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Title: John G. Paton, missionary to the New Hebrides, volume 3 (of 3)
An autobiography, with a historical note and an account of the Progress of the Gospel in the New Hebrides
Author: John Gibson Paton
Editor: James Paton
Release date: December 30, 2024 [eBook #74994]
Language: English
Original publication: New York: Flemming H. Revell Company
Credits: Richard Tonsing, Brian Wilson, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOHN G. PATON, MISSIONARY TO THE NEW HEBRIDES, VOLUME 3 (OF 3) ***
[Illustration: Æt. 70.]
JOHN G. PATON
Missionary to the New Hebrides
An Autobiography Edited
by His Brother
VOLUME III.
With a Historical Note and an Account of the Progress of the Gospel in
the New Hebrides
_Illustrated_
[Illustration: [Logo]]
NEW YORK CHICAGO TORONTO
Fleming H. Revell Company
Publishers of Evangelical Literature
Copyright, 1898
BY
FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY
EDITOR’S PREFACE.
The Autobiography of my brother, Dr. John G. Paton has now, at my urgent
entreaty, been continued by him, and carried on to the present year.
It tells the Story of the Life during the twelve years that have elapsed
since Part First and Part Second were completed by the Author, and
separately given to the world.
The following words from the _Preface_ to an early Edition of the
Autobiography are equally applicable to present circumstances:—“The
Public hailed it from the first with a welcome so uncommon, and God has
in many ways so signally owned and blessed it, that it would be no
modesty, but sheer stupidity, on my part, to fail in recognizing that it
has been voted a Missionary Classic by the great and free Community of
Readers. I have therefore spared no pains in making it as perfect as it
is in my power to do, with the help of many minute corrections from
friends here and abroad, and also happy suggestions as to matters of
detail from the honored Missionary himself.”
In the original _Preface_ when the book was first published in 1889, I
said: “The Manuscript of this Volume, put together in a rough draft amid
ceaseless and exacting toils, was placed in my hands and left absolutely
to my disposal by my beloved brother, the Missionary. It has been to me
a labor of perfect love to re-write and revise the same, pruning here
and expanding there, and, preparing the whole for the press. In the
incidents of personal experience, constituting the larger part of the
book, the reader peruses in an almost unaltered form the graphic and
simple narrative as it came from my brother’s pen. But, as many sections
have been re-cast and largely modified, especially in those Chapters of
whose events I was myself an eyewitness, or regarding which I had
information at first hand from the parties concerned therein,—and as
circumstances make it impossible to submit these in their present shape
to my brother before publication,—I must request the Public to lay upon
me, and not on him, all responsibility for the final shape in which the
Autobiography appears. I publish it because Something tells me there is
a blessing in it.”
That belief was abundantly justified. The book has had a great
circulation, not only in Great Britain, but also in America, and in the
Colonies; and it has been translated, in whole or in part, into many
Modern Languages.
JAMES PATON.
GLASGOW, _February, 1898_.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
_ROUND THE WORLD FOR JESUS._
PAGE
From 1886 to 1892 23
Tour Round the World 24
Fire-Arms and Intoxicants 25
International Prohibition Proposed 25
Deputies to America 27
Samoan Converts 28
America and Hawaii 29
San Francisco 30
Salt Lake City 31
Chicago 32
Niagara 33
Pan-Presbyterian Council at Toronto 34
The Ruthven Imposture 35
Sabbath Observance 39
Rochester 40
New York 40
Public Petitions 41
Washington 41
The Presbyterian Assembly 42
President Cleveland 43
France’s Withdrawal 43
Dr. Joseph Cook 44
Dr. Blank 45
Second Probation 47
Chicago Exhibition 47
Canadian Presbyterian Church 50
Two Months’ Rush of Meetings 51
Incidents of Travel 53
Impressions of Canada and the States 59
CHAPTER II.
_THE HOME-LANDS AND THE ISLANDS._
Arrival in Great Britain 63
Requisitions 64
Professors and Students 67
_Dayspring_ Scheme 67
Ten Years’ Delay 67
Gideon’s Fleece Experiment 74
Two memorable Checks 75
The “John G. Paton Mission Fund” 77
The _Dayspring_ Disaster 85
Mission Work on all the Islands 91
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
JOHN G. PATON, æt. 70 _Frontispiece._
WILLIAMS RIVER, ERROMANGA _To face p._ 14
MEMBERS OF THE NEW HEBRIDES MISSION SYNOD, 1898 „ 28
HEATHEN NATIVES OF AMBRIM
MEMORIALS OF THE DEAD, AMBRIM „ 58
A HEATHEN CHIEF OF FUTUNA
EPETENETO „ 96
For the use of all the above illustrations, save the first, our
acknowledgments are due to “The Missionary Review of the World.”
Historical Note.
Balboa, governor of Santa Maria, discovered the Southern Ocean in 1513,
named it the South Sea, and took possession in the name of the king of
Spain. Six years later Magellan sailed through a large portion of it,
and called it the Pacific Ocean. In 1569 Mendana discovered and named
the Solomon group, and in 1595 the Queen Charlotte group. The New
Hebrides were discovered in 1606 by Quiros, who thought he had
discovered a great southern continent, and called it the Land of the
Holy Spirit. He anchored in port Philip Santo, and tried to establish a
city (New Jerusalem) on the bank of the large river Yor, which runs into
the bay. But the Spaniards quarrelled with the natives and left it.
Quiros sailed to Mexico, but Torres, the senior officer in command,
sailed west, discovered and passed through Torres Straits, which bear
his name, between Queensland and New Guinea. Boginville discovered that
it was not a continent, but a group of islands, that Quiros had
discovered, and he named them the Great Cyclades. Bent on discovering
new lands, about that period many eminent navigators sailed in the South
Sea, but we hear nothing more of the New Hebrides till, in 1767, the
famous Captain Cook sailed on his first voyage to observe the transit of
Venus at Tahiti. In 1773 Captain Cook returned, and sailed twice through
the group, spending forty-six days in exploring and describing every
island and the natives with an accuracy scarcely yet surpassed.
Believing he had discovered the most westerly group in the South Sea, he
gave it its present name, the New Hebrides; but 200 miles southwest he
afterward discovered another large island, and called it New Caledonia.
He took possession of it in the name of his sovereign, King George the
Third; but in 1854, when Britain was engaged in the Crimean war, France
took possession of it, and turned it into a large convict station at the
door of Australia, to which, by escaped convicts, it is a source of
danger and pollution.—J. G. P.
The Gospel in the New Hebrides.[1]
BY REV. JOHN G. PATON, D. D.
Footnote 1:
_From “The Missionary Review of the World.”_
Geographers have arranged the South Sea islands under three divisions:
Polynesia, the many eastern islands between 180 degrees and South
America; Melanesia, the black islands, from the dark-brown color of
their inhabitants—they include Fiji and all the islands west, with New
Guinea; Micronesia, all the small islands north of the line from Hawaii
on the east to China on the west. The South Sea islands are inhabited by
only two races, the Malay Polynesian and the Papuan. The Malays appear
to be of Asiatic origin, and are the superior race, with well-developed,
powerful persons, yellow in color, and with straight, glossy, black
hair. The Papuans are so called from Papua, or New Guinea. They occupy
the western islands, and are not generally so tall and handsome in
person as the Malays. They are of a dark-brown color, with dark, curly
hair of different shades, and appear to be allied to the negro; but have
plump, pleasant features, unlike the negro and the aborigines of
Australia. The Malays all speak one language, with dialectic
differences, all musical and liquid, like the Italian. Every word ends
in a vowel. The Papuans speak a different language on almost every
island, or dialects differing, so that the natives of one island cannot
understand those of another; and on some islands two or even three
dialects are spoken on the same island, so different that the
inhabitants of the one district cannot understand those of the other.
Nearly the whole, if not the whole, population of the South Sea islands
were cannibals, in a state of nudity, when missionary work was begun on
them, yet even there, by God’s blessing, almost every society and church
engaged in the work has been used and honored in the conversion of many
thousands, and now each is working on an independent portion of New
Guinea for the salvation of its natives, and with encouraging success.
The New Hebrides consist of about thirty inhabited islands, with many
small ones adjoining. The group lies south-southeast and
north-northwest, extending over 400 miles of ocean, between 21 degrees
and 15 degrees south latitude, and 171 degrees and 166 degrees east
longitude. The Solomon group, which is the centre of the Church of
England’s mission, is about 200 miles northwest from the New Hebrides.
New Caledonia is about 200 miles southwest, Fiji about 400 miles,
Auckland about 1,000, and Sydney, Australia, 1,400 miles distant from
our group. In her first charter to New Zealand, Britain included the New
Hebrides, but, apparently by some mistake, they were afterward left out.
Yet, except to New Zealand and Australia, the group is of little
commercial value to any other country, on account of the great distances
of all others from it.
As the natives have got nearly all the blessings of Christianity and
civilization which they possess from British missionaries and subjects,
they unanimously plead for British annexation and protection, while,
from their oppressive cruelty to the natives, and suppression of
Protestant schools and mission work on the Loyalty group and on other
groups annexed, they fear and hate the French. There are other cogent
reasons, for the French Senate passed a resolution “to send 100,000 of
France’s lowest criminals to the New Hebrides, as freed men and women,
to live as they could and go where they would, on the one condition that
they do not return to France.” Against this Australasia and Britain
protested so decidedly that the scheme was not carried out; but the
resolution to deport them was renewed, and for the present the
destination is kept secret. The French have recently been sending Roman
Catholic priests to the New Hebrides, apparently as political agents. A
few months ago the heathen natives of one of our islands eagerly desired
a Protestant missionary to settle among them, and give them the teaching
of Jesus and His salvation, and when they were selling our missionaries
a site for the station, two priests gave them much abuse, and told them
of all the fearful calamities which would befall them if they allowed
the Protestant missionaries to land on their island. They also gave the
missionaries much abuse, and at last offered the natives three Sniders
(rifles) and two large, fat hogs for the site, if they would forbid the
Protestant missionaries to settle on the island. Though, above
everything else, the heathen islanders desire Sniders and such fat pigs,
yet they rejected the priests’ offer, and sold the station to our
missionaries. The highest French officials in these colonies have sent a
man-of-war to the spot to investigate this case, and their report proves
that it was correctly stated by us.
In 1839 the famous John Williams and Mr. J. Harris, of the London
Missionary Society, sailed to try and begin mission work on the New
Hebrides, but on landing on Erromanga both were murdered by the savages,
who feasted on their bodies. In 1843 Drs. Turner and Nisbet were by the
London Missionary Society settled on Tanna, but about six months after,
by a passing ship, they had to escape for their lives. After this Samoan
and Raratongan native teachers were again and again placed on the group,
but they were either murdered by the savages, or died in the damp,
unhealthy climate (compared with their own), or in sickness had to be
taken home again. So no effective mission work was done on the group
till in 1848 Dr. John Geddie and in 1852 Dr. John Inglis were landed on
Aneityum, where God spared and used them in bringing 3,500 cannibals on
that island to serve our dear Lord Jesus Christ; and until they had
translated and carried through the press the whole Bible and other books
in their language. For the printing and binding of this Bible the
converted natives paid the noble British and Foreign Bible Society
£1,200 sterling ($6,000), earned by them preparing and selling
arrowroot.
[Illustration:
WILLIAMS RIVER, ERROMANGA.
The point on the shore where natives stand is that on which John
Williams was murdered.
]
In 1857 the Rev. G. N. and Mrs. Gordon were placed on Erromanga, where
Williams lost his life. By them God brought some fourteen young men and
as many young women to renounce heathenism and serve Jesus, but in 1851
the savages one morning tomahawked both to death. Their young converts
wept and wailed over their loss, laid them in the grave, and vowed over
it that they would conquer Erromanga for Jesus, or die, as their
missionaries had died, in the effort. In 1864 the Rev. J. D. Gordon,
going to convert, if possible, the murderers of his brother and his
wife, was placed on Erromanga, and after much successful work, the
heathen there killed him also with the tomahawk in 1872. The Christian
party laid his body in the grave, wept and wailed over it, and renewed
their vow and wrought and prayed till they have, indeed, conquered the
island for Jesus Christ. Now every family there daily sings the praise
of His redeeming love, and tries to serve Him devotedly.
In 1858 the Revs. Joseph Copeland, J. W. and Mrs. Matheson, John G. and
Mrs. Paton, and in 1859 S. F. and Mrs. Johnston were all placed on
Tanna, but soon after Mr. Copeland went to Aneityum. From the first on
Tanna, as on other islands, the native priests gave much opposition to
the missionaries’ teaching. This priesthood is powerful and profess to
have and, by sorcery, to exercise all the powers of God. After the
murder of the Gordons, a Tanna “holy” man, prejudiced by white traders,
clubbed an Aneityum chief, a native teacher, and he died soon after,
rejoicing in Jesus Christ. Also from the effects of a savage attack upon
my life and his, Mr. Johnston never rallied, but died soon after, having
been only about four months on the island. In 1862, after much
suffering, bereavement, and many attempts upon our lives, and the loss
of all earthly property, except our pocket Bibles, Mr. and Mrs.
Matheson, the teachers, and I escaped by a passing ship. After reaching
Aneityum Mrs. Matheson died in March and Mr. Matheson in June of that
year. I left for Australia to get, if possible, more missionaries and a
mission ship for our mission. There the Lord, by His people, gave me
£5,000. The new _Dayspring_ was bought with £3,000 of it, and the
remaining £2,000 sent and supported more missionaries. Since that time
island after island has been occupied, and the Lord has prospered our
work, till we have now the large staff of 26 earnest, educated
missionaries, 5 of them medical men and 5 lay helpers, besides about 300
native teachers, all educated by our own missionaries for their work. In
the mission we have a teachers’ training institution, with 46 students,
under the care of Dr. Annand and his lay teachers, and we have a
hospital under the care of Dr. Lamb and his lay helpers. By our
missionaries the whole Bible has been translated into one language, and
the New Testament into several. The portions of Scripture so translated,
have been printed, and are now read by the natives in over twenty
languages of the group. This is a great work, which makes our mission
laborious and expensive compared with others having only one language to
conquer. Our islanders had no written language when we began the Lord’s
work among them. A number of the translations have been printed by the
British and Foreign Bible Society, but our natives try to pay it for all
it does for them.
As results of the work, our dear Lord Jesus has given our missionaries
about 16,000 converts, and the blessed work is extending among some
40,000 or 50,000 remaining cannibals on the group. In our synod year of
1895–96, 1,120 savages renounced idolatry and embraced the worship and
service of Christ. One missionary baptized 200 out of his communicants’
class of 400, after a long and careful preparatory Scripture training.
We never baptize and teach afterward, but educate and wait till they
give real evidence of consecration to Jesus Christ, and then, at their
desire, baptize, and continue teaching them to observe in their life and
conduct all things Jesus has commanded. Hence, we have only about 2,500
communicants, though 10,000 attend our day and Sabbath schools. All of
our converts attend church regularly. In 1896 they contributed about
£900, and last year over £1,300 by money and arrowroot, and a number of
the islands now support their own native teachers. Yet they have no
money but what they get by selling pigs, fowls, cocoanuts, and copra to
passing ships. God has given four of our present missionaries each from
1,700 to 2,000 converts; and at all our more recently occupied stations
the work is very encouraging, and enjoys the divine blessing. Our chief
concern at present is how we are to get money to keep our large staff
going on, but we trust in Jesus to provide all as it is needed.
Never since Jesus Christ gave the great commission, have so many of His
servants been proclaiming the blessed Gospel, and never before in
heathen lands has it shown more vitality and power in its grand results.
