I844-54- WONDERFUL VITALITY, 243 



before, and desire more than ever to confide in Him." " I 

 got great good," he says to Mr. Macmillan, " from the long, 

 quiet, and often sleepless hours. How soon, alas ! the 

 whirl of business banishes the thoughts that were so wel- 

 come in the silence and lowliness of sickness ! How diffi- 

 cult it is to live to Christ in the struggle of daily contention, 

 and to keep one's-self unspotted from the world ! " 



His wonderful recovery, time after time, from severe ill- 

 nesses, evinced an amount of vitality which was scarcely 

 looked for in his apparently feeble frame. Again and again 

 did his medical friends look on him as almost brought back 

 from the grave ; yet there he was, claiming no compassion, 

 and bravely doing a strong man's work in the world. It 

 cannot be doubted that, ever after his experiences of 1843, 

 the perfect calm and serenity of his mind gave the body 

 every chance in its favour. 



To his fellow-men " the personal feebleness of the genial 

 presence" made him all the dearer. A tender reverence 

 usually marked their intercourse with him, though of this 

 he seemed unconscious, having much of that simplicity of 

 character retained by few beyond the years of childhood, 

 and which possesses a nameless charm when united to full- 

 grown powers of heart and mind. The impression made on 

 his kind hostess, while visiting London in 185 1, may perhaps 

 better convey to others a realization of his bearing in general 

 society than a lengthened description could furnish. " The 

 very first impression, preceding all others, was wonder at the 

 life that was in him. I had been prepared to see an invalid ; 

 a man whose constitution had been severely tried, and 

 whose health was at that time very precarious. His letters 

 had previously made us acquainted with his genial nature ; 

 but although we anticipated many gleams of the same hu- 

 morous and kindly spirit in his conversation, yet we naturally 



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