at the collieries;
and remembering them still at a later period, he reproached himself
with neglect, though most unjustly. "The places which I left utterly
unbroken in upon are Kinnaird and Milton. Both of these rise up
against my conscience, particularly the last, through which I have
ridden so often." It was not the comfort, but the positive usefulness
of the ministry, that he envied; and he judged of places by their
fitness to promote this great end. He said of a neighboring parish,
which he had occasion to visit: "The manse is altogether too sweet;
other men could hardly live there without saying, 'This is my rest.' I
don't think ministers' manses should ever be so beautiful."

A simple incident was overruled to promote the ease and fluency of his
pulpit ministrations. From the very beginning of his ministry he
reprobated the custom of reading sermons, believing that to do so does
exceedingly weaken the freedom and natural fervor of the messenger in
delivering his message. Neither did he recite what he had written. But
his custom was to impress on his memory the substance of what he had
beforehand carefully written, and then to speak as he found liberty.
One morning, as he rode rapidly along to Dunipace, his written sermons
were dropped on the wayside. This accident prevented him having the
opportunity of preparing in his usual manner; but he was enabled to
preach with more than usual freedom. For the first time in his life,
he discovered that he possessed the gift of extemporaneous
composition, and learned, to his own surprise, that he had more
composedness of mind and command of language than he had believed.
This discovery, however, did not in the least degree diminish his
diligent preparation. Indeed, the only use that he made of the
incident at the time it occurred was, to draw a lesson of dependence
on God's own immediate blessing rather than on the satisfactory
preparation made. "One thing always fills the cup of my consolation,
that God may work by the meanest and poorest words, as well as by the
most polished and ornate,--yea, perhaps more readily, that the glory
may be all his own."

His hands were again full, distributing the bread of life in
fellowship with Mr. Bonar. The progress of his own soul, meanwhile,
may be traced in some of the few entries that occur in his diary
during this period:--

"_Feb. 21, 1836_, Sabbath.--Blessed be the Lord for another day of the
Son of man. Resumed my diary, long b