Forty Years in South China: The Life of Rev. John Van Nest Talmage, D.D.

by John Gerardus Fagg

XI. THE LAST TWO DECADES.

Dr. Talmage was a man of strong convictions, at the same time possessed of a spirit of genuine catholicity. The brethren connected with the London and English Presbyterian Missions recognized him as a true friend. In his later years he became the Nestor of the three Missions, the venerated patriarch, the trusted counselor.

It will not be inappropriate to give two letters expressive of his good-will toward his fellow laborers. The one was written on the occasion of Rev. John Stronach's return to England: