APPENDIX. 477 



planned by Government, more volunteers apply than are necessary 

 to man it. On the proposal to send a band of brave men in search 

 of Sir John Franklin, a full complement for the ships could have 

 been procured of officers alone, without any common sailors. And 

 what thousands rushed to California, from different parts of 

 America, on the discovery of the gold ! How many husbands left 

 their wives and families ! How many Christian men tore them- 

 selves away from all home endearments to suffer, and toil, and 

 perish by cold and starvation on the overland route ! How many 

 sank from fever and exhaustion on the banks of Sacramento ! 

 Yet no word of sacrifices there. And why should we so regard all 

 we give and do for the Well-beloved of our souls ? Our talk of 

 sacrifices is ungenerous and heathenish. . . . 



It is something to be a missionary. He is sometimes inclined, 

 in seasons of despondency and trouble, to feel as if forgotten. But 

 for whom do more prayers ascend ? — prayers from the secret place, 

 and from those only who are known to God. Mr. Moffat met those 

 in England who had made his mission the subject of special prayer 

 for more than twenty years, though they had no personal knowledge 

 of the missionary. Through the long fifteen years of no success, 

 of toil and sorrow, these secret ones were holding up his hands. 

 And who can tell how often his soul may have been refreshed 

 through their intercessions ? . . . 



It is something to be a missionary. The heart is expanded and 

 filled with generous sympathies ; sectarian bigotry is eroded, and 

 the spirit of reclusion which makes it doubtful if some denomina- 

 tions have yet made up their minds to meet those who differ with 

 them in heaven, loses much of its fire. . . . 



There are many puzzles and entanglements, temptations, trials, 

 and perplexities, which tend to inure the missionary's virtue. 

 The difficulties encountered prevent his faith from growing languid. 

 He must walk by faith, and though the horizon be all dark and 

 lowering, he must lean on Him whom having not seen he loves. 

 The future — a glorious future — is that for which he labours. It 

 lies before him as we have seen the lofty coast of Brazil. No chink 

 in the tree-covered rocks appears to the seaman ; but he glides 

 right on. He works toward the coast, and when he enters the 

 gateway by the sugar-loaf hill, there opens to the view in the 

 Bay of Eio a scene of luxuriance and beauty unequalled in the 

 world beside. 



