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of the Sabbath become more lax, he evidenced by his emotion the feelings of deep sorrow and concern which were working in his mind.

' Even now, far distant, fancy leads

Through twilight groves and blooming meads;

And lovely, in the hues of truth,

Restores the scenes, the friends of youth.

He feels that nought in later life

His bosom with a tie can clasp

So strong-so sacred as endears

The scenes and friends of early years.'

"He loved the whole human race, because upon them the image of their God and Creator had been stamped, and for them, as for him, his Son had died; but he was thoroughly a patriot, and a patriot in the noblest sense of the term. He would cheerfully have died for the interests, temporal and eternal, of his country, had Providence so called him to suffer, either in the field or at the stake. He devoted the energies of his mind, in a paramount degree, to the necessities of the poor heathen in foreign lands, because there they were more peculiarly required; but he did not neglect the ties by which he was bound to his family and his native land. His more tender sympathies were in the eternal interests of his family-then of his church-and, extending the circle, em. braced those of the land he so dearly loved. It was natural, however, that the portion of the land where he had been born and educated,-where the first impressions of seriousness had been made upon his mind,-where his taste for the beauties of nature had been cherished and cultivated,—where the peaceful character of the people, and their sterling integrity and unfeigned piety, were the best evidences of the salutary effects of that Gospel which he preached so long and so faithfully,-where his fathers had lived and died, beloved and respected by all who knew them; it was natural that Earlstoun and its neighbourhood should excite more intense interest in his mind than any other place; and, accordingly,

when they were mentioned, a chord was struck which vibrated to the inmost recesses of his soul. The strength of this feeling will, without an effort, present itself to the recollection of all his countrymen who were in the habit of social and friendly intercourse with him.

In

"It has been before observed, that he had a highly poetical imagination. His writings-I mean his notes and letters-and his public exhibitions, as well as those in private life (those of every-day occurrence, without design and without effort), afford ample evidence of this faculty. But although he wrote and composed without difficulty-currente calamo-and was never at a loss in composition for a word or a sentiment, and those the most appropriate; yet he had never, so far as I know, made any attempt in verse. early life he had read, and read attentively, our best English poets, and had committed much of their works to memory. In later years, however, his numerous avocations rendered it impossible that he should do more than read, and that very cursorily, the poetical productions of his contemporaries; but he always marked the striking sentiments conveyed in the latter; and although he might not be able to quote them precisely in their own words, he had the happy faculty of promptly bringing the sentiments to bear on any subject in which his heart was peculiarly interested. The aptitude of the illustration was recognized and forcibly felt by those of his hearers who had read the works from which they were drawn, and by others was received with all the charm of novelty and with all its power.

"Of all the poets, however, in whose works he delighted, Thomson was his greatest favourite. The scenes he describes, his enthusiasm in their delineation, the purity of his mind, and the object he had primarily in view, the leading the minds of his readers from nature up to nature's God,—of whose tenderness and love in Spring, perfection in Summer, bounty in Autumn, and awful grandeur in Winter, the rolling year is full;-these allured, captivated, and fixed his mind, a mind attuned in sweetest melody to full and joyful

harmony with all the perfections of Deity, as exhibited in the world which has been so richly adorned for loved, though fallen man. He was in the habit of frequently addressing his people on the return of the seasons, and of illustrating his subject by some of the most pathetic touches of his favourite poet;--with Spring, Summer, and Autumn, his eye beamed love and ardent gratitude,-with Winter his soul seemed to sink under the poet's delineation of wretchedness and woe. His people evidenced the power of the former, and their sympathy with the latter, in their uniform and stedfast works of kindness and labours of love,-fruits which gladdened his heart, and gave confidence to his exertions.

"When reference was sometimes made to his love of na ture, and to the peculiarly strong impression which the goodness of God, in providing for the wants of his creatures by the returning seasons, had made upon his mind, I shall never forget the solemn manner in which he used to repeat the fol lowing lines,

For me, when I forget the darling theme,
Whether the blossom blows, the summer-ray
Russets the plain, inspiring Autumn gleams,
Or Winter rises in the blackening east,—
Be my tongue mute, my fancy paint no more,
And, dead to joy, forget my heart to beat!""

CHAPTER VI.

HIS CONDUCT IN AFFLICTION AND DEATH.

Submission and cheerfulness in distress; letters. Addresses to his people during his illness. Resignation under increasing infirmities and bereavements. Anticipations of approaching dissolution; letters. Last public services. Last illness. Death-bed scenes. His decease. Resolution of Directors of London Missionary Society on this event. His funeral. Tributes to his memory. Conclusion.

THOUGH Dr Waugh lived to the age of seventy-four, he did not enjoy, for a number of years before his death, any thing like vigorous health. He was subject to frequent ailments, which often caused exquisite pain; yet, in these circumstances, he was not only patient, but even cheerful; and while he edified his family and visitors, in his affliction, by the submission and the heavenly-mindedness which he manifested, he delighted them by a pleasantry which stripped his sick-chamber of its gloom, and sent them away from his side, struck with the power of religion, and with the energy of a mind disposed to be happy. Cheerful piety in the decline of life is like a tree which the storm has shattered, but which still retains much of the verdure of the summer, and is still the resort of the birds which sing among the branches.

The pious state of his mind will be seen from his communications to his friends. To a friend he says, in 1806 :

"I have been confined to bed by what my surgeon calls a bastard gout, for this fortnight past, and have little prospect of being soon better; but I am in the hands of God, in whose wisdom, tender mercy, and love, it is my desire to repose entire con

fidence. While it is day, O work! In the time of sickness there is little to be done. Distracted thoughts, deadness of heart, anxiety, and fretfulness, are temptations which assail us in our day of adversity; but God will be my defence."

He afterwards writes to the same friend :

"By the kindness of Providence, I am gathering a little strength, though still unable to stand without a staff. By means he deems suitable, my physician is trying to invigorate my cold and crazy carcass. It will afford materials of gratitude to your mind to be informed that my heavenly Father does not desert me in the time of my trouble. I have a calm and settled confidence in the wisdom and goodness of a covenanted Providence, and my hopes as to the future rest entirely on the blood of the Lamb of God. In the guardian care of Divine providence I desire to leave what is most dear to me,—my wife and children, and the congregation of God's redeemed people which he hath put under my care. Though the symptoms are not at present alarming, yet I cannot consider myself as out of danger. My mind enjoys tranquility. May my merciful Father preserve me from the delusion of a false and ill-grounded trust!"

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"This has been a sad winter to me, through a severe return of a constitutional disorder, and other causes. It has, however, at intervals, been relieved by days more luminous; but nothing I find will secure untroubled serenity save the constant exercise of looking upward and looking forward."

On a renewed attack of indisposition :

:-

"I am feeble both in body and mind; but what ground of thankfulness to the Lord have I! and I wish to record it, to the honour of his faithfulness and grace, that my spirits are no where so good as in the pulpit and by the sick man's bed. Were it otherwise, I should be of all ministers the most miserable."

The bruise which he received by the fall of the platform in 1823, as already mentioned, gave a shock to his constitution from which it never recovered. Though he was able,

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