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
By the new Missionaries all the other old Stations were re-occupied
and some fresh Islands were entered upon in the name of Jesus. As we
moved about with our _Dayspring_, and planted the Missionaries here and
there, nothing could repress the wonder of Natives.
“How is this?” they cried; “we slew or drove them all away! We
plundered their houses and robbed them. Had we been so treated, nothing
would have made us return. But they come back with a beautiful new
ship, and with more and more Missionaries. And is it to trade and to
get money, like the other white men? No! no! But to tell us of their
Jehovah God and of His Son Jesus. If their God makes them do all that,
we may well worship Him too.”
In this way, island after island was opened up to receive the
Missionary, and their Chiefs bound themselves to protect and cherish
him, before they knew anything whatever of the Gospel, beyond what they
saw in the disposition and character of its Preachers or heard rumoured
regarding its fruits on other Islands. Even _Cannibals_ have sometimes
been found thus prepared to welcome the Missionary, and to make not
only his property but his life comparatively safe. The Isles “wait” for
Christ.
On our way to Aniwa, the _Dayspring_ had to call at Tanna. By stress of
weather we lay several days in Port Resolution. And there many memories
were again revived—wounds that after five-and-twenty years, when I now
write, still bleed afresh! Nowar, the old Chief, unstable but friendly,
was determined to keep us there by force or by fraud. The Captain told
him that the council of the Missionaries had forbidden him to land our
boxes at Tanna.
“Don’t land them,” said the wily Chief; “just throw them over; my men
and I will catch everything before it reaches the water, and carry them
all safely ashore!”
The Captain said he durst not. “Then,” persisted Nowar, “just point
them out to us; you will have no further trouble; we will manage
everything for Missi.”
They were in distress when he refused; and poor old Nowar tried another
tack. Suspecting that my dear wife was afraid of them, he got us on
shore to see his extensive plantations. Turning eagerly to her, he
said, leaving me to interpret,—
“Plenty of food! While I have a yam or a banana, you shall not want.”
She answered, “I fear not any lack of food.”
Pointing to his warriors, he cried, “We are many! We are strong! We can
always protect you.”
“I am not afraid,” she calmly replied.
He then led us to that fig-tree, in the branches of which I had sat
during a lonely and memorable night, when all hope had perished of any
earthly deliverance, and said to her with a manifest touch of genuine
emotion,—
“The God who protected Missi there will always protect you.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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