Books: Life of John Coleridge Patteson

C >> Charlotte M. Yonge >> Life of John Coleridge Patteson

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'"Are you? I never taught you to think so. You tell me that you
believe that the Son of God came down from heaven. What did He come
for? What is the meaning of what you say that He died for us?"

'It is the continual prayer and effort of the Christian minister
everywhere, that God would deepen in his own heart the sense of sin,
and create it in the mind of the heathen. And then the imperfect
medium of a language very far from thoroughly known! It is by
continual prayer, the intercession of Christ, the power of the Spirit
(we well know) that the work must be carried on. How one does
understand it! The darkness seems so thick, the present visible
world so wholly engrosses the thoughts, and yet, you see, there are
many signs of progress even here, in changed habits to some extent,
in the case of our scholars, real grounds of hope for the future.
One seems to be doing nothing, yet surely if no change be wrought,
what right have we to expect it. It is not that I looked for
results, but that I seek to be taught how to teach better. The
Collect for the first Sunday after Epiphany is wonderful.

'It requires a considerable effort to continually try to present to
oneself the state of the heathen mind, to select illustrations, &c.,
suitable to his case. And then his language has never been used by
him to set forth these new ideas; there are no words which convey the
ideas of repentance, sin, heartfelt confession, faith, &c. How can
there be, when these ideas don't exist? Yet somehow the language by
degrees is made the exponent of such ideas, just as all religious
ideas are expressed in English by words now used in their second
intention, which once meant very different and less elevated ideas.

'I find everywhere the greatest willingness to listen. Everywhere I
take my pick of boys, and now for any length of time. That is the
result of eleven scholars remaining now in New Zealand. Everyone
seems to wish to come. I think I shall take away five or six young
girls to be taught at Kohimarama, to become by and by wives for
scholars. Else the Christian lad will have to live with a heathen
girl. But all this, if carried out properly, would need a large
number of scholars from only one island. At Curtis Island, indeed
(should it answer and supply plenty of food), we might hope to have a
school some day of 300 or 400, and then thirty or forty from each
island could be educated at once; but it can't be so in New Zealand.
And a good school on an island before a certain number are trained to
teach could not, I think, be managed successfully. I feel that I
must concentrate more than hitherto. I must ascertain--I have to
some extent ascertained--the central spots upon which I must chiefly
work. This is not an easy thing, nevertheless, to find out, and it
has taken years. Then using them as centres, I must also find out
how far already the dialect of that spot may extend, how far the
people of the place have connections, visiting acquaintances, &c.
elsewhere, and to use the influence of that place to its fullest
extent. Many islands would thus fall under one centre, and thus I
think we may work. My mind is so continually, day and night, I may
say, working on these points, that I dare say I fill up my letters
with nothing else. But writing on these points helps me to see my
way.'

On July 7, an expedition to Aroa seems to have overtired Bishop
Patteson, and a slight attack of fever and ague came on. One of his
aunts had provided him with a cork bed, where, after he had exerted
himself to talk to his many visitors, he lay 'not uncomfortably.' He
was not equal to going to a feast where he hoped to have met a large
concourse, and after a day of illness, was taken back to Mota in the
bottom of the boat; but in another week more revived, and went on
with his journal, moralising on the books he had been reading while
laid up.

'I looked quite through Bishop Mackenzie's life. What a beautiful
story it is! what a truthful, simple, earnest character, and that
persuasiveness that only real humility and self-forgetfulness and
thoughtfulness can give. Then his early desire to be useful, his
Cambridge life, the clear way in which he was being led on all
through. It is very beautiful as an illustration of the best kind of
help that God bestows on His children. Here was one so evidently
moulded and fashioned by Him, and that willingly, for so it must be,
and his life was just as it should be, almost as perfect perhaps as a
life can be. What if his work failed on the Shire? First, his work
has not failed to begin with, for aught we know; and secondly his
example is stimulating work everywhere. I shall indeed value his
Thomas a Kempis. [A copy sent home from the Zambesi stained with the
water of the Shire, and sent to the Bishop by Miss Mackenzie].

