The Personal Life of David Livingstone Part 10

[Footnote 38: Dr. Moffat informs us that Livingstone's desire for his company was most intense, and that he pressed him in such a way as would have been irresistible, had his going been possible. But for his employment in translating, Dr. Moffat would have gone with all his heart.]

_28th September,_ 1852.--Am I on my way to die in Sebituane's country? Have I seen the end of my wife and children? The breaking up of all my connections with earth, leaving this fair and beautiful world, and knowing so little of it? I am only learning the alphabet of it yet, and entering on an untried state of existence. Following Him who has entered in before me into the cloud, the veil, the Hades, is a serious prospect. Do we begin again in our new existence to learn much by experience, or have we full powers? My soul, whither wilt thou emigrate? Where wilt thou lodge the first night after leaving this body? Will an angel soothe thy fluttering, for sadly flurried wilt thou be in entering upon eternity?

Oh! if Jesus speak one word of peace, that will establish in thy breast an everlasting calm! O Jesus, fill me with Thy love now, and I beseech Thee, accept me, and use me a little for Thy glory. I have done nothing for Thee yet, and I would like to do something. O do, do, I beseech Thee, accept me and my service, and take Thou all the glory...."

"_23d January_, 1853,--I think much of my poor children...."

"_4th February_, 1853.--I am spared in health, while all the company have been attacked by the fever. If G.o.d has accepted my service, then my life is charmed till my work is done. And though I pa.s.s through many dangers unscathed while working the work given me to do, when that is finished, some simple thing will give me my quietus. Death is a glorious event to one going to Jesus. Whither does the soul wing its way? What does it see first? There is something sublime in pa.s.sing into the second stage of our immortal lives if washed from our sins. But oh! to be consigned to ponder over all our sins with memories excited, every scene of our lives held up as in a mirror before our eyes, and we looking at them and waiting for the day of judgment!"

"_17th February_.--It is not the encountering of difficulties and dangers in obedience to the promptings of the inward spiritual life, which const.i.tutes tempting of G.o.d and Providence; but the acting without faith, proceeding on our own errands with no previous convictions of duty, and no prayer for aid and direction."

"_22d May_.--I will place no value on anything I have or may possess, except in relation to the kingdom of Christ. If anything will advance the interests of that kingdom, it shall be given away or kept, only as by giving or keeping of it I shall most promote the glory of Him to whom I owe all my hopes in time and eternity. May grace and strength sufficient to enable me to adhere faithfully to this resolution be imparted to me, so that in truth, not in name only, all my interests and those of my children may be identified with his cause.... I will try and remember always to approach G.o.d in secret with as much reverence in speech, posture, and behavior as in public. Help me, Thou who knowest my frame and pitiest as a father his children."

When Livingstone reached the Makololo, a change had taken place in the government of the tribe. Ma-mochisane, the daughter of Sebituane, had not been happy in her chiefdom, and had found it difficult to get along with the number of husbands whom her dignity as chief required her to maintain. She had given over the government to her brother Sekeletu, a youth of eighteen, who was generally recognized, though not without some reluctance, by his brother, Mpepe. Livingstone could not have foreseen how Sekeletu would receive him, but to his great relief and satisfaction he found him actuated by the most kindly feelings. He found him, boy as he was, full of vague expectations of benefits, marvelous and miraculous, which the missionaries were to bring. It was Livingstone's first work to disabuse his mind of these expectations, and let him understand that his supreme object was to teach them the way of salvation through Jesus Christ. To a certain extent Sekeletu was interested in this:

"He asked many sensible questions about the system of Christianity in connection with the putting away of wives.

They are always furnished with objections sooner than with the information. I commended him for asking me, and will begin a course of instruction to-morrow. He fears that learning to read will change his heart, and make him put away his wives. Much depends on his decision. May G.o.d influence his heart to decide aright!"

Two days after Livingstone says in his Journal:

"_1st June_.--The chief presented eight large and three small tusks this morning. I told him and his people I would rather see them trading than giving them to me. They replied that they would get trade with George Fleming, and that, too, as soon as he was well; but these they gave to their father, and they were just as any other present. They asked after the gun-medicine, believing that now my heart would be warm enough to tell them anything, but I could not tell them a lie. I offered to show Sekeletu how to shoot, and that was all the medicine I knew. I felt as if I should have been more pleased had George been ama.s.sing ivory than I. Yet this may be an indispensable step in the progress toward opening the west. I must have funds; and here they come pouring in. It would be impossible to overlook his providence who has touched their hearts. I have used no undue influence. Indeed I have used none directly for the purpose Kindness shown has been appreciated here, while much greater kindness shown to tribes in the south has resulted in a belief we missionaries must be fools. I do thank my G.o.d sincerely for his favor, and my hearty prayer is that He may continue it, and make whatever use He pleases of me, and may He have mercy on this people!"

Dr. Livingstone was careful to guard against the supposition that he allowed Sekeletu to enrich him without recompense, and in his Journal he sets down a list of the various articles presented by himself to the chief, including three goats, some fowls, powder, wire, flints, percussion-caps, an umbrella and a hat, the value of the whole being 31, 16s. When Sekeletu knew Dr. Livingstone's plans, he undertook that he should be provided with all requisites for his journey. But he was most anxious to retain him, and for some time would not let him go.

Livingstone had fascinated him. Sekeletu said that he had found a new father. And Livingstone pondered the possibility of establishing a station here. But the fever, the fever! could he bring his family? He must pa.s.s on and look for a healthier spot. His desire was to proceed to the country of the Barotse. At length, on the 16th June, Sekeletu gives his answer:

"The chief has acceded to my request to proceed to Barotse and see the country. I told him my heart was sore, because having left my family to explore his land, and, if possible, find a suitable location for a mission, I could not succeed, because detained by him here. He says he will take me with him. He does not like to part with me at all. He is obliged to consult with those who gave their opinion against my leaving. But it is certain I am permitted to go. Thanks be to G.o.d for influencing their hearts!"

Before we set out with the chief on this journey, it will be well to give a few extracts from Livingstone's Journal, showing how unwearied were his efforts to teach the people:

"_Banks of Chobe, Sunday, May 15th_.--Preached twice to about sixty people. Very attentive. It is only divine power which can enlighted dark minds as these.... The people seem to receive ideas on divine subjects slowly. They listen, but never suppose that the truths must become embodied in actual life. They will wait until the chief becomes a Christian, and if he believes, then they refuse to follow,--as was the case among the Bakwains. Procrastination seems as powerful an instrument of deception here as elsewhere."

"_Sunday, 12th June_.--A good and very attentive audience. We introduce entirely new motives, and were these not perfectly adapted for the human mind and heart by their divine Author, we should have no success."

"_Sunday, 19th June_.--A good and attentive audience, but immediately after the service I went to see a sick man, and when I returned toward the Kotla, I found the chief had retired into a hut to drink beer; and, as the custom is, about forty men were standing singing to him, or, in other words, begging beer by that means. A minister who had not seen so much pioneer service as I have done would have been shocked to see so little effect produced by an earnest discourse concerning the future judgment, but time must be given to allow the truth to sink into the dark mind, and produce its effect. The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord--that is enough. We can afford to work in faith, for Omnipotence is pledged to fulfill the promise. The great mountains become a plain before the Almighty arm. The poor Bushman, the most degraded of all Adam's family, shall see his glory, and the dwellers in the wilderness shall bow before Him. The obstacles to the coming of the Kingdom are mighty, but come it will for all that;

"Then let us pray that come it may, As come, it will for a' that, That man to man the world o'er Shall brothers be for a' that.'

"The hard and cold unbelief which distinguished the last century, and which is still aped by would-be philosophers in the present, would sneer at our faith, and call it superst.i.tion, enthusiasm, etc. But were we believers in human progress and no more, there must be a glorious future for our world. Our dreams must come true, even though they are no more than dreams. The world is rolling on to the golden age.... Discoveries and Inventions are c.u.mulative. Another century must present a totally different aspect from the present. And when we view the state of the world and its advancing energies, in the light afforded by childlike, or call it childish, faith, we see the earth filling with the knowledge of the glory of G.o.d,--ay, all nations seeing his glory and bowing before Him whose right it is to reign. Our work and its fruits are c.u.mulative. We work toward another state of things. Future missionaries will be rewarded by conversions for every sermon. We are their pioneers and helpers. Let them not forget the watchmen of the night--us, who worked when all was gloom, and no evidence of success in the way of conversion cheered our paths. They will doubtless have more light than we, but we served our Master earnestly, and proclaimed the same gospel as they will do."

Of the services which Livingstone held with the people, we have the following picture;

"When I stand up, all the women and children draw near, and, having ordered silence, I explain the plan of salvation, the goodness of G.o.d in sending his Son to die, the confirmation of his mission by miracles, the last judgment or future state, the evil of sin, G.o.d's commands respecting it, etc.; always choosing one subject only for an address, and taking care to make it short and plain, and applicable to them. This address is listened to with great attention by most of the audience. A short prayer concludes the service, all kneeling down, and remaining so till told to rise. At first we have to enjoin on the women who have children to remain sitting, for when they kneel, they squeeze their children, and a simultaneous skirl is set up by the whole troop of youngsters, who make the prayer inaudible."

When Livingstone and Sekeletu had gone about sixty miles on the way to the Barotse, they encountered Mpepe, Sekeletu's half-brother and secret rival. It turned out that Mpepe had a secret plan for killing Sekeletu, and that three times on the day of their meeting that plan was frustrated by apparently accidental causes. On one of these occasions, Livingstone, by covering Sekeletu, prevented him from being speared.

Mpepe's treachery becoming known, he was arrested by Sekeletu's people, and promptly put to death. The episode was not agreeable, but it ill.u.s.trated savage life. It turned out that Mpepe favored the slave-trade, and was closely engaged with certain Portuguese traders in intrigues for establishing and extending it. Had Sekeletu been killed, Livingstone's enterprise would certainly have been put an end to, and very probably likewise Livingstone himself.

The party, numbering about one hundred and sixty, proceeded up the beautiful river which on his former visit Livingstone had first known as the Sesheke, but which was called by the Barotse the Liambai or Leeambye. The term means "the large river," and Luambeji, Luambesi, Ambezi, Yimbezi, and Zambezi are names applied to it at different parts of its course. In the progress of their journey they came to the town of the father of Mpepe, where, most unexpectedly, Livingstone encountered a horrible scene. Mpepe's father and another headman were known to have favored the plan for the murder of Sekeletu, and were therefore objects of fear to the latter. When all were met, and Mpepe's father was questioned why he did not stop his son's proceedings, Sekeletu suddenly sprang to his feet and gave the two men into custody. All had been planned beforehand. Forthwith they were led away, surrounded by Sekeletu's warriors, all dream of opposition on their part being as useless as interference would have been on Livingstone's. Before his eyes he saw them hewn to; pieces with axes, and cast into the river to be devoured by the alligators. Within two hours of their arrival the whole party had left the scene of this shocking tragedy, Livingstone being so horrified that he could not remain. He did his best to show the sin of blood-guiltiness, and bring before the people the scene of the Last Judgment, which was the only thing that seemed to make any impression.

Farther on his way he had an interview with Ma-mochisane, the daughter of Sebituane who had resigned in favor of Sekeletu. He was the first white man she had ever seen. The interview was pleasing and not without touches of womanly character; the poor woman had felt an _embarras de richesses_ in the matter of husbands, and was very uncomfortable when married women complained of her taking their spouses from them. Her soul recoiled from the business; she wished to have a husband of her own and to be like other women.

So anxious was Livingstone to find a healthy locality, that, leaving Sekeletu, he proceeded to the farthest limit of the Barotse country, but no healthy place could be found. It is plain, however, that in spite of all risk, and much as he suffered from the fever, he was planning, if no better place could be found, to return himself to Linyanti and be the Makololo missionary. Not just immediately, however. Having failed in the first object of his journey--to find a healthy locality--he was resolved to follow out the second, and endeavor to discover a highway to the sea.

First he would try the west coast, and the point for which he would make was St. Paul de Loanda. He might have found a nearer way, but a Portuguese trader whom he had met, and from whom he had received kindness, was going by that route to St. Philip de Benguela. The trader was implicated in the slave-trade, and Livingstone knew what a disadvantage it would be either to accompany or to follow him. He therefore returned to Linyanti; and there began preparations for the journey to Loanda on the coast.

During the time thus spent in the Barotse country, Livingstone saw heathenism in its most unadulterated form. It was a painful, loathsome, and horrible spectacle. His views of the Fall and of the corruption of human nature were certainly not lightened by the sight. In his Journal he is constantly letting fall expressions of weariness at the noise, the excitement, the wild savage dancing, the heartless cruelty, the utter disregard of feelings, the destruction of children, the drudgery of the old people, the atrocious murders with which he was in contact.

Occasionally he would think of other scenes of travel; if a friend, for example, were going to Palestine, he would say how gladly he would kiss the dust that had been trod by the Man of Sorrows. One day a poor girl comes hungry and naked to the wagons, and is relieved from time to time; then disappears to die in the woods of starvation or be torn in pieces by the hyenas. Another day, as he is preaching, a boy, walking along with his mother, is suddenly seized by a man, utters a shriek as if his heart had burst, and becomes, as Livingstone finds, a hopeless slave.

