By Dr. JOHN G. PATON.
MY first baptism on Tanna was that of a teacher’s child. About fifty persons were present, and Miaki, the war Chief was there also. Alas! that child died in the plague of measles, and, of course, the Worship was blamed. Deaths, hurricanes, all seemed to be turned against us. A thunderstorm came in the wake of the last hurricane. A man and a woman were killed. Not far from my house the hill was struck; a large mass was dislodged from its shoulder and hurled into the valley below. This was the manifest token to them that the gods were angry and that we were the cause! God’s grace alone kept us from sinking, and the hope of yet seeing them delivered from their heathenism, and brought to love and serve Jesus Christ. For that everything could be borne, and I knew that this was the post of duty, for it was the Lord undoubtedly that placed me there.
One day, about this time, I heard an unusual bleating amongst my few remaining goats, as if they were being killed or tortured. I rushed to the goat-house and found myself instantly surrounded by a band of armed men. The snare had caught me, their weapons were raised, and I expected next instant to die. But God moved me to talk to them firmly and kindly; I warned them of their sin and its punishment; I showed them that only my love and pity led me to remain there seeking their good, and that, if they killed me, they killed their best friend. I further assured them that I was not afraid to die, for at death my Saviour would take me to be with Himself in Heaven, and to be far happier than I had ever been on earth; and that my only desire to live was to make them all as happy, by teaching them to love and serve my Lord Jesus. I then lifted up my hands and eyes to the Heavens and prayed aloud for Jesus to bless all my dear Tannese,* and either to protect me or to take me home to glory, as He saw to be for the best.
One after another they slipped away from me, and Jesus restrained them once again. Did ever mother run more quickly to protect her crying child in danger’s hour, than the Lord Jesus hastens to answer believing prayer and send help to His servants, in His own good time and way, so far as it shall be for His glory and their good? A woman may forget her child, yet will I not forget thee, saith the Lord. Oh! that all my readers knew and felt this, as in those days and ever since I have felt that His promise is a reality, and that He is with His servants to support and bless them even unto the end of the world.
*Natives of Tanna in the New Hebrides.