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1846 - 47
MY readers will remember
a statement from my brother’s own hand of the circumstances of his first
consecration to the missionary work, and of the remarkable train of
events by which the fulfilment of his purpose was temporarily, though,
as it seemed, indefinitely, delayed. That purpose still remained
unchanged. He was still as much as ever, and all through those laborious
and eventful intervening years, a missionary at heart, and only waited
the intimation of the Master’s will as to the time and the place of his
appointed work. He had heard the general summons of the divine
Commander, “Who will go for me?” and he had resolutely answered, “Here
am I, send me.” That answer had been recorded in heaven, and lived
evermore within his heart. Amid all his home labours he spoke and acted
under the solemn sense of it —spoke and acted as a missionary just about
to go forth to a distant land, and only addressing a few parting words
to his brethren at home ere the final summons to depart should reach
him. How that summons came at last, and in what spirit it was obeyed,
will be best told in his own words, in the continuation of, the same
statement just referred to, dated at sea,
“Thursday, July 29th,
1847, lat. 25° 3°' south; Ion. 28° 40' west.—. . . From this time (July
23d, 1839) until the Disruption I appeared to have a special work to do
in my own country, and having no call to the missionary field I thought
no further of it than this, that I did not feel it would be lawful for
me to settle at home, but only to comply with present calls of duty to
preach the Word. In the year 1843, and still more in 1844, I found my
heart very much drawn off from the home field—the days of God’s great
power with me seeming to be in a great measure past, and ecclesiastical
questions having taken so deep a hold on the public mind, that it was
not in a state as before to be dealt with simply about the question of
conversion. In these circumstances I went at the call of some friends to
Dublin in 1844 to try the field there, but finding no great opening I
returned to Scotland, and the way being made very clearly open for my
going on a visit to Canada, I sailed for Montreal, August 10. In Canada
I found sufficient evidence that it was indeed the call of God which I
obeyed in going to it; but after labouring there for nearly two years,
and having gone over the ground which seemed providentially laid out for
me, I felt that unless I were to remain there for life, the time was
come for my departure. I was confirmed in this view by having had my
mind afresh directed towards India by a letter from an acquaintance
there, and also by a call from our continental committee to make use of
my newly acquired knowledge of French by visiting the continent of
Europe. I accordingly sailed from Quebec for Scotland on August 20th,
1846, having a deep impression that I should find no special work to do
in Scotland that would detain me there longer than a few months, but
feeling quite uncertain what would be my ultimate destination. On my
arrival I was asked anew to go to the Continent, but against this there
were objections. I did not see any prospect of doing much there during a
brief visit, and I could not but reflect that at my period of life it
must be now decided whether I was to preach from place to place to the
end or go to a heathen field, as originally destined. At any rate I felt
that I could decide on nothing until I had paid a few visits to those
home fields with which I had formerly been connected. This work occupied
me during the autumn and the early part of the winter. I might have
protracted the period indefinitely, being encompassed with invitations
on every hand; but as I did not see or feel any special blessing in this
work, I preached no more than I could not avoid doing, and then came the
question, What is my duty with reference to the future? About the end of
the year, at the time of the Parsee’s ordination in Edinburgh, I arrived
at the clear decision that I was not at liberty to labour any longer as
hitherto without ascertaining whether our missionary committee would
still desire me to fulfil my original intention. I accordingly called on
Dr. Candlish, and having laid before him my views, and joined with him
in imploring divine guidance, he stated that he thought it was clearly
my duty to go as originally destined to the heathen, provided that I
found no special cause as heretofore to detain me, and said that he
would confer with others on the subject. He did so but found that though
no one would object to my going if I wished to do so, yet as the Indian
stations were all occupied, there was no special opening for me. At this
very time, and while they were actually conversing on the matter, a
letter came to the convener of the Foreign Mission Committee, Dr. James
Buchanan, from James Hamilton of Regent Square, London (convener of the
English Presbyterian Church Missionary Committee), making earnest
inquiry whether Dr. B. could point out any minister or preacher in
Scotland who might be suitable to go as their first missionary to China,
seeing they had contemplated this mission for more than two years, but
had as yet been disappointed in finding suitable agents. This seemed to
Dr. B. a providential coincidence, and without communicating with me, he
wrote mentioning a few names and mine among the rest. Some weeks elapsed
without my hearing anything further on the subject; but meanwhile my own
experience more and more pointed my thoughts and desires to the foreign
field, and at last in the beginning of February a letter came to me from
Mr. Hamilton, in which, after reminding me of my original design and
