John G. Paton, missionary to the New Hebrides, volume 2 (of 3) : $b An autobiography edited by his brotherPaton, John Gibson
Religion
John G. Paton, missionary to the New Hebrides, volume 2 (of 3) : $b An autobiography edited by his brother
Paton, John Gibson
Missionaries -- Vanuatu -- Biography; Paton, John Gibson, 1824-1907
“My people, the people of Aniwa, the world is turned upside down
since the word of Jehovah came to this land! Who ever expected to see
rain coming up through the earth? It has always come from the clouds!
Wonderful is the work of this Jehovah God. No god of Aniwa ever
answered prayers as the Missi’s God has done. Friends of Namakei, all
the powers of the world could not have forced us to believe that rain
could be given from the depths of the earth, if we had not seen it
with our eyes, felt it and tasted it as we here do. Now, by the help
of Jehovah God the Missi brought that invisible rain to view, which we
never before heard of or saw, and,”—(beating his hand on his breast, he
exclaimed),—
“Something here in my heart tells me that the Jehovah God does exist,
the Invisible One, whom we never heard of nor saw till the Missi
brought Him to our knowledge. The coral has been removed, the land has
been cleared away, and lo! the water rises. Invisible till this day,
yet all the same it was there, though our eyes were too weak. So I,
your Chief, do now firmly believe that when I die, when the bits of
coral and the heaps of dust are removed which now blind my old eyes, I
shall then see the Invisible Jehovah God with my soul, as Missi tells
me, not less surely than I have seen the rain from the earth below.
From this day, my people, I must worship the God who has opened for
us the well, and who fills us with rain from below. The gods of Aniwa
cannot hear, cannot help us, like the God of Missi. Henceforth I am
a follower of Jehovah God. Let every man that thinks with me go now
and fetch the idols of Aniwa, the gods which our fathers feared, and
cast them down at Missi’s feet. Let us burn and bury and destroy these
things of wood and stone, and let us be taught by the Missi how to
serve the God who can hear, the Jehovah who gave us the well, and who
will give us every other blessing, for He sent His Son Jesus to die
for us and bring us to Heaven. This is what the Missi has been telling
us every day since he landed on Aniwa. We laughed at him, but now
we believe him. The Jehovah God has sent us rain from the earth. Why
should He not also send us His Son from Heaven? Namakei stands up for
Jehovah!”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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