Obituary.

sittings iu the former church should be accommodated . The church is of a cruciform shape , and not devoid externally of symmetry . In 1817 the interior was modernised ; but as the places where the old corporations of the Burgh of Canongate used to sit were altered , it was one of the causes of weakening the connection between the church and the Canongate . Still once a year the Incorporated Trades of the Canongateon the

, election of their Convener , meet for worship in the parish church with considerable state . Not to go farther hack than the history of the present edifice , the parish of Canongate has at various periods had ministers of great eminence ancl distinction . Itself poorly endowed , this parish has been considered a stepping stone to farther preferment in the Church . Among these we may mention the name of the learned and eloquent Dr . Hugh

Blair , author of the celebrated sermons , and afterwards one of the ministers of the High Church . At this time there were two candidates , and the Minute Book of the Oannongate Kilwinning show that the Lodge voted for Dr . Blair ; Dr . M'Farlane , author of a work on the State of the Poor ; Dr . Buchanan , who built the schools in Locbend-elose , now managed by the Society for Propagating Reliious Knowled ancl Brotherthe late

g ge , , Principal Lee , were also all ministers . Dr . Lee was minister for several years in conjunction with Dr . Buchanan , and although the latter was the more popular preacher , Dr . Lee had most respectable audiences . The Church had a very great share of Bloderatism , and the two colleagues , tbe late Dr . Gilchrist and the late Mr . Clark , were not very well fitted for the humbler classes who began to occupy the places of the wealthier people

who once inhabited the Canongate . Not the least distinguisheil men who have from time to time occupied the pulpit of this church , was our late brother . AVe have chosen , as a specimen of our deceased brother ' s pulpit oratory , not one of those laboured and highly finished addresses with which he was wont to appeal to his congregation on certain occasions . Even his " Crown of Thorns" a masterpiece of

, eloquence , we have passed by , and have chosen one of his ordinary sermons , which by the intelligent and well-instructed Mason will read like a lodge lecture , for it is full of that strong Craft feeling , which has won for Freemasonry the proud title of " handmaid to religion , " a feeling which can be traced through

all the more thoughtful and high-toned of his works . The subject of the lecture is the 8 th Psalm , the 3 rd and 4 th verses" When I consider the heavens the work of thy fingers , the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained ; what is man that thou art mindful of him ? and the son of man that thou visitest him ? " David , in composing this Psalm , had before his mind , and probably before his view , the firmament of heaventhat glorious concave which we so often see glittering above us

—replete with stars , ancl illuminated by " the moon walking in her brightness . " Such a sight excited the awe and called forth the admiration of the Psalmist of Israel . It suggested the theme of some of his loftiest strains , such as in this Psalmone dictated by the emotions appropriate to the season when the turmoil of day is over , when the moon may shed her light over hill and dale , forest and waterfall , the habitations of man and the temples dedicated to the Most High . Engagingto a

, contemplative mind , is the period of night , when the time of work is over , and the duties of ihe day are clone , especially when the sky gleams with glory . Slaves , as some may be , to the bounded and visible , such is a scene well fitted to draw us " from nature unto nature ' s God . " A part of the wide and boundless expanse , comprehended under the government of Jehovah , appears to stretch before us . We seem to stand upon the

borders of an ocean of measureless extent , the breadth of which we cannot tell , and the depth of which no plummet can sound . Wonderful are these lights . Whether the worlds they indicate are inhabited or not , as there is much reason to think they are inhabited , at least they serve an important purpose , enlivening the scene of man ' s abode , bidding him look above what is temporaland reminding him that there is a

, Power that raises the tempest ancl hushes it to a calm—a God who has marshalled the vast array—by whose word " the heavens were created , ancl all the host of them , " "A Living All Ruling Spirit , " who first " breathed into man ' s nostril the breath of life , " and at whose word "the heavens shall be gathered together as a scroll , and the elements shall melt with fever heat . " Day is indeed full of proof of the Divine

beneficence . The " greater orb" that rules it is wonderful as that which turns darkness to light , and diffuses comfort and cheerfulness , so that each may " awake from nightlv slumber , and man may go forth confidents to labour , pourincr its shxd beams

oil countless pillows , as if to remind us of Him who is emphatically called "the Sun of Righteousness , " and the "Bright and Morning Star . " This apparent source of light , we say apparent , because we read in the record of Creation that there was light before the sun existed , is indeed a wonderful part of the economy of the universe—as the centre of the planetary system around which the earth we inhabitas well as nearer and far off

