“Sailing up the Thames, Nov. 6, 1839.

“MY DEAR FATHER AND MOTHER,—­You will be glad to see by the date that we are once more in sight of the shores of happy England.  I only wish I knew how you all are.  I have not heard of you since I was in Smyrna.  In vain did I inquire for letters from you at Cracow, Berlin, and Hamburgh.  You must have written to Warsaw, and the Resident there has not returned them to Berlin, as we desired.  Andrew and I and Mr. Calman are all quite well, and thankful to God, who has brought us through every danger in so many countries.  I trust our course has not been altogether fruitless, and that we may now resign our commission with some hope of good issuing from it to the church and to Israel.  I preached last Sabbath in Hamburgh, for the first time since leaving England, and felt nothing the worse of it; so that I do hope it is my heavenly Father’s will to restore me to usefulness again among my beloved flock.  We have heard something of a reviving work at Kilsyth.  We saw it noticed in one of the newspapers.  I also saw the name of Dundee associated with it; so that I earnestly hope good has been doing in our church, and the dew from on high watering our parishes, and that the flocks whose pastors have been wandering may also have shared in the blessing.  We are quite ignorant of the facts, and you may believe we are anxious to hear....  We are now passing Woolwich, and in an hour will be in London.  We are anxious to be home, but I suppose will not get away till next week.  I never thought to have seen you again in this world, but now I hope to meet you once more in peace.—­Believe me, your affectionate son,” etc.

The day we arrived on the shores of our own land was indeed a singular day.  We were intensely anxious to hear of events that had occurred at home a few months before,—­the outpouring of the Spirit from on high,—­while our friends were intensely interested in hearing tidings of the land of Israel and the scattered tribes.  The reception of deputation on their return, and the fruits of their mission, are well known, and have been elsewhere recorded.

Mr. M’Cheyne listened with deepest interest to the accounts given of what had taken place in Dundee during the month of August, when he lay at the gates of death in Bouja.  The Lord had indeed fulfilled his hopes, and answered his prayers.  His assistant, Mr. Burns, had been honored of God to open the floodgate at Dundee as well as at Kilsyth.  For some time before, Mr. Burns had seen symptoms of deeper attention than usual, and of real anxiety in some that had hitherto been careless.  But it was after his return from Kilsyth that the people began to melt before the Lord.  On Thursday, the second day after his return, at the close of the usual evening prayer-meeting in St. Peter’s, and when the minds of many were deeply solemnized by the tidings which had reached them, he spoke a few words about what had for some days detained him from