Part 25 (1/2)
In the circu tenderness seemed to meet On Friday, 28th March, at 3 AM
she cael-child of all our flock Alas, on Saturday I was seized with sciatica, so dreadful and agonizing, that I had to be borne to my bed, and could not stir a limb any led to attend to the baby, with such help as Native girls could give; and I directed the Teachers about the Services in Church next Sunday, the first time as yet that I had been unable to appear and lead them From the beds where we lay, my wife and I could hear each other's voices, and tried to console one another in our sorrowful and helpless state On Tuesday, 1st April, the child was bright and vigorous; but the th had been overtaxed, and she fell back, fainting in her bed, when helping to dress the baby Nextand feverishness in the little darling All due , an experienced Native, now having charge, kept everything war a little food, Lena opened her dark blue eyes, and gazed up peacefully and gladly in her mother's face But, immediately after tea, within less than an hour, when the nurse brought her and placed her in thethe uilty, fell on her knees and cried,--”I knew it, Missi, I knew it! She gave two big sighs, and went! Awai, Missi, Awai!” When the”fainted,” I was talking with Koris, but uessed the worst Alas, all means were seen to be vain! I could not rise, could not move, nor could the , and in the hearing of our blessed Lord, and He did not leave us without consolation In such cases, the Heathen usually fly away in terror, but our Teachers were faithful and obedient; and our little boys, Bob and Fred, six and four respectively, followed all our tearful directions One of their siven up to ht calico, and dressed the precious body at the mother's instructions I then offered a prayer to the clear Lord, whilst theby the Teachers in the Mission plot, ithin earshot of where we lay, and there Bob and Fred, kneeling in their snohite dresses, sang ”There is a Happy Land,” as their sister's dust was laid in the Earth and in the arms of Jesus who is the Resurrection and the Life God only can ever kno our hearts were torn by the pathos of that event, as we lay helpless, al voices! Johna, the Teacher, then prayed; while the Heathen, in groups of wonder, but holding far aloof, had e ideas wakened in their puzzled brains The ave ourselves once more away to God, and to the Service of our dear Lord Jesus, as we parted with our darling Lena; and when, by and by, ere raised up again, and able to ether at that precious grave
Being ordered to seek health by change and by higher medical aid, and if possible in the cooler air of New Zealand, we took the first opportunity and arrived at Sydney, anxious to start the new o on to the sister Colony Being scarcely able to ithout the crutches, we called privately a preli of friends for consultation and advice The conditions were laid before them and discussed The Insurance Co_ Of that suon;_ so that we required an additional 2000 to purchase her, according to Dr Steel's bargain with the owners, besides a large sum for alterations and equipment for the Mission The late Mr
Learmouth looked across to Mr Goodlet, and said, ”If you'll join me, ill at once secure this vessel for the Missionaries, that God's work _”
Those two servants of God, excellent Elders of the Presbyterian Church, consulted together, and the vessel was purchased next day How I did praise God, and pray Him to bless them and theirs! The late Dr
Fullarton, our dear friend, said to theuarantee do you ask from the Missionaries for your money?”
