among the noisy mechanics and political weavers of this godless town. He will
make the money sufficient. He that paid his taxes from a fish's mouth, will
supply all my need."
From Scotland to Palestine, from Dundee to Jerusalem, is a strange transition but this Mr. M'Cheyne was now called to undergo. The incessant action of mind and body during his ministerial course, upon a constitution naturally delicate, had, towards the close of 1838, completely impaired his strength, and occasioned such a violent palpitation of the heart, that he was imperatively ordered by his medical advisers to discontinue his public labours, and seek a cure in change of place and occupation. He reluctantly complied, and passed over to Edinburgh, where he had not been long domiciled, when a proposal was made to him to join a deputation about to be sent by the Church of Scotland into the East, for the purpose of making personal inquiries into the condition of the Jews. Nothing could have been more opportune than such an offer; It gratified the longing for missionary enterprise that had stirred up his heart from an early period, but hitherto without scope; it promised to restore that health of which he was now in quest, without dreary useless inaction as its price; and it would lead him through those hallowed scenes and localities, the memory of which is so dear to every Christian heart, and which it recognizes to the very end as its native birthplace and home. As one of the four ministers who composed the mission, he commenced that interesting journey of which a full account has been given to the public in the "Narrative of a Mission of Inquiry to the Jews, from the Church of Scotland, in 1839." After a six months' tour, in which every day brought a change of scene and incident, he returned home in November, 1839, renewed in health, and impatient to resume his wonted duties. It was time that he should return, for one of these mysterious religious epochs, called a "revival," had occurred within his own parish, as well as the town of Dundee at large. It was similar to the event which, under the same title, had occurred nearly a century earlier at Cambuslang. On departing upon his mission to the East, the assistant whom Mr. M'Cheyne left in his place had preached in Kilsyth, and there such a revival of religious feeling had occurred as seemed to recall the days of Pentecost. From Kilsyth the impulse reached Dundee, where its original agent was now stationed, and afterwards went with an electric sympathy through other parishes of Scotland. This religious popular movement, so peculiar to Scotland, and yet so alien to the national character—as if that were the fittest place where such a doubtful impulse could be best tried and tested—was in full operation among his people when Mr. M'Cheyne returned, and in its working he recognized the finger of God. On this account he threw himself without hesitation into it, and was now more employed than ever in speaking comfort to the afflicted, and giving instruction to the doubtful and inquiring. The immediate fruits of this revival, also, were such as to fill him with the most triumphant hope, notwithstanding the frequent instances that occurred among the seemingly converted, not only of wavering inconsistency, but even of positive downfall. As is well known, this great national religious stirring among the people preceded the Disruption, for which it served in some measure to prepare the way; and in these events, by which the Church of Scotland was finally rent in twain, Mr. M'Cheyne could not do otherwise than, feel a deep vital interest. That principle of spiritual independence for which his brethren were contending, he had cherished and advocated from the beginning, and now
