This last visit and its fatherly and pathetic counsels would never be forgotten. When December came the two doctors consulted as to the best remedy, and decided to give the patient tincture of steel and infusion of bark, and this had the desired effect. For a time there seemed signs of improvement, and his friends congratulated one another on the chance of his recovery. On the first Sunday in Advent the Sacrament of the Holy Communion was administered to him to his great profit and blessing. It was, however, a sorrow to find that while his more painful symptoms had abated it was only too evident that his illness had affected his memory and enfeebled his mind. Things relating to this world had become of lessening interest, while eternity became nearer and more real. One of the favourite books with Schwartz had been Young’s “Night Thoughts,” and these poems were a refreshing memory to him now. He now busied himself with putting in order his papers, and amongst them was an old letter which awakened afresh his interest in missions. His comment to his friends was: “Early this morning I happened to meet with a letter of my late pious friend--which he addressed to you in 1788, and which was then forwarded to me. He says in it, ‘Ought not my son to be a missionary? O, how ardently do I pray that God will not forsake His work now that he has opened to our times a wider field than heretofore! If God cause His Spirit to rest on both my sons they shall hereafter prove active labourers in His vineyard.’ “Now, if this son of my deceased friend has natural gifts and grace--if he have a desire to preach Christ among the heathen, I beg you to send him out at my expense. And if I should be called away by the Lord before his arrival, my brethren will make it good out of the property I leave. The mission is my heir. Our hope standeth in the Lord, Who made heaven and earth. May He be merciful to us and provide His work to His own glory.... I feel my weakness more and more--how long the Lord will yet preserve and use me rests with Him. My times are in His hands. May He be merciful to me and grant me at last a blessed end. Amen.”