, world ' s revolve ( some of them far surpassing our earth in magnitude ) , yet is it that the . substance and composition of which have hitherto baffled inquiry and research . But many as the blessings are which ive derive through this instrumentality , whether it be that his appearance knows not any essential change and variation , or that , during the day more than in the night worldly cares and bodily necessaries demand attention

, the moonlit scene and the starry tracery of the firmament are felt to be peculiarly adapted for the elevation of the thoughts ; we seem to be brought into nearer communication with the Eternal—man ' s littleness is felt as contrasted with the greatness of Jehovah . The stillness of repose appears to invest surrounding objects . These objects , moreover , science tells us are not mere points of lightglittering to illumine man ' s dreary

, dwelling place . They are , iu themselves , worlds ! Richl y has God showered down blessings on us . Besides adorning our earth with so much that is i-ieh and beautiful . He has thus cheered the gloom of that season when our remote luminary is hid from view . There are elsewhere conspicuous marks of His goodness . In the remote desert the flower springs up , opening its tiny cup to receive the dew . From the mountain the rill streams down

to fertilise the plain ; on every side the hand that decks " the lilies of the field " has caused forms to appear which human art cannot match , attiring the flower ancl the insect in a radiance and beauty that man cannot compete with . The writer of this Psalm was de . eply impressed by a sense of the extent of the divine operations ancl of the magnitude of the wonders done by God ' s hand . Taking bthemselves the words of the textit

y , may he both interesting and useful to consider the manner in which God has shown His regard and mindfulness towards man , and to think on some of the practical reflections which such a view is fitted to suggest . * * * Paul declared at Athens the truth when he said that God has " made of one blood all

the families of the earth , " and fixed the bounds of their habitation to the intent that they should seek after if haply they could find Him ; and he also tells us that the idolatry of the heathen was " without excuse , " for besides the testimony of conscience , the light that remained if duller yet unextinguished hy the fall , they saw the framework of the universe , its aptitude so obviously suggesting a contriver , and denoting His existence by whom the worlds were made . Man is the foiemost beino- in

this department of the universe . The riches of nature contribute to his comfort ; the dwellers in field and forest are for the most part under his control . A woeful change has indeed taken place .. For the filial spirit and accordance with the Divine will which made the trees of Eden with their over-arching houghs admit of comparison to a nobler temple than human hands have rearedthere may beon the part of the vast

-, , pro portion of those with whom the Almighty has so bountifully dealt , a kindreciness of spirit with those who admit the supremacy of Satan , and are reserved in chains of darkness until "the judgment of the great day come . " In support of the idea that some chasm has opened which requires to be bridged over , the displeasure of the Almighty is sometimes shown as giving earnest of the wrath which must sweep over

the heads of the ungodly . Yet all is controlled by a God , not of wisdom merely , but of love , while no small proportion of existing evil arises out of man ' s own fault . The occasional convulsions in the natural world , equally with the commotions and conflicts which lead to the shedding of human blood , do not furnish any argument against the mindfulness and care exhibited by God towards men If the heavens

declare His glory , the earth also showeth His handiwork . Man was not ushered into existence until the close of the Divine operations that were carried forward to make our earth what it is ; instead of being called on to live in a world that was bleak and desolate , he " first opened his astonished eyes on a scene wherein all was beautiful and productivea fitting habitation for holand happy beings

, y . Earth is fair and beautiful to an instructed observer ' s eye—its mountains and valleys , its forests , streams , and undulating uplands , clad in the brightness of the rising or in the glory of the setting sun . Everywhere around are numberless objects not merely of curiosity and interest from the grandeur or