THE LIFE OF JOHN G. PATON THE WORLD (1881-1905)

Paton’s last twenty-five years were spent in a multiplicity of activities which took him into many countries and allowed him only a few months in his beloved islands. We shall gain a clearer picture of his varied interests and, indeed, of his greatness, if we abandon chronology and look at some of the directions in which his energy was turned. His journeys seem amazing when we consider not only the slow means of travel, but also his advancing years. These travels were not sightseeing tours but full of hard work; the older he became the harder he seemed to work. Indeed, when the doctor ordered a rest for the ill and old man, he grew more impatient as the days passed, saying ‘I will be no more a loafer. If I cannot work here I must go home to Victoria and off to the islands where I can live and die among my dear Aniwans’. These later travels began with a visit to Britain and a period of six years spent in visiting the various colonies of Australia, but then in 1892 he was sent on a tour round the world with various commissions, visiting America, Canada, and Britain before resuming his Australian tours. In 1899, at the age of seventy-five, he was off again to the same countries; in England the indefatigable missionary crowded seventy-one meetings and 2,500 miles’ travel into fifty-three days. This ended his wider travels, but to the end he was moving about Australia and seizing any opportunity of a visit to the New Hebrides.

At the age of sixty-eight he was addressing an average of fifteen meetings a week; ‘my only stimulant’, he records, ‘the ever-springing fountain of pure joy in the work of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.’ He regarded the time left to him to serve Christ as short, and packed as much work as he could into each day. Just before his seventy-sixth birthday, in a period of ill-health, he addressed, on successive Sundays, ten, eight, and four different congregations, as well as at least one on every weekday. Frequently, while in America, he would travel hundreds of miles from one meeting to the next, without a meal. Even on a sea voyage the absence of meetings merely meant more time for letter-writing. ‘We had happy daily religious services’, he records of one voyage, ‘and I managed to secure about eight hours to myself out of every twenty four for copying and translations, finishing my dictionary of the Aniwan language, and the Mission work on which I was constantly engaged.’ So much activity could be carnal, but with Paton all was subordinated to a zeal for the Lord and His work that would not let him rest, and, in fellowship with Christ, never became mere activism. That such an amount of public speaking was possible is evidence not only of the missionary’s capacity for work, but also of his popularity with every type of audience. An experienced local organizer in Sunderland remarked, after crowded meetings, “Nothing and no one else would fill this hall.’ Paton’s ‘Autobiography’, which his brother James had wrung out of him and edited for publication, appeared in 1889 and opened the way into many places and hearts. It had an enormous sale, being translated into French, German, Italian, Welsh, and Japanese. It made Paton, we are told, ‘a household name in every Christian land.’

Paton greatly treasured his many meetings with individuals, who included many of his great contemporaries. George Muller, who gave him fifty pounds for the Mission, made a particular impression on him, as also did C. H. Spurgeon. By the latter Paton was introduced to a meeting as ‘The King of the Cannibals’ and Mrs. Spurgeon presented him with a copy of her husband’s Treasury of David and ‘five pounds from the Lord’s cows’. (These were cows kept by Mrs. Spurgeon, who gave the profit to the Lord’s work.) The friendship of the Honorable Ian Keith-Falconer, missionary to the Arabs in Aden, was a link with London which Paton particularly valued.

Paton’s travels had many and varied purposes. In Australia he was generally the advocate of his Mission, as often also elsewhere. For much of the time, the building and supporting of the various Dayspring’s occupied him. He longed for a ship owned by the Mission, free from all sinful associations, to be the messenger of the Gospel among the islands. When the first Dayspring was wrecked in Aneityum harbour in a hurricane, Paton was given the task of raising money for a second ship, and was again successful. Later a third and larger Dayspring was also financed by his efforts and the purpose of building it carried through only by his persistence. Within two years, however, the ship was wrecked on an uncharted reef, a terrible shock to the aged missionary, who nevertheless set about securing a fourth vessel. To his intense disappointment, almost half the missionary synod disagreed with the project, and in the interests of unity and peace, it was set aside.

Another errand, for the fulfilling of which Paton went round the world and became a delegate to various world Presbyterian assembles, was the defense of his beloved islanders, both from the Kanaka slave-trade and also from the sale of alcohol, opium, and weapons. To this end he toured America, where he spoke with and influenced greatly two successive presidents, and also Britain, where his constant fight for the well-being of the New Hebrideans earned him in the House of Commons the title of The member for the Kanakas’. Fights with these vested interests made him many enemies, and libelious allegations were made and spread about his personal life and habits. Before his death, however, Paton knew that victory on the Kanaka issue, at least, had been gained. Nevertheless, this sort of concern, however dear to his heart, was never allowed to dominate his life and work. Writing half apologetically from New York about the time spent on these matters, he says, ‘I am not losing an hour over it. My audiences range from 300 to 3,000 or more and a deeper interest is being awakened in foreign missions. I hope, too, that some are being led to Jesus for salvation.’

This quotation is typical of Paton’s spiritual attitude and aims. He never permitted himself to be side-tracked by the need to raise funds for missionary work or to fight against social wrongs. ‘In all my addresses’, he wrote, ‘I strove to combine the evangelist with the missionary, applying every incident in my story to the conscience of the hearer and seeking to win the sinner to Christ and the believer to a more consecrated life. For I knew that if I succeeded in these higher aims, then money too would be freely laid upon the altar of the Lord’. Again he asserts, ‘The getting of collections, however anxiously desired for our Mission, was never my primary aim, but always the saving of souls by the story of the New Hebrides.’ The sanctifying of the Lord’s Day was another constant concern by precept and example. In San Francisco, among men and women going about their usual occupations, Paton, to the astonishment of his guides and even of his friends, insisted on walking the considerable distance between his three services.

So great was Paton’s missionary concern that he was often taunted with being a man of one idea. Such taunts, he would respond, usually came from those who lacked even one idea, adding, ‘My life has been dominated by one sacred purpose, but in pursuing it, the Lord has enabled me to be evangelist as well as missionary; He has enabled me, whilst seeking much-needed money, to seek for and save and bless many souls — has enabled me to defend the holy Sabbath in many lands — has enabled me to maintain the right of every child in Christian lands, or heathen, to be taught to read the blessed Bible and to understand it... and has enabled me also to do battle against the infernal Kanaka or labor traffic, one of the most cruel and blood-stained forms of slavery on the face of the earth.’ In another place he records his achievements: ‘I will write it to the praise of my blessed Redeemer; there are missionaries at this day laboring in every heathen land, who have assured me that they first gave themselves away to the glorious work while drinking in from my lips the living testimony from the New Hebrides, that the Gospel is still the power of God and the wisdom of God unto salvation; and there are individual Christians, and sometimes also congregations of the Lord, now zealously supporting missionaries to the heathen, who, till they heard the story of cannibals won for Christ by our noble missionaries on the New Hebrides, had foolishly branded the modern Christian mission to the heathen as the greatest imposture and failure of the century.’

(to be continued)

An infidel, Countess of Hanover, was a violent opposer of Christianity. She had her tomb erected out of solid granite and had inscribed on one of the great granite blocks “This tomb shall remain undisturbed throughout eternity.” Years after, it would seem as if God said to the frost, “Mock this infidel and her boastful assumption” and the frost heaved until in the masonry of the tomb there was a crack. God then commanded the wind to blow loose soil into the crack, filling it up. He then ordered the sun and the rain to prepare the ground for a seedling which was to be dropped by a bird and in time a tree lifted its trunk above the tomb, carrying with it the granite block with the inscription. In that cemetery could be seen the tree holding up the block with the arrogant inscription.

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