g, "After that I have nothing more to say!"

My dear Green Street people grieved excessively at the thought of my
leaving them, and daily pleaded with me to remain. Indeed, the
opposition was so strong from nearly all, and many of them warm
Christian friends, that I was sorely tempted to question whether I was
carrying out the Divine will, or only some headstrong wish of my own.
But conscience said louder and clearer every day, "Leave all these
results with Jesus your Lord, who said, 'Go ye into all the world,
preach the Gospel to every creature, and lo! I am with you alway.'"
These words kept ringing in my ears; these were our _marching orders_.

Some retorted upon me, "There are Heathen at home; let us seek and save,
first of all, the lost ones perishing at our doors." This I felt to be
most true, and an appalling fact; but I unfailingly observed that those
who made this retort neglected these Home Heathen themselves; and so the
objection, as from them, lost all its power.

On meeting, however, with so many obstructing influences, I again laid
the whole matter before my dear parents, and their reply was to this
effect:--"Heretofore we feared to bias you, but now we must tell you why
we praise God for the decision to which you have been led. Your father's
heart was set upon being a Minister, but other claims forced him to give
it up! When you were given to them, your father and mother laid you upon
the altar, their first-born, to be consecrated, if God saw fit, as a
Missionary of the Cross; and it has been their constant prayer that you
might be prepared, qualified, and led to this very decision; and we pray
with all our heart that the Lord may accept your offering, long spare
you, and give you many souls from the Heathen World for your hire." From
that moment, every doubt as to my path of duty forever vanished. I saw
the hand of God very visibly, not only preparing me for, but now leading
me to, the Foreign Mission field.

Well did I know that the sympathy and prayers of my dear parents were
warmly with me in all my studies and in all my Mission work; but for my
education they could of course, give me no money help. All through, on
the contrary, it was my pride and joy to help them, being the eldest in
a family of eleven; though I here most gladly and gratefully record that
all my brothers and sisters, as they grew up and began to earn a living,
took their full share in this same blessed privilege. For we stuck to