With You Always

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 3, 1911

WHEN David Livingstone returned to Scotland, after an absence of sixteen years in Africa, the University of Glasgow desired to honor him by conferring on him the degree of Doctor of Laws. On such occasions, candidates for honorary degrees usually expected an embarrassing reception at the hands of the young collegians, who were present in full force, bubbling over with boyish fun. But when Mr. Livingstone appeared on the platform, they received him with silent respect and reverence. He was gaunt and weary from exposure to sixteen years of African sun and twenty-seven attacks of African fever; one arm, having been injured by the bite of a lion, hung useless by his side.

There stood a real hero, who had fought many a battle for humanity, and whose presence inspired a feeling of awe in the minds of all present. He told them he was going back to Africa, partly to open new fields for British commerce, partly to suppress the African slave-trade, and partly to open the way for the preaching of the gospel. But the sentiment that stirred all hearts most was this: “Shall I tell you what supported me through all the years of exile among people whose language I could not understand, and whose attitude toward me was always uncertain and often hostile? It was this, ‘Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.’”—Gospel News.

To know God and make him known is our business here.—Thoburn.