religious enthusiast, and as a religious enthusiast he must be judged.
To us who read his story from a distance, who breathe an atmosphere
totally different from his, and whose lives are governed by quite other
passions and ideals, he may often appear one-sided, extravagant,
deficient in tact and forethought, and, in the excess of his zeal, too
ready to sacrifice everything to the purposes he never for an instant
allowed to drop out of his sight. We may even, with some of his critics,
protest that he was not a man of powerful intellect; that his views of
people and things were distressingly narrow; that, after his kind, he
was extremely superstitious; that he was despotic in his dealings with
his converts, and stiffnecked in his relations with the civil and
military authorities. For all this is doubtless true. But all this must
not prevent us from seeing him as he actually was - charitable,
large-hearted, energetic, indomitable; in all respects a remarkable, in
many ways, a really wise and great man. At whatever points he may fall
short of our criteria, this much must be said of him, that he was fired
throughout with the high spirit of his vocation, that he was punctual in
the performance of duty as he understood it, that he was obedient to the
most rigorous dictates of that Gospel which he had set himself to
preach. In absolute, single-hearted, unflinching, and tireless devotion
to the task of his life - the salvation of heathen souls - he spent
himself freely and cheerfully, a true follower of that noblest and most
engaging of the mediaeval saints, whose law he had laid upon himself,
and whom he looked up to as his guide and examplar. Let us place him
where he belongs - among the transcendent apostolic figures of his own
church; for thus alone shall we do justice to his personality, his
objects, his career. The memory of such a man will survive all changes
in creeds and ideals; and the great state, of which he was the first
pioneer, will do honour to herself in honouring him.