prospects regarding an eastern mission, he mentioned the position of
their own missionary scheme, and asked what my views in regard to
embarking in such an undertaking now were. As he wished a speedy answer
I could only reply that the matter was too varied in its bearings and of
too momentous a character to be at once decided on; but that it would be
the subject of prayer and consideration, as well as of conference with
the servants of God around me. On receipt of my letter, their missionary
committee instructed Mr. Hamilton to send me an express and earnest call
to become their church’s first missionary to China. I received this, but
still found myself unable to arrive at a final decision. Regarding the
importance of the work there could be no doubt; but when I considered on
the one hand the manner in which God had hitherto called me to labour,
and the many calls at home and abroad which I still had to preach the
word as heretofore; and on the other considered the uncertainty of my
being suited to the peculiarities of the Chinese field, I felt
embarrassed, and though I wrote a letter of acceptance, I could not send
it off, but rather suspended the case by letting them know my
difficulties, and my need of delay, with a view of getting further
light. I also urged them in the interval to look out for others, and
mentioned two ministers to whom they might apply. Another ten days
elapsed, during which I was in Edinburgh, as I had been for some time
previously, preaching in St. Luke’s, &c., and now also assisting Dr.
Duncan in his junior Hebrew class, his health being imperfect. The call
to China was gradually assuming more and more importance in my view, and
though some of God’s servants seemed to doubt whether it was a field
suitable to my habits, &c., yet the prevailing opinion seemed to be that
I ought to go. Feeling that I must resume communication with the English
committee, I went out before doing so to Kilsyth, at the communion
season on the first Sabbath of March, that I might sit, it might be, for
the last time at the table of the Lord Jesus on earth with my beloved
parents, and that I might have the aid of their counsel, and that of my
cousins David and Charles J. Brown (of Glasgow and Edinburgh), who were
expected to be my father’s assistants. On the Monday after the communion
I wrote to London again to let it be known that I was still weighing the
matter brought before me, and that with a view to arrive at a final and
satisfactory decision, I would be glad to be furnished with information
in regard to the nature of the work in which they would wish or expect
me to be engaged, and also to learn what length of time it would require
to attain an adequate knowledge of the language with a view to preach
the gospel in it. I also stated generally on the subject, 1st. That I
did not make such inquiries as if difficulties would be sufficient to
keep me back, were the path of duty in other respects plain; but simply
in order that I might have full materials for comparing this call with
others that were given me, as from France, &c. 2d. That as devoted to
the missionary work I felt that unless it appeared that God detained me
at home by some special call, I must go to some field where Christ had
not been named, &c. In reply to this letter Mr. Hamilton wrote that he
believed the difficulties of the Chinese language had been
overestimated, but that they expected about the end of March from China
Mr. Hugh Matheson, one of their committee, who would bring them full and
recent information, and that this would be communicated to me. At this
time I spent four weeks preaching in Bute and Arran, and on the 10th of
April I went to Edinburgh to preach in Mr. Moody Stuart’s. The
impression of my duty now became so strong that I felt I could no longer
hesitate about signifying my willingness to go, and on Monday I wrote to
that effect. I saw that I would dishonour my profession of the gospel,
and thus wound the honour of Jesus, if I seemed to linger any longer;
and though I had not heard again from London, I felt that on general
grounds, and taking even the most discouraging view of the case, it was
my duty to go forward. The committee met on this very day, and so
discouraging was the view given by Mr. M. of the field and of the
missions there, as compared with our missions in India, that the
committee resolved to recommend to the Synod about to meet at Sunderland
the following Tuesday to give up thoughts of a mission to China, and
begin in place a mission in Hindustan. When I heard of this decision,
which the receipt of my letter did not seem to have altered, I was at a
loss how to act, but saw that now matters were coming to a crisis, and
that the issue would be either to shut up my path toward China or set me
free from their call altogether. I did not feel any sympathy with their
proposal to draw back, and fearing lest they might do so, and thus
dishonour the command and promise of the exalted Jesus, I was the more
pressed in spirit to go forward, that such a consequence might be
avoided. I accordingly resolved to go up to Sunderland on the 20th, and
meet the Synod on the matter. I did so, and on Wednesday the 21st I
found that the Synod were bent on prosecuting the mission, and so on
Thursday I was ordained to the work. ... In this manner from step to
step my path has been hedged up in this important matter; and now I find
myself in the midst of the great ocean studying Chinese, and having the
prospect, if the Lord will, of spending the rest of my days in that vast
empire of heathen darkness. ‘The people that walked in darkness have
seen a great light, and to them that dwell in the land of the shadow of
death, upon them hath the light shined.’”
