uld
not let him in, and when he saw himself accidentally in a mirror he
did not know himself. His drunkenness had completely changed his
appearance and voice even.

'So God made us in His own image, but sin has terribly changed us.
Purified by the Holy Ghost we may again be like ourselves and God.

'The service lasted about two hours and ten minutes. The story
parts of the sermon were very effective.'

A later entry in the diary runs: 'Had service. Preached "Jesus saves,"
the sermon for the heathen of that name.' One who often heard him preach
in China gives the following estimate of his power and method in
delivering his message:--

'As a preacher Gilmour was most unconventional. His sermons were
direct talks, without any attempt at rhetoric. They were
plentifully illustrated, largely from events in his own experience.
Laughable allusions or quaint ways of putting things were
frequently used. While there was not much attractive in the manner
of the preacher, the directness of his remark and his evident
earnestness always made his sermons appreciated and enjoyed. The
Chinese were always glad to hear him, and words he used to speak
are often referred to.'

Writing on one occasion to a friend in England being educated for the
Christian ministry, who had just taken one of the higher degrees at the
London University, he said:--

'I don't think our work is so much unlike, after all. You witness
for Christ, so do I; and though you are in a Christian country and
I in a heathen land, human nature is human nature, and not so
different as might be supposed. You may, pray you may, see more
fruit of your work than I do, but your trials, and difficulties,
and temptations will be, no doubt are, pretty much the same as
mine. May the Lord help you and bless you now and for ever! I hope
He will help you to have ever a heart ready to preach simply the
simple Gospel to your hearers, half of whom, perhaps, know almost
nothing of salvation, though they have been listening to sermons
about it all their lives, and would not know in the least to which
hand to turn if they were aroused and became anxious to be saved.
I'll give you a text, which I think peculiarly suitable for you,
now a graduate. Isaiah 1. 4--"The Lord God hath given me the tongue
of the learned, that I should know how