David Livingstone
Africa's
Great Missionary and Explorer
by Galen B. Royer
|
 Born at
Blantyre,
Scotland, March 19, 1813.
Died at
Ilala, Africa, May 1, 1873.
1. Parents. Niel Livingstone, whose ancestry came
from Ulfa Island, of the Staffa group of Great Britain, first as a
tailor and then as a tea merchant, made a moderate living in Blantyre.
Quick temper, warm and tender heart, deep and noble convictions; a great
reader of good books, a member of the Congregational Church; family
worship morning and evening, regular attendance at church and strict
observance of the Sabbath, were marked characteristics of his life and
home. His wife, Agnes Hunter, to whom he was married in 1810, shared
fully in the high ideals of her husband. To them were born five sons and
two daughters, two sons dying in infancy.
2. Early Life. David, the second son, was born on
March 19, 1813. From childhood he showed unusual love for nature, and
through great perseverance, which always characterized his life, gained
prizes and excelled his playmates in many ways. At ten he made his own
living in the cotton mills while spending his evenings in night school.
Through reading Dick's "Philosophy of the Future State" he was
led to confess Christ; the life of Henry Martyn, first modern missionary
to Mohammedans, and Charles Gutslaff, medical missionary to China, fixed
his life purpose. "It is my desire to show my attachment to the
cause of Him Who died for me by devoting my life to His service."
Contact with Robert Moffat, pioneer missionary to Africa, prompted
Livingstone to offer his services to this needy field. Ordained as a
missionary in Albion Street Chapel, London, on November 8, 1840; only
one night's visit home and that an all night's conference about
missions, closed in the morning by David reading Psalms 121 and 135 at
family worship, and this future missionary and explorer was walking
towards Glasgow on his way to Africa. He was accompanied by his father
to Broomiclaw, where they parted; never to meet again.
3. First Experiences in Africa. On December 8, 1840,
Livingstone sailed for Africa. Going by Cape Town and Algoa Bay he was
soon in the interior where Moffat was at work in the Bechuana territory.
On the way thither he was incensed at the unkind treatment of the
natives by Europeans. Mingling freely among them, healing their
diseases, disarming their hostilities by interesting them in something
unusual, he soon reached the conclusion that a noble and true heart was
a better mainspring to overcome and direct raw natives than the abuse
heretofore given them. His intense desire that all natives should have
an opportunity to embrace Christianity, and his decided preference to
labor where no white man had worked, led him to locate at Mabotsa,
northward in the interior. This locality was infested by lions; and one
day one which the natives had wounded sprang out of the bushes, seized
Livingstone at the shoulder, tore his flesh and broke his arm. Ever
after he could not raise his gun to shoot without great pain.
4. Marriage. In 1844 he was united in marriage to
Mary Moffat, oldest daughter of Robert and Mary Moffat. To them six
children were born, one dying in infancy. Few couples enjoyed living
together better than this one; but for the sake of Africa they deprived
each other of association a great part of their lives. Thoughtless and
unfriendly remarks about their separation caused them much heartache.
5. First Explorations. In 1845 the Livingstones
moved to Chonuane, and later to Kolebeng, where Sechele, the chief of
the tribes, became his first convert. These moves were but the first
steps of this daring man's life. Each letter home ended with the words,
"Who will penetrate the heart of Africa?" He sickened at heart
when he heard of well-fed Christians at home engaged in hair-splitting
discussions over doctrinal themes when millions were dying without the
Gospel where he was. At last he began a tour, passed over Kalahari
Desert, where for days no water could be found, and overcoming almost
insurmountable difficulties, discovered Lake 'Ngami. The chief,
Sevituane, welcomed him, but on account of the unhealthy conditions the
country thus found did not prove suitable for a mission station.
6. Self-Denial and Losses. Livingstone conceived the
idea that, if a way were opened from the interior to the coast,
Christianity, civilization and commerce would move freely to these
benighted people. But the undertaking involved fearful hardships and
much self-denial. It was about this time that he wrote, "I place no
value on anything I have or possess except in relation to the kingdom of
Christ." Taking his wife and children to Cape Town, where amidst
many tears and heart struggles he saw them sail for England on April 23,
1852, he set his face to this new purpose. But he found many obstacles.
The Dutch Boers, who had robbed and subjected the natives to the worst
slavery, opposed his efforts to the extent of destroying his home and
carrying away his household goods. Undaunted, however, by any
opposition, exploring the regions round about preparatory to the greater
task of reaching the coast, preaching, teaching and healing, -- making
notes and observations of a geographical and scientific nature and
forwarding the same to England, -- thus he sought to do the Father's
will as he wrote, "As for me, I am determined to open up Africa or
perish."
7. The Horrors of the Interior. About the middle of
1853 Livingstone reached Linyanti, on the Zambesi. Here Chief Sekeletu
rendered him all the aid he had for the journey, and the missionary
explorer, with a few tusks, coffee, beads, etc., and accompanied with
twenty-seven Barotse men and some oxen, threw himself into the heart of
Africa on November 11, 1853, and after seven months of untold hardship,
reached St. Paul de Loanda, on the west coast. During the journey he had
thirty-one attacks of intermittent fever; towards its close these were
accompanied by dysentery of the most painful type. Often he was
destitute of food and especially of the kind needed for his condition.
The horrors of polygamy, incest and cannibalism were appalling. The
cruelties of slavery, seen in families broken up, gangs chained, bodies
of those that perished from indescribable brutalities, lying by the
wayside or their skeletons hanging from trees, while others were
floating in the river until at night they interfered with the paddles of
his boat,--such manifestations of the infamous slave trade constantly
drew mightily on the tender heart of the noble missionary.
8. An Heroic Return. At St. Paul de Loanda, because
no one expected him to arrive, there was no mail. A boat offered him
passage to England; but though needing to rest and regain his health he
started for the interior with his men after a short rest, because he had
promised to return them to their chief, Sekeletu. When the news that he
was alive reached England, astonishment and admiration filled the minds
of the people. The Royal Geographical Society awarded him its highest
honors, a gold medal.
9. New Discoveries. A journey of two thousand miles
was before Livingstone as he began his return trip from the west coast
eastward on September 24, 1854. Many hostile tribes had to be
met and
tactfully handled; many dangers were found in the way. After arriving at
Linyanti on September 11, 1855, he went down the Zambesi River and
discovered the famous, beautiful Victoria Falls and two longitudinal
elevations where Europeans could live free from fever and the fly. His
map and observations were of greatest value to the Royal Geographical
Society. On May 20, 1856, he reached Quilimane on the east coast and
thus covered a territory never before traversed by a white man.
10. First Visit Home. After sixteen years of absence
Livingstone made his first visit to England, arriving December 9, 1856.
