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those that wept. His pastoral visitations were also regularly kept up. Many a year he visited from door to door, thus breaking amongst the families of his flock the bread of life. The kindly, the humble, and the affectionate bearing of this good man towards all, of every grade, within the pale of his charge, cannot easily be forgotten by such of you as enjoyed these more private but not less precious instances of his care. His affable, youthful, and winning manner, especially to children, made him at all times a welcome visitor, even when coming in his official character to perform what used to called "clerical duty." If any one conceived of religion as an austere and forbidding thing, assuredly it was not from him that this mistake arose.

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Another feature in his pastoral character fully as laudable as the one just referred to, was the deep interest which he took in the religious instruction of the young. "Bible classes are now quite common in our churches, but Dr Kidston has the honour of having first set them agoing. I have heard him refer with pleasing feelings to this chapter of his early pastoral history, and with a most commendable spirit of satisfaction, that he had given an impetus of such force and worth in this direction to ministerial usefulness. The young people of this congregation do not of course remember Dr Kidston in this his beloved occupation; but if they inquire at their parents, it may be they will get such information upon the subject as will convince them of the truthfulness of these notices. And it is proper thus to secure honour to whom honour is due. In a ministerial life, so long protracted, there must needs have been vicissitudes of an afflictive character. To three of these simple reference may be made. The first was the diminution of his congregation about the time of the French warthis, however, not owing to any failure in his efficiency, or to any diminution of his acceptability, but to the rather singular circumstance of great numbers of young people enlisting and leaving the city. This was somewhat discouraging to him; but he soon got over it, and by continued diligence, such breaches were soon repaired, and Campbell Street Church was again filled with a loving people. The second was the disruption that took place about the time of what was called "the Old Light split." At this period about 400 members left him and built the chapel on the opposite side of the street where we now are. Though no doubt oppressed under the losses he now sustained, and by the coldness of many whom he respected, and to whom he had been faithful and kind, he was not cast down, but again buckling on his armour, he succeeded a third time in completely replenishing the church. The third was when in 1813 his health, which had hitherto never failed him, suddenly gave way, and when he was laid aside from all public duty until 1817. During this interval it was found to be proper to have another associated with him in the work of the ministry. Your late esteemed pastor, Mr Brash, was then ordained, and they continued together in pastoral labours until, on the 24th of November last, his colleague was removed by death. It pleased God, however, to renew Dr Kidston's health, so that he resumed his labours among you, and continued them uninterruptedly up to 1838, when the frailty of age began to tell upon him, and he, to a great extent, retired from public duty. But his interest was in no degree abated in all that concerned your spiritual welfare, though thus disabled. You were never forgotten in his prayers, and, to the extent of his ability, he still visited the sick, and the poor, and the dying, working as a comforter, when he could no longer be engaged as an instructor. It was now but rarely that he appeared in the pulpit; but whenever he did so, as some of yourselves have informed me, his discourses were characterised by all their former richness in solid doctrine, and were made more than usually solemn by the seriousness of his demeanour, as one standing, as he felt he did, on the verge of the grave. It was, as you know, when matters were in this state, that his colleague was also laid down upon the bed of sickness, and with Mr Brash's illness he profoundly sympathised, and often expressed himself as afflicted both on his family's account and on yours. It was, however, a great relief to his mind when you succeeded in getting your now sole surviving pastor and our beloved friend, Mr Ker. The last, I think I may say the very last, activities of his life were the efforts he personally made to secure him for you, when you gave him the first call, and also to enjoy as much of his valuable ministrations as he had strength

for. For a few Sabbaths only, after Mr Ker's induction, had he ability to come up and worship with him and with you. But he came with all his heart, and gave the very latest energies of his sinking constitution to these pleasing and to him very profitable visits to this sanctuary, where for more than sixty years had he borne the burden and heat of his day of action. I feel no delicacy whatever in testifying to the high respect and sincere love which your venerable pastor cherished for his junior associate. It was indeed a ray of light, sent in his evening time, which so far cheered his descent to the grave; and if the prayers which he offered up in the family and in the closet, for a blessing on his ministry among you, be answered, you will indeed be a favoured and an honoured flock. * * His long and great usefulness to our church courts is well known. For nearly twenty years he was clerk to the Synod; and perhaps the best account of his qualifications for that office is to be found in a document, which the Synod unanimously entered upon its minutes when he tendered his resignation. It may be also proper to mention, that for the long period of forty-one years he had held the same office in the presbytery of Glasgow, on retiring from which, some time previous to his resignation of the Synod clerkship, he received a very handsome and valuable testimony of regard from his brethren in and around this city. It was well deserved; for a more obliging, painstaking, and hospitable official than he was never lived, as many now living and labouring in all parts of the country can testify.

