would have been impossible for any one to have showed him greater kindness than was manifested by Mr. Campbell and family. He remained there several days, and delivered several addresses to the students at the college. Mr. Campbell and himself had been engaged in an earnest effort to restore primitive Christianity since their early manhood, but now Mr. Scott was about three-score, and his fellow-laborer verging upon three-score and ten; together they had borne the heat and burden of the day; they both felt that the evening was at hand and their work nearly done; but when they looked at the mighty results which had grown out of their united and untiring labors, they could not but be grateful to him who had made their lives and labors such a blessing to their race.

      Previous to this time, Mr. Scott married his third wife, Mrs. Eliza Sandige, of Mason County, Ky., where he resided until his death. His faculties at this period of his life seemed to have suffered no decay; his form still erect, his hair but slightly changed, and the luster of his keen, dark eyes undimmed; and, though he felt none of the infirmities of age, he could not resist the conviction that when the lengthening shadows had grown a little longer he would be called to depart. This feeling was deepened by the death of many of his old and cherished friends, but more than all by the unexpected death of his life-long friend and dearly esteemed brother in Christ, Eld. Samuel Church, which took place in the city of New York on the 7th of December, 1857. Converted by [198] Scott more than thirty years before, and their early friendship cemented in after years by the marriage of their children, the loss was one that was deeply and keenly felt--how deeply, we can best learn from the following letter of condolence to his son-in-law and daughter soon after the sorrowful event:

"MAYSLICK, Dec. 16, 1857.      

"WILLIAM AND EMILY:

      "My Very Dear Children: The Lord bless you, the Lord comfort you and support you under the news of your great loss, of which you will no doubt have been informed before this letter reaches you. A communication from Bro. Challen, dated the 10th of Dec., informed me of the sad fact of the death of your father in New York. He was on a visit there, and was in good health and fine spirits, but was taken suddenly with inflammation of the stomach and bowels. He had an appointment to preach to the Disciples, but he was unable to fill it. Dr. Parmley was informed of his indisposition, and called upon him at the Astor House and offered his services, which; however, were not needed, there being a physician in attendance. Next day (Monday) Dr. Parmley called again, and found your dear father rapidly sinking. He asked the doctor to pray with him, and to read the 14th and 17th chapters of John. He was greatly refreshed by these exercises, but too weak to talk much. He directed Dr. Parmley to place the Bible under his pillow; then, looking upward to heaven with a steady gaze and a countenance radiant with light and glory, he fell asleep in Christ.

      "My children, my dear children, this news has reached my inmost soul. How unexpected to all of us! To your mother and you how severe! But we have a God into whose gracious ear we can pour, with the assurance of being heard, all our deep sorrows, all our crushing afflictions; and we know, that, although the outward and commercial life of your father was agitated with great vicissitudes, yet his inward and spiritual life was very different; that it was calm, unvarying, meditative, devoted to God, beautiful and holy. Though his death is but one of the millions of deaths by [199] which a merciful God is unceasingly speaking to mankind, and reminding all of their mortality; yet this death speaks to me, and will, I doubt not, to you, in a peculiar tone. Oh, it seems to bring my last end near to me indeed! for he was as my own flesh and blood, as indeed the whole family are--but he particularly! He was among my first acquaintances in Pittsburg. I immersed him with my own hands upward of thirty years ago, and he was ever dear, ever lovely to me. During these latter years, my children, death has been more familiar to my meditations than formerly, for, as we have in us no natural instinct of death, and all our impulses are vital and immortal, I have during much of my life-time imagined I should live forever, and have weakly thought 'all men are mortal but myself.' I am convinced it is not so. I also must die, and the death of Father Church has doubled the rational conviction. May the Lord enable us so to live and spend this brief life as to be at last deemed worthy to meet our great and good brother and father in the better land whither he has gone!

