He declares that he took no pleasure in his present course of life, nor had any confidence in it, blaming himself for a lukewarmness about spiritual matters, admitting that his sister-in-law was right when she accused him of stopping short of full dedication of the self proper to a Christian but prophesying a more dedicated way of life ahead of him. He states that though he missed Hannah he did not grudge her to Priscilla, commenting on the blessing her visit to them had been during the previous autumn. In writing of Catherine, he suggests that her excessive zeal for improving others might well have the opposite effect and that she would do well to consider the art of persuasion. He writes that he hoped soon to be home, and sends messages to several members of the family, including Rachel and Christiana, who was helping with the children but had been disappointed [over going on a mission to Haiti]. (Memoir, p. 102.)