“‘Perish every fond ambition—
All I’ve gained, hoped, or known,
Yet how rich is my condition,
God and heaven are still my own!’
“A True Christian.
“Let me strive to be a student and educator; a worthy representative of my country; an ambassador from Asia to America; a mediator between the East and the West; the bearer of pure and precious hopes between two opposite sides of the world; a man of faith and love; a student of human life; a seeker of knowledge in distant lands; a follower in the steps of prophets and apostles, of Abraham and St. Paul; a practical believer in human brotherhood; a pilgrim on the face of the world, seeking pearls of knowledge; a servant, minister, and angel of God; a man whose name is written in heaven; a man appointed by God to bring together the ends of the earth; a leader and a pioneer to begin the great work of union between the sincere and devout spirits of America and Bengal.
“Things to be done if possible while at Sea.
“(1.) Get the list of the Books of the Bible by heart so as to facilitate reference to them.
“(2.) Make all the progress I can in my Greek Grammar, that I may thus come into nearer contact with Jesus’s words of everlasting life.
“(3.) Translate into Bengalee (prose or verse) those great thoughts of the Bible which move me most deeply. Above all, put them into Bengalee hymns, and so prepare in due time an original Bengal Hymn-Book.