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either openly or with reserve, sought to preach "another Gospel, which is not another." I rejoice to know in my own inner experience that the Gospel I have ever preached has become continually more and more precious to my own soul. "The half was not told me " when I began to ask him "Lord send me "--but, as days and years rolled on, the one grand, glorious impress on my mind and heart has increasingly been that it is "the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth."

Of another thing I may also speak plainly. "I have not shunned to declare unto you the whole counsel of God," so far as He has been pleased to make it known to me. And yet, one thing more. I have sought, in my daily walk, in my family, in the Church, and before the world, to carry out in practice the Gospel I preached. My own failures and shortcomings I know full well, and the Master knows them better than I do.

But above and beyond what is merely personal to myself, I desire, in a few sentences, to express my earnest wishes towards you, ere the tie which has hitherto bound us together in this world is broken for ever.

Let me then entreat you to "hold the beginning of your confidence steadfast to the end." "Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ makes free." See to it that you prize, above everything else, the simplicity and purity of the Gospel of Christ. God has given you, as a congregation, a great and important mission to fulfil. The position you occupy is one of singular importance; you have not only to " contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints," to bear a clear and unshrinking testimony against all that is unsound in doctrine, or corrupt in practice, but you have to do all this under the good old evangelical banner of the Church of England, which has so long been

borne aloft by such standard-bearers as Bickersteth and Marsh, M'Neile and Close.

In thus "holding fast what you have," the congregation to which you belong will not only continue to be one in which, through the mercy of God, sons and daughters shall be born to him, and saints built up in their most holy faith; but it will still be, as it ever has been, a blessing to the community at large in the midst of which it is planted. It will prove, as it has ever done, a means of spiritual strength, and of hallowed influence, amid the various congregations of faithful men of all denominations.

Not only so, but your steady adherence to all that has hitherto distinguished you as a congregation will gather round you with increasing fulness, the sympathy and cordial co-operation of that great section of the Church of England, which has never failed to stand by you in days gone by. The names of Miller and Ryle, of Garbett and Elliott and Astley, have become as household words among you; they represent a body of faithful men, who will ever form a link, not easily broken, between you and all that is purest and best in the Church of England.

Then need I say how earnestly I desire that you should not only retain a lively interest in all good and holy labours of love, but that you should abound in these more and more. The congregation of St. Thomas' was about the very first in Edinburgh which established a Congregational Mission among their poorer brethren in the Old Town. I need not say how richly God has blest that Mission, and established it upon a sure basis. Then, Foreign, as well as Home Missions, have ever been largely supported by the congregation. The Church Missionary Society, the Pastoral Aid, the Colonial and Continental,

the Bible Society, the Jews, the Waldenses, the Scripture Readers Society of Ireland, the Irish Church Missions, the Jerusalem Diocesan Fund, the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, with many other occasional calls on the congregation, have ever been steadily and liberally supported. May I, as I pass away from direct ministerial co-operation with you in these blessed works, commend them earnestly to your continued and enlarged help, and your constant and faithful prayer.

I would fain linger amid these memories of the past and hopes for the future, but I cannot keep longer from that word-farewell. God knows how unutterably sad and bitter it would be to me, were it not that I say it with my hand held fast by One, who, as he snaps earthly ties, rivets more strongly those spiritual bonds which bind us closer and closer to himself and to one another for

ever.

May he take you into his holy keeping; may he bless you, and make you blessings to others. May your homes be ever hallowed by his presence, and every room be sanctified by the Word of God and prayer. May those who are approaching to the last stages of the earthly journey have the vigour of spiritual youth renewed in them day by day. May the young, so increasingly dear to me as my own sands of time are running out, be found, with unshrinking faith and loving hearts, to be like Mary, and choose the good part which shall never be taken away from them. May they shrink from the perilous touch of a world which is at enmity with God, and willingly and cheerfully follow the Good Shepherd who gave his life for the sheep, and who will make them "to lie down in green pastures, and lead them by the still waters."

Finally, beloved in the Lord, "pray for us."

"Moreover, as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord, in ceasing to pray for you."

Your loving friend,

To the Congregation of St. Thomas'

English Episcopal Chapel.

D. T. K. DRUMMOND.

On the occasion of Mr. Drummond's resignation, the members of the congregation testified their love and respect by the presentation of a very handsome copy of Roberts' "Sketches in the Holy Land," in three volumes, and a large folio volume of the Turner Gallery Engravings. In each of these there was the following inscription :

"Presented to the Rev. D. T. K. Drummond, with a purse of 1000 sovereigns-on the occasion of his retiring from the ministry of St. Thomas' English Episcopal Chapel, Edinburgh, after upwards of thirty years' serviceby members of the congregation and Christian friends who desire to evince their grateful and affectionate esteem, their appreciation of his unswerving advocacy of evangelical truth, and of his labours in Christ's vineyard; and their prayerful hope that in retirement he may be encouraged by seeing many of his flock walking steadfastly in the ways of the Lord, and that many may be his crowns of rejoicing in the great day, when the Lord of the harvest shall come again, bringing his sheaves with him. - Edinburgh, 1st January, 1876."

This was accompanied with the following letter:

16, Moray Place, Dec. 31st, 1875.

DEAR MR. DRUMMOND, I feel almost ashamed to find myself the mouth-piece of such a multitude of attached and grateful friends in asking your acceptance of all that accompanies this note. I have

only to ask you to begin at once by opening the big book, and reading the inscription in its first page which speaks for itself. I must besides privately beg you to allow the pocket-book to be a keepsake from a very old and affectionate friend, who hopes you will couple it with thoughts not only of her and dear Penuel, but of Belmont and Cambridge, as well as of 16, Moray Place, for truly, "the memory of the just is blessed."

I have only to add that we have both of us felt deeply gratified and touched by the cordial responses from so many quarters, and the interesting communications from rich and poor that have flowed in, since I began what did seem a great undertaking.

We do indeed wish you and Mrs. Drummond and your dear ones in the South a very happy New Year, and increasing blessings from him, in whom all our springs are, during as many years as he may see fit to spare you; and may you and yours, and all the many and varied individuals represented by what I now send you, realize the wondrous fulness and perfection, in kind, in extent, and in time, of that grace spoken of in 2 Cor. ix. 8. May you, whose circle has in 1875 been so blessedly enriched, and we, whom every New Year reminds that here below we are "the remnant that are left," all unite in a bright and holy longing for "the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together unto him." Yours ever, with true and grateful affection,

FRANCES MARY MACKENZIE.

Mr. Drummond wrote in acknowledgment:

TO THE CONGREGATION OF ST. THOMAS,' AND
OTHER CHRISTIAN FRIENDS.

BELOVED FRIENDS, Montpelier, 1st January, 1876.

Threescore years and ten have come and gone since

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