Had he risen from the grave he could not have been looked upon with more
interest or loaded with more honors. Societies, colleges and others vied
with each other in doing him honor. Mrs. Livingstone, who had heard the
unfriendly criticism about their prolonged separation and her husband's
exploring instead of doing regular missionary work, and who had endured
the long, lonely months of waiting, stood by his side through all this
flood of honor. Lord Shaftesbury on one occasion "paid her equal
tribute with her husband and all England said 'Amen.'"
11. Results in England. While at home, Livingstone
wrote his first book, "Missionary Travels," a great success in
sales and awakening interest in Africa. On this trip a very serious
matter, which had absorbed the attention of those interested, was
settled. The London Missionary Society which sent him out felt that it
was not right to use his time in exploring the country. Livingstone had
a strong conviction that "the end of the exploration is the
beginning of the enterprise." At last, because so many looked upon
his work as not missionary, he withdrew from the Board and engaged with
the Royal Geographical Society and went out as the Queen's consul.
12. Extensive Explorations. On March 10, 1858, Dr.
and Mrs. Livingstone, with their son Oswell, sailed from England. At
Cape Town Mrs. Livingstone became so ill that she had to remain behind,
and did not rejoin her husband till several years after. He explored the
mouth of the Zambesi, made three trips on the Shire River and at last
discovered Lake Nyassa. In 1860 he visited his old friend, Sekeletu; in
1861 he explored the river Rovuma and assisted in establishing the
Universities Mission. Through all these years he was establishing sites
for missions, preaching the Gospel, healing the sick, and contributing
religious and scientific articles to periodicals in England. His
accounts of the atrocities of the slave-trade stirred the whole world.
13. Mrs. Livingstone Dies. After spending a year at
the Cape, Mrs. Livingstone returned to England and placed her children
in school. In 1862 she joined her husband in Africa, but was not with
him over three months when, from the banks of the Shire, she went to be
with her Lord. In all of life's hardships and trials nothing called
forth words from our hero like these, -- "For the first time in my
life I want to die."
14. Last Visit to England. The following year, while
exploring the region about Lake Nyassa, he was asked home by the
government. He returned with the purpose of exposing the slave-trade
and
to obtain means to open a mission north of the Portuguese territory. His
new book, "The
Zambesi and Its Tributaries," 4,800 copies of
which sold the first evening it was on the market, awakened deep
interest in Africa and stirred up great indignation against the
Portuguese because of its revelations of their treatment of the natives.
While at home, Livingstone with his aged mother and his children,
save one, had a family reunion. Robert, the absent one, had first gone
to Africa to find his father. Failing, he sailed for America, enlisted
in the Federal army, was wounded, taken prisoner, died in a hospital,
and was buried in the National Cemetery at Gettysburg. Thus, while the
father was giving his life for the liberty of the black man in Africa,
the son gave his life for the freedom of the same race in America.
Livingstone declined to return to Africa at the direction of the
Royal Geographical Society simply to determine the watershed of the
continent, though every inducement was offered him, and to accomplish
this would have been the crowning achievement of his explorations. To
preach, heal and help the African, and not to give up his missionary
purposes, was still the impelling motive of all his efforts.
15. Reverses. His equipment upon his return to
Africa by way of Bombay was not as good as it should have been. Many
reverses met him. His helpers proved of little help; some of his people
were ill behaved, and had to be dismissed; old scenes about Lake Nyassa
haunted him and disappointed hopes preyed on his mind; the inhuman
cruelties of the slave trade were a constant nightmare to him. For a
time he turned his attention to the watershed question, but found many
hindrances. It was at this time that Musa, with some followers, forsook
him and reported the explorer dead. In spite of all this he pressed
forward. His medicine chest, so essential to him, disappeared; he
reached Lake Tanganyika; discovered Lake Moero; afterwards Lake
Bangweolo; suffered greatly from sickness, and returned to Ujiji to find
his goods all gone.
16. Hardships Indeed. The next two years, July,
1869, to October, 1871, were spent in a journey from Ujiji to the river
Lealaba and return, and were perhaps the saddest years of his life. He
beheld the thousand villages about which Moffat told, and which caused
him to give his life to Africa. He, himself, preached to thousands and
tens of thousands of natives. But his strength failed him in 1871. Feet
sore from ulcers; teeth falling out through sickness; weary of body and
sick of heart, he lay in his hut for eighty days, longing for home, now
far beyond his reach. His sole comfort and help was his Bible, which he
read through four times during this period, and upon the flyleaf of
which he wrote these significant words: "No letters for three
years. I have a sore longing to finish and go home, if God wills."
Supplies and letters had been sent, but were intercepted by the
Portuguese. The Royal Geographical Society had sent out a search, but
found him not.
17. The Discoverer Discovered. Just at this moment
of mystery about Livingstone's whereabouts, James Gordon Bennett, of the
New York Herald, sent Henry M. Stanley to locate the explorer
"at any cost." Almost marvelous was Stanley's effort. Once he
wrote, "No living man shall stop me. Only death can prevent me; but
death, -- not even this. I shall not die; I will not die; I cannot die.
Something tells me that I shall find him. And I write it larger, find
him, FIND HIM." At last after forced marches he met Susi, who
came to meet Stanley, and then soon the explorer himself. "Dr.
Livingstone, I presume?" said Stanley, as he lifted his hat. "Yes,"
replied the pale, weary, grey-haired missionary. "I thank my God I
am permitted to see you," said Stanley; and to this came the reply,
"I feel thankful that I am here to welcome you."
18. Overjoy. It was a glad day for Livingstone.
Letters and supplies were abundant and appreciated. He forgot his
ailments and became overjoyed in this Good Samaritan act. Together the
men spent four months exploring Lake Tanganyika. Stanley became a hero
worshipper of his companion. Once he wrote, "I challenge any man to
find a fault in his character... The secret is that his religion is a
constant, earnest and sincere practice."
19. "Forward." Once in his early life
Livingstone said, "Anywhere, providing it is forward." Thus he
was impelled even in old age. For, instead of returning with Stanley, as
he well might have done and was urged to do, he made new resolve to
locate the watersheds, secured new men and pressed into the interior. On
March 19, 1872, when fifty-nine years old he wrote, "My birthday!
My Jesus, my King, my Life, my All. I again dedicate my whole self to
Thee." But the grey-haired, footsore explorer and missionary this
time went forward thru swollen rivers and dismal swamps, every day of
the march being marked with dysentery and most excruciating pains. At
every convenient place he would have his carriers stop and let him rest.
April 29 was his last day of travel. He had reached the village of
Chitambo, in Ilala, on Lake Bangweolo. Here, sick unto death, he made
observations, carefully brought his journal up to date, drew maps and
gave orders. How heroic was the spirit in him to the last!
20. Victory. He rested quietly on the 30th; but at
four on the morning of May 1,1873, the boy who slept at Livingstone's
door wakened, beheld his master, and fearing death, called Susi.
