f his
love. Oh how sweet to work all day for God, and then to lie down at
night under his smiles!"

"_June 17, 1838._--At Dumbarney communion. Much sin and coldness two
days before. Lay low at his feet; found peace only in Jesus."

"_Sept. 25._--Spent last week at Blairgowrie; I hope not in vain. Much
sin, weakness, and uselessness; much delight in the word also, while
opening it up at family prayer. May God make the word fire. Opened I
Thessalonians, the whole; enriching to my own mind. How true is Psalm
1! yet observed in my heart a strange proneness to be entangled with
the affairs of this life; not strange because I am good, but because I
have been so often taught that bitterness is the end of it."

"_Sept. 27._--Devoted chief part of Friday to fasting. Humbled and
refreshed."

"Sept. 30, Sabbath.--Very happy in my work. Too little prayer in the
morning. Must try to get early to bed on Saturday, that I may 'rise a
great while before day.'" These early hours of prayer on Sabbath he
endeavored to have all his life; not for study, but for prayer. He
never labored at his sermons on a Sabbath. That day he kept for its
original end, the _refreshment of his soul_. (Exodus 31:17.)

The parish of St. Peter's, to which he had come, was large and very
destitute. It is situated at the west end of the town, and included
some part of the adjacent country. The church was built in connection
with the Church Extension Scheme. The parish was a _quoard sacra_
parish, detached from St. John's. It contains a population of 4,000
souls, very many of whom never crossed the threshold of any sanctuary.
His congregation amounted at the very outset, to about 1,100 hearers,
one-third of whom came from distant parts of the town.

Here was a wide field for parochial labor. It was also a very dead
region--few, even of those who were living Christians, breathing their
life on others; for the surrounding mass of impenetrate heathenism had
cast its sad influence even over them. His first impressions of Dundee
were severe. "A city given to idolatry and hardness of heart. I fear
there is much of what Isaiah speaks of: 'The prophets prophesy lies,
and the people love to have it so.'"

His first months of labor were very trying. He was not strong in
bodily health, and that winter a fatal influenza prevailed for two or
three months, so that most of his time in his parish was spent in
visiting the sick and dying. In such cases he was always ready.