The ship returned with tidings that the more important scholars would
be ready to come back after a short holiday with their friends, and
the Bishop embarked again on the 29th. At Mai he landed, and slept
ashore, when little Petere, the son of the young man whose death had
so nearly been revenged on the Bishop, a boy of eight years old, did
the honours as became a young chief, and announced, 'I am going to
New Zealand with you.' No one made any attempt to prevent him; but
the old scholars did not show themselves helpful, and only one of
them, besides three more new ones, came away. The natives were
personally friendly, but there was no sign of fighting being lessened
among them.

At Whitsuntide there was a brisk trade in yams, but no scholars were
brought away; the parents would not part with any young enough to be
likely to be satisfactory pupils, nor would the one last year's
scholar come. Here intelligence was received that a two-masted ship
had been at Leper's Island, a quarrel had taken place and some
natives had been shot. It was therefore decided that it would not be
safe to land, but as the vessel sailed along the coast, numerous
canoes came out, bringing boars' tusks for sale. Three boys who had
been taken on a cruise of six weeks the year before, eagerly came on
board, and thirty or forty more. All the parents were averse to
letting them go, and only two ended by being brought away: Itole, a
young gentleman of fourteen or so, slim and slight, with a waist like
a wasp, owing to a cincture worn night and day, and his hair in
ringlets, white with coral-lime; his friend a little older, a tall,
neat-limbed fellow, not dark and with little of the negro in his
features.

A letter to me was written during this cruise, from which I give an
extract:--

'It was a great delight to me to receive a letter from Mr. Keble, by
the February mail from England. How kind of him to write to me; and
his words are such a help and encouragement.

'I dare say I shall see Merivale's Lectures soon. Nothing can well
be so wonderful, as a proof of God's hand controlling and arranging
all the course of history to those who need it, as a subject for
adoration and praise, to those who need not such proof, than the vast
preparation made for the coming of Christ and the spreading of the
Gospel. To popularise this the right way, and bring it home to the
thought of many who have not time nor inclination for much reading,
must be a good work. I suppose that all good Church histories deal
with that part of the subject; it is natural for the mere philosopher
to do so.

'And think how the early Alexandrian teachers used the religious
yearnings of the East to draw men to the recognition of their wants,
supplied and satisfied only in Christianity. Often it is the point
d'appui that the Missionary must seek for. There is an element of
faith in superstition; we must fasten on that, and not rudely destroy
the superstition, lest with it we destroy the principle of faith in
things and beings unseen. I often think, that to shake a man's faith
in his old belief, however wrong it may be, before one can substitute
something true and right, is, to say the least, a dangerous
experiment. But positive truth wins its way without controversy,
while error has no positive existence, and there is a craving for
truth deep down in the heathen heart.

'Do you remember that grand passage of Hooker, where he says that he
cannot stand to oppose all the sophisms of Romanism, only that he
will place against it a structure of truth, before which, as Dagon
before the Ark, error will be dashed in fragments?

'In our work (and so I suppose in a Sunday school) one must think out
each step, anticipate each probable result, before one states
anything. It is of course full of the highest interest. Can't you
fancy a party of twenty or thirty dark naked fellows, when (having
learnt to talk freely to them) I question them about their breakfast
and cocoa-nut trees, their yams and taro and bananas, &c., "Who gave
them to you? Can you make them grow? Why, you like me and thank me
because I give you a few hatchets, and you have never thought of
thanking Him all these long years."

'"It is true, but we didn't think."

'"But will you think if I tell you about Him?"

'"He gave them rain from heaven and fruitful seasons."

'How it takes one back to the old thoughts, the true philosophy of
religion. Sometimes I lie awake and think "if Jowett and others
could see these things!"

'And yet, if it is not presumptuous in me to say so, I do think that
this work needs men who can think out principle and supply any
thoughtful scholar or enquirer with some good reason for urging this
or that change in the manners and observances of the people. Often
as I think of it, I feel how greatly the Church needs schools for
missionaries, to be prepared not only in Greek and Latin and manual
work, but in the mode of regarding heathenism. It is not a moment's
work to habitually ask oneself, "Why feel indignant? How can he or
she know better?" It is not always easy to be patient and to
remember the position which the heathen man occupies and the point of
view from which he must needs regard everything brought before him.

'Thank you for Maclear's book. It is a clear statement of the
leading facts that one wishes to know, a valuable addition to our
library. You know, no doubt, a book which I like much, Neander's
"Light in Dark Places."