"By the candle still burning they saw him, not in bed; but kneeling
at the bedside, with his head buried in his hands upon the pillow. The
sad, yet not unexpected truth soon became evident; he had passed away on
the furthest of all his journeys, and without a single attendant. But he
had died in the act of prayer, -- prayer offered in that reverent
attitude about which he was always so particular; commending his own
spirit, with all his dear ones as he was wont, into the hands of his
Savior; and commending Africa, his own dear Africa, with all her woes
and sins and wrongs, to the Avenger of the oppressed and the Redeemer of
the lost."
Words can never do justice to the noble course which his faithful
servants, led by Susi, now took. They removed the heart from the body of
their dead leader and buried it under a tree near where he died. They
dried the body in the sun, tied it to a pole and after nine months'
march reached the coast and shipped it to England. On April 18, 1874,
the remains were laid to rest, amidst greatest honors, in Westminster
Abbey, London.
21. Some Results. The news of Livingstone's death
quickened the pulse-beat of the world and roused many thousands to
accept his interpretation of his own efforts, "the end of the
exploration is the beginning of the enterprise." Africa became at
once the favored field for missionary enterprise of almost every
denomination. The Congo Free State, through the efforts of Stanley, upon
whom Livingstone's mantle fell, was agreed to by hundreds of native
chiefs, and the "Great Powers at Berlin framed and ratified a
constitution for the Free State, carrying out almost every principle for
which Livingstone had contended."
| Chronology of Events
in Livingstone's Life |
| 1813 |
Born at Blantyre, in Lanarkshire, Scotland, March 19. |
| 1833 |
Real conversion took place in his life. |
| 1836 |
Entered school in Glasgow. |
| 1838 |
Accepted by London Missionary Society, September. |
| 1840 |
Ordained missionary in Albion St. Chapel,
November 20
Sailed on H.M. Ship "George" for Africa, December 8. |
| 1841 |
Arrived at Kuruman, July 31. |
| 1842 |
Extended tour of Bechuana country begun February 10. |
| 1843 |
Located at Mabotsa, August. |
| 1844 |
Marriage to Mary Moffat of Kuruman. |
| 1846 |
Located at Chonuane with Chief Sechele. |
| 1847 |
Moved to Kolobeng. |
| 1848 |
Sechele, first convert, baptized, October 1. |
| 1849 |
Lake 'Ngami discovered, August 1. |
| 1850 |
Royal Geographical Society awarded royal donation, 25 guineas. |
| 1851 |
Discovered the upper Zambesi August 3. |
| 1852 |
Mrs. Livingstone and four children sailed from Cape Town April
23. |
| 1853 |
Journey from Linyanti to west coast, November 11 to May 31,
1854. |
| 1854 |
French Geographical Society awarded silver medal;
University of Glasgow conferred degree LL.D.;
Journey from west coast back to Linyanti, September 24 to
September 11, 1855. |
| 1855 |
Journey from Linyanti to Quilimane on east coast,
November 3 to May 20, 1856;
Royal Geographical Society awarded Patron's Gold Medal. |
| 1856 |
Arrived in London on first visit home, December 9. |
| 1857 |
Freedom of cities of London, Glasgow, Edinburgh,
Dundee and many other towns; Corresponding Member of American
Geographical and Statistical Society, New York; Royal
Geographical Society, London; Geographical Society of Paris;
K.K. Geographical Society of Vienna; Honorary Fellow of Faculty
and Physicians of Glasgow; Degree of D.C.L. by University of
Oxford; elected F.H.S.; appointed Commander of Zambesi
Expedition and her Majesty's Consul at Tette, Quilimane, Senna |
| 1858 |
Returned with Mrs. Livingstone to Africa, March 10. |
| 1859 |
River Shire explored and Lake Nyassa discovered, September 16. |
| 1862 |
Mrs. Livingstone died at Shupanga, April 27;
Explored the Yovuma River. |
| 1864 |
Arrived in Bombay, June 13; London, July 23. |
| 1866 |
Arrived at Zanzibar, January 28. |
| 1867 |
Discovered Lake Tanganyika April. |
| 1868 |
Discovered Lake Bangweolo, July 18. |
| 1869 |
Arrived at Ujiji, March 14. |
| 1871 |
Reached Nyangwe, March 29; returned to Ujiji a
"living skeleton," October 23.
Henry M. Stanley found him October 28. |
| 1872 |
Gold Medal by Italian Geographical Society. |
| 1873 |
Died in his tent at Ilala, May 1. |
| 1874 |
Body buried with honors in Westminster Abbey, London, April
18. |
Copied by Stephen Ross for WholesomeWords.org
from Christian Heroism in Heathen Lands by Galen B. Royer.
Elgin, Ill.: Brethren Publishing House, 1915.
More Information on David
Livingstone
|
Short Biography
 David
Livingstone was born in Blantyre in 1813. From the age of ten he worked in
the cotton mill and attended school in the evening. He studied medicine at
Anderson College in Glasgow and then joined the London Missionary Society.
He left for Africa as a medical missionary in 1840. Livingstone made
numerous journeys of exploration. His most famous discovery, the Victoria
Falls, was made on his trans-continental journey in 1855. He died in
Africa in 1873, aged 60, while investigating the mystery of the source of
the Nile.
The David Livingstone Centre is the birthplace of
Scotland's greatest explorer. At the centre you can share the adventure of
Livingstone's life, from his childhood in the Blantyre Mills to his
explorations in the heart of Africa - dramatically illustrated in the
historic tenement where he was born. There are many excellent facilities
including interpretation, gift shop, tearoom, playground and riverside
walks. School visits can be provided with a costumed historical character.
Topics include David Livingstone, Explorers, the Victorians, Africa and
the Slave Trade, Archaeology, Traditional Games and others. Some wet
weather accommodation is available if booked in advance.
|
The Pathfinder of Africa
by Eugene Myers Harrison
A young Scotsman had come to hear an address by a celebrated missionary.
Following his conversion several years earlier, the young man had begun to
grapple with the question, "What shall I do with my life?" The Great
Commission had come to have a singular hold upon his mind. Its majestic
syllables had for him a contemporaneous significance:
"All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore,
and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I
have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the
world." (Matt. 28:18-20).
"All authority is given unto me." The same power is available!
"Go and evangelize all nations." The same program is operative!
"Lo, I am with you." The same Presence is assured!
The young Scotsman had completed his medical education, involving two years
of study in Glasgow, and was ready for some high call to which he could give his
utmost. His eyes were fastened upon the speaker, Robert Moffatt, with his
flowing white beard and his vehement concern for Africa's perishing millions.
The depths of his soul rose up to meet the challenge of the missionary,
especially that contained in one sentence of twenty words. Those twenty words
are historic, used of God to write an amazing history. The twenty words used by
Robert Moffatt that epochal day were these:
"I have sometimes seen, in the morning sun, the smoke of a thousand
villages where no missionary has ever been."
