.' When I first left England, my hope
of the conversion of the heathen was very strong; but, among so many
obstacles, it would entirely die away unless upheld by God. Nothing to
exercise it, but plenty to obstruct it, for now a year and nineteen
days, which is the space since I left my dear charge at Leicester.
Since that I have had hurrying up and down; a five months' imprisonment
with carnal men on board the ship; five more learning the language; my
moonshi not understanding English sufficiently to interpret my
preaching; my colleague separated from me; long delays and few
opportunities for social worship; no woods to retire to, like Brainerd,
for fear of tigers (no less than twenty men in the department of
Deharta, where I am, have been carried away by them this season from
the salt-works); no earthly thing to depend upon, or earthly comfort,
except food and raiment. Well, I have God, and His Word is sure; and
though the superstitions of the heathen were a million times worse than
they are, if I were deserted by all, and persecuted by all, yet my
hope, fixed on that sure Word, will rise superior to all obstructions,
and triumph over all trials. God's cause will triumph, and I shall
come out of all trials as gold purified by fire. I was much humbled
to-day by reading Brainerd. O what a disparity betwixt me and him, he
always constant, I as inconstant as the wind!

"22nd April.--Bless God for a continuance of the happy frame of
yesterday. I think the hope of soon acquiring the language puts fresh
life into my soul; for a long time my mouth has been shut, and my days
have been beclouded with heaviness; but now I begin to be something
like a traveller who has been almost beaten out in a violent storm, and
who, with all his clothes about him dripping wet, sees the sky begin to
clear: so I, with only the prospect of a more pleasant season at hand,
scarcely feel the sorrows of the present.

"23rd.--With all the cares of life, and all its sorrows, yet I find
that a life of communion with God is sufficient to yield consolation in
the midst of all, and even to produce a holy joy in the soul, which
shall make it to triumph over all affliction. I have never yet
repented of any sacrifice that I have made for the Gospel, but find
that consolation of mind which can come from God alone.

"26th May.--This day kept Sabbath at Chandureea; had a pleasant day. In
the morning and afternoon addressed my family, and in the evening