"Sunday 22d.--This age presents one great fact in the Providence of God; missions are sent forth to all quarters of the world,--missions not of one section of the Church, but of all sections, and from nearly all Christian nations. It seems very unfair to judge of the success of these by the number of conversions which have followed. These are rather proofs of the missions being of the right sort. They show the direction of the stream which is set in motion by Him who rules the nations, and Is destined to overflow the world. The fact which ought to stimulate us above all others is, not that we have contributed to the conversion of a few souls, however valuable these may be, but that we are diffusing a knowledge of Christianity throughout the world. The number of conversions in India is but a poor criterion of the success which has followed the missionaries there. The general knowledge is the criterion; and there, as well as in other lands where missionaries in the midst of masses of heathenism seem like voices crying in the wilderness--Reformers before the Reformation, future missionaries will see conversions follow every sermon. We prepare the way for them. May they not forget the pioneers who worked in the thick gloom with few rays to cheer, except such as flow from faith in God's promises! We work for a glorious future which we are not destined to see--the golden age which has not been, but will yet be. We are only morning-stars shining in the dark, but the glorious morn will break, the good time coming yet. The present mission-stations will all be broken up. No matter how great the outcry against the instrumentality which God employs for his purposes, whether by French soldiery as in Tahiti, or tawny Boers as in South Africa, our duty is onward, onward, proclaiming God's Word whether men will hear or whether they will forbear. A few conversions show whether God's Spirit is in a mission or not. No mission which has his approbation is entirely unsuccessful. His purposes have been fulfilled, if we have been faithful. 'The nation or kingdom that will not serve Thee shall utterly be destroyed'--this has often been preceded by free offers of friendship and mercy, and many missions which He has sent in the olden time seemed bad failures. Noah's preaching was a failure, Isaiah thought his so too. Poor Jeremiah is sitting weeping tears over his people, everybody cursing the honest man, and he ill-pleased with his mother for having borne him among such a set. And Ezekiel's stiff-necked, rebellious crew were no better. Paul said, 'All seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ,' and he knew that after his departure grievous wolves would enter in, not sparing the flock. Yet the cause of God is still carried on to more enlightened developments of his will and character, and the dominion is being given by the power of commerce and population unto the people of the saints of the Most High. And this is an everlasting kingdom, a little stone cut out of a mountain without hands which shall cover the whole earth. For this time we work; may God accept our imperfect service!"
At length Livingstone began to get near the coast, reaching the outlying Portuguese stations. He was received by the Portuguese gentlemen with great kindness, and his wants were generously provided for. One of them gave him the first glass of wine he had taken in Africa. Another provided him with a suit of clothing. Livingstone invoked the blessing of Him who said, "I was naked and ye clothed me." His Journal is profuse in its admiration of some of the Portuguese traders, who did not like the slave-trade--not they, but had most enlightened views for the welfare of Africa. But opposite some of these eulogistical passages of the Journal there were afterward added an expressive series of marks of interrogation.
At a later date he saw reason to doubt the sincerity of some of the professions of these gentlemen. Ingenuous and trustful, he could at first think nothing but good of those who had shown him such marked attention. Afterward, the inexorable logic of facts proved too strong, even for his unsuspecting soul. But the kindness of the Portuguese was most genuine, and Livingstone never ceased to be grateful for a single kind act. It is important to note that whatever he came to think of their policy afterward, he was always ready to make this acknowledgment.
Arrived at Loanda, 31st May, 1854, with his twenty-seven followers, he was most kindly received by Mr. Edmund Gabriel, the British Commissioner for the suppression of the slave-trade there, and everything was done by him for his comfort. The sensation of lying on an English bed, after six months lying on the ground, was indescribably delightful. Mr. Gabriel was equally attentive to him during a long and distressing attack of fever and dysentery that prostrated him soon after his arrival at Loanda. In his Journal the warmest benedictions are poured on Mr. Gabriel, and blessings everlasting besought for his soul. One great disappointment he suffered at Loanda--not a single letter was awaiting him. His friends must have thought he could never reach it. This want of letters was a very frequent trial, especially to one who wrote so many, and of such length. The cordial friendship of Mr. Gabriel, however, was a great solace. He gave him much information, not only on all that concerned the slave-trade--now more than ever attracting his attention--but also on the natural history of the district, and he entered con amore into the highest objects of his mission. Afterward, in acknowledging to the Directors of the London Missionary Society receipt of a letter for Dr. Livingstone, intrusted to his care, Mr. Gabriel wrote as follows (20th March, 1856):
"Dr. Livingstone, after the noble objects he has achieved, most assuredly wants no testimony from me. I consult, therefore, the impulse of my own mind alone, when I declare that in no respect was my intercourse more gratifying to me than in the opportunities afforded to me of observing his earnest, active, and unwearied solicitude for the advancement of Christianity. Few, perhaps, have had better opportunities than myself of estimating the benefit the Christian cause in this country has derived from Dr. Livingstone's exertions. It is indeed fortunate for that sacred cause, and highly honorable to the London Missionary Society, when qualities and dispositions like his are employed in propagating its blessings among men. Irrespective, moreover, of his laudable and single-minded conduct as a minister of the Gospel, and his attainments in making observations which have determined the true geography of the interior, the Directors, I am sure, will not have failed to perceive how interesting and valuable are all the communications they receive from him--as sketches of the social condition of the people, and the material, fabrics, and produce Of these lands. I most fervently pray that the kind Providence, which has hitherto carried him through so many perils and hardships, may guide him safely to his present journey's end."