The picture embodied in these stupendous words captivated his entire being
and fired his soul with a passion which only death could quench. He would go to
Africa! He would be a forerunner for Christ in the Dark Continent! He would
search out the thousand villages, and other thousands, where no missionary had
ever been.
This young doctor was David Livingstone, born in Blantyre, Scotland, March
19, 1813. He became the Pathfinder of Africa, whose eventful career is the story
of many long, exciting, winding trails.
I. The Pathfinder's Vision of a Far-Off Trail
After hearing Robert Moffatt, young Livingstone's mind was haunted by the
vision of a distant trail,
leading to Cape Town and on to Kuruman, South Africa, thence to the great plain
on the north with its teeming villages without the saving Gospel. His favorite
passage now spoke to him with new imperiousness. Two commands and a promise
stood out in bold relief, as if Christ were speaking directly to him:
"Go! -- as a trail-blazer, a pathfinder, a pioneer! Evangelize! -- do
the work of a missionary! And lo, I am with you! -- hence you will never be
alone and you will have nothing to fear!" "That is a promise I can
rely upon," said Livingstone, "for it is the word of a Gentleman of
honor."
Shortly thereafter he received appointment under the London Missionary
Society. He hurried home to Scotland for a one-day visit with his parents. He
saw the cotton mill where, beginning at the age of ten, he worked from six in
the morning till six at night, and remembered how, by, placing a book on a
portion of the spinning jenny so he could catch a few sentences in passing, he
managed to study Latin and to read a wide variety of books. He recalled a
venerable neighbor, David Hogg, who on his death bed had said to him: "Now,
lad, make religion the every-day business of your life, not a thing of fits and
starts."
Livingstone's parents were devout Christians and entered heartily into his
missionary plan. As they talked together that last evening about the things of
Christ and His kingdom, they agreed that the time would come when people of
wealth and station would support missionaries instead of hounds and horses for
the chase. According to the family custom, they were up at five the next
morning. David read a Scripture selection and led in family prayer. The
Scripture he selected was one which tells of the Divine overshadowing and of the
presence of an Unseen Friend in every circumstance and on every trail: "The
Lord is thy keeper ... the Lord shall preserve thee from all evil ... The Lord
shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even
for evermore" (Psalm 121:5,7-8).
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A few days later he stood on the deck of an ocean steamer with the open Bible
in his hands and a far-away look in his eyes. He was dreaming of adding an
entire continent to the domain of Christ! Whatever the cost, he would find a
path to the heart of Africa so that he, or his successors, might draw Africa up
close to the yearning heart of God!
He was not only a dreamer of noble dreams. He was also a person of practical
sagacity. Often during the long voyage he could be seen standing near the
captain of the vessel asking questions and learning how to find exactly where
the ship was on the pathless ocean, making observations of the moon and the
stars by means of certain instruments. "I shall need this knowledge,"
he said, "to guide me across the pathless deserts and jungles of
Africa."
II. The Pathfinder's Trail in the Desert
Landing at Algoa, he traveled seven hundred miles by ox-wagon to Kuruman,
which the Moffatts had transformed from a piece of desert into a garden of
beauty and fruitfulness. After giving the oxen a few days' rest, he continued
his journey to Lepelole. The tribe living there called themselves Bakwena, or
the People of the Crocodile -- that being their sacred animal. He built a house
forthwith and began to study the language. After six months of diligent
application, he could converse or preach freely in the Bakwena language. A year
after his arrival in Africa, he wrote to his father: "The work of God goes
on here notwithstanding all our infirmities. Souls are being gathered
continually. Twenty-four were added to the church last month."
Upon his return from a preaching tour, he found that his people had been
killed, captured, or driven away by fierce natives of another tribe. So he
traveled north a two weeks' journey to Mabotsa. Here lived the Bakhatla, the
People of the Monkey, and here he built another house. As he traveled among the
villages, his ox-cart was frequently besieged by crowds of sick, suffering folk,
begging the great white doctor to heal them. At night he would sit among the
people around the village fire listening to tales of the mighty exploits of
ancient heroes. Then he would stand and tell the story of the greatest Hero of
all ages, the story of Jesus coming from heaven to earth to die on the Cross.
The wonder of Christ's atonement was much in his thinking and in his preaching.
The first song he translated into the native language was, "There Is a
Fountain Filled With Blood." One night, while defending the natives against
an attack by a wild beast, he broke his finger. Seeing the blood flowing from
the injured finger, the people exclaimed: "You saved our lives by wounding
yourself. Henceforth our hearts are yours." Telling of the incident in a
letter, Livingstone remarked: "I wished that they had felt gratitude for
the blood that was shed for their precious souls by Him who was wounded for
their transgressions, and had given their hearts to Him."
It was at Mabotsa that Livingstone had his famous encounter with the lion.
Lions were numerous in this locality, and the villagers were terrified because,
as they said, "The lion, the lord of the night, kills our cattle and sheep
even in the daytime." Livingstone knew that if he could kill one of the
lions, the others would flee. So, taking his gun and telling the people to bring
their spears, he led the villagers on a lion hunt in which he almost lost his
life. Seeing an enormous lion behind a bush, he aimed and fired both barrels.
While he was reloading, the lion suddenly sprang toward him. He says of this
attack, "The lion caught me by the shoulder and we both came to the ground
together. Growling horribly, he shook me as a terrier dog does a rat."
Seeing several natives approaching to attack him, the lion sprang upon two of
them, biting one in the thigh and the other in the shoulder. But at that moment
the bullets the great beast had received took effect and he fell dead.
Livingstone had eleven tooth marks as permanent scars and the bone at the top of
his left arm was crunched into splinters. The imperfect setting of this bone
produced a stiff arm and caused much suffering the rest of his life.
While his arm was healing, he traveled back to Kuruman for a visit with the
Moffatts. He had expected to remain a bachelor missionary, but while
recuperating at Kuruman he loved and married Moffat's oldest daughter, Mary. She
exchanged one great name for another and honored both.
Another missionary came to Mabotsa, so David and Mary established a new
station at Chonuane, and there, with his own hands, he built his third house.
One day the chief, Sechele, called all his people together and listened to the
white man's message. "This is wonderful," exclaimed the chief.
"But my forefathers were living, at the same time yours were. How is it
that they never heard of the love of God and of Jesus the Saviour? Why did they
all pass away into deep darkness?" The chief's words still sound out an
indictment against the Christian church, which even now is trifling with our
Lord's command to evangelize all nations. No less than three-fourths of mankind
are now passing out into the terrible darkness of which Sechele spoke so sadly.
Why was the Gospel so slow in coming?
Why did our fathers pass away into deep darkness?
Does not the Lord's command require obedience?
Does not the king's business require haste?
