John G. Paton, missionary to the New Hebrides, volume 1 (of 3) : $b An autobiography edited by his brotherPaton, John Gibson
Religion
John G. Paton, missionary to the New Hebrides, volume 1 (of 3) : $b An autobiography edited by his brother
Paton, John Gibson
Missionaries -- Vanuatu -- Biography; Paton, John Gibson, 1824-1907
He knelt down at my side, and we prayed for each other and for Tanna. I
then urged him to remain at the Mission House, but he replied,—
“O Missi, you do not know how near to death I am! I am just going, and
will soon be with Jesus, and see my wife and children now. While a
little strength is left, I will lean on Abraham’s arm, and go down to
the graves of my dear ones and fall asleep there, and Abraham will dig a
quiet bed and lay me beside them. Farewell, Missi, I am very near death
now; we will meet again in Jesus and with Jesus!”
With many tears he dragged himself away; and my heart-strings seemed all
tied round that noble simple soul, and felt like breaking one by one as
he left me there on my bed of fever all alone. Abraham sustained him,
tottering to the place of graves; there he lay down, and immediately
gave up the ghost and slept in Jesus; and there the faithful Abraham
buried him beside his wife and children. Thus died a man who had been a
cannibal Chief, but by the grace of God and the love of Jesus changed,
transfigured into a character of light and beauty. What think ye of
this, ye scoffers at Missions? What think ye of this, ye sceptics as to
the reality of conversion? He died, as he had lived since Jesus came to
his heart; without a fear as to death, with an ever-brightening
assurance as to salvation and glory through the blood of the Lamb of
God, that blood which had cleansed him from all his sins, and had
delivered him from their power. I lost, in losing him, one of my best
friends and most courageous helpers; but I knew, that day, and I know
now, that there is one soul at least from Tanna to sing the glories of
Jesus in Heaven—and, oh, the rapture when I meet him there!
Before leaving this terrible plague of measles, I may record my belief
that it swept away, with the accompanying sore throat and diarrhœa, a
third of the entire population of Tanna; nay, in certain localities more
than a third perished. The living declared themselves unable to bury the
dead, and great want and suffering ensued. The Teacher and his wife and
child, placed by us at Black Beach, were also taken away; and his
companion, the other Teacher there, embraced the first opportunity to
leave along with his wife for his own island, else his life would have
been taken in revenge. Yet, from all accounts afterwards received, I do
not think the measles were more fatal on Tanna than on the other Islands
of the group. They appear to have carried off even a larger proportion
on Aniwa, the future scene of my many sorrows but of greater triumphs.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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