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
'What you say about a Missionary Bishop being for five months of the
year within the diocese of another Bishop, I will talk over with the
Bishop of New Zealand. I think our Synodical system will make that
all right; and as for my work, it will be precisely the same in all
respects, my external life altered only to the extent of my wearing a
broader brimmed and lower crowned hat. Dear Joan is investing moneys in
cutaway coats, buckles without end, and no doubt knee-breeches and what
she calls "gambroons" (whereof I have no cognizance), none of which will
be worn more than (say) four or five times in the year. Gambroons and
aprons and lawn sleeves won't go a-voyaging, depend upon it. Just when
I preach in some Auckland church I shall appear in full costume; but the
buckles will grow very rusty indeed!
'How kind and good of her to take all the trouble, I don't laugh
at that, and at her dear love for me and anxiety that I should have
everything; but I could not help having a joke about gambroons, whatever
they are....
'Good-bye once more, my dearest Father. You will, I trust, receive
this budget about the time of your birthday. How I think of you day and
night, and how I thank you for all your love, and perhaps most of all,
not only letting me come to Melanesia, but for your great love in never
calling me away from my work even to see your face once more on earth.
'Your loving and dutiful son,
'J. C. PATTESON.'
Remark upon a high-minded letter is generally an impertinence both to
the writer and the reader, but I cannot help pausing upon the foregoing,
to note the force of the expression that thanks the father for the love
that did not recall the son. What a different notion these two men had
of love from that which merely seeks self-gratification! Observe,
too, how the old self-contemplative, self-tormenting spirit, that was
unhappiness in those days of growth and heart-searching at the first
entrance into the ministry, had passed into humble obedience and trust.
Looking back to the correspondence of ten years ago, volumes of progress
are implied in the quiet 'Enough of this.'
There were, however, some delays in bringing the three together, and on
the New Year's Day of 1861, the designate writes to Bishop Abraham:
'I dare say the want of any positive certainty as to the time of the
Consecration is a good discipline for me. I think I feel calm now; but
I know I must not trust feelings, and when I think of those islands and
the practical difficulty of getting at them, and the need of so many of
those qualities which are so wonderfully united in our dear Primate,
I need strength from above indeed to keep my heart from sinking. But I
think that I do long and desire to work on by God's grace, and not to
look to results at all.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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