Another time, the sickening sight is a line of slaves attached by a chain. That chain haunts and harrows him.

Amid all his difficulties he patiently pursued his work as missionary.

Twice every Sunday he preached, usually to good audiences, the number rising on occasions so high as a thousand. It was a great work to sow the good seed so widely, where no Christian man had ever been, proclaiming every Lord's Day to fresh ears the message of Divine love.

Sometimes he was in great hopes that a true impression had been made.

But usually, whenever the service was over, the wild savage dance with all its demon noises succeeded, and the missionary could but look on and sigh. So ready was he for labor that when he could get any willing to learn, he commenced teaching them the alphabet. But he was continually met by the notion that his religion was a religion of medicines, and that all the good it could do was by charms. Intellectual culture seemed indispensable to dissipate this inveterate superst.i.tion regarding Christian influence.

A few extracts from his Journal in the Barotse country will more vividly exhibit his state of mind:

"_27th August_, 1853.--The more intimately I become acquainted with barbarians, the more disgusting does heathenism become. It is inconceivably vile. They are always boasting of their fierceness, yet dare not visit another tribe for fear of being killed. They never visit anywhere but for the purpose of plunder and oppression. They never go anywhere but with a club or spear in hand. It is lamentable to see those who might be children of G.o.d, dwelling in peace and love, so utterly the children of the devil, dwelling in fear and continual irritation. They bestow honors and flattering t.i.tles on me in confusing profusion. All from the least to the greatest call me Father, Lord, etc., and bestow food without recompense, out of pure kindness. They need a healer. May G.o.d enable me to be such to them....

"_31st August_.--The slave-trade seems pushed into the very centre of the continent from both sides. It must be profitable....

"_September 25, Sunday_.--A quiet audience to-day. The seed being sown, the least of all seeds now, but it will grow a mighty tree. It is as it were a small stone cut out of a mountain, but it will fill the whole earth. He that believeth shall not make haste. Surely if G.o.d can bear with hardened impenitent sinners for thirty, forty, or fifty years, waiting to be gracious, we may take it for granted that his is the best way. He could destroy his enemies, but He waits to be gracious. To become irritated with their stubbornness and hardness of heart is unG.o.dlike....

"_13th October_.--Missionaries ought to cultivate a taste for the beautiful. We are necessarily compelled to contemplate much moral impurity and degradation. We are so often doomed to disappointment. We are apt to become either callous or melancholy, or, if preserved from these, the constant strain on the sensibilities is likely to injure the bodily health.

On this account it seems necessary to cultivate that faculty for the gratification of which G.o.d has made such universal provision. See the green earth and blue sky, the lofty mountain and the verdant valley, the glorious...o...b.. of day and night, and the starry canopy with all their celestial splendor, the graceful flowers so chaste in form and perfect in coloring. The various forms of animated life present to him whose heart is at peace with G.o.d through the blood of his Son an indescribable charm. He sees in the calm beauties of nature such abundant provision for the welfare of humanity and animate existence. There appears on the quiet repose of earth's scenery the benignant smile of a Father's love. The sciences exhibit such wonderful intelligence and design in all their various ramifications, some time ought to be devoted to them before engaging in missionary work. The heart may often be cheered by observing the operation of an ever-present intelligence, and we may feel that we are leaning on his bosom while living in a world clothed in beauty, and robed with the glorious perfections of its maker and preserver. We must feel that there is a Governor among the nations who will bring all his plans with respect to our human family to a glorious consummation. He who stays his mind on his ever-present, ever-energetic G.o.d, will not fret himself because of evil-doers. He that believeth shall not make haste."

"_26th October_.--I have not yet met with a beautiful woman among the black people, and I have seen many thousands in a great variety of tribes. I have seen a few who might be called pa.s.sable, but none at all to be compared to what one may meet among English servant-girls. Some beauties are said to be found among the Caffres, but among the people I have seen I cannot conceive of any European being captivated with them. The whole of my experience goes toward proving that civilization alone produces beauty, and exposure to the weather and other vicissitudes tend to the production of deformation and ugliness....

"_28th October_.--The conduct of the people whom we have brought from Kuruman shows that no amount of preaching or instruction will insure real piety.... The old superst.i.tions cannot be driven out of their minds by faith implanted by preaching. They have not vanished in either England or Scotland yet, after the lapse of centuries of preaching.

