{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_74994/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_74994","id":"gutenberg_74994","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/74994","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Biographies","Category: History - Religious","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Category: Travel Writing","Missionaries -- Vanuatu -- Biography","Paton, John Gibson, 1824-1907"],"text":"[Illustration: \u00c6t. 70.]\n\n\n\n\n                             JOHN G. PATON\n                     Missionary to the New Hebrides\n\n\n                        An Autobiography Edited\n                             by His Brother\n\n                              VOLUME III.\n\n With a Historical Note and an Account of the Progress of the Gospel in\n                            the New Hebrides\n\n                             _Illustrated_\n\n[Illustration: [Logo]]\n\n                   NEW YORK      CHICAGO      TORONTO\n                       Fleming H. Revell Company\n                  Publishers of Evangelical Literature\n\n\n\n\n                            Copyright, 1898\n                                   BY\n                       FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY\n\n\n\n\n                           EDITOR\u2019S PREFACE.\n\n\nThe Autobiography of my brother, Dr. John G. Paton has now, at my urgent\nentreaty, been continued by him, and carried on to the present year.\n\nIt tells the Story of the Life during the twelve years that have elapsed\nsince Part First and Part Second were completed by the Author, and\nseparately given to the world.\n\nThe following words from the _Preface_ to an early Edition of the\nAutobiography are equally applicable to present circumstances:\u2014\u201cThe\nPublic hailed it from the first with a welcome so uncommon, and God has\nin many ways so signally owned and blessed it, that it would be no\nmodesty, but sheer stupidity, on my part, to fail in recognizing that it\nhas been voted a Missionary Classic by the great and free Community of\nReaders. I have therefore spared no pains in making it as perfect as it\nis in my power to do, with the help of many minute corrections from\nfriends here and abroad, and also happy suggestions as to matters of\ndetail from the honored Missionary himself.\u201d\n\nIn the original _Preface_ when the book was first published in 1889, I\nsaid: \u201cThe Manuscript of this Volume, put together in a rough draft amid\nceaseless and exacting toils, was placed in my hands and left absolutely\nto my disposal by my beloved brother, the Missionary. It has been to me\na labor of perfect love to re-write and revise the same, pruning here\nand expanding there, and, preparing the whole for the press. In the\nincidents of personal experience, constituting the larger part of the\nbook, the reader peruses in an almost unaltered form the graphic and\nsimple narrative as it came from my brother\u2019s pen. But, as many sections\nhave been re-cast and largely modified, especially in those Chapters of\nwhose events I was myself an eyewitness, or regarding which I had\ninformation at first hand from the parties concerned therein,\u2014and as\ncircumstances make it impossible to submit these in their present shape\nto my brother before publication,\u2014I must request the Public to lay upon\nme, and not on him, all responsibility for the final shape in which the\nAutobiography appears. I publish it because Something tells me there is\na blessing in it.\u201d\n\nThat belief was abundantly justified. The book has had a great\ncirculation, not only in Great Britain, but also in America, and in the\nColonies; and it has been translated, in whole or in part, into many\nModern Languages.\n\n                                                            JAMES PATON.\n\n\n  GLASGOW, _February, 1898_.\n\n\n\n\n                               CONTENTS.\n\n\n                              CHAPTER I.\n\n               _ROUND THE WORLD FOR JESUS._\n                                                    PAGE\n               From 1886 to 1892                      23\n               Tour Round the World                   24\n               Fire-Arms and Intoxicants              25\n               International Prohibition Proposed     25\n               Deputies to America                    27\n               Samoan Converts                        28\n               America and Hawaii                     29\n               San Francisco                          30\n               Salt Lake City                         31\n               Chicago                                32\n               Niagara                                33\n               Pan-Presbyterian Council at Toronto    34\n               The Ruthven Imposture                  35\n               Sabbath Observance                     39\n               Rochester                              40\n               New York                               40\n               Public Petitions                       41\n               Washington                             41\n               The Presbyterian Assembly              42\n               President Cleveland                    43\n               France\u2019s Withdrawal                    43\n               Dr. Joseph Cook                        44\n               Dr. Blank                              45\n               Second Probation                       47\n               Chicago Exhibition                     47\n               Canadian Presbyterian Church           50\n               Two Months\u2019 Rush of Meetings           51\n               Incidents of Travel                    53\n               Impressions of Canada and the States   59\n\n\n                              CHAPTER II.\n\n               _THE HOME-LANDS AND THE ISLANDS._\n\n               Arrival in Great Britain               63\n               Requisitions                           64\n               Professors and Students                67\n               _Dayspring_ Scheme                     67\n               Ten Years\u2019 Delay                       67\n               Gideon\u2019s Fleece Experiment             74\n               Two memorable Checks                   75\n               The \u201cJohn G. Paton Mission Fund\u201d       77\n               The _Dayspring_ Disaster               85\n               Mission Work on all the Islands        91\n\n\n\n\n                         LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.\n\n\n JOHN G. PATON, \u00e6t. 70                                   _Frontispiece._\n WILLIAMS RIVER, ERROMANGA                               _To face p._ 14\n MEMBERS OF THE NEW HEBRIDES MISSION SYNOD, 1898            \u201e      28\n HEATHEN NATIVES OF AMBRIM\n MEMORIALS OF THE DEAD, AMBRIM                              \u201e      58\n A HEATHEN CHIEF OF FUTUNA\n EPETENETO                                                  \u201e      96\n\nFor the use of all the above illustrations, save the first, our\nacknowledgments are due to \u201cThe Missionary Review of the World.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n                            Historical Note.\n\n\nBalboa, governor of Santa Maria, discovered the Southern Ocean in 1513,\nnamed it the South Sea, and took possession in the name of the king of\nSpain. Six years later Magellan sailed through a large portion of it,\nand called it the Pacific Ocean. In 1569 Mendana discovered and named\nthe Solomon group, and in 1595 the Queen Charlotte group. The New\nHebrides were discovered in 1606 by Quiros, who thought he had\ndiscovered a great southern continent, and called it the Land of the\nHoly Spirit. He anchored in port Philip Santo, and tried to establish a\ncity (New Jerusalem) on the bank of the large river Yor, which runs into\nthe bay. But the Spaniards quarrelled with the natives and left it.\nQuiros sailed to Mexico, but Torres, the senior officer in command,\nsailed west, discovered and passed through Torres Straits, which bear\nhis name, between Queensland and New Guinea. Boginville discovered that\nit was not a continent, but a group of islands, that Quiros had\ndiscovered, and he named them the Great Cyclades. Bent on discovering\nnew lands, about that period many eminent navigators sailed in the South\nSea, but we hear nothing more of the New Hebrides till, in 1767, the\nfamous Captain Cook sailed on his first voyage to observe the transit of\nVenus at Tahiti. In 1773 Captain Cook returned, and sailed twice through\nthe group, spending forty-six days in exploring and describing every\nisland and the natives with an accuracy scarcely yet surpassed.\nBelieving he had discovered the most westerly group in the South Sea, he\ngave it its present name, the New Hebrides; but 200 miles southwest he\nafterward discovered another large island, and called it New Caledonia.\nHe took possession of it in the name of his sovereign, King George the\nThird; but in 1854, when Britain was engaged in the Crimean war, France\ntook possession of it, and turned it into a large convict station at the\ndoor of Australia, to which, by escaped convicts, it is a source of\ndanger and pollution.\u2014J. G. P.\n\n\n\n\n                   The Gospel in the New Hebrides.[1]\n\n                      BY REV. JOHN G. PATON, D. D.\n\n\nFootnote 1:\n\n  _From \u201cThe Missionary Review of the World.\u201d_\n\nGeographers have arranged the South Sea islands under three divisions:\nPolynesia, the many eastern islands between 180 degrees and South\nAmerica; Melanesia, the black islands, from the dark-brown color of\ntheir inhabitants\u2014they include Fiji and all the islands west, with New\nGuinea; Micronesia, all the small islands north of the line from Hawaii\non the east to China on the west. The South Sea islands are inhabited by\nonly two races, the Malay Polynesian and the Papuan. The Malays appear\nto be of Asiatic origin, and are the superior race, with well-developed,\npowerful persons, yellow in color, and with straight, glossy, black\nhair. The Papuans are so called from Papua, or New Guinea. They occupy\nthe western islands, and are not generally so tall and handsome in\nperson as the Malays. They are of a dark-brown color, with dark, curly\nhair of different shades, and appear to be allied to the negro; but have\nplump, pleasant features, unlike the negro and the aborigines of\nAustralia. The Malays all speak one language, with dialectic\ndifferences, all musical and liquid, like the Italian. Every word ends\nin a vowel. The Papuans speak a different language on almost every\nisland, or dialects differing, so that the natives of one island cannot\nunderstand those of another; and on some islands two or even three\ndialects are spoken on the same island, so different that the\ninhabitants of the one district cannot understand those of the other.\nNearly the whole, if not the whole, population of the South Sea islands\nwere cannibals, in a state of nudity, when missionary work was begun on\nthem, yet even there, by God\u2019s blessing, almost every society and church\nengaged in the work has been used and honored in the conversion of many\nthousands, and now each is working on an independent portion of New\nGuinea for the salvation of its natives, and with encouraging success.\n\nThe New Hebrides consist of about thirty inhabited islands, with many\nsmall ones adjoining. The group lies south-southeast and\nnorth-northwest, extending over 400 miles of ocean, between 21 degrees\nand 15 degrees south latitude, and 171 degrees and 166 degrees east\nlongitude. The Solomon group, which is the centre of the Church of\nEngland\u2019s mission, is about 200 miles northwest from the New Hebrides.\nNew Caledonia is about 200 miles southwest, Fiji about 400 miles,\nAuckland about 1,000, and Sydney, Australia, 1,400 miles distant from\nour group. In her first charter to New Zealand, Britain included the New\nHebrides, but, apparently by some mistake, they were afterward left out.\nYet, except to New Zealand and Australia, the group is of little\ncommercial value to any other country, on account of the great distances\nof all others from it.\n\nAs the natives have got nearly all the blessings of Christianity and\ncivilization which they possess from British missionaries and subjects,\nthey unanimously plead for British annexation and protection, while,\nfrom their oppressive cruelty to the natives, and suppression of\nProtestant schools and mission work on the Loyalty group and on other\ngroups annexed, they fear and hate the French. There are other cogent\nreasons, for the French Senate passed a resolution \u201cto send 100,000 of\nFrance\u2019s lowest criminals to the New Hebrides, as freed men and women,\nto live as they could and go where they would, on the one condition that\nthey do not return to France.\u201d Against this Australasia and Britain\nprotested so decidedly that the scheme was not carried out; but the\nresolution to deport them was renewed, and for the present the\ndestination is kept secret. The French have recently been sending Roman\nCatholic priests to the New Hebrides, apparently as political agents. A\nfew months ago the heathen natives of one of our islands eagerly desired\na Protestant missionary to settle among them, and give them the teaching\nof Jesus and His salvation, and when they were selling our missionaries\na site for the station, two priests gave them much abuse, and told them\nof all the fearful calamities which would befall them if they allowed\nthe Protestant missionaries to land on their island. They also gave the\nmissionaries much abuse, and at last offered the natives three Sniders\n(rifles) and two large, fat hogs for the site, if they would forbid the\nProtestant missionaries to settle on the island. Though, above\neverything else, the heathen islanders desire Sniders and such fat pigs,\nyet they rejected the priests\u2019 offer, and sold the station to our\nmissionaries. The highest French officials in these colonies have sent a\nman-of-war to the spot to investigate this case, and their report proves\nthat it was correctly stated by us.\n\nIn 1839 the famous John Williams and Mr. J. Harris, of the London\nMissionary Society, sailed to try and begin mission work on the New\nHebrides, but on landing on Erromanga both were murdered by the savages,\nwho feasted on their bodies. In 1843 Drs. Turner and Nisbet were by the\nLondon Missionary Society settled on Tanna, but about six months after,\nby a passing ship, they had to escape for their lives. After this Samoan\nand Raratongan native teachers were again and again placed on the group,\nbut they were either murdered by the savages, or died in the damp,\nunhealthy climate (compared with their own), or in sickness had to be\ntaken home again. So no effective mission work was done on the group\ntill in 1848 Dr. John Geddie and in 1852 Dr. John Inglis were landed on\nAneityum, where God spared and used them in bringing 3,500 cannibals on\nthat island to serve our dear Lord Jesus Christ; and until they had\ntranslated and carried through the press the whole Bible and other books\nin their language. For the printing and binding of this Bible the\nconverted natives paid the noble British and Foreign Bible Society\n\u00a31,200 sterling ($6,000), earned by them preparing and selling\narrowroot.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n  WILLIAMS RIVER, ERROMANGA.\n\n  The point on the shore where natives stand is that on which John\n    Williams was murdered.\n]\n\nIn 1857 the Rev. G. N. and Mrs. Gordon were placed on Erromanga, where\nWilliams lost his life. By them God brought some fourteen young men and\nas many young women to renounce heathenism and serve Jesus, but in 1851\nthe savages one morning tomahawked both to death. Their young converts\nwept and wailed over their loss, laid them in the grave, and vowed over\nit that they would conquer Erromanga for Jesus, or die, as their\nmissionaries had died, in the effort. In 1864 the Rev. J. D. Gordon,\ngoing to convert, if possible, the murderers of his brother and his\nwife, was placed on Erromanga, and after much successful work, the\nheathen there killed him also with the tomahawk in 1872. The Christian\nparty laid his body in the grave, wept and wailed over it, and renewed\ntheir vow and wrought and prayed till they have, indeed, conquered the\nisland for Jesus Christ. Now every family there daily sings the praise\nof His redeeming love, and tries to serve Him devotedly.\n\nIn 1858 the Revs. Joseph Copeland, J. W. and Mrs. Matheson, John G. and\nMrs. Paton, and in 1859 S. F. and Mrs. Johnston were all placed on\nTanna, but soon after Mr. Copeland went to Aneityum. From the first on\nTanna, as on other islands, the native priests gave much opposition to\nthe missionaries\u2019 teaching. This priesthood is powerful and profess to\nhave and, by sorcery, to exercise all the powers of God. After the\nmurder of the Gordons, a Tanna \u201choly\u201d man, prejudiced by white traders,\nclubbed an Aneityum chief, a native teacher, and he died soon after,\nrejoicing in Jesus Christ. Also from the effects of a savage attack upon\nmy life and his, Mr. Johnston never rallied, but died soon after, having\nbeen only about four months on the island. In 1862, after much\nsuffering, bereavement, and many attempts upon our lives, and the loss\nof all earthly property, except our pocket Bibles, Mr. and Mrs.\nMatheson, the teachers, and I escaped by a passing ship. After reaching\nAneityum Mrs. Matheson died in March and Mr. Matheson in June of that\nyear. I left for Australia to get, if possible, more missionaries and a\nmission ship for our mission. There the Lord, by His people, gave me\n\u00a35,000. The new _Dayspring_ was bought with \u00a33,000 of it, and the\nremaining \u00a32,000 sent and supported more missionaries. Since that time\nisland after island has been occupied, and the Lord has prospered our\nwork, till we have now the large staff of 26 earnest, educated\nmissionaries, 5 of them medical men and 5 lay helpers, besides about 300\nnative teachers, all educated by our own missionaries for their work. In\nthe mission we have a teachers\u2019 training institution, with 46 students,\nunder the care of Dr. Annand and his lay teachers, and we have a\nhospital under the care of Dr. Lamb and his lay helpers. By our\nmissionaries the whole Bible has been translated into one language, and\nthe New Testament into several. The portions of Scripture so translated,\nhave been printed, and are now read by the natives in over twenty\nlanguages of the group. This is a great work, which makes our mission\nlaborious and expensive compared with others having only one language to\nconquer. Our islanders had no written language when we began the Lord\u2019s\nwork among them. A number of the translations have been printed by the\nBritish and Foreign Bible Society, but our natives try to pay it for all\nit does for them.\n\nAs results of the work, our dear Lord Jesus has given our missionaries\nabout 16,000 converts, and the blessed work is extending among some\n40,000 or 50,000 remaining cannibals on the group. In our synod year of\n1895\u201396, 1,120 savages renounced idolatry and embraced the worship and\nservice of Christ. One missionary baptized 200 out of his communicants\u2019\nclass of 400, after a long and careful preparatory Scripture training.\nWe never baptize and teach afterward, but educate and wait till they\ngive real evidence of consecration to Jesus Christ, and then, at their\ndesire, baptize, and continue teaching them to observe in their life and\nconduct all things Jesus has commanded. Hence, we have only about 2,500\ncommunicants, though 10,000 attend our day and Sabbath schools. All of\nour converts attend church regularly. In 1896 they contributed about\n\u00a3900, and last year over \u00a31,300 by money and arrowroot, and a number of\nthe islands now support their own native teachers. Yet they have no\nmoney but what they get by selling pigs, fowls, cocoanuts, and copra to\npassing ships. God has given four of our present missionaries each from\n1,700 to 2,000 converts; and at all our more recently occupied stations\nthe work is very encouraging, and enjoys the divine blessing. Our chief\nconcern at present is how we are to get money to keep our large staff\ngoing on, but we trust in Jesus to provide all as it is needed.