Yet what large portions of the world are yet in heathen darkness! Oh,
for a new Pentecostal baptism of the Holy Spirit to all branches of the
Church, to lead her to try to “preach the Gospel to every creature,” and
by the Gospel conquer the world for Jesus Christ. A small book, showing
the extension and glorious fruits of Christian Protestant missions
during the last half century would do much to silence the infidel and
the enemies of Protestant missions to the heathen, enlighten the
indifferent, and draw forth the united praise and prayers, and increased
money support, and personal, zealous coöperation of Christians in all
lands, so to conquer the world for Jesus Christ by His own appointed
means. It would show that the Gospel is not only the power of God unto
salvation to every one who believes, high and low, of every color and of
every country, but that, wherever found, it is the only real and lasting
civilizer of man. Had Britain felt her responsibility, and improved her
privileges by spending a twentieth part of what her present wars will
cost her to subdue her rebellious subjects, in giving them the Gospel
teaching of Jesus while under her care, it might have prevented those
wars, and saved her the loss of life and treasure and carnage in
subduing her heathen revolted subjects, and the feelings of revenge that
remain and foster in the hearts of the surviving relatives and tribes of
the subdued. Armies may conquer and sweep the oppressed into eternity,
but Christ’s teaching enlightens the mind, influences the heart by
creating it anew, and leads all so brought under its power to feel their
responsibility to our God, the Supreme Judge of all. Thus it lifts them
above heathen superstitions, prejudices, cruelties, and discontent,
filling the heart with gratitude to God for His love and mercy in Jesus
Christ, and so leading them to love their benefactors, and to do to
others as they would have others do to them. Though our New Hebridean
savage cannibals, as they all were when our work began among them, have
lost many thousands of lives, and suffered much oppressive cruelty by
the sandalwood traders and by the shocking Kanaka labor traffic which
followed, yet because of British missionaries so many of them have been
brought to serve Jesus, that now the remaining population all plead for
British annexation and protection. And lately, on a recently occupied
island, where all under the missionaries’ charge were painted savages,
after several acts of kindness by the missionary, the war chief was led
to hear the teaching of Jesus, and to believe in, and serve Him. He was
the first man among some 3,000 or 4,000 to appear at the church and to
wear clothing in public. For some reason his savage warriors wanted him
to go to war, but he refused. His enemies sent a man to conceal himself
by the path and shoot dead one of the chief’s men, being one of their
usual challenges to war, and many now urged him to fight in revenge, but
he said, “I will not fight and shed blood, but leave all revenge to my
Jesus now,” and he preached the Gospel of peace and love to them, and
prayed for them all. His life was threatened, but he also left that to
Jesus. He now teaches a school among his savages, and, following his
example, many have begun to wear clothing and attend school and church.
The chief and twelve others are now candidates in a class for baptism
and churchmembership, and a real work of grace seems to have begun all
around among the savages. Surely the Divine blessing on the same
teaching would produce like blessed results among the heathen subjects
of all nations, and make them happy, industrious, loyal, loving
subjects—a thing which cannot be done by conquering armies.
I.
_ROUND THE WORLD FOR JESUS._
A. D. 1886–1893. ÆT. 62–69.
INTRODUCTORY NOTE.
The Story of my Life, so unexpectedly owned and blessed of God to
multitudes in every Land, closed, when first published in 1889, with
what I then regarded and described as my “Last” Visit to Britain,
1884–1885. It did not for one moment enter my mind, at that time, that
world-wide travels were still before me, in the interests of our beloved
Mission; or that I should ever again be called upon to lift my pen, in
the further telling of my own Biography. So much so, that I then wrote
something in the “farewell” to the reader, hinting not dimly that the
_last_ Chapter of all, yet to be added, would fall to be described by
another hand than mine!
More than ten years have, however, since elapsed, and “by the good hand
of my God upon me for good,” I am still hale and vigorous, rejoicing to
serve my Redeemer by serving those whom He died to save and lives to
bring to Glory. Wherefore, at the earnest and repeated entreaty of my
dear brother, James, but for whom this book never could or would have
been given to the world at all, I resume my pen to add a brief sketch of
the Autumn of my life, that he may set it in order, and bring this
_Autobiography_ up to date. In many respects, I can unfeignedly say that
I would rather bury all in oblivion, or keep it under the eye of my
Saviour alone. But I dare not shrink from the door of Great Opportunity
thus opened before me; and this, also, I humbly lay on the Altar to the
glory of Jesus my Lord.
CHAPTER I.
_ROUND THE WORLD FOR JESUS._
A. D. 1886–1893. ÆT. 62–69.
From 1886 to 1892.—Tour Round the World.—Fire-Arms and
Intoxicants.—International Prohibition Proposed.—Deputies to
America.—Samoan Converts.—America and Hawaii.—San Francisco.—Salt
Lake City.—Chicago.—Niagara.—Pan-Presbyterian Council at
Toronto.—The Ruthven Imposture.—Sabbath Observance.—Rochester.—New
York.—Public Petitions.—Washington.—The Presbyterian
Assembly.—President Cleveland.—France’s Withdrawal.—Dr. Joseph
Cook.—Dr. Blank.—Second Probation.—Chicago Exhibition.—Canadian
Presbyterian Church.—Two months’ Rush of Meetings.—Incidents of
Travel.—Impressions of Canada and the States.
From 1886 till 1892 my days were occupied, in the various Colonies of
Australasia, and in occasional visits to the New Hebrides, practically
in the same way as set forth again and again in the preceding Chapters.
Colony after Colony, and Congregation after Congregation listened with
ever-deepening interest to the narrative of God’s dealings with the
Islanders, and to the record of the effects produced by my relating
these incidents wherever my steps had been led in the interests of
Missionary Enterprise. If I have accomplished nothing else by all these
travels and toils, this at least has been accomplished, and I write it
down to the praise of my blessed Redeemer—there are Missionaries at this
day laboring in every Heathen Land, who have assured me that they first
gave themselves away to the glorious work, while drinking in from my
poor lips the living testimony from the New Hebrides that the Gospel is
still the power of God and the wisdom of God unto Salvation; and there
are individual Christians, and sometimes also Congregations of the Lord,
now zealously supporting Missionaries to the Heathen in all the great
Mission fields of the world, who, till they heard the story of Cannibals
won for Christ by our noble Missionaries on the New Hebrides, had
foolishly branded the modern Christian Mission to the Heathen as the
greatest imposture and failure of the Century. God has filled the ear
and the eye of Christendom with the story of one of the smallest, yet
most fruitful, Missions in one of the hardest and darkest fields on this
Earth; and the whisper of “imposture” has died for shame, while the arm
of the scoffer falls paralyzed, and can no longer sling its stones of
abuse. “Failure” has been blotted from the vocabulary of Missions and
their Critics by the Story of the New Hebrides.
But in 1892, events which had been maturing through many years came to a
crisis, the issue of which was that I was sent a TOUR ROUND THE WORLD in
the Cause of Jesus, and for the sake of our beloved Islanders. A
broadly-drawn picture of these things, without any attempt at details,
seems all that is called for here. This I now set myself to give to the
patient and indulgent reader of these pages, which after all contain
only brief and fragmentary scenes out of a crowded and hurried life.
The occasion was this: The sale of Intoxicants, Opium, Fire-Arms and
Ammunition, by the Traders amongst the New Hebrideans, had become a
terrible and intolerable evil. The lives of many Natives, and of not a
few Europeans, were every year sacrificed in connection therewith, while
the general demoralization produced on all around was painfully
notorious. Alike in the Colonial and in the Home Newspapers, we exposed
and condemned the fearful consequences of allowing such degrading and
destructive agencies to be used as barter in dealing with these
Islanders. It is infinitely sad to see the European and American Trader
following fast in the wake of the Missionary with opium and rum! But,
blessed be God, our Christian Natives have thus far, with very few
exceptions, been able to keep away from the White Man’s Fire-Water, that
maddens and destroys. And not less cruel is it to scatter fire-arms and
ammunition amongst Savages, who are at the same time to be primed with
poisonous rum! This were surely Demons’ work.
To her honor, be it said, that Great Britain prohibited all her own
Traders, under heavy penalties, from bartering those dangerous and
destructive articles in trade with the Natives. She also appealed to the
other trading Nations, in Europe and America, to combine and make the
prohibition “International,” with regard to all the still unannexed
Islands in the Pacific Seas. At first America hesitated, owing to some
notion that it was inconsistent with certain regulations for trading
embraced in the Constitution of the United States. Then France,
temporizing, professed willingness to accept the prohibition when
America agreed. Thus the British Trader, with the Man-of-War and the
High Commissioner ready to enforce the laws against him, found himself
placed at an overwhelming disadvantage, as against the neighboring
Traders of every other Nationality, free to barter as they pleased. More
especially so, when the things prohibited were the very articles which
the masses of the Heathen chiefly coveted in exchange for their produce;
and where keen rivals in business were ever watchful to inform and to
report against him. If illicit Trading prevailed, under such conditions,
no one that knows average Human Nature can feel any surprise.
By-and-bye, the _Australian New Hebrides Company_, with two Steamers
plying betwixt Sidney and the New Hebrides, took up the problem. Having
planted Traders and Agents on the Islands, they found themselves
handicapped in developing business, and began a brisk agitation in the
Australasian and English Press, either to have the Prohibition applied
all round, or completely rescinded. We have never accepted that
alternative, but resolutely plead for an International Prohibitive law,
as the only means under God to prevent the speedy sweeping off into
Eternity of these most interesting Races by the tide of what is
strangely styled Civilization.
At length Sir John Thurston, Her Majesty’s High Commissioner for the
Western Pacific, whose sympathies all through have been on our side,
advised that the controversy in the Newspapers cease, and that our
Missions and Churches send a deputation to America to win the assent of
the United States. Consequently, the next Federal Assembly of the
Australasian Presbyterian Churches instructed two of its Professors in
the Divinity Hall of Victoria, who were then visiting Britain, to return
by America, and do everything in their power to secure the adhesion of
the United States Government to the International proposal. Lest,
however, these Deputies found themselves unable to carry out their
instructions, the same Assembly appointed me as Deputy, with identical
instructions, to undertake the task during the succeeding year.
Meanwhile, the General Assembly of Victoria appointed the Rev. Professor
Rentoul, D. D., Ormond College, the Rev. Jas. M’Gaw and myself, to
represent them at the Pan-Presbyterian Council to be held at Toronto in
September, 1892, and thus was I altogether unexpectedly launched on what
proved to be the biggest of all my Missionary journeys. I received three
several Commissions. But that from my own Church of Victoria, signed by
the Moderator of the General Assembly and the Convener of our Foreign
Mission Committee, bears most closely on the succeeding narrative. It
set forth that, besides being appointed by the Federal Assembly to the
Council at Toronto, I was empowered to use all legitimate influence with
the Government of the United States “for the suppression of the trade in
Fire-Arms, Intoxicating Liquors, and Opium, in the New Hebrides Islands
and other unannexed Groups in the Western Pacific.” I was also
“authorized to procure two Missionaries to serve in the New Hebrides
Islands under this Church,” and to receive, on behalf of the Committee,
“any contributions offered for its Foreign Missions.” So that I acted,
and had good right to act, in the name and by the authority of my own
Church, and of the Federated Churches of Australasia.
With my Fellow-Deputies, and accompanied so far on the journey by my
wife and our beloved daughter, we sailed from Sydney for San Francisco
per s. s. _Monowai_, on 8th August, 1892. We had a very agreeable
voyage, Captain Carey and all on board striving to make others happy. At
Auckland, on the 13th, we had the great delight of spending a few hours
with our very dear friends, Mr. and Mrs. Mackie, while the ship was
discharging and receiving cargo and mails; and, as she was leaving,
several Ministers and other kind friends bade us Godspeed. Again, at
Samoa, on the 18th, we had a few hours to spend, and were immensely
gratified with the appearance of the Natives. They had a bright and
healthy look as they came amongst the passengers with shells,
operculums, and fans, their manner being characterized by a gentle
grace, that comes only with the coming of Christ into a Savage man or
woman. These, and the Raratongans, and the people of Savage Islands,
were amongst the first whom the London Missionary Society saw “flocking
as the doves to their windows,” from the hordes of Cannibalism. They are
tall, vigorous and alert; and many of them are now teachers for Jesus,
and preachers of the Gospel in New Guinea and other Heathen Islands. My
heart overflows with love and praise whenever I gaze on such trophies of
Redeeming Grace.
[Illustration:
MEMBERS OF THE NEW HEBRIDES MISSION SYNOD, 1898.
Rev. John G. Paton, D.D., in the center.
]
We reached Honolulu, the Hawaiian Capital, on the 25th, and spent nearly
a whole day on shore. By a circuitous drive, and on remarkably good
roads, we ascended a considerable hill and beheld the City spread before
us with its Palace, Government Buildings, Mansions and Villas. Large and
beautiful trees surrounded them all. Two Men-of-War and many other ships
swung at anchor in the harbor, and the shimmering Sea completed a
charming panorama. Smart and diligent Chinese were at work on every
hand, side by side with the busy representatives of almost every
Nationality, eager to profit by the passing visitors. The larger portion
of the wharf seemed to be covered with Bananas for San Francisco, the
bunches carefully bound up in dry leaves for shipping. I had never seen
so many in all my life thus gathered together.
The Queen had been deposed or deprived of power. National interests were
sacrificed in self-seeking and partisanship. One could not but sigh for
some strong and righteous Government. They are a people capable of great
things. Everything seems to invite America to annex the group; and it
would be for the permanent welfare of all concerned.
On 2d September, we arrived at San Francisco, after a delightful voyage.
The society on board was most congenial. We had happy daily Religious
Services, and I managed to secure about eight hours to myself out of
every twenty-four for copying out translations, finishing my Dictionary
of the Aniwan language, and other Mission work on which I was constantly
engaged.
San Francisco is beautifully situated. Many of its streets run up and
down what seemed very steep hills, and the principal highways are well
supplied with Electric Cars. Your own language is spoken, indeed, but
you feel at every turn, for all that, you are in a Foreign City. On
Sabbath morning, the first thing I marked on leaving our Hotel was the
joiners busy with saw and plane, as on any other day! The next was a
multitude of people flocking to a place of Public Amusement, while
others were going to Church. The mass of the inhabitants were either in
pursuit of pleasure, or following their usual avocations. Even the City
scavengers turned out with their carts, and were cleaning the streets on
the Lord’s Day!
Yet we soon learned that even there the Lord Jesus has many faithful
servants living and working for His glory. Several Ministers, hearing of
our arrival, found out our Hotel, and had us to assist them in their
Services. I delivered three Addresses, walking considerable distances
between, and refusing to use public conveyances, or deprive man or beast
of rest for my convenience,—to the great astonishment of my guides and
friends.
On Monday morning we visited the famous Seal Rocks, a short distance
from the city. There you see them, under protection, safely wobbling up
on the rocks and basking contentedly in the sunshine, or tumbling
delightedly into the Sea. From a considerable distance you hear the
strange, half-barking sound of their voices, like muzzled dogs. From the
plateau and promenade of a lovely private Garden near by and open to the
public, we had a magnificent view of the Sea and all the surrounding
scenery.
The same day, our whole party were invited to address a meeting of Lady
Workers, who carry on a Mission in the Chinese quarter of the City. A
report was given, and some Converts from the Flowery Land sang hymns to
Jesus. It was joyful to see this spiritual life;—for tokens were not
awanting of a darker and sadder picture all around us, in the dens of
vice and misery.
Guided, but not very wisely, by Cook’s representative, we left San
Francisco on 5th September. Though now travelling night and day, we
halted a few hours at the famous Mormon Settlement on 7th September.
While looking at the grave of Brigham Young, a well-dressed old lady
approached us and volunteered much information about her departed
husband. He was one of the first settlers in the Salt Lake District, and
had taken an active part in the building of the city and the Temple. She
herself was a Mormon, and mourned that their glory was departing under
the influence of the American laws. She was fervent in her defence of
polygamy, but I noted that, with the Mormons as with the South Sea
Savages, a separate house had to be provided for each wife! We saw their
vast Temple, said to accommodate 15,000 persons, with tradesmen toiling
busily to finish it, for the reception of Brigham Young on his speedy
return to this Earth.
Replenishing our provision basket, as it was too expensive to take all
our meals on board the train, our next run was to Chicago, which we
reached on 10th September, and where we rested at a Hotel on the Sabbath
Day. It was a day of tremendous storm and rain and no one of us ventured
out even to Divine Service, especially as no Place of Worship was nigh
at hand. Amongst our fellow-passengers from San Francisco had been a
very kindly Christian man belonging to Chicago. He gave us every
information, and on Monday showed us round the whole City by boat and
car. We saw the Exhibition Buildings, lavishly expensive. The
Horticultural Gardens were extensive and most interesting. In the
Zoological Enclosure we saw a few remaining specimens of the Buffaloes,
which once in myriads roamed the Prairies, but which Civilization has
swept away.
Leaving Chicago, we arrived at Buffalo on the evening of the 13th
September, and returned next day to Niagara, whence by train and
steamboat we were bound for Toronto. We had already had a glimpse of the
Falls, where the train halted for a few minutes at a convenient spot,
and the view was grand! When next I gazed on the spectacle, nigh at
hand, I am afraid almost to admit that I was rather disappointed. Too
transcendent expectations beforehand, I suppose!