Kuruman, the entire population of which amounted in 1853 to 638 souls, enjoys and has enjoyed the labors of at least two missionaries,--four sermons, two prayer-meetings, infant schools, adult schools, sewing schools, cla.s.ses, books, etc., and the amount of visible success is very gratifying, a remarkable change indeed from the former state of these people. Yet the dregs of heathenism still cleave fast to the minds of the majority. They have settled deep down into their souls, and one century will not be sufficient to elevate them to the rank of Christians in Britain. The double influence of the spirit of commerce and the gospel of Christ has given an impulse to the civilization of men. The circulation of ideas and commodities over the face of the earth, and the discovery of the gold regions, have given enhanced rapidity to commerce in other countries, and the diffusion of knowledge. But what for Africa? G.o.d will do something else for it; something just as wonderful and unexpected as the discovery of gold."

It needs not to be said that his thoughts were very often with his wife and children. A tender letter to the four little ones shows that though some of them might be beginning to forget him, their names were written imperishably on his heart:

"_Sekeletu's Town, Linyanti, 2d October_.--MY DEAR ROBERT, AGNES, AND THOMAS AND OSWELL,--Here is another little letter for you all. I should like to see you much more than write to you, and speak with my tongue rather than with my pen; but we are far from each other--very, very far. Here are Seipone, and Meriye and others who saw you as the first white children they ever looked at. Meriye came the other day and brought a round basket for Nannie. She made it of the leaves of the palmyra. Others put me in mind of you all by calling me Rananee, and Rarobert, and there is a little Thomas in the town, and when I think of you I remember, though I am far off, Jesus, our good and gracious Jesus, is ever near both you and me, and then I pray to Him to bless you and make you good.

"He is ever near. Remember this if you feel angry or naughty.

Jesus is near you, and sees you, and He is so good and kind.

When He was among men, those who heard Him speak said, 'Never man spake like this man,' and we now say, 'Never did man love like Him.' You see little Zouga is carried on mamma's bosom.

You are taken care of by Jesus with as much care as mamma takes of Zouga. He is always watching you and keeping you in safety. It is very bad to sin, to do any naughty things, or speak angry or naughty words before Him.

"My dear children, take Him as your Guide, your Helper, your Friend, and Saviour through life. Whatever you are troubled about ask Him to keep you. Our G.o.d is good. We thank Him that we have such a Saviour and Friend as He is. Now you are little, but you will not always be so, hence you must learn to read and write and work. All clever men can both read and write, and Jesus needs clever men to do his work. Would you not like to work for Him among men? Jesus is wishing to send his gospel to all nations, and He needs clever men to do this. Would you like to serve Him? Well, you must learn now, and not get tired learning. After some time you will like learning better than playing, but you must play, too, in order to make your bodies strong and be able to serve Jesus.

"I am glad to hear that you go to the academy. I hope you are learning fast. Don't speak Scotch. It is not so pretty as English. Is the Tau learning to read with mamma? I hope you are all kind to mamma. I saw a poor woman in a chain with many others, up at the Barotse. She had a little child, and both she and her child were very thin. See how kind Jesus was to you. No one can put you in chains unless you become bad.

If, however, you learn bad ways, beginning only by saying bad words or doing little bad things, Satan will have you in the chains of sin, and you will be hurried on in his bad ways till you are put into the dreadful place which G.o.d hath prepared for him and all who are like him. Pray to Jesus to deliver you from sin, give you new hearts, and make you his children. Kiss Zouga, mamma, and each other for me.--Your ever affectionate father,

"D. LIVINGSTON."

A letter to his father and other relations at Hamilton, 30th September, 1853, is of a somewhat apologetic and explanatory cast. Some of the friends had the notion that he should have settled somewhere, "preaching the simple gospel," and converting people by every sermon:

"You see what they make of the gospel, and my conversation on it, in which my inmost Heart yearned for their conversion.

Many now think Jesus and Sebituane very much the same sort of person. I was prevented by fever and other matters from at once following up the glorious object of this journey: viz., while preaching the gospel beyond every other man's line of things made ready to our hands, to discover a healthy location for a mission, and I determined to improve the time by teaching to read. This produced profound deliberation and lengthened palavers, and at length the chief told me that he feared learning to read would change his heart and make him content with one wife like Sechele. He has four. It was in vain I urged that the change contemplated made the affair as voluntary as if he would now change his mind from four to thirty, as his father had. He could not realize the change that would give relish to any other system than the present.

He felt as the man who is mentioned by Serles as saying he would not like to go to heaven to be employed for ever singing and praising on a bare cloud without anything to eat or drink....