Books: Life of John Coleridge Patteson

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

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'Christ's Mediatorial reign, His annihilation of all opposition in
the appointed time, the practical Lesson the Wrath of the Lamb.

'Often you would find that pupils who can be taught these things seem
and are very ignorant of much simpler things; but they have no
knowledge of books, as you are aware, and my object is to teach them
pretty fully those matters which are really of the greatest
importance, while I may fill up the intervening spaces some day, if I
live. To spend such energy as they and I have upon the details of
Jewish history, e.g., would be unwise. The great lessons must be
taught, as, e.g., St. Paul in 1 Cor. x. uses Jewish history.

'October 15, I finished my last chapter of St. John's Gospel in the
Mota language; we have also a good many of the Collects and Gospels
translated, and some printed. What is better than to follow the
Church's selection of passages of Scripture, and then to teach them
devotionally in connection with the Collects?

'Brooke works away hard at his singing class in the afternoon. We
sing the Venite, Magnificat, Nunc dimittis, &c., in parts, to single
and double chants, my old favourite "Jacob's" for the Venite, also a
fine chant of G. Elvey's. They don't sing at all well, but
nevertheless, though apt to get flat, and without good voices, there
is a certain body of sound, and I like it. Brooke plays the
harmonium nicely.

'The Norfolk Island people, two or three only, have been here at
evening service, and are extremely struck with the reverence of the
Melanesians.

'I work away with my Confirmation class, liking them personally, but
finding no indication of their having been taught to think in the
least. It is a relief to get back to the Melanesians.'

The visit of the Bishop of New Zealand which had been hoped for, had
been prevented by the invitation to attend the Synod of the Church
held at Lambeth, in the autumn of 1867, and instead of himself
welcoming his friends, Bishop Patteson was picturing them to himself
staying with his sisters at Torquay, and joining in the Consecration
Services of the Church of All Saints, at Babbicombe, where the altar
stood, fragrant with the sandal wood of the Pacific isles. The
letters sent off by an opportunity in November were to family and
friends, both in England. The one to his sister Joanna narrates one
of those incidents that touched the Bishop most deeply:--

'On Friday last we had such a very, very solemn service in our little
Chapel. Walter Hotaswol, from Matlavo Island, is dying--he has long
been dying, I may say--of consumption. For two winters past he has
remained with us rather than in his own island, as he well knew that
without good food and care he would sink at once. Years ago he was
baptized, and after much time spent in preparation, Tuesday, at 7.30
A.M., was the day when we met in Chapel. Walter leant back in a
chair. The whole service was in the Mota language, and I
administered the Holy Communion to eleven of our Melanesian scholars,
and last of all to him. Three others I trust I may receive to Holy
Communion Sunday next. Is not this a blessed thing? I think of it
with thankfulness and fear. My old text comes into my mind--"Your
heart shall fear and be enlarged." I think there is good hope that I
may baptize soon seven or eight catechumens.'

The letter to Bishop Selwyn despatched by the same vessel on November
16, gives the first hint of that 'labour traffic' which soon became
the chief obstacle to the Mission.

After describing an interview with an American captain, he
continues:--'Reports are rife of a semi-legalised slave-trading
between the South Sea Islands and New Caledonia and the white
settlers in Fiji. I have made a little move in the matter. I wrote
to a Wesleyan Missionary in Fiji (Ovalau) who sent me some books. I
am told that Government sanctions natives being brought upon
agreement to work for pay, &c., and passage home in two years. We
know the impossibility of making contracts with New Hebrides or
Solomon natives. It is a mere sham, an evasion of some law, passed,
I dare say, without any dishonourable intention, to procure colonial
labour. If necessary I will go to Fiji or anywhere to obtain
information. But I saw a letter in a Sydney paper which spoke
strongly and properly of the necessity of the most stringent rules to
prevent the white settlers from injuring the coloured men.'

So first loomed the cloud that was to become so fatal a darkening of
the hopes of the Mission, all the more sad because it was caused by
Christian men, or men who ought to have been Christian. It will be
seen, however, that Bishop Patteson did not indiscriminately set his
face against all employment of natives. Occupation and training in
civilised customs were the very things he desired for them, but the
whole question lay in the manner of the thing. However, to him as
yet it was but a report, and this Advent and Christmas of 1867 were a
very happy time. A letter to me describes the crowning joy.

