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
With the year 1860 a new period, and one far more responsible and
eventful, began. After working for four years under Bishop Selwyn's
superintendence, Coleridge Patteson was gradually passing into a sphere
of more independent action; and, though his loyal allegiance to his
Primate was even more of the heart than of the letter, his time of
training was over; he was left to act more on his own judgment; and
things were ripening for his becoming himself a Bishop. He had nearly
completed his thirty-third year, and was in his fullest strength, mental
and bodily; and, as has been seen, the idea had already through Bishop
Selwyn's letters become familiar to his family, though he himself had
shrunk from entertaining it.
The first great change regarded the locality of the Melanesian school in
New Zealand. Repeated experience had shown that St. John's College was
too bleak for creatures used to basking under a vertical sun, and it
had been decided to remove to the sheltered landing-place at Kohimarama,
where buildings for the purpose had been commenced so as to be habitable
in time for the freight of 1859.
It should be explained, that the current expenses of the Mission had
been defrayed by the Eton and Sydney associations, with chance help
from persons privately interested, together with a grant of £200, and
afterwards £300 per annum from the Society for the Propagation of the
Gospel. The extra expense of this foundation was opportunely met by a
discovery on the part of Sir John Patteson, that his eldest son, living
upon the Merton Fellowship, had cost him £200 a year less than his
younger son, and therefore that, in his opinion, £800 was due to
Coleridge. Moreover, the earlier voyages, and, in especial the
characters of Siapo and Umao, had been so suggestive of incidents
fabricated in the 'Daisy Chain,' that the proceeds of the book were felt
to be the due of the Mission and at this time these had grown to such an
amount as to make up the sum needful for erecting such buildings as were
immediately requisite for the intended College.
These are described in the ensuing letter, which I give entire, because
the form of acknowledgment is the only style suitable to what, however
lightly acquired, was meant as an offering, even though it cost the
giver all too little:
'Kohimarama: Dec. 21, 1859.
'My dear Cousin,--I have received at length from my father a distinct
statement of what you have given to the Melanesian Mission. I had heard
rumours before, and the Bishop of Wellington had spoken to me of your
intentions, but the fact had not been regularly notified to us.
'I think I know you too well to say more than this. May God bless you
for what you have lent to Him, and give us, who are specially connected
with the Mission, grace to use your gift as you intend it to be used, to
His glory in the salvation of souls.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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