The Personal Life of David Livingstone eBook

William Garden Blaikie
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 677 pages of information about The Personal Life of David Livingstone.

The Personal Life of David Livingstone eBook

William Garden Blaikie
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 677 pages of information about The Personal Life of David Livingstone.
of sincerity.  What we are about to copy merits careful consideration:  first, as evincing the depth and tenderness of his love for these black savages; next, as showing that it was pre-eminently Christian love, intensified by his vivid view of the eternal world, and belief in Christ as the only Saviour; and, lastly, as revealing the secret of the affection which these poor fellows bore to him in return.  The intensity of the scrutiny which he directs on his heart, and the severity of the judgment which he seems to pass on himself, as if he had not done all he might have done for the spiritual good of this young man, show with what intense conscientiousness he tried to discharge his missionary duty: 

“Poor Sehamy, where art thou now?  Where lodges thy soul to-night?  Didst thou think of what I told thee as thou turnedst from side to side in distress?  I could now do anything for thee.  I could weep for thy soul.  But now nothing can be done.  Thy fate is fixed.  Oh, am I guilty of the blood of thy soul, my poor dear Sehamy?  If so, how shall I look upon thee in the judgment?  But I told thee of a Saviour; didst thou think of Him, and did He lead thee through the dark valley?  Did He comfort as He only can?  Help me, O Lord Jesus, to be faithful to every one.  Remember me, and let me not be guilty of the blood of souls.  This poor young man was the leader of the party.  He governed the others, and most attentive he was to me.  He anticipated my every want.  He kept the water-calabash at his head at night, and if I awoke, he was ready to give me a draught immediately.  When the meat was boiled he secured the best portion for me, the best place for sleeping, the best of everything.  Oh, where is he now?  He became ill after leaving a certain tribe, and believed he had been poisoned.  Another of the party and he ate of a certain dish given them by a woman whom they had displeased, and having met this man yesterday he said, ’Sehamy is gone to heaven, and I am almost dead by the poison given us by that woman.’  I don’t believe they took any poison, but they do, and their imaginations are dreadfully excited when they entertain that belief.”

The same letter intimates that in case his family should have arranged to emigrate to America, as he had formerly advised them to do, he had sent home a bill of which L10 was to aid the emigration, and L10 to be spent on clothes for himself.  In regard to the latter sum, he now wished them to add it to the other, so that his help might be more substantial; and for himself he would make his old clothes serve for another year.  The emigration scheme, which he thought would have added to the comfort of his parents and sisters, was not, however, carried into effect.  The advice to his family to emigrate proceeded from deep convictions.  In a subsequent letter (4th December, 1850) he writes:  “If I could only be with you for a week, you would goon be pushing on in the world.  The world is ours. 

Copyrights
Project Gutenberg
The Personal Life of David Livingstone from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.