I do not believe in man's free-will, and therefore
believe all things are from God and preordained. Such being the case,
the judgments or decisions I give are fixed to be thus or thus, whether
I have exactly hit off all the circumstances or not. This is my raft,
and on it I manage to float along, thanks to God, more or less
successfully. I do not pretend my belief could commend itself to any
wisdom or science, or in fact anything; but as I have said elsewhere,
a bag of rice jolting along these roads could, if it had the gift of
speech, and if it were God's will, do as well as I do. You may not
agree with me. Keep your own belief. I get my elixir from mine--viz.
that with these views I am comfortable, whether I am a failure or not,
and can disregard the world's summary of what I do, or of what I do
not do.
"Yours sincerely,
"C. G. GORDON."
"DARA, July 18, 1877.
"MY DEAR BURTON,
"I have got round to Dara _via_ Toashia, and hope in four or five days
to get to Tascher. The _soi-disant_ Sultan Haroun is said to have left
Tamee. The people are very good. The Fors, or original natives of the
land, are the only people partially in revolt. Dar For is the land of
Fors, as Dar Fertit is the land of the Fertits. You would find much to
interest you here, for the Ulemas are well-read people, and know the old
history.
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