I left Mrs. Paton and our daughter at the Falls for a day, whilst I went
on to Toronto to arrange for accommodation. What a blessing that I was
guided to do so! A great Agricultural Show was being held there; and, on
arriving in the evening, I found every Hotel and Lodging so crowded that
I walked till midnight from one end of the City to the other, seeking in
vain for a bed. At last one manager of a Hotel proposed to give me a
“shake-down” in a Common Room, where twenty-two were to sleep that same
night. But the Hotel-Keeper taking pity, and protesting that he could
not allow me to “tumble into that crowded place,” gave me the address of
a private family who took in lodgers, to whom he commended me. With much
difficulty, at that late hour, I found the street and the number. The
owner, on hearing my appeal, said he had already “turned away thirteen,”
and that he had not a corner to receive me. I offered to pay him the
highest charges, “merely to rest in the Hall all night,” rather than to
tramp the streets. Calling his wife, he said: “I have not the heart to
turn this old man away! May he not sleep on the floor of our new empty
Room?” Her answer was: “I have neither bed, nor bedclothes, nor even a
pillow to give him.” But I was glad of the shelter over my head. A chair
was brought in and placed in the middle of the floor. Kneeling, I
thanked the Lord, and my hosts. Then, utterly worn out, I placed my
travelling handbag for a pillow, rolled my clothes tightly round me, lay
down, and enjoyed a most refreshing sleep.
Next morning I found my way to the Presbyterian Church Offices, where a
cordial welcome awaited me, and news of ample accommodation for our
comfort, all generously provided. Several invitations were pressed on
me, but I accepted that of Mrs. Park, who had in the old days been a
member of my Bible-class in the Green Street Mission, Glasgow, and it
was a great joy to meet once more her sister and herself. The attention
of many other friends was also very great, and far too devoted, making
us feel ashamed at the love lavished on us.
At the Pan-Presbyterian Council I met and became acquainted with
representative Ministers and Laymen from all parts of the world, but in
specially large numbers from Canada and the United States. Along with
Fellow-Deputies, I addressed the Assembly on Foreign Missions, and on
the urgent reasons for my present visit to America. A Minister from the
United States at once rose and protested that there must be some
mistake, that it was “an insult to their honor” to insinuate that they
declined to join with Britain in such an International Prohibition! I
repeated my statements, showed my Commission, and affirmed that it was
certainly as I had represented. He telegraphed to the Authorities at
Washington, and next day he courageously stood up in his place and
admitted that he was wrong, and that I had correctly stated the facts.
The action of that good and brave man, once for all, made the issue
plain and cleared my future course.
I was proud of our Professor Rentoul, of Ormond College. He at once took
a leading place in the Council. In wisdom, in vast learning, and in
eloquent debate, he was the equal of the best men from all Presbyterian
Christendom. I envied the Students who sit at the feet of such a noble
Master in the School of Christ.
In response to my appeals, Ministers from Canada and the United States
began informing me how many collections they had given “for the New
Hebrides Mission,” and subscriptions “for building the new Mission
Ship.” I had never heard of these, and inquired to whom they had been
given. They replied that it was my “alternate,” commissioned from the
Presbyterian Church of Victoria! I assured them that my Church appointed
no alternate, and that this person must be an impostor. A Committee was
appointed to look into the matter. The eloquent pleader turned out to be
a Roman Catholic student who had joined the Victorian Church, had been
licensed and ordained as a Minister, had broken down in character, and
disappeared from the Colony. Now, under a false name and forged
credentials, representing himself as a Minister in full and honorable
standing, and a Missionary who had been thirteen years in the New
Hebrides, he was raising large sums of money ostensibly for our Mission,
but applying it all to his own uses. His lectures were cleverly
compounded out of my _Autobiography_, with wild adornments and fancies
of his own. He had Collecting Cards for children and for adults, the
minimum subscription on the latter being half-a-dollar! His New Ship was
to be sheathed in brass, and every subscriber of not less than $5 was to
have his name engraved thereon! One man informed us of giving $25 to
have his Family Register completed on the sheath of brass!
Dr. Rentoul, by appointment, officially exposed and denounced this
impostor on the floor of the Council. But, in these vast countries, a
lie is hard to overtake and to extinguish. Letters continued to reach me
from many quarters, and urgent appeals that I should sanction his
arrest. At one place he drank for a week, after a series of Mission
Meetings. The Ministers of Buffalo at length caused him to be arrested;
and the Public Attorney, founding on his so-called credentials as my
assistant, summoned me to appear before the Grand Jury at his trial. In
a “blizzard,” I travelled two nights and a day—one night the severest
and coldest I ever endured—and reached my destination in time.
Having answered all questions by the Attorney and the Grand Jury, they
asked me to see the prisoner, and testify whether he was the ex-Priest
Riordan, now giving his name as Ruthven. I thereon handed the Attorney a
pamphlet exposing the evils and errors of Popery, being three Lectures
by V. H. Riordan, with his portrait on the front page. They all at once
recognized him by this likeness. Nevertheless, I was enjoined to go and
see him, and report what took place. He was behind an iron-grated door,
and two ladies were conversing with him from without. Addressing him at
once by his name, I said: “It grieves me to see you here in these
circumstances, Mr. Riordan.” Completely off his guard, he at once
answered to his own name, and addressed me by mine: “And I am very
sorry, Dr. Paton, to be here in such circumstances.” This was enough! I
reported what transpired, and the Jury took a hearty laugh at the
simplicity of the interview. I was dismissed for the time.
In answer to the Prosecutor, he explained that when he renounced the
errors of Popery, he assumed his mother’s name for life—Ruthven; yet
there they had his own pamphlet, with his real name, printed in
Philadelphia less than two years before! Being committed for trial
before the Supreme Court, he spent his time of waiting in abusing me
from his cell through the pages of a Sunday newspaper, as “a drunkard”
debauching my Sacred Office, and “a hireling” living by commission on
the moneys raised for the Mission. So madly did he rage, that some
suspected he was put up to do so, in order that his agent might work up
a plea of insanity, if the case at last went against him.
At his trial, which occupied the greater part of three days, I was again
cited to appear. The Jury found him “guilty,” but strangely enough
recommended him to mercy, and his lawyer pled for a money fine as the
penalty. The Judge sternly refused. He had been found guilty in every
count. His sentence would be “twelve months in prison with hard labor.”
That was “extreme leniency.” It should have been “three years.”
One would have thought that this should have extinguished him. But no!
His imprisonment has expired. He is again at his lecturing and lying.
Quite lately I saw a report of his appearing at a place called Dunmore.
The Romanists mobbed him. In reply to their eggs and snowballs he fired
a pistol into the crowd. The cry then rose, “Lynch the Renegade!”
Ruthven, bounding through an open door, scaling fences, and crossing
lots, managed to escape. But a warrant was at once issued for his
apprehension, and doubtless he is proving the truth of one text, which
he has listened to in vain: “The way of transgressors is hard.”
During the Pan-Presbyterian Council, I addressed many meetings in the
churches of Toronto and its suburbs, receiving, on one occasion, by the
kindness of Dr. Parsons, a collection of two hundred dollars for our
Mission. And, by the urgent request of many Ministers, I spent a
considerable time after the Council in visiting the chief towns of
Ontario, where I was cordially received everywhere, and had very great
pleasure throughout the whole circuit.
Never, since I left the Christian Islands on the New Hebrides, such as
Aniwa and Aneityum, have I seen the Sabbath Day kept so well, and the
Churches so largely attended, as at Toronto and in the chief towns of
Ontario. In that Capital, the Public-Houses are closed from seven
o’clock on Saturday night till eight o’clock on Monday morning. No
confectioners, tobacconists, fruiterers, or the like, are open on the
Lord’s Day. The street Electric Car, and the Omnibus are at rest. All
workmen are enjoying their Sabbath privilege, like other Citizens. And
all this is carried through by the will of the People themselves, and by
the vigilance and influence of the servants of God. Surely, men of
Christian principle, of grit, and of public spirit, could, by keeping
their hand on the helm, secure in the same way the blessed Day of Rest
for all, in every City throughout the Christian World.
By cordial invitations from many men of the highest rank in the Church
of God throughout the States, I was pressed to occupy their Pulpits, and
tell the story of our Mission to the Cannibals of the New Hebrides. They
also formed a Committee of their own number to advise and help me in
promoting the prohibition against trading with the Natives in
Intoxicants and Fire-Arms. And the great-hearted Dr. John Hall, in order
to give me a good start in New York, offered me his Pulpit for my first
Sabbath there.
On the way, I had promised to spend an afternoon and evening at
Rochester, with the Rev. Principal Osgood of the Baptist College. An
extraordinary spirit of consecration seemed to rest on Professors and
Students alike. My heart was overflowing with joy, to think of the type
of Ministers and Missionaries certain to go forth from such a Home of
Piety and of Learning.
Never can I express how much I owe to the genuine and brotherly
friendship of Dr. Sommerville of New York, and his devoted lady. Not
simply did they make their House my very Home, whensoever I chose to
return to it, but they heaped on me every token of consideration and of
helpful sympathy. Amidst his many cares, as a Minister of the
Covenanting Church, and his literary labors, as Editor of the _Herald of
Mission News_, he became Honorary Treasurer for me in the States, and
according to his utmost ability opened up all my way, and helped me at
every turn. They are forever my dearly beloved friends in the bonds of
Jesus Christ.
After my first two Sabbaths in New York, one in Dr. John Hall’s Church,
and one in Dr. Sommerville’s, I had no difficulty in arranging for as
much work, Sunday and Saturday alike, as my strength could overtake. One
lady, who heard me in Dr. Hall’s, sent me one thousand dollars, as from
“Elizabeth Jane.” In addressing the Chamber of Commerce, the Doctor
himself announced clearly the special object of my visit to America, and
described the features of our Mission. This, being fully reported in the
Public Press, woke a widespread interest, and invitations poured in upon
me from all branches of the Church, excepting only the Romish and the
Unitarian.
The way to Washington, and to influence with the Governing Authorities,
was prepared for me thus. Being a stranger and only a poor Missionary, I
asked every Public Meeting, held on any day except Sabbath, to forward a
Petition to the President and the Congress, signed by the Chairman, in
favor of the Prohibition of Intoxicants and Fire-Arms, as barter by
American Traders on the New Hebrides, or other unannexed Islands in the
Pacific. The Daily Press reported all these Petitions. The Public became
thoroughly interested. And even the Authorities were expecting my appeal
in person. Nay, I cannot but regard it as of the Lord that my first
Sabbath in Washington happened to be in the pulpit of Dr. Bartlet, where
I, altogether unknown to myself, was pleading the cause before the Chief
Secretary of the Government. He sent me fifty dollars for the Mission,
invited me to lunch with his family, and gave me ample opportunity, by
answers to many questions, to state all the case, and to deepen all
round the growing interest in our Mission.
On the forenoon of the following Sabbath, I occupied the pulpit of Dr.
Hamlin, and the President of the United States heard my story and
appeal. Many Senators and Members of Congress, having matters thus
rehearsed, were able to weigh the question carefully, before I made my
official statement at all. The President declared himself quite frankly
to be deeply interested, and willing to expedite in every possible way
the negotiations with Britain. It emerged that in the British reply
there was a new clause, empowering one of the contracting parties to
license Traders, under certain circumstances, to sell Intoxicating
Drinks. The President struck his pen through that clause, and at once
returned it, insisting on its excision. Had Britain agreed to this,
President Harrison would then have signed the Treaty. But, alas, week
after week elapsed, and no reply came. A new Election took effect, and
President Cleveland was installed at the White House.
My Advisory Committee in America now insisted that I must wait till the
new Government’s arrangements were all completed, and once more press my
appeal. I resumed my work of addressing Public Meetings every week day,
and Congregations every Sabbath Day, always sending, from the former,
Petitions to the President and Congress regarding the proposed
Prohibition on the Islands. I had also private interviews with many
leading Politicians. To all I pointed out that, as America was now
united with Britain in the Dual Protectorate of Fiji, we only sought the
extension of prohibition on that Group to the Group of the New Hebrides.
Constantly engaged in these Mission interests, I planned my second visit
to Washington to take place at the same time as the General Assembly of
the Presbyterian Church of the United States. I had the honor to address
it on Foreign Missions, and to preach before a number of Congregations
during its sittings, for a very deep interest was manifested in the
wondrous workings of God on the New Hebrides.
I was introduced to the new President, when the General Assembly went in
procession to do him honor. Both he and Mrs. Cleveland welcomed me to
America, and, a few days after, they invited me to lunch at the White
House, privately, that they might question me freely regarding the
Islanders and our work. They both seemed to me to be genuine followers
of the Saviour, and sincerely interested in the salvation of the Heathen
World.
The Presbyterian Assembly thereafter appointed a large Deputation of its
leading men to accompany me in laying officially before the Government
our grievance regarding Fire-Arms and Intoxicants, and pleading that the
United States should unite with Britain in the Prohibition of all
trading with Natives in the same. In order to save time, and secure
lucidity, Professor Hodge carefully prepared and read our statement. The
President expressed himself as deeply interested, and requested the
document to be left with him for reference. We anxiously awaited the
result; but the final reply from Britain was still delayed. Our hearts
grew sore with hope deferred!
In course of time I was informed at the British Colonial Office in
London, that as France and Russia had withdrawn from the proposal, the
negotiations were for the present suspended. France, for years, postured
before the world as ready to enforce this prohibition, if America would;
and now, when America was ready, France withdrew! Still, on the highest
of all moral grounds, let us plead with America, Germany, and Britain,
already united in their triple Protectorate of Samoa, to extend the same
prohibition to the New Hebrides, and the other unannexed Islands in the
Western Pacific. If they would do so, the other Powers interested could
scarcely fail to agree, and France would be ashamed to stand before the
world as the only Civilized Nation, exploiting the bodies and souls of
poor Savages by trading with them in Fire-Arms and Drink for mere
godless greed of gold.
In Boston, the Ministers of all the Reformed Churches, having formed a
representative Committee, organized a series of meetings, and cordially
invited me to address them. Dr. Joseph Cook and his gifted wife gave me
a public reception, to which many of the leading Citizens, as well as
Professional men, were invited, and where I answered all sorts of
questions regarding Missions in general, and the New Hebrides in
particular. I was also twice introduced to the audiences at his famous
Monday Lectures; and my replies to testing problems, there submitted,
were printed in _Our Day_, and woke not a little interest in the work of
God amongst the Cannibals of the Southern Seas. To all these generous
friends at Boston, I am forever indebted, but very specially to John
Gilchrist, Esq., an office-bearer in the Presbyterian Church, who toiled
in the cause incessantly, and whom may the Lord Jesus richly recompense!
One curious experience befell me there, outside the range of my ordinary
work. A “Temperance Union” of Women engaged me to address a Working
Folks’ Meeting on a Sabbath afternoon, in what they called the Peoples’
Church. When I arrived, nearly half of the large Platform was occupied
with ladies scraping away and tuning their violins, large and small! A
lady occupied the chair, and introduced Dr. Blank, a Unitarian or rather
an Infidel, who was to speak for ten minutes, and then leave the meeting
in my hands. He knew that I had to leave within an hour, and drive to
another meeting, but he went on and on, tracing a Carpenter all through
his life to exhausted old age, manifestly stirring up class against
class, and sowing the seeds of infidelity. At last, he wound up by
picturing the Carpenter, outworn and ready to die, sitting with his wife
and children around the table at their evening meal, taking the bread
and breaking it and saying: “Eat ye all of it, for this is my body
broken for you; this do in remembrance of me, for I have worn out my
life for your sakes.” Whereon, his wife poured out the tea, and said:
“If the bread is your body broken for us, this tea is my blood shed for
you; drink ye all of it in remembrance of me, as I have spent my life in
toiling for you.”
Being able to stand it no longer, I turned to the ladies behind us and
said aloud: “Who is this blasphemer that you have set up to speak to the
people? He is simply belching out Infidelity, and setting man against
man. This is a black disgrace to you all!” He paused a moment, and then
said: “I wish this Congregation to understand that, in what I have just
said about the Carpenter and his bread, I throw no slight on the name or
memory of one who thus parted from his followers long ago”—and thereon
he resumed his seat, having spoken for nearly the whole hour. Reply was
impossible for lack of time, and my expected Address was crushed aside.
But, ere I left the Platform, I uttered a few burning words, and the
whole audience seemed to go with me. I denounced all setting of the poor
against the rich, as alien to the spirit of Jesus. I branded as an
insult to the Divine Saviour of the world the blasphemer’s parody of the
Lord’s Supper, to which we had been treated. I warned these Temperance
workers that, in bringing such a teacher of Abstinence before the
people, they were degrading the cause which they desired to promote. And
finally, I summoned them to remember that we must all appear before the
Judgment Seat of Christ, and implored them, and Dr. Blank amongst the
rest, to seek pardon and acceptance at the feet of Jesus now, that they
might find their Judge was also their Saviour in the last awful day! A
hasty Benediction was pronounced, at the Chairwoman’s request. I hurried
from the Church, greatly shocked, but encouraged by the handshake and
the “God bless you!” of many whom I passed. There was one small
consolation which I unfeignedly enjoyed—the fiddling ladies had no
opportunity of displaying their skill on that Lord’s Day!
