The last sight we see of Alexander Gordon in this world is after his
Master has given commandment that the last touch be put to His servant's
subdued and childlike humility. The old saint is sitting in his
grandfather's chair and his wife is feeding him like a weaned child. John
Livingstone tells that Mr. John Smith, a minister in Teviotdale, had all
the Psalms of David by heart, and that instead of a curtailed,
monotonous, and mechanical grace before meat he always repeated a whole
Psalm. Earlston must have remembered once dining in the Manse of Maxton
at a Communion time; for, as his tender-handed wife took her place beside
his chair to feed her helpless husband, he always lifted up his palsied
hand and always said to himself, to her, and above all, to God, the 131st
Psalm--

'As child of mother weaned; my soul
Is like a weaned child;'

till all the godly households in Galloway knew the 131st Psalm as
Alexander Gordon of Earlston's grace before meat.




XII. EARLSTON THE YOUNGER


'A renowned Gordon, a patriot, a good Christian, a confessor, and, I
may add, a martyr of Jesus Christ.'--Livingstone's _Characteristics_.

Thomas Boston in his most interesting autobiography tells us about one of