"I am now prepared to reply to the Committee in the words of the prophet, 'here am I, send me.' The work is most arduous, but is of God and must prosper. Many sacrifices painful to flesh and blood must be made, but not any correspondent to the glory of winning souls to Christ. With the thought of this glory I feel myself almost transported with joy; everything else appears to fall out of view as vain and insignificant." Mr. Duff was now ordained as a clergyman, and before he departed for India, preached missionary sermons and gave discourses which came with much force from one who was offering himself up, body and soul, for the cause for which he pleaded. In one church, with tears gushing from his eyes, thus the young missionary spoke:— "There was a time when I had no care or concern for the heathen, that was a time when I had no care or concern for my own soul. When, by the grace of God, I was led to care for my own soul, then it was that began to care for the heathen abroad. In my closet, on my bended knees, I then said to God, 'Oh! Lord! Thou knowest that silver and gold to give to this cause I have none; what I have I give unto Thee; I offer Thee myself, will Thou accept the gift?" Duff tried to comfort and cheer his parents. He prayed his dear mother not to make an idol of her son. He wrote lovingly to his father,— "Will you be a loser by so giving me up to the Lord, and so praising Him for His goodness in having called me to so mighty a work? No, God will bless you with the blessing of Abraham, will enrich you with his faith and reward, and will reward you a thousand fold for your willing resignation and cheerful readiness in obeying God's command. The Lord bless you and my dear mother!" And so Alexander Duff prepared to go forth to a strange land, and a people whose language he knew not, believing it to be likely that he never would return again to his dearly loved Scotland. ———————— CHAPTER III. PERILS OF THE DEEP. Mr. Duff did not go forth alone; he was given a faithful partner in all his joys and sorrows, a gentle helper in his work. Just before the young missionary was ordained, he married the pious Miss Anne Scott Drysdale, who for many years proved to him one of God's richest blessings. In the month of October 1829, in a ship called the "Lady Holland," the young couple embarked for India. They knew not the sufferings and dangers that lay before them ere they should reach Calcutta, but "farewell" is a bitter word, and it was doubtless with heavy hearts and tear-dimmed eyes that some of the travellers saw the shores of their native isle recede in the distance behind them.