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
'April 12.--Bishop came out yesterday afternoon from Auckland. After
baptisms at 5, and evening service at 7, sat till past 11 settling
plans: thus, God willing, start this day fortnight to return the
boys--this will occupy about two months; as we come back from the far
north, he will drop one at Lifu, one of the Loyalty Islands, with large
population; he will go on to New Zealand, stay perhaps six weeks in New
Zealand, or it may be two months; so that with the time occupied by his
voyage from Lifu to New Zealand, 1,000 miles and back, he will be away
from Lifu about two and a half or three months. Then, picking me up
(say about September 12), we go on at once to the whole number of our
islands, spending three months or so among them, getting back to New
Zealand about the end of November. So that I shall be in Melanesia,
D.V., from the beginning of May to the end of November. I shall be able
to write once more before we start--letters which you will get by the
June mail from Sydney--and of course I shall send letters by the Bishop
when he leaves me at Lifu. But I shall not be able to hear again from
England till the Bishop comes to pick me up in September. Never mind. I
shall have plenty to do; and I can think of those dear ones at home, and
of you all, in God's keeping, with perfect comfort. The Lifu people are
in a more critical state than any others just now, otherwise I
should probably stop at San Cristoval. A few years ago they were very
wild--cannibals of course; but they are now building chapels, and
thirsting for the living waters. What a privilege and responsibility
to go to them as Christ's minister, to a people longing for the glad
tidings of the Gospel of Peace. Samoan teachers have been for a good
many years among them.
'I cannot write now to dearest Aunty or Pena.
'May God bless you and abundantly comfort you.... I think I see his dear
face. I see him always.
'Your loving cousin,
'J. C. PATTESON.'
Cho's wife had arrived in a cart at the College when her baby was a day
old, so rapid is recovery with mothers in those climates. 'I saw the
baby,' observes the journal, quite strong, not dark,--but I don't care
for them till they can talk; on the contrary, I think them a great bore,
especially in wooden houses, where a child with good lungs may easily
succeed in keeping all the inhabitants awake.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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