It was the dying observation- penned the day preceding her departure- of one of the most amiable and intellectual of her sex (Jane Taylor)- "Did you know what thoughts I have now, you would see as I do, that the whole business of life is preparation for death." In contrast with this weighty sentiment of the dying Christian, we place the solemn testimony of the dying worldling- "I have all my days," said he, "been getting ready to live, and now I must die " What an affecting declaration is this And how true of the great mass of our fellow immortals- all planning, and toiling, and preparing to live- yet how few preparing to die To place before such the subject of real life, and to awaken in their minds a consideration of its nature, and a sense of its solemnities, is one design of the following pages. Octavius Winslow stood out as one of the foremost evangelical preachers of the 19th Century. A Baptist minister and contemporary of Charles Spurgeon he seceded to the Anglican church in his last decade. His Christ centered works show devotion and practicality.