hereafter, amidst the calm and softness of an hour gilded by splendours that, like his, shall melt away without a cloud,-may you too, my brother, enjoy the tranquil satisfaction, which it must be his now to experience, of retiring from your labours, not amidst gloom and solitude, not in the struggles and the anguish of mortality,-to be followed by an unknown successor, and one haply regardless of your pattern, or jealous of your still remembered instructions, and your imperishable fame,-but like Aaron on the mount of Hor, or Moses on the awful summit of Pisgah,—(save only that death shall be commissioned for a season to forbear his office)-may you peacefully put off your vestments in the sight of all the congregation, and, while the glories of the land of promise lie outspread beneath you, there resign your charge! And may it, as at this most solemn day, be transferred to one who will rejoice to acknowledge himself your very son in the gospel,— one in whose vigorous maturity and noble consecration you also shall behold the renovated vitality of those great principles you have still sought to propagate, the security of those interests over which you have watched with all a pastor's fondness,—and the living evidence that all your toil and care has been expended for a cause that cannot die!

IV.

CHARGE

ADDRESSED TO THE REV. W. H. STOWELL,

ON HIS SETTLEMENT

AS PASTOR OF THE CHURCH, AND THEOLOGICAL TUTOR

OF THE COLLEGE,

AT ROTHERHAM,

OCTOBER 29th, 1834.

DISCOURSE IX.

ACTS xx. 24.

"That I might finish my course with joy."

IN applying myself to the duty assigned to me this day, I feel it a source of relief, that the very circumstances which might appear the most to enhance its difficulty are those also which will not only furnish the readiest apology for every defect in its execution, but from which I may derive the surest defence against such misconception of my sentiments as would be far more painful than any other consequence of this engagement. It is impossible that I can be accused of assuming to prescribe to you, as though I were possessed of any superiority in wisdom or experience. Your long and arduous exertions as a Christian pastor,-your distinguished success in having, as a writer, stimulated others to the loftiest purposes of zeal and piety, and your present responsible and honourable office as an instructor of the rising ministry,—will all, I trust, defend me from the suspicion, as they do in fact from the danger, of forgetting for a moment what is due both to yourself and to your station, and of speaking in any other spirit than that of the utmost diffidence blended with the sincerest respect.