1859. THE " ALPHA AND OMEGA." 467 



tor, the Teacher." It was confessions like this that led Dr. 

 Alexander to say, " I have often felt as if there was something 

 sublime in this man, with his fragile frame and modest attitude, 

 standing amongst the aristocracy of science, or before some popu- 

 lar assembly, or in the presence of his students, and calmly, 

 unostentatiously, with the simplicity of a child and the unfal- 

 tering confidence of a confessor, giving utterance to the senti- 

 ments of faith and worship that came, as from his inner soul, 

 spontaneously from his lips." 1 The grace with which illus- 

 trations from Scripture were introduced into his public ad- 

 dresses was peculiarly his own, and the reverential love with 

 which all was evidently laid at the feet of the Saviour, had 

 something triumphant and joyous in it, elevating for the time 

 the most thoughtless of his audience. He had the power, so rare 

 even among earnest Christians, of consecrating to God every 

 aCt of business, thus offering the devotion of a worshipper as 

 truly in his laboratory and lecture-room as in the sanctuary. 

 To those who were privileged to join in prayer with him, this 

 was most apparent. In the morning there was the petition for 

 help, support, and guidance, and in the evening the calm offer- 

 ing up of all the acts of the day, to be purified and accepted for the 

 sake of the great Mediator. Few mannerisms marked his prayers, 

 but two desires often found expression, " that in all things Christ 

 might have the pre-eminence," and that " having begun in 

 Christ, we may end in none else." Jesus was the " Alpha and 

 Omega" to him, and therefore did his light shine clearly before 

 his fellow-men. 



Eeference has been made to preparation of lectures during the 

 Christmas week. They were the last he delivered before the 

 Philosophical Institution, four in number, ' On the Metals in 

 their Industrial Kelations.' This was the eighth course of lec- 

 tures addressed to the audiences of this Association, and it 

 might have been imagined they had had enough of him. Men 

 of the highest eminence were on their staff of lecturers, and 

 many from a distance to whom novelty lent a new charm ; yet 

 so far from becoming weary of George Wilson during the four- 

 teen years that he appeared before them, they seemed to think 



1 Funeral Sermon, by Dr. W. L. Alexander, p. 28. A. and C. Black, Edin. 1859. 