The chief became a very zealous convert and, with his encouragement, the
whole village began to attend the Mission school. But soon the Livingstones had
to move again, because the water supply failed. The day after Livingstone had
announced that he was moving to Kolobeng, he noticed the people rushing about as
busy as ants. They had decided to go to Kolobeng, too, for they felt that they
could not live without their white friend, who healed their diseases, taught
them to read, and told them of a wonderful Saviour.
The country around Kolobeng was full of wild beasts. Standing at the front
door of his own house, Livingstone shot a rhinoceros and a buffalo. He taught
the people the value of irrigation and helped them in many ways, but what he
enjoyed most, he says, was "to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ,
for it always warms my own heart and is the great means which God employs for
the regeneration of our ruined world."
For several years there was so little rain that the land became very parched
and even the river dried up. They must move again! But where? Livingstone wanted
to go to the country of the Makololos, a numerous and famous race hundreds of
miles to the north, but he would have to cross the Kalahari desert, a feat which
Sechele said was impossible for a white man. However, Livingstone crossed it,
discovered beautiful Lake Nagami, August 1, 1849, and returned for his family.
The Queen of the Wagon dreaded the prospect of crossing the desert with three
children, but she did not complain. On the way they were startled at times to
see one or two of the oxen suddenly drop out of sight, having fallen into a pit
dug and covered over by the desert people to catch game for food. They came to a
part of the desert where for three days they did not see a sign of life of any
kind -- man, bird, or insect. Their reserve water supply was exhausted and
nowhere could they find even a spring. For four terrible days they were
absolutely without water, the children moaning and crying with the burning
thirst. Weakened by these ordeals, the children became very ill, as did also
Mrs. Livingstone; thus, they were compelled to return to Kolobeng, where one of
the children died.
Livingstone now had to make a great and difficult decision. He loved his
family dearly, but he felt that it would be cruelly wrong to risk further the
lives of his children in the desert regions; moreover, he believed that God was
calling him to explore the great unknown recesses of Central Africa. So with a
very sad heart he took the family on the long journey to Cape Town and sent them
to England. As he started back on the long, lonely trail far to the north, his
sorrow was eased by the hope of completing his explorations in two or three
years and of finding a suitable site for a mission where he could settle with
his family. He did not know the many long years of separation that lay ahead.
III. The Pathfinder's Trail of Many Waters
In turning definitely to the work of exploration, Livingstone was not
motivated either by a mere love of adventure or a trader's greed for gain. He
had a four-fold object:
(1) It was his purpose to find water and suitable locations for missionary
work. The vast area in which he had formerly been working was almost devoid of
water and quite unpromising from the missionary standpoint. One day a native who
had traveled extensively said: "Far away to the north there is a country
full of rivers and of large trees." If that were true, it meant that the
unknown areas of Central Africa were inhabited by millions of people for whom
Christ died. What a great missionary challenge would thus be brought to light!
(2) It was his object to discover the true nature of Central Africa. At that
time the people of England and America believed that Africa was made up largely
of one vast desert, stretching all the way from the Kalahari desert in the south
to the Sahara desert on the Mediterranean. Livingstone hoped to show -- and did
-- that this view was quite erroneous and that Central Africa was a vast country
full of rivers, rich in vegetation, and teeming with people. Moreover, he knew
that three great rivers -- the Nile, the Congo and the Zambesi -- emptied their
waters into three separate oceans, and he was lured on by the hope of
discovering their sources and thereby opening up a continent to civilization,
commerce, and Christianity.
(3) He wanted to find a trail, preferably by water, for communication and
trade from the heart of the continent to both the east and west coasts.
(4) He was eager to expose the horrors of the slave trade and to promote
means by which to heal what he termed "this open sore of the world."
With these high goals in view, he set out upon the trail of many waters,
declaring: "I will open a path into the interior or perish. Although
Sekeletu, the chief of the Makololos, knew that the trip to the coast was long,
difficult, and full of perils, he sent twenty-seven of his bravest men to bear
the luggage and help "Nyaka" the doctor. These men set out on
this hazardous and tremendous pathfinding simply out of love for the Pathfinder,
for he had no money with which to pay for such an expedition. His luggage
included some spare clothes, a case of medicines, his Bible, a magic-lantern, a
small tent, and some instruments for telling latitude and longitude.
They had many harrowing adventures, but finally, after journeying for more
than six months by canoe, ox-back and on foot, through forests and flooded
rivers, in peril from wild beasts and savage men, for 1500 miles of jungles
which no white man had ever traversed before, Livingstone and his men came to
Loanda on the west coast. He had suffered thirty-one attacks of intermittent
fever, had been assailed by huge swarms of fierce mosquitoes, and was reduced to
"a bag of bones." Yet he staggered on. "Cannot the love of
Christ," he asked, "carry the missionary where the slave trade carries
the trader?" He was not a missionary part of the time and something else
the rest of the time. He was a missionary all the time, whatever the means he
was using, whether healing, teaching, or exploring. "The end of the
geographical feat is only the beginning of the missionary enterprise," is
an oft-quoted saying of his. His ultimate objective was always to honor his
Lord. "I am a missionary, heart and soul," he insisted. "God had
an only Son and He was a Missionary. I am a poor imitation, but in this service
I hope to live and in it I wish to die." His soul was mastered by the logic
of love! "God loved a lost world and gave His only Son to be a missionary.
I love a lost world and I am a missionary, heart and soul. In this service I
hope to live and in it I wish to die."
At Loanda, Livingstone found a British vessel. The captain said: "You
are ill and worn out after these fourteen years of arduous travel. Come with us
to England and rest -- and see your family again." It was a most inviting
prospect, but he could not desert his Makololo companions who had repeatedly
hazarded their lives for him and who, without him, would surely be captured and
sold as slaves. And is it not significant that the ship was never heard of
again, never reached England?
So, after a rest, and having secured some beautiful costumes and other
presents for his black men, he turned his face again toward the interior. After
perilous escapes from crocodiles, hippopotami, and the javelins of hostile
savages, Livingstone and his men reached Linyanti, the home of the Makololo,
though the Pathfinder himself was nearly deaf from rheumatic fever and almost
blind in consequence of being hit on the eye by a branch in the thick forest. He
was amused to overhear one of his men boasting: "We went on and on till we
had finished the whole world." Another, remembering the impression created
by the sight of the limitless blue ocean, said: "We kept on marching,
believing that what the ancients had told us was true, that the world had no
end; but all at once the world said to us, 'I am finished! There is no more of
me!'"
Chief Sekeletu was proud of having helped Livingstone. He now sent 120 of his
men with him as he set out down the Zambesi River toward the east coast. They
came to a forest where lived the tsetse fly so deadly to horses and oxen, and,
despite a torrential downpour of rain, they took the animals through at night
when the tsetse fly sleeps. One day Livingstone saw five columns of vapor rising
far ahead and heard the sound of distant booming. "It is Sounding
Smoke," said the Makololo. Livingstone was the first white man who ever saw
"Sounding Smoke," a magnificent spectacle twice as large as Niagara
Falls. He named it Victoria Falls. Another day a herd of buffalo came charging
at him and he escaped by climbing an anthill twenty feet high. Several times
each day he got thoroughly soaked crossing streams and marshy places. His bed
was a pile of grass. His food often consisted of bird seed, manioc roots, and
meal. Even these were often unobtainable and, for days at a time, he knew the
gnawing of hunger.
