1813-36.] EARLY YEARS. 15 



calm but mighty inward power to the very end of his 

 life. The love that began to stir his heart in his father's 

 house continued to move him all through his dreary 

 African journeys, and was still in full play on that lonely 

 midnight when he knelt at his bedside in the hut in 

 Ilala, and his spirit returned to his God and Saviour. 



At first, he had no thought of being himself a mis- 

 sionary. Feeling " that the salvation of men ought to 

 be the chief desire and aim of every Christian," he had 

 made a resolution " that he would give to the cause of 

 missions all that he might earn beyond what was required 

 for his subsistence." 1 The resolution to give himself came 

 from his reading an Appeal by Mr. Gutzlaff to the 

 Churches of Britain and America on behalf of China. It 

 was " the claims of so many millions of his fellow-creatures, 

 and the complaints of the scarcity, of the want of qualified 

 missionaries," that led him to aspire to the office. From 

 that time — apparently his twenty-first year — his " efforts 

 were constantly directed towards that object without any 

 fluctuation." 



The years of monotonous toil spent in the factory 

 were never regretted by Livingstone. On the contrary, 

 he regarded his experience there as an important part 

 of his education, and had it been possible, he would 

 have liked " to begin life over again in the same lowly 

 style, and to pass through the same hardy training." 2 

 The fellow-feeling he acquired for the children of labour 

 was invaluable for enabling him to gain influence with 

 the same class, whether in Scotland or in Africa. As 

 we have already seen, he was essentially a man of the 

 people. Not that he looked unkindly on the richer 

 classes — he used to say in his later years, that he liked 

 to see people in comfort and at leisure, enjoying the good 

 things of life, — but he felt that the burden-bearing multi- 



1 Statement to Directors of London Missionary Society. 



2 Missionary Travels, p. 6. 