While I was in America many minds were being troubled with ideas
regarding what is styled the “Second Probation.” At one of his famous
Monday Lectures, Dr. Joseph Cook put to me, on the Platform, the
following amongst other questions: “How would Missionaries, teaching the
Second Probation, succeed with the Cannibals on your Island?” My reply
was: “How can they succeed on such terms anywhere? Our Cannibals would
say,—If we have a second chance hereafter, let us enjoy our present
pleasures and risk the future!” Again he asked: “How would Missionaries
holding that doctrine, but promising not to teach it, succeed amongst
them?” I replied: “Hypocrites are a poor set everywhere, but especially
in the Mission Field. How could a man succeed in teaching what he did
not believe? Cannibals, like Children, are quick to discern insincerity;
and such a man could do no good, but only evil amongst them.” Joseph
Cook and his like-minded wife appeared to be noble instruments in the
hand of God, for the defence of truth and righteousness.
During this supplementary series of Meetings I happened to reach Chicago
during the Great Exhibition. Dr. Macpherson greatly helped me, and
arranged all my work. The City was crowded with visitors from all the
World. There were many things in the Big Show that one would have liked
to see; but when I learned how its Directors, in violation of their
agreement with the Government, opened it on Sabbath, and turned the
Lord’s Day into a Saturnalia of sports and amusements, I positively
declined to enter within its gates. They made a huge noise about
accommodating the working men, but they really sought mere selfish
gains. They filled the streets with advertising cars, with flags flying
from each, announcing their theatres and shows, desecrating the Holy
Day. Thank God such Heaven-defying conduct was condemned from many a
Protestant Pulpit, and the Congregations warned against countenancing
such a sinful and shameful Vanity Fair!
The Directors, having secured President Cleveland to open the
Exhibition, desired him to go from Washington by special train on the
Sabbath Day. Their plan was to utilize the occasion by enormous
Excursions from all quarters on the Day of Rest. But the God-fearing
Presbyterian President went with a usual train on Saturday, took up his
residence at a Private Hotel, and showed his disapproval of their
tactics by declining their projected ovation. On Sabbath morning he
attended worship at Dr. Macpherson’s Church. A Baptismal Service was
intimated for the afternoon. The President again attended. He opened the
Exhibition officially, but left the City as privately as he had come to
it, and this rebuke was not misunderstood by the Community, and was
greatly appreciated by decided Christians, to whom the rest of the Day
of God is a Heavenly heritage for all the creatures of Earth, which no
man may lawfully alienate or impair.
To a man like myself, the results brought a certain retributive joy. The
rush of Foreigners, after the first two or three Sabbaths, was soon
over. Then it was discovered that the masses of the Working People of
Chicago absented themselves on the Lord’s Day, knowing well that it was
not for their benefit that this thing was done, but merely to coin money
out of them. Finding that, instead of a gain, the opening on the Sabbath
was a deadly loss, the Managers proposed to close it, but found
themselves tied hand and foot by their own past action at law.
Conspicuously, the City suffered through the vices and crimes thereby
fostered; and will continue to suffer; for such evil cannot be swept
away with the temporary buildings of the Exhibition. Doom seemed to
overtake the authors speedily. One of the leaders was cruelly shot; and
the gates were at last closed in silence, and apparently in shame!
Very varied were the means adopted, by interested friends, to arrest
attention on the New Hebrides, and create enthusiasm in their cause. One
very memorable occasion was at Pittsburg, where J. I. Buchanan, Esq.,
gave a great dinner, to which he invited the Owners and Editors of all
the local Newspapers, to meet the New Hebrides Missionary. After I had
addressed them, they tackled me with questions regarding the Islanders,
and on all conceivable aspects of work for Christ amongst Cannibals.
Most of them got deeply interested; and, next day, the whole Press of
the City was full of the Mission, and of the reasons for our seeking the
Prohibition of Fire-Arms and Intoxicants as articles of trade amongst
the Natives.
I had now visited the leading Towns in all the Northern States, and not
a few on the borders of some of the Southern States, being everywhere
received by Ministers and People with exceeding kindness and exceptional
liberality. My next anxiety was to be present at the Assembly of the
Canadian Presbyterian Church, and I therefore decided to leave the work
undone, which was daily being pressed upon me throughout the States, and
to hasten thither. This was surely of God’s guidance; at least I
reverently think so; for I reached the Assembly Hall, all unknown to
myself, on the night of their Foreign Mission Report; and the first
thing I heard was an “Overture” from Nova Scotia, urging the Assembly to
hand over their three Missionaries on the New Hebrides to the Australian
Churches, which were now “both able and willing to support them”!
The Assembly received me very cordially. The Moderator invited me to
speak immediately after the Overture had been presented. I conveyed to
them the greetings of our Church, and of our Synod on the Islands, and
reported in general terms on the Home and Foreign Missions in
Australasia. Then I turned to the Moderator, and asked on whose
authority it was declared that the Australian Churches were both able
and willing to take over the Nova Scotian Mission on the New Hebrides,
with its annual cost of about £1300. The question was put to the
Assembly. There was a significant silence for several moments, and then
some one feebly replied: “On Dr. Geddie’s.” I retorted, that surely the
author of the Overture was ashamed of it, when he sought to palm it on
the honored father of our Mission, now many years resting in his grave!
I demonstrated, by irrefragable facts and figures, that the Australian
Churches were in no position to undertake this additional expense; and,
further, I insisted that to give up this specially-honored Mission would
be one of the greatest losses to the spiritual life of their own
Congregations and Sabbath Schools. It was the Mother of all their
Missions! It was the Mission which had awakened in them all the
Missionary spirit they now possessed!
The Moderator emphatically protested, from the Chair, that he hoped the
General Assembly “would hear no more of such a proposal.” Yet the
agitation is carried on, from what creditable motive it is very hard to
see. The Editor of their _Mission Record_, with a few men of similar
spirit at his back, seems to have determined to cut the connection
betwixt Nova Scotia and the New Hebrides, and to close by violence one
of the noblest chapters in that Church’s history. They have written to
the Australian Churches on the matter, and I venture to predict that
their answers will be more emphatic than even my instantaneous protest.
The nobler spirits in Nova Scotia ought to squelch out this miserable
agitation, which is killing the Missionary enthusiasm and curtailing the
liberality of their Church.
Surrounded by a multitude of devoted Ministers and Elders, I agreed to
remain two months in Canada, and address as many Meetings every day of
the week as could possibly be crowded into time and space. To relieve
the pressure on Mission Funds in Nova Scotia, I offered to give up
twenty days entirely to them, with all the proceeds from every Meeting.
They received, I understand, above £500; and I trust that by my
Addresses, one at least every day and four or five every Sabbath, all
the Funds of all these Congregations prospered and continue to prosper;
for I humbly and gratefully recognize the fact that God has used me not
for one Mission but for all Missions, and not through one Church but
through all His Churches.
The series of Meetings, up to Quebec, was mapped out at the Assembly,
and the whole of the arrangements were entrusted to the Rev. J. W.
Mitchell of Thorold, a man of deep devotion and of untiring zeal. Our
Treasurer was A. K. Macdonald, Esq., Toronto, to whose kindness also we
were profoundly indebted. Countless applications poured in upon us. It
was no uncommon thing to address two or even three Meetings daily, and
to travel long distances between them by conveyance and rail. On Sunday
we delivered never less than three Addresses, but more frequently five,
and sometimes even seven, including the Bible Classes and Sabbath
Schools. It was dreadfully exhausting work. Sometimes I hesitated,
fearing every day would be my last. But again my vigor returned, and my
heart hungered to overtake all that I possibly could, knowing that the
time was short. Besides, in this tour as always, the getting of
Collections, however anxiously desired for our Mission, was never my
primary aim; but always the saving of souls, by the story of the New
Hebrides. For that cause I would gladly die. But I did not die; and
there was given a new illustration of the meaning of that inspired
saying—“The joy of the Lord is your strength”—the work, which is our
_joy_, uplifts rather than oppresses us!
The incidents of these journeys would fill a goodly volume. But I had
neither the leisure nor the inclination to record them day by day. One
or two specially impressed themselves on my memory, however, and may
here be glanced at.
On one occasion, after a long Railway ride, I found myself set down on
the wrong side of a flooded River, the bridge having been swept away.
The Station-Master pointed us to a boat, kept by a farmer, which, if we
reached, might ferry us over. But two huge fields betwixt us and the
spot were flooded with the overflow, and these had to be crossed. A
young lady, a gentleman, and I, all equally eager to get to the other
side, resolved to try. We waded to the Boat-Landing, and reached it in a
very bedraggled state. There the boat had been left, awaiting some one’s
return, but the farmer was across the River. None of us felt very brave
about the experiment of rowing across the racing current! Our fellow
traveller, nevertheless, resolved to try. Minimizing my warning about
rowing a long way up in the quieter water, and then slanting across with
the sweep of the current, he went up only a little, and quickly plunged
in. His boat was whirled away like a cork. We held our breath, while the
young farmer on the opposite bank kept shouting and gesticulating,
running down the River, and guiding the rower as best he could. It was
with a sigh of thankful relief that we saw the traveller stand up at
last on the farther side, safe but badly shaken.
The farmer now took the oars in hand, and with his great strength and
greater skill ferried first one and then the other across in safety, but
not without peril. In a high light cart he mounted us and bore us
securely across another field, through three feet of water if not more,
and planted us gladly at his fireside. There the lady waited, that her
dripping clothes might be dried, and the other traveller found his way
to his desired haven. But, the hour of my Meeting having already
arrived, I hastened to address them, with clothes soaked through and
through, and was immediately thereafter driven to another town at a
distance of several miles. Without any opportunity of proper
refreshment, or of getting clothes dried or changed, I spoke for an hour
and a half to a large Public Meeting there, and then retired for the
night. My clothes were hung up to dry. I had to start by train very
early next morning. When I dressed, the damp of yesterday’s drenching
still hung about them, and made me shiver. For two days my bones and
muscles felt very sore, and the dread of severe rheumatic fever hung
over me. But I sustained myself with the assurance that the Great
Physician would take care of me, since none of this had been brought on
by selfish pleasure, or self-willed obstinacy, but in devotion to His
Will and in doing His work. I suffered no further harm, and carried
through all the Meetings, praising Jesus my Saviour.
On another occasion I was for a time seriously perplexed. A kind
Minister drove me, after conducting several Meetings under his charge,
to join the Night Train at a lonely crossing. Arrangements had been made
at Headquarters to set me down, pick me up, and set me down again at
such places, in order to reach certain Meetings, and thence go on my way
to others, with the least possible loss of time. Being duly despatched
by my friend, I was set down, in the darkness, at such a crossing, where
was neither sight of any house, nor sound of any human being. The Guard,
in manifest pity, exclaimed, “I don’t know, sir, what you can do here! I
am extremely sorry to leave you. But, for God’s sake, keep off the line.
The Express follows. The rails are wet, and you might never hear her!
Some one will surely meet you. Goodbye!”
His Train soon disappeared into the darkness. I tried to rest, sitting
on my travelling bag, but it was too cold, and rain began to fall.
Marching about to keep up the circulation, I kept hallooing as loudly as
I could every few moments, but no sound came in reply. Worn out and
greatly disheartened, I at last put both hands to my mouth and began the
Australian _Koo-ee! Koo-ee!_ and sustained it with all the breath and
strength I possessed. By-and-bye, in the pauses, I heard a faint and far
reply, like the echo of my own voice. It drew nearer and nearer in
response to my cry, and at last grew into the salutation of a glad human
voice. It was the Minister, appointed to meet me, who now emerged out of
the darkness. There were two crossings in the district, and they had
left me at the wrong one! He had tied his horse to the fence, and
followed my cries through the night. We stumbled our way back, and were
ere long welcomed to his cozy Manse; and I tucked myself into a warm bed
as soon as possible. Not without praising our Heavenly Guide, I soon
fell into a deep and sweet sleep, and felt able next Sabbath morning for
any amount of Meetings. The Holy Day proved to be exceptionally busy,
and exceptionally happy; for I was with a good and true Minister of
Jesus Christ, and that transforms all work into joyful fellowship.
Once the shaft of our engine broke, and the train stood still. The Guard
advised all the passengers to leave and take to the fields across the
fence. I decided to stick by the train. A messenger started on the rails
behind and another in front, and each ran with all his might, waving the
red flag and shouting. But the Engineers never lost their heads for a
moment. They screwed and hammered and chiselled; they unloosed one part
and pitched it up among the coals; they fixed and adjusted another, in
the most mysterious ways, as it seemed to me. And in a very short time,
to the delight and amazement of all, that train began to move slowly
ahead, and crept on steadily to the nearest Station, one side of the
engine only being in working order. The alarm of all was very great, as
an Express was due behind us and might any moment have crashed upon the
scene. “Our Father knoweth.”
At another time I was travelling, by rail, a great distance to address a
Mid-Day Meeting. Only one hour was free, and then I must join another
train. Two or three Stations before reaching the former destination, a
gentleman surprised me, exclaiming, “Dr. Paton, here is your Lunch! You
will not have a minute for food either before or after the Meeting.
Leave the jug and plates at any Station, and they will be returned.
Goodbye and God bless you!” I looked on this excellent meal with very
curious sensations, as if it had dropped to me out of the Hand that
feeds the ravens; and I prayed my Saviour to bless the good-hearted
giver.
I may here record that this period of my life was fuller of constant
stir and excitement, rushing from Meeting to Meeting, and from Town to
Town, than any other through which, heretofore, I had ever passed,
without one single day of rest, or almost an hour of breathing space. I
do not think it is exaggeration to say that, on an average, during these
months, I must have addressed ten Meetings on the ordinary days of the
week and five every Sunday. I certainly know that, during many special
weeks, the numbers far exceeded these. Blessed be God, who so
marvellously sustained me through it all. When my throat got a little
husky, my only medicine was a sip of pure Glycerine, a little bottle of
which I always carried with me. My daily diet was always, by choice, the
simplest and homeliest food which I could obtain—a plate of porridge
with milk, a cup of tea with bread and butter, and a very moderate
amount of flesh meat of any kind, often for days together none at all.
And my only stimulant was—the ever-springing fountain of pure joy in the
work of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ!
One thing was at first a great worry to me, but at length solved itself
very happily. I cannot, with any conscience, use cars, cabs, trains, or
steamboats on the Lord’s Day, except under such an emergency of
“necessity or mercy,” that my Lord, if He met me on the way, would
declare me “blameless.” On beginning in America, it was enforced on me
from every quarter that I must use these conveyances on the Sabbath,
owing to enormous distances, or find my mission an utter failure. My one
answer was: “No working man or woman shall ever accuse me at the Bar of
God for needlessly depriving them of their Day of Rest, and imperilling
or destroying their highest welfare.” Shoulders were shrugged knowingly,
heads shaken rather pityingly, and gentle appeals made to yield for the
sake of the higher interests of the Mission. But I held my ground
unfalteringly. It became known that I would not use such conveyances,
and that I sturdily trudged from Meeting to Meeting on foot, all through
the Lord’s day. Immediately the private carriages of friends of Jesus
and His Mission were placed largely at our disposal; and, in all cases,
I pled for such arrangements as gave the horse its rest, and the man his
opportunity of worship. Whensoever I was necessitated to hire for the
Lord’s Day, it was invariably so planned that not only was proper food
duly provided for man and beast, but the driver was invited and
encouraged to join the Service of the House of God. I pray my Lord to
accept my lifelong testimony and practice on this supremely important
matter, and to use it for the preservation of the blessed Day of Rest as
the inalienable heritage of all His toiling creatures,—next to the gift
of His own Son, one of the most priceless of all His boons to the Human
Race!
[Illustration:
HEATHEN NATIVES OF AMBRIM.
Heads and faces of women are covered with lime as sign of mourning.
]
[Illustration:
MEMORIALS OF THE DEAD, AMBRIM.
Stone Altar in front is one on which pigs are killed.