One or two sentences from the ordinary entries in his journal will
complete the history of this interesting juncture, and throw some
additional light on the circumstances of the call which now came to him,
and of the posture of his soul towards it:—
“The call to this work came to me some months before I had full light to
comply with it; but the way at last was made in all respects very plain.
... On Tuesday, April 9th, I met in Glasgow James Denniston, returned
from Jamaica, and on his way, if God will, to Constantinople as a
missionary to the Jews. Thus, after so long an interval, we met again in
the place where nine years before, at the University, he had given
himself to the Lord to go to the circumcision, and I to go to the
Gentiles. Having been so long engaged in other work, we had now the near
prospect of entering on the fields in regard to which the vows of God
were upon us. It was a confirming interview. To sovereign grace be the
praise—the endless, unutterable praise! . . . I came up to Sunderland to
confer upon the matter, and “found to my joy that the mind of the Synod
was to go forward" and I being now ready, and my way hedged in, I was
next day ordained according to Acts xiii., and the day following I was
in London. The Presbytery of Newcastle ordained me-the only one within
whose bounds I had previously laboured; Dr. Paterson presided (in his
own church we were met), being the only minister remaining in his place
of those with whom I had laboured in 1841, &c. William Chalmers preached
at the ordination, being not only my cousin, but a minister born at
Malacca, the centre of the early Chinese mission under Dr. Milne, &c.
These were interesting coincidences; and still more so was the fact that
Dr. Morrison, the first evangelical Chinese missionary, whose Chinese
Bible I am now studying, was the son of an elder in the English
Presbyterian Church, and was brought up as a Christian in the High
Bridge Church, Newcastle-on-Tyne, where, in 1841, I laboured for three
months, little thinking of such, a position as that which I now occupy.”
My readers will willingly linger a little longer in the retrospect of
this memorable ordination solemnity, which formed so important an era in
the history of missions to the far East; and with this view will read
with interest the following lines written at the time by an eye-witness,
himself a devoted friend of the Chinese cause, and a deep sharer in all
the hopes and fears and prayerful aspirations of that solemn time:—
“By far the most solemn and striking matter at the meeting of Synod has
been the setting apart of William C. Burns as a missionary to China. Who
could have believed that such would have taken place only two days
before? Such an ordination has scarcely ever—if ever—taken place. It is
perfectly marvellous. The thing was done suddenly (2 Chronicles xxix.
36), yet I cannot think hastily, for God hath evidently been preparing
his servant for it these months past. The more I reflect upon all the
circumstances since the time of our first speaking to him on the 21st
December, when we told him of the strait in which the Church was for
want of missionaries to China, up to the decision of the Synod on the 21
st April to ordain him the very next day, the more I am amazed at the
wondrous things which have come to pass, and cannot doubt that God has
been in them of a truth.
