114 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



among royal minds: but compared to the populace^ the members of the royal 

 family are few. The man of lofty aims is thus described by Meredith : 



" The man is great and he alone, 

 Who serves a greatness not his own, 

 For neither praise nor pelf; 

 Content to know and be unknown ; 

 Whole in himself." 



It is quite the thing, nowadays, among certain men of brilliance to decry the 

 influence of the supernatural either in the past or in the present. But did ever a 

 man make a deep impress in the historic page who was not filled with the thought 

 of his own subordination to superior power ? 



Socrates felt the monitions of an inner voice he could not disobey. Mahomet 

 listened to a mysterious influence he called destiny. Cromwell believed that his 

 life was under the irresistible impulse of the Divine Spirit. Napoleon thought of 

 a fateful star that stood over his cradle and had followed his course ever since. 

 Von Moltke said that at the battle of Mars Le Tour defeat was changed to glor- 

 ious victory by an unbidden breath blowing the silver trumpet which sounded 

 the command to charge to the royal guard. The Maid of Orleans heard heavenly 

 voices, amid the forests and field of Domremy, bidding her lead the armies of 

 France until the rightful king should secure the consecrated crown at Rheims. 

 The sacred retreat of Valley Forge witnessed the prayers of Washington. In the 

 darkest hours of the Republic a divine light streamed into the closet of the long- 

 suffering Lincoln. John Brown implicitly believed he was called of God to free 

 by forcible interposition the bondsmen of the South, and this thought guided him 

 from the slave cabins of Missouri to the frowning arsenal of Harper's Ferry and 

 the ghastly scaffold of Charlestown. 



To-day a man of this Cromwellian mould draws the attention of the civilized 

 world as he attempts, among the sands and torrid heats of the Upper Nile, to 

 show the barbaric tribes and frenzied hordes the exalted justice and kindness of 

 a Christian nation. The life of Gen. Charles Gordon is one of those strange rev- 

 elations which now and then call men away from doubt and agnosticism to the 

 verities and faiths of an old-time trust in an imminent and ever present Provi- 

 dence. He is a Havelock in military ability, bravery and daring, and a more 

 than Havelock in his belief in the constant guidance of all his deeds by the Un- 

 seen Spirit. Cold, hard men look with amazement upon the inexplicable career 

 of the man who was a hero in the Crimea, disdainful of wealth, tender of the 

 poor, sagacious and daring in danger, and as humble and faithful to the inner 

 light as Bunyan or Loyola. The blending of sweet and gentle charities with 

 stern martial deeds is a rare thing in history. The power to awe men into obedi- 

 ence and yet to hold them by the ties of devotion, is an uncommon sight. Charles 

 Gordon transformed Chinese rebels, subjugated by his prowess, into faithful body 

 guards, and over Soudan he throws the protection of an intrepid soul, confident of 

 its divine mission and inspiration. Declare as we may that the man is deluded, 



