President, Admiral Smythe, to whose judgment and kindness I am in this and other matters deeply indebted. It was pronounced by Mr Maclear to equal most chronometers in performance. For these excellent instruments I have much pleasure in recording my obligations to my good friend Colonel Steele, and at the same time to Mr Maclear for much of my ability to use them. Besides these, I had a thermometer by Dollond; a compass from the Cape Observatory, and a small pocket one in addition; a good small telescope with a stand capable of being screwed into a tree'."

work of a

Is the reader This is not an easy question to answer: fitted for the and a reply to it must always be given prayerChristian Mis- fully. It applies to both sexes, and to many sionary to the persons; but is meant more especially to refer Heathen? to Christian Ministers. Not only does it require earnest prayer, but also rigid self-examination.

The great missionary model is St Paul. His life can be found and studied in the New Testament; and the permanence of his work testifies of its excellency at this day.

The Natural qualifications of the Christian Missionary. -Dr Livingstone has already told us of some of these, such as good temper, and lightsomeness of temperament in easily throwing off or overbearing depressing influences. A sound mind in a sound body, independence of character, strength of judgment, and aptitude both to learn and to teach are of great consequence. An ability to acquire and retain languages; tact in managing others, so as to conciliate diverse dispositions, and yet to retain proper dignity and self-respect, are of great importance. There should also be an intrepid spirit of enterprise, decision, and cool courage to meet sudden emergencies, and to overcome dangers, gentleness, powers of endurance, and temperance. We may rightly conclude, with our traveller, that some

1 Travels, pp. 230-231,

degree of enthusiasm is necessary vigorously to carry on any difficult and important cause.

Good preaching and the power of speaking are indispensable. It is to be remembered that many savages, especially North American Indians, and central Africans, are eloquent speakers, and hence in a controversy, would have the advantage of a bad speaker.

Dr Livingstone has put the case truly, when he says that we want our best, most able, and greatest men to do the highest and most important of all work, the making Christ's Gospel known where it has not been hitherto heard. Paul was a great man before he became a missionary. He was a man of mighty spirit and capacious soul, a good scholar, and in high repute among his own nation. His missionary character made him a greater man still; it did not demean him. Many of the greatest men in the early Church were missionaries; and some were men of affluence. We mean great in moral and spiritual goodness and grandeur of character, as well as noble in intellect. Not many learned, not many wise, not many noble, not many rich, now carry the standard of the Prince of Peace into the enemy's country of heathen darkness. The time will arrive when the Lord's service and badge will become the most honourable and the most desired of all. The army and navy, in every land, can find their willing warriors in abundance, to go to the ends of the earth, and brave death unquailingly, while mammon sends forth her worshippers in shoals; not so the church of Christ: her soldiers hang back. How long shall this be?

Many of the natural qualifications needed by missionaries when actually engaged in their work, are centred in the character of our great missionary traveller. With reference to these the Bishop of Oxford eloquently observes; "Truly it does need the combination of different men and different faculties before any such vast undertaking as this can be

addressed to him the following questions, stating that he wished to print them herein together with his reply.

These questions are:

1st. What natural qualifications of mind and body do you consider to be the best adapted for the successful missionary in South Africa?

2nd. What training and attainments are, in your judg ment, the most conducive to the formation of the same character?

3rd. What equipment, speaking generally, as to clothing, library, scientific and other instruments, &c. is the best to provide for such a missionary?

Dr Livingstone's answer is as follows.

MY DEAR SIR,

12, Kensington Palace Gardens, 1st January, 1858. The time which I have now at my disposal is so extremely limited that I cannot answer your questions otherwise than in the most cursory manner.

1st, Different departments of missionary labour require different accomplishments; but robust health and a good flow of animal spirits are necessary in all cases. A man who is troubled with infirm health, and given to melancholy, had better stay at home and get some kind soul of a wife to nurse him. In this, as in most matters, we must lean to common sense.

Queries 2 and 3 may be answered by my saying that mental discipline is essentially necessary: and I think that a study of the physical sciences is a better preparation than that of the dead languages.

A medical education embraces so wide a range that I always feel unfeignedly thankful for having gone through that curriculum.

It is a mistake to suppose that any pious man may do for a missionary. One of the founders of the London

Missionary Society thought that "a good man who could read his Bible, and make a wheelbarrow," was abundantly qualified. This was a great mistake. Missionaries ought to be highly qualified in every respect. Good education, good sense, and good temper are indispensable. If Christians send out poor ignorant agents, they act on the penny wise and pound foolish plan.

Some think that if a man is an acceptable preacher at home, he ought to stay there. I believe that if a man has ability to gather a congregation here, he would in all probability be successful in the mission-field. But it is these energetic enterprising men who are needed most abroad, and it may be questioned whether the foreign is not the most important field. We have the honour of entering on a work which will never end. We look back to the Reformers before the Reformation with more reverence than we feel to the thousands who have entered into their labours. The Apostle had a noble ambition to preach the Gospel beyond other men's line of things made ready to his hands. "They that be wise shall shine as the sun, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever."

I am sorry that I cannot enter more carefully into the subject, but time presses.

The books came safely to hand; please present my grateful acknowledgements to the kind donors of them.

I look back to my visit to Cambridge as one of the most pleasant episodes of my life. I shall always revert with feelings of delight to the short intercourse I enjoyed with such noble Christian men as Sedgwick, Whewell, Selwyn, &c. &c., as not the least important privilege conferred on me by my visit to England. It is something inspiriting to remember that the eyes of such men are upon one's course. May blessings rest upon them all, and on the seat of learning which they adorn!

becomes known throughout the tribe; and while one unacquainted with the language may imagine a peccadillo to be hidden, it is as patent to all as it would be in London, had he a placard on his back'."

In fact, sobriety, uprightness, good faith, purity and a manifestation of the fruits of the Spirit in general, are as much needed to solidify and enforce spiritual gifts among the heathen, as among ourselves.

For a digest of the spiritual qualifications needed by the Christian missionary, we must turn to the Scriptures. Such a man must be a man of prayer, of earnest zeal, of childlike faith, of deep humility, and of constant love for his Master and His cause. His work will conform him more and more to that Master's image. Like the Apostles at first his gifts may be few, but at the last they will multiply and grow: and like them he will look less and less to the kingdom which is of this world, and more and more to that which is of the world to come.

The attainments best suited for the Christian Missionary. —The man of high intellect as well as high attainment is the best man for the work, provided that his other qualifications are suitable. Still he must possess common as well as uncommon sense. The great matter is for certain qualifications and attainments to be applied to kindred work. Linguistic to translation, practical to every-day life, administrative to organization and the like. Martyn, unravelling the Hindoo and Mahommedan subtleties, and Judson battling the Pantheistic creeds of Burmah, were men with qualifications for their work. So was Brainerd amid the primeval forests of America; and so are numbers of our Colonial Bishops and foreign missionaries. Especially so are Moffat and Livingstone in Africa. Yet how different are the attainments and qualifications of these several men. But each one in his place.

1 Travels, p. 513.