Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-10-27


Dicks Philosophy of Future State he
says he saw the duty and privilege Of ac-
cepting salvation through Christ, though
his home teaching had been constantly in
have made the turning point in his Chris
tan life. From that time. to quote from
his biographer. he did not merely appre.
bend the truth-the truth laid hold OF
him. The divine blessing flowed into him
as 1t flowed into the theart of st. Paul, st.
Augustine and others of that type. sub
DUNG all earthly desires and wishes
At first he never thought OF himself as a
missionary, but because the first duty or
every Christian he considered to be the
spreading abroad of the gospel, he resolved
to give all he could earn beyond his mere
subsistence, to the cause of missions, but
later, in his twenty-first year, he read an
appeal to the churches of England and
America on behalf Of China, and from that
time his hearts desire was to go to emma
as missionary. He told his purpose to his
minister and parents. and set about the
Herculean task of obtaining medical ed
ucaton, which he felt to be necessary. A
medical education was q costly affair, and
yet he was not daunted by this thought.
He went to Glasgow took poor lodgings at
two shillings a week, and kept house on
basis of economy that must have well pre-
pared him for the fare to which he was
often afterward reduced in Africa. He
learned a little OF carpenters tools, for he
said he thought missionary should be
jack-of- all-trades. The story of his college
days and preparation for his mission are
intensely interesting. Everywhere he was
beloved. The sister Of one of his dear
friends wrote: II never knew any one who
gave me more of the idea of power over
other men, such power as our Savior
showed while on the earth, the power of
love and purity combined"
He was not a good preacher. The first
time he was called upon to preach he con-
text out slowly, deliberately, then paused.
His sermon had gone from him. He
abruptly looked at his audience and said:
Friends, 1 have forgotten all l had to
say and hurried out of the chapel.
1t was during his preparation for his mis-
sion, while he stopped at boarding house
in Aldersgate street, that he met and talked
with DR.. Moffat (who afterward became his
terested in Africa AS the opium war was
hindering the possibility of his going to
China, he said: What is the use of my
waiting for the end of this abominable
An incident of his voyage to Africa was
that his intimate friend was the captain OF
the ship, who sat up nights to teach him
the use of the quadrant, thus giving him
another qualification for his peculiar life
work. He landed for a month at Cape
Town, where many of the missionaries
were stationed, and was surprised and dls-
appointed to find them less earnest than he
had supposed, more inclined to stay in the
pleasant places rather than to go into the
interior very much inclined to take sides,
some with the natives, some with the for
eigners. He went on to kuruman Dr.
Moffat's home, where he was to stay till
DIR. Moffat returned. He proceeded at once
to bury himself among the natives and
learn their language. He wrote home about
this time: THE scenery was very Tine
The white sand near the beach in some
places is drifted up in large wreaths ex-
actly like snow. One might imagine HIM
self in Scotland, except for hot sun over.
head. The woods present an aspect OF
fnr pnra
the foreign-looking tree from which the
bitter aloes is extracted, popping up It's
head among the mimosa bushes and stunted
acacias. Beautiful humming birds fly about
in great numbers sucking the nectar from
the flowers"
He speaks of the earnestness of the con-
verts at Hankey, mission station. He
says: They nave prayer meeting every
morning at 4 o'clock and well attended.
They began it during visitation OF
measles, and liked it so well they keep 1t
up" Owing to having no clocks, some
times the ringing of the bell was not al,
assembled at u or l instead
of T.
His great longing was to go into the in
terror of the country where no missionary
had ever been. Writing of this he said:
Whatever way my life may be spent so as
but to promote the glory of our gracious
God l feel anxious to do it. My life
may be spent as profltably as a pioneer as
in any other way"
He showed his power over the people IN
many ways. The doctor and the rainmaker
have great influence there, and SO his skill
in medicine stood him well, and he became
also a rainmaker b yteaching them how to
irrigate by turning their rivers into canals
BY this means he also accomplished an
other great feat, that Of making the people
work. and work hard and willingly.
The place was infested by lions He
writes of a woman being killed in her own
garden and carried away from her family
by lion in broad day, and more than one
encounter with the king of beasts he had
himself.
The poor degraded natives were anxious
for salvation in their strange way. Sekom1,
a chief of the Bamangwato, came to Llv-
ingstone and said: Il want you to change
nv heart Give me medicine to drink, and
have 1t changed at once, for 1t is always
very proud and very uneasy and continually
angry with some one"
Iivingstone'S SloWness of tongue in
preaching seems not to have extended to
his work among the Africans, for though
he writes of their great courage under sur
gical operations, never uttering a cry or
showing any signs of weeping or pain, he
says they cried out and the tears ran down
their cheeks when he talked to them of
God, of their sin and their need of re-
pentance. One chief asked him: ''Since it
is true that all who die unforgiven are lost
forever, why did your nation not come to
tell US of it before now? My ancestors are
all gone, and none of them knew anything
thought Immediately" says Livingstone, "of
the guilt of the church, but did not con-
fess."
The story of his work among these people
reads like novel. And neither is there ro-
nance lacking, for on visit to DIR. Moffat
he met his daughter Mary and fell in love
with her, and they were soon after mar
ried Their home, presently set up among
the wilds Of the interior of Africa, the
house built by Livingstone's own hands
with the help of the natives, must have
seemed to him like bit Of heaven upon
earth and his letters home are filled with
the Joy of it all. Well for Mary Moffat
that she was the daughter of a
missionary and that she was first Of all a
child of the heavenly Father, for she had
much to endure, and not the least among
her trials must have been the long separa-
lions from her beloved husband while he
made his tours of exploration, noting stars
and geographical formations, sending home
rare specimens of fora and fauna, forget
ting nothing that the scientists needed to
know of the new continent, and much of
the time sick and hardly able to travel, with
miserable attendants, passing through hos
tile tribes, burning with fever, weak and
sick and with very little to eat. Yet he
was cheerful, happy, persevering scatter
ing the seed of the gospel wherever he
went, the harvest of which we are now
gathering.
1t is beautiful to read of the loving play
T try{n town md h c iff