Before we set out with the chief on this journey, it will be well to give a few extracts from Livingstone's Journal, showing how unwearied were his efforts to teach the people:
"_Banks of Chobe, Sunday, May 15th_.--Preached twice to about sixty people. Very attentive. It is only divine power which can enlighted dark minds as these.... The people seem to receive ideas on divine subjects slowly. They listen, but never suppose that the truths must become embodied in actual life. They will wait until the chief becomes a Christian, and if he believes, then they refuse to follow,--as was the case among the Bakwains. Procrastination seems as powerful an instrument of deception here as elsewhere."
"_Sunday, 12th June_.--A good and very attentive audience. We introduce entirely new motives, and were these not perfectly adapted for the human mind and heart by their divine Author, we should have no success."
"_Sunday, 19th June_.--A good and attentive audience, but immediately after the service I went to see a sick man, and when I returned toward the Kotla, I found the chief had retired into a hut to drink beer; and, as the custom is, about forty men were standing singing to him, or, in other words, begging beer by that means. A minister who had not seen so much pioneer service as I have done would have been shocked to see so little effect produced by an earnest discourse concerning the future judgment, but time must be given to allow the truth to sink into the dark mind, and produce its effect. The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord--that is enough. We can afford to work in faith, for Omnipotence is pledged to fulfill the promise. The great mountains become a plain before the Almighty arm. The poor Bushman, the most degraded of all Adam's family, shall see his glory, and the dwellers in the wilderness shall bow before Him. The obstacles to the coming of the Kingdom are mighty, but come it will for all that;
"Then let us pray that come it may, As come, it will for a' that, That man to man the world o'er Shall brothers be for a' that.'
"The hard and cold unbelief which distinguished the last century, and which is still aped by would-be philosophers in the present, would sneer at our faith, and call it superstition, enthusiasm, etc. But were we believers in human progress and no more, there must be a glorious future for our world. Our dreams must come true, even though they are no more than dreams. The world is rolling on to the golden age.... Discoveries and Inventions are cumulative. Another century must present a totally different aspect from the present. And when we view the state of the world and its advancing energies, in the light afforded by childlike, or call it childish, faith, we see the earth filling with the knowledge of the glory of God,--ay, all nations seeing his glory and bowing before Him whose right it is to reign. Our work and its fruits are cumulative. We work toward another state of things. Future missionaries will be rewarded by conversions for every sermon. We are their pioneers and helpers. Let them not forget the watchmen of the night--us, who worked when all was gloom, and no evidence of success in the way of conversion cheered our paths. They will doubtless have more light than we, but we served our Master earnestly, and proclaimed the same gospel as they will do."
Of the services which Livingstone held with the people, we have the following picture;
"When I stand up, all the women and children draw near, and, having ordered silence, I explain the plan of salvation, the goodness of God in sending his Son to die, the confirmation of his mission by miracles, the last judgment or future state, the evil of sin, God's commands respecting it, etc.; always choosing one subject only for an address, and taking care to make it short and plain, and applicable to them. This address is listened to with great attention by most of the audience. A short prayer concludes the service, all kneeling down, and remaining so till told to rise. At first we have to enjoin on the women who have children to remain sitting, for when they kneel, they squeeze their children, and a simultaneous skirl is set up by the whole troop of youngsters, who make the prayer inaudible."