His closing work was the installation of his own successor. During his absence from Edinburgh, Mr. John Craig, his colleague, had gone to another sphere of labour, and his flock had now no other shepherd than himself. He was, therefore, very naturally anxious to see some true and earnest man set over them in the Lord, and accordingly obtained permission from the General Assembly to induct any minister who might be chosen by himself, the Superintendent of Lothian, and the Church of Edinburgh, to take his place. They agreed to nominate James Lawson, of Aberdeen, who, being urged by Knox to repair immediately to Edinburgh, in a touching letter, with a still more touching postscript,--"Haste, lest ye come too late!"--came to {197} the metropolis, gave such evidence of his gifts as satisfied all parties concerned, and was installed on the 9th of November. Knox preached the sermon on the occasion in the Tolbooth Church, and after that removed with the congregation to the larger area of the cathedral, where he went through the form of admission by proposing the usual questions, and giving exhortation first to the pastor and then to the people. He concluded with prayer and the benediction; "then leaning upon his staff and the arm of an attendant, he crept down the street, which was lined with the audience, who, as if anxious to take the last sight of their beloved pastor, followed him until he entered his house, from which he never again came out alive." The next day he was seized with a violent cough, and he gradually declined until the 24th of November, when, at the age of sixty-seven, he breathed his last. His faithful servant, Richard Ballantyne, has left a minute description of his death-bed experiences and sayings, which Dr. McCrie has reproduced the main features of in his biography. We select those which seem to us to give most insight into the character of the man. Visited, a few days after his last sickness began, by two of his personal friends, he "for their cause came to the table," for it was the hour of dinner, and caused an hogshead of wine in the cellar to be pierced for their entertainment, at the same time playfully desiring one of them to send for some of it as long as it lasted, for he would not tarry until it was all drunk." To the elders of his Church who {198} came in a body to his room at his request, he said, "I profess before God and His holy angels that I never made merchandise of the sacred word of God; never studied to please men; never indulged my own private passions or those of others, but faithfully distributed the talents entrusted to me for the edification of the Church over which I watched. Whatever obloquy wicked men may cast upon me respecting this point, I rejoice in the testimony of a good conscience." As they were leaving, he detained his colleague and the minister of Leith to give them a message to Kirkaldy of Grange, adding to it these words: "That man's soul is dear to me, and I would