William Lindsay Alexander. VIII.

After forty-two and a half years, Dr. William Lindsay Alexander felt he had to resign from the pastorate of Augustine Church. He often preached in Augustine Church in the remainder of his ministry, but he was called to another work. The Congregational Union Theological Hall had recently been given £10,000, the income from which was to be used to pay a full time Professor of Systematic Theology. Before this all tutors in the Hall had been pastors, lecturing as an extra burden. The full-time Professor would also have the pastoral care of the students.
The committee in charge of the Hall asked Dr. Alexander to take up the post. He accepted, but he made it clear that he did so only as a temporary measure, saying that it would be better to appoint a younger man to the post.
Dr. Alexander was a well-loved professor. He had the happiest relations with the students, who respected him as a professor, and who felt he was a man they could talk to. He was their pastor, and their friend.
Dr. Alexander worked in the post happily until 1881. He wrote a couple of commentaries, one on Zechariah for the Homiletic Magazine, and one on Deuteronomy for the Pulpit Commentary. But he was getting old, and in July 1881 he resigned his appointments.
Yet, until his successor was appointed, Alexander agreed to remain in his post until his successor was appointed. He contined in the work into 1882, when the committee tried to get him to withdraw his resignation, but he refused. At the end of 1882 he finally left the work.
He remained interested in the Hall and Augustine Church, but he was old, and his health declined. Dr. William Lindsay Alexander departed from this world at 11.30 am, 20th December 1884. He was honoured by his colleagues in the ministry, and rightly so, for he always sought to serve God faithfully. Dr. Alexander described the death of an aged believer in one of his hymns:

At length the door is opened, and free from pain and sin,
With joy and gladness on his head, the pilgrim enters in;
The Master bids him welcome, and on the Father's breast,
By loving arms enfolded, the weary is ar rest.

The pilgrim's staff is left behind, behind the sword, the shield,
The armour dimmed and dinted on many a hard-fought field;
His now the shining palace, the garden of delight,
The palm, the robe, the diadem, the glory ever bright!

William Lindsay Alexander fell asleep, having served his generation by the will of God.