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
On October 31, the Rev. Samuel Wilberforce, then Archdeacon of Surrey,
and since Bishop of Oxford and of Winchester, preached in the morning at
New Windsor parish church, and the newly-made Bishop of New Zealand in
the afternoon. Coley was far more affected than he then had power to
express. He says: 'I heard Archdeacon Wilberforce in the morning, and
the Bishop in the evening, though I was forced to stand all the time.
It was beautiful when he talked of his going out to found a church, and
then to die neglected and forgotten. All the people burst out crying,
he was so very much beloved by his parishioners. He spoke of his perils,
and putting his trust in God; and then, when, he had finished, I think
I never heard anything like the sensation, a kind of feeling that if it
had not been on so sacred a spot, all would have exclaimed "God bless
him!"'
The text of this memorable sermon was, 'Thine heart shall be enlarged,
because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the
forces also of the Gentiles shall come unto thee.' (Is. lx. 5.) Many
years later we shall find a reference to this, the watchword of the
young hearer's life.
The Archdeacon's sermon was from John xvii. 20, 21: 'Neither pray I for
these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their
word; that they all may be One, as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in
Thee, that they also may be One in Us: that the world may believe that
Thou hast sent Me.' And here again we find one of the watchwords of
Coley's life, for nothing so dwelt with him and so sustained him as the
sense of unity, whether with these at home in England, or with those in
the inner home of the Saints. When the sermon concluded with the words,
'As we are giving of our best, as our Church is giving of her best, in
sending forth from her own bosom these cherished and chosen sons, so let
there go forth from every one of us a consenting offering; let us give
this day largely, in a spirit of self-sacrifice, as Christian men, to
Christ our Lord, and He will graciously accept and bless the offerings
that we make'--the preacher could little guess that among the lads who
stood in the aisle was one in whom was forming the purpose of offering
his very self also.
For at that time Coleridge Patteson was receiving impressions that
became the seed of his future purpose, and the eyes of his spirit were
seeing greater things than the Vicarage of Feniton. Indeed, the subject
was not entirely new to him, for Edward Coleridge was always deeply
interested in missions, and had done his best to spread the like
feeling, often employing the willing services of his pupils in copying
letters from Australia, Newfoundland, &c.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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