“On the 21st December, 1846, Mr. Burns was much at a loss as to the
future; but seeing no open door, and no special call to labour at home,
he placed himself in the hands of the Foreign Mission Committee to go to
India, his original destination. The committee were obliged, from the
state of their funds, to refuse his services. Shortly afterwards Mr.
James Hamilton wrote to him, asking if he would go in the service of the
English Presbyterian Church in the mission proposed to China. This was
made the subject of much thought and prayer, and it was long before he
could at all discover the path which the Lord was indicating in the
matter. Dr. Duncan strongly urged him to go; others as decidedly
dissuaded him, and endeavoured to show to him that Scotland had still
claims upon him. fie himself inclined to go for a time to the Continent,
and it was long 'before he could see that he had any call from the
English Presbyterian Church, or that China was the field to which he
should devote himself. On the 10th April he was still in darkness; on
the 11th he preached in Edinburgh (St. Luke’s), from Jeremiah xv. 16,
and John xii. 36, ‘Walk while ye have the light.’ Light dawned upon him
that day; his heart was enlarged towards the heathen; his prayers were
full of pleadings on their behalf. Next morning he came to breakfast,
and to our utter amazement told us he no longer saw his way to refuse
the call, and intended to write to London to that effect that day. A
note received the following morning mentioned that he had done so. His
desire was to have a conference at the meeting of Synod the following
week at Sunderland, when future plans might be decided upon.
The very day he wrote his note, placing himself at the disposal of the
church for China, the Foreign Mission Committee had a meeting, when it
was decided to abandon China—to undertake Central India instead. The
information which the Committee had received regarding the number of
missionaries already in the field, the difficulty of acquiring the
language, and the country being still so generally closed, led to that
conclusion. Mr. Burns was informed of that decision. An elaborate report
was drawn up in his best style by Mr. Hamilton to lay before the Synod.
“Tuesday morning the 20th April at nine o’clock the committee met in
Sunderland. After much consultation the brethren came to one mind, that
we must not abandon China— the Church was committed to it—and Mr.
Hamilton was instructed to draw up an entirely different report. No
communication had been received from Mr. Burns; but the Church resolved
that its duty was to keep by China, and to prosecute the missionary work
there, as had been resolved upon two years before. Mr. Burns arrived in
Sunderland the next day. His mind was unchanged. China was still his
field, whether the Presbyterian Church abandoned it or no; and he was
not a little amazed when he heard of the proceedings in committee the
preceding day.
“The new report was read in Synod; Mr. Hamilton spoke and others
followed. Mr. Welsh was asked to pray for guidance in the matter, and
Mr. Burns was then invited to address the brethren. He did so; giving an
account of his early life— his dedication to the missionary work—his
arrest in Scotland, when the Lord gave testimony to the word of his
grace, and the reasons for the resolution now formed. The people were
much affected, as was the speaker; he was obliged frequently to pause,
and at last to stop altogether. A meeting for conference was shortly
afterwards summoned, at which he fully opened up his wishes in the
matter, especially as regarded ordination. He wished to go forth only as
an evangelist, not to administer sacraments; 'Christ sent me not to
baptize, but to preach the gospel.’ Acts xiii. was read; Mr. P. L.
Miller prayed; and after much discussion it was resolved that he should
be ordained the next day at ten o’clock, and proceed to China forthwith.
“The ordination services took place in a church in which he had often
preached, and by a Presbytery (the only one in England) within whose
bounds he had laboured for several months with no small success—a
Presbytery from which Morrison also went forth, for his father was an
elder of High Bridge Church, Newcastle; and not the least remarkable
coincidence was the fact that the minister who preached had been born
and baptized in China. The service was commenced by the moderator, Mr.
Anderson, giving out Psalm lxxii. 8-11. He read Acts xiii., and sung
Paraphrase xxiii. 11-15 :
‘Lo! former scenes, predicted once
Conspicuous rise to view;
And future scenes, predicted now,
Shall be accomplish’d too.
Sing to the Lord in joyful strains!