'I shall remember about Miss Mackenzie's memoir of that good Mrs.
Robertson. I wonder that men are not found to help Mr. Robertson.
Here, as you know, the climate (as in Central Africa) is our
difficulty. I think sometimes I make too much of it, but really I
don't see how a man is to stand many months of it. But I can't help
thinking and hoping that if that difficulty did not exist I could see
my way to saying, "Now, a missionary is wanted for these four or five
or six islands, one for each, and a younger man as fellow-helper to
that missionary," and they would be forthcoming.

'Yet doubtless I don't estimate fairly the difficulties and hardships
as they appear to the man who has never left England, and is not used
to knocking about. I should have felt the same years ago but for the
thought of being with the Primate, at least I suppose so.

'Well, I have written a very dull letter, but the place from which it
comes will give it some interest. I really think that not Mota only,
but the Banks Islands are in a hopeful state.

'Next year (D.V.) Mr. Palmer will try the experiment of stopping here
for eight or ten months. I almost dare to hope that a few years may
make great changes. Yet it seems as if nothing were done in
comparison with what remains to be done.

'Sarah, Sarawia's wife, pronounced that as she was always ill at
home, she would risk the New Zealand winter; two more married pairs
came, and four little maidens to be bred up under Mrs. Pritt, girls
from twelve to eight years old, of whom Sarah was quite able to take
charge.'

There was the usual proportion of lads from various islands; but the
most troublesome member of the community seems to have been
Wadrokala's three years old daughter. 'I have daily to get Wadrokala
and Carry to prevent their child from being a nuisance to everybody.'
But this might have been a difficulty had she been white.

This large party had to be taken to the Solomon Isles to complete the
party, sailing in company with the 'Curacoa,' the Commodore's ship,
when the local knowledge and accurate surveying done by Mr. Tilly and
Mr. Kerr proved very valuable, and Sir William Wiseman gave most kind
and willing assistance.

Since his short interview with the Bishop off Norfolk Island, he had
been cruising in the New Hebrides. There some of the frequent
outrages of the traders had made the people savage and suspicious,
and one of the Missionaries of the London Missionary Society living
at Tanna had been threatened, driven away across the island, and his
property destroyed. He had appealed for protection as a British
subject, and Sir William Wiseman had no choice but to comply; so
after warning had been sent to the tribe chiefly concerned to quit
their village, it was shelled and burnt. No one seems to have been
hurt, and it was hoped that this would teach the natives to respect
their minister--whether to love his instruction was another question.

This would not have been worth mentioning had not a letter from on
board the 'Curacoa' spoken of chastising a village for attacking a
Missionary. It went the round of the English papers, and some at
once concluded that the Missionary could be no other than the Bishop.
Articles were published with the usual disgusting allusions to the
temptation presented by a plump missionary; and also observing with
more justice that British subjects had no right to run into
extraordinary peril and appeal to their flag for protection.

Every friend or relative of Bishop Patteson knew how preposterous the
supposition was, and his brother took pains to contradict the rumour.
As a matter of fact, as his letters soon proved, he was not only not
in company with the 'Curacoa' at the time, but had no knowledge
either of the outrage or the chastisement, till Sir William Wiseman
mentioned it to him when they were together at Sydney.

At Ysabel or Mahya, the party was made up to sixty, seven married
couples and seven unmarried girls among them. The female population
was stowed away at night in the after cabins, with 'arrangements
quite satisfactory to them, as they were quite consistent with
propriety, but which would somewhat startle unaccustomed folk.'

The 'Curapoa' stood in the offing while Sta. Cruz was visited, or
rather while the 'Southern Cross' approached, for the Bishop thought
it better not to risk landing; but numerous canoes came off, and all
the curiosities were bought which were offered in hopes of
reestablishing a friendly relation. There was reason to think the
people of this group more than usually attached to the soil, and very
shy and distrustful, owing perhaps to the memories left by the
Spaniards.