]
The time had come that I must say farewell to Canada and the States. It
was the first time I had ever seen these new and marvellous Lands. My
soul was not unaware of their beauties, nor unresponsive to their
grandeur of scenery. But my whole time and strength were otherwise
required; and I turned not aside from the call of my Lord. He knows that
my heart rejoices in all the wonders of His Power, not the less that I
spend myself in proclaiming the greater wonders of His Grace. All my
recollections of intercourse with the Ministers and the People of the
New World are abidingly sweet, and move me to bless the Lord for the
God-fearing, Bible-loving, and Sabbath-keeping Nations that have sprung
from our British Race. From the highest to the humblest they received me
with royal welcome, and heard me with loyal sympathy. Their help was
generous, and was gladly given. Their interest in the work of God was
genuine, and was frankly displayed. And their delight in listening to
the story of the salvation of the South Sea Cannibals, made me firm in
the assurance that they themselves already know within their own souls
the unspeakable worth of Jesus!
CHAPTER II.
_THE HOME-LANDS AND THE ISLANDS._
A.D. 1894–1897. ÆT. 70–73.
Arrival in Great Britain.—Requisitions.—Professors and
Students.—_Dayspring_ Scheme.—Ten Years’ Delay.—Gideon’s Fleece
Experiment.—Two Memorable Checks.—The “John G. Paton Mission
Fund.”—The _Dayspring_ Disaster.—Mission Work on all the Islands.
I embarked from New York for Liverpool, per the new and magnificent s.
s. _Campania_. The vibrations of that vessel were more fearful than
anything I had ever experienced in all my travels. There was some
defect, which I hear has since been remedied. I was scarcely conscious
of ever sleeping at all, and the ship seemed to be constantly on the eve
of shaking herself into fragments! On the voyage I made the acquaintance
of very dear friends, bearing my own name; whose Home at Liverpool
by-and-bye received me lovingly; and where also I met the learned and
honored Principal Paton of Nottingham.
My arrival in Britain revealed to me, immediately and amazingly, how
times had changed since my previous visit, only ten years before. _Then_
I had many difficulties to face in arranging for public meetings,
especially in England, as set forth in a previous Chapter. Many a weary
day’s tramping I had, even in Scotland where something was known about
the Mission to the New Hebrides, passing from Minister to Minister, and
pleading, frequently all in vain, for the use of their Pulpits and for
access to their Congregations. But since then, by my brother’s
insistence, the story of my life had gone through the Land in my
_Autobiography_. I was no longer treated as a stranger, but as the
dearly beloved friend of every one who had read my book. Blessed be God,
who used it for His glory, and gave our Mission appeal everywhere an
open door, such as never in my most hopeful hours had my faith even
dreamed!
Now, hundreds of invitations poured in on my British Committee, all
Honorary Helpers who grudged no amount of labor and pains. I found a
Series of Meetings already arranged for me, covering the principal towns
and cities of the United Kingdom,—Mr. Watson of Belfast taking charge in
Ireland, Mr. Langridge in England, and my brother James, with his
Honorary Secretary, arranging for Scotland, and acting as General
Director of the Mission. When those had been fairly overtaken, the
additional applications had risen to several hundreds more than could
possibly be faced, unless I prolonged my stay for years. My Committee at
one time found themselves dealing with a mass of 500 invitations! A
selection had to be made of the more important and populous centres for
the Services on the Lord’s Day, and one or two Meetings each day during
the week in the smaller surrounding towns; but even then the
disappointments were many and grievous; and not more so to them than to
me; for I did passionately desire to tell every human being the story of
the Gospel on the New Hebrides, that other and still other souls might
be won thereby for Jesus my Lord.
One very precious feature of my tour was this:—the manner in which
Ministers and Christian workers of all the Churches united to welcome
me, and gave very practical support to this Presbyterian Mission.
Frequently, the invitation was signed by all the Ministers of the
district, excepting only the Roman Catholic; and my prayers rose daily
to my Lord that my humble presence might be one of the means in His
loving hand of paving the way for a closer union amongst the Members of
His Redeemed Flock. I was much touched by the requisition that came to
me from my well-beloved Dumfries, with the names of all the Ministers,
and full of tender references to my early associations with the Queen of
the South, as in our boyhood we loved to call her!
The Congregations, on week days not less than on Sabbaths, filled the
largest Public Halls and Churches in each locality; with frequent
overflow Meetings at which I had to speak for fifteen minutes or so, and
then leave them in the hands of others, whilst I drove or ran to the
principal Meeting, now opened and awaiting my Address. During the two
years of my Tour, I addressed very nearly 1400 audiences, ranging from a
few hundreds to five and six thousand each, and in doing so I travelled
over many thousands of miles, on foot and in every kind of conveyance
that is used in the English-speaking world.
The Chairmen at my various Meetings represented every type of Christian
worker, and all social grades, from the godly Tradesman, evangelizing in
his quiet Mission Hall, up through Ministers and Mayors, Provosts and
Members of Parliament, Bishops and Archbishops, to Lords and Dukes and
other Peers of the Realm. Under this rush of the Missionary Spirit, many
conventional barriers were broken down, so that I was, even on Sunday,
invited to give my Address from the very Pulpit in Episcopal Churches,
as for example in the Pro-Cathedral at Manchester. On week days, this
was a not infrequent experience.
These things, and all my opportunities of usefulness, thus unexpectedly
thrust upon me, at the close of a long life of toil and self-denial and
sacrifice for Jesus, I devoutly laid at His feet, and implored Him to
use me only for His glory. And I can truly say that I never felt more
deeply humbled, all my days, than at the close of some of those almost
unparalleled Missionary Meetings, when I was alone with my Saviour after
all was over, and thinking of my lowly Home and all the way by which the
God of my father had led me, from these hours of hardship to this day of
triumph. Fame and influence laid me lower and lower yet, at the feet of
Jesus, to whose grace alone everything was due.
Never were these feelings more present with me than when I was called
upon to tell the story of our Mission before the learned Professors and
eager Students, at so many Universities, Colleges, Theological Halls,
and similar Institutes. I have a note of at least sixty-three Seats of
Learning, including Princeton and the most famous Colleges in America,
as well as Oxford and Edinburgh, Cambridge and Glasgow at Home, where
some of the greatest living Masters in every department, such as my own
world-famous Professor, the now venerable Lord Kelvin, listened to my
testimony as to the power of the Gospel to make new Creatures of the
South Sea Cannibals and build them up into the likeness of Jesus Christ.
I trespassed not into _their_ spheres, where I would have been a child
and an ignoramus compared with them; and they, on the other hand,
treated _me_ with profound respect, and even occasionally with
demonstrative appreciation, in that sphere of the moral and spiritual,
the work of the Christ-Spirit and its influence on the lowest and most
degraded of human beings, wherein I had some right to speak with
authority. This was my “one” talent, in the presence of such men; and I
“traded” with it, that the Name of my Saviour might be honored more and
more, in the Halls of Letters, and in the Temples of Art and Science.
By the general desire of my fellow Missionaries on the New Hebrides, I
had visited Britain ten years before, for the express purpose of raising
if possible £5,000 for a new _Dayspring_, larger than the old, and with
Steam Auxiliary Power. By the blessing of God on my humble pleading, and
very largely in direct answer to prayer, for I called on no one
privately for donations, there came to us in twelve months the large sum
of £10,000, of which more than one half reached us by post. My Church in
Victoria, to whom I rendered an account of all, set apart £6,000 for the
new Mission Vessel, the interest to be added to capital till such time
as she might be built; while the remaining £4,000 were devoted to the
obtaining and supporting of additional Missionaries for the New
Hebrides.
But a new difficulty had emerged, and created not only delay all these
years, but no small measure of regrettable dissension; and that was how
to maintain the Ship, and keep her floating in the service of the
Mission; for the _Dayspring_, not being allowed to trade, had been
wholly maintained by the Sabbath Schools of the Churches having
Missionaries on the New Hebrides. The sum which they had raised
annually, each Church in its allotted proportion, amounted to £1,500, or
rather more; and it was manifest that the Steam Auxiliary would cost at
least £1,000 extra per annum. Unfriendly critics doubled that charge,
and some prophesied even treble; but level-minded experts limited it to
£1,000, and the actual facts of experience, as to cost of maintaining
the _Morning Star_ and the _Southern Cross_, in these same Pacific Seas,
tallied with their estimates.
The burning question, therefore, had been how to raise this _extra_ sum
for _Dayspring_ Maintenance. Our Victorian Church proposed to increase
her quota from £500 to £750, and issued appeals to the other coöperating
Churches to make a similar advance. It did not seem too much to expect,
in the interests of the Mission, all whose operations had trebled since
the original responsibility was allocated; but they pled inability to
comply, and so the project hung fire for ten years and more, experiments
being meanwhile made in other arrangements for the Maritime Service of
the Mission, and new interests of various kinds being thereby created,
which have not tended to unity and peace in the management of the New
Hebrides. There is peril also incurred to the highest spiritual
interests of the Mission, which I daily pray God, in His loving kindness
and mercy, to be pleased to avert!
Without ascribing anything but the most ordinary motives in the world to
those who opposed the getting of a new _Dayspring_, the situation that
thus grew up is perfectly transparent. The Australian New Hebrides
Company was employed to do the work of our Mission by their Trading
Ships. In 1805—_e.g._, we paid to them the large sum of £2,451, 8s. 1d.;
all found money, for, without us, these Ships in their outgoing trip to
the Islands would have sailed comparatively empty. To secure a Ship of
our own would be, therefore, to deprive the Company of this handsome
subsidy; and it is but Human Nature, and implies no necessary dishonor,
that the shareholders and their Ministerial and Missionary friends
should have become the keenest and even bitterest opponents of the new
_Dayspring_. Further, the headquarters of the Company being at Sydney,
and the subsidy for our Mission, as well as the money for the upkeep of
our Missionaries and their families, being consequently expended almost
exclusively there, it is, from the world’s point of view, equally
natural to anticipate that the very heart and centre of the opposition
has been in New South Wales, and has concentrated itself in the Advisory
Committee which sits at Sydney and is known as _The Dayspring Board_.
All this, I say, was only to be expected, if the whole transaction is to
be weighed and measured by the standards of men of the World, instead of
being put into the balances of Jesus Christ, and estimated in the light
of the spiritual and eternal interests of the Islanders whom He has
committed to our care.
With great plausibility, this selfish opposition sought to commend
itself to a wilder circle by a Patriotic plea. If we did not support the
Trading Company, it would fail, and the French might come on the scene
and annex the New Hebrides! The facts of history were forgotten or
ignored, with their ominous lesson, that other influences than trade
must be brought into action to save these Islands from France. Did the
tide of British trade, on the Loyalty Islands, on Madagascar, and the
like, prevent their annexation by France? Certainly not! True, it will
be a terrible calamity, not only to our Mission but to Australasia, if
France is permitted to annex the New Hebrides; but while she is openly
preparing the way for that fatal step, Britain and her Colonies mock at
all our warnings, and treat the whole matter with indifference, if not
contempt. New South Wales and Victoria have even withdrawn those modest
subsidies from Colonial Trading Ships, whereby their Governments might
have continued to manifest some little desire to save the New Hebrides
from the maw of Popish France!
Even if the horror of French Annexation were to overtake us, it might be
rationally contended that our Mission, instead of being implicated with
the existence of a rival Trading Company, would receive more favorable
consideration, if we had a Steam Auxiliary Ship devoted entirely to
spiritual services, ministering to, say, twenty-four Mission Families,
with their Lay Assistants and all belongings and dependents.
But, after all, such reasonings do not even touch the very heart of the
matter; and men who never go deeper than these cannot understand our
aims, and are in no position to criticise them, however loudly they may
abuse or oppose us. It is the spiritual and eternal welfare of our poor
Islanders that is at stake, in the question of _Dayspring_ or no
_Dayspring_; at least that is my immovable conviction, and, apart from
that, no argument on the other side has or can have much consideration
at my hands. With a Mission Ship of our own, for the New Hebrides, as
for every other Mission in these Pacific seas, we can visit our
Stations, as the interests of God’s work may require; we can visit and
cheer the Native Teachers at their lonely outposts amongst Heathen
Villages; we can deliberately visit and open up Pioneer Stations, where
Heathenism still reigns, and plant there our young Missionaries and
their Helpers; we can dissociate our Ship and her crew from the
drunkenness, profligacy, and profanity of the ordinary crews of Trading
Vessels; we can prevent the sale of Fire-Arms and Intoxicants, in barter
with the Natives; and, in a single word, we can make the Mission Ship,
in all her ways and surroundings, an adjunct to the work of the
Missionary, and a herald of the Kingdom of God among the Islanders,
alike on God’s Day of Rest, and on every day of the week—and all this in
a manner and to a degree, that is not within human possibility if we be
deprived of our own _Dayspring_, and thrown back upon ordinary Trading
Ships. This, and this alone, goes to the bottom of the whole
controversy.
Consequently, the men who opposed us never seriously denied what we here
affirm, or attempted to answer our arguments. On the contrary, they
practically gave away the whole case by perilling everything on the
question of expense. All we urged might be unassailably true, but the
cost was prohibitory! The money could not be raised, or, if it could, it
would be positively sinful to spend so much on such a Mission! My blood
often tingled to my finger tips, to hear this urged by self-indulgent
and purse-proud men, who spent every year, on the pleasures of this
perishing life, more than all that was required for the _Dayspring_ and
the four and twenty Mission Families, and the hundred thousand New
Hebrideans, to whom she was to minister as the white-winged Servant of
the Gospel of Jesus. Nor was my mood much calmer when this same thing
was urged by Ministers and Office-Bearers of the Church, at Home and in
the Colonies, who carry on their labors amidst the inspiring
surroundings and associations of their happier lot; who criticise
Missions and their management from the safe and cozy retreat of their
libraries and armchairs; who by post and telegraph are in touch with
those most dear to them every day, yea, every hour; and many of whom
never denied themselves one of the necessities of life, nor one of their
own perhaps foolish luxuries, for the sake of the Lord Jesus and His
cause,—never allowed themselves to suffer, even to the extent of one
poor pennyworth, even for the length of one passing day, for the love
they bore to God or to their fellows. I fear that I am an impatient
reasoner, when creatures of this type cross my path. Alas, they too much
abound, to the shame of the Church, and for the scorn of the World!
Coming back, therefore, to Britain, with these ten years of delay to be
accounted for, I did in all my Addresses frankly avow, that, in my
judgment the main obstacle, if not the only one, was the lack of this
extra £1,000 per annum for Maintenance. Friends on every side started
up, and thrust upon me the proposal, that those who had subscribed the
money to build the ship were quite willing to subscribe yearly to assist
in maintaining her. I took the whole matter to my Lord in special
prayer. It was borne in upon me to let the proposal be fully known, and
I felt myself bound to conclude that if, in a spontaneous way, the sum
of £1,000 were provided, with any hope of permanent interest, to renew
it from year to year, _that_ would be to me at least the demonstration
of the Gideon’s Fleece, that God, who had through His people presented
the Ship to our Mission, was opening up a way for her yearly
Maintenance.
A Circular Letter on the _Dayspring_ Maintenance Fund was accordingly
drawn up, and issued to all correspondents and supporters by my British
Committee. Certificates for Three-Penny Shares in the _Dayspring_, to be
renewed annually, were widely circulated in Sabbath Schools. And,
without further organization or appeal, the answer to our prayers was
almost instantaneously forthcoming. My Honorary Treasurer had the needed
£1,000 already paid, and sufficient promises for the immediate future.
We were empowered to promise this for Maintenance, if the _Dayspring_
were duly placed on the scene. If not, the money was to be returned to
the donors, or by them allocated to other departments of the Mission
enterprise. If, in all this, we had not the guidance of God, I know not
how to trace His hand!
Other Providential signs were not awanting. I called one day, at
Liverpool, on a generous Christian gentleman, to thank him personally
for a sum of £50 sent to the Mission. The thought or purpose of seeking
more money from him had never once entered my brain! He questioned me
carefully about the needs of the Mission, the accommodation of the
proposed Ship, and all our plans. Then he closed our interview thus: “I
am convinced that you cannot buy or build a sufficient Mission Vessel
for £6,000, and I wish you to add this in order to secure a larger and a
better Ship.” He handed me his check for £1,000! In tears of joy, I
thanked God and His dear servant, but hinted something about preferring
it rather for the first year’s Maintenance Fund, but he repeated that
this was to secure a larger and better Ship, adding: “Receive this as
from God, and the other will come also.”
Again, my dear friend Lord Overtoun, who had presided over two Meetings
that were addressed by me, entered one morning into a Railway Car by
which I was travelling, and sat down beside me. At the close of a happy
and very friendly conversation, he added: “Lady Overtoun and I gave you
£200 toward the building of the Mission Ship; and now, after talking the
matter over, we have resolved to give you £100 per annum for five years
to help to pay for her Maintenance.”
