_Dec. 2, 1839._

"Rev. And. A. Bonar, Collace.

"My Dear A.,--I begin upon note-paper, because I have no other on
hand but our thin travelling paper. I have much to tell you, and
to praise the Lord for. I am grieved to hear that there are no
marks of the Spirit's work about Collace during your absence; but
if Satan drive you to your knees, he will soon find cause to
repent it. Remember how fathers do to their children when they
ask bread. How much more shall our heavenly Father give ([Greek:
hagatha]) all good things to them that ask Him. Remember the
rebuke which I once got from old Mr. Dempster of Denny, after
preaching to his people: 'I was highly pleased with your
discourse, but in prayer it struck me that you thought God
_unwilling to give_.' Remember Daniel: 'At the beginning of thy
supplications the commandment came forth.' And do not think you
are forgotten by me as long as I have health and grace to pray.

"Everything here I have found in a state better than I expected.
The night I arrived I preached to such a congregation as I never
saw before. I do not think another person could have got into the
church, and there was every sign of the deepest and tenderest
emotion. R. Macdonald was with me, and prayed. Affliction and
success in the ministry have taught and quickened him. I preached
on I Cor. 2:1-4, and felt what I have often heard, that it is
easy to preach where the Spirit of God is. On the Friday night
Mr. Burns preached. On the Sabbath I preached on that wonderful
passage, II Chron. 5:13, 14; Mr. Burns preached twice, morning
and evening. His views of divine truth are clear and commanding.
There is a great deal of substance in what he preaches, and his
manner is very powerful,--so much so, that he sometimes made me
tremble. In private he is deeply prayerful, and seems to feel his
danger of falling into pride.

"I have seen many of the awakened, and many of the saved; indeed,
this is a pleasant place compared with what it was once. Some of
the awakened are still in the deepest anxiety and distress. Their
great error is exactly what your brother Horace told me. They
think that coming to Christ is some strange act of their mind,
different from believing what God has said of his Son; so much
so, that they will, tell you with one breath, I believe all that.
God has said, and yet with the next complain that they cannot