lines. An eminent bishop was once asked to define the three parties of
the National Church, and he replied, that the High Churchman always
asked what the Church taught, the Broad Churchman could be
distinguished by his asking what reason taught, and the Evangelical was
known by his asking what the Bible taught. If such a rough-and-ready
system of classification be applied to General Gordon, there can be no
question that his loyalty to the Bible would stamp him at once. In
addition, however, to this characteristic, which was the most prominent
one in his life, he held in common with the Evangelicals, and far more
strongly than the majority of them, the doctrine of Election, and the
wise policy of cultivating friendly relations with Nonconformists, to
whose places of worship he frequently went, as also the doctrine of
personal assurance, and that of the utter depravity of human nature.
But Gordon was not of a type of mind that can ever go completely with a
party. He had such a strong individuality, that it would have been
impossible for him to do as many do--sink his own views on questions
not of vital importance, so as to be enabled to work with the party
with which he was most in accord. He was nothing, if not original and
genuine; he sought the truth for himself, and would not receive
stereotyped views of religion where he did not see that they were in
harmony with the Bible.

"He that cannot think is a fool,
He that will not is a bigot,
He that dares not is a slave."

His fearlessness in the search for truth made him frequently touch on
subjects on which his own mind was not fully made up. The fate of those
who had not accepted Christ as their Saviour was one of these points.
Though he frequently spoke of his own salvation, through the merits of
Christ, he believed that God had provided some means of saving those
who had never had opportunities of hearing of Christ, but he never
dogmatised on what those means were. Referring to his Mohammedan
secretary, Berzati Bey, he writes on the 12th April 1881:--

"He will ever be one of those who have taught me the great lesson,
that in all nations and in all climes there are those who are
perfect gentlemen, and who, though they may not be called
Christians, are so in spirit and in truth. They may not see how
Christ is their Saviour, but they die with a sense that all their
efforts are useless, and with the conviction that unless God