Let earth his praise resound,
Ye who upon the ocean dwell,
And fill the isles around!
‘O city of the Lord! begin
The universal song;
And let the scatter’d villages
The cheerful notes prolong.
Let Kedar’s wilderness afar
Lift up its lonely voice;
And let the tenants of the rock
With accents rude rejoice;
‘Till ’midst the streams of distant lands
The islands sound his praise;
And all combin’d, with one accord,
Jehovah’s glories raise.’
The prayers were remarkable for enlargement and fervency bearing upon
every point connected with the solemn work of the day. Mr. Chalmers took
as his text John xix. 30, ‘It is finished and viewed the words, 1st. In
reference to God; 2d. to man—closing with an application to the
occasion—what was left for Christ’s disciples to do. The ordination
service was conducted by Dr. Paterson with extreme simplicity and
apostolic fervour. After the questions had been satisfactorily answered
Mr. Burns knelt down-Dr. Paterson prayed, and laid hands on him—as did
the other ministers, and so the first missionary of the English
Presbyterian Church was ‘set apart by the laying on of the hands of the
Presbytery.’ The charge followed, which was suited to the occasion, and
suited to the man to whom it was addressed. Dr. Paterson said, ‘This is
a very solemn occasion to us, and it is also a very solemn occasion to
you, dear brother. You yesterday told us how the Lord had directed your
heart to offer yourself for this work, and to respond to the call of the
Church to go forth unto the Gentiles. You told us that you did not
require to return to your home, but were ready to set out with your
little scrip on the morrow. And now, I would address to you the words of
the Lord to Saul, ‘Rise, brother, stand upon thy feet/ &c., Acts xxvi.
16-18. You have seen what few of us have; you have seen in the past the
Spirit of God going forth in his wondrous power, giving testimony to the
word of his grace, and the spirits of men bowing before him as mighty
trees shaken by the wind. You have seen whole multitudes awed by his
presence, and constrained to acknowledge that the Lord was revealing
himself of a truth. Have you not seen these things ? Can you not testify
to them? The Lord hath now called thee for this purpose, that you may go
forth ‘a minister and witness of those things which thou hast seen.’
While yet a stripling, he chose you for a great work, by which he
designed to prepare a people for a great event, and to bring many forth
to testify for the Lord Jesus Christ as the great and only Head of the
Church. But he also sends you forth to testify of those things in the
which he will appear unto thee—in which he will yet appear unto thee, ‘
delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles, unto whom now he
sends thee.’ Yes, brother, he has been preparing you for another work,
and he will go before you to open up the way and guide you in all your
steps.’ Verse 18 was then commented on by Dr. P. Dr. P. continued: ‘I
charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall
judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; preach
the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort,
with all long-suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they
will not endure sound doctrine ; but after their own lusts shall they
heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn
away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables’ (2
Timothy iv. 1-4). Yes, soon, very, very soon the time will come when
they will not endure sound doctrine; for they have naturally itching
ears, and turn away from the truth. ‘ But watch thou in all things,
endure affliction, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy
ministry.’
If nature be shrinking within you, if you feel yourself very weak in the
contemplation of this great work to which you have been set apart, let
me direct you to another passage (Matthew xxviii. 18-20), ‘All power is
given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore.’ Yes, he has all
power and all authority, and must reign till he hath put all enemies
under his feet. ‘The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof.’ He
is King of nations as well as King of his Church; he has power to
protect and uphold, and he will deliver you from the nations unto whom
now he sends you. Ah 1 look to him to him alone. You may see the stars
shining around you, you may think of many a bright light who has gone
before into the dark places of the earth; but let me counsel you to turn
from these, and look to Jesus. He is now on the throne, he will shield
you, he will watch over you, he will send down an abundant unction on
your soul, he will supply all your need. Go forth then in his strength.
