Let us think highly of the weapons we have received for the accomplishment of our work. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but spiritual, and mighty through God to the casting down of strongholds. They are--Faith in our Leader, and in the presence of his Holy Spirit; a full, free, unfettered Gospel; the doctrine of the cross of Christ,--an old story, but containing the mightiest truths ever uttered--mighty for pulling down the strongholds of sin, and giving liberty to the captives. The story of Redemption, of which Paul said, "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ," is old, yet in its vigor, eternally young.
This work requires zeal for God and love for souls. It needs prayer from the senders and the sent, and firm reliance on Him who alone is the Author of conversion. Souls cannot be converted or manufactured to order. Great deeds are wrought in unconsciousness, from constraining love to Christ; in humbly asking, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? in the simple feeling, we have done that which was our duty to do. They effect works, the greatness of which it will remain for posterity to discern. The greatest works of God in the kingdom of grace, like his majestic movements in nature, are marked by stillness in the doing of them, and reveal themselves by their effects. They come up like the sun, and show themselves by their own light. The kingdom of God cometh not with observation. Luther simply followed the leadings of the Holy Spirit in the struggles of his own soul. He wrought out what the inward impulses of his own breast prompted him to work, and behold, before he was aware, he was in the midst of the Reformation. So, too, it was with the Plymouth pilgrims, with their sermons three times a day on board the Mayflower. Without thinking of founding an empire, they obeyed the sublime teachings of the Spirit, the promptings of duty and the spiritual life. God working mightily in the human heart is the spring of all abiding spiritual power; and it is only as men follow out the sublime promptings of the inward spiritual life, that they do great things for God.
The movement of not one mind only, but the consentaneous movement of a multitude of minds in the same direction, constitutes what is called the spirit of the age. This spirit is neither the law of progress nor blind development, but God's all-eternal, all-embracing purpose, the doctrine which recognizes the hand of God in all events, yet leaves all human action free. When God prepared an age for a new thought, the thought is thrust into the age as an instrument into a chemical solution--the crystals cluster round it immediately. If God prepares not, the man has lived before his time. Huss and Wycliffe were like voices crying in the wilderness, preparing the way for a brighter future; the time had not yet come.
Who would not be a missionary? "They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever." Is God not preparing the world for missions which will embrace the whole of Adam's family? The gallant steamships circumnavigate the globe. Emigration is going on at a rate to which the most renowned crusades of antiquity bear no proportion. Many men go to and fro, and knowledge is increased. No great emigration ever took place in our world without accomplishing one of God's great designs. The tide of the modern emigration flows toward the West. The wonderful amalgamation of races will result in something grand. We believe this, because the world is becoming better, and because God is working mightily in the human mind. We believe it, because God has been preparing the world for something glorious. And that something, we conjecture, will be a fuller development of the missionary idea and work.
There will yet be a glorious consummation of Christianity. The last fifty years have accomplished wonders. On the American Continent, what a wonderful amalgamation of races we have witnessed, how wonderfully they have been fused into that one American people--type and earnest of a larger fusion which Christianity will yet accomplish, when, by its blessed power, all tribes and tongues and races shall become one holy family. The present popularity of beneficence promises well for the missionary cause in the future. Men's hearts are undergoing a process of enlargement, Their sympathies are taking a wider scope. The world is getting closer, smaller--quite a compact affair. The world for Christ will yet be realized. "The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea."
No. II.
TREATMENT OF AFRICAN FEVER.
In July, 1859, when the Expedition to the Zambesi had been there about a year. Dr. Livingstone drew up and forwarded to Sir James Clark, Bart., M.D., a very full report on the treatment of African fever. The report details at length a large number of cases, the circumstances under which the attack was experienced, the remedies administered, and their effects. In order to ward off the disease in the mangrove swamps, which were justly described as hotbeds of fever, a dose of quinine was administered daily to each European, amounting to two grains, and taken in sherry wine. When an attack of the disease occurred, and the stomach did not refuse the remedies, Dr. Livingstone administered a dose of calomel with resin of jalap, followed by quinine. These remedies were in almost all cases successful, and the convalescence of the patient was wonderfully rapid. The "pills" which Dr. Livingstone often referred to were composed of resin of jalap, calomel, rhubarb, and quinine. It was usually observed that active employment kept off fever, and that on high lands its attacks were much less violent. Where the stomach refused the remedies a blister was usually the most effectual means of stopping the sickness.
Experience did not confirm the prophylactic action of quinine; exemption from attack in unfavorable situations was rather ascribed to active exercise, good diet, and to absence of damp, exposure to sun, and excessive exertion. Even while navigating an unhealthy part of the Shiré, and while, owing to the state of the vessel, the beds were constantly damp, good health was enjoyed, owing to the regular exercise and good fare.