Life of John Coleridge Patteson : Missionary Bishop of the Melanesian IslandsYonge, Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary)
Religion
Life of John Coleridge Patteson : Missionary Bishop of the Melanesian Islands
Yonge, Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary)
Missions -- Melanesia; Patteson, John Coleridge, 1827-1871
His mother was Mary, but He had no father
on earth, only God the Father in heaven was His Father: the Holy Ghost
made Mary to be mother of Jesus Christ.
'Then I take two books, or anything else, and say, This one is God, and
this is man. They are far apart, because man is so bad and God is so
good. But Jesus Christ came in the middle between them, and joins them
together. He is God and He is Man too; so in(side) Him, God and Man
meet, like the meeting of two men in one path; and He says Himself He is
the true Way, the only true Path to God and heaven. God was angry with
us because we sinned; but Jesus Christ died on the cross, and then God
the Father forgave us because Jesus Christ gave His life that we might
always live, and not die. By and by He will come to judge us; and He
knows what we do, whether we steal and lie, or whether we pray and teach
what is good. Men of Bauro and Gera and Santa Cruz don't know that yet,
but you do, and you must remember, if you go on doing as they do after
you know God's will, you will be sent down to the fire, and not see
Jesus Christ, who died that you might live.
'I think that they know all this, and much in the exactly equivalent
words. Of course I find difficulty in rendering religious ideas in a
language which contains scarcely any words adequate to express them, but
I am hopeful enough to believe that they do know so much at all events.
How far their hearts are affected, One alone knows. It is indeed but
little after they have been with us four months; but till I had them on
shore, I could get very little work done. The constant boat work took me
away, and anywhere in sight of islands, of course they were on deck in
eagerness to see the strange country. Then I could not work with energy
while my leg would not let me take exercise. But it is now beginning
to be a real pleasure as well as duty to teach both Nengone and Bauro
people. Enough of the language to avoid most of the drudgery has been
got over, I hope, though not near enough for purposes of 'exact and
accurate translation.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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