He
had very strong views of the spirituality of the Church of Christ, and
the need of a profound spiritual change as the only true basis of
Christian life and character. He thought that the Presbyterian Churches
were too lax in their communion, and particularly the Established
Church. He was at this time a decided Voluntary, chiefly on the ground
maintained by such men as Vinet, that the connection of Church and State
was hurtful to the spirituality of the Church; and he had a particular
abhorrence of what he called "geographical Christianity,"--which gave
every man within a certain area a right to the sacraments. We shall see
that in his later years Dr. Livingstone saw reason to modify some of
these opinions; surveying the Evangelical Churches from the heart of
Africa, he came to think that, established or non-established, they did
not differ so very much from each other, and that there was much good
and considerable evil in them all.
In his application to the London Missionary Society, Livingstone stated
his ideas of missionary work in comprehensive terms: "The missionary's
object is to endeavor by every means in his power to make known the
gospel by preaching, exhortation, conversation, instruction of the
young; improving, so far as in his power, the temporal condition of
those among whom he labors, by introducing the arts and sciences of
civilization, and doing everything to commend Christianity to their
hearts and consciences.
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