sing
their ages.

'But the sights of misery, suffering, and wretchedness which gather
round Gilmour's stand are simply appalling. His work seems to me to
come nearest to Christ's own way of blessing men. Healing them of
their wounds, giving comfort in sickness, and at the same time
telling them the gospel of Eternal Salvation through Jesus Christ.
One day that I went I found Gilmour tying a bandage on a poor
beggar's knee. The beggar was a boy about sixteen years of age,
entirely naked, with the exception of a piece of sacking for a loin
cloth. He had been creeping about, almost frozen with cold, and a
dog (who, no doubt, thought he was simply an animated bone) had
attacked him.

'The people here are desperately poor, and the misery and
suffering one sees crawling through the streets every day is
heart-rending. I have not a doubt that I am in a real mission
field, and thank God that He has given me the opportunity to do
something towards alleviating some of this misery. But what about
the work as regards the saving of souls and establishing of a
Church? I can only speak of the work in Ta Ss[)u] Kou. It is in its
initiatory stage. All the Christians and adherents can sit round
the four sides of my table. But I am highly pleased with them.'

The letters of this period have a very tender and sacred association for
all who received them, since they reached England after the telegraphic
tidings of James Gilmour's death had brought sorrow to his many friends.
They came, in a sense, like a message from one 'within the veil.' Some
of these refer to the books he was reading, and from which he had
derived benefit; some depict phases of his experience; some bear
directly upon his work and its needs; all possess the solemn value and
are read in the clearer light imparted to them by Death.

The first was written to one of his brothers.

'Do you know _In the Volume of the Book_, by Dr. Pentecost? It is A
1. I have just read it. It is not a dear book. Read it, man, by all
means. It gives zest to the old Bible. I am reading through the New
Testament at about the rate of a gospel a day, or two epistles.
Rapid reading has advantages. Close study of minute portions has
other advantages. All sorts of reading are valuable. Go for your
Bible, brother. There is no end more in it than ever you or I ha