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'For a memorial in the temple of the Lord.'-ZECH. VI. 14

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Emigravit is the inscription on the tombstone where he lies; Dead he is not, but departed, for the Christian never dies. Fairer seems the ancient city, and the sunshine seems more

fair,

That he once has trod its pavement, that he once hath breathed its air.'

IN the National Scotch Church, Regent Square, a mural tablet had previously been erected on one side of the pulpit,

and at the expense of the kirk-session, to the memory of William Hamilton; and another on the other side, of the same kind of material, and of similar dimensions, was subsequently raised to the memory of James Nisbet. In some respects the men were widely different; but they were most closely and lovingly associated together in the ser

vice of the same sanctuary. Nothing, therefore, could be more appropriate than the placing of such memorials in the house of God, which was so enshrined in the warmest affections of their hearts, and where, after the labours and struggles of this mortal life, their precious dust is now reposing. And though it is scarce possible to regard them in any other light than as pillars in the temple of our God above, yet it is pleasant to think that the names by which they were known on earth, and the memory of their righteous deeds, if engraven anywhere else than on the living hearts of those who loved them, should be inscribed, in close proximity to one another, on the walls of the same noble edifice which they were so instrumental in building up, within whose sacred courts their voices, in counsel and in prayer, were so often heard, and whose holiest solemnities, it can scarcely be supposed, have yet faded from their thoughts, even amid the light, and the music, and the ministrations of heaven.

The following are the inscriptions on the tablets referred to :

TO

THE MEMORY OF

WILLIAM HAMILTON, ESQUIRE,

A RULING ELDER OF THIS CHURCH,

AND HONORARY SECRETARY OF ITS BUILDING COMMITTEE ; IN COUNSEL SAGACIOUS, IN LABOURS ABUNDANT;

A FAITHFUL STEWARD, AND A STEDFAST FRIEND; IN WHOSE CONSISTENT PIETY THIS FLOCK BEHELD A PATTERN, AND IN WHOSE UNSWERVING SUPPORT

THE CHURCH OF HIS FATHERS RECOGNISED A PILLAR ; THIS TABLET IS ERECTED BY THE MEMBERS OF SESSION. HE WAS BORN IN THE PARISH OF SANQUHAR, 17TH MAY 1790,

AND DIED AT LONDON, IITH August 1851.

то

THE MEMORY OF

JAMES NISBET, ESQUIRE,

OF 21, BERNERS STREET,

A RULING ELDER OF THIS CONGREGATION,
AND A CHIEF INSTRUMENT IN THE ERECTION OF THIS CHURCH,
WHO DIED NOVEMBER 8, 1854,
AGED 69 YEARS.

A PATRIOT, A PHILANTHROPIST,
AND A MAN OF PRAYER,

THROUGH WHOSE FATHERLY COUNSEL

NOT A FEW OF HIS YOUNG COUNTRYMEN
WERE GUIDED IN THE WAYS OF WISDOM;

WHOSE HOUSE WAS THE MISSIONARY'S HOME,
AND WHOSE WARM HEART AND OPEN HAND,
UP TO THE LAST HOUR OF LIFE,

WERE DEVOTED TO THE CAUSE OF

CHRISTIAN CHARITY.

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"The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance.— Ps. CXII. 6.

ROM the close of a sermon preached by Dr. Hamilton in Regent Square, May 8, 1859, I give here a passage which, for truth and justice, is only equalled by its

beauty and its power :

'Thirty-two years have now elapsed since, under this roof, the first worshipping congregation met; and it is a solemn thing to think, that already a generation has rolled away, and carried into the eternal state most of those who, so bright and joyous, greeted that May morning. Already for a quarter of a century, beneath the roof of St. Mungo's ancient minster, has reposed that majestic form, round which, in its palmy prime, there rallied the élite of the Scottish nation here in London, and under whose

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resistless spell those stately towers arose like magic. Already from his Edinburgh pulpit has disappeared Gordon's lofty brow and noble visage; and we shall watch no more the lightning of his eye, nor listen to his voice enunciating great thoughts in tones of organic grandeur. And even he, who is now an immortal presence in his country's history-philosopher, evangelist, philanthropist, all in one-even he who, with a protest for the "old paths," preoccupied the new sanctuary, has now joined the sainted fathers in a higher walk, and made it impossible for us to let our children hear the specimen supreme of sacred oratory.

'Looking back, our first feeling is respectful gratitude to the friends and fathers to whose pious zeal we owe this house of prayer; and from amongst whom two outstanding names come forth so memorable and conspicuous, as hardly to require their tablet on the wall- one who, with characteristic ardour, watched every beam of the rising structure, and took pleasure in every stone; the other, who seemed to have repeated almost literally the Psalmist's vow: "I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up into my bed; I will not give sleep to mine eyes, or slumber to mine eyelids, until I find out a place for the Lord, a habitation for the mighty God of Jacob," and who, by the stedfastness of his principles, the tenderness of his affections, and the

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