The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1881-06-29
Livingstone and the Bible.

Probably no human being was ever in
circumstances parallel to those in which
Livingstone now stood Years had passed
since he had heard from home. The
sound OF his mother tongue came to him
only IN the broken sentences of Chuma
or Susl, or his other attendants, or in the
echoes of his own voice, as he found it
out. IN prayer, or in some cry of home
sickness that could not be kept in. In
long pain and sickness there had been
neither wife nor child nor brother to cheer
him with sympathy, or tighten his dull
hut with a smile.
He had been baffled and tantalized
beyond description in his efforts to com
plete the little bit of exploration which
was yet necessary to finish his task. His
soul was vexed for the frightful exhibi-
lions of wickedness around him, when
imam to man" instead of brothers, were
worse. than wolves and tigers to each
other. During all his past life he had
been sowing his seed weeping, but so far
was he from bringing back his sheaves re-
Joicing, that the longer he lived the more
cause there seemed for his tears. He
had not yet seen of the travail of his soul
In opening Africa he had seemed to open
1T for brutal slave traders, and in the only
instance In which he had yet brought to
1T the feet of men beautiful upon the
mountains, publishing peace" disaster
had betallen, and an incompetent leader
had broken up the enterprise. Yet, apart
from his sense Of duty, there was no ne
cessity for his remaining there. He was
offering himself free-will offering, liv-
ing sacrifice. What could have sustaine
his heart and kept him firm to his pur-
pose In such wilderness of desolation Z?
" | read the whole Bible through four
times while [ was in Manyuema." So he
wrote in his diary October Sd, 1871. The
Bible gathers wonderful interest from the
circumstances in which it is read. In
Llvlngstene's circumstances it was more
the Bible TO him than ever. All his lone
Illness and sorrow, the sickness of hope
deferred, the yearning for home that
could neither be repressed nor gratifed.
threw new light on the word.
How clearly it was intended for such
as him, and how sweetly it came home to
hlml How faithful, too, were its pictures
OF human sin and sorrow How true its
testimony against man, who will not re-
tain God in his knowledge, but, leaving
him becomes vain in his imagination and
hard In his heart, till the bloom of Eden
is gone, and waste, bowling wilderness
spreads around. How glorious the out
beaming Of Divine love, drawing near to
this guilty race, winning and cherishing
them with every endearing act, and at
last dying on the cross to redeem them !
And how bright the closing scene of rev.
elation-the new heaven and the new
earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
Yes, he can appreciate that attribute
the curse gone, death abolished, all tears
wiped from the mourner's eye So the
lonely man in his dull hut is riveted to
the well-worn book, ever finding it a
greater treasure as he goes along, and
fain, when he has reached its last page,
to turn back to'the beginning, and gather
up more Of the riches which he has left
upon the road.-Re0. VIM. G. Blaikie,
ID. d.