DR. WATSON was born on December 31st, 1832, at Ireshopeburn, Weardale. He came of a Methodist stock; his forefathers had shown hospitality to John Wesley. His family left the mother Church in the disruption, and he became a Primitive Methodist. Owing to family circumstances he entered the ministry late and then on his own native circuit. For the early part of his ministry he worked in the North of England. He travelled in Sunderland, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Hartlepool, Spennymoor and North Shields. In 1879 he went to South Africa, where he did very important work at Aliwal North. Then he passed on to Australia in 1883, labouring in Adelaide till he returned to England in 1889. He was for four years in Chester, and there in 1893 he became Principal of the College. When his term of five years had expired he remained on the College staff till he was suddenly struck down by paralysis in the autumn of 1901. For a time we almost despaired of his life, but he rallied very remarkably, and though preaching was impossible for him he served the Church and his friends in other ways. He had a long eventide, and died on Sunday, February 3rd, 1913.

In his early years he greatly impressed those who came in contact with him alike by his character and his gifts, and the promise was amply redeemed by the fulfilment which came in the maturity of his Powers. The quality of his work and the loftiness of his personality were recognised both within and without his own Church. The highest honour was accorded to him when at Edinburgh he was elected to the Presidency of Conference, and he had already been appointed to one of the positions of heaviest responsibility, the Principalship of the College. He was also President of the British Section of the Christian Endeavour movement. He was very happy in his home. Everyone who knew Mrs. Watson was conscious of the force of her character and its singular elevation. Those who knew her very well and were brought much into contact with her were more and more impressed with her graciousness and the richness of her spiritual experience. Her death struck him a blow from which he never recovered. He had leaned greatly on her and her loss was irreparable. His two daughters and their husbands ministered to him with unremitting tenderness and affection, and if no thing could make good the loss he had suffered they did all that was possible for his comfort and happiness.

When I first met him he was already well past his prime, so that I never knew him when his energy was at its fullest. But owing to the fact that he came to the College a year after I had begun my work and served it first as Principal and then as tutor for eight years, I saw a great deal of him, and had unusual opportunities for estimating his qualities. More than thirty years, it is true, lay between us; but although I was on the sunny side of thirty and he was more than sixty when we became colleagues, it says very much for him that with his far greater knowledge of life, his riper experience, and the high position he had won for himself in the Church, he proved to be not simply a loyal colleague, but a most congenial and sympathetic companion. He had not grown intellectually weary, though he had read and thought strenuously. Nor had he sunk into a condition of stagnant satisfaction, as if he already knew all that was worth the knowing and had so complete a vision of truth that nothing remained to be learned. He was very keen and eager in his interests, especially on the side of philosophy and systematic theology. He was not, it is true, one of those fatiguing people who can talk of nothing but those subjects in which their deepest interest lies, but when he was in company with a kindred spirit his conversation turned quite naturally on the loftiest and the deepest themes. He was in his theology a Methodist by conviction and his type of piety was characteristically Methodist. But he was very open to new ideas and willing to learn from all who could teach him. His mind was not so set and rigid as one might have expected it to be at his age, but always exhibited great elasticity. He was a lover of books and catholic in his range, but he turned by preference to the best literature and his taste always struck me as refined. We were much brought into contact in connexion with what is now the Holborn Review, and his literary instincts and equipment stood him here in good stead. It was very fitting that when Mr. McKechnie had to surrender the work it should fall into Dr. Watson's hands.

Of him one could truly say, as of Mrs. Watson, that he combined in a singular degree loyalty to a very lofty moral standard with a very deep religious life. These qualities were in him beautifully blended and unified. He was humble in his estimate of himself, generous in his valuation of others. He was very gentle in his bearing so that those who knew him only superficially might imagine him to be deficient in force. He always gave one a sense of rest. One had the feeling in his presence that here was a man who was torn by no inward strife, but had attained harmony. Serene and patient, tolerant and forbearing, he influenced those who were brought into close relations with him even more by what he was than by anything he said or did. He was, it is true, a preacher and teacher who, by his sermons and his wise counsel, set a deep mark upon many lives. But even more profound was the impression made by the personality itself, by the strength and sweetness of his character, by the reverence, the richness, and the freedom of his religious life. He was very sympathetic with the young, as was proved by his keen concern for the Christian Endeavour movement and the arduous labours he undertook on its behalf. The ministry and especially the junior ministry was an object to him of close and unremitting care. Whether it was in his contributions to ministerial associations, in his conduct of the Review, or in his labours at the College, his influence was always cast on the side of whatever tended to its intellectual and spiritual advancement. But while he prized such opportunities as came to him to guide or inform the minds of those committed to his charge, he will be remembered with most gratitude, as he would above all things have himself desired, as a great spiritual force. His memory will be long cherished by many of us, and we shall think of his name with affection and reverence.