certain spiritual calmness and moral reflectiveness; it is wholly so elevated in tone, and it is here and there suffused with such a pure religious enthusiasm which well deserve it to be had in good remembrance of the learned and good of coming times, There will always be a class to which it can minister, and who could be profited by its ministry. It would consequently be a matter of regret if its notes should fail in a sphere where many less rich and musical are preserved,

I append to this chapter a translation by Sir Archibald of a passage from the "Trionfo della Morte of Petrarch," cap. ii. :—

"Non come fiamma che per forza è spenta,

Ma che per se medesma si consume,
Se n' andò in pace l'anima contenta ;
A guisa d' un soave e chiaro lume,
Cui nutrimento a poco a poco manca
Tenendo al fin il suo usato costume.
Pallida nò; ma più che neve bianca
Che senza vento in un bel colle fiocchi
Parea posar come persona stanca :
Quasi un dolce dormir ne'suoi begli occhi
Essendo 'l spirito già da lei diviso.
Era quel che morir chiaman gli sciocchi,
Morte bella parea nel suo bel viso."

"Not like a flame that is by violence spent,
But rather of itself consumes away,
In peace the gentle spirit passed content;
Like to the waning light's soft, clear decay,
Which gradual failing of its nourishment

Still keeps its customed tenor to the last.
Not pale; but whiter than the flaky snows
Which motionless on the hillside are cast
Resting like one that seeks repose :

As if sleep hung upon these beauteous eyes
While the flown spirit dwells no longer there.

Fools say this is to die,-yet in the guise
Of one so lovely, death itself is fair,"

CHAPTER XVI.

WILLIAM H. BURNS-Two Kirk Session Meetings-Dun and Kilsyth-9th May, 1843-Character Sketch-At the Feet of Christ Birth - Ordination-Work at Dun-Induction to Kilsyth-Presentation and "Call"-At the Grave of RobeW. C. Burns-The Memory of Rev. John Livingston-The Second Revival-The '43 Secession--A Long Bright SunsetRev. Robert BLACK-Family-Education--Church Building -Rev. W. Jeffrey.

THE minutes of Kilsyth Kirk Session show that the first meeting of which William Burns was moderator was held on the 24th December, 1820, and that the last at which he presided was dated the 9th May, 1843. So far as the business done at these two meetings of session was concerned, it was of an entirely routine and colourless character. Three and twenty years, however, is a long time in the life of any man, and in that of a clergyman it covers much more than the average period of ordination. Looking at these two sederunts of session now, after all those years, and comparing them together, we observe that these gentlemen held session with Dr. Burns at the first meeting-James Lang, Robert Shaw, Alexander Shaw, Alexander Aitcheson, George Young, James Goodwin, John Hay, William Wilson, Alexander Henderson, David Clelland, and Matthew Andersona goodly company of eleven elders. And these, with the moderator, formed the court of the 9th May, 1843James Wilson, James Shaw, William Anderson, junior,

Andrew Clelland, John Findlay, and J. F. Walker. There were three members absent that night :- George Auchinvole, A. Marshall, and J. Paterson. Some of the old names survive, but the old bearers of them are all

gone.

THE FREE CHURCH.

Of the elders Dr. Burns found about him when he was ordained to Kilsyth, the whole were changed during these twenty-three years he had been minister of the parish.

I have not only compared the membership of the session, I have also compared the two signatures of the moderator. Surely there never was handwriting that for so long a period retained its original character. The names might have been printed from a wood block, so closely do they resemble each other. And yet in what different circumstances were they written, and with what different out-looks. It must have been with a quiet but sincere pleasure he took his place in the Kilsyth Kirk Session for the first time. The parish of Dun was a poor place then, and is a poor place still. Its population is dwindling. It contained seven hundred people then, and it contains little more than five hundred now. His appointment here meant substantial advancement. Dun is as beautiful and sleepy a place as one could find in all Scotland. In Kilsyth, there was more life, a deeper interest in things spiritual, and larger emoluments, a matter of importance to a clergyman with a family of boys. And then his presentation had come at an opportune time. He had reached middle life, and being in the maturity of his strength he could look forward with some confidence to the enjoyment of his preferment for a period of years, and to the performance of good work in a larger and more responsible sphere.

Such probably were his feelings and anticipations as he appended his name to the minutes of the kirk session for the first time; but what were his thoughts as he signed the minute of the 9th May, 1843? He is getting an old man now, and there is a storm cloud gathering in the ecclesiastical heavens. It was a time of crisis, and he was aware of all that was going on. Το the solid qualifications of the pastor, Dr. Burns did not add the accomplishments either of the orator or man of letters. There is consequently no means of forming a

true opinion of the state of his mind at this juncture. From all that can be gathered he seems to have been one of those-and they were many-who cherished to the very last the sincerest conviction that secession would be avoided. There is reason to suppose that when he found himself one of the band that left the Assembly, and walked down to Canon Mills, his position surprised nobody so much as himself. He had never thought the wordy storm would ever come to that. But to that it did come. The worthy man found at the last that he had got into a current which had been carrying him forward imperceptibly, and had swept him almost before he had time to realise it, beyond the bounds of the church to which he had been ordained, and to which he was attached by the tenderest ties.

Even in

It is not very easy to get near to Dr. Burns. his son's portrait his figure seems distant and far-away. We never get quite close up to him. A good man he undoubtedly was, a strong man he could hardly have been. If the Livingstons, or Robe, or Rennie, had lived through the Secession, we would have heard their voices mingling in the clamour, and seen the flashing of their swords in the fight. But it is not so with Dr. Burns, and even in the revival of 1839, he does not move amid the spiritual scenes of that year, as we see Robe moving amid the times of refreshing that were granted to the parish in 1762. Burns does not ride on the whirlwind, and direct the spiritual storm as Robe did, but seems contented to leave the leadership in the hands of others. As a pastor he was everywhere, as a preacher he was nowhere. But all this granted, the life of Dr. Burns has a rare attractiveness which is all its own. It is full of repose, it is wrapt in a clear spiritual calm. He has his soul-dwelling, not on the mountain top, where there