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In all other respects, Dr Kidston was equally public-spirited. In him benevolent, charitable, and missionary societies ever found an influential patron and a generous subscriber. He lived at the period of the rise of the missionary enterprise, and gave to it his heart and his hand when it needed support. Thus he came into contact with the fathers and founders of the London Missionary Society, whose spirit he admired, and whose zeal he emulated. In general, he was found ever in the very front rank of all measures for the revival of religion. Whoever might be present or absent, Dr Kidston was always there. He was the warm friend of the slave, and advocated his emancipation with the philanthropists of his time. He was the friend of Israel, and longed and prayed for their conversion to God. He was the friend of the poor, and for more than sixty years abetted every scheme in this city for the amelioration of their wretchedness. He was the friend of all and every Christian who loved the Lord Jesus, and at once threw his whole heart into the projected Evangelical Alliance. When nearly eighty years of age, he went to London, and attended all the meetings in Freemasons' Hall which issued in its formation. He took a remarkable interest in the proceedings; giving his counsel in the midst of the great and the good ones gathered from all the ends of the earth; and was chosen to preside over one of its devotional meetings. It was indeed a pleasing spectacle to witness one on the very verge of that happy world where schisms and dissents are unknown, diffusing the spirit of his own Christian charity over the representative sections of the church militant, and as it were enjoying the prelibations of heavenly love out of the very cups of Christian union here. To the very close of his life his heart continued with the grand object of the Alliance; and only a few weeks ago, when I was leaving him to attend its annual meeting in Dublin, he expressed his wish that he had been able to accompany me. This ardent love of Christian union existed, on his part, long, long before the idea of the Evangelical Alliance had been mooted. As far back as 1793, nearly sixty years ago, Dr Kidston was the moving spirit in the formation of a "Friendly Clerical Society" in Glasgow, consisting of ministers of different denominations, and which was greatly blessed for the cultivation of brotherly love. This society consisted at first of eight members, and was composed of ministers of three different denominations--Messrs Stewart and Dunn of the Relief Synod; Messrs Pirie and Kidston of the Associate Burgher Synod; and Messrs Mushet, M'Leod, Williamson, and M‘Intosh of the Established Church. Ere long were added to it the late Drs Mitchell and Muter, with Dr Love, and Messrs Begg, M'Laurin, and M'Kenzie of the Established Church; Mr Fairlie of the Associate Reformed Presbytery, and Mr Brodie of the Relief Synod. In later years still, the late Messrs Macfarlane and Watson of the Relief, with Mr Carment of the Establishment, joined the society. If I mistake not, our excellent friend, the Rev. Dr Struthers

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of this city, was also one of its members, and is now its sole survivor. In the minute-book of this brotherhood, which was kept by Dr Kidston, he states: "Our little society was a novelty, highly gratifying to the benevolent heart. It happily united all the different denominations in this part of the kingdom, for the purpose of cultivating Christian intercourse and friendship. * Ít tended greatly to forward, in this part of the country, the general union and cordial co-operation of Christians in their exertions to send the Gospel to the heathen world." This society met once in the two months, and held its meetings alternately in the private residences, or in the vestry-rooms of its members. That it had something sincere and earnest in its constitution, is evident, from its having existed nearly thirty years. Hence the ardour and promptitude with which Dr Kidston hailed the idea of the Evangelical Alliance, and which made many wonder that at eighty years of age he should feel and take such a deep interest in its success. After all, "there is nothing new under the sun.' If Dr Kidston was not the father of the Alliance, he was certainly one of its most distinguished progenitors.

