84 
THOMAS J. COMBER. 
I am not my own, I am bought with a price, and He 
who gave His life for me can claim me all His own. 
I am ready to go where He wills, even should it be 
to pain and death. 
‘ Take my life and let it be, 
Only, wholly, all for Thee. ’ 
‘‘ My mind is fully made up, that if you will accept 
me (and you know what I am, I have no need to 
introduce myself to you), as a fellow-helper in the 
Lord’s work, and if the Society will take me as one of 
their workers, I am ready this day to consecrate my- 
self to the Lord. 
“ This is the way in which I humbly trust to ‘ test ’ 
the call I hear in my heart so loudly. Just as I am, 
with all I have I offer myself to the Lord for His 
work. If you and the Society accept, I shall feel it 
is His call, and come what will, I will obey the voice 
of God, and serve Him as He commands me.” 
Great was Mr. Comber’s joy on receiving this 
letter. He knew that his friend, though he had not 
enjoyed the advantages of a college training, possessed 
the qualifications which were most requisite. And 
because of the possession of those qualifications, and 
not merely because of his personal attachment to him, 
he urged a prompt application to the Society. John 
Hartland followed the advice, and his application was 
thankfully accepted. 
On the loth of February, the year being 1879, 
Mr. Comber was invited to read a paper on his 
explorations inland from Mount Cameroons and 
journey through Congo to Makuta, before the 
members of the Royal Geographical Society, which 
paper may be found in the Society’s monthly records 
of that date. The paper was well received. Captain 
Burton said his first duty was personally to thank 
Mr. Comber for having found his bottle. (A bottle 
the captain had deposited on the occasion of his 
own ascent of the mountain.) He thought he had 
made a most interesting journey, and had brought 
