CONCLUSION.

In closing this memoir, the writers do not deem it at all requisite to subjoin any more particular delineation of Dr. Waugh's character. Its features have appeared so vividly in what he did, and said, and wrote, as to render any formal eulogy neither necessary nor desirable. On the heart of the reader a strong impression must have been made of his worth, and they trust also of the power of that religion under whose impulse he acted. With the greatest truth they can assert that, much as they loved and venerated their lamented friend, their ideas of his excellence have risen higher, the more they studied his character, and the more they became acquainted with the incidents of his life. They will only call the reader to mark the rare combination of excellencies in Dr. Waugh; how the zeal and the ardour of public activity were blended with all the kindness that blesses in friendship, and all the suavity which charms in domestic life; how the solemnity and awe of devotion were enhanced, not degraded, by the delightful pleasantry with which he could enliven conversation; and how his supreme love to God shewed itself in a pure and generous love

to man.

The reader must also be struck with the wisdom of Providence in bringing to a sphere of

such utility a man so admirably fitted to adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour. When the period for the formation of those institutions which are the glory of our times had arrived, he was found ready to spread the flame and to stimulate and guide the course of holy charity.

In looking at those labours in which he was so abundant, some may suppose that by them his strength and spirits must have been exhausted; but so far was this from being the case, that he used to say the missionary cause gave a most happy excitement to his mind, and such activity to his life as contributed not only to prolong but to bless it.

It may be thought by some that it has been our wish to exhibit before the reader a faultless character, and to represent him as free from the imperfections which cleave to the best in this scene of mortality. But he was far from thinking highly or favourably of himself; and, as the apostle Paul did, in closing a life devoted above that of all others to the glory of God, he felt, the older he grew, the more deeply his need of the Saviour. While such were his humble impressions of himself, it will, however, be admitted by all who knew him, that there have been few in whom his fellow-creatures could see so little to be regretted. It has been said that he was soft when firmness, nay severity, were imperiously required, and that he was more liberal in praise on some occasions than was due; but where this may have been the case, it arose from the uncommon kindliness of his spirit: and what good man

is there who would not rather err in this way with him, than in the harshness of the cynic, or the detraction of the censorious?

We are aware, too, that men devoted to elaborate study may feel little complacency in a life so engrossed with public avocations; and we admit that, to men of inferior talents, and to persons placed in other circumstances, more retirement for mental culture, and more preparation for official duty, would have been indispensable; but he had facilities for the pulpit possessed by few, and of the stores of a well-improved youth he could readily avail himself. Closer study might have rendered his discourses more rich and regular, but it may be doubted if they would have been as striking as they often were, by the kindling of his mind, and his happy use of occurrences for illustrating and enforcing the counsels of wisdom. If the value of a life is to be estimated by its utility, few lives have been of as much importance as his; and if it has left few memorials for the library, it has left many for the heart.

It would be improper to close this work without leading the reader to that grace from which all that is truly estimable in character proceeds, and by which such varied excellence was produced and cherished. We claim it for the honour of Christianity, that in its principles was the life of his spirit, in its examples the model of his temper and manners, in its motives the impulse of his charity, and in its hopes the solace of his life and his death. A more appropriate finish to this memoir there cannot be

than in these words of the apostle, descriptive of that devotedness to God which the Gospel alone can form, in which he and his brethren lived and died, in which they were followed in so eminent a degree by Dr. Waugh, and in which all who aspire after what is noble and generous in character will copy them:-" None of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's."