The end of 1995 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of one of Scotland's greatest missionaries, Robert Moffat. Although less famous than his son-in-law, David Livingstone, Moffat was also a remarkable man.
His story has all the ingredients of the classic Victorian missionary saga: wild animals and even wilder tribes, exotic customs and bizarre costumes, daring expeditions into the interior, and above all, an indomitable missionary sustained by his trust in an Almighty God.
Gardener
This was all far removed from the simple realities of Moffat's early life. Born in Ormiston, near Edinburgh, he trained as a gardener and in 1813 secured a job in Cheshire. Alone and far from home, he joined a local Methodist Society and devoted his spare time to reading the Scriptures. Lacking assurance of salvation, it finally came to him 'while poring over the Epistle to the Romans...I felt that, being justified by faith, I had peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ.' This conversion experience produced in Moffat an intense desire to share the Gospel with those who had never heard. Although he had little formal education, he was accepted by the London Missionary Society, and in late 1816 he set sail for South Africa.