'Norfolk Island: Christmas Day, 1867.

'My dear Cousin,--One line to you to-day of Christmas feelings and
blessings. Indeed, you are daily in my thoughts and prayers. You
would have rejoiced could you have seen us last Sunday or this
morning at 7 A.M. Our fourteen Melanesian Communicants so reverent,
and (apparently) earnest. On Sunday I ordained Mr. Palmer Priest,
Mr. Atkin and Mr. Brooke Deacons.

'The service was a solemn one, in the Norfolk Island Church, the
people joining heartily in the first ordination they had seen;
Codrington's sermon excellent, the singing good and thoroughly
congregational, and the whole body of confirmed persons remaining to
receive the Holy Communion. Our own little Chapel is very well
decorated (Codrington again the leader) with fronds of tree-ferns,
arums, and lilies; "Emmanuel, God amemina" (with us), in large
letters over the altar.

'And now (9.30P.M.) they are practising Christmas hymns in Mota for
our 11 A.M. service. Then we have a regular feast, and make the day
a really memorable one for them. The change from the old to the new
state of things, as far as our Banks Islanders are concerned, is
indeed most thankworthy. I feel that there is great probability of
George Sarawia's ordination before long. This next year he will be
left alone (as far as we whites are concerned) at Mota, and I shall
be able to judge, I hope, of his fitness for carrying on the work
there. If it be God's will to give him health of body and the will
and power to serve Him, then he ought to be ordained. He is an
excellent fellow, thoughtful, sensible, and my right hand among the
Melanesians for years. His wife, Sara Irotaviro, a nice gentle
creature, with now a fine little boy some seven months old. She is
not at all equal to George in intelligence, and is more native in
habits, &c. But I think that she will do her best.

'You know I have long felt that there is almost harm done by trying
to make these islanders like English people. All that is needful for
decency and propriety in the arrangement of houses, in dress, &c., we
must get them to adopt, but they are to be Melanesian, not English
Christians. We are so far removed from them in matters not at all
necessarily connected with Christianity, that unless we can
denationalise ourselves and eliminate all that belongs to us as
English, and not as Christians, we cannot be to them what a well-
instructed fellow-countryman may be. He is nearer to them. They
understand him. He brings the teaching to them in a practical and
intelligible form.

'I hope and pray that dear old George may be the first of such a band
of fellow-workers. Others--Henry Tagalana, who is, I suppose, about
eighteen, Fisher Pantatun, about twenty-one, Edward Wogale (George's
own brother), about sixteen, Robert Pantatun, about eighteen--are
excellent, all that I could wish; and many younger ones are coming
up. They stay with us voluntarily two or three years now without any
going home, and the little ones read and write surprisingly well.
They come to me very often and say, " Bishop, I wish to stop here
again this winter."

'They come for help of the best kind. They have their little printed
private prayers, but some are not content with this. Marosgagalo
came last week with a slip of paper--

'"Well, Maros, what is it?"

'He is a shy little fellow who has been crippled with rheumatism.

'"Please write me my prayer."

'And as my room opens into the Chapel, and they are told to use that
at all times (their sleeping-rooms not allowing much privacy), I know
how they habitually come into it early (at 5 A.M.) and late at night
for their private prayers. You cannot go into the Chapel between 5
and 6.30 A.M. without seeing two or three kneeling about in
different corners. As for their intelligence, I ought to find time
to send you a full account of them, translations of their answers,
papers, &c., but you must be content to know that I am sure they can
reason well upon facts and statements, that they are (the first
class) quite able to understand all the simpler theological teaching
which you would expect Communicants and (I pray) future clergymen to
understand. Of some six or seven I can thus speak with great
confidence, but I think that the little fellows may be better
educated still, for they are with us before they have so much lee-way
to make up--jolly little fellows, bright and sharp. The whole of the
third Banks Island class (eight of them) have been with me for
eighteen months, and they have all volunteered to stay for eighteen
months more. They ought to know a great deal at the end of that
time, then they will go home almost to a certainty only for two or
three months, and come back again for another long spell.