Perhaps it may be as well in this connection to notice, what all who knew him can testify was a strong feature in his character-his love of peace. If ever the blessing pronounced to the peacemaker was deserved by any, it was by him. Hence in his congregation, in the presbytery, and in the Synod, all his efforts were to maintain and promote peace; and he was very often successful when others failed. To such duties he ever brought an amount of common sense, which had the effect of subduing high-spiritedness in a singularly short period, and of bringing about a comfortable settlement. This disposition made him very active in the preliminary steps to the two great unions which took place during his life in our church-that of the two great branches of the Secession in 1820, and that of the Relief and the Secession in 1847. It was, perhaps, from their appreciation of his peaceable spirit, and active exertions to promote union, as much as from his vener-, able age, that he was chosen to be the first moderator of the United Church-an office, the duties of which he discharged with much of the wisdom and promptitude of his best days; and when at the opening of the Synod following, he preached what was called the Synod sermon-which was afterwards at the Synod's request published-he gave one of the best proofs that, like Moses of old, "his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated." His physical strength was no doubt somewhat weakened; but the eye of his mind was as clear as ever, and the pith of his judgment by no means enfeebled. That sermon will remain as a rare specimen of the sound old theology in which he had been trained, and the excellence and adaptation of which to all holy ends, he firmly maintained to the last-not with the mere doggedness of attachment to old things, but with the manly convictions of a mind which was habituated to weigh well the merits of every subject before decision was reached.

In illustration of some of these traits of his public character, I might refer to his long presidency over the Glasgow Missionary Society, whose jubilee sermon he preached and published some years ago; and to his presidency also over the Glasgow Society for the Emancipation of the Slaves. But these, and others of a kindred nature, I must leave, to introduce you for a moment to Dr Kidston in the more private walks of life. I will be excused from enlarging upon his conjugal or parental excellences. For these, you will give him that credit to which, in the exercise of charity, he was well entitled.

I may say that he had the domestic affections in great strength. One pleasing illustration of this was given to me only last week, by a respected minister of our church, a contemporary with some of the junior members of the Stowe family, who, in Dr Kidston's young days, came much about him in this city, and to whom he ever acted more than a brother's part. To all the members of his father's house, he ever cherished deep affection and regard; and never hesitated to counsel and to help them to the extent of his power. With the friend referred to Dr Kidston spent a few days in his native village of Stowe only two or three years ago. They visited together the churchyard where the Doctor's father was buried. For a time he stood in silence before the monumental stone, and while the tear trickled down his withered cheek at the remembrance of the olden times, and the sorrows of life through which in the interval he had passed, he spake with intense re

verence and affection still of that father's worth. Ere he left Stowe, he employed a person to renew the inscription upon the tablet, which had been partially obliterated and rendered illegible.

In general, it may be said, that he was a faithful friend, a generous benefactor, a most obliging acquaintance, and a prudent counsellor. He was a faithful friend. Once a friend, he continued such till death. Some of his brethren who are dead, and some who live, could tell of his fidelity to them in administering reproof, in a tone and manner so peculiar to himself, that no offence could be taken. He was a generous benefactor-a man of few words indeed, which might dispose some to think him cold and uninterested; but while others were expressing sympathy, Dr Kidston was away among his friends exerting his influence to "do good and to communicate." Not a few ministers' widows and orphans will rise at "that day" to call him blessed. I never knew a man who, in this walk of practical benevolence, did more and said less. Indeed, I sometimes have been tempted to think that he took a pleasure in having the right thing done in such a way as to make it a puzzle to others to discover the doer thereof. In these and other respects I think the character of Dr Kidston is sketched in the 15th Psalm. He was a most obliging acquaintance. Here he excelled-so much so, that his family were sometimes tempted to grudge to the public and to the church the great amount of time and trouble which he took to be serviceable. Numerous instances of this present themselves to my memory at this moment, but I must refrain ; suffice it to say, that in all this he was perfectly disinterested. It arose from no vain motive-from no wish to be thanked-from no wish to get influence. He did it all from pure liking to kindly deeds, and had his reward in full, from simply being permitted to act an obliging part. Hundreds live who shared in his unostentatious but delightful hospitality, and who will never forget either the value of his services or the kindliness of the manner in which they were performed. On this subject I cannot allow myself to speak of the instances in which, while a fatherless boy at college here, he acted to the speaker the part of a father and a counsellor. But the decency of common gratitude justifies this much. word, he was a prudent counsellor. Many asked his advice, and many took it; and few, I presume, ever repented doing so. It would be going too far to say that his advice was uniformly judicious-he was a fallible man, even as others; but upon the whole, his judgment had very much of the character of common sense-an ingredient which seldom fails to give currency and win agreement to friendly propositions and cautions. No doubt Dr Kidston had his imperfections, just like other people; but I am sure you do not wish me to dwell upon them here. None knew these faults better, or deplored them more, than he did. Perhaps one of them was, what by many will be deemed a virtue, his lowly estimate of himself in matters that commanded for him public respect and private gratitude, and his severe judgments against himself in those infirmities of his nature, which made repentance and confession prominent exercises in his private and secret devotions. But let us bury all the shortcomings of the man in his recent grave, and remember only the uprightness, the integrity, the benevolence, and the piety of his walk among the children of men.

