at light our efforts are
regarded by those who, as much as we do, desire that the 'gospel may be
preached to all nations,'" Then follows a copy of a letter which had
been addressed to him before they set out by Mrs. Moffat, his
mother-in-law, remonstrating in the strongest terms against his plan of
taking his wife with him; reminding him of the death of the child, and
other sad occurrences of last year; and in the name of everything that
was just, kind, and even decent, beseeching him to abandon an
arrangement which all the world would condemn. Another letter from the
same writer informed him that much prayer had been offered that, if the
arrangements were not in accordance with Christian propriety, he might
in great mercy be prevented by some dispensation of Providence from
carrying them out. Mrs. Moffat was a woman of the highest gifts and
character, and full of admiration for Livingstone. The insertion of
these letters in his Journal shows that, in carrying out his plan, the
objections to which it was liable were before his mind in the strongest
conceivable form. No man who knows what Livingstone was will imagine for
a moment that he had not the most tender regard for the health, the
comfort, and the feelings of his wife; in matters of delicacy he had the
most scrupulous regard to propriety; his resolution to take her with him
must, therefore, have sprung from something far stronger than even his
affection for her. What was this stronger force?

It was his inviolable sense of duty, and his indefeasible conviction
that his Father in heaven would not forsake him whilst pursuing a course
in obedience to his will, and designed to advance the welfare of his
children. As this furnishes the key to Livingstone's future life, and
the answer to one of the most serious objections ever brought against
it, it is right to spend a little time in elucidating the principles by
which he was guided.

There was a saying of the late Sir Herbert Edwardes which he highly
valued: "He who has to act on his own responsibility is a slave if he
does not act on his own judgment." Acting on this maxim, he must set
aside the views of others as to his duty, provided his own judgment was
clear regarding it. He must even set aside the feelings and apparent
interest of those dearest to him, because duty was above everything
else. His faith in God convinced him that, in the long run, it could
never be the worse for him and his that he had firmly done