640 god's expedition. 



The man who received them was Henry M. Stanley. The 

 two men met in a bed-room, early in the morning. They had 

 never met before ; God had moved the heart of one, and chosen 

 the other. Many " Livingstone search expeditions" had failed : 

 God never fails. The men may neither of them have thought 

 of God in the matter, but God thought of Livingstone. We 

 do not believe that the men whom he selected for the purposes 

 of his providence were only absorbed by ends of personal gain 

 or emolument. The world is hardly generous in its habit of 

 finding lower motives for the actors in the nobler dramas of life, 

 when lofty motives might as easily be assigned them. Mr. 

 Bennett was the proprietor of a great journal. The proprietor 

 of a great journal may be impelled to the very acts which con- 

 duce to its greater prosperity by holier impulses than can arise 

 out of considerations of wealth or popularity. We love to be- 

 lieve that Mr. Bennett is such a man. We prefer to see in his 

 purpose to send assistance to Dr. Livingstone an exhibition of 

 benevolence which dignifies humanity, and the impulses of a 

 soul awake to influences higher than earth. Mr. Bennett may 

 not have realized it fully, or he may have, but he was obeying 

 God. Mr. Stanley was a "Flying Journalist;" but God saw 

 in him the elements of the hero demanded by so great an occa- 

 sion. We do not believe that he does himself justice in insinuat- 

 ing that he went to Africa only as he would have gone anywhere 

 else, under orders from his employer. Such a spirit of obedi- 

 ence and faithfulness under an engagement is commendable; 

 but we prefer to recognize in Mr. Stanley a spirit which lifts 

 him above the common level of ordinary business honesty. He 

 manifested an enthusiasm in this undertaking which betrayed 

 a greatness of soul which he has preferred to conceal, that his 

 employer might have the more honor. He may not have 

 essayed this expedition at the suggestions of his own benevo- 

 lence, he probably could not have done so ; but when he saw 

 that he might do it, his heart bounded to the work. We be- 

 lieve he went forth from Paris under a higher commission than 

 that of Mr. Bennett. There was needed money, and there was 

 needed a man ; God knew where to find both, and he did find 

 them, just when he saw that one of his noblest servants was ap- 

 proaching an extremity. There is something very solemn and 