On reaching the coast, he found satisfactory work for his men and sailed away
to England to see his wife and children again, after a separation of five years.
The loneliness of those years and the gladness of meeting are embodied in the
following lines written by Mrs. Livingstone:
|
Africa has more than 250 million
Christians, making Christianity the second most prevalent faith on the
continent. Africans learned of the faith through devout Christians who
traveled to Africa on a mission to teach their religion. The missionaries
did more than share their faith; they also taught the African people
modern science and medicine. |
A hundred thousand welcomes!
How my heart is gushing o'er
With the love and joy and wonder
Thus to see your face once more.
And there's nothing but the gladness
And the love within my heart,
And the hope so sweet and certain
That again we'll never part.
You'll never part me, darling,
There's a promise in your eye;
I may tend you while I'm living,
You may watch me when I die;
And if death but kindly lead me
To the blessed Home on high,
What a hundred thousand welcomes
Will await you in the sky!
|
While at home he wrote his first book, "Missionary Travels," made
numerous addresses and was the recipient of many honors. His father had passed
away, but it was undiluted joy to be with his mother and family again. The happy
months sped by, and he again set his face toward the far-off trail, accompanied
by Mrs. Livingstone and their youngest son. By the time they reached Cape Town,
Mrs. Livingstone's health was so bad she went first to Kuruman to see her
parents, then back to Scotland, while he continued his explorations. He was
rewarded by the discovery of beautiful Lake Nyassa, September 18, 1859. One day
he shot two enormous pythons and saw a herd of elephants which, by actual count,
numbered eight hundred. Frequently as they churned along some stream in the
launch which Livingstone brought with him from England, savages, lurking in the
bush and taking him to be one of the hated slave traders, shot poisoned arrows
which struck uncomfortably near.
IV. The Pathfinder's Trail of Anguish
Livingstone went down to the Zambesi with much joy, knowing that at last Mrs.
Livingstone was coming to be with him and to make for him a home. But just a few
weeks later, at Shupanga, she was smitten low with fever and, despite his utmost
care, passed away. Long years ago the Master had promised, "You will never
be lonely or forsaken, for I am with you!" "This is the promise of a
Gentleman of sacred honor," said Livingstone; "He will keep His
word." Had the promise been broken? Was he now forsaken?
He was tempted to think so as he knelt beside that sad and lonely grave under
the baobab tree in the African wilderness. The brave man who had endured so many
hardships and faced death so many times, now wept like a child. "Oh, Mary,
my Mary, I loved you when I married you, and the longer I lived with you, the
more I loved you! Now I am left alone and forsaken in the world." Alone?
Forsaken? Ah, no! As he knelt in prayer, he remembered the word of Him who
promised to be with him on every shore and in every experience. "Leave me
not! Forsake me not!" cried the broken hearted man. And, in answer, he
heard the whisper of his Unfailing Companion, "Lo, I am with you," and
felt around him the tender embrace of the Everlasting Arms.
V. The Pathfinder on the Trail of Savage
Customs
In the course of his extensive travels, Livingstone came in contact with many
strange, and often hideous, customs. While passing through the country of the
Baenda-Pezi, or Go-Nakeds, the people appeared quite unashamed in full dress
which usually consisted of nothing more than some red juice smeared over the
body and a long tobacco pipe suspended from the mouth. Among the Bakaa, a child
who cut the upper front teeth before the lower was always put to death. Among
the Maravi the women were in the habit of piercing the upper lip and gradually
enlarging the orifice until they could insert a shell. The distended upper lip
gave them a very unsightly appearance and caused them to be known to others as
"the duck-billed women," though among their own people they were
considered especially beautiful. In one tribe they enhanced their beauty by
filing their teeth, while the Batoka tribes accomplished the same result by
knocking out their upper front teeth at the age of twelve, the result being that
the lower teeth grew very long and bent outwards at the ends, thereby causing
the lower lip to protrude in a very uncouth manner.
Various methods of salutation were in vogue among the different tribes. Some
would pick up a handful of sand or ashes and rub it on their arms and chest.
Others would drum their ribs with their elbows. The people of the Batonga tribe
greeted Livingstone by lying on their backs on the ground, rolling from one side
to the other, and beating their sides with their hands.
Livingstone often heard the heart-rending death wails in connection with
funerals. When the natives of Angola and certain other areas turned their eyes
toward the future world, their superstitious beliefs almost drove them frantic.
They fancied themselves to be the helpless victims of the fickle and malicious
dispositions of disembodied spirits. Hence they were constantly seeking to
appease the spirits of the departed. Moreover, they believed that death was
caused only by witchcraft and could be averted by the use of charms. Among the
Barotse and other races, whenever a chief died, a number of his servants were
slaughtered to provide attendants in the other world. In Angola, a funeral was
the occasion of dancing, feasting, and debauchery. The great ambition of the
natives was to give their friends an expensive funeral with emphasis on food and
drinks. When, on such an occasion, Doctor Livingstone said to a black man,
"why are you intoxicated?" this was the answer, "My mother is
dead and I am celebrating."
Among the Batokas, the chiefs vied with each other in exhibiting human skulls
as trophies of valor, as American Indians exhibited the scalps of their enemies.
On one occasion Livingstone saw fifty-four skulls dangling from poles around a
chief's house.
In one section lions were exceedingly numerous because the people made no
attempt to kill them. This was due to the common belief that the souls of their
chiefs entered the bodies of these great beasts. They even believed that a chief
had the power to metamorphose himself into a lion, kill anyone he considered his
enemy and then return to the human form. Consequently, whenever these people saw
a lion, they commenced clapping their hands by way of salutation and of
expressing good will.
In Cassenge and certain other districts, thousands perished every year
because of the poison-ordeal. If misfortune befell some of the people of a
village, perhaps through sickness or lack of success in a hunting expedition, it
was believed that someone was practicing witchcraft on them, and the witch
doctor was called to "smell out" the guilty party. Having done this by
means of his incantations, he gave the accused person a glass of poison to
drink. If the person died, which almost in variably happened, he was clearly
guilty! Often one person would directly accuse another of using witchcraft to
cause harm. Whether directly accused or "smelled out" by the witch
doctor, the accused person was ready or even eager to drink the poison,
believing that the ordeal would vindicate his or her innocence.
