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No. III.
QUILIMANE, 23_d May_, 1856.
DEAR SIR,--Having by the good providence of our Heavenly Father reached this village on the 20th curt., I was pleased to find a silence of more than four years broken by your letter of the 24th August, 1855. I found, also, that H.M.'s brigatine "Dart" had called at this port several times in order to offer me a passage homeward, but on the last occason in which this most friendly act was performed, her commander, with an officer of marines and five seamen, were unfortunately lost on the very dangerous bar at the mouth of the Quilimane River. This sad event threw a cold shade over all the joy I might otherwise have experienced on reaching the Eastern Coast. I felt as if it would have been easier for me to have died for them than to bear the thought of so many being cut off from all the joys of life in generously attempting to render me a service. As there is no regular means of proceeding from this to the Cape, I remain here in the hope of meeting another cruiser, which the kindness of Commodore Trotter has led me to expect, in preference to going by a small Arab or Portuguese trading vessel to some point on the "overland route to India." And though I may possibly reach you as soon as a letter, it appears advisable to state in writing my thoughts respecting one or two very important points in your communication.
Accompanied by many kind expressions of approbation, which I highly value on account of having emanated from a body of men whose sole object in undertaking the responsibility and labor of the Direction must have been a sincere desire to promote the interests of the kingdom of our Lord among the heathen, I find the intimation that the Directors are restricted in their power of aiding plans connected only remotely with the spread of the gospel. And it is added, also, that even though certain very formidable obstacles should prove surmountable, the "financial circumstances of the Society are not such as to afford any ground of hope that it would be, within any definite period, in a position to enter upon untried, remote, and difficult fields of labor."
If I am not mistaken, these statements imply a resolution on the part of the gentlemen now in the Direction, to devote the decreasing income of the Society committed to their charge to parts of the world of easy access, and in which the missionaries may devote their entire time and energies to the dissemination of the truths of the gospel with reasonable hopes of speedy success. This, there can be no doubt, evinces a sincere desire to perform their duty faithfully to their constituents, to the heathen, and to our Lord and Master, yet while still retaining that full conviction of the purity of their motives, which no measure adopted during the sixteen years of my connection with the Society has for a moment disturbed, I feel constrained to view "the untried, remote, and difficult fields," to which I humbly yet firmly believe God has directed my steps, with a resolution widely different from that which their words imply. As our aims and purposes will now appear in some degree divergent--on their part from a sort of paralysis caused by financial decay, and on mine from the simple continuance of an old determination to devote my life and my all to the service of Christ, in whatever way He may lead me in inter-tropical Africa--it seems natural, while yet without the remotest idea of support from another source, to give some of the reasons for differing with those with whom I have hitherto been so happily connected.
It remains vividly on my memory that some twenty years ago, while musing how I might spend my life so as best to promote the glory of the Lord Jesus, I came to the conclusion that from the cumulative nature of gospel influence the outskirts even of the Empire of China presented the most inviting field for evangelical effort in the world. I was also much averse to being connected with any Society, having a strong desire to serve Christ in circumstances which would free my services from all professional aspect. But the solicitations of friends in whose judgment I had confidence led to my offers of service to the London Missionary Society. The "Opium War" was then adduced as a reason why that remote, difficult, and untried field of labor should stand in abeyance before the interior of Africa, to which, in opposition to my own judgment, I was advised to proceed. I did not, however, go with any sort of reluctance, for I had great respect for the honored men by whom the advice was given, and unbounded confidence in the special providence of Him who has said, "Commit thy way unto the Lord, etc. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy steps." I was contented with the way in which I had been led, and happy in the prospect of being made instrumental in winning some souls to Christ.