The friendship of Mr. Gabriel was honorable both to himself and to Dr. Livingstone. At a very early period he learned to appreciate Livingstone thoroughly, he saw how great as well as how good a man he was, and felt that to be the friend of such a man was one of the highest distinctions he could have. After Livingstone left Loanda, and while he was detained within reach of letters, a brisk correspondence passed between them; Mr. Gabriel tells him about birds, helps him in his schemes for promoting lawful commerce, goes into ecstasies over a watch-chain which he had got from him, tells him the news of the battle of the Alma in the Crimea, in which his friend, Colonel Steele, had distinguished himself, and of the success of the Rae Expedition in finding the remains of the party under Sir John Franklin. In an official communication to Lord Clarendon, after Livingstone had left, Mr. Gabriel says, 5th August, 1855: "I am grieved to say that this excellent man's health has suffered a good deal [on the return journey]. He nevertheless wrote in cheerful spirits, sanguine of success in doing his duty under the guidance and protection of that kind Providence who had always carried him through so many perils and hardships. He assures me that since he knew the value of Christianity, he has ever wished to spend his life in propagating its blessings among men, and adds that the same desire remains still as strong as ever."
While Livingstone was at Loanda, he made several acquaintances among the officers of Her Majesty's navy, engaged in the suppression of the slave-trade. For many of these gentlemen he was led to entertain a high regard. Their humanity charmed him, and so did their attention to their duties. In his early days, sharing the feeling then so prevalent in his class, he had been used to think of epauleted gentlemen as idlers, or worse--"fruges consumere nati" Personal acquaintance, as in so many other cases, rubbed off the prejudice. In many ways Livingstone's mind was broadening. His intensely sympathetic nature drew powerfully to all who were interested in what was rapidly becoming his own master-idea--the suppression of the slave-trade. We shall see proofs not a few, how this sympathetic affection modified some of his early opinions, and greatly widened the sphere of his charity.
After all the illness and dangers he had encountered, Livingstone might quite honorably have accepted a berth in one of Her Majesty's cruisers, and returned to England. But the men who had come with him from the Barotse country to Loanda had to return, and Livingstone knew that they were quite unable to perform the journey without him. That consideration determined his course. All the risks and dangers of that terrible road--the attacks of fever and dysentery, the protracted absence of those for whom he pined, were not to be thought of when he had a duty to these poor men. Besides, he had hot yet accomplished his object. He had, indeed, discovered a way by his friend Sekelétu might sell his tusks to far greater advantage, and which would thus help to introduce a legitimate traffic among the Makololo, and expel the slave-trade; but he had discovered no healthy locality for a mission, nor any unexceptional highway to the sea for the purpose of general traffic. The east coast seemed to promise better than the west. That great river, the Zambesi, might be found to be a navigable highway to the sea. He would return to Linyanti, and set out from it to find a way to the eastern shore. Loaded with kindness from many quarters, and furnished with presents for Sekelétu, and for the chiefs along the way, Livingstone bade farewell to Loanda on 20th September, 1854.
The following letter to Mrs. Livingstone, written a month afterward, gives his impressions of Loanda and the neighborhood;
"Golungo Alto, 25th October, 1854.--It occurs to me, my dearest Mary, that if I send you a note from different parts on the way through this colony, some of them will surely reach you; and If they carry any of the affection I bear to you in their composition, they will not fail to comfort you. I got everything in Loanda I could desire; and were there only a wagon-path for us, this would be as good an opening into the interior as we could wish. I remained rather a long time in the city in consequence of a very severe attack of fever and dysentery which reduced me very much; and I remained a short time longer than that actually required to set me on my legs, in longing expectation of a letter from you. None came, but should any come up to the beginning of November, it will come after me by post to Cassangé.
"The [Roman Catholic] Bishop, who was then acting-governor, gave a horse, saddle, and bridle, a colonel's suit of clothes, etc., for Sekelétu, and a dress of blue and red cloth, with a white cotton blanket and cap to each of my companions, who are the best set of men I ever traveled with except Malatzi and Mebalwe. The merchants of Loanda gave Sekelétu a large present of cloth, beads, etc., and one of them, a Dutch-man, gave me an order for ten oxen as provisions on the way home to the Zambesi. This is all to encourage the natives to trade freely with the coast, and will have a good effect in increasing our influence for that which excels everything earthly. Everything has, by God's gracious blessing, proved more auspicious than I anticipated. We have a most warm-hearted friend in Mr. Gabriel. He acted a brother's part, and now writes me in the moat affectionate manner. I thank God for his goodness in influencing the hearts of so many to show kindness, to whom I was a total stranger. The Portuguese have all been extremely kind. In coming through the coffee plantations I was offered more coffee than I could take or needed, and the best in the world. One spoonful makes it stronger than three did of that we used. It is found wild on the mountains.
"Mr. Gabriel came about 30 miles with me, and ever since, though I spoke freely about the slave-trade, the very gentlemen who have been engaged in it, and have been prevented by our ships from following it, and often lost much, treated me most kindly in their houses, and often accompanied me to the next place beyond them, bringing food for all in the way. The common people are extremely civil, and a very large proportion of the inhabitants in one district called Ambaca can read and write well. They were first taught by the Roman Catholic missionaries, and now teach each other so well, it is considered a shame in an Ambacista not to be able to write his own name at least. But they have no Bibles. They are building a church at Ambaca, and another is in course of erection here, though they cannot get any priests. May God grant that we may be useful in some degree in this field also.... Give my love to all the children, they will reap the advantage of your remaining longer at home than we anticipated. I hope Robert, Agnes, and Tom are each learning as fast as they can. When will they be able to write a letter to me? How happy I shall be to meet them and you again! I hope a letter from you may be waiting for me at Zambesi. Love to all the children. How tall is Zouga? Accept the assurance of unabated love.
"DAVID LIVINGSTON."