That night he was taken ill with hemorrhage of the lungs, and on the following morning, when the writer called to see him, he expressed serious doubts of his ultimate recovery. Still he retained the buoyancy and cheerfulness of his disposition; and on the succeeding morning he was so much improved that he thought it possible he might again recover. He continued to gain strength, and was sitting up during most of the day. On Thursday he had been visited by all his children, and his blessing had been bestowed upon them with more than usual serenity. Some remained and took tea with him. All but one had departed, when, about eight o'clock, he prepared to retire for the night. And now, like Jacob of old, "when he had made an end of commanding his children," my beloved father literally "gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the spirit, and was gathered unto his people." His removal at last was, therefore, very sudden, and was doubtless caused by a renewal of the hemorrhage. The Rev. William Metcalfe died on Thursday evening, October 16th, 1862, in the seventy-fifth year of his age. The silver cord was loosened, the golden bowl was broken, and the wheel of action stood still in the exhausted cistern of the mortal life of this truly good man; but the soul soared away to the eternal kingdom of its Lord, to join its friends, not lost, but gone before, and to become a more efficient laborer in the cause of humanity, in which it was so much interested.

The whole life of the Rev. William Metcalfe was one of unremitting labor for the good of others, and for the establishment of the vital principles of Christianity in the souls of his fellow-men. The specific work of his life was that of sowing the seeds and cultivating the principles of TEMPERANCE and VEGETARIANISM and permanently establishing the BIBLE-CHRISTIAN CHURCH in this country. These were no small labors for one man's life; and yet the

Rev. William Metcalfe was the PRIMARY AGENCY, under Divine Providence, for the development and organization of these moral and religious reforms in this hemisphere of the world. He was not, it is true, a noisy, blustering, passionate reformer. Such displays are generally evidences of weakness, rather than of power and intelligence. He who quietly resists the current of the times, who stands up steadily against its corruptions and vices, and who, from a firm conviction of principle and with a confident reliance on Divine assistance, will not be carried away by faction, opposition, or temptation, he is the strongest and most practical reformer. The Rev. William Metcalfe thus stood and labored for Total Abstinence, for Vegetarianism, and for Bible-Christianity, when there were NONE but the few gathered friends around him, who had as yet raised a voice in behalf of either.

No man ever shrunk from publicity more than the Rev. Dr. Metcalfe; but his ardent zeal for truth impelled him to antagonisms, even at the expense of his feelings and of his own personal ease and comfort. He was deeply reverential, and all his religious sentiments were strong and pure, thus uniting in himself the character of the saint to that of the reformer. As a pastor and preacher he was prompt and faithful to all his charges. During his entire fifty-two years' ministry, whatever might be his outward difficulties or embarrasments, with but very few exceptions he was to be found in the pulpit every Sabbath-day morning and afternoon, and sometimes also in the evening. His general health was so uniform that the exceptions occasioned by sickness did not number more than five or six Sabbaths. The other exceptions were during the periods when he was crossing the ocean; and even then he officiated as often as the opportunity presented itself.

The Rev. William Metcalfe was beloved by his entire congregation as a fond father, and an extensive circle of

INTERIOR OF THIRD STREET CHURCH, SECOND FLOOR, IN WHICH SERVICES WERE HELD, 1845-1890; THE FIRST FLOOR WAS USED

FOR THE SABBATH-SCHOOL