LIFE OF JOHN PATON

Aniwa lies about twenty miles to the northeast of the much larger island of Tanna. Indeed when the Dayspringtook Paton to Aniwa, she called first at his old island-home. The old chief Nowar, unstable but friendly, came aboard and tried to persuade Paton to stay. He took the missionaries ashore and, leading Mrs. Paton by the hand, showed her the tree where her husband had hidden, saying, ‘The God who protected Missi there will always protect you’. His pleas were all in vain, but, before they left, he made a visiting Aniwan chief, a Sacred Man, promise to protect the missionary and his wife. So Paton came to Aniwa, where at the age of forty-two he began his work again. Everything had to be learned afresh, except the mature and proved trust in his God which led him on.

When they sought a site for a house, the one which they chose was refused them and the Aniwans compelled them to have another. Strangely enough this proved to be a better site, although the mounds on it consisted of the bones and refuse of centuries of cannibal feasts. Years later an old chief revealed their reasons. ‘When Missi came, we saw his boxes. We knew he had blankets and calico, axes and knives, fish hooks and all such things. We said, “Don’t drive him off, else we will lose all these things. We will let him land, but we will force him to live on the Sacred Plot. Our gods will kill him and we will divide all he has amongst the men of Aniwa”.’ They watched Paton build, and nothing happened; he planted bananas and still no one died. So they came to the conclusion that Jehovah God was stronger than the gods of Aniwa.

Once again Paton began to treat illness as best he could, in spite of their superstitious fears of medicine; once again he learned a new language, helped in some measure by the ability of some to understand his Tannese. One day he needed some materials from the house and sent a message to Mrs. Paton by a friendly old chief. He wrote the message on a piece of planed wood, assuring the chief that, if he would take it to her, she would send what he needed. He was amazed to see Mrs. Paton look at the wood and fetch the required articles. Paton explained how the wood could speak and improved the occasion to show how God speaks to us through His book. A great desire was awakened in the old chief to see and read God’s Word and he became an invaluable help to Paton in learning the language and later in Bible translation.

Very few, however, were so friendly and all the dangers of Tanna were repeated on Aniwa. Paton was once again in frequent danger of death. Accidents and illnesses were attributed to the missionaries, leading to threats and attempts to set their house on fire. For ten days a savage Erromangan lurked around, waiting for his opportunity with tomahawk and musket. The situation into which the Patons came was fraught with difficulties, and causes for offense soon appeared. Two Aneityumese teachers, who had arrived shortly before the missionaries, had been virtually enslaved, being compelled to work all Friday and Saturday to prepare food for the feast with which the Aniwans followed the Sunday ‘service’. When Paton stopped this and also refused to pay them for attending ‘the Worship’, the Aniwans became angry and revengeful. ‘Often’, writes Paton, ‘have I had to run into the arms of some savage when his club was swung or his musket levelled at my head and, praying to Jesus, so clung round him that he could neither strike nor shoot me till his wrath cooled down and I was able to slip away …. At other times nothing could be said, nothing done, but stand still in silent prayer, asking God to protect us or to prepare us for going home to His Glory.’

(To Be Continued)

In speaking of those who were justified by faith the minister said, “Many of the Lord’s people when the Holy Spirit took to do with them, tried to work out their own salvation by righteousnesses of their own but came to see that this would not do, for all their righteousnesses were as filthy rags. They had to be justified by faith and they came to see that they deserved eternal damnation and when convinced of this they cast themselves at the footstool of Christ. The Lord hears the cry of the poor and needy. A man who fell into the harbour, struggled for his life and when he was quite exhausted and at the point of drowning, a strong swimmer jumped in and brought him to land. When the swimmer was asked why he did not jump in earlier he replied that he had waited until the drowning man was at the end of all his own resources. When he could not save himself the Lord Jesus Christ saved him.”

Deze tekst is geautomatiseerd gemaakt en kan nog fouten bevatten. Digibron werkt voortdurend aan correctie. Klik voor het origineel door naar de pdf. Voor opmerkingen, vragen, informatie: contact.

Op Digibron -en alle daarin opgenomen content- is het databankrecht van toepassing. Gebruiksvoorwaarden. Data protection law applies to Digibron and the content of this database. Terms of use.

Printen