What gave peculiar interest to the occasion was, that four of the oldest missionaries of the Board in these countries, who have not all met before for many years, were present, viz., the Rev. Messrs. King, Temple, Bird, and myself. Mr. Bird was my fellow-student at the Theological Seminary, my fellow-passenger from America, and my fellow-laborer for several years in Syria, but I had not seen him or his family before for six years. Mr. King was also with us, both at the Theological Seminary and in Syria; but since either of us had had an opportunity before of bowing the knee with him at the throne of mercy, his fellow-traveler and companion in labor, our beloved brother Fisk, had gone to bow with the ten thousand times ten thousand round about the throne above, near eleven years ago.

Mr. Temple was my classmate at the academy, at college, and at the Theological Seminary, — in all nine years, the last seven of which he was my room-mate. We ate at the same table, and slept in the same bed, and prayed in the same closet; twice, also, we had been fellow- laborers at Malta; but five years had elapsed since our last meeting. We had no expectation of all meeting together again, till we should meet in another and very different part of the empire of Christ, even the capital of His glorious king-dom.

Tabernacle was in all probability

And as — excepting the Rev. Mr. Lowndes, of Corfu, who is of the London Missionary Society — we four were the oldest missionaries this side of India of any society whatever, we could not but feel that the time for putting off this tabernacle was in all probability, at least for some of us, drawing nigh. You can easily imagine, then, that the season throughout must have been one of most tender interest to us. At the close of all, we united in celebrating the love of Christ at His table, and then parted, hoping to see each other again in that world where our hearts will rejoice, and our joy no man can take from us.

I ought to add that, in addition to this renewing of old acquaintances (among whom should be included the Rev. Messrs. Arundel, Lewis, and Jetter, with Mr. Barker), I had the happiness also of forming some new ones, among whom I must not omit to mention Mr. and Mrs. Adger and Mr. and Mrs. Houston, all of whom are from your section of the country, and the two latter from your own State, and all of whom are exceedingly dear to us. We had also with us, to assist by his counsels and prayers during the whole session, the Rev. Mr. Paxton, who must be known personally to many of your good people in Richmond, and who appears to be truly a man of God. Oh, I love to see ' the North give up, and the South not keep back,' in more senses than one.

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