      "My dear children, be consoled; commit your sorrows to the bosom of your Father in heaven. His ways are above our ways, and his thoughts above our thoughts; but he is slow to anger and full of compassion, and so would manage us that our souls might not be lost. I sympathize with you in all your trials, afflictions, and privations. I ever bear you on my hands and bosom before a merciful God, who will not ultimately let pass unanswered the cries and tears of an afflicted and heart-broken parent. I live in hope to see you in spring or early summer.

      "Accept a father's blessing, dearest children. May Almighty God have you all, at all times, in his holy keeping; and to his name be all praise.

	"Devotedly and affectionately, your father,
"WALTER SCOTT."

      Soon after this, he completed his work, "The Messiahship, or the Great Demonstration," his most elaborate effort, and a most fitting close to his literary labors. Other books have been written of which Christ was professedly the theme, but in this he was [200] really so; every ray of light from type and symbol, prophecy and history, from seer and evangelist, is made to converge on the Son of God as the central figure; his nature, offices, and work are brought fully to view, until the reader, in rapt adoration, is ready to join with martyrs, apostles, and the heavenly host in their ascriptions of praise, and cry, "Crown him Lord of all." Elder A. Campbell characterized it as a very interesting, edifying, cheering, and fascinating volume. Elder Errett said: "Immense labor has been bestowed upon it by one of the best minds that God has given us. It sparkles and shines all over with the peculiar genius of the author." And Prof. Richardson adds: "I have read enough of it to see that it abounds in most valuable and profound thought, striking analyses, and rich development of truth. I am better pleased with it the more I examine it. It embraces charming passages, revealing deep lessons of human experience and divine truth. I thank God that you have been enabled to present such a work to the world. In view of its sublime and far-reaching revelations, its cogent logic, and still more striking analytical divisions, and just distinctions, the rest of the literature of the Reformation seems to me to grow very pale and dim."

      His letters at this period show how much his mind was occupied with the things of that world which he was rapidly nearing; one of them, to his eldest son, is as follows:

"MY DEAR SON:

      "The Lord bless you and your family; the Lord make you all a blessing. Your last came to hand last evening. What could more rejoice a parent than the practical proof which it gives of my children's love for each other? In the [201] 133d Psalm, David compares brotherly affection to the inimitable ointment poured on the head of Aaron at his inauguration into the priestly office, and to the dews of Zion and Hermon. It is where this abounds that God commands the blessing of eternal life! Let it, then, abound among my loved ones, my children and my children's children, to a thousand generations. I trust I may never want a man to stand before God and praise him or Christ while the world endures. My dearest son, it is becoming strikingly evident that the present life is valuable only as seen related to the life to come. It is, indeed, burdened with mortal endurance, but suffering, like all things else, has a grand moral--perfection; and perfection has its reward--glory. God has opened my eyes to see him in every thing; as the poet says: 'The rolling year is full of thee.' In what thing is not God to be seen? As a child said, 'Where is he not?' Oh, it is a blessed gift from God--the gift of seeing him in every thing. The blessing of being associated forever with a single saint, say brother Church, is worth a life-time endurance of all the ills of life; but what is the fellowship of one to all--your mother, your dear blessed mother, and myriads like her, full of the love of God and glory all around; but what are all saints and all angels to our God, our sweet, our dear, our ever precious Redeemer, the Son of the great Eternal? Oh, my son, what love I have for them who love you! What love, then, must the great God have for them that love his Son! He will lavish on them all the riches of eternal life. Let us, then, from generation to generation love our Lord Jesus with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind, and with all our strength. Let our family be great in piety, open, declared piety, seen and read of all men. Let us successively give examples to those whom God raises up by us, and grow greater and greater in piety toward God, till we shall stand and our descendants shall occupy the chief position in the front rank of those who have been heroes for God and the cause of our Lord Jesus on the earth. Eternal life is worth living for and worth dying for; let us labor, then, to enter into eternal life.

	"Affectionately, your father,
"W. SCOTT." [202]

[LWSA 196-202]