“It is the privilege of faith, indeed, to raise the soul above creature dependencies; and, I bless God that, in general, I am enabled to say ‘none of these things move me.’ Still, I cling, with the fondest recollection, to the hours I have spent with you, and the advances in knowledge, and I would hope in grace, my soul made in your society; nor can I endure the thought of our intercourse being at an end. “In this strange land, God has also supplied several whose letters and occasional visits are a source of great comfort and encouragement to me. I believe the number of true Christians is increasing among us, and as these abound ‘the desert will blossom as the rose;’ and this wilderness shall be glad for them. The only principal cause of concern is the small advances that are making towards the evangelization of the Hindoos and Mahomedans. If you cast your eye over the map, you will perceive the distance between the different abodes of the Europeans; and then, suppose even at those stations something may be doing toward this work, how is the intervening space to be supplied?... “I am recovered from another attack of the liver, much severer than last year’s, and which prevented me from public duty for three Sabbaths: I reckon these interruptions as the choicest blessings. The vain mind is tempted, in full health, to lay up for many years; but these warnings strongly impress the exhortation, ‘whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.’ “My European flock, as to numbers, has been at a stand of late: some of them, however, are now grown unto some stature in Christ; and are a source of great refreshment at times.... “The old native Christian has improved of late, and some of the native Christian flock give good evidence of a true conversion. At times, whilst ministering among these, my heart overflows with delight; and the simplicity with which they express themselves is very striking. I only wish the number of them was greater: for, alas! who, in comparison hath yet ‘believed our report?’