'I wish,' he wrote, 'to give a practical proof
of what I think regarding the inordinate praise which is given to
an explorer.' Among his distresses and self-mortifications, he
loathed the thought of all such honours, and remembered the
attentions of English society with a snarl. 'When, D.V., I get
home, I do not dine out. My reminiscences of these lands will
not be more pleasant to me than the China ones. What I shall have
done, will be what I have done. Men think giving dinners is
conferring a favour on you... Why not give dinners to those who
need them?' No! His heart was set upon a very different object.
'To each is allotted a distinct work, to each a destined goal; to
some the seat at the right hand or left hand of the Saviour. (It
was not His to give; it was already given-- Matthew xx, 23.
Again,
Judas went to "HIS OWN PLACE"--Acts i, 25.) It is difficult for
the flesh to accept: "Ye are dead, ye have naught to do with the
world". How difficult for anyone to be circumcised from the
world, to be as indifferent to its pleasures, its sorrows, and
its comforts as a corpse is! That is to know the resurrection.'
But the Holy Bible was not his only solace. For now, under the
parching African sun, we catch glimpses, for the first time, of
Gordon's hand stretching out towards stimulants of a more
material quality.
Pages:
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318