his
furnace. He mentioned this to the brother who corresponded with him on
the subject, Mr. Purves of Jedburgh, whose reply was balm to his
spirit ... "I have a fellow-feeling with you in your present
infirmity, and you know for your consolation that another has, who is
a brother indeed. In all our afflictions, He is afflicted. He is, we
may say, the common heart of his people, for they are one body; and an
infirmity in the very remotest and meanest member is felt _there_ and
borne _there_. Let us console, solace, yea, satiate ourselves in Him,
as, amid afflictions especially, brother does in brother. It is
blessed to be like Him in everything, even in suffering. There is a
great want about all Christians who have not suffered. Some flowers
must be broken or bruised before they emit any fragrance. All the
wounds of Christ send out sweetness; all the sorrows of Christians do
the same. Commend me to a bruised brother,--a broken reed,--one like
the Son of man. The Man of Sorrows is never far from him. To me there
is something sacred and sweet in all suffering; it is so much akin to
the Man of Sorrows." It was thus he suffered, and thus that he was
comforted. He wrote back, agreeing to go, and added. "Remember me
especially, who am heavy laden oftentimes. My heart is all of sin; but
Jesus lives."

They set out for England. Mr. Purves, Mr. Somerville of Anderston, Mr.
Cumming of Dumbarney, and Mr. Bonar of Kelso, formed the company.
Their chief station was Newcastle, where Mr. Burns had been recently
laboring with some success, and where he had seen "a town giving
itself up to utter ungodliness, a town where Satan's trenches were
deep and wide, his wall strong and high, his garrison great and
fearless, and where all that man could do seemed but as arrows shot
against a tower of brass." But those who went knew that the Spirit of
God was omnipotent, and that He could take the prey from the mighty.

They preached both in the open air, and in the places of worship
belonging to the Presbyterians and to the Wesleyan Methodists. The
defenders of the Sabbath cause were specially prepared to welcome Mr.
M'Cheyne, whose tract on the Lord's Day has been widely circulated and
blessed. Many were attracted to hear; interesting congregations
assembled in the market-place, and there is reason to believe many
were impressed. A person in the town describes Mr. M'Cheyne's last
address as being peculiarly awakening. He preached in the open a