'All this is hopeful, and we have much to be thankful for indeed; but
I see no immediate prospect of anything like this in the other
islands at present. We know very many of the islanders and more or
less of their languages; we have scholars who read and write, and
stop here with us, and who are learning a good deal individually, but
I have as yet no sense of any hold gained upon the people generally.
We are good friends, they like us, trust young people with us, but
they don't understand our object in coming among them properly. The
trade and the excitement of our visit has a good deal to do with
their willingness to receive us and to give us children and young
men. They behave very well when here, and their people treat us well
when we are with them. But as yet I see no religious feeling, no
apprehension of the reality of the teaching: they know in one sense,
and they answer questions about the meaning of the Creed, &c., but
they would soon fall again into heathen ways, and their people show
no disposition to abandon heathen ways. In all this there is nothing
to surprise or discourage us. It must be slow work, carried on
without observation amidst many failures and losses and
disappointments. If I wished to attribute to secondary causes any of
the results we notice, I might say that our having lived at Mota two
or three months each year has had a great deal to do with the
difference between the Banks and the other islanders.

'It may be that, could we manage to live in Bauro, or Anudha, or
Mahaga, or Whitsuntide, or Lepers' Island, or Espiritu Santo, we
might see soon some such change take place as we notice in Mota; but
all that is uncertain, and such thoughts are useless. We must indeed
live in those other islands as soon as we can, but it is hard to find
men able to do so, and only a few of the islands are ripe for the
attempt.

'I feel often like a horse going his regular rounds, almost
mechanically. Every part of the day is occupied, and I am too tired
at night to think freshly. So that I am often like one in a dream,
and scarcely realise what I am about. Then comes a time when I wish
to write, e.g. (as to you now) about the Mission, and it seems so
hard to myself to see my way, and so impossible to make others see
what is in my mind about it. Sometimes I think these Banks Islanders
may be evangelists beyond the limits of their own islands. So many
of the natives of other islands live here with them, and speak the
language of Mota, and then they have so much more in common with them
than with us, and the climate and food and mode of life generally are
familiar to them alike. I think this may come to pass some day; I
feel almost sure that I had better work on with promising islanders
than attempt to train up English boys, of which I once thought. I am
more and more confirmed in my belief that what one wants is a few
right-minded, well-educated English clergymen, and then for all the
rest trust to native agency.

'When I think of Mr. Robertson and such men, and think how they work
on, it encourages me. And so, where do I hear of men who have so
many comforts, so great immunity from hardship and danger as we
enjoy? This is nothing to the case of a London parish.

'Fanny has sent me out my old engravings, which I like to look at
once more, although there is only one really good one among them, and
yet I don't like to think of her no longer having them. I have also
a nice selection of photographs just sent out, among which the
cartoons from Hampton Court are especially good. That grand figure
of St. Paul at Athens, which Raphael copied from Masaccio's fresco,
always was a favourite of mine.

'I feel at home here, more so than in any place since I left England;
but I hope that I may be able to spend longer intervals in the
islands than the mere sixteen or eighteen weeks of the voyage, if I
have still my health and strength. But I think sometimes that I
can't last always; I unconsciously leave off doing things, and wake
up to find that I am shirking work.

'Holy Innocents' Day.--I don't think I have sufficiently considered
your feelings in suffering the change of name in the Mission School
that took place, and I am rather troubled about it. I came back from
the last voyage to find that as I had selected a site for the
buildings on St. Barnabas Day, which was, by a coincidence, the day I
spent here on my outward voyage in 1866, the people had all named the
place St. Barnabas. Then came the thought of the meetings on St.
Barnabas, and the appropriateness of the Missionary Apostle's name,
and I, without thinking enough about it, acquiesced in the change of
name. I should have consulted you,--not that you will feel yourself
injured, I well know; but for all that, I ought to have done it. It
was the more due to you, because you won't claim any right to be
consulted. I am really sorry for it, and somewhat troubled in mind.
(Footnote: 'He need not have been sorry. I give this to show his
kind, scrupulous consideration; but I, like everyone else, could not
help feeling that it was more fitting that the germ of a missionary
theological college should not bear a name even in allusion to a work
of fiction.)