\n\nNever since Jesus Christ gave the great commission, have so many of His\nservants been proclaiming the blessed Gospel, and never before in\nheathen lands has it shown more vitality and power in its grand results.\nYet what large portions of the world are yet in heathen darkness! Oh,\nfor a new Pentecostal baptism of the Holy Spirit to all branches of the\nChurch, to lead her to try to \u201cpreach the Gospel to every creature,\u201d and\nby the Gospel conquer the world for Jesus Christ. A small book, showing\nthe extension and glorious fruits of Christian Protestant missions\nduring the last half century would do much to silence the infidel and\nthe enemies of Protestant missions to the heathen, enlighten the\nindifferent, and draw forth the united praise and prayers, and increased\nmoney support, and personal, zealous co\u00f6peration of Christians in all\nlands, so to conquer the world for Jesus Christ by His own appointed\nmeans. It would show that the Gospel is not only the power of God unto\nsalvation to every one who believes, high and low, of every color and of\nevery country, but that, wherever found, it is the only real and lasting\ncivilizer of man. Had Britain felt her responsibility, and improved her\nprivileges by spending a twentieth part of what her present wars will\ncost her to subdue her rebellious subjects, in giving them the Gospel\nteaching of Jesus while under her care, it might have prevented those\nwars, and saved her the loss of life and treasure and carnage in\nsubduing her heathen revolted subjects, and the feelings of revenge that\nremain and foster in the hearts of the surviving relatives and tribes of\nthe subdued. Armies may conquer and sweep the oppressed into eternity,\nbut Christ\u2019s teaching enlightens the mind, influences the heart by\ncreating it anew, and leads all so brought under its power to feel their\nresponsibility to our God, the Supreme Judge of all. Thus it lifts them\nabove heathen superstitions, prejudices, cruelties, and discontent,\nfilling the heart with gratitude to God for His love and mercy in Jesus\nChrist, and so leading them to love their benefactors, and to do to\nothers as they would have others do to them. Though our New Hebridean\nsavage cannibals, as they all were when our work began among them, have\nlost many thousands of lives, and suffered much oppressive cruelty by\nthe sandalwood traders and by the shocking Kanaka labor traffic which\nfollowed, yet because of British missionaries so many of them have been\nbrought to serve Jesus, that now the remaining population all plead for\nBritish annexation and protection. And lately, on a recently occupied\nisland, where all under the missionaries\u2019 charge were painted savages,\nafter several acts of kindness by the missionary, the war chief was led\nto hear the teaching of Jesus, and to believe in, and serve Him. He was\nthe first man among some 3,000 or 4,000 to appear at the church and to\nwear clothing in public. For some reason his savage warriors wanted him\nto go to war, but he refused. His enemies sent a man to conceal himself\nby the path and shoot dead one of the chief\u2019s men, being one of their\nusual challenges to war, and many now urged him to fight in revenge, but\nhe said, \u201cI will not fight and shed blood, but leave all revenge to my\nJesus now,\u201d and he preached the Gospel of peace and love to them, and\nprayed for them all. His life was threatened, but he also left that to\nJesus. He now teaches a school among his savages, and, following his\nexample, many have begun to wear clothing and attend school and church.\nThe chief and twelve others are now candidates in a class for baptism\nand churchmembership, and a real work of grace seems to have begun all\naround among the savages. Surely the Divine blessing on the same\nteaching would produce like blessed results among the heathen subjects\nof all nations, and make them happy, industrious, loyal, loving\nsubjects\u2014a thing which cannot be done by conquering armies.\n\n\n\n\n                                   I.\n\n                      _ROUND THE WORLD FOR JESUS._\n\n                      A. D. 1886\u20131893. \u00c6T. 62\u201369.\n\n\n\n\n                           INTRODUCTORY NOTE.\n\n\nThe Story of my Life, so unexpectedly owned and blessed of God to\nmultitudes in every Land, closed, when first published in 1889, with\nwhat I then regarded and described as my \u201cLast\u201d Visit to Britain,\n1884\u20131885. It did not for one moment enter my mind, at that time, that\nworld-wide travels were still before me, in the interests of our beloved\nMission; or that I should ever again be called upon to lift my pen, in\nthe further telling of my own Biography. So much so, that I then wrote\nsomething in the \u201cfarewell\u201d to the reader, hinting not dimly that the\n_last_ Chapter of all, yet to be added, would fall to be described by\nanother hand than mine!\n\nMore than ten years have, however, since elapsed, and \u201cby the good hand\nof my God upon me for good,\u201d I am still hale and vigorous, rejoicing to\nserve my Redeemer by serving those whom He died to save and lives to\nbring to Glory. Wherefore, at the earnest and repeated entreaty of my\ndear brother, James, but for whom this book never could or would have\nbeen given to the world at all, I resume my pen to add a brief sketch of\nthe Autumn of my life, that he may set it in order, and bring this\n_Autobiography_ up to date. In many respects, I can unfeignedly say that\nI would rather bury all in oblivion, or keep it under the eye of my\nSaviour alone. But I dare not shrink from the door of Great Opportunity\nthus opened before me; and this, also, I humbly lay on the Altar to the\nglory of Jesus my Lord.\n\n\n\n\n                               CHAPTER I.\n                      _ROUND THE WORLD FOR JESUS._\n\n                      A. D. 1886\u20131893. \u00c6T. 62\u201369.\n\n  From 1886 to 1892.\u2014Tour Round the World.\u2014Fire-Arms and\n      Intoxicants.\u2014International Prohibition Proposed.\u2014Deputies to\n      America.\u2014Samoan Converts.\u2014America and Hawaii.\u2014San Francisco.\u2014Salt\n      Lake City.\u2014Chicago.\u2014Niagara.\u2014Pan-Presbyterian Council at\n      Toronto.\u2014The Ruthven Imposture.\u2014Sabbath Observance.\u2014Rochester.\u2014New\n      York.\u2014Public Petitions.\u2014Washington.\u2014The Presbyterian\n      Assembly.\u2014President Cleveland.\u2014France\u2019s Withdrawal.\u2014Dr. Joseph\n      Cook.\u2014Dr. Blank.\u2014Second Probation.\u2014Chicago Exhibition.\u2014Canadian\n      Presbyterian Church.\u2014Two months\u2019 Rush of Meetings.\u2014Incidents of\n      Travel.\u2014Impressions of Canada and the States.\n\n\nFrom 1886 till 1892 my days were occupied, in the various Colonies of\nAustralasia, and in occasional visits to the New Hebrides, practically\nin the same way as set forth again and again in the preceding Chapters.\nColony after Colony, and Congregation after Congregation listened with\never-deepening interest to the narrative of God\u2019s dealings with the\nIslanders, and to the record of the effects produced by my relating\nthese incidents wherever my steps had been led in the interests of\nMissionary Enterprise. If I have accomplished nothing else by all these\ntravels and toils, this at least has been accomplished, and I write it\ndown to the praise of my blessed Redeemer\u2014there are Missionaries at this\nday laboring in every Heathen Land, who have assured me that they first\ngave themselves away to the glorious work, while drinking in from my\npoor lips the living testimony from the New Hebrides that the Gospel is\nstill the power of God and the wisdom of God unto Salvation; and there\nare individual Christians, and sometimes also Congregations of the Lord,\nnow zealously supporting Missionaries to the Heathen in all the great\nMission fields of the world, who, till they heard the story of Cannibals\nwon for Christ by our noble Missionaries on the New Hebrides, had\nfoolishly branded the modern Christian Mission to the Heathen as the\ngreatest imposture and failure of the Century. God has filled the ear\nand the eye of Christendom with the story of one of the smallest, yet\nmost fruitful, Missions in one of the hardest and darkest fields on this\nEarth; and the whisper of \u201cimposture\u201d has died for shame, while the arm\nof the scoffer falls paralyzed, and can no longer sling its stones of\nabuse. \u201cFailure\u201d has been blotted from the vocabulary of Missions and\ntheir Critics by the Story of the New Hebrides.\n\nBut in 1892, events which had been maturing through many years came to a\ncrisis, the issue of which was that I was sent a TOUR ROUND THE WORLD in\nthe Cause of Jesus, and for the sake of our beloved Islanders. A\nbroadly-drawn picture of these things, without any attempt at details,\nseems all that is called for here. This I now set myself to give to the\npatient and indulgent reader of these pages, which after all contain\nonly brief and fragmentary scenes out of a crowded and hurried life.\n\nThe occasion was this: The sale of Intoxicants, Opium, Fire-Arms and\nAmmunition, by the Traders amongst the New Hebrideans, had become a\nterrible and intolerable evil. The lives of many Natives, and of not a\nfew Europeans, were every year sacrificed in connection therewith, while\nthe general demoralization produced on all around was painfully\nnotorious. Alike in the Colonial and in the Home Newspapers, we exposed\nand condemned the fearful consequences of allowing such degrading and\ndestructive agencies to be used as barter in dealing with these\nIslanders. It is infinitely sad to see the European and American Trader\nfollowing fast in the wake of the Missionary with opium and rum! But,\nblessed be God, our Christian Natives have thus far, with very few\nexceptions, been able to keep away from the White Man\u2019s Fire-Water, that\nmaddens and destroys. And not less cruel is it to scatter fire-arms and\nammunition amongst Savages, who are at the same time to be primed with\npoisonous rum! This were surely Demons\u2019 work.\n\nTo her honor, be it said, that Great Britain prohibited all her own\nTraders, under heavy penalties, from bartering those dangerous and\ndestructive articles in trade with the Natives. She also appealed to the\nother trading Nations, in Europe and America, to combine and make the\nprohibition \u201cInternational,\u201d with regard to all the still unannexed\nIslands in the Pacific Seas. At first America hesitated, owing to some\nnotion that it was inconsistent with certain regulations for trading\nembraced in the Constitution of the United States. Then France,\ntemporizing, professed willingness to accept the prohibition when\nAmerica agreed. Thus the British Trader, with the Man-of-War and the\nHigh Commissioner ready to enforce the laws against him, found himself\nplaced at an overwhelming disadvantage, as against the neighboring\nTraders of every other Nationality, free to barter as they pleased. More\nespecially so, when the things prohibited were the very articles which\nthe masses of the Heathen chiefly coveted in exchange for their produce;\nand where keen rivals in business were ever watchful to inform and to\nreport against him. If illicit Trading prevailed, under such conditions,\nno one that knows average Human Nature can feel any surprise.\n\nBy-and-bye, the _Australian New Hebrides Company_, with two Steamers\nplying betwixt Sidney and the New Hebrides, took up the problem. Having\nplanted Traders and Agents on the Islands, they found themselves\nhandicapped in developing business, and began a brisk agitation in the\nAustralasian and English Press, either to have the Prohibition applied\nall round, or completely rescinded. We have never accepted that\nalternative, but resolutely plead for an International Prohibitive law,\nas the only means under God to prevent the speedy sweeping off into\nEternity of these most interesting Races by the tide of what is\nstrangely styled Civilization.\n\nAt length Sir John Thurston, Her Majesty\u2019s High Commissioner for the\nWestern Pacific, whose sympathies all through have been on our side,\nadvised that the controversy in the Newspapers cease, and that our\nMissions and Churches send a deputation to America to win the assent of\nthe United States. Consequently, the next Federal Assembly of the\nAustralasian Presbyterian Churches instructed two of its Professors in\nthe Divinity Hall of Victoria, who were then visiting Britain, to return\nby America, and do everything in their power to secure the adhesion of\nthe United States Government to the International proposal. Lest,\nhowever, these Deputies found themselves unable to carry out their\ninstructions, the same Assembly appointed me as Deputy, with identical\ninstructions, to undertake the task during the succeeding year.\n\nMeanwhile, the General Assembly of Victoria appointed the Rev. Professor\nRentoul, D. D., Ormond College, the Rev. Jas. M\u2019Gaw and myself, to\nrepresent them at the Pan-Presbyterian Council to be held at Toronto in\nSeptember, 1892, and thus was I altogether unexpectedly launched on what\nproved to be the biggest of all my Missionary journeys. I received three\nseveral Commissions. But that from my own Church of Victoria, signed by\nthe Moderator of the General Assembly and the Convener of our Foreign\nMission Committee, bears most closely on the succeeding narrative. It\nset forth that, besides being appointed by the Federal Assembly to the\nCouncil at Toronto, I was empowered to use all legitimate influence with\nthe Government of the United States \u201cfor the suppression of the trade in\nFire-Arms, Intoxicating Liquors, and Opium, in the New Hebrides Islands\nand other unannexed Groups in the Western Pacific.\u201d I was also\n\u201cauthorized to procure two Missionaries to serve in the New Hebrides\nIslands under this Church,\u201d and to receive, on behalf of the Committee,\n\u201cany contributions offered for its Foreign Missions.\u201d So that I acted,\nand had good right to act, in the name and by the authority of my own\nChurch, and of the Federated Churches of Australasia.\n\nWith my Fellow-Deputies, and accompanied so far on the journey by my\nwife and our beloved daughter, we sailed from Sydney for San Francisco\nper s. s. _Monowai_, on 8th August, 1892. We had a very agreeable\nvoyage, Captain Carey and all on board striving to make others happy. At\nAuckland, on the 13th, we had the great delight of spending a few hours\nwith our very dear friends, Mr. and Mrs. Mackie, while the ship was\ndischarging and receiving cargo and mails; and, as she was leaving,\nseveral Ministers and other kind friends bade us Godspeed. Again, at\nSamoa, on the 18th, we had a few hours to spend, and were immensely\ngratified with the appearance of the Natives. They had a bright and\nhealthy look as they came amongst the passengers with shells,\noperculums, and fans, their manner being characterized by a gentle\ngrace, that comes only with the coming of Christ into a Savage man or\nwoman. These, and the Raratongans, and the people of Savage Islands,\nwere amongst the first whom the London Missionary Society saw \u201cflocking\nas the doves to their windows,\u201d from the hordes of Cannibalism. They are\ntall, vigorous and alert; and many of them are now teachers for Jesus,\nand preachers of the Gospel in New Guinea and other Heathen Islands. My\nheart overflows with love and praise whenever I gaze on such trophies of\nRedeeming Grace.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n  MEMBERS OF THE NEW HEBRIDES MISSION SYNOD, 1898.\n\n  Rev. John G. Paton, D.D., in the center.\n]\n\nWe reached Honolulu, the Hawaiian Capital, on the 25th, and spent nearly\na whole day on shore. By a circuitous drive, and on remarkably good\nroads, we ascended a considerable hill and beheld the City spread before\nus with its Palace, Government Buildings, Mansions and Villas. Large and\nbeautiful trees surrounded them all. Two Men-of-War and many other ships\nswung at anchor in the harbor, and the shimmering Sea completed a\ncharming panorama. Smart and diligent Chinese were at work on every\nhand, side by side with the busy representatives of almost every\nNationality, eager to profit by the passing visitors. The larger portion\nof the wharf seemed to be covered with Bananas for San Francisco, the\nbunches carefully bound up in dry leaves for shipping. I had never seen\nso many in all my life thus gathered together.\n\nThe Queen had been deposed or deprived of power. National interests were\nsacrificed in self-seeking and partisanship. One could not but sigh for\nsome strong and righteous Government. They are a people capable of great\nthings. Everything seems to invite America to annex the group; and it\nwould be for the permanent welfare of all concerned.\n\nOn 2d September, we arrived at San Francisco, after a delightful voyage.\nThe society on board was most congenial. We had happy daily Religious\nServices, and I managed to secure about eight hours to myself out of\nevery twenty-four for copying out translations, finishing my Dictionary\nof the Aniwan language, and other Mission work on which I was constantly\nengaged.\n\nSan Francisco is beautifully situated. Many of its streets run up and\ndown what seemed very steep hills, and the principal highways are well\nsupplied with Electric Cars. Your own language is spoken, indeed, but\nyou feel at every turn, for all that, you are in a Foreign City. On\nSabbath morning, the first thing I marked on leaving our Hotel was the\njoiners busy with saw and plane, as on any other day! The next was a\nmultitude of people flocking to a place of Public Amusement, while\nothers were going to Church. The mass of the inhabitants were either in\npursuit of pleasure, or following their usual avocations. Even the City\nscavengers turned out with their carts, and were cleaning the streets on\nthe Lord\u2019s Day!\n\nYet we soon learned that even there the Lord Jesus has many faithful\nservants living and working for His glory. Several Ministers, hearing of\nour arrival, found out our Hotel, and had us to assist them in their\nServices. I delivered three Addresses, walking considerable distances\nbetween, and refusing to use public conveyances, or deprive man or beast\nof rest for my convenience,\u2014to the great astonishment of my guides and\nfriends.\n\nOn Monday morning we visited the famous Seal Rocks, a short distance\nfrom the city. There you see them, under protection, safely wobbling up\non the rocks and basking contentedly in the sunshine, or tumbling\ndelightedly into the Sea. From a considerable distance you hear the\nstrange, half-barking sound of their voices, like muzzled dogs. From the\nplateau and promenade of a lovely private Garden near by and open to the\npublic, we had a magnificent view of the Sea and all the surrounding\nscenery.\n\nThe same day, our whole party were invited to address a meeting of Lady\nWorkers, who carry on a Mission in the Chinese quarter of the City. A\nreport was given, and some Converts from the Flowery Land sang hymns to\nJesus. It was joyful to see this spiritual life;\u2014for tokens were not\nawanting of a darker and sadder picture all around us, in the dens of\nvice and misery.\n\nGuided, but not very wisely, by Cook\u2019s representative, we left San\nFrancisco on 5th September. Though now travelling night and day, we\nhalted a few hours at the famous Mormon Settlement on 7th September.