Livingstone made no attempt to gloss over the horrors of heathenism. Yet he
recognized that these people, however degraded, were among those for whom Christ
died, and he unweariedly pointed them to the Lamb of God. He says:
The more intimately I become acquainted with barbarians, the more
disgusting does heathenism become. It is lamentable to see those who might be
children of God, dwelling in peace and love, so utterly the children of the
devil. Oh, Almighty God, help! help! and leave not this wretched people to the
slave-dealer and Satan. Help them to look to Christ and live.
VI. The Pathfinder on the Trail of the Slave
Trade
After the death of Mrs. Livingstone at Shupanga, the Pathfinder realized that
he was fast nearing the end of his own trail, and dedicated his remaining time
and energies to the high task of opposing the traffic in human lives believing
that thereby he would be rendering the largest possible service to Africa and to
the cause of Christ. He states in his Journal: "I will place no value on
anything I possess or anything I may do, except in relation to the Kingdom of
Christ."
In 1864 he went to England for his second and last visit, to seek consolation
among his children and to arouse the people of Britain to the recognition of
their Christian obligation toward the Dark Continent. He was in the homeland one
year. He should have rested and built up his strength, but instead spent most of
his time interviewing Gladstone and other notables, delivering speeches exposing
the iniquitous slave trade, and writing a book, The Zambesi and Its
Tributaries, full of pathetic stories of Africans being captured by Arab and
Portuguese slave traders and driven in chains to be sold in the slave market,
though probably five out of every six of them would perish on the way from
floggings, starvation, and broken-heartedness.
Returning to Africa, he walked down to the Zanzibar slave market where he saw
three hundred Africans up for sale and three hundred others being brought into
town.
He could hardly foresee, that, not many years after his death and largely
through his influence, not only would the slave traffic be abolished, but a
beautiful church would be erected on the very site of the Zanzibar slave market.
He started now on his last trail. Every day, when traveling in his launch, he
saw corpses floating by in the water. Every morning the paddles had to be
cleared of dead bodies caught by the floats during the night. Most of the
journey was made on foot and, said Livingstone: "Wherever we walk, human
skeletons are seen in every direction. This region, which only 18 months ago was
a well-peopled valley of villages and gardens, is now a desert literally strewn
with human bones."
One day he came suddenly upon a long line of men, women, and children,
chained to one another, with cruel slave-sticks fastened around the necks of the
men. Slave drivers, carrying muskets, swaggered along beating the captives with
whips to make them go faster. Just then the slave traders spied Livingstone and
fled pell-mell into the forest. With great rejoicing, he cut the bonds of the
women and children, then sawed off the chains and the slave-sticks from the men.
These people, of whom there were eighty-four, freed first from physical slavery
and later from the slavery of sin through faith in Christ, became the
first-fruits of a great harvest in this section of Africa.
As he traveled deeper into the interior, many hardships befell him. The
slave-traders had burned hundreds of villages and it was almost impossible to
obtain food. "I took up my belt three holes to relieve hunger," he
wrote in his Journal. Worst of all, one of his men ran off with his precious
medicine box. Now he had no quinine with which to fight the ever recurring
fever. "This loss," he says, "is like the sentence of
death." Ill with fever and half-starved, he staggered along the trail till
he saw the blue waters of Lake Tanganyika, then on till he discovered Lake Moero
and, many months later, Lake Bangweola. Awful sores appeared on his feet. He
suffered terribly from dysentery and other ailments causing much loss of blood.
All his companions deserted him but three. Finally he reached Ujiji, only
"a ruckle of bones," to find that all his provisions and goods had
been stolen. He felt himself to be the man who was robbed and left helpless on
the Jericho Road, but he did not know that the Good Samaritan was close at hand.
One of his men rushed up shouting, "A white man is coming! Look!"
Down the village path walked a white man at the head of a caravan of African
followers with the flag of the United States unfurled over their heads. It was
Henry M. Stanley, happy to find Livingstone at last. Livingstone was very happy,
too. This was the first white man he had seen in five years. Moreover, Stanley
brought a quantity of wholesome food for him and letters from his children in
England.
"How do you come to be in this remote place?" inquired Livingstone.
Then Stanley told how, exactly two years before, he had been summoned by James
Gordon Bennett of the New York Herald, who said: "Stanley, it is
reported that David Livingstone is dead. I do not believe it. He is far away in
Central Africa, lost, ill and stranded. I want you to go and find Livingstone,
and give him any help he needs. Never mind the cost. Go and find Livingstone,
and bring him back to the civilized world." Such was the commission given
by one man to another. And what is our commission, O Christians? In tones of
imperious tenderness, our living Lord is saying to us, as He said to Carey and
Judson and Livingstone: "Go and find lost men. The cities and plains, the
continents and islands, are full of lost people for whom I died. Never mind the
cost. Never mind the difficulties. Go and find lost souls and bring them to
Me." At tremendous cost and after encountering almost insuperable
difficulties, Stanley carried out his commission. What are we doing with ours?
For four months the two men lived together, talked, and traveled. "You
have brought me new life," Livingstone repeated again and again;
"you are my Good Samaritan." Stanley tried to persuade Livingstone to
accompany him to England and see his children. "I must finish my
task," the Pathfinder replied. And with sad hearts and misty eyes, the two
great travelers grasped hands and said, "Farewell." Livingstone was
never seen by a white man again.
Stanley was tremendously impressed with Livingstone's character. This is his
estimate:
For four months I lived with him in the same house or in the same boat or
in the same tent, and I never found a fault in him. His gentleness never
forsakes him. No harassing anxieties, distraction of mind, long separation
from home and kindred, can make him complain. He thinks all will come out
right at last; he has such faith in the goodness of Providence.
Right at last! He had staked everything on the promise, "Lo, I am with
you," knowing that this would take care of everything. Will "all come
out right at last?" We shall see.
Turning his face toward the hinterland, he set out again on the sad slave
trail. On his 59th birthday he made this entry in his Journal:
March 19th, birthday. My Jesus, my King, my Life, my All; I again dedicate
my whole self to Thee. Accept me and grant, O gracious Father, that ere this
year is gone, I may finish my task. In Jesus' name I ask it. Amen, so let it
be. David Livingstone.
Not long after this he sent a letter to the New York Herald, seeking
to secure American help in stamping out the slave trade. He closed his letter
with these words which are now to be found on his memorial tablet in Westminster
Abbey: "All I can add in my loneliness is, may Heaven's richest blessing
come down on every one, American, English, or Turk, who will help to heal this
open sore of the world."
Although Livingstone was not successful in his desire to locate the source of
the Nile, he deserves to rank as one of the world's greatest explorers. He
traveled 29,000 miles in Africa, discovered Victoria Falls and four important
lakes (Ngami, Nyassa, Moero, and Bangweola) besides several rivers, and added to
the known portion of the world about a million square miles of territory. Yet
these accomplishments in themselves were only secondary in his estimation. His
all-encompassing objective was to open a way for the heralds of redemption and
to apply the Gospel to the task of abolishing the slave trade in the name of Him
who said: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me
to preach the gospel ... to preach deliverance to the captives ... and to set at
liberty them that are bruised."