'The occasional notices of Mr. and Mrs. Keble in your letters, and
the full account of him and her as their end drew nigh, is very
touching. How much, how very much there is that I should like to ask
him now! How I could sit at his feet and listen to him! These are
great subjects that I have neither time nor brains to deal with, and
there is no one here who can give me all the help I want. I think a
good deal about Ritualism, more about Union, most about the
Eucharistic question; but I need some one with whom to talk out these
matters. When I have worked out the mind of Hooker, Bull, Waterland,
&c., and read Freeman's "Principles," and Pusey's books, and Mr.
Keble's, &c., then I want to think it out with the aid of a really
well-read man. It is clearly better not to view such holy subjects
in connection with controversy; but then comes the thought--"How is
Christendom to be united when this diversity exists on so great a
point?" And then one must know what the diversity really amounts to,
and then the study becomes a very laborious and intricate enquiry
into the ecclesiastical literature of centuries. Curiously enough, I
am still waiting for the book I so much want, Mr. Keble's book on
"Eucharistic Adoration." I had a copy, of course, but I lent it to
some one. I lose a good many books in that way.

'The extraordinary change in the last thirty years will of course
mark this time hereafter as one of the most noticeable periods in the
history of the Church, indeed one can't fail to see it, which is not
always the case with persons living in the time of great events. The
bold, outspoken conduct of earnest men, the searching deeply into
principles, the comparative rejection of conventionalities, local
prejudices, exclusive forms of thought and practice, must strike
everyone. But one misses the guiding, restraining hand...the man in
the Church corresponding to "the Duke" at one time in the State, the
authority.

'One thing I do think, that the being conversant only with thoughtful
educated Christians may result in a person ignoring the simpler idea
of the Eucharist which does not in the least divest it of its
mysterious character, but rather, recognising the mystery, seeks for
no solution of it. How can I teach my fifteen Melanesian
Communicants the points which I suppose an advanced Ritualist would
regard as most essential? But I can give them the actual words of
some of the ancient, really ancient, Liturgies, and teach them what
Christ said, and St. Paul said, and the Church of England says, and
bid them acquiesce in the mystery.

'Yet I would fain know more. I quite long for a talk with Mr.
Keble. Predisposed on every account to think that he must be right,
I am not sure that I know what he held to be the truth, nor am I
quite sure that I would see it without much explanation; but to these
holy men so much is revealed that one has no right to expect to know.
What he held was in him at all events combined with all that a man
may have of humility, and learning, and eagerness for union with
God.'

This letter was sent with these:--

'Norfolk Island: December 16, 1867.

'My dear Mr. Atkin,--The "Pacific" arrived on Friday after a quick
passage. All our things came safely. She leaves to-morrow for
Sydney, and we are in a great hurry. For (1) we have three mails all
at once, and I have my full share of letters, public and private; and
(2) we have had last week our first fall of rain for some three and a
half months, and we are doing our best to plant kumaras, &c., which
grow here wonderfully, if only they get anything like a fair chance.

'Joe as usual is foremost at all work; fencing, well-sinking, &c.
And he proves the truth of the old saying, that "the head does not
suffer by the work of the hand." His knowledge of Scripture truth,
of what I may fairly call the beginning of theological studies, gives
me great comfort. I am quite sure that in all essentials, in all
which by God's blessing tends to qualify a man for teaching
faithfully, and with sufficient learning and knowledge of the Word of
God, he is above the average of candidates for ordination in England.

'I don't say that he would pass the kind of examination before an
English Bishop so well as a great many--they insist a good deal on
technical points of historical knowledge, &c.--but in all things
really essential--in his clear perception of the unity of the
teaching of the Bible; in his knowledge of the Greek Testament, in
his reading with me the Articles, Prayer Book, &c., I am convinced
that he is well fitted to do his work well and truly. We have had
more than one talk on deeper matters still, on inward feelings and
thoughts, on prayer and the devotional study of God's Word, and
divinity in general. I feel the greatest possible thankfulness and
happiness as I think of his ordination, and of what, by the grace of
God, he may become to very many both heathens and Christians, if his
life be spared.

'Once again, my dear friends, I thank you for giving him to this
work. He is the greatest conceivable comfort and help to me. I
always feel when he is walking or working with others, that there is
one on whose steadiness and strong sense of duty I can always rely.
May God bless him with His richest blessings....