Thence the 'Southern Cross' sailed across for an inspection of Curtis
Island, and again with a favourable impression; but the Brisbane
Parliament had just been prorogued, everyone was taking holiday, and
the Bishop therefore gave up his visit to that place, and sent the
vessel straight home to Auckland with her cargo of souls, while he
returned to Sydney to carry on the same work as in the former year.
Here one great delight and refreshment to him was a visit to Mr. and
Mrs. Mort at their beautiful home at Greenoaks. What a delight it
must have been to find himself in a church built by his host himself!
'one of the most beautiful things I have seen, holds about 500
people; stained glass, carved stalls, stone work, &c.,--perfect.'
And the house, 'full of first-rate works of art, bronzes, carvings,
&c.,' was pleasant to the eyes that had been so enthusiastic in Italy
and Germany, and had so long fasted from all beauty but that of
Nature, in one special type. The friends there were such as to give
life and spirit to all these external charms, and this was a very
pleasant resting place in his life. To Sir John Coleridge he
writes:--

'I am having a real holiday. This place, Greenoaks, the really
magnificent place of my good friends Mr. and Mrs. Mort, is lovely.
The view of the harbour, with its land-locked bays, multitude of
vessels, wooded heights, &c., is not to be surpassed; and somehow I
don't disrelish handsome rooms and furniture and pictures and statues
and endless real works of art in really good taste.

'One slips into these ways very readily. I must take care I am not
spoilt. Everyone, from the governor downwards, lays himself out to
make my visit pleasant. They work me hard on Sundays and week days,
but it is a continual round of, I don't deny, to me, pleasurable
occupation. Kindly people asked to meet me, and the conversation
always turned to pleasant and useful subjects: Church government,
principles of Mission work, &c. These colonies, unfortunate in many
ways, are fortunate in having governors and others in high position
who are good men, and the class of people among whom my time is spent
might (me judice) hold its position among the best English society.

'I am very intimate with some few families, drop in and set the young
ladies down to play Beethoven and Mendelssohn, and it is a nice
change, and refreshes me.'

From Sydney the Bishop went to Adelaide and Melbourne, and these five
weeks in Australia obtained about 800 pounds for the Mission; the
Bishop of Sydney had hoped to raise more, but there had been two
years of terrible drought and destruction of cattle, and money was
not abundant. The plan of sending Australian blacks to be educated
with the Melanesians was still entertained; but he had not much hope
of this being useful to the tribes, though it might be to the
individuals, and none of them ever were sent to him.

But what had a more important effect on the Mission was a conference
between Sir William Wiseman and Sir John Young, the Governor of New
South Wales, resulting in an offer from the latter of a grant of land
on Norfolk Island for the Mission, for the sake of the benefit to the
Pitcairners; at the same time the Commodore offered him a passage in
the 'Curacoa' back to Auckland, touching at Norfolk Island by the
way. The plan was carried out, and brought him home in time for
Christmas, to find all and prosperous under Mr. Pritt at St.
Andrew's. His mind was nearly made up on the expedience of a change
to a place which was likely to suit both English and tropical
constitutions alike, and he hoped to make the experiment the ensuing
winter with Mr. Palmer and a small body of scholars.

CHAPTER X. THE EPISCOPATE AT KOHIMARAMA. 1866.

The removal of his much-loved correspondent did not long withhold the
outpouring of Bishop Patteson's heart to his family; while his work
was going on at the College, according to his own definition of
education which was given about this time in a speech at St. John's:
'Education consists in teaching people to bear responsibilities, and
laying the responsibilities on them as they are able to bear them.'

Meanwhile, he wrote as follows to Miss Mackenzie, on receiving the
book she had promised to send him as a relic of her brother:--

'January 1, 1866.

'My dear Miss Mackenzie,--I have this evening received your brother's
Thomas a Kempis, and your letter. I valued the letter much, as a
true faithful record of one whom may God grant that I may know
hereafter, if, indeed, I may be enabled to follow him as he followed
Christ. And as for the former, what can I say but I hope that the
thought of your dear brother may help me to read that holy book in
something of the spirit in which he read and meditated on it.

'It seems to bring me very near to him in thought. Send me one of
his autographs to paste into it. I don't like to cut out the one I
have in the long letter to the Scottish Episcopal Church, which you
kindly sent me.

