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
Stunned by that dreadful loss, in entering upon this field of labour to
which the Lord had Himself so evidently led me, my reason seemed for a
time almost to give way. Ague and fever, too, laid a depressing and
weakening hand upon me, continuously recurring, and reaching oftentimes
the very height of its worst burning stages. But I was never altogether
forsaken. The ever-merciful Lord sustained me, to lay the precious dust
of my beloved Ones in the same quiet grave, dug for them close by at the
end of the house; in all of which last offices my own hands, despite
breaking heart, had to take the principal share! I built the grave round
and round with coral blocks, and covered the top with beautiful white
coral, broken small as gravel; and that spot became my sacred and
much-frequented shrine, during all the following months and years when I
laboured on for the salvation of these savage Islanders amidst
difficulties, dangers, and deaths. Whensoever Tanna turns to the Lord,
and is won for Christ, men in after-days will find the memory of that
spot still green,—where with ceaseless prayers and tears I claimed that
land for God in which I had “buried my dead” with faith and hope. But
for Jesus, and the fellowship He vouchsafed me there, I must have gone
mad and died beside that lonely grave.
The organ of the Church to which we belonged, _The Reformed Presbyterian
Magazine_, published the following words of condolence:—“In regard to
the death of Mrs. Paton, one feeling of grief and regret will fill the
hearts of all who knew her. To add a sentence to the singularly just and
graceful tribute Mr. Inglis pays to the memory of the deceased, would
only mar its pathos and effect. Such language, from one accustomed to
weigh carefully every word he pens, bespeaks at once the rare
excellences of her that is gone, as well as the heavy loss our Mission
and our Church have sustained in her death. Her parents, who gave her by
a double baptism to the Lord, have this consolation, that her death may
exert a more elevating and sanctifying influence for good, than the
longest life of many ordinary Christians. Deep sympathy with Mr. Paton
will pervade the Church, in the sore trial with which he has been
visited.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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