which he occasionally exhibited, to which some will add the necessity which this imposed on him to make retractions, which, while they threw a partial shade over his fame, taught his admirers the needful lesson, that he was a man subject to like passions and infirmities with others. But the fact is, though hitherto known to few, and the time is now come for revealing it, that some of those effusions which were most objectionable, and exposed him to the greatest obloquy, were neither composed by Dr. Thomson, nor seen by him, until they were published to the world; and that in one instance, which has given rise to the most unsparing abuse, he paid the expenses of a prosecution, and submitted to make a public apology, for an offence of which he was innocent as the child unborn, rather than give up the name of the friend who was morally responsible for the deed;— an example of generous self-devotion which has few parallels.

"To his other talents, Dr. Thomson added a singular capacity for business, which not only qualified him for taking an active part in the Church Courts, but rendered him highly useful to those public charities of which the clergy of Edinburgh are officially managers, and to the different voluntary societies with which he was connected. This caused unceasing demands on his time and exertions, which, joined to his other labors, were sufficient to wear out the most robust constitution, and he at last sunk under their weight.

"In private life, Dr. Thomson was every thing that is amiable and engaging. He was mild, and gentle, and cheerful;-deeply tender and acutely sensitive in his strongest affections; most faithful and true in his

attachments of friendship-kindhearted and indulgent to all with whom he had intercourse. His firm adherence to principle, when he thought principle involved, whatever appearance of severity it may have presented to those who saw him only as a public character, had no taint of harshness in his private life; and unbending as he certainly was in principle, he never failed to receive with kindness what was addressed to his reason in the spirit of friendship. It may indeed be said with truth, that, great as were his public merits, and deplorable the public loss in his death, yet to those who had the happiness to live with him in habits of intimacy, the deepest and the bitterest feeling still is, the separation from a man who possessed so many of the finest and most amiable sensibilities of the human heart. It was around his own family hearth, and in the circle of his intimate acquaintances, that Dr. Thomson was peculiarly delightful. In him the lion and the lamb may be said to have met together. It was equally natural in him to play with a child, and to enter the lists with a practised polemic. He could be gay without levity, and grave without moroseness. His frank and bland manners, the equable flow of his cheerfulness and good humor, and the information which he possessed on almost every subject, made his company to be courted by persons of all classes. He could mix with men of the world without compromising his principles, or lowering his character as a minister of the gospel; and his presence was enough to repress any thing which had the semblance of irreligion.

"The loss of such a man, and at such a time, is incalculable. His example and spirit had a wholesome

and refreshing, an exhilarating and elevating influence, on the society in which he moved; and even the agitation which he produced when he was in his stormy moods, was salutary,-like the hurricane, (his own favorite image, and the last which he employed in public,) purifying the moral atmosphere, and freeing it from the selfishness and duplicity, and time-serving, with which it was over-charged."

The following is a list of Dr. Thomson's publications.

Catechism on the Nature and Uses of the Lord's Supper, 18mo.-Address to Christian Parents on the Religious Education of their Children, 18mo.-The Young Warned against the Enticement of Sinners, 18mo.-Lectures on Select Portions of Scripture, 12mo. The Sin and Danger of being "Lovers of Pleasure more than Lovers of God," 18mo.-Sermons on Infidelity, post 8vo.-Catechism for Young Persons, 18mo. Sermons on Hearing the Word Preached, 18mo.-Lectures on Select Portions of the Psalms, post 8vo. Sermons on Various Subjects, 8vo.-Sermons on the Doctrine of Universal Pardon, 12mo.Besides occasional Sermons, Pamphlets, and SchoolBooks; and his contributions to the Edinburgh Encyclopædia, the Religious Monitor, and the Christian Instructor.

SERMONS.

SERMON I.*

SALVATION BY GRACE.

EPHESIANS ii. 8.

For by grace are ye saved, through faith.

If there be one truth more distinctly stated than another in the Bible, it is the truth contained in our text—that salvation flows entirely from divine grace, without any merit on the part of the sinner to deserve it, and without any ability on his part to accomplish it. This truth is interwoven with every part of the gospel scheme. It stands forth as a leading declaration in the gospel record, and it is that which gives to the gospel, as a message from God to our fallen race, all its meaning and consistency, all its value and all its effect.

It is a truth, indeed, which does not find a ready access into the human mind; and even when it is received, that reception is not always so cordial and unreserved as

*Preached at the introduction of the Rev. John W. Thomson, to the church and parish of Monedie, 10th August, 1828.