It was about this time that the Mission Board in this country sent him an earnest and affectionate invitation to revisit his native land. He was about forty-two years old, and had been absent from America eighteen years. His health was shattered. His family he had laid in the grave. He said several years later that he had never seen a ship sail out of the port of Maulmain bound for England or America without an almost irrepressible inclination to get on board and visit again the home of his boyhood. And yet in reply to this urgent invitation from his brethren, he wrote:
_To the Corresponding Secretary._
“RANGOON, _December_ 20, 1830.
“REV. AND DEAR SIR: I am happy to inform the Board that my health, which was rather impaired some time ago, is now quite good; so that I should not feel justified in accepting their invitation to return home.
“At the same time, the kind feeling which dictated the invitation, and the affection, though undeserved, which breathes in every line, have made an indelible impression on my heart. I must confess that, in meditating on the subject, I have felt an almost unconquerable desire to become personally acquainted with my beloved patrons and correspondents, the members of the Board, as well as to rove once more over the hills and valleys of my own native land, to recognize the still surviving companions of my youth, and to witness the widespread and daily-increasing glories of Immanuel’s kingdom in that land of liberty, blessed of Heaven with temporal and spiritual blessings above all others.
“However, I anticipate a happier meeting, brighter plains, friends the same, but more lovely and beloved; and I expect soon to witness, yea, enjoy, that glory in comparison of which all on earth is but a shadow. With that anticipation I content myself, assured that we shall not then regret any instance of self-denial or suffering endured for the Lord of life and glory.”
And yet he was so forgetful of self, cared, with almost womanly tenderness, for the health and comfort of his associates in missionary toil.
_To the Missionaries in Maulmain._
“RANGOON, _March_ 3, 1831.
“DEAR BRETHREN AND SISTERS: I am grieved that sister Wade, after running down to Amherst, and deriving a little benefit during a few days’ stay, thinks she must return, and probably has by this time returned, because sister Bennett is quite worn out, ‘having everything to do.’ Now, it appears to me that the better way to have remedied that evil would have been for sister Bennett to run away from all her cares and take the air at Amherst too.
“Mrs. Jones, I hear, is also ill, and Mrs. Kincaid has not, I believe, much health to spare. Now, as you have two months of very trying weather to sustain, I earnestly beg that you will all take into serious consideration the propriety of repairing Landale’s house forthwith, or some other, and placing one or two of the ladies, by turns, to keep the post, until the rainy season sets in. Mrs. Wade, I humbly conceive, ought to be immediately apprehended and sent back as a deserter. And certainly no one ought to hesitate a moment at leaving mission or domestic cares for the preservation of health. When our best beloved are once laid in the cold grave, no cries, or tears, or remorse will bring them back. Many faithful servants and handmaids of the Lord might have been spared many years, had they only relaxed before they made their last effort.
“If you have a house at Amherst during the hot season, some of the brethren, too, may be benefited by an excursion thither. Brother Bennett will certainly need a week’s relaxation there or somewhere else.... However, I only submit these hasty thoughts for your consideration. You are on the spot, and know better than I what is necessary and proper. May God preserve your precious lives many years; for, though the prospect of death may not be grievous, but joyous, ‘the harvest is plenteous, and the laborers are few.’”
While in Rangoon he received the heavy tidings that the beloved Boardman had died in the jungles back of Tavoy.
He thus wrote to the Corresponding Secretary: