xviii LIVINGSTONE'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY 



refusal to peruse Wilberforee's ' Practical Christianity/ 

 This dislike to dry doctrinal reading, and to religious 

 reading of every sort, continued for years afterwards ; 

 but having lighted on those admirable works of Dr. 

 Thomas Dick, ' The Philosophy of Religion,' and •' The 

 Philosophy of a Future State,' it was gratifying to find 

 my own ideas, that religion and science are not hostile, 

 but friendly to each other, fully proved and enforced. 



Great pains had been taken by my parents to instil the 

 doctrines of Christianity into my mind, and I had no 

 difficulty in understanding the theory of our free salvation 

 by the atonement of our Saviour, but it was only about this 

 time that I really began to feel the necessity and value of 

 a personal application of the provisions of that atonement 

 to my own case. The change was like what may be 

 supposed would take place were it possible to cure a case 

 of " colour blindness." The perfect freeness with which 

 the pardon of all our guilt is offered in God's book drew 

 forth feelings of affectionate love to Him who bought us 

 with His blood, and a sense of deep obligation to Him for 

 his mercy has influenced, in some small measure, my 

 conduct ever since. But I shall not again refer to the 

 inner spiritual life which I believe then began, nor do I 

 intend to specify with any prominence the evangelistic 

 labours to which the love of Christ has since impelled me : 

 this book will speak not so much of what has been done, 

 as of what still remains to be performed before the gospel 

 can be said to be preached to all nations. 



In the glow of love which Christianity inspires, I soon 

 resolved to devote my life to the alleviation of human 

 misery. Turning this idea over in my mind, I felt that 

 to be a pioneer of Christianity in China might lead to the 

 material benefit of some portions of that immense empire ; 

 and therefore set myself to obtain a medical education, in 

 order to be qualified for that enterprise. 



In recognising the plants pointed out in my first medical 

 book, that extraordinary old work on astrological medicine, 

 Culpeper's ' Herbal,' I had the guidance of a book on the 

 plants of Lanarkshire, by Patrick. Limited as my time 

 was, I found opportunities to scour the whole country- 

 side, " collecting simples." Deep and anxious were my 

 studies on the still deeper and more perplexing profun- 

 dities of astrology, and I believe I got as far into that 

 abyss of fantasies as my author said he dared to lead me. 