My soul overflowed with praise to God, and with thanks to those whose
hearts were thus in His keeping. To me, and to all my fellow Helpers, it
seemed to be plainly the will of the Lord. We reverently believed that
this was God’s doing, and no mere plan of ours. He had given the
_Dayspring_ in a present to the New Hebrides; and now He had provided
for her Maintenance. We were convinced at that time, and, despite all
that has happened since, we are still convinced, that the Divine voice
was infallibly saying, Go forward!
I returned to Victoria in the autumn of 1894. To the Assembly of the
Presbyterian Church at Melbourne I gave my first public account of my
Tour Round the World as their Missionary and Representative. At the
close of my address, I handed to the Moderator a check for £12,527, 4s.
2d., as the fruit of the Collections and Donations at my Public
Meetings—the offerings of the people of God from all these lands, to be
used for completing the evangelization of the New Hebrides. To this I
added a deposit of £1,000,—part of the profits of my book, but for the
time locked up in our Australian Banks. As this money all came to me
through those Congregations and Assemblies which I addressed as
Missionary Representative of the Church in Victoria, I regarded it as
belonging to my Church and as placed entirely under their control. I had
no right to exercise any further authority over it, save only thus far,
that it could not honorably be spent in any other way than on the New
Hebrides Mission. The donors had again and again protested that they
wanted to hear me on that Mission and on nothing else—that they had many
other opportunities of giving to the other great Missions in India,
China, and Africa, and that what they gave through me was for the New
Hebrides. I handed over the money; I delivered their message; and there,
so far, my responsibility ceased.
But that sum, vast as it may seem, represented only half the generosity
of the Churches of Britain and America during these three fruitful
years. Side by side with Public Collections and the like, another stream
of liberality had been constantly flowing. The readers of my
_Autobiography_ responded liberally to the appeal of my British
Committee, and poured donations into their hands or mine, almost
entirely by post, till, from readers of my book alone, _The John G.
Paton Mission Fund_, gave me on leaving a check for £12,000. These
donations were placed entirely at my personal disposal, under one
condition only—that I must use them for the extension of Mission work on
the New Hebrides. For the management of this sum, I obtained the
sanction of the General Assembly to the preparation of a legal Deed. It
is held by the Finance Committee of the Victorian Church, under those
conditions,—that I only can operate on it for the extension of the work
of God on the New Hebrides, while I live; and that after my decease they
can use it, but only for these same purposes; thus fulfilling, as
faithfully as may be, the wishes of those Christian souls who sent this
money to me from all corners of the world.
In addition to these two large branches of our _General Fund_, there had
come to myself or to my British Committee very considerable sums for
Special Funds. Notably these two:—the _Native Teachers’ Fund_, designed
to pay a small yearly salary, formerly of £6, but now beginning at that
figure and after two years’ faithful service rising to £8, to each of
those Converts to whom God had given the capacity and the call to become
Helpers to the Missionary in School and Church, and in many cases
Pioneers of the Cross where no white Missionary had ever gone: and also,
the _Dayspring Maintenance Fund_, already referred to and described. The
latter of these two was, of course, retained in the hands of the British
Committee at my call, till such time as the Churches and the Mission
Synod decided for or against a Mission Vessel. The former they continue
to administer, at my direction and under my sanction, through one of the
Missionaries on the Islands, who acts as their treasurer and agent. So
far as the annual donations will allow, we freely grant to every
Missionary all the assistance in our power for the training and
maintaining of these Native Evangelists, many of whom are destined to
become the future Pastors of the people. Up till now our difficulty has
been to find enough of suitable and reliable Native Teachers to be
allocated to the Churches, Bible Classes, Sunday Schools, and individual
Christians, willing to support them. But we hope for great things from
the TRAINING COLLEGE recently opened on Tangoa under Dr. Annand, one of
our ablest and most devoted Missionaries; and my British Committee have
undertaken to pay the salary of his Assistant, £150 per annum, with my
cordial approval. Many prayers are uplifted daily for this Missionary
Institute on the New Hebrides, at the very heart and centre of these
Cannibal Isles, that the Lord God would own it and send forth thence
trained and consecrated Evangelists to build up and to rule the New
Hebridean Church of Christ in the days that are to be,—no longer under
European tutelage, but under Native Pastors. We would glory to lead on
to that consummation, and then to pass to other fields of labor!
It is but right for me to mention, though most readers are already aware
of it, that all my Helpers and Fellow Workers at Home and in America
give their time and strength freely and gladly, without thought of any
reward except the joy of the service. All actual outlays incurred in the
on-carrying of the various schemes are, of course, met out of what we
call the _General Fund_; but every other penny, that comes to them or to
me, goes directly to the extension of the Gospel on the New Hebrides.
Each donation or subscription is acknowledged in our little quarterly
magazine known as _Jottings_, a copy of which is posted to all our
correspondents and supporters, and which is now the bond whereby God
keeps us together and sustains our interest in this work—another
development, not so much of our seeking, as rather thrust upon us by the
necessities of the work of the Lord, which so increased that my Helpers
could in no other way overtake the correspondence, or circulate the
Mission news so eagerly desired. It is thus that those who unfeignedly
seek to serve are led on by the Master Himself. The Pillar of Cloud and
Fire still marches before us; but, alas, how many have lost the power to
behold it!
I praise God every day of my life for all these dear supporters and
correspondents, far scattered in every Land, but one in heart for the
salvation of the New Hebrides. Through their generosity, my British
Committee with my joyful approval have undertaken, in addition to the
support of Native Teachers and the subsidy for Maintenance of
_Dayspring_, to defray the entire cost of two Missionaries and their
wives, and also two Lay European Assistants. Nay, if the generosity of
friends should continue, they are at the moment of my writing hopefully
contemplating the support of a third Missionary, with, if possible, a
Lay Assistant also. These are surely God-honoring fruits from the
planting of my humble book in hearts that love the Lord, and from the
zeal and devotion and extraordinary gifts of our Honorary Organizing
Secretary—with whom, and with all our Helpers everywhere, we reverently
say, Glory to God and not unto us!
Our loving God orders everything well. But for that Fund handed over by
me to the Victorian Church, I know not what would have become of the New
Hebrides Mission during the intervening years, since the crash of our
Australian Banks and the consequent terrible financial depression.
Thousands and tens of thousands of our people were literally ruined.
Money could not be obtained, even for the ordinary and inevitable
expenses of our Congregations. Ministers’ stipends were, on almost every
hand, temporarily reduced. The Foreign Mission Committee’s income fell
so terribly, that nearly everything was consumed in meeting the claims
of the Mission to the Aborigines and to the Chinese. In 1895 the
contributions to the _Dayspring Fund_ fell in Victoria from £500 to
£200, and even that was raised with difficulty. In fact, but for our
Fund, the salaries of several of the Missionaries and Native Teachers
would of necessity have been cancelled, and our forces withdrawn from
the field. God be praised, that calamity was averted! All our Army for
Jesus have been maintained at their posts; nay, additional Pioneers have
actually, despite these depressions, gone forth and pierced the Kingdom
of Darkness here and there with shafts of Gospel light.
On my return to Victoria all these schemes, and particularly the new
proposals as to the _Dayspring_, were fully laid before the General
Assembly of the Presbyterian Church at Melbourne. Though the Ship was
offered as a free gift to the Mission, and the additional £1,000 _per
annum_ was now provided, without laying one farthing of financial burden
on them or on any of the Churches concerned, yet our Victorian Church
resolved to proceed with great deliberation, and to carry, if possible,
the approval of all parties concerned. They entered into correspondence
with each of the seven other Churches coöperating in the New Hebrides,
and with each of the Missionaries on the Islands, and agreed to instruct
the building of the Ship only if all, or a clear majority, cordially
approved. More than ten years ago, all had sanctioned the raising of the
money for a new and larger Steam Auxiliary Ship, and that sanction had
never been withdrawn. But many things had happened since then; and it
was at least brotherly and considerate, if not absolutely obligatory, to
confer with them all ere proceeding further.
The vast majority of the Missionaries at once reaffirmed their approval
of the scheme. All the Churches concerned, except one, either cordially
approved or left the matter to the free decision of the Australasian
Churches and the Missionaries on the field, in which decision they
intimated that they would heartily concur. The one exception was the
Church of New South Wales, influenced, as already indicated, by its
close association with the Trading Company, though doubtless from
motives entirely honorable, so far as individuals were concerned. What
is known as _The Dayspring Board_, with its headquarters at Sydney, was
also strongly opposed, and for similar reasons, too manifest to need
specification here. But I cannot regard the opposition of that Board as
either defensible or requiring to be taken into account at all. It is
simply an Advisory Committee. It neither raises any money for the Ship
nor for the Mission. It is the Executive, at most, of the Mission Synod
and the Churches concerned; and its proper and only function is to carry
out, in a helpful and business-like way, the instructions received from
the Missionaries. It is absurd, therefore, that such a Board should have
any vote on the question of a _Dayspring_ or no _Dayspring_, any more
than would a paid Agent executing the orders of the Missionaries for
articles of merchandise. A delicate sense of honor should have made them
feel this, and act accordingly, instead of becoming, as they did, not
only avowed opponents of the scheme, but, in some cases, even bitter
partisans and unscrupulous antagonists. For myself, I frankly say that
the opposition of a Board so constituted should not only be discounted,
but should be wholly ignored.
The Victorian Church, therefore, through its Foreign Mission Committee,
ordered the _Dayspring_. She was built by Messrs. Mackie & Thomson on
the Clyde, under the instructions and the personal supervision of John
Stephen, Esquire, of Linthouse. Better, more skilled, more reliable
advice could not be obtained in Britain. It was all gratuitously and
ungrudgingly given for the sake of the Mission, and we felt deeply
indebted for the same. The new Steam Auxiliary _Dayspring_, on her
completion, was exhibited to friends, subscribers, and Sabbath Scholars,
at Glasgow, at Ayr, at Belfast, at Douglas, and at Liverpool. Thousands
upon thousands of people flocked to see the little Missionary Ship, and
to wish her Godspeed. She was universally admired. The Public Press
commented on her trim appearance, substantial workmanship, and perfect
adaptation to the service for which she was destined. She had been built
and equipped within the £7,000 set apart for her construction. She had
every necessary accommodation for Officers and Crew, for Missionaries
and their Families, and for Native Teachers; and when she sailed away
from Liverpool, the representatives of my British Committee, upon whom
had lain the heavy burden of all the details, praised God that the plans
and toils of so many years had at last been brought to so auspicious an
issue. It marked the beginning of a new era, it was hoped, in the
Conversion of the New Hebrides, and the little Ship was borne away on
the wings of prayer and praise!
She performed the Ocean voyage to the highest satisfaction of all her
Officers. At Melbourne she was welcomed with much enthusiasm. On her
first trip to the Islands, the hearts of our Natives thrilled with great
joy at the sight of their own Gospel Ship. On her second visit, her
powers and capacities were most severely tested, and her adaptability to
the needs of the Mission. She had to call at all our Stations, and carry
up to Aneityum all the members of the Mission for the Annual Synod in
the month of May. She had on board fifty passengers, forty adults, and
ten children, exclusive of the Native Teachers and their families, and,
after the Synod, she had to carry all these back again to their several
scattered Stations. It was the unanimous and decided opinion of all
concerned, that, during no previous Synod Trip under any service, had we
ever enjoyed the same comfort and the same happiness. There was
thanksgiving, on every hand. The dissensions of the past were buried.
The Mission Synod had now their own Ship; and they unitedly resolved to
turn her to the best possible account in the Cause of Jesus and for the
speedy Evangelizing of the New Hebrides. Our hearts were at rest. We
turned aside to other labors, thanking God that in all this many prayers
had been answered, many tears had borne precious fruit. The _Dayspring_
was the crown and complement of our Missionary Enterprise for the
salvation of these Islands—God bless her!
Our dear little Mission Ship performed her third trip also with perfect
safety, and with much satisfaction to all the Missionaries. Her new
Captain, who had formerly been her first Officer, and who in his earlier
days had sailed these same Seas in the _Southern Cross_, was a great
favorite alike amongst the Missionaries and the Natives; thoroughly
capable, firm yet gentle, deserving and commanding universal respect.
The Ship had, as the result of experience, been in some matters
overhauled and readjusted, to meet special requirements; and her fourth
Voyage was entered upon with hope and joy. She was loaded with
provisions for the Missionaries and their Families, with wood for the
building of their Houses and Schools, and with whatsoever was most
urgently required by them for three months to come. So that at every
Station, on every Island, the eyes of our beloved Missionaries and their
Converts were eagerly looking out across the Seas for the flag of the
dear little _Dayspring_.
Alas, they looked in vain! She struck on an uncharted reef, not far from
New Caledonia,—a disaster against which no skill and no experience could
guard, in those not yet thoroughly explored and ever-changeful Seas. Her
Officers and Crew did everything that men could do to save her, and
struggled on till all hope had perished. With sore hearts, they at last
provisioned and manned the two boats, and committed themselves to the
deep—agreeing on certain general lines of action, that, please God, they
might again come together and be rescued. In a very short time, after
they had withdrawn, a high wind and a heavy sea working together
completed her destruction, and they beheld the dear little _Dayspring_
plunging head-foremost from the reef into the Sea, and disappearing,
masts and all, within the hungry Ocean.
The Captain’s boat ran to an island for safety, and was, ere long,
picked up, and he and all his men safely returned to Australia. The
other boat had a dreadful voyage. More than once she was overturned, and
left them all struggling in the Sea. For fourteen days and nights,
without almost any food, without any possibility of rest, bareheaded in
a broiling sun, the poor fellows endured suffering and untold distress;
till, at length, by a well-nigh miraculous Providence, they ran ashore
on the coast of Queensland, and were saved. Blessed be God, though our
dear little _Dayspring_, with all her belongings, her Library, her
Mission Harmonium, Lord Kelvin’s magnificent Compass, and the books, the
furnishings, and the food of our beloved Missionaries, lay sleeping in
the Ocean’s bed—no father’s or mother’s heart was wrung with the memory
of some precious Son buried with her there. We were all spared that
agony, and we continue to praise God that the wreck of the _Dayspring_
cost not a single human life.
It does not need that I should inform the Reader of the preceding pages
that this wreck was, in all the circumstances, one of the bitterest
sorrows of my life. I am not ashamed, considering my views of its
spiritual value as the Handmaid of the Gospel in completing Christ’s
Mission on the New Hebrides, to confess that I showed as much emotion,
though in a different way, when I heard the sorrowful news, as did the
Christian Natives at Lenukel, when they rolled themselves in anguish on
the sands, and set up a deathwail as if they had lost their dearest
friend. It requires very little imagination to realize the scene, as the
news was borne from Isle to Isle, and to hear one long, deep, and
heart-breaking cry resounding throughout the New Hebrides—“Alas for the
Gospel Ship! Alas for our dear little _Dayspring_! Alas for the
white-winged Herald of the Cross!”
For one, though firmly believing that her loss was a great blow to all
the higher interests of our Mission, I was able to say: “The Lord gave
and the Lord hath taken away:”—but yet, God forgive me, it was very hard
to add: “Blessed be the Name of the Lord.” But never, in my deepest
soul, did I for a moment doubt that in His hands all must be well.
Whatever trials have befallen me in my Earthly Pilgrimage, I have never
had the trial of doubting that perhaps, after all, Jesus had made some
mistake. No! my blessed Lord Jesus makes no mistakes! When we see all
His meaning, we shall then understand, what now we can only trustfully
believe, that all is well—best for us, best for the cause most dear to
us, best for the good of others and the glory of God. Still, my tears
would flow when I thought of the dear little _Dayspring_, the fruit of
ten years of prayers and toils, the gift of God’s people throughout the
world to our beloved Mission, tumbled from that reef and lying at the
bottom of the Sea. And I felt comforted to think that He, who wept with
the mourning Sisters at the grave of Lazarus, did not rebuke their
tears, but soothed them by weeping with them—“Jesus wept.”
Wisely or otherwise, all parties seemed to embrace at once the
conclusion that this Shipwreck should furnish the occasion for
reconsidering the whole question of a Mission Vessel or no Mission
Vessel for the New Hebrides. For the time, arrangements had again to be
resumed for the services of the Trading Company; and the interval was to
be utilized in consulting the Mission Synod on the Islands, and the
Churches concerned, in the light of the experience gained, whether
another _Dayspring_ should be built or not. I must openly affirm that
this policy never commended itself to my judgment, nor even yet can I
see its wisdom. With the Insurance, though limited to the inadequate sum
of £2,000 much against my will by the Committee at Melbourne, and with
the other Funds for the _Dayspring_ still on hand, besides the Free-Will
Offerings that poured in on us from friends everywhere, we could have
ordered and paid for a New Ship without one hour’s delay. We had the
assent of the Churches and the approval of the Missionaries, and should
have gone forward, as if the wreck had never happened. God seemed
Himself to be clearly pointing the way. Within a few hours, after the
disaster was cabled to Britain, a lady in London sent a check for £1,000
to my Home Committee, “to build or buy a new and larger ship!” Other
generous offers were also pressed upon us; and the money is at this
moment lying in the Bank awaiting a decision. We could then, and can
now, present to the Mission another _Dayspring_, as a free gift from
those throughout the world to whom God has endeared the Mission on the
New Hebrides.
