And then follow him to the Pulpit. How often has he stood in this pulpit to plead with you! He must have preached in this church between three and four thousand sermons! and who can measure the value of such a ministry? Here he stood as the ambassador for Christ, “warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that he might present every man perfect in Christ Jesus,” &c. Here he stood to warn the wicked, to awaken the careless, to carry hope to the convicted, to proclaim pardon to the repentant, help to the weak, comfort to the afflicted, and to give food to those hungering and thirsting after righteousness. To sum up, he preached the Gospel of God through the power of the Holy Ghost. And how earnestly did he do it, and how prayerfully! how faithfully and yet how tenderly! How did his heart yearn for souls! How did he first plead with God for sinners in his own home, and then come here to plead with sinners for God! It is to such preaching as this that for the last thirty-four years you have listened habitually, and who shall venture to say that there has not been a prophet among you? Once more, look at him on his Death-bed. For a long time it had been his constant prayer that it would please God to take him home before he had to give up his work, and so when the answer came all was ready. There was no alarm, no hurry, no confusion. He could still think of his beloved people whom he was about to leave, mentioning by name some of the sick and aged whom he was habitually visiting. He could say, as Mr. Standfast in “Pilgrim’s Progress” did, “I see myself now at the end of my journey; my toilsome days are ended. I have formerly lived by faith, but now I go where I shall live by sight, and shall be with Him in whose company I delight myself.” And so in the peaceful calm of an assured faith, with his blessed Saviour full in view, and his beloved people, like the names on Aaron’s breastplate, borne still on his heart, he could step across the border-line to receive from his Lord, whom he had so faithfully served and so truly loved, the blessed welcome, “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” And now, what was the secret of the whole character and the whole work? What was it that made him what he was in the home, in the parish, amongst the young, in the mission work, in the church, and on his death-bed? What was it that was the very essence of his life?