Remember that God hath given the heathen to his Son for an inheritance;
remember that Jesus hath promised to be with you alway even if the Word
Go forth even as a little child, led by Him who walketh in the midst of
the seven golden candlesticks, and who holdeth the stars in his right
hand. .At Welll's henceforth be in the secret place of the Most and thy
doing under the shadow of the Almighty! his brief sketch gives only an
idea of the style of the address, which was listened to with great
attention and under deep emotion by many of the congregation in the
crowded church. Psalm xcviii. 1-4 was then sung:
‘O sing a new song to the Lord,
For wonders he hath done:
His right hand and his holy arm
Him victory hath won.
The Lord God his salvation
Hath caused to be known;
His justice in the heathen’s sight
He openly hath shown.
‘He mindful of his grace and truth
To Israel’s house hath been;
And the salvation of our God
All ends of th’ earth have seen.
Let all the earth unto the Lord
Send forth a joyful noise;
Lift up your voice aloud to him,
Sing praises, and rejoice.’
“After the service, Mr. Miller, formerly of Dundee, and Mr. Irving of
Falkirk accompanied him to Dr. Paterson’s house, and were afterwards
joined by Mr. Nisbet, &c., where prayer was made, and at four o’clock
Mr. B. left for Newcastle, and preached that evening in Great Market
Chapel. I joined him there at ten o’clock. A considerable number were
waiting to bid him farewell. We went to the lodging, sung Psalm c., ‘All
people,’ &c., read Mark xvi., upon verse 3 of which he remarked how the
women still went on, not knowing how the stone would be rolled away, and
applied it to our duty in similar circumstances. We spoke of how
marvellously the difficulties had been removed already in this matter.
He was filled with astonishment at the way in which it had been gone
about—so little of man in the whole matter—so little preparation in the
sight of the world—and the Church so harmonious. We prayed together and
then parted. The next morning at five o’clock, I heard his heavy foot
pass my door in time for the train to London, on his way to China as the
first missionary of the Presbyterian Church in England.”
It will have been observed that my brother in finally accepting the call
of the Synod declared himself willing, without returning even for a
parting visit to Scotland, to proceed at once to his distant sphere of
labour. It is said that when publicly asked in presence of the court how
soon he could be ready to enter on his work, he replied with prompt
decision, “To-morrow.” This resolute tone and attitude of spirit was
eminently characteristic of him. As a man that warreth, he entangled not
himself with the affairs of this life, and moved about ever as a free
and unencumbered soldier, ready at a moment’s warning to march at the
Master’s command to any quarter of the world. Amongst the memories of
his old classic studies the miles expediius1 was ever, as I remember, a
favourite name and idea with him, and to that model did he ever strive
to discipline and brace his spirit. Long as he had doubted, and
patiently as he had sought and waited for light as to the will of God in
this matter, now that that will to him was clear he was utterly without
hesitation and without fear. Even the difficulties which stood in the
way, and which at that very time had been so greatly magnified as almost
to have postponed for the time the attempt to enter a field so
unpromising, instead of daunting, only fired his spirit, and made him
more impatient to press on, life a brave soldier rushing to the breach
in a forlorn hope. “This,” writes he in his journal, “only strengthened
my resolution to go forward, fearing lest the name of that Lord to whom
all power is given in heaven i.e. Without baggage or heavy armour, and
so always ready for march or battle and on earth might be dishonoured;
and I came to Sunderland to confer about the matter, when I found to my
joy that the mind of the Synod was to go forward” Now then that the
matter was decided, his voice was for immediate action. The day before
he had, I believe, left his father’s house with the fixed resolution
that so it should be. He did not say farewell to those that were at home
in the house, but he none the less and solemnly took farewell. “I was,”
says an elder sister, “the only person at home when he left, our parents
being both, I think, in the north. I remember Dr. Hamilton’s letter
earnestly asking him to be the pioneer missionary for whom the English
Presbyterian Church had been so long seeking. This letter was followed
by one from Mrs. Barbour, in which she reminded him that in an address
to the Students’ Missionary Association in Edinburgh, he had said to
this effect, that when young men gave themselves to the Lord for the
work of the ministry, they were not to prescribe to him where their
field of labour should be, but should be willing to go anywhere, I even
to China' I remember he smiled on reading this, and said he did not
remember having said even to China, but went immediately and looked at
the address, and said, ‘Yes it is— even to China.’ Before receiving this
call he was studying the Gaelic, and seldom had the Gaelic psalm-book
out of his hand, but soon after this we saw that the Gaelic was laid
aside and the Encyclopedia was brought out, and he was busy studying the
Chinese characters. I don’t think he gave a decided answer to James
Hamilton before the meeting of the Synod at Newcastle; but having heard
that some timid persons were daunted by some difficulties that stood in
the way, he said, ‘That’s the very thing that makes my call clear to
go,’ and at once packed his little carpet-bag to start for Newcastle.