\nWhile looking at the grave of Brigham Young, a well-dressed old lady\napproached us and volunteered much information about her departed\nhusband. He was one of the first settlers in the Salt Lake District, and\nhad taken an active part in the building of the city and the Temple. She\nherself was a Mormon, and mourned that their glory was departing under\nthe influence of the American laws. She was fervent in her defence of\npolygamy, but I noted that, with the Mormons as with the South Sea\nSavages, a separate house had to be provided for each wife! We saw their\nvast Temple, said to accommodate 15,000 persons, with tradesmen toiling\nbusily to finish it, for the reception of Brigham Young on his speedy\nreturn to this Earth.\n\nReplenishing our provision basket, as it was too expensive to take all\nour meals on board the train, our next run was to Chicago, which we\nreached on 10th September, and where we rested at a Hotel on the Sabbath\nDay. It was a day of tremendous storm and rain and no one of us ventured\nout even to Divine Service, especially as no Place of Worship was nigh\nat hand. Amongst our fellow-passengers from San Francisco had been a\nvery kindly Christian man belonging to Chicago. He gave us every\ninformation, and on Monday showed us round the whole City by boat and\ncar. We saw the Exhibition Buildings, lavishly expensive. The\nHorticultural Gardens were extensive and most interesting. In the\nZoological Enclosure we saw a few remaining specimens of the Buffaloes,\nwhich once in myriads roamed the Prairies, but which Civilization has\nswept away.\n\nLeaving Chicago, we arrived at Buffalo on the evening of the 13th\nSeptember, and returned next day to Niagara, whence by train and\nsteamboat we were bound for Toronto. We had already had a glimpse of the\nFalls, where the train halted for a few minutes at a convenient spot,\nand the view was grand! When next I gazed on the spectacle, nigh at\nhand, I am afraid almost to admit that I was rather disappointed. Too\ntranscendent expectations beforehand, I suppose!\n\nI left Mrs. Paton and our daughter at the Falls for a day, whilst I went\non to Toronto to arrange for accommodation. What a blessing that I was\nguided to do so! A great Agricultural Show was being held there; and, on\narriving in the evening, I found every Hotel and Lodging so crowded that\nI walked till midnight from one end of the City to the other, seeking in\nvain for a bed. At last one manager of a Hotel proposed to give me a\n\u201cshake-down\u201d in a Common Room, where twenty-two were to sleep that same\nnight. But the Hotel-Keeper taking pity, and protesting that he could\nnot allow me to \u201ctumble into that crowded place,\u201d gave me the address of\na private family who took in lodgers, to whom he commended me. With much\ndifficulty, at that late hour, I found the street and the number. The\nowner, on hearing my appeal, said he had already \u201cturned away thirteen,\u201d\nand that he had not a corner to receive me. I offered to pay him the\nhighest charges, \u201cmerely to rest in the Hall all night,\u201d rather than to\ntramp the streets. Calling his wife, he said: \u201cI have not the heart to\nturn this old man away! May he not sleep on the floor of our new empty\nRoom?\u201d Her answer was: \u201cI have neither bed, nor bedclothes, nor even a\npillow to give him.\u201d But I was glad of the shelter over my head. A chair\nwas brought in and placed in the middle of the floor. Kneeling, I\nthanked the Lord, and my hosts. Then, utterly worn out, I placed my\ntravelling handbag for a pillow, rolled my clothes tightly round me, lay\ndown, and enjoyed a most refreshing sleep.\n\nNext morning I found my way to the Presbyterian Church Offices, where a\ncordial welcome awaited me, and news of ample accommodation for our\ncomfort, all generously provided. Several invitations were pressed on\nme, but I accepted that of Mrs. Park, who had in the old days been a\nmember of my Bible-class in the Green Street Mission, Glasgow, and it\nwas a great joy to meet once more her sister and herself. The attention\nof many other friends was also very great, and far too devoted, making\nus feel ashamed at the love lavished on us.\n\nAt the Pan-Presbyterian Council I met and became acquainted with\nrepresentative Ministers and Laymen from all parts of the world, but in\nspecially large numbers from Canada and the United States. Along with\nFellow-Deputies, I addressed the Assembly on Foreign Missions, and on\nthe urgent reasons for my present visit to America. A Minister from the\nUnited States at once rose and protested that there must be some\nmistake, that it was \u201can insult to their honor\u201d to insinuate that they\ndeclined to join with Britain in such an International Prohibition! I\nrepeated my statements, showed my Commission, and affirmed that it was\ncertainly as I had represented. He telegraphed to the Authorities at\nWashington, and next day he courageously stood up in his place and\nadmitted that he was wrong, and that I had correctly stated the facts.\nThe action of that good and brave man, once for all, made the issue\nplain and cleared my future course.\n\nI was proud of our Professor Rentoul, of Ormond College. He at once took\na leading place in the Council. In wisdom, in vast learning, and in\neloquent debate, he was the equal of the best men from all Presbyterian\nChristendom. I envied the Students who sit at the feet of such a noble\nMaster in the School of Christ.\n\nIn response to my appeals, Ministers from Canada and the United States\nbegan informing me how many collections they had given \u201cfor the New\nHebrides Mission,\u201d and subscriptions \u201cfor building the new Mission\nShip.\u201d I had never heard of these, and inquired to whom they had been\ngiven. They replied that it was my \u201calternate,\u201d commissioned from the\nPresbyterian Church of Victoria! I assured them that my Church appointed\nno alternate, and that this person must be an impostor. A Committee was\nappointed to look into the matter. The eloquent pleader turned out to be\na Roman Catholic student who had joined the Victorian Church, had been\nlicensed and ordained as a Minister, had broken down in character, and\ndisappeared from the Colony. Now, under a false name and forged\ncredentials, representing himself as a Minister in full and honorable\nstanding, and a Missionary who had been thirteen years in the New\nHebrides, he was raising large sums of money ostensibly for our Mission,\nbut applying it all to his own uses. His lectures were cleverly\ncompounded out of my _Autobiography_, with wild adornments and fancies\nof his own. He had Collecting Cards for children and for adults, the\nminimum subscription on the latter being half-a-dollar! His New Ship was\nto be sheathed in brass, and every subscriber of not less than $5 was to\nhave his name engraved thereon! One man informed us of giving $25 to\nhave his Family Register completed on the sheath of brass!\n\nDr. Rentoul, by appointment, officially exposed and denounced this\nimpostor on the floor of the Council. But, in these vast countries, a\nlie is hard to overtake and to extinguish. Letters continued to reach me\nfrom many quarters, and urgent appeals that I should sanction his\narrest. At one place he drank for a week, after a series of Mission\nMeetings. The Ministers of Buffalo at length caused him to be arrested;\nand the Public Attorney, founding on his so-called credentials as my\nassistant, summoned me to appear before the Grand Jury at his trial. In\na \u201cblizzard,\u201d I travelled two nights and a day\u2014one night the severest\nand coldest I ever endured\u2014and reached my destination in time.\n\nHaving answered all questions by the Attorney and the Grand Jury, they\nasked me to see the prisoner, and testify whether he was the ex-Priest\nRiordan, now giving his name as Ruthven. I thereon handed the Attorney a\npamphlet exposing the evils and errors of Popery, being three Lectures\nby V. H. Riordan, with his portrait on the front page. They all at once\nrecognized him by this likeness. Nevertheless, I was enjoined to go and\nsee him, and report what took place. He was behind an iron-grated door,\nand two ladies were conversing with him from without. Addressing him at\nonce by his name, I said: \u201cIt grieves me to see you here in these\ncircumstances, Mr. Riordan.\u201d Completely off his guard, he at once\nanswered to his own name, and addressed me by mine: \u201cAnd I am very\nsorry, Dr. Paton, to be here in such circumstances.\u201d This was enough! I\nreported what transpired, and the Jury took a hearty laugh at the\nsimplicity of the interview. I was dismissed for the time.\n\nIn answer to the Prosecutor, he explained that when he renounced the\nerrors of Popery, he assumed his mother\u2019s name for life\u2014Ruthven; yet\nthere they had his own pamphlet, with his real name, printed in\nPhiladelphia less than two years before! Being committed for trial\nbefore the Supreme Court, he spent his time of waiting in abusing me\nfrom his cell through the pages of a Sunday newspaper, as \u201ca drunkard\u201d\ndebauching my Sacred Office, and \u201ca hireling\u201d living by commission on\nthe moneys raised for the Mission. So madly did he rage, that some\nsuspected he was put up to do so, in order that his agent might work up\na plea of insanity, if the case at last went against him.\n\nAt his trial, which occupied the greater part of three days, I was again\ncited to appear. The Jury found him \u201cguilty,\u201d but strangely enough\nrecommended him to mercy, and his lawyer pled for a money fine as the\npenalty. The Judge sternly refused. He had been found guilty in every\ncount. His sentence would be \u201ctwelve months in prison with hard labor.\u201d\nThat was \u201cextreme leniency.\u201d It should have been \u201cthree years.\u201d\n\nOne would have thought that this should have extinguished him. But no!\nHis imprisonment has expired. He is again at his lecturing and lying.\nQuite lately I saw a report of his appearing at a place called Dunmore.\nThe Romanists mobbed him. In reply to their eggs and snowballs he fired\na pistol into the crowd. The cry then rose, \u201cLynch the Renegade!\u201d\nRuthven, bounding through an open door, scaling fences, and crossing\nlots, managed to escape. But a warrant was at once issued for his\napprehension, and doubtless he is proving the truth of one text, which\nhe has listened to in vain: \u201cThe way of transgressors is hard.\u201d\n\nDuring the Pan-Presbyterian Council, I addressed many meetings in the\nchurches of Toronto and its suburbs, receiving, on one occasion, by the\nkindness of Dr. Parsons, a collection of two hundred dollars for our\nMission. And, by the urgent request of many Ministers, I spent a\nconsiderable time after the Council in visiting the chief towns of\nOntario, where I was cordially received everywhere, and had very great\npleasure throughout the whole circuit.\n\nNever, since I left the Christian Islands on the New Hebrides, such as\nAniwa and Aneityum, have I seen the Sabbath Day kept so well, and the\nChurches so largely attended, as at Toronto and in the chief towns of\nOntario. In that Capital, the Public-Houses are closed from seven\no\u2019clock on Saturday night till eight o\u2019clock on Monday morning. No\nconfectioners, tobacconists, fruiterers, or the like, are open on the\nLord\u2019s Day. The street Electric Car, and the Omnibus are at rest. All\nworkmen are enjoying their Sabbath privilege, like other Citizens. And\nall this is carried through by the will of the People themselves, and by\nthe vigilance and influence of the servants of God. Surely, men of\nChristian principle, of grit, and of public spirit, could, by keeping\ntheir hand on the helm, secure in the same way the blessed Day of Rest\nfor all, in every City throughout the Christian World.\n\nBy cordial invitations from many men of the highest rank in the Church\nof God throughout the States, I was pressed to occupy their Pulpits, and\ntell the story of our Mission to the Cannibals of the New Hebrides. They\nalso formed a Committee of their own number to advise and help me in\npromoting the prohibition against trading with the Natives in\nIntoxicants and Fire-Arms. And the great-hearted Dr. John Hall, in order\nto give me a good start in New York, offered me his Pulpit for my first\nSabbath there.\n\nOn the way, I had promised to spend an afternoon and evening at\nRochester, with the Rev. Principal Osgood of the Baptist College. An\nextraordinary spirit of consecration seemed to rest on Professors and\nStudents alike. My heart was overflowing with joy, to think of the type\nof Ministers and Missionaries certain to go forth from such a Home of\nPiety and of Learning.\n\nNever can I express how much I owe to the genuine and brotherly\nfriendship of Dr. Sommerville of New York, and his devoted lady. Not\nsimply did they make their House my very Home, whensoever I chose to\nreturn to it, but they heaped on me every token of consideration and of\nhelpful sympathy. Amidst his many cares, as a Minister of the\nCovenanting Church, and his literary labors, as Editor of the _Herald of\nMission News_, he became Honorary Treasurer for me in the States, and\naccording to his utmost ability opened up all my way, and helped me at\nevery turn. They are forever my dearly beloved friends in the bonds of\nJesus Christ.\n\nAfter my first two Sabbaths in New York, one in Dr. John Hall\u2019s Church,\nand one in Dr. Sommerville\u2019s, I had no difficulty in arranging for as\nmuch work, Sunday and Saturday alike, as my strength could overtake. One\nlady, who heard me in Dr. Hall\u2019s, sent me one thousand dollars, as from\n\u201cElizabeth Jane.\u201d In addressing the Chamber of Commerce, the Doctor\nhimself announced clearly the special object of my visit to America, and\ndescribed the features of our Mission. This, being fully reported in the\nPublic Press, woke a widespread interest, and invitations poured in upon\nme from all branches of the Church, excepting only the Romish and the\nUnitarian.\n\nThe way to Washington, and to influence with the Governing Authorities,\nwas prepared for me thus. Being a stranger and only a poor Missionary, I\nasked every Public Meeting, held on any day except Sabbath, to forward a\nPetition to the President and the Congress, signed by the Chairman, in\nfavor of the Prohibition of Intoxicants and Fire-Arms, as barter by\nAmerican Traders on the New Hebrides, or other unannexed Islands in the\nPacific. The Daily Press reported all these Petitions. The Public became\nthoroughly interested. And even the Authorities were expecting my appeal\nin person. Nay, I cannot but regard it as of the Lord that my first\nSabbath in Washington happened to be in the pulpit of Dr. Bartlet, where\nI, altogether unknown to myself, was pleading the cause before the Chief\nSecretary of the Government. He sent me fifty dollars for the Mission,\ninvited me to lunch with his family, and gave me ample opportunity, by\nanswers to many questions, to state all the case, and to deepen all\nround the growing interest in our Mission.\n\nOn the forenoon of the following Sabbath, I occupied the pulpit of Dr.\nHamlin, and the President of the United States heard my story and\nappeal. Many Senators and Members of Congress, having matters thus\nrehearsed, were able to weigh the question carefully, before I made my\nofficial statement at all. The President declared himself quite frankly\nto be deeply interested, and willing to expedite in every possible way\nthe negotiations with Britain. It emerged that in the British reply\nthere was a new clause, empowering one of the contracting parties to\nlicense Traders, under certain circumstances, to sell Intoxicating\nDrinks. The President struck his pen through that clause, and at once\nreturned it, insisting on its excision. Had Britain agreed to this,\nPresident Harrison would then have signed the Treaty. But, alas, week\nafter week elapsed, and no reply came. A new Election took effect, and\nPresident Cleveland was installed at the White House.\n\nMy Advisory Committee in America now insisted that I must wait till the\nnew Government\u2019s arrangements were all completed, and once more press my\nappeal. I resumed my work of addressing Public Meetings every week day,\nand Congregations every Sabbath Day, always sending, from the former,\nPetitions to the President and Congress regarding the proposed\nProhibition on the Islands. I had also private interviews with many\nleading Politicians. To all I pointed out that, as America was now\nunited with Britain in the Dual Protectorate of Fiji, we only sought the\nextension of prohibition on that Group to the Group of the New Hebrides.\n\nConstantly engaged in these Mission interests, I planned my second visit\nto Washington to take place at the same time as the General Assembly of\nthe Presbyterian Church of the United States. I had the honor to address\nit on Foreign Missions, and to preach before a number of Congregations\nduring its sittings, for a very deep interest was manifested in the\nwondrous workings of God on the New Hebrides.\n\nI was introduced to the new President, when the General Assembly went in\nprocession to do him honor. Both he and Mrs. Cleveland welcomed me to\nAmerica, and, a few days after, they invited me to lunch at the White\nHouse, privately, that they might question me freely regarding the\nIslanders and our work. They both seemed to me to be genuine followers\nof the Saviour, and sincerely interested in the salvation of the Heathen\nWorld.\n\nThe Presbyterian Assembly thereafter appointed a large Deputation of its\nleading men to accompany me in laying officially before the Government\nour grievance regarding Fire-Arms and Intoxicants, and pleading that the\nUnited States should unite with Britain in the Prohibition of all\ntrading with Natives in the same. In order to save time, and secure\nlucidity, Professor Hodge carefully prepared and read our statement. The\nPresident expressed himself as deeply interested, and requested the\ndocument to be left with him for reference. We anxiously awaited the\nresult; but the final reply from Britain was still delayed. Our hearts\ngrew sore with hope deferred!\n\nIn course of time I was informed at the British Colonial Office in\nLondon, that as France and Russia had withdrawn from the proposal, the\nnegotiations were for the present suspended. France, for years, postured\nbefore the world as ready to enforce this prohibition, if America would;\nand now, when America was ready, France withdrew! Still, on the highest\nof all moral grounds, let us plead with America, Germany, and Britain,\nalready united in their triple Protectorate of Samoa, to extend the same\nprohibition to the New Hebrides, and the other unannexed Islands in the\nWestern Pacific. If they would do so, the other Powers interested could\nscarcely fail to agree, and France would be ashamed to stand before the\nworld as the only Civilized Nation, exploiting the bodies and souls of\npoor Savages by trading with them in Fire-Arms and Drink for mere\ngodless greed of gold.\n\nIn Boston, the Ministers of all the Reformed Churches, having formed a\nrepresentative Committee, organized a series of meetings, and cordially\ninvited me to address them. Dr. Joseph Cook and his gifted wife gave me\na public reception, to which many of the leading Citizens, as well as\nProfessional men, were invited, and where I answered all sorts of\nquestions regarding Missions in general, and the New Hebrides in\nparticular. I was also twice introduced to the audiences at his famous\nMonday Lectures; and my replies to testing problems, there submitted,\nwere printed in _Our Day_, and woke not a little interest in the work of\nGod amongst the Cannibals of the Southern Seas. To all these generous\nfriends at Boston, I am forever indebted, but very specially to John\nGilchrist, Esq., an office-bearer in the Presbyterian Church, who toiled\nin the cause incessantly, and whom may the Lord Jesus richly recompense!