a moment, I indulged a longing for the peace and privileges of the happy land I had left; but it was only for a moment, and all was right again. I felt I was just where I would like best to be, though for the present these trials seemed hard to bear. It was an hour of unusual experience, and the depression was correspondent to it. The hunger, the darkness, the surrounding danger, the heat and laborious exertion, with the uncertainty of my whereabouts, and the probable distance of any help, all together constituted such a drain on my strength, and hope, and fortitude, as I never before endured. To complete my calamities, both my boots had given way on the stony paths, and my feet were wet as well as sore.
As I was looking round for a tree in which I might spend the night, out of the reach of the animals, (for I felt as if I could go no farther,) I recollected Brother Stevens and “Old Jeddy,” and the “rest at home” that cheered him on that eventful night in the wilderness. I lifted up my heart to God and asked for strength for body and for soul; and there, in the midst of my gloom and solitude, I was cheered by the presence of my heavenly Father. A train of delightful reflections set in. I thought of my own deep indebtedness to the Divine mercy; I thought of our Church, and the glorious work that God had spread before her; and I thought of my own mission, and of that future day when it would spread among these degraded multitudes, and when they would love the Redeemer as I loved him then! How these thoughts and feelings braced up my soul for life and duty! Exhaustion was forgotten, and my full heart gushed out in strong affection toward the blessed Jesus, until I felt ready to bear any thing for his dear sake. I felt it easy to come to the conclusion that my state, with all its weariness, was one that I would not exchange with any of the votaries of this world's pleasure or ease. I rose to my feet, and these words came from the depths of my heart, and went up on the night air to heaven:
“In a dry land, behold I place
My whole desire on thee, O Lord;
And more I joy to gain thy grace
Than all earth's treasures can afford.”