The day he went off he was long in papa’s study in prayer, and then
coming out he silently wrung my hand and looked solemnly round as if
taking a farewell look of the house; he had his Breadalbane plaid over
his arm, and after reaching the front door he turned and hung it up in
the lobby, taking one belonging to his mother instead, and giving me an
expressive look as he did so. I was very much overcome, and watched his
receding figure with the feeling that he would not return. I went into
the study to give vent to my feelings, and found the Bible left open at
Isaiah lxiv., ‘Oh, that thou would rend the heavens,’ &c. On going up to
the drawing-room I found the Gaelic Testament and psalm-book neatly put
into one of the shelves, as if he had done with them, and I then said,
‘William will return no more.’ In a very few days, as you know, it was
all decided, and the first announcement we received was from Mr. Irving
of Falkirk, who kindly came straight from the Synod meeting to give us
the tidings.” So he writes in his journal, the thread of which I now
gladly resume: “I had fully, though not formally, taken leave of all
friends in Scotland before coming up to the Synod, and therefore thought
it duty to act upon the text, ‘Let me first go and bid them farewell,’
&c., and without returning back to hasten on my way. This view approved
itself to others, and I hoped to have gone off at once through France,
and to have been in China in July by the steam communication lately
established. This was overruled, however, on the ground that I would
reach the field at a trying season, and by a trying route; and so it was
resolved that I should wait for this present vessel, and in the interval
visit the churches in this Synod. I have been accordingly in most of
them—Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Brighton, London, &c. &c., and
see much cause to adore the wisdom and grace of God in this delay. I do
not hope again to see my dear parents before setting out; but my brother
Islay and his wife from Dundee have come up to see me away, and were
with me to-day along with two others occupied in my outfit (Mr. and Mrs.
Ballantyne), when we took possession of my little cabin and of the ship
for the Lord in the exercise of his worship. . . . My beloved parents
still spared to us seem to rejoice in giving me up to the Lord for this
‘honourable’ work. Yes, ‘it is an honourable work,’ as Dr. M‘Donald of
Ferintosh said to me in his own veteran spirit, when the Lord permitted
me to meet with him once more in Glasgow at the late communion there. .
. . Before leaving Scotland I preached in Bute, Arran, &c., and had many
calls to other places; but as no very special blessing seemed to attend
the word, I did not feel myself at liberty to refuse a call to labour
among the heathen, and that call came to me as one originally
self-devoted to that work should the Lord call me. It is thus in one
view a dark and solemn dispensation in my case to leave this land. I go
away because, either through my sin or the people’s, God’s Spirit
worketh not among us as in years past. But it may be that this is God’s
own way of shutting me out from the home field, and sending me far hence
to other Gentiles. ‘They essayed to preach the gospel, &c., but the
Spirit suffered them not,’ and then the vision of the man of Macedonia
appeared, and they ‘went over to help them.’ Who hath directed the
Spirit of the Lord? A man’s goings are of the Lord: how then ca?i a man
understand his own way? Thou wilt guide me with thy counsel, and
afterwards receive me to glory. Hosanna! Amen.”
In such a strain of exalted faith and hope, and with such solemn
musings. alike of the past and of the future, he closed the eventful
period of his home and colonial ministry, and turned his face toward
those new scenes to which his divine Master was pointing the way.
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