\n\nOne curious experience befell me there, outside the range of my ordinary\nwork. A \u201cTemperance Union\u201d of Women engaged me to address a Working\nFolks\u2019 Meeting on a Sabbath afternoon, in what they called the Peoples\u2019\nChurch. When I arrived, nearly half of the large Platform was occupied\nwith ladies scraping away and tuning their violins, large and small! A\nlady occupied the chair, and introduced Dr. Blank, a Unitarian or rather\nan Infidel, who was to speak for ten minutes, and then leave the meeting\nin my hands. He knew that I had to leave within an hour, and drive to\nanother meeting, but he went on and on, tracing a Carpenter all through\nhis life to exhausted old age, manifestly stirring up class against\nclass, and sowing the seeds of infidelity. At last, he wound up by\npicturing the Carpenter, outworn and ready to die, sitting with his wife\nand children around the table at their evening meal, taking the bread\nand breaking it and saying: \u201cEat ye all of it, for this is my body\nbroken for you; this do in remembrance of me, for I have worn out my\nlife for your sakes.\u201d Whereon, his wife poured out the tea, and said:\n\u201cIf the bread is your body broken for us, this tea is my blood shed for\nyou; drink ye all of it in remembrance of me, as I have spent my life in\ntoiling for you.\u201d\n\nBeing able to stand it no longer, I turned to the ladies behind us and\nsaid aloud: \u201cWho is this blasphemer that you have set up to speak to the\npeople? He is simply belching out Infidelity, and setting man against\nman. This is a black disgrace to you all!\u201d He paused a moment, and then\nsaid: \u201cI wish this Congregation to understand that, in what I have just\nsaid about the Carpenter and his bread, I throw no slight on the name or\nmemory of one who thus parted from his followers long ago\u201d\u2014and thereon\nhe resumed his seat, having spoken for nearly the whole hour. Reply was\nimpossible for lack of time, and my expected Address was crushed aside.\nBut, ere I left the Platform, I uttered a few burning words, and the\nwhole audience seemed to go with me. I denounced all setting of the poor\nagainst the rich, as alien to the spirit of Jesus. I branded as an\ninsult to the Divine Saviour of the world the blasphemer\u2019s parody of the\nLord\u2019s Supper, to which we had been treated. I warned these Temperance\nworkers that, in bringing such a teacher of Abstinence before the\npeople, they were degrading the cause which they desired to promote. And\nfinally, I summoned them to remember that we must all appear before the\nJudgment Seat of Christ, and implored them, and Dr. Blank amongst the\nrest, to seek pardon and acceptance at the feet of Jesus now, that they\nmight find their Judge was also their Saviour in the last awful day! A\nhasty Benediction was pronounced, at the Chairwoman\u2019s request. I hurried\nfrom the Church, greatly shocked, but encouraged by the handshake and\nthe \u201cGod bless you!\u201d of many whom I passed. There was one small\nconsolation which I unfeignedly enjoyed\u2014the fiddling ladies had no\nopportunity of displaying their skill on that Lord\u2019s Day!\n\nWhile I was in America many minds were being troubled with ideas\nregarding what is styled the \u201cSecond Probation.\u201d At one of his famous\nMonday Lectures, Dr. Joseph Cook put to me, on the Platform, the\nfollowing amongst other questions: \u201cHow would Missionaries, teaching the\nSecond Probation, succeed with the Cannibals on your Island?\u201d My reply\nwas: \u201cHow can they succeed on such terms anywhere? Our Cannibals would\nsay,\u2014If we have a second chance hereafter, let us enjoy our present\npleasures and risk the future!\u201d Again he asked: \u201cHow would Missionaries\nholding that doctrine, but promising not to teach it, succeed amongst\nthem?\u201d I replied: \u201cHypocrites are a poor set everywhere, but especially\nin the Mission Field. How could a man succeed in teaching what he did\nnot believe? Cannibals, like Children, are quick to discern insincerity;\nand such a man could do no good, but only evil amongst them.\u201d Joseph\nCook and his like-minded wife appeared to be noble instruments in the\nhand of God, for the defence of truth and righteousness.\n\nDuring this supplementary series of Meetings I happened to reach Chicago\nduring the Great Exhibition. Dr. Macpherson greatly helped me, and\narranged all my work. The City was crowded with visitors from all the\nWorld. There were many things in the Big Show that one would have liked\nto see; but when I learned how its Directors, in violation of their\nagreement with the Government, opened it on Sabbath, and turned the\nLord\u2019s Day into a Saturnalia of sports and amusements, I positively\ndeclined to enter within its gates. They made a huge noise about\naccommodating the working men, but they really sought mere selfish\ngains. They filled the streets with advertising cars, with flags flying\nfrom each, announcing their theatres and shows, desecrating the Holy\nDay. Thank God such Heaven-defying conduct was condemned from many a\nProtestant Pulpit, and the Congregations warned against countenancing\nsuch a sinful and shameful Vanity Fair!\n\nThe Directors, having secured President Cleveland to open the\nExhibition, desired him to go from Washington by special train on the\nSabbath Day. Their plan was to utilize the occasion by enormous\nExcursions from all quarters on the Day of Rest. But the God-fearing\nPresbyterian President went with a usual train on Saturday, took up his\nresidence at a Private Hotel, and showed his disapproval of their\ntactics by declining their projected ovation. On Sabbath morning he\nattended worship at Dr. Macpherson\u2019s Church. A Baptismal Service was\nintimated for the afternoon. The President again attended. He opened the\nExhibition officially, but left the City as privately as he had come to\nit, and this rebuke was not misunderstood by the Community, and was\ngreatly appreciated by decided Christians, to whom the rest of the Day\nof God is a Heavenly heritage for all the creatures of Earth, which no\nman may lawfully alienate or impair.\n\nTo a man like myself, the results brought a certain retributive joy. The\nrush of Foreigners, after the first two or three Sabbaths, was soon\nover. Then it was discovered that the masses of the Working People of\nChicago absented themselves on the Lord\u2019s Day, knowing well that it was\nnot for their benefit that this thing was done, but merely to coin money\nout of them. Finding that, instead of a gain, the opening on the Sabbath\nwas a deadly loss, the Managers proposed to close it, but found\nthemselves tied hand and foot by their own past action at law.\nConspicuously, the City suffered through the vices and crimes thereby\nfostered; and will continue to suffer; for such evil cannot be swept\naway with the temporary buildings of the Exhibition. Doom seemed to\novertake the authors speedily. One of the leaders was cruelly shot; and\nthe gates were at last closed in silence, and apparently in shame!\n\nVery varied were the means adopted, by interested friends, to arrest\nattention on the New Hebrides, and create enthusiasm in their cause. One\nvery memorable occasion was at Pittsburg, where J. I. Buchanan, Esq.,\ngave a great dinner, to which he invited the Owners and Editors of all\nthe local Newspapers, to meet the New Hebrides Missionary. After I had\naddressed them, they tackled me with questions regarding the Islanders,\nand on all conceivable aspects of work for Christ amongst Cannibals.\nMost of them got deeply interested; and, next day, the whole Press of\nthe City was full of the Mission, and of the reasons for our seeking the\nProhibition of Fire-Arms and Intoxicants as articles of trade amongst\nthe Natives.\n\nI had now visited the leading Towns in all the Northern States, and not\na few on the borders of some of the Southern States, being everywhere\nreceived by Ministers and People with exceeding kindness and exceptional\nliberality. My next anxiety was to be present at the Assembly of the\nCanadian Presbyterian Church, and I therefore decided to leave the work\nundone, which was daily being pressed upon me throughout the States, and\nto hasten thither. This was surely of God\u2019s guidance; at least I\nreverently think so; for I reached the Assembly Hall, all unknown to\nmyself, on the night of their Foreign Mission Report; and the first\nthing I heard was an \u201cOverture\u201d from Nova Scotia, urging the Assembly to\nhand over their three Missionaries on the New Hebrides to the Australian\nChurches, which were now \u201cboth able and willing to support them\u201d!\n\nThe Assembly received me very cordially. The Moderator invited me to\nspeak immediately after the Overture had been presented. I conveyed to\nthem the greetings of our Church, and of our Synod on the Islands, and\nreported in general terms on the Home and Foreign Missions in\nAustralasia. Then I turned to the Moderator, and asked on whose\nauthority it was declared that the Australian Churches were both able\nand willing to take over the Nova Scotian Mission on the New Hebrides,\nwith its annual cost of about \u00a31300. The question was put to the\nAssembly. There was a significant silence for several moments, and then\nsome one feebly replied: \u201cOn Dr. Geddie\u2019s.\u201d I retorted, that surely the\nauthor of the Overture was ashamed of it, when he sought to palm it on\nthe honored father of our Mission, now many years resting in his grave!\nI demonstrated, by irrefragable facts and figures, that the Australian\nChurches were in no position to undertake this additional expense; and,\nfurther, I insisted that to give up this specially-honored Mission would\nbe one of the greatest losses to the spiritual life of their own\nCongregations and Sabbath Schools. It was the Mother of all their\nMissions! It was the Mission which had awakened in them all the\nMissionary spirit they now possessed!\n\nThe Moderator emphatically protested, from the Chair, that he hoped the\nGeneral Assembly \u201cwould hear no more of such a proposal.\u201d Yet the\nagitation is carried on, from what creditable motive it is very hard to\nsee. The Editor of their _Mission Record_, with a few men of similar\nspirit at his back, seems to have determined to cut the connection\nbetwixt Nova Scotia and the New Hebrides, and to close by violence one\nof the noblest chapters in that Church\u2019s history. They have written to\nthe Australian Churches on the matter, and I venture to predict that\ntheir answers will be more emphatic than even my instantaneous protest.\nThe nobler spirits in Nova Scotia ought to squelch out this miserable\nagitation, which is killing the Missionary enthusiasm and curtailing the\nliberality of their Church.\n\nSurrounded by a multitude of devoted Ministers and Elders, I agreed to\nremain two months in Canada, and address as many Meetings every day of\nthe week as could possibly be crowded into time and space. To relieve\nthe pressure on Mission Funds in Nova Scotia, I offered to give up\ntwenty days entirely to them, with all the proceeds from every Meeting.\nThey received, I understand, above \u00a3500; and I trust that by my\nAddresses, one at least every day and four or five every Sabbath, all\nthe Funds of all these Congregations prospered and continue to prosper;\nfor I humbly and gratefully recognize the fact that God has used me not\nfor one Mission but for all Missions, and not through one Church but\nthrough all His Churches.\n\nThe series of Meetings, up to Quebec, was mapped out at the Assembly,\nand the whole of the arrangements were entrusted to the Rev. J. W.\nMitchell of Thorold, a man of deep devotion and of untiring zeal. Our\nTreasurer was A. K. Macdonald, Esq., Toronto, to whose kindness also we\nwere profoundly indebted. Countless applications poured in upon us. It\nwas no uncommon thing to address two or even three Meetings daily, and\nto travel long distances between them by conveyance and rail. On Sunday\nwe delivered never less than three Addresses, but more frequently five,\nand sometimes even seven, including the Bible Classes and Sabbath\nSchools. It was dreadfully exhausting work. Sometimes I hesitated,\nfearing every day would be my last. But again my vigor returned, and my\nheart hungered to overtake all that I possibly could, knowing that the\ntime was short. Besides, in this tour as always, the getting of\nCollections, however anxiously desired for our Mission, was never my\nprimary aim; but always the saving of souls, by the story of the New\nHebrides. For that cause I would gladly die. But I did not die; and\nthere was given a new illustration of the meaning of that inspired\nsaying\u2014\u201cThe joy of the Lord is your strength\u201d\u2014the work, which is our\n_joy_, uplifts rather than oppresses us!\n\nThe incidents of these journeys would fill a goodly volume. But I had\nneither the leisure nor the inclination to record them day by day. One\nor two specially impressed themselves on my memory, however, and may\nhere be glanced at.\n\nOn one occasion, after a long Railway ride, I found myself set down on\nthe wrong side of a flooded River, the bridge having been swept away.\nThe Station-Master pointed us to a boat, kept by a farmer, which, if we\nreached, might ferry us over. But two huge fields betwixt us and the\nspot were flooded with the overflow, and these had to be crossed. A\nyoung lady, a gentleman, and I, all equally eager to get to the other\nside, resolved to try. We waded to the Boat-Landing, and reached it in a\nvery bedraggled state. There the boat had been left, awaiting some one\u2019s\nreturn, but the farmer was across the River. None of us felt very brave\nabout the experiment of rowing across the racing current! Our fellow\ntraveller, nevertheless, resolved to try. Minimizing my warning about\nrowing a long way up in the quieter water, and then slanting across with\nthe sweep of the current, he went up only a little, and quickly plunged\nin. His boat was whirled away like a cork. We held our breath, while the\nyoung farmer on the opposite bank kept shouting and gesticulating,\nrunning down the River, and guiding the rower as best he could. It was\nwith a sigh of thankful relief that we saw the traveller stand up at\nlast on the farther side, safe but badly shaken.\n\nThe farmer now took the oars in hand, and with his great strength and\ngreater skill ferried first one and then the other across in safety, but\nnot without peril. In a high light cart he mounted us and bore us\nsecurely across another field, through three feet of water if not more,\nand planted us gladly at his fireside. There the lady waited, that her\ndripping clothes might be dried, and the other traveller found his way\nto his desired haven. But, the hour of my Meeting having already\narrived, I hastened to address them, with clothes soaked through and\nthrough, and was immediately thereafter driven to another town at a\ndistance of several miles. Without any opportunity of proper\nrefreshment, or of getting clothes dried or changed, I spoke for an hour\nand a half to a large Public Meeting there, and then retired for the\nnight. My clothes were hung up to dry. I had to start by train very\nearly next morning. When I dressed, the damp of yesterday\u2019s drenching\nstill hung about them, and made me shiver. For two days my bones and\nmuscles felt very sore, and the dread of severe rheumatic fever hung\nover me. But I sustained myself with the assurance that the Great\nPhysician would take care of me, since none of this had been brought on\nby selfish pleasure, or self-willed obstinacy, but in devotion to His\nWill and in doing His work. I suffered no further harm, and carried\nthrough all the Meetings, praising Jesus my Saviour.\n\nOn another occasion I was for a time seriously perplexed. A kind\nMinister drove me, after conducting several Meetings under his charge,\nto join the Night Train at a lonely crossing. Arrangements had been made\nat Headquarters to set me down, pick me up, and set me down again at\nsuch places, in order to reach certain Meetings, and thence go on my way\nto others, with the least possible loss of time. Being duly despatched\nby my friend, I was set down, in the darkness, at such a crossing, where\nwas neither sight of any house, nor sound of any human being. The Guard,\nin manifest pity, exclaimed, \u201cI don\u2019t know, sir, what you can do here! I\nam extremely sorry to leave you. But, for God\u2019s sake, keep off the line.\nThe Express follows. The rails are wet, and you might never hear her!\nSome one will surely meet you. Goodbye!\u201d\n\nHis Train soon disappeared into the darkness. I tried to rest, sitting\non my travelling bag, but it was too cold, and rain began to fall.\nMarching about to keep up the circulation, I kept hallooing as loudly as\nI could every few moments, but no sound came in reply. Worn out and\ngreatly disheartened, I at last put both hands to my mouth and began the\nAustralian _Koo-ee! Koo-ee!_ and sustained it with all the breath and\nstrength I possessed. By-and-bye, in the pauses, I heard a faint and far\nreply, like the echo of my own voice. It drew nearer and nearer in\nresponse to my cry, and at last grew into the salutation of a glad human\nvoice. It was the Minister, appointed to meet me, who now emerged out of\nthe darkness. There were two crossings in the district, and they had\nleft me at the wrong one! He had tied his horse to the fence, and\nfollowed my cries through the night. We stumbled our way back, and were\nere long welcomed to his cozy Manse; and I tucked myself into a warm bed\nas soon as possible. Not without praising our Heavenly Guide, I soon\nfell into a deep and sweet sleep, and felt able next Sabbath morning for\nany amount of Meetings. The Holy Day proved to be exceptionally busy,\nand exceptionally happy; for I was with a good and true Minister of\nJesus Christ, and that transforms all work into joyful fellowship.\n\nOnce the shaft of our engine broke, and the train stood still. The Guard\nadvised all the passengers to leave and take to the fields across the\nfence. I decided to stick by the train. A messenger started on the rails\nbehind and another in front, and each ran with all his might, waving the\nred flag and shouting. But the Engineers never lost their heads for a\nmoment. They screwed and hammered and chiselled; they unloosed one part\nand pitched it up among the coals; they fixed and adjusted another, in\nthe most mysterious ways, as it seemed to me. And in a very short time,\nto the delight and amazement of all, that train began to move slowly\nahead, and crept on steadily to the nearest Station, one side of the\nengine only being in working order. The alarm of all was very great, as\nan Express was due behind us and might any moment have crashed upon the\nscene. \u201cOur Father knoweth.\u201d\n\nAt another time I was travelling, by rail, a great distance to address a\nMid-Day Meeting. Only one hour was free, and then I must join another\ntrain. Two or three Stations before reaching the former destination, a\ngentleman surprised me, exclaiming, \u201cDr. Paton, here is your Lunch! You\nwill not have a minute for food either before or after the Meeting.\nLeave the jug and plates at any Station, and they will be returned.\nGoodbye and God bless you!\u201d I looked on this excellent meal with very\ncurious sensations, as if it had dropped to me out of the Hand that\nfeeds the ravens; and I prayed my Saviour to bless the good-hearted\ngiver.