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Dr Kidston died as he lived, in the faith of a divine Redeemer, and in the hope of mercy through his righteousness alone. His last days on earth were spent in the privacy of his family, amid their affectionate and tender contributions to his comfort, and his own earnest preparation for his approaching change. I have not had time to certify the correctness of the following dates, but I have reason to consider them accurate :-The last sacrament at which he assisted out of this church, was at Stowe, in the summer of 1850, where he revived the old recollections of his father's house and his native district; and where the visit referred to was made to his father's grave. Among the last services he performed as a member of presbytery, as I have already noticed, was his going to Northumberland to secure, by all the influence he could command, Mr Ker's acceptance of your call; and his subsequent attendance upon the induction services. The last sermon he ever preached was in the United Presbyterian Church at Moffat, on the 16th of June 1850. His text was,-" Our friend Lazarus sleepeth ;" and his subject was the death of Christians and their reunion in heaven. He startled the people by

telling them that it was just sixty years since he had preached from that pulpit. One who was present testifies that he never preached better, or with more animation and ease, and appeared in good health. It was the latest effort of a singularly active and acute mind ere it descended into the silence and solitude of the dark valley; for on the Friday following this, he was visited with that threatening of apoplexy which ever afterwards incapacitated him for public exertion, or indeed for any exertion whatever. He had a partial recovery from the effects of this stroke; and the first use he made of it was to come up and worship with you in this holy temple. He did this when prudence suggested another course; but when he had once made up his own mind, he generally adhered to it; and it was found no easy thing to persuade him to remain at home. His two last appearances amongst yourselves was upon the melancholy occasion of his colleague's funeral sermon being preached, and in the afternoon of the communion in April last. From the period of Mr Brash's death he gradually sunk. That solemn event made a very deep impression upon his mind; and though he spoke little, it was very evident that he was almost overpowered with it. Once or twice after this, such was his love for ordinances, he went down to our church at Govan, which lies near to his dwelling-house; but even this he was obliged to relinquish, and to spend his remaining Sabbaths at home-and these Sabbaths were well spent by him, though not in the house of God. His principal exercises were reading the Scriptures, meditation on them, and prayer. The eye of affection now discovered the slow but sure sinking of his remaining strength; and it seemed to want but some painful wounding of his affectionate nature to precipitate him still further down towards the grave. And it came. On the 24th of July last, his early and attached friend, the Rev. James Elles of Saltcoats, died. Mr Elles had been brought up, as you know, under Dr Kidston's ministry, and he ever regarded him with the reverence and affection of a father. It was reciprocated. Dr Kidston had a great regard for that warm-hearted, public-spirited, sound-minded, and in many other respects most estimable man. Their affection for each other had almost grown with their growth, and strengthened with their strength; but Dr Kidston had never premeditated that his friend should predecease him. Hence the sudden character of his death was felt to be a severe blow. Somewhat more quickly now did his failing strength forsake him. His mind waited daily upon death, and his exercises were suitable to his solemn expectations. Much of his time was given to the Bible, and to pious books-but especially to the Bible itself. His reverence for that blessed book was great, and increased as he drew nigh to death. One Sabbath morning lately, as a friend was leaving him to go with the family to church, that friend expressed his regret that he was to be left alone; and somewhat jocularly said, "That he would just require now to take up and read one of his old discourses." "No, no," he replied; "they are not worth reading. I go now always to the Fountain of Life-to the Bible-to the Bible alone." Indeed, his ardent love of God's word is one of the most memorable features in his character. His family may forget many exemplary points in their father's life; but his daily morning seat for an hour or two over the sacred volume, they can never forget. It must be stereotyped for ever in their minds. The consequence was, that few men knew better than he the Scriptures of truth, or could handle them more accurately, or at better chosen periods. This was specially observable in his prayers, and in his counsels to the afflicted. Public duty called me to London about the middle of September last, when he was in his ordinary frail condition. He said at parting that we should never meet again on earth. I soon heard that a decided change to the worse had taken place, and hastened home. It was indeed but too evident that death was at hand. I arrived on Saturday evening, that day two weeks before his decease, and found his strength greatly reduced. It was the last night he passed with his family out of his bed-room. As it happened, the place for singing in the usual course at family worship, was in the 8th Paraphrase, commencing with these solemn words,—

"But man forsakes this earthly scene,
Ah! never to return," etc.

From this evening he scarcely ever left his bed.

Though very restless and

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