“DEAR FRIEND,—­You ask me a hard question.  Had you asked me what I would do in the case, I could easily tell you.  I love the Lord’s day too well to be marking down the height of the thermometer and barometer every hour.  I have other work to do, higher and better, and more like that of angels above.  The more entirely I can give my Sabbaths to God, and half forget that I am not before the throne of the Lamb, with my harp of gold, the happier am I, and I feel it my duty to be as happy as I can be, and as God intended me to be.  The joy of the Lord is my strength.  But whether another Christian can spend the Sabbath is his service, and mark down degrees of heat and atmospherical pressure, without letting down the warmth of his affections, or losing the atmosphere of heaven, I cannot tell.  My conscience is not the rule of another man.  One thing we may learn from these men of science, namely, to be as careful in marking the changes and progress of our own spirit, as they are in marking the changes of the weather.  An hour should never pass without our looking up to God for forgiveness and peace.  This is the noblest science, to know how to live in hourly communion with God in Christ.  May you and I know more of this, and thank God that we are not among the wise and prudent from whom these things are hid!—­The grace of the Lord of the Sabbath be with you,” etc.

Up till this period, the Narrative of our Mission to Israel had not been given to the public.  Interruptions, arising from multiplicity of labors and constant calls of duty, had from time to time come in our way.  Mr. M’Cheyne found it exceedingly difficult to spare a day or two at a time in order to take part.  “I find it hard work to carry on the work of a diligent pastor and that of an author at the same time.  How John Calvin would have smiled at my difficulties!” At length, however, in the month of March 1842, we resolved to gain time by exchanging each other’s pastoral duties for a month.  Accordingly, during four or five weeks, he remained in Collace, my flock enjoying his Sabbath-day services and his occasional visits, while he was set free from what would have been the never-ceasing interruptions of his own town.

Many a pleasant remembrance remains of these days, as sheet after sheet passed under the eyes of our mutual criticism.  Though intent on accomplishing his work, he kept by his rule, “that he must first see the face of God before he could undertake any duty.”  Often would he wander in the mornings among the pleasant woods of Dunsinnan, till he had drunk in refreshment to his soul by meditation on the word of God; and then he took up the pen.  And to a brother in the ministry, who had one day broken in upon his close occupation, he afterwards wrote:  “You know you stole away my day; yet I trust all was not lost.  I think I have had more grace ever since that prayer among the fir-trees.  Oh to be like Jesus, and with him to all eternity!” Occasionally, during the same period, he wrote some pieces for the Christian’s Daily Companion.  The Narrative was finished in May, and the Lord has made it acceptable to the brethren.