\n\nI may here record that this period of my life was fuller of constant\nstir and excitement, rushing from Meeting to Meeting, and from Town to\nTown, than any other through which, heretofore, I had ever passed,\nwithout one single day of rest, or almost an hour of breathing space. I\ndo not think it is exaggeration to say that, on an average, during these\nmonths, I must have addressed ten Meetings on the ordinary days of the\nweek and five every Sunday. I certainly know that, during many special\nweeks, the numbers far exceeded these. Blessed be God, who so\nmarvellously sustained me through it all. When my throat got a little\nhusky, my only medicine was a sip of pure Glycerine, a little bottle of\nwhich I always carried with me. My daily diet was always, by choice, the\nsimplest and homeliest food which I could obtain\u2014a plate of porridge\nwith milk, a cup of tea with bread and butter, and a very moderate\namount of flesh meat of any kind, often for days together none at all.\nAnd my only stimulant was\u2014the ever-springing fountain of pure joy in the\nwork of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ!\n\nOne thing was at first a great worry to me, but at length solved itself\nvery happily. I cannot, with any conscience, use cars, cabs, trains, or\nsteamboats on the Lord\u2019s Day, except under such an emergency of\n\u201cnecessity or mercy,\u201d that my Lord, if He met me on the way, would\ndeclare me \u201cblameless.\u201d On beginning in America, it was enforced on me\nfrom every quarter that I must use these conveyances on the Sabbath,\nowing to enormous distances, or find my mission an utter failure. My one\nanswer was: \u201cNo working man or woman shall ever accuse me at the Bar of\nGod for needlessly depriving them of their Day of Rest, and imperilling\nor destroying their highest welfare.\u201d Shoulders were shrugged knowingly,\nheads shaken rather pityingly, and gentle appeals made to yield for the\nsake of the higher interests of the Mission. But I held my ground\nunfalteringly. It became known that I would not use such conveyances,\nand that I sturdily trudged from Meeting to Meeting on foot, all through\nthe Lord\u2019s day. Immediately the private carriages of friends of Jesus\nand His Mission were placed largely at our disposal; and, in all cases,\nI pled for such arrangements as gave the horse its rest, and the man his\nopportunity of worship. Whensoever I was necessitated to hire for the\nLord\u2019s Day, it was invariably so planned that not only was proper food\nduly provided for man and beast, but the driver was invited and\nencouraged to join the Service of the House of God. I pray my Lord to\naccept my lifelong testimony and practice on this supremely important\nmatter, and to use it for the preservation of the blessed Day of Rest as\nthe inalienable heritage of all His toiling creatures,\u2014next to the gift\nof His own Son, one of the most priceless of all His boons to the Human\nRace!\n\n[Illustration:\n\n  HEATHEN NATIVES OF AMBRIM.\n\n  Heads and faces of women are covered with lime as sign of mourning.\n]\n\n[Illustration:\n\n  MEMORIALS OF THE DEAD, AMBRIM.\n\n  Stone Altar in front is one on which pigs are killed.\n]\n\nThe time had come that I must say farewell to Canada and the States. It\nwas the first time I had ever seen these new and marvellous Lands. My\nsoul was not unaware of their beauties, nor unresponsive to their\ngrandeur of scenery. But my whole time and strength were otherwise\nrequired; and I turned not aside from the call of my Lord. He knows that\nmy heart rejoices in all the wonders of His Power, not the less that I\nspend myself in proclaiming the greater wonders of His Grace. All my\nrecollections of intercourse with the Ministers and the People of the\nNew World are abidingly sweet, and move me to bless the Lord for the\nGod-fearing, Bible-loving, and Sabbath-keeping Nations that have sprung\nfrom our British Race. From the highest to the humblest they received me\nwith royal welcome, and heard me with loyal sympathy. Their help was\ngenerous, and was gladly given. Their interest in the work of God was\ngenuine, and was frankly displayed. And their delight in listening to\nthe story of the salvation of the South Sea Cannibals, made me firm in\nthe assurance that they themselves already know within their own souls\nthe unspeakable worth of Jesus!\n\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER II.\n                   _THE HOME-LANDS AND THE ISLANDS._\n\n                       A.D. 1894\u20131897. \u00c6T. 70\u201373.\n\n  Arrival in Great Britain.\u2014Requisitions.\u2014Professors and\n      Students.\u2014_Dayspring_ Scheme.\u2014Ten Years\u2019 Delay.\u2014Gideon\u2019s Fleece\n      Experiment.\u2014Two Memorable Checks.\u2014The \u201cJohn G. Paton Mission\n      Fund.\u201d\u2014The _Dayspring_ Disaster.\u2014Mission Work on all the Islands.\n\n\nI embarked from New York for Liverpool, per the new and magnificent s.\ns. _Campania_. The vibrations of that vessel were more fearful than\nanything I had ever experienced in all my travels. There was some\ndefect, which I hear has since been remedied. I was scarcely conscious\nof ever sleeping at all, and the ship seemed to be constantly on the eve\nof shaking herself into fragments! On the voyage I made the acquaintance\nof very dear friends, bearing my own name; whose Home at Liverpool\nby-and-bye received me lovingly; and where also I met the learned and\nhonored Principal Paton of Nottingham.\n\nMy arrival in Britain revealed to me, immediately and amazingly, how\ntimes had changed since my previous visit, only ten years before. _Then_\nI had many difficulties to face in arranging for public meetings,\nespecially in England, as set forth in a previous Chapter. Many a weary\nday\u2019s tramping I had, even in Scotland where something was known about\nthe Mission to the New Hebrides, passing from Minister to Minister, and\npleading, frequently all in vain, for the use of their Pulpits and for\naccess to their Congregations. But since then, by my brother\u2019s\ninsistence, the story of my life had gone through the Land in my\n_Autobiography_. I was no longer treated as a stranger, but as the\ndearly beloved friend of every one who had read my book. Blessed be God,\nwho used it for His glory, and gave our Mission appeal everywhere an\nopen door, such as never in my most hopeful hours had my faith even\ndreamed!\n\nNow, hundreds of invitations poured in on my British Committee, all\nHonorary Helpers who grudged no amount of labor and pains. I found a\nSeries of Meetings already arranged for me, covering the principal towns\nand cities of the United Kingdom,\u2014Mr. Watson of Belfast taking charge in\nIreland, Mr. Langridge in England, and my brother James, with his\nHonorary Secretary, arranging for Scotland, and acting as General\nDirector of the Mission. When those had been fairly overtaken, the\nadditional applications had risen to several hundreds more than could\npossibly be faced, unless I prolonged my stay for years. My Committee at\none time found themselves dealing with a mass of 500 invitations! A\nselection had to be made of the more important and populous centres for\nthe Services on the Lord\u2019s Day, and one or two Meetings each day during\nthe week in the smaller surrounding towns; but even then the\ndisappointments were many and grievous; and not more so to them than to\nme; for I did passionately desire to tell every human being the story of\nthe Gospel on the New Hebrides, that other and still other souls might\nbe won thereby for Jesus my Lord.\n\nOne very precious feature of my tour was this:\u2014the manner in which\nMinisters and Christian workers of all the Churches united to welcome\nme, and gave very practical support to this Presbyterian Mission.\nFrequently, the invitation was signed by all the Ministers of the\ndistrict, excepting only the Roman Catholic; and my prayers rose daily\nto my Lord that my humble presence might be one of the means in His\nloving hand of paving the way for a closer union amongst the Members of\nHis Redeemed Flock. I was much touched by the requisition that came to\nme from my well-beloved Dumfries, with the names of all the Ministers,\nand full of tender references to my early associations with the Queen of\nthe South, as in our boyhood we loved to call her!\n\nThe Congregations, on week days not less than on Sabbaths, filled the\nlargest Public Halls and Churches in each locality; with frequent\noverflow Meetings at which I had to speak for fifteen minutes or so, and\nthen leave them in the hands of others, whilst I drove or ran to the\nprincipal Meeting, now opened and awaiting my Address. During the two\nyears of my Tour, I addressed very nearly 1400 audiences, ranging from a\nfew hundreds to five and six thousand each, and in doing so I travelled\nover many thousands of miles, on foot and in every kind of conveyance\nthat is used in the English-speaking world.\n\nThe Chairmen at my various Meetings represented every type of Christian\nworker, and all social grades, from the godly Tradesman, evangelizing in\nhis quiet Mission Hall, up through Ministers and Mayors, Provosts and\nMembers of Parliament, Bishops and Archbishops, to Lords and Dukes and\nother Peers of the Realm. Under this rush of the Missionary Spirit, many\nconventional barriers were broken down, so that I was, even on Sunday,\ninvited to give my Address from the very Pulpit in Episcopal Churches,\nas for example in the Pro-Cathedral at Manchester. On week days, this\nwas a not infrequent experience.\n\nThese things, and all my opportunities of usefulness, thus unexpectedly\nthrust upon me, at the close of a long life of toil and self-denial and\nsacrifice for Jesus, I devoutly laid at His feet, and implored Him to\nuse me only for His glory. And I can truly say that I never felt more\ndeeply humbled, all my days, than at the close of some of those almost\nunparalleled Missionary Meetings, when I was alone with my Saviour after\nall was over, and thinking of my lowly Home and all the way by which the\nGod of my father had led me, from these hours of hardship to this day of\ntriumph. Fame and influence laid me lower and lower yet, at the feet of\nJesus, to whose grace alone everything was due.\n\nNever were these feelings more present with me than when I was called\nupon to tell the story of our Mission before the learned Professors and\neager Students, at so many Universities, Colleges, Theological Halls,\nand similar Institutes. I have a note of at least sixty-three Seats of\nLearning, including Princeton and the most famous Colleges in America,\nas well as Oxford and Edinburgh, Cambridge and Glasgow at Home, where\nsome of the greatest living Masters in every department, such as my own\nworld-famous Professor, the now venerable Lord Kelvin, listened to my\ntestimony as to the power of the Gospel to make new Creatures of the\nSouth Sea Cannibals and build them up into the likeness of Jesus Christ.\nI trespassed not into _their_ spheres, where I would have been a child\nand an ignoramus compared with them; and they, on the other hand,\ntreated _me_ with profound respect, and even occasionally with\ndemonstrative appreciation, in that sphere of the moral and spiritual,\nthe work of the Christ-Spirit and its influence on the lowest and most\ndegraded of human beings, wherein I had some right to speak with\nauthority. This was my \u201cone\u201d talent, in the presence of such men; and I\n\u201ctraded\u201d with it, that the Name of my Saviour might be honored more and\nmore, in the Halls of Letters, and in the Temples of Art and Science.\n\nBy the general desire of my fellow Missionaries on the New Hebrides, I\nhad visited Britain ten years before, for the express purpose of raising\nif possible \u00a35,000 for a new _Dayspring_, larger than the old, and with\nSteam Auxiliary Power. By the blessing of God on my humble pleading, and\nvery largely in direct answer to prayer, for I called on no one\nprivately for donations, there came to us in twelve months the large sum\nof \u00a310,000, of which more than one half reached us by post. My Church in\nVictoria, to whom I rendered an account of all, set apart \u00a36,000 for the\nnew Mission Vessel, the interest to be added to capital till such time\nas she might be built; while the remaining \u00a34,000 were devoted to the\nobtaining and supporting of additional Missionaries for the New\nHebrides.\n\nBut a new difficulty had emerged, and created not only delay all these\nyears, but no small measure of regrettable dissension; and that was how\nto maintain the Ship, and keep her floating in the service of the\nMission; for the _Dayspring_, not being allowed to trade, had been\nwholly maintained by the Sabbath Schools of the Churches having\nMissionaries on the New Hebrides. The sum which they had raised\nannually, each Church in its allotted proportion, amounted to \u00a31,500, or\nrather more; and it was manifest that the Steam Auxiliary would cost at\nleast \u00a31,000 extra per annum. Unfriendly critics doubled that charge,\nand some prophesied even treble; but level-minded experts limited it to\n\u00a31,000, and the actual facts of experience, as to cost of maintaining\nthe _Morning Star_ and the _Southern Cross_, in these same Pacific Seas,\ntallied with their estimates.\n\nThe burning question, therefore, had been how to raise this _extra_ sum\nfor _Dayspring_ Maintenance. Our Victorian Church proposed to increase\nher quota from \u00a3500 to \u00a3750, and issued appeals to the other co\u00f6perating\nChurches to make a similar advance. It did not seem too much to expect,\nin the interests of the Mission, all whose operations had trebled since\nthe original responsibility was allocated; but they pled inability to\ncomply, and so the project hung fire for ten years and more, experiments\nbeing meanwhile made in other arrangements for the Maritime Service of\nthe Mission, and new interests of various kinds being thereby created,\nwhich have not tended to unity and peace in the management of the New\nHebrides. There is peril also incurred to the highest spiritual\ninterests of the Mission, which I daily pray God, in His loving kindness\nand mercy, to be pleased to avert!\n\nWithout ascribing anything but the most ordinary motives in the world to\nthose who opposed the getting of a new _Dayspring_, the situation that\nthus grew up is perfectly transparent. The Australian New Hebrides\nCompany was employed to do the work of our Mission by their Trading\nShips. In 1805\u2014_e.g._, we paid to them the large sum of \u00a32,451, 8s. 1d.;\nall found money, for, without us, these Ships in their outgoing trip to\nthe Islands would have sailed comparatively empty. To secure a Ship of\nour own would be, therefore, to deprive the Company of this handsome\nsubsidy; and it is but Human Nature, and implies no necessary dishonor,\nthat the shareholders and their Ministerial and Missionary friends\nshould have become the keenest and even bitterest opponents of the new\n_Dayspring_. Further, the headquarters of the Company being at Sydney,\nand the subsidy for our Mission, as well as the money for the upkeep of\nour Missionaries and their families, being consequently expended almost\nexclusively there, it is, from the world\u2019s point of view, equally\nnatural to anticipate that the very heart and centre of the opposition\nhas been in New South Wales, and has concentrated itself in the Advisory\nCommittee which sits at Sydney and is known as _The Dayspring Board_.\nAll this, I say, was only to be expected, if the whole transaction is to\nbe weighed and measured by the standards of men of the World, instead of\nbeing put into the balances of Jesus Christ, and estimated in the light\nof the spiritual and eternal interests of the Islanders whom He has\ncommitted to our care.\n\nWith great plausibility, this selfish opposition sought to commend\nitself to a wilder circle by a Patriotic plea. If we did not support the\nTrading Company, it would fail, and the French might come on the scene\nand annex the New Hebrides! The facts of history were forgotten or\nignored, with their ominous lesson, that other influences than trade\nmust be brought into action to save these Islands from France. Did the\ntide of British trade, on the Loyalty Islands, on Madagascar, and the\nlike, prevent their annexation by France? Certainly not! True, it will\nbe a terrible calamity, not only to our Mission but to Australasia, if\nFrance is permitted to annex the New Hebrides; but while she is openly\npreparing the way for that fatal step, Britain and her Colonies mock at\nall our warnings, and treat the whole matter with indifference, if not\ncontempt. New South Wales and Victoria have even withdrawn those modest\nsubsidies from Colonial Trading Ships, whereby their Governments might\nhave continued to manifest some little desire to save the New Hebrides\nfrom the maw of Popish France!\n\nEven if the horror of French Annexation were to overtake us, it might be\nrationally contended that our Mission, instead of being implicated with\nthe existence of a rival Trading Company, would receive more favorable\nconsideration, if we had a Steam Auxiliary Ship devoted entirely to\nspiritual services, ministering to, say, twenty-four Mission Families,\nwith their Lay Assistants and all belongings and dependents.\n\nBut, after all, such reasonings do not even touch the very heart of the\nmatter; and men who never go deeper than these cannot understand our\naims, and are in no position to criticise them, however loudly they may\nabuse or oppose us. It is the spiritual and eternal welfare of our poor\nIslanders that is at stake, in the question of _Dayspring_ or no\n_Dayspring_; at least that is my immovable conviction, and, apart from\nthat, no argument on the other side has or can have much consideration\nat my hands. With a Mission Ship of our own, for the New Hebrides, as\nfor every other Mission in these Pacific seas, we can visit our\nStations, as the interests of God\u2019s work may require; we can visit and\ncheer the Native Teachers at their lonely outposts amongst Heathen\nVillages; we can deliberately visit and open up Pioneer Stations, where\nHeathenism still reigns, and plant there our young Missionaries and\ntheir Helpers; we can dissociate our Ship and her crew from the\ndrunkenness, profligacy, and profanity of the ordinary crews of Trading\nVessels; we can prevent the sale of Fire-Arms and Intoxicants, in barter\nwith the Natives; and, in a single word, we can make the Mission Ship,\nin all her ways and surroundings, an adjunct to the work of the\nMissionary, and a herald of the Kingdom of God among the Islanders,\nalike on God\u2019s Day of Rest, and on every day of the week\u2014and all this in\na manner and to a degree, that is not within human possibility if we be\ndeprived of our own _Dayspring_, and thrown back upon ordinary Trading\nShips. This, and this alone, goes to the bottom of the whole\ncontroversy.\n\nConsequently, the men who opposed us never seriously denied what we here\naffirm, or attempted to answer our arguments. On the contrary, they\npractically gave away the whole case by perilling everything on the\nquestion of expense. All we urged might be unassailably true, but the\ncost was prohibitory! The money could not be raised, or, if it could, it\nwould be positively sinful to spend so much on such a Mission! My blood\noften tingled to my finger tips, to hear this urged by self-indulgent\nand purse-proud men, who spent every year, on the pleasures of this\nperishing life, more than all that was required for the _Dayspring_ and\nthe four and twenty Mission Families, and the hundred thousand New\nHebrideans, to whom she was to minister as the white-winged Servant of\nthe Gospel of Jesus. Nor was my mood much calmer when this same thing\nwas urged by Ministers and Office-Bearers of the Church, at Home and in\nthe Colonies, who carry on their labors amidst the inspiring\nsurroundings and associations of their happier lot; who criticise\nMissions and their management from the safe and cozy retreat of their\nlibraries and armchairs; who by post and telegraph are in touch with\nthose most dear to them every day, yea, every hour; and many of whom\nnever denied themselves one of the necessities of life, nor one of their\nown perhaps foolish luxuries, for the sake of the Lord Jesus and His\ncause,\u2014never allowed themselves to suffer, even to the extent of one\npoor pennyworth, even for the length of one passing day, for the love\nthey bore to God or to their fellows. I fear that I am an impatient\nreasoner, when creatures of this type cross my path. Alas, they too much\nabound, to the shame of the Church, and for the scorn of the World!