we shall never see your two dear little brothers in this world; but if we love and trust the Lord Jesus, our souls will go up, up, up, into the blessed heaven, and we shall live always with our God.”
He often afterwards described a scene when he entered his state-room and found his little son standing by his mother, who was very ill in her berth, and trying to comfort her. “Don’t be afraid, Mamma. Don’t you remember how we were upset in the stage-coach on the top of Sonter Hill? If God had wanted us to die, don’t you think he would have let us be killed then?” Just then a tremendous wave swept over the ship, rushing down into the cabin, spreading darkness and confusion about them, and the little fellow fell upon his knees with a cry to God for help.
The latter part of the voyage was rendered very pleasant by the society of so many congenial spirits as were brought together by the return of the Evangelical Alliance delegates. He tells the following incidents of this time.
“In 1846 I took my family to England, and succeeded in making arrangements for several important works. On my return voyage, the venerable, Lyman Beecher was a fellow passenger. One day, seated on deck, he asked me what books I had brought out with me,—anything which would be of use at home. I told him that I had spent some pleasant time with Dr. Chalmers. He had recommended a friend of his, a bookseller, to issue an edition of Turretin’s Works in four volumes, in Latin, and I was to join him and take half the edition. Dr. Beecher shook his head, and said, ‘If you have not a good backbone, that will floor you.’ I asked why he thought so. ‘I have studied that book carefully, and it will not go. We have gone far beyond
