The Story of John G. Paton; Or, Thirty Years Among South Sea CannibalsPaton, John Gibson
Religion
The Story of John G. Paton; Or, Thirty Years Among South Sea Cannibals
Paton, John Gibson
Missions -- Vanuatu; Paton, John Gibson, 1824-1907
Of all my London associations, however, the deepest and the most
imperishable is that which weaves itself around the Honorable Ion
Keith-Falconer, who has already passed to what may truly be called a
Martyr's crown. At that time I met him at his father-in-law's house at
Trent; and on another occasion spent a whole day with him at the house
of his noble mother, the Countess-Dowager of Kintore. His soul was then
full of his projected Mission to the Arabs, being himself one of the
most distinguished Orientalists of the day; and as we talked together,
and exchanged experiences, I felt that never before had I visibly marked
the fire of God, the holy passion to seek and to save the lost, burning
more steadily or brightly on the altar of any human heart. The heroic
founding of the Mission at Aden is already one of the precious annals of
the Church of Christ. His young and devoted wife survives, to mourn
indeed, but also to cherish his noble memory; and, with the aid of
others, and the banner of the Free Church of Scotland, to see the
"Keith-Falconer Mission" rising up amidst the darkness of blood-stained
Africa, as at once a harbor of refuge for the slave, and a beacon-light
to those who are without God and without hope The servant does his day's
work, and passes on through the gates of sleep to the Happy Dawn; but
the Divine Master lives and works and reigns, and by our death, as
surely as by our life, His holy purposes shall be fulfilled.
CHAPTER LXXXIX.
FAREWELL SCENES.
ON returning to Scotland, every day was crowded with engagements for the
weeks that remained, and almost every mail brought me contributions from
all conceivable corners of the land. My heart was set upon taking out
two or three Missionaries with me to claim more and still more of the
Islands for Christ; and with that view I had addressed Divinity Students
at Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Aberdeen. Again and again, by conversation
and correspondence, consecrated young men were just on the point of
volunteering; but again and again the larger and better known fields of
labor turned the scale, and they finally decided for China or Africa or
India. Deeply disappointed at this, and thinking that God directed us to
look to our own Australia alone for Missionaries for the New Hebrides, I
resolved to return, and took steps towards securing a passage by the
Orient Line to Melbourne. But just then two able and devoted students,
Messrs. Morton and Leggatt, offered themselves as Missionaries for our
Islands; and shortly thereafter a third, Mr. Landells, also an excellent
man; and all, being on the eve of their License as preachers, were
approved of, accepted, and set to special preparations for the Mission
field, particularly in acquiring practical medical knowledge.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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