When John and Margaret Paton landed on the island of New Hebrides in Aniwa in November 1866, they saw the misery of the islanders, the natives were cannibals and sometimes ate the flesh of their defeated enemies, practicing infanticide and the sacrifice of widows, killing them. shortly after the death of their husbands, so that they could serve them in the other world. “All his worship was due to a servile fear,” Paton wrote. “As far as I know, they had no idea of a God of mercy or grace?(Autobiography, 72).
Over the next fifteen years, the Patons saw the whole island of Aniwa turn to Christ. Years later, Paton wrote, “I claimed Aniwa for Jesus, and by the grace of God, does Aniwa now worship at the Savior’s feet?(Autobiography, 312). At the age of 13, when he traveled the world to announce the cause of missions in the South Seas, he was still at the service of his beloved People Aniwan and published the New Testament in the Aniwan language in 1897 (Apostle of the New Hebrides, 238) Until his death he continued to translate hymns and catechisms, as well as developing a dictionary for his people , even when I could no longer be with them.
- The sacrifices and legacy of the missionaries for the New Hebrides are impressive and John Paton stands out as one of the greatest.
- As we tell your story.
- We’ll focus on one of the most inspiring aspects of your character: his bravery.
Paton had the courage to overcome the criticism he received from respectable elders for deciding to go to the New Hebrides. A Mr. Dickson exploded:?The cannibals!The cannibals will eat you!But to that Paton replied:
Mr Dickson, has progressed for years and your perspective will soon be deposited in the grave, to be devoured by worms; I confess that if I can live and die serving and honoring the Lord Jesus, I will not care that cannibals or worms eat me; and on the Great Day, my resurrection body will rise as beautiful as yours, as our resurrected Redeemer. ?(Autobiography, 56).
This is the kind of spiritual determination that has marked Paton’s entire life and it’s a big part of what makes his story so inspiring.
Paton arrived in the New Hebrides on November 5, 1858, when his first wife, Maria, was pregnant. The baby was born on February 12, 1859. Our island of exile was delighted with joy!But the greatest pain was near this great joy!?(Autobiography, 79). Mary had repeated seizures due to malaria, fever, pneumonia and delirant diarrhea for two weeks.
Then, unexpectedly, he passed away on March 3 to end my sorrows and my loneliness, the dear baby, whom we baptized with the name of his father, Peter Robert Robson, was taken from me after a week of illness on March 20. have gone through a darkness similar to midnight, notice me; just like everyone else, what would be more than useless to try to hide my wounds!?(Autobiography, 79).
He dug the two graves with his bare hands and buried them in the house he had built.
“Stunned by this terrible loss, as I entered this field of work to which the Lord Himself had so obviously taken me, my reason seemed, for a while, to almost yield. The ever-merciful Lord supported me. If it hadn’t been for Jesus, and for the camaraderie he gave me there, I would have gone mad and dead by this lonely grave!(Autobiography, 80)
The courage to risk the loss was remarkable. But the courage to live the loss and move on was just supernatural.
The most common call for bravery was the near-constant threat to Paton’s life due to the hostility of the natives. That’s what makes his autobiography seem suspenseful. In the first four years in the New Hebrides, when he was alone, he went from one of the wonders is how his mind did not shake, because he never knew when his house would be surrounded by angry natives or ambushed along the way.
One of Paton’s most remarkable things in handling danger is the courageous sincerity with which he spoke to his aggressors, whom he often rebuked and rebuked for their bad behavior, even when they had an axe over their heads.
“One day, at dawn, I found my house surrounded by armed men, and a chief suggested that they had come together to kill me. Seeing that it was completely in your hands, I knelt down and gave myself up with all my heart Lord Jesus, so it seemed to me that this would be the last time I would do this on earth, when I got up I approached them and began to speak calmly about their cruel treatment and oppose all my conduct towards them. Them. . . Finally, some chiefs, who had participated in the cult, got up and said, “Our behavior was incorrect; but now we will fight for you and kill anyone who hates you ??. (Autobiography, 115)
As their value grew and their deliveries multiplied, he tried to separate warring factions, uniting and defending peace. “Being among them every day, I did my best to end hostilities, putting before them the evils of war and begging the rulers. Leave? (Autobiography, 139).