But I was powerless to resist the policy of delay, the consequences of
which I cannot but fear, whatever the ultimate decision may be, as
highly disastrous to our Mission. Should the vote be in favor of another
Ship, the delay will have so damped the interest of supporters, that my
British Committee may find it extremely difficult to revive
subscriptions and secure the promised £1,000 _per annum_ towards the
Maintenance Fund. Should the vote be unfavorable, the dissension amongst
the Missionaries and the Churches, and the seesaw policy in the
Management of the Mission, will so shake the confidence of the Christian
Public, that all our funds are bound to suffer, and the welfare of the
Mission be seriously crippled. I do, therefore, most earnestly pray and
hope that there may be unity, at whatever cost to my personal
predilections; for the spectacle of a disloyal Minority, undermining and
destroying the work of the Majority, is enough to bring on our cause the
contempt of men, if not also the curse of God. And at the same time, I
cannot but fervently desire that the mind of the Synod on the Islands
and of the Churches in the Colonies, at Home, and in Nova Scotia, may be
clear and decided in favor of a Mission Ship, for the highest welfare of
the Church of God on the New Hebrides.[2]
Footnote 2:
The Synod on the Islands (May, 1897) have voted _for_ a New Mission
Ship by a majority of 13 against 2.—EDITOR.
Experience has demonstrated that a perfectly suitable Vessel can be
constructed for, say £8,000, that is, fifty tons larger than the Ship we
have lost. Experience has further demonstrated that she can be
maintained for £2,500 per annum, or even less. Our opponents must
therefore lay aside their speculative figures, and cease to say that her
building may cost £10,000, and her yearly maintenance not less than
£5,000. The _Dayspring_ lived long enough to slay these two wild
fabrications. Now then, let them be buried with her in the Sea! It is
purely and simply a question of whether, in the interests of the Kingdom
of God on the New Hebrides, and in order to cut off our work there from
all degrading association with Sabbath-breaking and grog-selling Trading
Ships, we should or should not accept the free-will offerings of the
People at Home to build for us, and to help us to maintain, a Mission
Ship of our own. I never can believe it possible to imagine any other
answer but one—if that issue were clearly contemplated, and judgment
pronounced, _apart_ from all other considerations, whether personal,
self-interested, or merely worldly.
Thus far, as part of my Life-Story, and that every reader may comprehend
my aims, it seemed necessary to explain, to argue, and even to
criticise. But all further reference here is needless. Ere this page is
published, the final decision will probably have been announced. I can
truly say that my Lord knows how sincerely I desire a clear and final
decision, whether for or against another[3] _Dayspring_; and that, such
having been given, I pledged myself beforehand to accept it as His will,
and, under it, to do all that in me lies to promote during my remaining
days, the true welfare of the Mission of Christ to the New Hebrides.
_Dayspring_, or no _Dayspring_, these souls must be won for Jesus!
Footnote 3:
The General Assembly at Melbourne (November, 1897) resolved by a
majority of one to delay for twelve months before deciding either for
or against a new _Dayspring_.—EDITOR.
And now, since this in all human probability is the closing Chapter of
my humble Life, so far as it shall ever be written by me, therefore ere
I lay down my pen, let me dwell with unalloyed delight on a few pictures
of facts that rise before me, illustrative of the work of God at large
throughout the New Hebrides. In all my journeyings, and in all my talks
and writings, though of necessity personal experiences bulked somewhat
largely, yet every candid hearer or reader will bear witness that I was
eager and careful to pay unstinted honor to all my fellow laborers on
these Islands; many of whom, men and women too, I truly regard before
God as amongst the noblest Servants of the Lord Jesus that I have ever
known, or expect to know, on this Earth. God be with them, one and all;
and though, on questions of policy and management, some of them may
differ from me, I would gladly spend my last ounce of strength in
promoting the spiritual interests of their work at every Station, and
contributing to their personal happiness and prosperity, if it be in my
power in any way to do so. All this, on both sides, we thoroughly know
and understand, as becometh the Ambassadors of Christ to the Heathen
World. I am never happier than when, as now, I try to picture the work
of God on all the Isles of the New Hebrides, and show our friends and
supporters in every Land some of the fruits of their money and their
prayers.
At North Santo, we see Mr. Noble Mackenzie and his wife with hope and
faith unfurling the Banner of the Cross; and Dr. and Mrs. Sandilands at
Port Philip, Big Bay, on the same great Island, by healing and by
teaching, pioneering for Jesus. Mr. Bowie and his wife, from the Free
Church of Scotland, are taking possession of South Santo in the name of
Christ; and if the Mission Synod agrees to plant his brother, Dr. Bowie,
along with his wife, sent out this year by my British Committee, on East
Santo, as seems desired—this, the largest and most northerly island of
the Group, with its many languages and its unknown thousands of
inhabitants, will at last be ringed round with fire,—the fire of love to
Jesus and to the souls of the Heathen.
Another great Island, with several languages, has in recent years been
surrounded by the soldiers of the Cross, and claimed for Christ—Mr. Watt
Leggatt and his devoted wife at Aulua, Mr. Frederick J. Paton at
Pangkumu, and Mr. Boyd at South West Bay—uniting their threefold forces
to bring vast and populous Malekula to the feet of Jesus. Already most
hopeful beginnings have been made. Christian Churches, with a few
Converts, have been planted at these three Stations—the nucleus, we
trust, of living branches on Earth of the Living Body of our Living Lord
in the Heavenly World.
Tanna, also, has been afresh assaulted, in the name of God. Mr. Gillies
and his wife are on their way to assist and to succeed Mr. Watt at
Kwamera and Port Resolution; Mr. Thomson Macmillan has entered upon the
field at Wiasisi, from which Mr. Gray had to retire; and Mr. Frank H. L.
Paton and his devoted wife, along with their Lay Assistant, Mr. Hume,
have opened a Pioneering Mission at Lenukel, on the Western coast,
entirely supported by the funds of my British Committee. And our hopes
beat high that Tanna, often described as the hardest Mission field in
the Heathen World, is on the eve of surrendering to the Gospel of Jesus,
which the fierce Tannese have so long and so savagely resisted.
To join the noble band of younger Missionaries, Dr. Agnew has also gone
to the New Hebrides, an experienced and gifted and most attractive
Missionary at Home, and destined, we believe, to be a fruitful worker
for Jesus in the Foreign field. The preliminary expenses connected with
several of these, such as Medical and other outfit, passage money to
Australia, and the like, have been gladly borne by my British Committee,
thereby relieving the Churches of all initial outlays, and encouraging
them to undertake their permanent support. We press forward still, never
thinking we can lawfully rest till every Tribe on the New Hebrides shall
have heard, each in their own language, in their Mother Tongue, the old
and ever new and deathless story of Redeeming Love.
These, however, are but beginnings. Our older Stations showed, in 1895,
a record of work done and sufferings borne for Jesus that might well
make all Christians thrill with praise. Take a few examples only.
During the year, Mr. Michelsen of Tongoa, one of the most successful
Missionaries in the field, baptized and admitted to the Lord’s Table 200
Converts; while 200 more under his tuition and that of Mrs. Michelsen
were being prepared for the same holy privileges. God has given them in
all nearly 2,000 Converts from amongst these Cannibals, who are being
built up into the faith and service of Jesus Christ. Alas, since the
Queensland Government, in defiance of the solemn Protest of the Chiefs,
opened this Island to the Labor-recruiting Ships, hundreds of their best
and most hopeful Native Helpers have been seduced as _Kanakas_ to the
Sugar Plantations—and the Missionary and the Islanders alike regard them
as virtually dead; so very few will ever return! Mr. Michelsen has
thirty Native Teachers or Evangelists, with 1,850 pupils attending the
Mission Schools. During the same year, the Converts collected from
amongst themselves £25, and handed it over for the promotion of the
Gospel of Christ; so that the labors of this devoted servant of God, for
sixteen years, are being crowned with many tokens of blessing.
It is believed amongst us that few Missions in the World show more
interesting fruits of Evangelistic enterprise than Nguna and its Islets,
under the fostering pastorate of Mr. Milne and his most devoted and
gifted wife. There are 750 Communicants on the Church’s Roll, 1,700
regularly attending the Worship of God, and at least 2,000 in all who
have turned from Heathenism and adopted the habits of Christian
Civilization. There are thirty Native Teachers, for whose support the
Native Church raised £155, 8s. 11d. in 1895, besides giving Arrowroot
for Mission purposes valued at £120. They had thirty-seven Christian
Marriages during the year, and 100 Candidates for Membership in the
Communicants’ Class. Nay, most marvellous of all, the Church of Nguna
has thirty-eight of its married couples who have gone forth as Native
Teachers and Mission Helpers to other Islands—a Missionary Church called
out of Heathenism, thus joyfully and instinctively sending forth from
its own bosom Missionaries into the Heathenism beyond. Surely I am
warranted in saying, to the praise of Jesus and of His servants, that
this is a glorious record for five and twenty years!
On Epi, Mr. Fraser, having labored fourteen years, had 137 Members on
his Communion Roll, and 128 Candidates in his Communicants’ Class; 27
Native Teachers, with 1,000 at the Day Schools, and 1,250 at the Sabbath
Schools; and his people collected amongst themselves £34 for Mission
purposes. Since then, and every day, the tide of prosperity is rising on
the side of Christianity, and all these figures are steadily increasing.
Mr. Smail is on the other side of the same Island, and has, as the
result of six years’ devotion to his work, 36 Communicants in his
Church, 13 Candidates for Membership, 14 Native Teachers, and 500 daily
attending their Schools. They gave £7 for the work of the Mission.
Erromanga, where five Missionaries were murdered, and two of them
devoured by the Cannibals, is now a Christian Island. There are 300
Communicants, 12 Elders, 40 Native Teachers, and 1,750 attending the
Schools—practically the whole population. Mr. Robertson and his devoted
wife have been honored of God, in completing this grand work, during the
last four and twenty years.
And so on all round the Group, Island after Island being brought by
patient, devoted, and rational expenditure of time, and affection, and
all Gospel influences, to the knowledge of the Christian life, and
thereby to Civilization. There are still four or five great Centres of
Heathenism untouched. When God sends us Missionaries for these, it will
then only be a question of time coupled with pains and prayer, till all
the New Hebrides in all their Babel tongues, shall be heard singing the
praises of Redeeming Love. May my blessed Saviour spare me to see the
full Dawn, if not the perfect Noon, of that happy Day!
[Illustration:
A HEATHEN CHIEF OF FUTUNA.
Showing the hair divided in many locks, tortoise-shell earrings, bead
and shell necklace.
]
[Illustration:
EPETENETO,
The first native pastor in the New Hebrides
]
It is easy to raise the shallow cry that the New Hebrides Mission is
overmanned, as compared with India, China and Africa, as some, and very
specially the same men who most keenly oppose the _Dayspring_, are
persistently doing. We might answer by retort,—Your own Towns and
Villages are overmanned; why not resign your charges, and go to the
millions of Heathendom? But we leave that retort to others, and reply:
There are differences in all these fields of enterprise, which demand
specific adaptation of means to ends, and we fearlessly declare, in the
face of all Christendom, that God Himself has approved of our system by
the almost unparalleled results. We plant down our European Missionary
with his staff at a given Station. We surround him with Native Teachers,
who pioneer amongst all the Villages within reach. His life-work is to
win that Island, or that People, for God and Civilization. He masters
their Language, and reduces it to writing. He translates and prints
portions of the Bible. He opens Schools, and begins teaching the whole
population. He opens a Communicants’ Class, and trains his most hopeful
Converts for full membership in the Church. And there he holds the fort,
and toils, and prays, till the Gospel of Jesus has not only been
preached to every creature whom he can reach, but also reduced to
practice in the new habits and the new religious and social life of the
Community. In this way has Aneityum been won for Christ, and thoroughly
Christianized; and Aniwa, and Erromanga, and Efatè, and Nguna, and
Tongoa, and several adjoining Isles. And, humanly speaking, there is no
other way in which these Tribes and Peoples can be evangelized. The next
stage will be that of the Native Pastorate, with a very few
superintending European Missionaries—a stage on which, for instance, my
own Aniwa has long since practically entered, the Elders carrying on all
the work of the Church, with an occasional visit from a neighboring
Missionary. But the foundations of Civilization and of Christianity must
either be laid and solidly built up by a Missionary for each of these
Peoples, or they will never be laid at all.
Let our Churches then go forward on the lines which God the Lord hath
blessed. Complete the pioneering work on the New Hebrides, bring the
Gospel within reach of every creature there, and then set free your
money and your men to do the same elsewhere. But even in India and in
China and in Africa, with their countless millions, learn a lesson from
the work on the New Hebrides. Plant down your forces in the heart of one
Tribe or Race, where the same Language is spoken. Work solidly from that
centre, building up with patient teaching and lifelong care a Church
that will endure. Rest not till every People and Language and Nation has
such a Christ-centre throbbing in its midst, with the pulses of the New
Life at full play. Rush not from Land to Land, from People to People, in
a breathless and fruitless Mission. Kindle not your lights so far apart,
amid the millions and the wastes of Heathendom, that every lamp may be
extinguished without any of the others knowing, and so leave the
blackness of their Night blacker than ever. The consecrated Common-sense
that builds for Eternity will receive the fullest approval of God in
Time.
Oh that I had my life to begin again! I would consecrate it anew to
Jesus in seeking the conversion of the remaining Cannibals on the New
Hebrides. But since that may not be, may He help me to use every moment
and every power still left to me to carry forward to the uttermost that
beloved work. Doubtless these poor degraded Savages are a part of the
Redeemer’s inheritance, given to Him in the Father’s Eternal Covenant,
and thousands of them are destined through us to sing His praise in the
glory and the joy of the Heavenly World! And should the record of my
poor and broken life lead any one to consecrate himself to Mission work
at Home or Abroad that he may win souls for Jesus, or should it even
deepen the Missionary spirit in those who already know and serve the
Redeemer of us all—for this also, and for all through which He has led
me by His loving and gracious guidance, I shall, unto the endless ages
of Eternity, bless and adore my beloved Master and Saviour and Lord, to
whom be glory forever and ever.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Selections from
Fleming H. Revell Company’s
Missionary Lists
New York: 158 Fifth Avenue
Chicago: 63 Washington Street
Toronto: 154 Yonge Street
_MISSIONS, AFRICA._
The Personal Life of David Livingstone.
Chiefly from his unpublished journals and correspondence in the
possession of his family. By W. GARDEN BLAIKIE, D.D., LL.D. With
Portrait and Map. _New, cheap edition._ 508 pages, 8vo, cloth, $1.50.
“There is throughout the narrative that glow of interest which is
realized while events are comparatively recent, with that also which
is still fresh and tender.”—_The Standard._
David Livingstone.
His Labors and His Legacy. By A. MONTEFIORE, F.R.G.S. Missionary
Biography Series. Illustrated. 160 pages, 12mo, cloth, 75c.
David Livingstone.
By Mrs. J. H. WORCESTER, Jr., Missionary Annals Series. 12mo, paper,
net, 15c.; flexible cloth, net, 30c.
Reality vs. Romance in South Central Africa.
Being an Account of a Journey across the African Continent, from
Benguella on the West Coast to the mouth of the Zambesi. By JAMES
JOHNSTON, M.D. With 51 full-page photogravure reproductions of
photographs by the author, and a map. Royal 8vo, cloth, boxed, $4.00.
The Story of Uganda
And of the Victoria Nyanza Mission. By S. G. STOCK. Illustrated. 12mo,
cloth, $1.25.
“To be commended as a good, brief, general survey of the Protestant
missionary work in Uganda.”—_The Literary World._
Robert Moffat,
The Missionary Hero of Kuruman. By DAVID J. DEANE. Missionary Biography
Series. Illustrated. _25th thousand._ 12mo, cloth, 75c.
Robert Moffat.
By M. L. WILDER. Missionary Annals Series. 12mo, paper, net, 15c.;
flexible cloth, net, 30c.
The Congo for Christ.
