Tudalen:Cofiant a gweithiau Risiart Ddu o Wynedd.djvu/61

Oddi ar Wicidestun
Gwirwyd y dudalen hon

assume charge of a congregation, and perform all the arduous duties devolving upon a minister of the gospel. But before I performed the painful task of writing to the friends at Mynydd Islwyn to say that I could not possibly return to Wales this year, I was suddenly made conscious of the awful fact that one of the closest ties that bound me to my native country had already been torn asunder by unsparing death . . . .

I am going to spend a mouth with the Rev. J. Jenkins, where I have been for several weeks before. I have heard several invalids saying that they experienced greater benefit in Minnesota during winter than they did during summer. Friends are very pressing, wanting me to stay here for next winter; and I feel anxious to do so, only I do not like to depend entirely on the liberality of kind friends for such a long time."

What a sad and beautiful letter!

In it we are confronted by two important facts» The first, that, after a medical examination, it was revealed to him that he was physically too weak to take charge of a church! Poor Risiart Ddu! After years of preparation, self-denial, and much anxiety, to see the dream of his youth, and the hope of his young manhood snatched so mercilessly from him by the cruel hand of scieuce, and that when the coveted prize seemed almost within his grasp. It was like a man, after weathering the storms of the ocean, drowning in sight of his home. But he bore every- thing so manly! The second fact is his undying love for his sister Emily, who had just passed away in Wales. They were both invalids, of the same taste, the same inclinations, and the same purpose in life—he wanted to be a minister, she a missionary. Even