The Pathfinder became so weak and suffered such agonies of pain, he had to be
carried in a stretcher by his remaining black men. At length they came to
Chitambo's village, a little hut was quickly built, a rough cot prepared, and
early the next morning, May 4, 1873, they found him dead. Two of his servants,
Susi and Chumah took charge of affairs and displayed a devotion which has
seldom, if ever, been equaled. His Journal, papers and instruments were
carefully packed in watertight boxes. The heart of the missionary was buried in
the land to which he had given all his heart, while the body, after being
embalmed by native methods, was taken on the long march to the coast and then
sent to England.
April 18, 1874, accompanied by Henry M. Stanley, his wife's aged father,
Robert Moffatt, and a great concourse of people, the remains were taken to their
final resting place in Westminster Abbey. Thus was accorded to David Livingstone
the highest honor which his native land could bestow.
VII. The Pathfinder's Companion on Every Trail
As a young man, Livingstone saw a vision of "the smoke of a thousand
villages where no missionary has ever been" and heard a Voice saying:
"Go! Preach the Gospel and explore the unknown continent. Make disciples
and open a way for the Gospel." It seemed an impossible assignment, until
the Voice added: "You will never be alone and you have nothing to fear. Lo,
I am with you all the way." Did the promise hold good? Did the Presence
ever fail him?
He was on the bank of the Zambesi River, surrounded by fierce and infuriated
savages who threatened to kill him. At any moment spears might come hurtling
through the darkness, or perhaps the attack would come at dawn. Opening his tin
box and taking out his Bible, he read a precious passage. Let the story be told
in his own words as found in his Journal:
January 14, 1856. See, O Lord, how the heathen rise up against me, as they did
to Thy Son. I commit my way unto Thee. 'A guilty, weak, and helpless worm, on
Thy kind arms I fall.' Oh Jesus, leave me not, forsake me not!
The Journal contains another entry written that night:
Evening. Felt much turmoil of spirit in view of having all my plans for the
welfare of this great region knocked on the head by savages tomorrow. But I
read that Jesus came and said, 'All power is given unto me in heaven and in
earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations -- and lo, I am with you always,
even unto the end of the world.' It is the word of a Gentleman of the most
sacred and strictest honor, so there's an end of it. I shall take observations
for latitude and longitude tonight, though they may be the last. I feel quite
calm now, thank God.
The words, "Lo, I am with you" are underlined in his Journal,
because they were first inscribed and underlined in his heart. Later, while on
his first visit to the homeland, he was the recipient of the degree of Doctor of
Laws at the University of Glasgow and stood before the convocation audience to
speak. His body showed all too clearly the evidences of exposure, of privations,
and of more than thirty attacks of tropical fever. His left arm, crushed under
the lion's teeth, hung stiffly at his side. The great assembly was awed to
silence and melted to tears as he related his experiences and then announced his
impending return to Africa. "But I return," he said, "without
misgiving and with gladness of heart. For would you like me to tell you what
supported me through all the years of exile among people whose attitude toward
me was always uncertain and often hostile? It was this: Lo, I am with you
always, even unto the end of the world! On those words I staked everything and
they never failed! I was never left alone."
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego were not alone in the fiery furnace! Daniel
was not alone in the den of lions! Livingstone was not alone when surrounded by
infuriated savages! David Livingstone staked everything on the Master's promise.
Did it ever fail?
The Pathfinder is sitting in his little hut on the bank of a stream, far away
in the interior. He is greatly dejected in spirit. His strength has been sapped
by many attacks of fever and he wonders if he has much longer to live. His heart
bleeds as he sees the depravity of the people around him -- forever fighting,
plundering, and killing; capturing and selling each other into slavery; and
committing such atrocities he is tempted to wonder if the light of the gospel
will ever dawn in their wretched souls. He shudders as he remembers how, just a
few hours earlier, the savages had seized two men, and, before his very eyes,
had hewn them to pieces with their axes. It seems more than probable that he
will be a victim of savage ferocity or cut off by some tropical disease.
Something like a moan escapes his lips as he murmurs, "If I only had
someone to talk to! Someone who understands! Someone who cares!" Taking his
Bible, he reads several favorite passages, then kneels -- that being the posture
he always assumed in prayer, whether praying in private or with the natives.
"Good and gracious Jesus," he prays, "Thou art ever near. Thou
knowest my yearnings after these people. Thou art my comfort and my keeper. Stay
with me, Lord, till my work is done."
"Thou are ever near." Someone to talk to!
"Thou knowest." Someone who understands!
"My comfort and my keeper." Someone who cares!
"Stay with me." "Lo, I am with you all the way!"
Thus accompanied and thus reassured, he continues his labors. "I am
immortal," he declares, "till my work is accomplished. And though I
see few results, future missionaries will see conversions follow every sermon.
May they not forget the pioneers who worked in the thick gloom with few rays to
cheer, except such as flow from faith in the precious promises of God's
Word."
Did the promise and the Presence ever fail him? At last, weary from long
travels, weakened by manifold deprivations, almost famished for lack of food,
and broken by disease, David Livingstone lay on a rude cot in Chitambo's
village. One of the black men was keeping watch. Hearing the sound of
approaching feet very early in the morning, he inquired, "Whom do you seek
and what do you want?" The spokesman replied, "We are seeking the
great White Doctor. We have come to urge him to go with us to our village to
take away the pain from our sick. May we talk with him?" Peering into the
hut the watcher saw the white man on his knees by the cot. Turning to the
delegation he said, "You'll have to wait a while. The White Doctor is ill.
Besides, he is praying to his God and must not be disturbed."
After a while several weary men appeared from the jungle with the message,
"Our chief has sent us a long journey to ask the White Missionary to go
again to our tribe to tell us more about Jesus who died for us black
people." After peering into the hut, the watcher said, "The White
Missionary is praying beside his cot. Let us not disturb him now."
Just at dawn another delegation arrived to report, "We are friends of
the White Missionary. Hearing of his illness we have come to see him and to
offer our assistance to the one who has helped us in so many ways." Looking
again into the hut and seeing his master still on his knees, the watcher in
alarm called for Susi and Chumah. Entering, they found the Pathfinder on his
knees, but his soul had departed.
His Lord had promised, "Lo, I am with you all the way, even unto the
end." Did the promise fail him at last? Remember, he died on his knees! Was
his Lord's presence with him even unto the end? He died in the act of prayer!
His last words were praying words. He was not alone! He was talking to Somebody!
As he entered the valley of shadows and took the road across the river, David
Livingstone was holding sweet converse with the One who was his Unfailing
Companion on every shore, in every solitude, and on every trail!
Reference
In the movie:
Stanley and Livingstone (1939)