\n\nComing back, therefore, to Britain, with these ten years of delay to be\naccounted for, I did in all my Addresses frankly avow, that, in my\njudgment the main obstacle, if not the only one, was the lack of this\nextra \u00a31,000 per annum for Maintenance. Friends on every side started\nup, and thrust upon me the proposal, that those who had subscribed the\nmoney to build the ship were quite willing to subscribe yearly to assist\nin maintaining her. I took the whole matter to my Lord in special\nprayer. It was borne in upon me to let the proposal be fully known, and\nI felt myself bound to conclude that if, in a spontaneous way, the sum\nof \u00a31,000 were provided, with any hope of permanent interest, to renew\nit from year to year, _that_ would be to me at least the demonstration\nof the Gideon\u2019s Fleece, that God, who had through His people presented\nthe Ship to our Mission, was opening up a way for her yearly\nMaintenance.\n\nA Circular Letter on the _Dayspring_ Maintenance Fund was accordingly\ndrawn up, and issued to all correspondents and supporters by my British\nCommittee. Certificates for Three-Penny Shares in the _Dayspring_, to be\nrenewed annually, were widely circulated in Sabbath Schools. And,\nwithout further organization or appeal, the answer to our prayers was\nalmost instantaneously forthcoming. My Honorary Treasurer had the needed\n\u00a31,000 already paid, and sufficient promises for the immediate future.\nWe were empowered to promise this for Maintenance, if the _Dayspring_\nwere duly placed on the scene. If not, the money was to be returned to\nthe donors, or by them allocated to other departments of the Mission\nenterprise. If, in all this, we had not the guidance of God, I know not\nhow to trace His hand!\n\nOther Providential signs were not awanting. I called one day, at\nLiverpool, on a generous Christian gentleman, to thank him personally\nfor a sum of \u00a350 sent to the Mission. The thought or purpose of seeking\nmore money from him had never once entered my brain! He questioned me\ncarefully about the needs of the Mission, the accommodation of the\nproposed Ship, and all our plans. Then he closed our interview thus: \u201cI\nam convinced that you cannot buy or build a sufficient Mission Vessel\nfor \u00a36,000, and I wish you to add this in order to secure a larger and a\nbetter Ship.\u201d He handed me his check for \u00a31,000! In tears of joy, I\nthanked God and His dear servant, but hinted something about preferring\nit rather for the first year\u2019s Maintenance Fund, but he repeated that\nthis was to secure a larger and better Ship, adding: \u201cReceive this as\nfrom God, and the other will come also.\u201d\n\nAgain, my dear friend Lord Overtoun, who had presided over two Meetings\nthat were addressed by me, entered one morning into a Railway Car by\nwhich I was travelling, and sat down beside me. At the close of a happy\nand very friendly conversation, he added: \u201cLady Overtoun and I gave you\n\u00a3200 toward the building of the Mission Ship; and now, after talking the\nmatter over, we have resolved to give you \u00a3100 per annum for five years\nto help to pay for her Maintenance.\u201d\n\nMy soul overflowed with praise to God, and with thanks to those whose\nhearts were thus in His keeping. To me, and to all my fellow Helpers, it\nseemed to be plainly the will of the Lord. We reverently believed that\nthis was God\u2019s doing, and no mere plan of ours. He had given the\n_Dayspring_ in a present to the New Hebrides; and now He had provided\nfor her Maintenance. We were convinced at that time, and, despite all\nthat has happened since, we are still convinced, that the Divine voice\nwas infallibly saying, Go forward!\n\nI returned to Victoria in the autumn of 1894. To the Assembly of the\nPresbyterian Church at Melbourne I gave my first public account of my\nTour Round the World as their Missionary and Representative. At the\nclose of my address, I handed to the Moderator a check for \u00a312,527, 4s.\n2d., as the fruit of the Collections and Donations at my Public\nMeetings\u2014the offerings of the people of God from all these lands, to be\nused for completing the evangelization of the New Hebrides. To this I\nadded a deposit of \u00a31,000,\u2014part of the profits of my book, but for the\ntime locked up in our Australian Banks. As this money all came to me\nthrough those Congregations and Assemblies which I addressed as\nMissionary Representative of the Church in Victoria, I regarded it as\nbelonging to my Church and as placed entirely under their control. I had\nno right to exercise any further authority over it, save only thus far,\nthat it could not honorably be spent in any other way than on the New\nHebrides Mission. The donors had again and again protested that they\nwanted to hear me on that Mission and on nothing else\u2014that they had many\nother opportunities of giving to the other great Missions in India,\nChina, and Africa, and that what they gave through me was for the New\nHebrides. I handed over the money; I delivered their message; and there,\nso far, my responsibility ceased.\n\nBut that sum, vast as it may seem, represented only half the generosity\nof the Churches of Britain and America during these three fruitful\nyears. Side by side with Public Collections and the like, another stream\nof liberality had been constantly flowing. The readers of my\n_Autobiography_ responded liberally to the appeal of my British\nCommittee, and poured donations into their hands or mine, almost\nentirely by post, till, from readers of my book alone, _The John G.\nPaton Mission Fund_, gave me on leaving a check for \u00a312,000. These\ndonations were placed entirely at my personal disposal, under one\ncondition only\u2014that I must use them for the extension of Mission work on\nthe New Hebrides. For the management of this sum, I obtained the\nsanction of the General Assembly to the preparation of a legal Deed. It\nis held by the Finance Committee of the Victorian Church, under those\nconditions,\u2014that I only can operate on it for the extension of the work\nof God on the New Hebrides, while I live; and that after my decease they\ncan use it, but only for these same purposes; thus fulfilling, as\nfaithfully as may be, the wishes of those Christian souls who sent this\nmoney to me from all corners of the world.\n\nIn addition to these two large branches of our _General Fund_, there had\ncome to myself or to my British Committee very considerable sums for\nSpecial Funds. Notably these two:\u2014the _Native Teachers\u2019 Fund_, designed\nto pay a small yearly salary, formerly of \u00a36, but now beginning at that\nfigure and after two years\u2019 faithful service rising to \u00a38, to each of\nthose Converts to whom God had given the capacity and the call to become\nHelpers to the Missionary in School and Church, and in many cases\nPioneers of the Cross where no white Missionary had ever gone: and also,\nthe _Dayspring Maintenance Fund_, already referred to and described. The\nlatter of these two was, of course, retained in the hands of the British\nCommittee at my call, till such time as the Churches and the Mission\nSynod decided for or against a Mission Vessel. The former they continue\nto administer, at my direction and under my sanction, through one of the\nMissionaries on the Islands, who acts as their treasurer and agent. So\nfar as the annual donations will allow, we freely grant to every\nMissionary all the assistance in our power for the training and\nmaintaining of these Native Evangelists, many of whom are destined to\nbecome the future Pastors of the people. Up till now our difficulty has\nbeen to find enough of suitable and reliable Native Teachers to be\nallocated to the Churches, Bible Classes, Sunday Schools, and individual\nChristians, willing to support them. But we hope for great things from\nthe TRAINING COLLEGE recently opened on Tangoa under Dr. Annand, one of\nour ablest and most devoted Missionaries; and my British Committee have\nundertaken to pay the salary of his Assistant, \u00a3150 per annum, with my\ncordial approval. Many prayers are uplifted daily for this Missionary\nInstitute on the New Hebrides, at the very heart and centre of these\nCannibal Isles, that the Lord God would own it and send forth thence\ntrained and consecrated Evangelists to build up and to rule the New\nHebridean Church of Christ in the days that are to be,\u2014no longer under\nEuropean tutelage, but under Native Pastors. We would glory to lead on\nto that consummation, and then to pass to other fields of labor!\n\nIt is but right for me to mention, though most readers are already aware\nof it, that all my Helpers and Fellow Workers at Home and in America\ngive their time and strength freely and gladly, without thought of any\nreward except the joy of the service. All actual outlays incurred in the\non-carrying of the various schemes are, of course, met out of what we\ncall the _General Fund_; but every other penny, that comes to them or to\nme, goes directly to the extension of the Gospel on the New Hebrides.\nEach donation or subscription is acknowledged in our little quarterly\nmagazine known as _Jottings_, a copy of which is posted to all our\ncorrespondents and supporters, and which is now the bond whereby God\nkeeps us together and sustains our interest in this work\u2014another\ndevelopment, not so much of our seeking, as rather thrust upon us by the\nnecessities of the work of the Lord, which so increased that my Helpers\ncould in no other way overtake the correspondence, or circulate the\nMission news so eagerly desired. It is thus that those who unfeignedly\nseek to serve are led on by the Master Himself. The Pillar of Cloud and\nFire still marches before us; but, alas, how many have lost the power to\nbehold it!\n\nI praise God every day of my life for all these dear supporters and\ncorrespondents, far scattered in every Land, but one in heart for the\nsalvation of the New Hebrides. Through their generosity, my British\nCommittee with my joyful approval have undertaken, in addition to the\nsupport of Native Teachers and the subsidy for Maintenance of\n_Dayspring_, to defray the entire cost of two Missionaries and their\nwives, and also two Lay European Assistants. Nay, if the generosity of\nfriends should continue, they are at the moment of my writing hopefully\ncontemplating the support of a third Missionary, with, if possible, a\nLay Assistant also. These are surely God-honoring fruits from the\nplanting of my humble book in hearts that love the Lord, and from the\nzeal and devotion and extraordinary gifts of our Honorary Organizing\nSecretary\u2014with whom, and with all our Helpers everywhere, we reverently\nsay, Glory to God and not unto us!\n\nOur loving God orders everything well. But for that Fund handed over by\nme to the Victorian Church, I know not what would have become of the New\nHebrides Mission during the intervening years, since the crash of our\nAustralian Banks and the consequent terrible financial depression.\nThousands and tens of thousands of our people were literally ruined.\nMoney could not be obtained, even for the ordinary and inevitable\nexpenses of our Congregations. Ministers\u2019 stipends were, on almost every\nhand, temporarily reduced. The Foreign Mission Committee\u2019s income fell\nso terribly, that nearly everything was consumed in meeting the claims\nof the Mission to the Aborigines and to the Chinese. In 1895 the\ncontributions to the _Dayspring Fund_ fell in Victoria from \u00a3500 to\n\u00a3200, and even that was raised with difficulty. In fact, but for our\nFund, the salaries of several of the Missionaries and Native Teachers\nwould of necessity have been cancelled, and our forces withdrawn from\nthe field. God be praised, that calamity was averted! All our Army for\nJesus have been maintained at their posts; nay, additional Pioneers have\nactually, despite these depressions, gone forth and pierced the Kingdom\nof Darkness here and there with shafts of Gospel light.\n\nOn my return to Victoria all these schemes, and particularly the new\nproposals as to the _Dayspring_, were fully laid before the General\nAssembly of the Presbyterian Church at Melbourne. Though the Ship was\noffered as a free gift to the Mission, and the additional \u00a31,000 _per\nannum_ was now provided, without laying one farthing of financial burden\non them or on any of the Churches concerned, yet our Victorian Church\nresolved to proceed with great deliberation, and to carry, if possible,\nthe approval of all parties concerned. They entered into correspondence\nwith each of the seven other Churches co\u00f6perating in the New Hebrides,\nand with each of the Missionaries on the Islands, and agreed to instruct\nthe building of the Ship only if all, or a clear majority, cordially\napproved. More than ten years ago, all had sanctioned the raising of the\nmoney for a new and larger Steam Auxiliary Ship, and that sanction had\nnever been withdrawn. But many things had happened since then; and it\nwas at least brotherly and considerate, if not absolutely obligatory, to\nconfer with them all ere proceeding further.\n\nThe vast majority of the Missionaries at once reaffirmed their approval\nof the scheme. All the Churches concerned, except one, either cordially\napproved or left the matter to the free decision of the Australasian\nChurches and the Missionaries on the field, in which decision they\nintimated that they would heartily concur. The one exception was the\nChurch of New South Wales, influenced, as already indicated, by its\nclose association with the Trading Company, though doubtless from\nmotives entirely honorable, so far as individuals were concerned. What\nis known as _The Dayspring Board_, with its headquarters at Sydney, was\nalso strongly opposed, and for similar reasons, too manifest to need\nspecification here. But I cannot regard the opposition of that Board as\neither defensible or requiring to be taken into account at all. It is\nsimply an Advisory Committee. It neither raises any money for the Ship\nnor for the Mission. It is the Executive, at most, of the Mission Synod\nand the Churches concerned; and its proper and only function is to carry\nout, in a helpful and business-like way, the instructions received from\nthe Missionaries. It is absurd, therefore, that such a Board should have\nany vote on the question of a _Dayspring_ or no _Dayspring_, any more\nthan would a paid Agent executing the orders of the Missionaries for\narticles of merchandise. A delicate sense of honor should have made them\nfeel this, and act accordingly, instead of becoming, as they did, not\nonly avowed opponents of the scheme, but, in some cases, even bitter\npartisans and unscrupulous antagonists. For myself, I frankly say that\nthe opposition of a Board so constituted should not only be discounted,\nbut should be wholly ignored.\n\nThe Victorian Church, therefore, through its Foreign Mission Committee,\nordered the _Dayspring_. She was built by Messrs. Mackie & Thomson on\nthe Clyde, under the instructions and the personal supervision of John\nStephen, Esquire, of Linthouse. Better, more skilled, more reliable\nadvice could not be obtained in Britain. It was all gratuitously and\nungrudgingly given for the sake of the Mission, and we felt deeply\nindebted for the same. The new Steam Auxiliary _Dayspring_, on her\ncompletion, was exhibited to friends, subscribers, and Sabbath Scholars,\nat Glasgow, at Ayr, at Belfast, at Douglas, and at Liverpool. Thousands\nupon thousands of people flocked to see the little Missionary Ship, and\nto wish her Godspeed. She was universally admired. The Public Press\ncommented on her trim appearance, substantial workmanship, and perfect\nadaptation to the service for which she was destined. She had been built\nand equipped within the \u00a37,000 set apart for her construction. She had\nevery necessary accommodation for Officers and Crew, for Missionaries\nand their Families, and for Native Teachers; and when she sailed away\nfrom Liverpool, the representatives of my British Committee, upon whom\nhad lain the heavy burden of all the details, praised God that the plans\nand toils of so many years had at last been brought to so auspicious an\nissue. It marked the beginning of a new era, it was hoped, in the\nConversion of the New Hebrides, and the little Ship was borne away on\nthe wings of prayer and praise!\n\nShe performed the Ocean voyage to the highest satisfaction of all her\nOfficers. At Melbourne she was welcomed with much enthusiasm. On her\nfirst trip to the Islands, the hearts of our Natives thrilled with great\njoy at the sight of their own Gospel Ship. On her second visit, her\npowers and capacities were most severely tested, and her adaptability to\nthe needs of the Mission. She had to call at all our Stations, and carry\nup to Aneityum all the members of the Mission for the Annual Synod in\nthe month of May. She had on board fifty passengers, forty adults, and\nten children, exclusive of the Native Teachers and their families, and,\nafter the Synod, she had to carry all these back again to their several\nscattered Stations. It was the unanimous and decided opinion of all\nconcerned, that, during no previous Synod Trip under any service, had we\never enjoyed the same comfort and the same happiness. There was\nthanksgiving, on every hand. The dissensions of the past were buried.\nThe Mission Synod had now their own Ship; and they unitedly resolved to\nturn her to the best possible account in the Cause of Jesus and for the\nspeedy Evangelizing of the New Hebrides. Our hearts were at rest. We\nturned aside to other labors, thanking God that in all this many prayers\nhad been answered, many tears had borne precious fruit. The _Dayspring_\nwas the crown and complement of our Missionary Enterprise for the\nsalvation of these Islands\u2014God bless her!\n\nOur dear little Mission Ship performed her third trip also with perfect\nsafety, and with much satisfaction to all the Missionaries. Her new\nCaptain, who had formerly been her first Officer, and who in his earlier\ndays had sailed these same Seas in the _Southern Cross_, was a great\nfavorite alike amongst the Missionaries and the Natives; thoroughly\ncapable, firm yet gentle, deserving and commanding universal respect.\nThe Ship had, as the result of experience, been in some matters\noverhauled and readjusted, to meet special requirements; and her fourth\nVoyage was entered upon with hope and joy. She was loaded with\nprovisions for the Missionaries and their Families, with wood for the\nbuilding of their Houses and Schools, and with whatsoever was most\nurgently required by them for three months to come. So that at every\nStation, on every Island, the eyes of our beloved Missionaries and their\nConverts were eagerly looking out across the Seas for the flag of the\ndear little _Dayspring_.\n\nAlas, they looked in vain! She struck on an uncharted reef, not far from\nNew Caledonia,\u2014a disaster against which no skill and no experience could\nguard, in those not yet thoroughly explored and ever-changeful Seas. Her\nOfficers and Crew did everything that men could do to save her, and\nstruggled on till all hope had perished. With sore hearts, they at last\nprovisioned and manned the two boats, and committed themselves to the\ndeep\u2014agreeing on certain general lines of action, that, please God, they\nmight again come together and be rescued. In a very short time, after\nthey had withdrawn, a high wind and a heavy sea working together\ncompleted her destruction, and they beheld the dear little _Dayspring_\nplunging head-foremost from the reef into the Sea, and disappearing,\nmasts and all, within the hungry Ocean.