Mr Learmouth's noble reply was, and the other heartily re-echoed it--”God's work is our guarantee! Froive us, except their faith in God? That guarantee is ours already”
I answered, ”You take God and His work for your guarantee Rest assured that He will soon repay you, and you will lose nothing by this noble service”
Having secured St Andrew's Church for a public , I advertised it in all the papers Ministers, Sabbath School Teachers, and other friends careat nu Cards largely distributed Co out into detail, and all worked for the fund with great goodwill
I then sailed from Sydney to Victoria, and addressed the General assembly of the Presbyterian Church in session at Melbourne The as easily set agoing there, and willing workers fully and rapidly organized it through Congregations and Sabbath Schools Under medical advice, I next sailed for New Zealand in the S S _Hero_, Captain Logan Reaching Auckland, I was in time to address the General asseave ation and Sabbath School ht be visited as far as I possibly could The Ministers promoted the move Cards for ”shares” in the New Mission shi+p Awas held every day, and three every Sabbath Auckland, Nelson, Wellington, Dunedin, and all towns and churches within reach of these were rapidly visited; and I never had greater joy or heartiness in any of my tours than in this happy intercourse with the Ministers and people of the Presbyterian Church in New Zealand
I arrived in Sydney about the end of March My health onderfully restored, and New Zealand had given me about 1700 for the new shi+p
With the 1000 of insurance money, and about 700 from New South Wales, and 400 from Victoria, besides the 500 for her support also from
Victoria, ere able to pay back the 3000 of purchase money, and about 800 for alterations and repairs, as well as equip and provision her to sail for her next year's work aood friends at Sydney:
”You took God and His work for your guarantee He has soon relieved you from all responsibility You have suffered no loss, and you have had the honor and privilege of serving your Lord I envy you the joy youyour wealth, and I pray God's double blessing on all your store”
Our agent Dr Steel, had applied to the Hoe the vessel's na_, so that the old associations ranted And so our second _Dayspring_, owing no , sailed on her annual trip to the New Hebrides, and we returned with her, praising the Lord and reinvigorated alike in spirit and in body
CHAPTER LXXVII
THE GOSPEL IN LIVING CAPITALS
IN Heathendoed life, shi+ning out aest Capitals which all can read Our Islanders, especially, having little to engage or otherwise distract attention, become intense and devoted workers for the Lord Jesus, if once the Divine Passion for souls stirs within the after peace of soul in dark superstition and degrading rites You pour into his soul the light of Revelation He learns that God is love, that God sent His Son to die for hih Jesus Christ By the blessed enlightenment of the Spirit of the Lord he believes all this He passes into a third heaven of joy, and he burns to tell every one of this Glad Tidings Others see the change in his disposition in his character in his whole life and actions; and a and a shi+ning light Even whole populations are thus brought into the Outer Court of the Temple; and Islands, still Heathen and Cannibal, are positively eager for the Missionary to live auard his life and property now in co would have been instantly sacrificed on touching their shores! They are not Christianized, neither are they Civilized, but the light has been kindled all round the afar, they cannot but rejoice in its beams
But even where the path is not so s the zeal For instance, one of our Chiefs, full of the Christ-kindled desire to seek and to save, sent a e to an inland Chief, that he and four attendants would come on Sabbath and tell them the Gospel of Jehovah God The reply ca with death any Christian that approached their village Our Chief sent in response a loving ht the Christians to return good for evil, and that they would come unarmed to tell them the story of how the Son of God came into the world and died in order to bless and save His enemies The Heathen Chief sent back a stern and prompt reply once more, ”If you co, the Christian Chief and his four coe by the Heathen Chief, who implored and threatened them once more But the former said, ”We come to you without weapons of war! We come only to tell you about Jesus We believe that He will protect us to-day”
As they steadily pressed forward towards the village, spears began to be thrown at the all except one most dexterous warriors; and others they literally received with their bare hands, striking the them aside in an incredible manner The Heathen, apparently thunderstruck at thesethe back their own spears which they had turned aside, desisted fro throhat the old Chief called ”a shower of spears” Our Christian Chief called out, as he and his coe Public Ground:
”Jehovah thus protects us He has given us all your spears! Once ould have thrown theht, but to tell you about Jesus He has changed our dark hearts
He asks you now to lay down all these your other weapons of war, and to hear e can tell you about the love of God, our great Father, the only living God”
The Heathen were perfectly overawed They manifestly looked upon these Christians as protected by some Invisible One! They listened for the first time to the story of the Gospel and of the Cross We lived to see that Chief and all his tribe sitting in the School of Christ And there is perhaps not an Island in these Southern Seas, ast all those won for Christ, where similar acts of heroism on the part of Converts cannot be recited by every Missionary to the honor of our poor Natives and to the glory of their Saviour
Larger and harder tests were sometimes laid upon their new faith Once the war on Tanna drove about one hundred of thee on Aniwa Not so many years before, their lives would never have been thus intrusted to the inhabitants of another Cannibal Island But the Christ-Spirit was abroad upon Aniwa The refugees were kindly cared for, and in process of time were restored to their own lands, by our Missionary shi+p the _Dayspring_ The Chiefs, however, and the Elders of the Church laid the nes before them very clearly and decidedly