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
'True, we have not to contend with subtle and highly-elaborated systems
of false religion. It is the ignorantia purae negationis, comparatively
speaking, in some of the islands; yet, generally, there is a settled
system of some kind observed among them, and in the Banks Islands, an
extraordinarily developed religion, which enters into every detail of
social and domestic life, and is mixed up with the daily life of every
person in the archipelago.
'I think, therefore, that men are needed who have what I may call strong
religious common sense to adapt Christianity to the wants of the various
nations that live in Melanesia, without compromising any truth of
doctrine or principle of conduct--men who can see, in the midst of the
errors and superstitions of a people, whatever fragment of truth or
symptom of a yearning after something better may exist among them, and
make that the point d'appui, upon which they may build up the structure
of Christian teaching. Men, moreover, of industry they must be, for it
is useless to talk of "picking up languages." Of course, in a few days a
man may learn to talk superficially and inaccurately on a few subjects;
but to teach Christianity, a man must know the language well, and this
is learnt only by hard work.
'Then, again, unless a man can dispense with what we ordinarily call
comfort or luxuries to a great extent, and knock about anywhere in
Melanesian huts, he can hardly do much work in this Mission. The climate
is so warm that, to my mind, it quite supplies the place of the houses,
clothing, and food of old days, yet a man cannot accommodate himself to
it all at once. I don't say that it came naturally to me five years ago,
as it does now, when I feel at home anywhere, and cease to think it
odd to do things which, I suppose, you would think very extraordinary
indeed.
'But most of all--for this makes all easy--men are wanted who really do
desire in their hearts to live for God and the world to come, and who
have really sought to sit very loosely to this world. The enjoyment, and
the happiness, and the peace all come, and that abundantly; but there is
a condition, and the first rub is a hard one, and lasts a good while.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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