\n\nThe Captain\u2019s boat ran to an island for safety, and was, ere long,\npicked up, and he and all his men safely returned to Australia. The\nother boat had a dreadful voyage. More than once she was overturned, and\nleft them all struggling in the Sea. For fourteen days and nights,\nwithout almost any food, without any possibility of rest, bareheaded in\na broiling sun, the poor fellows endured suffering and untold distress;\ntill, at length, by a well-nigh miraculous Providence, they ran ashore\non the coast of Queensland, and were saved. Blessed be God, though our\ndear little _Dayspring_, with all her belongings, her Library, her\nMission Harmonium, Lord Kelvin\u2019s magnificent Compass, and the books, the\nfurnishings, and the food of our beloved Missionaries, lay sleeping in\nthe Ocean\u2019s bed\u2014no father\u2019s or mother\u2019s heart was wrung with the memory\nof some precious Son buried with her there. We were all spared that\nagony, and we continue to praise God that the wreck of the _Dayspring_\ncost not a single human life.\n\nIt does not need that I should inform the Reader of the preceding pages\nthat this wreck was, in all the circumstances, one of the bitterest\nsorrows of my life. I am not ashamed, considering my views of its\nspiritual value as the Handmaid of the Gospel in completing Christ\u2019s\nMission on the New Hebrides, to confess that I showed as much emotion,\nthough in a different way, when I heard the sorrowful news, as did the\nChristian Natives at Lenukel, when they rolled themselves in anguish on\nthe sands, and set up a deathwail as if they had lost their dearest\nfriend. It requires very little imagination to realize the scene, as the\nnews was borne from Isle to Isle, and to hear one long, deep, and\nheart-breaking cry resounding throughout the New Hebrides\u2014\u201cAlas for the\nGospel Ship! Alas for our dear little _Dayspring_! Alas for the\nwhite-winged Herald of the Cross!\u201d\n\nFor one, though firmly believing that her loss was a great blow to all\nthe higher interests of our Mission, I was able to say: \u201cThe Lord gave\nand the Lord hath taken away:\u201d\u2014but yet, God forgive me, it was very hard\nto add: \u201cBlessed be the Name of the Lord.\u201d But never, in my deepest\nsoul, did I for a moment doubt that in His hands all must be well.\nWhatever trials have befallen me in my Earthly Pilgrimage, I have never\nhad the trial of doubting that perhaps, after all, Jesus had made some\nmistake. No! my blessed Lord Jesus makes no mistakes! When we see all\nHis meaning, we shall then understand, what now we can only trustfully\nbelieve, that all is well\u2014best for us, best for the cause most dear to\nus, best for the good of others and the glory of God. Still, my tears\nwould flow when I thought of the dear little _Dayspring_, the fruit of\nten years of prayers and toils, the gift of God\u2019s people throughout the\nworld to our beloved Mission, tumbled from that reef and lying at the\nbottom of the Sea. And I felt comforted to think that He, who wept with\nthe mourning Sisters at the grave of Lazarus, did not rebuke their\ntears, but soothed them by weeping with them\u2014\u201cJesus wept.\u201d\n\nWisely or otherwise, all parties seemed to embrace at once the\nconclusion that this Shipwreck should furnish the occasion for\nreconsidering the whole question of a Mission Vessel or no Mission\nVessel for the New Hebrides. For the time, arrangements had again to be\nresumed for the services of the Trading Company; and the interval was to\nbe utilized in consulting the Mission Synod on the Islands, and the\nChurches concerned, in the light of the experience gained, whether\nanother _Dayspring_ should be built or not. I must openly affirm that\nthis policy never commended itself to my judgment, nor even yet can I\nsee its wisdom. With the Insurance, though limited to the inadequate sum\nof \u00a32,000 much against my will by the Committee at Melbourne, and with\nthe other Funds for the _Dayspring_ still on hand, besides the Free-Will\nOfferings that poured in on us from friends everywhere, we could have\nordered and paid for a New Ship without one hour\u2019s delay. We had the\nassent of the Churches and the approval of the Missionaries, and should\nhave gone forward, as if the wreck had never happened. God seemed\nHimself to be clearly pointing the way. Within a few hours, after the\ndisaster was cabled to Britain, a lady in London sent a check for \u00a31,000\nto my Home Committee, \u201cto build or buy a new and larger ship!\u201d Other\ngenerous offers were also pressed upon us; and the money is at this\nmoment lying in the Bank awaiting a decision. We could then, and can\nnow, present to the Mission another _Dayspring_, as a free gift from\nthose throughout the world to whom God has endeared the Mission on the\nNew Hebrides.\n\nBut I was powerless to resist the policy of delay, the consequences of\nwhich I cannot but fear, whatever the ultimate decision may be, as\nhighly disastrous to our Mission. Should the vote be in favor of another\nShip, the delay will have so damped the interest of supporters, that my\nBritish Committee may find it extremely difficult to revive\nsubscriptions and secure the promised \u00a31,000 _per annum_ towards the\nMaintenance Fund. Should the vote be unfavorable, the dissension amongst\nthe Missionaries and the Churches, and the seesaw policy in the\nManagement of the Mission, will so shake the confidence of the Christian\nPublic, that all our funds are bound to suffer, and the welfare of the\nMission be seriously crippled. I do, therefore, most earnestly pray and\nhope that there may be unity, at whatever cost to my personal\npredilections; for the spectacle of a disloyal Minority, undermining and\ndestroying the work of the Majority, is enough to bring on our cause the\ncontempt of men, if not also the curse of God. And at the same time, I\ncannot but fervently desire that the mind of the Synod on the Islands\nand of the Churches in the Colonies, at Home, and in Nova Scotia, may be\nclear and decided in favor of a Mission Ship, for the highest welfare of\nthe Church of God on the New Hebrides.[2]\n\nFootnote 2:\n\n  The Synod on the Islands (May, 1897) have voted _for_ a New Mission\n  Ship by a majority of 13 against 2.\u2014EDITOR.\n\nExperience has demonstrated that a perfectly suitable Vessel can be\nconstructed for, say \u00a38,000, that is, fifty tons larger than the Ship we\nhave lost. Experience has further demonstrated that she can be\nmaintained for \u00a32,500 per annum, or even less. Our opponents must\ntherefore lay aside their speculative figures, and cease to say that her\nbuilding may cost \u00a310,000, and her yearly maintenance not less than\n\u00a35,000. The _Dayspring_ lived long enough to slay these two wild\nfabrications. Now then, let them be buried with her in the Sea! It is\npurely and simply a question of whether, in the interests of the Kingdom\nof God on the New Hebrides, and in order to cut off our work there from\nall degrading association with Sabbath-breaking and grog-selling Trading\nShips, we should or should not accept the free-will offerings of the\nPeople at Home to build for us, and to help us to maintain, a Mission\nShip of our own. I never can believe it possible to imagine any other\nanswer but one\u2014if that issue were clearly contemplated, and judgment\npronounced, _apart_ from all other considerations, whether personal,\nself-interested, or merely worldly.\n\nThus far, as part of my Life-Story, and that every reader may comprehend\nmy aims, it seemed necessary to explain, to argue, and even to\ncriticise. But all further reference here is needless. Ere this page is\npublished, the final decision will probably have been announced. I can\ntruly say that my Lord knows how sincerely I desire a clear and final\ndecision, whether for or against another[3] _Dayspring_; and that, such\nhaving been given, I pledged myself beforehand to accept it as His will,\nand, under it, to do all that in me lies to promote during my remaining\ndays, the true welfare of the Mission of Christ to the New Hebrides.\n_Dayspring_, or no _Dayspring_, these souls must be won for Jesus!\n\nFootnote 3:\n\n  The General Assembly at Melbourne (November, 1897) resolved by a\n  majority of one to delay for twelve months before deciding either for\n  or against a new _Dayspring_.\u2014EDITOR.\n\nAnd now, since this in all human probability is the closing Chapter of\nmy humble Life, so far as it shall ever be written by me, therefore ere\nI lay down my pen, let me dwell with unalloyed delight on a few pictures\nof facts that rise before me, illustrative of the work of God at large\nthroughout the New Hebrides. In all my journeyings, and in all my talks\nand writings, though of necessity personal experiences bulked somewhat\nlargely, yet every candid hearer or reader will bear witness that I was\neager and careful to pay unstinted honor to all my fellow laborers on\nthese Islands; many of whom, men and women too, I truly regard before\nGod as amongst the noblest Servants of the Lord Jesus that I have ever\nknown, or expect to know, on this Earth. God be with them, one and all;\nand though, on questions of policy and management, some of them may\ndiffer from me, I would gladly spend my last ounce of strength in\npromoting the spiritual interests of their work at every Station, and\ncontributing to their personal happiness and prosperity, if it be in my\npower in any way to do so. All this, on both sides, we thoroughly know\nand understand, as becometh the Ambassadors of Christ to the Heathen\nWorld. I am never happier than when, as now, I try to picture the work\nof God on all the Isles of the New Hebrides, and show our friends and\nsupporters in every Land some of the fruits of their money and their\nprayers.\n\nAt North Santo, we see Mr. Noble Mackenzie and his wife with hope and\nfaith unfurling the Banner of the Cross; and Dr. and Mrs. Sandilands at\nPort Philip, Big Bay, on the same great Island, by healing and by\nteaching, pioneering for Jesus. Mr. Bowie and his wife, from the Free\nChurch of Scotland, are taking possession of South Santo in the name of\nChrist; and if the Mission Synod agrees to plant his brother, Dr. Bowie,\nalong with his wife, sent out this year by my British Committee, on East\nSanto, as seems desired\u2014this, the largest and most northerly island of\nthe Group, with its many languages and its unknown thousands of\ninhabitants, will at last be ringed round with fire,\u2014the fire of love to\nJesus and to the souls of the Heathen.\n\nAnother great Island, with several languages, has in recent years been\nsurrounded by the soldiers of the Cross, and claimed for Christ\u2014Mr. Watt\nLeggatt and his devoted wife at Aulua, Mr. Frederick J. Paton at\nPangkumu, and Mr. Boyd at South West Bay\u2014uniting their threefold forces\nto bring vast and populous Malekula to the feet of Jesus. Already most\nhopeful beginnings have been made. Christian Churches, with a few\nConverts, have been planted at these three Stations\u2014the nucleus, we\ntrust, of living branches on Earth of the Living Body of our Living Lord\nin the Heavenly World.\n\nTanna, also, has been afresh assaulted, in the name of God. Mr. Gillies\nand his wife are on their way to assist and to succeed Mr. Watt at\nKwamera and Port Resolution; Mr. Thomson Macmillan has entered upon the\nfield at Wiasisi, from which Mr. Gray had to retire; and Mr. Frank H. L.\nPaton and his devoted wife, along with their Lay Assistant, Mr. Hume,\nhave opened a Pioneering Mission at Lenukel, on the Western coast,\nentirely supported by the funds of my British Committee. And our hopes\nbeat high that Tanna, often described as the hardest Mission field in\nthe Heathen World, is on the eve of surrendering to the Gospel of Jesus,\nwhich the fierce Tannese have so long and so savagely resisted.\n\nTo join the noble band of younger Missionaries, Dr. Agnew has also gone\nto the New Hebrides, an experienced and gifted and most attractive\nMissionary at Home, and destined, we believe, to be a fruitful worker\nfor Jesus in the Foreign field. The preliminary expenses connected with\nseveral of these, such as Medical and other outfit, passage money to\nAustralia, and the like, have been gladly borne by my British Committee,\nthereby relieving the Churches of all initial outlays, and encouraging\nthem to undertake their permanent support. We press forward still, never\nthinking we can lawfully rest till every Tribe on the New Hebrides shall\nhave heard, each in their own language, in their Mother Tongue, the old\nand ever new and deathless story of Redeeming Love.\n\nThese, however, are but beginnings. Our older Stations showed, in 1895,\na record of work done and sufferings borne for Jesus that might well\nmake all Christians thrill with praise. Take a few examples only.\n\nDuring the year, Mr. Michelsen of Tongoa, one of the most successful\nMissionaries in the field, baptized and admitted to the Lord\u2019s Table 200\nConverts; while 200 more under his tuition and that of Mrs. Michelsen\nwere being prepared for the same holy privileges. God has given them in\nall nearly 2,000 Converts from amongst these Cannibals, who are being\nbuilt up into the faith and service of Jesus Christ. Alas, since the\nQueensland Government, in defiance of the solemn Protest of the Chiefs,\nopened this Island to the Labor-recruiting Ships, hundreds of their best\nand most hopeful Native Helpers have been seduced as _Kanakas_ to the\nSugar Plantations\u2014and the Missionary and the Islanders alike regard them\nas virtually dead; so very few will ever return! Mr. Michelsen has\nthirty Native Teachers or Evangelists, with 1,850 pupils attending the\nMission Schools. During the same year, the Converts collected from\namongst themselves \u00a325, and handed it over for the promotion of the\nGospel of Christ; so that the labors of this devoted servant of God, for\nsixteen years, are being crowned with many tokens of blessing.\n\nIt is believed amongst us that few Missions in the World show more\ninteresting fruits of Evangelistic enterprise than Nguna and its Islets,\nunder the fostering pastorate of Mr. Milne and his most devoted and\ngifted wife. There are 750 Communicants on the Church\u2019s Roll, 1,700\nregularly attending the Worship of God, and at least 2,000 in all who\nhave turned from Heathenism and adopted the habits of Christian\nCivilization. There are thirty Native Teachers, for whose support the\nNative Church raised \u00a3155, 8s. 11d. in 1895, besides giving Arrowroot\nfor Mission purposes valued at \u00a3120. They had thirty-seven Christian\nMarriages during the year, and 100 Candidates for Membership in the\nCommunicants\u2019 Class. Nay, most marvellous of all, the Church of Nguna\nhas thirty-eight of its married couples who have gone forth as Native\nTeachers and Mission Helpers to other Islands\u2014a Missionary Church called\nout of Heathenism, thus joyfully and instinctively sending forth from\nits own bosom Missionaries into the Heathenism beyond. Surely I am\nwarranted in saying, to the praise of Jesus and of His servants, that\nthis is a glorious record for five and twenty years!\n\nOn Epi, Mr. Fraser, having labored fourteen years, had 137 Members on\nhis Communion Roll, and 128 Candidates in his Communicants\u2019 Class; 27\nNative Teachers, with 1,000 at the Day Schools, and 1,250 at the Sabbath\nSchools; and his people collected amongst themselves \u00a334 for Mission\npurposes. Since then, and every day, the tide of prosperity is rising on\nthe side of Christianity, and all these figures are steadily increasing.\nMr. Smail is on the other side of the same Island, and has, as the\nresult of six years\u2019 devotion to his work, 36 Communicants in his\nChurch, 13 Candidates for Membership, 14 Native Teachers, and 500 daily\nattending their Schools. They gave \u00a37 for the work of the Mission.\n\nErromanga, where five Missionaries were murdered, and two of them\ndevoured by the Cannibals, is now a Christian Island. There are 300\nCommunicants, 12 Elders, 40 Native Teachers, and 1,750 attending the\nSchools\u2014practically the whole population. Mr. Robertson and his devoted\nwife have been honored of God, in completing this grand work, during the\nlast four and twenty years.\n\nAnd so on all round the Group, Island after Island being brought by\npatient, devoted, and rational expenditure of time, and affection, and\nall Gospel influences, to the knowledge of the Christian life, and\nthereby to Civilization. There are still four or five great Centres of\nHeathenism untouched. When God sends us Missionaries for these, it will\nthen only be a question of time coupled with pains and prayer, till all\nthe New Hebrides in all their Babel tongues, shall be heard singing the\npraises of Redeeming Love. May my blessed Saviour spare me to see the\nfull Dawn, if not the perfect Noon, of that happy Day!\n\n[Illustration:\n\n  A HEATHEN CHIEF OF FUTUNA.\n\n  Showing the hair divided in many locks, tortoise-shell earrings, bead\n    and shell necklace.\n]\n\n[Illustration:\n\n  EPETENETO,\n\n  The first native pastor in the New Hebrides\n]\n\nIt is easy to raise the shallow cry that the New Hebrides Mission is\novermanned, as compared with India, China and Africa, as some, and very\nspecially the same men who most keenly oppose the _Dayspring_, are\npersistently doing. We might answer by retort,\u2014Your own Towns and\nVillages are overmanned; why not resign your charges, and go to the\nmillions of Heathendom? But we leave that retort to others, and reply:\nThere are differences in all these fields of enterprise, which demand\nspecific adaptation of means to ends, and we fearlessly declare, in the\nface of all Christendom, that God Himself has approved of our system by\nthe almost unparalleled results. We plant down our European Missionary\nwith his staff at a given Station. We surround him with Native Teachers,\nwho pioneer amongst all the Villages within reach. His life-work is to\nwin that Island, or that People, for God and Civilization. He masters\ntheir Language, and reduces it to writing. He translates and prints\nportions of the Bible. He opens Schools, and begins teaching the whole\npopulation. He opens a Communicants\u2019 Class, and trains his most hopeful\nConverts for full membership in the Church. And there he holds the fort,\nand toils, and prays, till the Gospel of Jesus has not only been\npreached to every creature whom he can reach, but also reduced to\npractice in the new habits and the new religious and social life of the\nCommunity. In this way has Aneityum been won for Christ, and thoroughly\nChristianized; and Aniwa, and Erromanga, and Efat\u00e8, and Nguna, and\nTongoa, and several adjoining Isles. And, humanly speaking, there is no\nother way in which these Tribes and Peoples can be evangelized. The next\nstage will be that of the Native Pastorate, with a very few\nsuperintending European Missionaries\u2014a stage on which, for instance, my\nown Aniwa has long since practically entered, the Elders carrying on all\nthe work of the Church, with an occasional visit from a neighboring\nMissionary. But the foundations of Civilization and of Christianity must\neither be laid and solidly built up by a Missionary for each of these\nPeoples, or they will never be laid at all.\n\nLet our Churches then go forward on the lines which God the Lord hath\nblessed. Complete the pioneering work on the New Hebrides, bring the\nGospel within reach of every creature there, and then set free your\nmoney and your men to do the same elsewhere. But even in India and in\nChina and in Africa, with their countless millions, learn a lesson from\nthe work on the New Hebrides. Plant down your forces in the heart of one\nTribe or Race, where the same Language is spoken. Work solidly from that\ncentre, building up with patient teaching and lifelong care a Church\nthat will endure. Rest not till every People and Language and Nation has\nsuch a Christ-centre throbbing in its midst, with the pulses of the New\nLife at full play. Rush not from Land to Land, from People to People, in\na breathless and fruitless Mission. Kindle not your lights so far apart,\namid the millions and the wastes of Heathendom, that every lamp may be\nextinguished without any of the others knowing, and so leave the\nblackness of their Night blacker than ever. The consecrated Common-sense\nthat builds for Eternity will receive the fullest approval of God in\nTime.