The Story of the Congo Mission. By Rev. JOHN B. MYERS. Missionary
Biography Series. Illustrated. _Tenth thousand._ 12mo, cloth, 75c.
On the Congo.
Edited from Notes and Conversations of Missionaries, by Mrs. H. GRATTAN
GUINNESS. 12mo, paper, 50c.
Samuel Crowther, the Slave Boy
Who became Bishop of the Niger. By JESSE PAGE. Missionary Biography
Series. Illustrated. _Eighteenth thousand._ 12mo, cloth, 75c.
“We cannot conceive of anything better calculated to inspire in the
hearts of young people an enthusiasm for the cause.”—_The Christian._
Thomas Birch Freeman.
Missionary Pioneer to Ashanti, Dahomey and Egba. By JOHN MILUM, F.R.G.S.
Missionary Biography Series. Illustrated. 12mo, cloth, 75c.
“Well written and well worth reading.”—_The Faithful Witness._
Seven Years in Sierra Leone.
The Story of the Missionary Work of Wm. A. B. Johnson. By Rev. ARTHUR T.
PIERSON, D.D. 16mo, cloth, $1.00.
Johnson was a missionary of the Church Missionary Society in Regent’s
Town, Sierra Leone, Africa, from 1816 to 1823.
Among the Matabele.
By Rev. D. CARNEGIE, for ten years resident at Hope Fountain, twelve
miles from Bulawayo. With portraits, maps and other illustrations.
_Second edition._ 12mo, cloth, 60c.
Peril and Adventure in Central Africa.
Illustrated Letter to the Youngsters at Home. By BISHOP HAMMINGTON.
Illustrated. 12mo, cloth, 50c.
Madagascar of To-Day.
A Sketch of the Island. With Chapters on its History and Prospects. By
Rev. W. E. COUSINS, Missionary of the London Missionary Society since
1862. Map and Illustrations. 12mo, cloth, $1.00.
Madagascar.
Its Missionaries and Martyrs. By Rev. W. J. TOWNSEND, D.D. Missionary
Biography Series. Illustrated. _Tenth thousand._ 12mo, cloth, 75c.
Madagascar.
By BELLE MCPHERSON CAMPBELL. Missionary Annals Series. 12mo, paper, net,
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Madagascar.
Country, People, Missions. By Rev. JAMES SIBREE, F.R.G.S. Outline
Missionary Series. 16mo, paper, 20c.
_MISSIONS, CHINA._
Chinese Characteristics.
By Rev. ARTHUR H. SMITH, D.D., for 25 years a Missionary in China. With
16 full-page original Illustrations, and index. _Sixth thousand. Popular
edition._ 8vo, cloth, $1.25.
“The best book on the Chinese people.”—_The Examiner._
A Cycle of Cathay;
Or, China, South and North. With personal reminiscences. By W. A. P.
MARTIN, D.D., LL.D., President Emeritus of the Imperial Tungwen College,
Peking. With 70 Illustrations from photographs and native drawings, a
Map and an index. _Second edition._ 8vo, cloth decorated, $2.00.
“No student of Eastern affairs can afford to neglect this work, which
will take its place with Dr. William’s ‘Middle Kingdom,’ as an
authoritative work on China.”—_The Outlook._
Glances at China.
By Rev. GILBERT REID, M.A., Founder of the Mission to the Higher
Classes. Illustrated. 12mo, cloth, 80c.
Pictures of Southern China.
By Rev. JAMES MACGOWAN. With 80 Illustrations. 8vo, cloth, $4.20.
A Winter in North China.
By Rev. T. M. MORRIS. With an Introduction by Rev. RICHARD GLOVER, D.D.,
and a Map. 12mo, cloth, $1.50.
John Livingston Nevius,
For Forty Years a Missionary in Shantung. By his wife, HELEN S. C.
NEVIUS. With an Introduction by the Rev. W. A. P. MARTIN, D.D.
Illustrated. 8vo, cloth, $2.00.
The Sister Martyrs of Ku Cheng.
Letters and a Memoir of ELEANOR and ELIZABETH SAUNDERS, Massacred August
1st, 1895. Illustrated, 12mo, cloth, $1.50.
China.
By Rev. J. T. GRACEY, D.D. _Seventh edition_, revised. 16mo, paper, 15c.
Protestant Missions in China.
By D. WILLARD LYON, a Secretary of the Student Volunteer Movement. 16mo,
paper, 15c.
_MISSIONS, CHINA AND FORMOSA._
James Gilmour, of Mongolia.
His Diaries, Letters and Reports. Edited and arranged by RICHARD LOVETT,
M.A. With three photogravure Portraits and Illustrations. 8vo, cloth,
gilt top, $1.75.
“It is a vivid picture of twenty years of devoted and heroic service
in a field as hard as often falls to the lot of a worker in foreign
lands.”—_The Congregationalist._
Among the Mongols.
By Rev. JAMES GILMOUR. Illustrated, 12mo, cloth, $1.25.
James Gilmour and His Boys.
Being Letters to his Sons in England. With facsimiles of Letters, a Map
and other Illustrations. 12mo, cloth, $1.25.
Griffith John,
Founder of the Hankow Mission, Central China. By WILLIAM ROBSON.
Missionary Biography Series. Illustrated. 12mo, cloth, 75c.
John Kenneth Mackenzie,
Medical Missionary to China. With the Story of the first Chinese
Hospital. By Mrs. MARY I. BRYSON. With portrait. 12mo, cloth, $1.50.
The Story of the China Inland Mission.
By M. GERALDINE GUINNESS. Introduction by J. HUDSON TAYLOR, F.R.G.S.
Illustrated, 2 volumes, 8vo, cloth, each, $1.50.
From Far Formosa:
The Island, its People and Missions. By Rev. G. L. MACKAY, D.D., 23
years a missionary on the island. Well indexed. With many Illustrations
from photographs by the author, and several Maps. _Fifth thousand.
Popular edition._ 8vo, cloth, $1.25.
China and Formosa.
The Story of the Mission of the Presbyterian Church of England. By Rev.
JAMES JOHNSON, editor of “Missionary Conference Report, 1888.” With 4
Maps and many illustrations, prepared for this work. 8vo, cloth, $1.75.
_MISSIONS, INDIA._
In the Tiger Jungle.
And Other Stories of Missionary Work among the Telugus. By Rev. JACOB
CHAMBERLAIN, M.D., D.D., for 37 years a Missionary in India.
Illustrated. 12mo, cloth, $1.00.
“If this is the kind of missionary who mans the foreign stations, they
will never fail for lack of enterprise.... The book is withal a vivid
and serious portrayal of the mission work, and as such leaves a deep
impression on the reader.”—_The Independent._
The Child of the Ganges.
A Tale of the Judson Mission. By Prof. R. N. BARRETT, D.D. Illustrated.
12mo, cloth, $1.25.
Adoniram Judson.
By JULIA H. JOHNSTON. Missionary Annals Series. 12mo, paper, net, 15c.;
flexible cloth, net, 30c.
Once Hindu, now Christian.
The Early Life of Baba Padmanji. An Autobiography, translated. Edited by
J. MURRAY MITCHELL, M.A. 16mo, cloth, 75c.
William Carey.
The Shoemaker who became “the Father and Founder of Foreign Missions.”
By Rev. JOHN B. MYERS. Missionary Biography Series. Illustrated.
_Twenty-second thousand._ 12mo, cloth, 75c.
William Carey.
By MARY E. FARWELL. Missionary Annals Series. 12mo, paper, net, 15c.;
flexible cloth, net, 30c.
Alexander Duff.
By ELIZABETH B. VERMILYE. Missionary Annals Series. 12mo, paper, net,
15c.; flexible cloth, net, 30c.
Reginald Heber,
Bishop of Calcutta, Scholar and Evangelist. By ARTHUR MONTEFIORE.
Missionary Biography Series. Illustrated. 12mo, cloth, 75c.
Heavenly Pearls Set in a Life.
A Record of Experiences and Labors in America, India, and Australia. By
Mrs. LUCY D. OSBORN. Illustrated. 12mo, cloth, $1.50.
_MISSIONS, PERSIA AND INDIA._
Persian Life and Customs.
With Incidents of Residence and Travel in the Land of the Lion and the
Sun. By Rev. S. G. WILSON, M.A., for 15 years a missionary in Persia.
With Map, and other Illustrations, and Index. _Second edition, reduced
in price._ 8vo, cloth, $1.25.
Justin Perkins,
Pioneer Missionary to Persia. By his son, Rev. H. M. PERKINS. Missionary
Annals Series. 12mo, paper, net, 15c.; flexible cloth, net, 30c.
Women and the Gospel in Persia.
By Rev. THOMAS LAURIE, D.D. Missionary Annals Series. 12mo, paper, net,
15c.; flexible cloth, net, 30c.
Henry Martyn, Saint and Scholar.
First Modern Missionary to the Mohammedans. 1781–1812. By GEORGE SMITH,
author of “Life of William Carey,” “The Conversion of India,” etc. With
Portrait, Map, and Illustrations. Large 8vo, cloth, gilt top, $3.00.
“This excellent biography, so accurately written, so full of interest
and contagious enthusiasm, so well arranged, illustrated, and indexed,
is worthy of the subject.”—_The Critic._
Henry Martyn.
His Life and Labors: Cambridge—India—Persia. By JESSE PAGE. Missionary
Biography Series. Illustrated. _Eleventh thousand._ 12mo, cloth, 75c.
Henry Martyn.
Missionary to India and Persia. 1781–1812. Abridged from the Memoir by
Mrs. SARAH J. RHEA. Missionary Annals Series. 12mo, paper, net, 15c.;
flexible cloth, net, 30c.
The Conversion of India.
From Pantænus to the Present Time, A. D. 193–1893. By GEORGE SMITH,
C.I.E., author of “Henry Martyn.” Illustrated. 12mo, cloth, $1.50.
The Cross in the Land of the Trident.
By Rev. HARLAN P. BEACH, Educational Secretary of the Student Volunteer
Movement. _5th thousand._ 12mo, paper, net, 25c.; cloth, 50c.
_MISSIONS, JAPAN._
Rambles in Japan,
The Land of the Rising Sun. By Rev. Canon H. B. TRISTRAM, D.D., F.R.S.
With forty-six illustrations by EDWARD WHYMPER, a Map, and an index.
8vo, cloth, $2.00.
“A delightful book by a competent author, who, as a naturalist, writes
well of the country, while as a Christian and a humanitarian he writes
with sympathy of the new institutions of new Japan.”—_The
Independent._
The Gist of Japan:
The Islands, their People, and Missions. By Rev. R. B. PEERY, A.M.,
Ph.D., of the Lutheran Mission, Saga. Illustrated. 12mo, cloth
decorated, $1.25.
This book does not pretend to be an exhaustive treatise of an
exhaustless topic; it does pretend to cover the subject; and whosoever
is eager to know the “gist” of those matters Japanese in which
Westerners are most interested—the land, the people, the coming of
Christianity, the difficulties and prospects of her missions, the
condition of the native Church—will find it set down in Dr. Peery’s
book in a very interesting, reliable, instructive, and condensed form.
The Ainu of Japan.
The Religion, Superstitions, and General History of the Hairy Aborigines
of Japan. By Rev. JOHN BATCHELOR. With 80 Illustrations. 12mo, cloth,
$1.50.
“Mr. Batchelor’s book, besides its eighty trustworthy illustrations,
its careful editing, and its excellent index, is replete with
information of all sorts about the Ainu men, women, and children.
Almost every phase of their physical and metaphysical life has been
studied, and carefully noted.”—_The Nation._
The Diary of a Japanese Convert.
By KANZO UCHIMURA. 12mo, cloth, $1.00.
“This book is far more than the name indicates. It is the only book of
its kind published in the English language, if not in any language. It
is something new under the sun, and is as original as it is new. It
has the earmarks of a strong and striking individuality, is clear in
diction, forceful in style, and fearless in criticism.”—_The
Interior._
A Maker of the New Japan.
Joseph Hardy Neesima, the Founder of Doshisha University. By Rev. J. D.
DAVIS, D.D., Professor in Doshisha. Illustrated. _Second edition._ 12mo,
cloth, $1.00.
“The life is admirably and spiritedly written, and its hero stands
forth as one of the most romantic and inspiring figures of modern
times, a benefactor to his own country and an object of tender regard
on our part; for it was to the United States that Mr. Neesima turned
for light and help in his educational plans.”—_The Examiner._
_MISSIONS, PACIFIC ISLANDS._
John G. Paton,
Missionary to the New Hebrides. An Autobiography, edited by his brother.
With an Introductory Note by Rev. A. T. PIERSON, D.D. Illustrated.
_Tenth thousand._ 2 vols., 12mo, cloth, gilt top, boxed, net, $2.00;
_cheaper edition_, 1 vol., 12mo, cloth, $1.50.
“We commend to all who would advance the cause of Foreign Missions
this remarkable autobiography. It stands with such books as those Dr.
Livingstone gave the world, and shows to men that the heroes of the
cross are not merely to be sought in past ages.”—_The Christian
Intelligencer._
Bishop Patterson,
The Martyr of Melanesia. By JESSIE PAGE. Missionary Biography Series.
Illustrated. _Thirteenth thousand._ 12mo, cloth, 75c.
James Calvert;
Or, From Dark to Dawn in Fiji. By R. VERNON. Missionary Biography
Series. Illustrated. _Tenth thousand._ 12mo, cloth, 75c.
From Darkness to Light in Polynesia.
With Illustrative Clan Songs. By Rev. WILLIAM WYATT GILL, LL.D.
Illustrated. 12mo, cloth, $2.40.
John Williams,
The Martyr Missionary of Polynesia. By Rev. JAMES J. ELLIS. Missionary
Biography Series. Illustrated. _Thirteenth thousand._ 12mo, cloth, 75c.
Among the Maoris;
Or, Daybreak in New Zealand. A Record of the Labors of Marsden, Selwyn,
and others. By JESSIE PAGE. Missionary Biography Series. Illustrated.
12mo, cloth, 75c.
Pioneering in New Guinea,
1877–1894. By JAMES CHALMERS. With a Map and 43 Illustrations from
Original Sketches and Photographs. 8vo, cloth, $1.50.
“It reveals a splendid character, and records a noble apostolic work.
It is a notable addition to our missionary literature of the high
class.”—_The Standard._
James Chalmers,
Missionary and Explorer of Rarotonga and New Guinea. By WILLIAM ROBSON.
Missionary Biography Series. Illustrated. _Fourteenth thousand._ 12mo,
cloth, 75c.
_MISSIONS, AMERICA._
On the Indian Trail,
And Other Stories of Missionary Work among the Cree and Saulteaux
Indians. By EGERTON R. YOUNG. Illustrated by J. E. LAUGHLIN. 12mo,
cloth, $1.00.
Mr. Young is well known to readers of all ages as the author of “By
Canoe and Dog Train,” “Three Boys in the Wild North Land,” and other
very popular books describing life and adventure in the great
Northwest. The stories in this new book tell of some very exciting
incidents in his career, and describe phases of life among the
American Indians which are fast becoming things of the past.
Forty-two Years Among the Indians and Eskimos.
Pictures from the Life of the Rt. Rev. John Horden, first Bishop of
Moosonee. By BEATRICE BATTY. Illustrated. 12mo, cloth, $1.00.
Vikings of To-Day;
Or, Life and Medical Work among the Fishermen of Labrador. By WILFRED T.
GRENFEL, M.D., of the Deep Sea Mission. Illustrated from Original
Photographs. _Second edition._ 12mo, cloth, $1.25.
“The author has been in charge of the work since its inception, and
writes, accordingly, with special authority and wealth of detail, both
as to the methods of work and as to the people—the fearless, patient
Vikings—to whom he has dedicated his life.”—_The Examiner._
Amid Greenland Snows;
Or, The Early History of Arctic Missions. By JESSE PAGE. Missionary
Biography Series. Illustrated. _Tenth thousand._ 12mo, cloth, 75c.
Kin-da-Shon’s Wife.
An Alaskan Story. By Mrs. EUGENE S. WILLARD. Illustrated. _Third
edition._ 8vo, cloth, $1.50.
“From beginning to end the book holds the attention. Mrs. Willard has
shown herself peculiarly well qualified to write such a book.”—_Public
Opinion._
David Brainerd,
The Apostle to the North American Indians. By JESSE PAGE. Missionary
Biography Series. Illustrated. _Twelfth thousand._ 12mo, cloth, 75c.
South America, the Neglected Continent.
By LUCY E. GUINNESS and E. C. MILLARD. With a Map in colors and many
other Illustrations. Small 4to, paper, 50c.; cloth, 75c.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
● Typos fixed; non-standard spelling and dialect retained.
● Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.
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