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320 lodged. The stations which he occupied, his own qualifications, and the connexion which he had formed with the Arniston family, more particularly with the late lord Melville, opened up objects of ambition which were afterwards completely realized. His talents for business had been observed and justly appreciated by lord Melville; and it was therefore determined, that on the first vacancy, he should be removed to Edinburgh, where his practical talents would be of essential service in supporting that system of ecclesiastical polity which his lordship had long maintained, and which had for many years directed the measures of the general assembly. Accordingly, in 1790, he was presented by the magistrates of Edinburgh to lady Yester's church: on the death of Dr Robertson in 1793, he was appointed to succeed that distinguished man in the collegiate church of the old Grey-Friars; and on a vacancy taking place in the high church, in the year 1799, he was removed to that collegiate charge. This last was considered the most honourable appointment in the church of Scotland, and it was, at the time, rendered more desirable from the circumstance, that he had for his colleague the celebrated Dr Hugh Blair; whose funeral sermon, however, he was called upon to preach in little more than a year after he became his colleague. The university of Edinburgh conferred on him the honour of doctor of divinity: and in the year 1802, he was chosen moderator of the general assembly, being the highest mark of respect which his brethren of the church could confer on him.

Dr Finlayson had now obtained every honourable preferment which, as a clergyman of the church of Scotland, was attainable in the line of his profession. His influence in the church was now greatly extended, and nothing of any importance was transacted in the ecclesiastical courts without his advice and direction. Among his own party, his sway was unlimited; and even those who differed from him in church politics, freely acknowledged the honourable and straight forward honesty of his conduct. The means by which he raised himself to be the leader of his party were very different from those used by any of his predecessors, who had all been distinguished for the brilliancy of their oratorical powers. Dr Finlayson, well aware of the nature of his talents, established his ascendency on the wisdom of his councils, and his knowledge of the laws and constitution of the church.

Towards the beginning of 1805, Dr FinLayson's constitution evidently became impaired. In order to try the effects of country air, he spent the greater part of the autumn of that year with his brother; but without deriving any permanent benefit. His health, however, was so far restored, that he was enabled to perform the duties of his class during the following winter; but in the course of the year 1807, he became considerably worse; yet the good effects of a tour which he took, accompanied by some of his friends, led him to hope that he might be able to undergo the fatigue of the following session; and, accordingly, he not only opened his class, but continued for some time to deliver his lectures. At length he was constrained to accept of the assistance of one of his earliest friends, his respected colleague, the very Rev. Principal Baird, who taught the class during the remainder of that session. Dr Finlayson's disease increased with much rapidity, and on the 25th of January, 1808, while conversing with principal Baird, he was seized with a paralytic affection, which deprived him of the faculty of speech, and the power of moving one side. Among the few words he was able to articulate was the following impressive sentence: "I am about to pass to a better habitation, where all who believe in Jesus shall enter." He died on the 28th of January, 1808, in the fiftieth year of his age; and was interred in the cathedral church of Dumblane.

Dr Finlayson was rather below the middle size. His appearance indicated