\n\nOh that I had my life to begin again! I would consecrate it anew to\nJesus in seeking the conversion of the remaining Cannibals on the New\nHebrides. But since that may not be, may He help me to use every moment\nand every power still left to me to carry forward to the uttermost that\nbeloved work. Doubtless these poor degraded Savages are a part of the\nRedeemer\u2019s inheritance, given to Him in the Father\u2019s Eternal Covenant,\nand thousands of them are destined through us to sing His praise in the\nglory and the joy of the Heavenly World! And should the record of my\npoor and broken life lead any one to consecrate himself to Mission work\nat Home or Abroad that he may win souls for Jesus, or should it even\ndeepen the Missionary spirit in those who already know and serve the\nRedeemer of us all\u2014for this also, and for all through which He has led\nme by His loving and gracious guidance, I shall, unto the endless ages\nof Eternity, bless and adore my beloved Master and Saviour and Lord, to\nwhom be glory forever and ever.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                            Selections from\n\n                      Fleming H. Revell Company\u2019s\n\n                            Missionary Lists\n\n                                           New York: 158 Fifth Avenue\n                                           Chicago: 63 Washington Street\n                                           Toronto: 154 Yonge Street\n\n\n\n\n                          _MISSIONS, AFRICA._\n\n\nThe Personal Life of David Livingstone.\n\nChiefly from his unpublished journals and correspondence in the\npossession of his family. By W. GARDEN BLAIKIE, D.D., LL.D. With\nPortrait and Map. _New, cheap edition._ 508 pages, 8vo, cloth, $1.50.\n\n\n  \u201cThere is throughout the narrative that glow of interest which is\n  realized while events are comparatively recent, with that also which\n  is still fresh and tender.\u201d\u2014_The Standard._\n\n\nDavid Livingstone.\n\nHis Labors and His Legacy. By A. MONTEFIORE, F.R.G.S. Missionary\nBiography Series. Illustrated. 160 pages, 12mo, cloth, 75c.\n\n\nDavid Livingstone.\n\nBy Mrs. J. H. WORCESTER, Jr., Missionary Annals Series. 12mo, paper,\nnet, 15c.; flexible cloth, net, 30c.\n\n\nReality vs. Romance in South Central Africa.\n\nBeing an Account of a Journey across the African Continent, from\nBenguella on the West Coast to the mouth of the Zambesi. By JAMES\nJOHNSTON, M.D. With 51 full-page photogravure reproductions of\nphotographs by the author, and a map. Royal 8vo, cloth, boxed, $4.00.\n\n\nThe Story of Uganda\n\nAnd of the Victoria Nyanza Mission. By S. G. STOCK. Illustrated. 12mo,\ncloth, $1.25.\n\n\n  \u201cTo be commended as a good, brief, general survey of the Protestant\n  missionary work in Uganda.\u201d\u2014_The Literary World._\n\n\nRobert Moffat,\n\nThe Missionary Hero of Kuruman. By DAVID J. DEANE. Missionary Biography\nSeries. Illustrated. _25th thousand._ 12mo, cloth, 75c.\n\n\nRobert Moffat.\n\nBy M. L. WILDER. Missionary Annals Series. 12mo, paper, net, 15c.;\nflexible cloth, net, 30c.\n\n\nThe Congo for Christ.\n\nThe Story of the Congo Mission. By Rev. JOHN B. MYERS. Missionary\nBiography Series. Illustrated. _Tenth thousand._ 12mo, cloth, 75c.\n\n\nOn the Congo.\n\nEdited from Notes and Conversations of Missionaries, by Mrs. H. GRATTAN\nGUINNESS. 12mo, paper, 50c.\n\n\nSamuel Crowther, the Slave Boy\n\nWho became Bishop of the Niger. By JESSE PAGE. Missionary Biography\nSeries. Illustrated. _Eighteenth thousand._ 12mo, cloth, 75c.\n\n\n  \u201cWe cannot conceive of anything better calculated to inspire in the\n  hearts of young people an enthusiasm for the cause.\u201d\u2014_The Christian._\n\n\nThomas Birch Freeman.\n\nMissionary Pioneer to Ashanti, Dahomey and Egba. By JOHN MILUM, F.R.G.S.\nMissionary Biography Series. Illustrated. 12mo, cloth, 75c.\n\n\n  \u201cWell written and well worth reading.\u201d\u2014_The Faithful Witness._\n\n\nSeven Years in Sierra Leone.\n\nThe Story of the Missionary Work of Wm. A. B. Johnson. By Rev. ARTHUR T.\nPIERSON, D.D. 16mo, cloth, $1.00.\n\n\n  Johnson was a missionary of the Church Missionary Society in Regent\u2019s\n  Town, Sierra Leone, Africa, from 1816 to 1823.\n\n\nAmong the Matabele.\n\nBy Rev. D. CARNEGIE, for ten years resident at Hope Fountain, twelve\nmiles from Bulawayo. With portraits, maps and other illustrations.\n_Second edition._ 12mo, cloth, 60c.\n\n\nPeril and Adventure in Central Africa.\n\nIllustrated Letter to the Youngsters at Home. By BISHOP HAMMINGTON.\nIllustrated. 12mo, cloth, 50c.\n\n\nMadagascar of To-Day.\n\nA Sketch of the Island. With Chapters on its History and Prospects. By\nRev. W. E. COUSINS, Missionary of the London Missionary Society since\n1862. Map and Illustrations. 12mo, cloth, $1.00.\n\n\nMadagascar.\n\nIts Missionaries and Martyrs. By Rev. W. J. TOWNSEND, D.D. Missionary\nBiography Series. Illustrated. _Tenth thousand._ 12mo, cloth, 75c.\n\n\nMadagascar.\n\nBy BELLE MCPHERSON CAMPBELL. Missionary Annals Series. 12mo, paper, net,\n15c.; flexible cloth, net, 30c.\n\n\nMadagascar.\n\nCountry, People, Missions. By Rev. JAMES SIBREE, F.R.G.S. Outline\nMissionary Series. 16mo, paper, 20c.\n\n\n\n\n                           _MISSIONS, CHINA._\n\n\nChinese Characteristics.\n\nBy Rev. ARTHUR H. SMITH, D.D., for 25 years a Missionary in China. With\n16 full-page original Illustrations, and index. _Sixth thousand. Popular\nedition._ 8vo, cloth, $1.25.\n\n\n  \u201cThe best book on the Chinese people.\u201d\u2014_The Examiner._\n\n\nA Cycle of Cathay;\n\nOr, China, South and North. With personal reminiscences. By W. A. P.\nMARTIN, D.D., LL.D., President Emeritus of the Imperial Tungwen College,\nPeking. With 70 Illustrations from photographs and native drawings, a\nMap and an index. _Second edition._ 8vo, cloth decorated, $2.00.\n\n\n  \u201cNo student of Eastern affairs can afford to neglect this work, which\n  will take its place with Dr. William\u2019s \u2018Middle Kingdom,\u2019 as an\n  authoritative work on China.\u201d\u2014_The Outlook._\n\n\nGlances at China.\n\nBy Rev. GILBERT REID, M.A., Founder of the Mission to the Higher\nClasses. Illustrated. 12mo, cloth, 80c.\n\n\nPictures of Southern China.\n\nBy Rev. JAMES MACGOWAN. With 80 Illustrations. 8vo, cloth, $4.20.\n\n\nA Winter in North China.\n\nBy Rev. T. M. MORRIS. With an Introduction by Rev. RICHARD GLOVER, D.D.,\nand a Map. 12mo, cloth, $1.50.\n\n\nJohn Livingston Nevius,\n\nFor Forty Years a Missionary in Shantung. By his wife, HELEN S. C.\nNEVIUS. With an Introduction by the Rev. W. A. P. MARTIN, D.D.\nIllustrated. 8vo, cloth, $2.00.\n\n\nThe Sister Martyrs of Ku Cheng.\n\nLetters and a Memoir of ELEANOR and ELIZABETH SAUNDERS, Massacred August\n1st, 1895. Illustrated, 12mo, cloth, $1.50.\n\n\nChina.\n\nBy Rev. J. T. GRACEY, D.D. _Seventh edition_, revised. 16mo, paper, 15c.\n\n\nProtestant Missions in China.\n\nBy D. WILLARD LYON, a Secretary of the Student Volunteer Movement. 16mo,\npaper, 15c.\n\n\n\n\n                     _MISSIONS, CHINA AND FORMOSA._\n\n\nJames Gilmour, of Mongolia.\n\nHis Diaries, Letters and Reports. Edited and arranged by RICHARD LOVETT,\nM.A. With three photogravure Portraits and Illustrations. 8vo, cloth,\ngilt top, $1.75.\n\n\n  \u201cIt is a vivid picture of twenty years of devoted and heroic service\n  in a field as hard as often falls to the lot of a worker in foreign\n  lands.\u201d\u2014_The Congregationalist._\n\n\nAmong the Mongols.\n\nBy Rev. JAMES GILMOUR. Illustrated, 12mo, cloth, $1.25.\n\n\nJames Gilmour and His Boys.\n\nBeing Letters to his Sons in England. With facsimiles of Letters, a Map\nand other Illustrations. 12mo, cloth, $1.25.\n\n\nGriffith John,\n\nFounder of the Hankow Mission, Central China. By WILLIAM ROBSON.\nMissionary Biography Series. Illustrated. 12mo, cloth, 75c.\n\n\nJohn Kenneth Mackenzie,\n\nMedical Missionary to China. With the Story of the first Chinese\nHospital. By Mrs. MARY I. BRYSON. With portrait. 12mo, cloth, $1.50.\n\n\nThe Story of the China Inland Mission.\n\nBy M. GERALDINE GUINNESS. Introduction by J. HUDSON TAYLOR, F.R.G.S.\nIllustrated, 2 volumes, 8vo, cloth, each, $1.50.\n\n\nFrom Far Formosa:\n\nThe Island, its People and Missions. By Rev. G. L. MACKAY, D.D., 23\nyears a missionary on the island. Well indexed. With many Illustrations\nfrom photographs by the author, and several Maps. _Fifth thousand.\nPopular edition._ 8vo, cloth, $1.25.\n\n\nChina and Formosa.\n\nThe Story of the Mission of the Presbyterian Church of England. By Rev.\nJAMES JOHNSON, editor of \u201cMissionary Conference Report, 1888.\u201d With 4\nMaps and many illustrations, prepared for this work. 8vo, cloth, $1.75.\n\n\n\n\n                           _MISSIONS, INDIA._\n\n\nIn the Tiger Jungle.\n\nAnd Other Stories of Missionary Work among the Telugus. By Rev. JACOB\nCHAMBERLAIN, M.D., D.D., for 37 years a Missionary in India.\nIllustrated. 12mo, cloth, $1.00.\n\n\n  \u201cIf this is the kind of missionary who mans the foreign stations, they\n  will never fail for lack of enterprise.... The book is withal a vivid\n  and serious portrayal of the mission work, and as such leaves a deep\n  impression on the reader.\u201d\u2014_The Independent._\n\n\nThe Child of the Ganges.\n\nA Tale of the Judson Mission. By Prof. R. N. BARRETT, D.D. Illustrated.\n12mo, cloth, $1.25.\n\n\nAdoniram Judson.\n\nBy JULIA H. JOHNSTON. Missionary Annals Series. 12mo, paper, net, 15c.;\nflexible cloth, net, 30c.\n\n\nOnce Hindu, now Christian.\n\nThe Early Life of Baba Padmanji. An Autobiography, translated. Edited by\nJ. MURRAY MITCHELL, M.A. 16mo, cloth, 75c.\n\n\nWilliam Carey.\n\nThe Shoemaker who became \u201cthe Father and Founder of Foreign Missions.\u201d\nBy Rev. JOHN B. MYERS. Missionary Biography Series. Illustrated.\n_Twenty-second thousand._ 12mo, cloth, 75c.\n\n\nWilliam Carey.\n\nBy MARY E. FARWELL. Missionary Annals Series. 12mo, paper, net, 15c.;\nflexible cloth, net, 30c.\n\n\nAlexander Duff.\n\nBy ELIZABETH B. VERMILYE. Missionary Annals Series. 12mo, paper, net,\n15c.; flexible cloth, net, 30c.\n\n\nReginald Heber,\n\nBishop of Calcutta, Scholar and Evangelist. By ARTHUR MONTEFIORE.\nMissionary Biography Series. Illustrated. 12mo, cloth, 75c.\n\n\nHeavenly Pearls Set in a Life.\n\nA Record of Experiences and Labors in America, India, and Australia. By\nMrs. LUCY D. OSBORN. Illustrated. 12mo, cloth, $1.50.\n\n\n\n\n                     _MISSIONS, PERSIA AND INDIA._\n\n\nPersian Life and Customs.\n\nWith Incidents of Residence and Travel in the Land of the Lion and the\nSun. By Rev. S. G. WILSON, M.A., for 15 years a missionary in Persia.\nWith Map, and other Illustrations, and Index. _Second edition, reduced\nin price._ 8vo, cloth, $1.25.\n\n\nJustin Perkins,\n\nPioneer Missionary to Persia. By his son, Rev. H. M. PERKINS. Missionary\nAnnals Series. 12mo, paper, net, 15c.; flexible cloth, net, 30c.\n\n\nWomen and the Gospel in Persia.\n\nBy Rev. THOMAS LAURIE, D.D. Missionary Annals Series. 12mo, paper, net,\n15c.; flexible cloth, net, 30c.\n\n\nHenry Martyn, Saint and Scholar.\n\nFirst Modern Missionary to the Mohammedans. 1781\u20131812. By GEORGE SMITH,\nauthor of \u201cLife of William Carey,\u201d \u201cThe Conversion of India,\u201d etc. With\nPortrait, Map, and Illustrations. Large 8vo, cloth, gilt top, $3.00.\n\n\n  \u201cThis excellent biography, so accurately written, so full of interest\n  and contagious enthusiasm, so well arranged, illustrated, and indexed,\n  is worthy of the subject.\u201d\u2014_The Critic._\n\n\nHenry Martyn.\n\nHis Life and Labors: Cambridge\u2014India\u2014Persia. By JESSE PAGE. Missionary\nBiography Series. Illustrated. _Eleventh thousand._ 12mo, cloth, 75c.\n\n\nHenry Martyn.\n\nMissionary to India and Persia. 1781\u20131812. Abridged from the Memoir by\nMrs. SARAH J. RHEA. Missionary Annals Series. 12mo, paper, net, 15c.;\nflexible cloth, net, 30c.\n\n\nThe Conversion of India.\n\nFrom Pant\u00e6nus to the Present Time, A. D. 193\u20131893. By GEORGE SMITH,\nC.I.E., author of \u201cHenry Martyn.\u201d Illustrated. 12mo, cloth, $1.50.\n\n\nThe Cross in the Land of the Trident.\n\nBy Rev. HARLAN P. BEACH, Educational Secretary of the Student Volunteer\nMovement. _5th thousand._ 12mo, paper, net, 25c.; cloth, 50c.\n\n\n\n\n                           _MISSIONS, JAPAN._\n\n\nRambles in Japan,\n\nThe Land of the Rising Sun. By Rev. Canon H. B. TRISTRAM, D.D., F.R.S.\nWith forty-six illustrations by EDWARD WHYMPER, a Map, and an index.\n8vo, cloth, $2.00.\n\n\n  \u201cA delightful book by a competent author, who, as a naturalist, writes\n  well of the country, while as a Christian and a humanitarian he writes\n  with sympathy of the new institutions of new Japan.\u201d\u2014_The\n  Independent._\n\n\nThe Gist of Japan:\n\nThe Islands, their People, and Missions. By Rev. R. B. PEERY, A.M.,\nPh.D., of the Lutheran Mission, Saga. Illustrated. 12mo, cloth\ndecorated, $1.25.\n\n\n  This book does not pretend to be an exhaustive treatise of an\n  exhaustless topic; it does pretend to cover the subject; and whosoever\n  is eager to know the \u201cgist\u201d of those matters Japanese in which\n  Westerners are most interested\u2014the land, the people, the coming of\n  Christianity, the difficulties and prospects of her missions, the\n  condition of the native Church\u2014will find it set down in Dr. Peery\u2019s\n  book in a very interesting, reliable, instructive, and condensed form.\n\n\nThe Ainu of Japan.\n\nThe Religion, Superstitions, and General History of the Hairy Aborigines\nof Japan. By Rev. JOHN BATCHELOR. With 80 Illustrations. 12mo, cloth,\n$1.50.\n\n\n  \u201cMr. Batchelor\u2019s book, besides its eighty trustworthy illustrations,\n  its careful editing, and its excellent index, is replete with\n  information of all sorts about the Ainu men, women, and children.\n  Almost every phase of their physical and metaphysical life has been\n  studied, and carefully noted.\u201d\u2014_The Nation._\n\n\nThe Diary of a Japanese Convert.\n\nBy KANZO UCHIMURA. 12mo, cloth, $1.00.\n\n\n  \u201cThis book is far more than the name indicates. It is the only book of\n  its kind published in the English language, if not in any language. It\n  is something new under the sun, and is as original as it is new. It\n  has the earmarks of a strong and striking individuality, is clear in\n  diction, forceful in style, and fearless in criticism.\u201d\u2014_The\n  Interior._\n\n\nA Maker of the New Japan.\n\nJoseph Hardy Neesima, the Founder of Doshisha University. By Rev. J. D.\nDAVIS, D.D., Professor in Doshisha. Illustrated. _Second edition._ 12mo,\ncloth, $1.00.\n\n\n  \u201cThe life is admirably and spiritedly written, and its hero stands\n  forth as one of the most romantic and inspiring figures of modern\n  times, a benefactor to his own country and an object of tender regard\n  on our part; for it was to the United States that Mr. Neesima turned\n  for light and help in his educational plans.\u201d\u2014_The Examiner._\n\n\n\n\n                      _MISSIONS, PACIFIC ISLANDS._\n\n\nJohn G. Paton,\n\nMissionary to the New Hebrides. An Autobiography, edited by his brother.\nWith an Introductory Note by Rev. A. T. PIERSON, D.D. Illustrated.\n_Tenth thousand._ 2 vols., 12mo, cloth, gilt top, boxed, net, $2.00;\n_cheaper edition_, 1 vol., 12mo, cloth, $1.50.\n\n\n  \u201cWe commend to all who would advance the cause of Foreign Missions\n  this remarkable autobiography. It stands with such books as those Dr.\n  Livingstone gave the world, and shows to men that the heroes of the\n  cross are not merely to be sought in past ages.\u201d\u2014_The Christian\n  Intelligencer._\n\n\nBishop Patterson,\n\nThe Martyr of Melanesia. By JESSIE PAGE. Missionary Biography Series.\nIllustrated. _Thirteenth thousand._ 12mo, cloth, 75c.\n\n\nJames Calvert;\n\nOr, From Dark to Dawn in Fiji. By R. VERNON. Missionary Biography\nSeries. Illustrated. _Tenth thousand._ 12mo, cloth, 75c.\n\n\nFrom Darkness to Light in Polynesia.\n\nWith Illustrative Clan Songs. By Rev. WILLIAM WYATT GILL, LL.D.\nIllustrated. 12mo, cloth, $2.40.\n\n\nJohn Williams,\n\nThe Martyr Missionary of Polynesia. By Rev. JAMES J. ELLIS. Missionary\nBiography Series. Illustrated. _Thirteenth thousand._ 12mo, cloth, 75c.\n\n\nAmong the Maoris;\n\nOr, Daybreak in New Zealand. A Record of the Labors of Marsden, Selwyn,\nand others. By JESSIE PAGE. Missionary Biography Series. Illustrated.\n12mo, cloth, 75c.\n\n\nPioneering in New Guinea,\n\n1877\u20131894. By JAMES CHALMERS. With a Map and 43 Illustrations from\nOriginal Sketches and Photographs. 8vo, cloth, $1.50.\n\n\n  \u201cIt reveals a splendid character, and records a noble apostolic work.\n  It is a notable addition to our missionary literature of the high\n  class.\u201d\u2014_The Standard._\n\n\nJames Chalmers,\n\nMissionary and Explorer of Rarotonga and New Guinea. By WILLIAM ROBSON.\nMissionary Biography Series. Illustrated. _Fourteenth thousand._ 12mo,\ncloth, 75c.\n\n\n\n\n                          _MISSIONS, AMERICA._\n\n\nOn the Indian Trail,\n\nAnd Other Stories of Missionary Work among the Cree and Saulteaux\nIndians. By EGERTON R. YOUNG. Illustrated by J. E. LAUGHLIN. 12mo,\ncloth, $1.00.\n\n\n  Mr. Young is well known to readers of all ages as the author of \u201cBy\n  Canoe and Dog Train,\u201d \u201cThree Boys in the Wild North Land,\u201d and other\n  very popular books describing life and adventure in the great\n  Northwest. The stories in this new book tell of some very exciting\n  incidents in his career, and describe phases of life among the\n  American Indians which are fast becoming things of the past.\n\n\nForty-two Years Among the Indians and Eskimos.\n\nPictures from the Life of the Rt. Rev. John Horden, first Bishop of\nMoosonee. By BEATRICE BATTY. Illustrated. 12mo, cloth, $1.00.\n\n\nVikings of To-Day;\n\nOr, Life and Medical Work among the Fishermen of Labrador. By WILFRED T.\nGRENFEL, M.D., of the Deep Sea Mission. Illustrated from Original\nPhotographs. _Second edition._ 12mo, cloth, $1.25.\n\n\n  \u201cThe author has been in charge of the work since its inception, and\n  writes, accordingly, with special authority and wealth of detail, both\n  as to the methods of work and as to the people\u2014the fearless, patient\n  Vikings\u2014to whom he has dedicated his life.\u201d\u2014_The Examiner._\n\n\nAmid Greenland Snows;\n\nOr, The Early History of Arctic Missions. By JESSE PAGE. Missionary\nBiography Series. Illustrated. _Tenth thousand._ 12mo, cloth, 75c.\n\n\nKin-da-Shon\u2019s Wife.\n\nAn Alaskan Story. By Mrs. EUGENE S. WILLARD. Illustrated. _Third\nedition._ 8vo, cloth, $1.50.\n\n\n  \u201cFrom beginning to end the book holds the attention. Mrs. Willard has\n  shown herself peculiarly well qualified to write such a book.\u201d\u2014_Public\n  Opinion._\n\n\nDavid Brainerd,\n\nThe Apostle to the North American Indians. By JESSE PAGE. Missionary\nBiography Series. Illustrated. _Twelfth thousand._ 12mo, cloth, 75c.\n\n\nSouth America, the Neglected Continent.\n\nBy LUCY E. GUINNESS and E. C. MILLARD. With a Map in colors and many\nother Illustrations. Small 4to, paper, 50c.; cloth, 75c.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                          TRANSCRIBER\u2019S NOTES\n\n\n \u25cf Typos fixed; non-standard spelling and dialect retained.\n \u25cf Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.","title":"John G. Paton, missionary to the New Hebrides, volume 3 (of 3) : $b An autobiography edited by his brother","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":25913}