Zone above zone, to thy shoulders of granite,
The climates of earth are displayed as an index,
Giving the scope of the book of creation.
There in the wandering airs of the tropics
Shivers the aspen, still dreaming of cold:
There stretches the oak, from the loftiest ledges,
His arms to the far-away lands of his brothers,
And the pine looks down on his rival, the palm.”
|David Livingstone.| This section of Africa cannot be passed without a mention of that other hero, David Livingstone, the missionary, scientist, and explorer, who said, “I am tired of discovery if no fruit follows it”, and “The end of geographical achievement is only the beginning of missionary undertaking”, who was a king among men and who considered it his only glory that he was a “poor, poor imitation of Christ.”
There is a very particular reason for including a mention of Livingstone in a history of Lutheran missions, because his impulse to become a missionary was directly inspired by a Lutheran, Karl Frederick Gützlaff, whom we shall study in Chapter V. Livingstone was interested in missions and had resolved “that he would give to the cause of missions all that he might earn beyond what was required for his subsistence.” When he read Gützlaff’s appeal on behalf of China he determined to give himself. For various reasons Africa rather than China was determined upon for the scene of his labor.