message which we bring
Is one to make the dumb man sing;
To bid the blind man wash and see,
The lame to leap with ecstasy;
To raise the soul that's bowed down,
To wipe away the tears and frown
To sprinkle all the heart within
From the accusing voice of sin--
Then, such a sign my call to prove,
To preach my Saviour's dying love,
I cannot, dare not, hope to find.

In the close of the same year 1837, he agreed to become Secretary to
the Association for Church Extension in the country of Forfar. The
Church Extension Scheme, though much misrepresented and much
misunderstood, had in view as its genuine, sincere endeavor, to bring
to overgrown parishes the advantage of a faithful minister, placed
over such a number of souls as he could really visit. Mr. M'Cheyne
cheerfully and diligently forwarded these objects to the utmost of his
power. "It is the cause of God," said he, "and therefore I am willing
to spend and be spent for it." It compelled him to ride much from
place to place; but riding was an exercise of which he was fond, and
which was favorable to his health. As a specimen--"_Dec. 4, 1838._
Travelled to Montrose. Spoke along with Mr. Guthrie at a Church
Extension meeting; eight or nine hundred present. Tried to do
something in the Saviour's cause, both directly and indirectly. Next
day at Forfar. Spoke in the same cause."

How heartily he entered into this scheme may be seen from the
following extract. In a letter of an after date to Mr. Roxburgh, he
says: "Every day I live, I feel more and more persuaded that it is the
cause of God and of his kingdom in Scotland in our day. Many a time,
when I thought myself a dying man, the souls of the perishing
thousands in my own parish, who never enter any house of God, have
lain heavy on my heart. Many a time have I prayed that the eyes of our
enemies might be opened, and that God would open the hearts of our
rulers, to feel that their highest duty and greatest glory is to
support the ministers of Christ, and to send these to every perishing
soul in Scotland." He felt that their misery was all the greater, and
their need the deeper, that such neglected souls had no wish for help,
and would never ask for it themselves. Nor was it that he imagined
that, if churches were built and ministers endowed, this would of
itself be sufficient to reclaim the multitudes of perishing men. But
he sought and expected that