AFRICA AXD PREPARATION. 51 



Blantyre and Canibuslang, collecting shells and stones long 

 before geology was as popular as it is now. As a specimen of 

 the help and encouragement he received, when the curious 

 child one day asked a quarryman, " How did ever these shells 

 get into these rocks?" he was told, "When God made the 

 rocks, He made the shells in them." And when his honored 

 father found his preference for such study, he insisted on creating 

 a fondness for such books as "Fourfold State," by Boston, 

 " Practical Christianity," etc. 



It is almost incredible that such varied and profound reading 

 as filled these early years of Livingstone could have been done 

 in the midst of such daily work in a factory. He really accom- 

 plished all of his reading by placing his book where he could 

 catch a sentence, as he passed backward and forward at his work. 

 Working continually in his factory, he studied Greek at Glasgow, 

 and Divinity with Dr. Wardlaw, by his own manual labor 

 providing for his own education. It was a wonderful love of 

 knowledge and wonderful love of Christ which strengthened 

 his heart for such a work. What w r onder that he expressed his 

 delight, when at last he was admitted a member of a profession 

 devoted to benevolence ! How naturally he treasured most 

 fondly the recollections of Blantyre by the Clyde, through all 

 of his wanderings ! It was a sacrifice for such a man. Africa 

 offered nothing. It asked for everything. There could never 

 be a home there for him ; there could never be one anywhere 

 on earth. It is a serious thing to become a missionary. Christ 

 had no home. The missionary comes nearest to Christ in his 

 service, and he must come nearest to Christ in his sacrifice. 

 Livingstone did not go to Africa to find out Africa. He went 

 there to carry Christ to the ignorant and lost. The gospel 

 being his mission, he remained long enough in England to 

 make special preparation in the study of theology. It is a 

 mistake that the intelligence of the teacher should be graded by 

 the advancement of the learner. The very best preparation is 

 desirable for the teacher of the very ignorant. Little children 

 should have the most accomplished teachers. Don't send a 

 novice in Bible truth to the heathen. God is not in need of 

 such haste on the part of his servants that the man he calls for 

 a special work may not go about it deliberately. No time is 



