This I Explained To The Men Fully,
And They, Understanding The Matter, Replied, "Nay, Father, You Will Not Die;
You Will Return To Take Us Back To Sekeletu." They Promised To Wait
Till I Came Back, And, On My Part, I Assured Them That Nothing But Death
Would Prevent My Return.
This I said, though while waiting at Kilimane
a letter came from the Directors of the London Missionary Society
Stating that "they were restricted in their power of aiding plans
connected only remotely with the spread of the Gospel,
and that the financial circumstances of the society were not such as to afford
any ground of hope that it would be in a position, within any definite period,
to enter upon untried, remote, and difficult fields of labor."
This has been explained since as an effusion caused by temporary
financial depression; but, feeling perfect confidence in my Makololo friends,
I was determined to return and trust to their generosity.
The old love of independence, which I had so strongly
before joining the society, again returned. It was roused
by a mistaken view of what this letter meant; for the directors,
immediately on my reaching home, saw the great importance of the opening,
and entered with enlightened zeal on the work of sending the Gospel
into the new field. It is to be hoped that their constituents
will not only enable them to begin, but to carry out their plans,
and that no material depression will ever again be permitted,
nor appearance of spasmodic benevolence recur.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 1014 of 1070
Words from 290213 to 290468
of 306638
