First Visit to England

HILE still at Quilimane a communication received from 4 the London Missionary Society disturbed Livingstone not alittle. It informed him that the financial circumstances of the society were such that it could not venture to undertake untried any remote and difficult fields of labor. The Doctor naturally understood this to mean that his proposals were declined. He replied to the society’s agent at Cape Town that he had thought that his preaching, conversation and travel were as nearly connected with the spread of the gospel as the Boers would allow them to be. His plan of opening up a path from either the east or the west coast had received the formal approbation of the directors, and in carrying it out he felt that he was doing good service to the cause of Christ. Seven times had he been in peril of his life from savage men, while laboriously pursuing that plan and never doubting that he was in the path of duty. He closes thus: “TI shall not boast of what I have done; but the wonderful mercy I have received will constrain me to follow out the work in spite of the veto of the Board. If it is according to the will of God, means will be provided from other quarters.”

Now at last Livingstone felt that he might revisit “dear old England,” and after a long and perilous voyage he once more joyfully greeted his wife and children. But his joy wasmingled with sadness, for the loved father whom he also longed to see was no more upon earth. While his son was on his way home he had departed “full of faith and peace.” “You wished so much to see David,” said his daughter to him as the end drew near. “Ay, very much, very much; but the will of the Lord be done.” Then after a pause, “But I think I'll know whatever is worth knowing about him. When you see him, tell him I think so.” When Livingstone returned to his childhood’s home the sight of his father’s empty chair deeply affected him. One of his sisters writes: “The first evening he asked all about his illness and death. One of us remarking that after he knew he was dying his spirits seemed to rise, David burst into tears. At family worship that evening he said with deep feeling, “ We bless Thee, O Lord, for our parents; we give Thee thanks for the dead who has died in the Lord.”

Besides the joy of being welcomed by those who were nearest and dearest to him, Dr. Livingstone now found himself welcomed to the society of the best and most eminent in the land, and the recipient of honors and distinctions innumerable. “Traveller, geographer, zodlogist, astronomer, missionary, physician and mercantile director, did ever man sustain so many characters at once? Or did ever man perform the duties of each with such pains-taking accuracy, and so great success?”

Having been urged to gather up the results of his journey and give them in the form of a book to the public, a large part of the year 1857 was mainly occupied with the labor of writing. Although he had ample material in his journals, the task of arrangement and transcription was necessarily very tedious. In fact Livingstone used to say that he would rather cross Africa than write another book! Complaint has sometimes been made that so much of this book is occupied with matters of science, descriptions of plants and animals, and geographical inquiries, and so little with what directly concerns the work of the missionary. If the information given and the views expressed on missionary topics were all put together they would constitute no insignificant contribution to missionary literature. But Livingstone recognized himself as only a pioneer in missionary enterprise. Probably no missionary in Africa had preached to so many blacks, but in most cases he had been a sower of seed, and not a reaper of harvests. He had indeed been the instrument of turning some from darkness to light, but he felt that the missionary work of the interior of Africa was yet to be done. By showing the vast fields ripe for the harvest he sought to arouse the enthusiasm of Christian people, and lead them to take possession of Africa for Christ. He wished to interest men of science, men of commerce, men of all sorts in the welfare of Africa. He would faithfully record what he himself knew, and let others build with his materials. With himself always “the end of the geographical feat is only the beginning of the enterprise.”

Busy and tired with the labors of authorship as he was, this must have been one of the happiest periods of his life. Often he worked with his children about him, undisturbed by all their noise and play. After the years of loneliness which he had passed, their mere presence must have been a satisfaction. Often he would walk and romp with them. A favorite pastime with him when walking near the woods was suddenly to plunge into the underbrush, and set them looking for him, as people searched for him afterwards when he disappeared in Africa, and then as suddenly to reappear from some entirely unexpected quarter.

Through the handsome conduct of his publishers and the great success of the Missionary Travels, his book brought him a small fortune, of which all that he thought it his duty to reserve for-his children was enough to educate them and prepare them for their part in life. A large portion of the profits went to forward directly the great object to which his heart and life had been already given.

Finding himself in the autumn of 1857 free from his labors as an author, Livingstone moved more freely through the country, attending meetings and giving addresses. It was, however, more from an appreciation of the kindness shown him, and a desire to be obliging, than from any wish to push himself forward, that he accepted these public invitations. He was anxious to return to his chosen life-work, and he was too modest a man to enjoy the lionizing which he so frequently received. But as long as the opportunity was given him he was glad to strive to arouse an interest in the evangelization of Africa, and to speak a word, as opportunity offered, for his Master.

It was in this year that he took a step which has often been severely criticised, viz., the severing of his connection with the London Missionary Society. Yet this was a thoroughly conscientious step, taken because he felt that God had called him to be a pioneer in the work of opening the continent of Africa, which might seem to many to be too remote from the immediate office of a missionary to warrant his receiving a salary from funds contributed solely for that work. He therefore thought it best to accept a position tendered him as consul, with government salary, at Quilimane, for the eastern coast and a portion of the interior of Africa, and also as commander of an expedition for exploring the eastern and central portions of the country. Yet while making these arrangements, he closed an impressive address at Cambridge with these words, following an earnest appeal that many of his hearers should enter upon missionary work themselves:

“Tf you knew the satisfaction of performing a duty as well as the gratitude to God which the missionary must always feel in being chosen for so noble and sacred a calling, you would have no hesitation in embracing it. For my own part I have never ceased to rejoice that God has appointed “me to such an office. People talk of the sacrifice I have made in spending so much of my life in Africa. Can that be called a sacrifice which is simply paid back as a small part of a great debt owing to our God, which we can never repay ¢.. Anxiety, sickness, suffering or danger now and then, with a foregoing of the common conveniences and charities of this life may make us pause and cause the spirit to waver, and the soul to sink; but let this only be fora moment. All these are nothing when compared with the glory which shall hereafter be revealed in and for us. I never made a sacrifice. Of this we ought not to talk when we remember the great sacrifice which He made who left His Father’s throne on high to give Himself for us; ‘who being the brightness of that Father’s glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high”... I beg to direct your attention to Africa; I know that in a few years I shall be cut off in that country which is now open; do not let it be shut again! I go back to Africa to make an open path for commerce and Christianity; do you carry out the work which I have begun. J Leave 17 wirn you!”

In another address he says: “ For my own part I go out as a missionary.... My object in Africa is not only the elevation of man, but that the country might be so opened that man might see the need of his soul’s salvation.” These words need no commentary.

Livingstone’s visit to England, though comparatively short, taken in connection with his previous labors, had effected quite a revolution of ideas in regard to Africa. Men were surprised to find that instead of a great sandy desert it was so rich and productive a land. The impression had been. quite general that the blacks were brutish and ferocious in a marked degree, but Livingstone showed, as Moffat had shown before him, that, rightly dealt with, they were teachable, affectionate, and the possessors of many good qualities. On the slave-trade of the interior he had already thrown a ghastly light, though in his later journeys he was still more impressed by its enormities. He had thrown light also on the structure of Africa, marking down his discoveries upon its map with the greatest accuracy. He had made appeals, too, in the cause of missions, with the effect cf arousing considerable interest in them.

As for himself his heart yearned after his friends, the Makololo, and he would gladly have been their missionary, but as duty called him elsewhere he made an arrangement with his brother-in-law, Mr. John Moffat, to become their missionary instead, giving him an outfit and salary for five years out of his own private means. An amount was thus pledged and paid nearly equal to all the salary which he received as consul during three years.