1850.
Memoir of the Rev. Walter M. Lowrie.
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term of three years, applying himself very closely to his studies, and very successfully. In December 1840 he was received as a missionary of the Board of Foreign missions of the Presbyterian church to be sent to Western Africa. “A man's heart deviseth his way but the Lord directeth his steps." The great Head of the church designed him for a different field. In 1841 the Rev. John A Mitchell having been removed by death, and the Rev. Messrs. Robert W. Orr and Thomas L. McBryde having been compelled to abandon their field by the fai- lure of their health, the China mission of the General Assembly's Board was left with a single laborer. In these circumstances the Executive Committee of the Board immediately turned their attention to Mr. Lowrie as one peculiarly fitted by his thorough education and superior talent for the China mission. They accordingly proposed to him a change of destination to which he, after much hesitation, consented.
On the 5th of April 1841 he was licensed to preach the gospel, and on the 9th of November following he was ordained as an evangelist. On the 19th of January 1842 he sailed for China in the ship Huntress, Capt. Lovett, and landed at Macao on the 27th of May. At the time of his arrival, the war with Great Britain was still in progress, and the result was as yet uncertain. Mr. Lowrie had received instructions to proceed to Singapore, to aid in the removal of the mission of the Board at that place, to a point on the coast of China, if in the providence of God it should be deemed expedient. He accordingly left Macao on the 18th of June in the Sea Queen. This proved to be a tedious and trying voyage. "They sailed slowly many days because the winds were contrary." The discipline was severe, but doubtless proved profitable. He was deprived of all the sympathies of Christian intercourse, and could not even enjoy the satisfaction of doing good by exercising his ministry, as few of those on board could understand English preach- ing. At length they were obliged to give up the voyage and put into the port of Manila, which they reached on the 23d of August. On the 18th of September he again set sail for Singapore in the Harmony, and for some days the vessel made fair progress towards her destination. On the 25th however the ship struck a hidden rock. There was no appearance of danger in sight; no breakers, no signs of a shoal; but every time the vessel sunk in the hollow of the waves she was dashed with violence against the rock beneath her. The crew and passen- gers took to the boats and abandoned the sinking ship. Twenty-one persons were placed in the long boat and eight in the jolly boat. This was on Sunday. They were four hundred miles from land, and after four days sailing, during which they were a tornately exposed in their