John G. Paton, Missionary to the New Hebrides, Volume 2 (of 3)

BY ARTHUR T. PIERSON, D.D.

The avidity with which Part I. of Mr. Paton’s remarkable life-story was received by the public in England has been no surprise. Before this second part was issued from the press, three thousand copies were already sold; and the entire edition of five thousand was so soon exhausted that it has been impossible to cope with the demand.

We have no hesitation in pronouncing this second part the most fascinating narrative of missionary adventure and heroism and success that we have ever met. This volume abounds in poetry and pathos, dramatic incident and thrilling experience, lit up by the golden rays of a delicate and unique humor. It reminds one of a varied landscape with bold mountains and modest valleys, where snow-crowned summits look down on summer gardens; where cascades fall into quiet streams, and where all the marvels of light and shade at once relieve and diversify the scene. The twenty-two miles’ gallop through the Australian Bush on the back of Garibaldi, which made the inexperienced rider drunk with excitement and fatigue; the Aniwan woman who, judging clothes an evidence of a new heart, approved her decided conversion by coming into chapel having her person grotesquely adorned with every article of male attire which she could beg or borrow, may illustrate the comical side of this charming story. The three years of progress among cannibals, in laying foundations of Christian families, schools, churches, and even social order, may serve as one of the greatest vindications, through all history, of that Gospel which is still the power of God and the wisdom of God unto salvation.

It is a true joy to me, that I am enabled to place Part Second of my brother’s Autobiography in the hands of the Public without undue delay.

The amount of interesting and precious material, entrusted to me to be re-written and prepared for the Press, has, by its very abundance and variety, landed me in the greatest perplexity. Amidst all the toil and anxiety of producing such a book, my only painful experience has been the necessity of cutting out page after page, every whit as beautiful and valuable as any of the pages for which room has been found.

That observation applies very specially to the “Letters,” which constitute Chapter IX. These I verily regret to publish in mere fragments, instead of in their own rounded completeness.

Two whole Chapters, as outlined by my brother, I am sorrowfully necessitated to omit, so that the Life-Story itself may not be too much enlarged or overloaded. The one refers to “The Kanaka, or Labour Traffic in the South Seas”; and the other to “Annexation, and the Future of the New Hebrides.” Both are of vital import among the Public Questions of the day; and, in the discussion of both, his position and opportunities have led him to take a not inconsiderable share. But the claims of what may more properly be regarded as the Personal Narrative were paramount; and the allotted space, within the limits of this volume, left me, for the present at least, no other choice.

Readers would think me foolishly uplifted, if I indicated one-hundredth part of the chorus of approbation, that has reached me regarding Part First of this Autobiography. My best wish for the Second Volume is that it may be similarly welcomed; and that it may bring a special blessing to as many hearts in all quarters of the world. More than that I could not reasonably anticipate.

James Paton,
Editor.

Glasgow,
October, 1889.

Preliminary Note. — Call for a Mission Ship. — A Brutal Captain. — Sun-Worshippers or Slaves? — The Lights of Sydney. — Thrown upon the Lord. — Mr. Foss’s Open Door. — Climbing into Pulpits. — Shipping Company for Jesus. — The Golden Shower. — Wanted More Missionaries. — Commissioned to Scotland. — Wayside Incidents of Australian Travel. — Lost in the Bush. — Sinking in the Swamp. — Put Through My Catechism. — “Do for the Parson!” — Crossing the Colony on Novel Conditions. — Pay-Day at a Squatter’s. — Three Days in a Public House. — A Meeting among the Diggers. — Camping Out. — A Squatter Rescued. — John Gilpin’s Ride through the Bush.

Strange yet gratifying news has reached me. Part First of my Autobiography has met with a wonderful response from the Public. Within three weeks of its appearance, a second edition has been called for.

At the Editor’s urgent appeal, therefore, and assured also that the finger of God is guiding me, I take up my pen to write Part Second, feeling that I am bound to do so by my promise at the close of the first volume, and by loyalty to the Lord, who seems thus to use my humble life-story to promote the glory of His Name both at home and abroad.

But, oh, surely never any man was called upon to write a book amid such distracting circumstances! Ceaselessly travelling from Church to Church and from town to town from one end of Australia to the other, — addressing a meeting almost every evening of the week, often also during the afternoons, and several Congregations and Sabbath Schools every Lord’s Day, — the following pages are the outpourings of a heart saturated with the subject, but bereft of all opportunity for quiet thought or studious hours.

Having thus far done my part, I leave all else to the careful Editorship of my dear brother, whose loving hand will put everything into shape for the public eyes. This only I can sincerely testify, — The Lord has called for it, and I lay on His altar the only gift that I have to offer, believing that He will both accept it and use it as He sees to be for the best.

* * *

Rescued from Tanna by the Blue Bell in the Spring of 1862, I was landed on Aneityum, leaving behind me all that I owned on Earth, save the clothes upon my back, my precious Bible, and a few translations that I had made from it into the Tannese language. The Missionaries on Aneityum — Messrs. Geddie and Copeland — united, after repeated deliberations, in urging me to go to Australia in the interests of our Mission. In this appeal they were joined now by my companions in tribulation, Mr. and Mrs. Mathieson. A Mission Ship was sorely needed — was absolutely required, to prevent the needless sacrifice of devoted lives. More Missionaries were called for, and must somehow be brought into the field, unless the hope of claiming these fair Islands for Jesus was to be for ever abandoned.

With unaffected reluctance, I at last felt constrained to undertake this unwelcome but apparently inevitable task. It meant the leaving of my dear Islanders for a season; but it embraced within it the hope of returning to them again, with perhaps every power of blessing amongst them tenfold increased.

A Sandal-wooder, then lying at Aneityum, was to sail in a few days direct for Sydney. My passage was secured for £10. And, as if to make me realize how bare the Lord had stripped me in my late trials, the first thing that occupied me on board was the making with my own hands, from a piece of cloth obtained on Aneityum, another shirt for the voyage, to change with that which I wore — the only one that had been left to me.

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