'On Sunday next (D.V.) we shall not forget you, as I well know your
thoughts and prayers will be with us; and we sing "Before JEHOVAH'S
awful Throne" to the Old Hundredth; 2nd, No. 144 of the Hymnal, after
third Collect; and before sermon, 3rd, No. 143; after sermon, 4th,
No. 19; after Litany, 5th, Veni Creator to All Saints.

The ordination will be in the Norfolk Island Church. --My kind
regards to Mrs. Atkin and Mary.

'Always, my dear friend, very truly yours,

'J. C. PATTESON.'

'December 16, 1867.

'My dear Miss Mackenzie,--Your brother's pedometer reached me safely
three days ago. I feel most truly unworthy to receive such gifts. I
have now his sextant, his pedometer, and, most precious of all, his
"Thomas a Kempis"; they ought to help me to think more of him, and
his holy example. Your letter commenting on the published life makes
me know him pretty well. He was one to love and honour; indeed, the
thorough humility and truthfulness, the single-mindedness of the man,
the simple sense of duty and unwearied patience, energy, and
gentleness--indeed you must love to dwell on the memory of such a
brother, and look forward with hope and joy to the reunion.

'We are fast settling ourselves into our headquarters here. Our
buildings already sufficient to house eighty or one hundred
Melanesians. We are fencing, planting, &c., &c., vigorously, and the
soil here repays our labours well. The yam and sweet potatoes grow
excellently, and the banana, orange, lemon, and nearly all semi-
tropical fruits and vegetables. I think that our commissariat
expenditure will soon be very small, and we ought to have an export
before long.

'Two things seem to be pretty clear: that there is no lack of
capacity in the Melanesian, and no probability of any large supply of
English teachers and clergymen, even if it were desirable to work the
Mission with foreign rather than native clergymen. My own mind is,
and has long been in favour of the native pastorate; but it needs
much time to work up to such a result.

'All our party are well in health, save one good fellow, Walter
Hotaswol, who is dying of consumption, in faith and hope. "Better,"
he says, "to die here with a bright heart than to live in my own land
with a dark one." It is a solemn Ember week for us.

'I remain, dear Miss Mackenzie, very truly yours,

'J. C. PATTESON.

'I quite agree with you that you cannot educate tropical and semi-
tropical people in England; and you don't want to make them English
Christians, you know.'

Walter's history is here completed:--

'January 22, 1868.

'My dear Cousin,--I write you a line: I have not time for more in
addition to my other epistle, to tell you that I purpose to baptize,
on Sunday next, eight Melanesian youths and one girl. You will, I
know, thank God for this. Indeed I hope (though I say it with a kind
of trembling and wonder) that a succession of scholars is now
regularly established from the Banks Islands.

'These nine are being closely followed by some ten or twelve more,
younger than they, averaging from seven to eleven years, who all read
and write and know the elements of Christian teaching, but you should
see them, bright merry little fellows, and the girls too, full of
play and fun. Yet so docile, and obedient, and good-tempered. They
all volunteer to stay here again this winter, though they have not
been at home since they first left it, in July and August 1866. They
have a generation of Christians--I mean one of our generations--some
two dozen or more, to help them; they have not the brunt of the
battle to bear, like dear George and Henry and others; and because,
either here or there, they will be living with Christians; I need
not, I think, subject them to a probation. Next year (D.V.) they may
be baptized, and so the ranks are being filled up.

'I would call the girl Charlotte were she a favourite of mine, but I
wait in hopes that a nicer girl (though this one is good and nice
too) may be baptized by your and Mrs. Keble's name. You may well
believe that my heart and mind are very full of this. May God grant
that they may continue His for ever!

'I confirm on the same day fourteen Norfolk Islanders.

'Walter Hotaswol, from Matlavo, the southern part of Saddle Island,
died on the evening of the Epiphany: a true Epiphany to him, I trust.
He was remarkably gentle and innocent for one born in a heathen land.
His confession, very fully made to me before his first Communion, was
very touching, simply given, and, thank God, he had been wonderfully
kept from the sins of heathenism. With us, his life for years was
blameless. He died almost without pain, after many weeks of
lingering in consumption, I verily believe in full faith in his
Saviour and his God.