“But now I preach from the words without knowing who it is that the Master destines to occupy in future years the pulpit of this place. Who shall hereafter ‘increase’ I cannot tell. I only know who must ‘decrease.’ “I did not renounce the idea of a co-pastorate until I was convinced from experience and observation that such a co-pastorate as I desired was impracticable. I remember often saying that I thought it must be an old man’s fault if he could not find, and work with, a fitting colleague. Alas, the finding has proved an impossibility, though I still incline to my old opinion of the working of the arrangement, when an appropriate colleague can be found. I am still persuaded that both for young ministers and for old ones the colligate plan is very desirable. Age tempers youth. Youth animates age. The senior with refined experience, the junior with the flush and fervour of opening life, conjoined in pastoral work, must surely to all appear a beautiful ideal. I was not brought to say, ‘What I shall _choose_ I wot not,’ but I have been compelled to forego the exercise of _choice_ in the matter, and to fall back on simple convictions of duty. Perhaps there is something amiss in the working of our system in relation to colligate ministries. Neither assistantships nor co-pastorates are in favour now-a-days, though in earlier Nonconformist societies they were. One minister is expected and desired to do everything, and, in a sense not intended by Ignatius, his motto finds a practical currency amongst us—widely as we may be separated from him in notions of episcopal government—‘nothing without the bishop.’” On the 4th of April, 1875, Dr. Stoughton preached his farewell sermon as pastor at Kensington. The text was 1 Thessalonians ii. 19, 20: “For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? For ye are our glory and joy.” The sermon concluded with these words:— “Perhaps the strongest of all ministerial power is sympathy in sorrow. It has been my lot to visit many in affliction, to sit by many sick beds, to witness the desolation of many a hearth, to grasp the widow’s hand, to kiss the orphan’s cheek. If I have ever shed one drop of healing balm over a wounded heart, or cast one ray of light over a darkened dwelling, I thank God for it, as the fulfilment of a ministry in which angels might have been glad to share; and sure I am that the remembrance of it, and the prospect of spending eternity together with the sons and daughters of sorrow in that world where tears are wiped from off all faces, will form no small part of my joy and crown of rejoicing in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ at His corning.