'I found, too, in one of Mr. Codrington's boxes, a small sextant for
me, which, being packed with the Thomas a Kempis, I think may have
been your brother's. Do you really mean this for me too? If so, I
shall value it scarcely less than the book. Indeed, I think that,
divided as I am from all relations and home influences and
affections, I cling all the more to such means as I may still enjoy
of keeping up associations. I like to have my father's watch-chain
in use, and to write on his old desk. I remember my inkstand in our
drawing-room in London. So I value much these memorials of the first
Missionary Bishop of the Church of England, in modern days at all
events, and night by night as I read a few lines in his book, and
think of him, it brings me, I hope, nearer in spirit to him and to
others, who, like him, have done their duty well and now rest in
Christ.

'We are pretty well now (Jan. 20), but one very promising lad sank
last week in low fever; a good truthful lad he was, and as I baptized
him at midnight shortly before he died, I felt the great blessing of
being able with a very clear conscience to minister to him that holy
sacrament; and so he passed away, to dwell, I trust, with his Lord.

'What a revelation to that spirit in its escape from the body! But I
must not write on. With many thanks once again for these highly-
valued memorials of your brother,

'I remain, my dear Miss Mackenzie,

'Very truly yours,

'J. C. PATTESON.'

The sandal-wood referred to in the following letter was the brother's
gift to a church, All Saints, Babbicombe, in which his sisters were
deeply interested, and of which their little nephew laid the first
stone:--

'St. Matthias' Day.

'My dearest Sisters,--You are thinking of me to-day, I know, but you
hardly know that in an hour or two I hope the Primate will ride down
and baptize nine of our Melanesian scholars.

'The last few weeks have been a happy, though of course an anxious
time, and now to-day the great event of their lives is to take place.
May God grant that the rest of their lives may be like this
beginning!

'We avoid all fuss. I don't like anyone being here but the Primate
and Mrs. Selwyn, yet I think some dozen more may come, though I don't
like it. I need not say that making a scene on such occasions is to
my mind very objectionable. I could much prefer being quite alone.
I have translated some appropriate Psalms, but the 2nd and 57th they
hardly know as yet quite well; so our service will be Psalms 96, 97,
114; 1st lesson 2 Kings, v. 9--15, Magnificat; 2nd lesson Acts viii.
5-12, and the Baptismal Service. Henry Tagalana reads the first, and
George Sarawia the second lesson. Then will come my quiet evening,
as, I trust, a close of an eventful day. I have your English letters
of December, with the news of Johnny laying the stone. I am thankful
that that good work is begun. Sir John Young writes to me that I can
have a gift of 100 acres at Norfolk Island, with permission to buy
more. I think that, all being well, I shall certainly try it with a
small party next summer, the main body of scholars being still
brought to Kohimarama.

'The sandal-wood is not yet gone! But, my dear Joan, the altar of
sandal-wood! If it is to be solid and not veneered, why, £50 would
not buy it at Erromango. It sells in Sydney for about £70 a ton, and
it is very heavy wood. However, I will send some of the largest
planks I ever saw of the wood, and it is now well seasoned. It cost
me £14 merely to work it into a very simple lectern, so hard is the
grain.

'What has become of the old Eton stamp of men? Have you any in
England? I must not run the risk of the Mission being swamped, by
well-intentioned, but untaught men. We must have gentlemen of white
colour, or else I must rely wholly, as I always meant to do chiefly,
on my black gentlemen; and many of them are thorough gentlemen in
feeling and conduct, albeit they don't wear shoes.

'It was a most impressive service. The dear Primate looking worn and
somewhat aged, very full of feeling; the two most advanced, George
and Henry, in their surplices, reading the Lessons; the nine
candidates looking so reverent and grave, yet not without self-
possession.

'As he signed each one with the sign of the Cross, his left hand
resting on the head of each, the history of the Mission rushed into
my mind, the fruit of the little seed be sowed when, eight years ago,
he thought it wisest not to go ashore at Mota, and now more than
twenty Christians of the Banks Islands serve God with prayers night
and day.

'What would you have thought, if you could have been there? Our
little chapel looked nice with the red hangings and sandal-wood
lectern.

'Then we had a quiet cup of tea, and the old and new baptized party
had a quiet talk with me till 8.30, when I sent them away.

'And then after an hour I was alone. That I should have been already
five years a Bishop, and how much to think of and grieve over,
something too to be thankful for. Perhaps after all, dear Edwin and
Fisher stand out most clearly from all the many scenes and
circumstances.