The list of ways Paton has shown courage in his decades in the field of mission could continue, but then let’s move on to the question: where does this value come from?The answer Paton would like us to give him is that he comes from God, but he also wants us to see what precious means God has used and, if possible, apply them to ourselves and our situations.
A few months after arriving in the camp, Paton wrote of his wife and son’s graves: “Feeling extremely confident that my God and father are too wise and loving to make mistakes in all that he does or allows, the Lord for help, and I have worked in his work. ?” (Autobiography, 85).
This faith has often supported him in the most threatening and frightening situations. While trying to escape Tanna, another island in the New Hebrides, after four years of danger, he and his native friend, Abraham, were surrounded by angry natives who were fighting over who would strike.
My heart went up to the Lord Jesus; I saw him contemplating the whole scene, my peace came back to me like a wave of God, I realized that he was immortal until my master’s work was finished, I got the guarantee, as if a voice from heaven had said it, that he would not get musket to hurt us, nor that a stick prevailed when he hit us, nor that a spear comes out of the hand that shakes to be thrown , neither arrows come out of the bow, nor mortal stone of fingers, without the permission of Jesus Christ, mighty in heaven and on earth, rules all nature, alive and inanimate, and restricts even the savages of the southern seas (Autobiography, 207).
After seeing his life fade away and lose everything he had on earth (?Instead of despairing, getting bored, or paralyzing himself with self-pity, he left, hoping to see God’s good purpose in time. in the ministry entrusted to him, first in the mobilization for missions, then in the work in Aniwa.
The prayer that made a difference is the prayer that was submitted to God’s sovereign wisdom. How do you claim God’s promises of protection when your equally faithful woman, rather than protected, dies?How do you fall in love with God’s care when the Gordons, missionaries on another island, who also trusted in God’s care, were martyred?Paton had learned the answer to these questions by listening to his mother pray, even before learning the theology that supported him.
When the potato harvest failed in Scotland, Ms. Paton said to her children, “O my children, love heavenly Father, say with faith and prayer all your needs, and he will meet your needs as much as you can for your children and for your glory?(Autobiography, 22) That is why Paton trusted God to claim promises: God would provide for all his needs, to the extent that it was for Paton’s sake and the glory of God.
His courage, when surrounded by armed natives, came through a kind of prayer that demanded promises in complete submission to God’s wisdom about what would work best for God’s glory and good.
? I. . . I assure you that I was not afraid to die, because in death my Savior would take me to be with you in heaven and be much happier than I had ever been on earth. So I raised my hands and eyes to heaven and prayed aloud to Jesus. to protect me or to take me home to glory, what he considered best. ?(Autobiography, 164).
So I prayed again and again: “Protect me or . . . Take me home in glory, what does the Lord judge best?He knew that Jesus had promised suffering and martyrdom to some of his servants (Lr 11:49; Therefore, the promises he demanded were two: either protect me or take me home in a way that glorifies and does others good.
Where’s John Paton’s deepest joy?The answer, it seems, is that she has rested more deeply in her experience of personal communion with Jesus Christ, mediated by promise: “And behold, am I with you every day?(Mt 28. 20). ).
The power of this promise, to make Christ real to Paton in times of crisis, was different from any other Scripture or prayer:?Without this permanent awareness of the presence and power of my dear Lord and Savior, nothing else in the world could have done it?saved me from losing my mind and perishing miserably (Autobiography, 117).
One of the most powerful paragraphs of his autobiography describes his experience of hiding in a tree, at the mercy of an unreliable boss, as hundreds of angry natives chased him to end his life. What he experienced was Paton’s deepest source of joy and courage. .
“I climbed the tree and was left alone in the woods. The hours I spent there have had a life ahead of me, as if it were yesterday. He heard the frequent shots of muskets and the cries of the savages. However, I sat”. between the branches, as safe as in the arms of Jesus, never in all my sorrows had my Lord come so close to me and spoke to me so calmly the soul, as in those hours when the moonlight shone among the leaves of the chestnut tree. trees, and the air of the night touched my throbbing forehead, as I opened my whole heart to Jesus. Alone, but not alone! If it is to glorify my God, will I not resortion myself to spend many nights alone in a tree like this?To feel again the spiritual presence of my Savior, to appreciate his comforting communion?(Autobiography, 200).
Paton leaves us with a question: “If you are left alone, alone, totally alone, at midnight, in the woods, in the embrace of death itself, do you have a friend who does not let you down?”