I cared for the money or the
honours to come from it. I think, however, my main idea was the
Quixotic one--to help the Khedive, mixed with the feeling that I
could, with God's direction, accomplish this work.

"... There is death in the seeking of high posts on this earth
for the purpose of what the world calls doing great things;
the mightiest of men are flies on a wheel; a kind word to a
crossing-sweeper delights Christ _in him_, as much as it would
delight Christ _in_ a queen."

He was conscious, too, of a natural tendency to judge his neighbours.
Like many reformers, he had a critical nature, and often found himself
led into temptation through it. He never screened this failing, and did
his utmost to fight against it. There are several extracts from his
letters on this besetting sin. Witness these two:--

"What troubles me immensely is the way in which circumstances force
me into society, for in it is the great evil of judging others,
picking them to pieces behind their backs, so entirely mean and
contrary to our Lord's will. All this tends to make a cloud between
Him and us; and yet I declare I cannot see how I can avoid it."

"This is one great reason why I never desire to enter social life,
for there is very great difficulty in knowing people and not
discussing others."

Considering how thorough Gordon himself was, and how intensely he hated
shams of every kind, it is not surprising to find that, with his
naturally critical temperament, he used most relentlessly to expose the
unreality of many who, acknowledging the truth of Christianity,
practically denied its power.

"As a rule, Christians are really more inconsistent than
'worldlings.' They talk truths, and do not act on them. They allow
that 'God is the God of the widows and orphans,' yet they look in
trouble to the gods of silver and gold: either He can help
altogether, or not at all. He will not be served in conjunction
with idols of any sort....

"How unlike in acts are most of so-called Christians to their
Founder! You see in them no resemblance to Him. Hard, proud,
'holier than thou,' is their uniform. _They have the truth_,
no one else, it is _their_ monopoly."

But though he avoided Christians of this type, he had a great yearning
for the society of those who were real, and had more sympathy with the
weaknesses of those who were true, in s