FAREWELL!
Brothers and Sisters in the Faith:—
The time has come for me to bid you farewell. The circumstances under which I came here just two years ago, and the circumstances under which I return to India, are quite different from each other. I came with fear, weakness, and low spirits. I go with courage, strength, and hope. I came here a runaway from the Hindoos, without scrip, or a second suit of clothes, but go with all the necessary help with which you have provided me.[35] I came to a strange land, with little hope of finding friends, and I go now with the pleasant memories of many friends, whose hearts, prayers, and sympathies will accompany me in my labor in the harvest of the great King.
I have availed myself of every opportunity to improve, to store my mind with useful information. But I have studied or read very few books during my stay among you. The main subject of my study has been Human Nature in its different editions and volumes. The only possible way of knowing God and his righteousness is through human nature. The image beareth the likeness of the original,—the son inherits his father’s nature in a degree; so our common Father manifests himself in his child, man. Corrupted, mistaken, sinful as he is, you will find a great deal in him to remind you of his Father. In us there are only extracts from the sacred subject, God; but in our Elder Brother it is complete. Whatever we are permitted to know of God, and as much as is necessary for our life, comfort, and salvation, we may learn in the great volume of humanity to which Christ gave “the finishing stroke.”
My friends had very many fears about my coming. First, I should return to India with the vices and dirty habits of this country, such as drinking wine and spirits, smoking cigars, etc. Second, I should not be able to stand the severe winter of this country. Third, being among the clergymen, who are said to be more sectarian than their people, I should go home a narrow-minded Christian. But I am happy to say, as far as my near-sighted eyes can see, that I stand above these fears. I never was in the habit of drinking wine or using tobacco in any form, and in this country I have carefully avoided these dirty things. Eating much or little meat is another ugly habit in the opinion of the Hindoos, and the native converts are often charged with becoming Christians simply for the purpose of eating “cow and hog.” Although I have no prejudice against meat, yet I presume that owing to my peculiar taste, I have not eaten as much meat in two years, as a boy or girl of ten in New England would eat in six weeks, especially if “Thanksgiving” day should fall within them.
Having had no idea what an American winter was, I came unprepared; yet I have not suffered in the least in these two years. The very coldest days you had in the winter before the last, I rode in an open sleigh over the hills of Lunenburg, without anything to cover my ears. In the last winter, on the second of January, I rode in a similar conveyance from Medfield to Boston with no protection for my ears. Thus, I have passed unharmed through real winter days. Again, the good husbandman who brought me a tropical plant from his garden into this part of the world, put me in the green-house of your hearts, whose warmth, I perceive, is as genial as that of the glorious luminary that shines over the land of my fathers. Brothers and sisters, your hearts never stood below zero in my case, never reached the freezing-point, but always were warm, affectionate, kind.
In regard to the narrow, sectarian feelings of a bigot’s heart, I think I have very little to fear. I do not condemn nor hate any body for his creed; yet, as a firm believer in the undivided Unity of our God, I differ very much from some others. But I pray to God that I may daily learn to love all his children. I like the creed-makers but not their creeds, if they contain anything that is absurd and untrue. I trust I have within this slender frame a heart whose commodious hall can accommodate Unitarians, Trinitarians, Mohammedans, and Hindoos; for He who has given it to me has given it on purpose that it might hold all His children.
My visit, on the whole, has been a satisfactory one. Nothing seriously disagreeable has happened to injure my health, heart, or usefulness. No country has a canopy of clear sky over it always, no heart is beyond the reach of sorrows. The dark clouds have hung over my head, and thunders have rolled noisily, yet my earnest eyes have seen a clear firmament beyond, and I can say with fulness of heart,—
“In trouble and in grief, O God,
Thy smile hath cheered my way,