I need Thy presence every passing hour: What but Thy grace can foil the tempter's power ? I fear no foe with Thee at hand to bless : Where is Death's sting? where, Grave, thy victory? Hold then Thy cross before my closing eyes! -HENRY FRANCIS LYTE. THOUGHTS OF HOME. INTENDED RETURN. PRE PARATIONS. LETTER FROM A NATIVE. LETTER THE ACCIDENT. SAD RE O a Christian missionary who has laboured in the foreign field for more than twenty years the idea of returning home, even though in a feeble state of health, cannot but be cheering; and to think of once more seeing the white cliffs of Albion, of once more treading the soil of Britain, and of once more embracing old and dearly-beloved friends, is enough to inspire his mind with feelings approaching to rapture, and that notwithstanding the boisterous sea which he must cross at the risk of sickness or of life. Home! country! No one loves them more R than an Englishman, and though he leaves them when necessity or duty calls, yet, as with the Jew in his captivity, they are seldom distant from his thoughts, and when the hand of Providence beckons his return, return he will with songs of gratitude and joy. Mr Pearse, however, was at no time anxious to leave Natal, and but for failing health he probably would not have contemplated such a step. He was happy in his work as long as he could do it, and in his work he would probably have remained for at least a few years more, had his strength continued equal to the task. But he had for some time suffered from a disordered liver; and the anxiety he often felt for the welfare of the mission, together with his arduous itinerating labours, had produced such effects on his constitution as seemed to him and to his friends to render necessary his return to England without much further delay. He could, however, look on the state of the mission with gratitude and praise to God. When he joined it in the year 1850-1 there were, in the Natal district, 5 circuits, 6 missionaries, 7 chapels, 22 other places for preaching, 414 church members, and 608 scholars in the day and Sabbath schools; in the year 1861, the numbers were 9 circuits, 12 missionaries, 17 chapels, 64 other places for preaching, 672 church members, and 1034 scholars in the day and Sabbath schools. Thus had he and his coadjutors in this sphere of toil been greatly blessed by the Head of A NATIVE'S LETTER. 259 the Church; and thus he could leave the country, if such were the will of God, with the conviction that he had not spent twelve years of his life in it for nought. His contemplated removal soon became known; and almost immediately the esteem in which he was held by all classes of the people was displayed in a variety of ways. One medical gentleman, Dr C. B. Boast, who attended him in a season of affliction, generously declined any remuneration for his services. The Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society, and that of the Natal Literary Society, sent him letters of thanks for his attention to their interests. From a member of his congregation, who had come to Natal an entire stranger, and whom Mr Pearse had kindly taken by the hand, he received a note expressive of his gratitude, and enclosing a small sum of money which he begged him to accept. And his beloved friend and brother missionary Mr Jenkins wrote and said, 'Your going away from the district seems to leave me like a sparrow alone on the housetop.' And here is a note from one of the native members of the church, an excellent and pious female, the original of which, written by herself in Kafir, I now possess :— 'ECEDARA, Jan. 30th, 1862. Go I send this little letter of greeting to you. in God's grace, and the Lord preserve you. We trust in Him who is almighty that He will cause us to see each other again in this world; but if He does |