"To the Lord do I give thanks. He hath brought us at last over the stormy billows into a quiet haven. Nor has all this trial been in vain. When downright ill, the mind was utterly incapable of thought, but there were intervals when, in spite of the sick sensations, the mind could variously exert itself. The whole of the past came up in review before me, all the way in which the Lord hath led me. And Oh! how humbling the retrospection as regards myself! The loving-kindnesses of the Lord how manifold; my own shortcomings in every way how manifold . . . In the end I had no consolation whatever but in clinging as with a death grasp to the precious assurance that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin . . . I thought that if never heard of any more, and our vessel founder amid the stormy Atlantic waves, the Lord might, in one way or other, overrule my death to the good of the souls of the members of my family and raise up friends to them, and ensure the furtherance of His own cause. On these points I came at times to a serene feeling of resignation to His holy will. But, if spared, Oh! how I longed to be a new burnished instrument in His hands. I wait for guidance, I wait for light in the path of duty. Oh! for simple single-heartedness, and self-denying devotion to Him that loveth us!" I will not attempt to give a detailed account of Dr. Duff's very interesting visit to that grand country, the United States. He was welcomed with a warmth and enthusiasm which quite astonished the Missionary. "Each one (in a large meeting) shook hands with me," he wrote, "as if I were an old familiar friend, as if he knew all about me, and hailed me as a brother in the Lord . . . I was lost in wonder, adoring gratitude, and love. I approached these shores with much anxiety, in much fear and trembling. I felt an oppressive uneasiness of spirit which I could not shake off. My only relief was in casting myself entirely on the Lord, and in praying His will might be done, and His only . . . Surely, I felt, this unparalleled reception must be a first smile of Jehovah." Indeed the loving kindness, the generous enthusiasm which Dr. Duff met as he passed from city to city, and held crowded meeting after meeting in the United States and the Dominion of Canada, was marvellous to behold. If ever a man was half killed with kindness, that man was Dr. Duff. Every one was so eager to hear him, so impatient to see him, that his small remaining stock of strength was utterly overtaxed. He wrote,—