Part 18 (1/2)
In 1838 when the Queen was driving in her carriage the croas so dense that Patteson, then at school at Eton, becae and would have been thrown underneath and run over had it not been for the young Queen's quick perception Seeing the danger she gave her hand to the boy, who readily seized it, and was thus able to get on his feet again and avoid the threatened peril
He was a boy hen he had done wrong, always blamed hi spent a good deal of his ti, he found his tutor was not at all satisfied with his progress ”I a hohtest excuse: my conduct on this occasion has been very bad I expect a severe reproof from you, and pray do not send me any money But from this time I am determined I will not lose a moment”
In 1841 caht be
Bishop Selwyn of New Zealand was preaching, and the boy says of the ser out to found a church, and then to die neglected and forgotten”
How deep had been the influence on his athered from the letter he wrote at the time of her death in 1842, when he was fifteen years old: ”It is a very dreadful loss for us all, but we have been taught by that dear rieve for those who die in the Lord, 'for they rest from their labours' She said once, 'I wonder I wish to leave you, my dearest John, and the children and this sweet place, but yet I do wish it'; so lovely was her faith”
In 1854 Bishop Selwyn returned to England During the time that had elapsed since his previous visit, Patteson had been ordained The bishop stayed with his father a few days, and during that tis which the boy of fourteen had experienced were revived in the man of twenty-seven; and with his father's consent John Coleridge Patteson entered upon his life work, sailing with Bishop Selwyn for the South Seas in March, 1855
There he laboured with such energy and success that in 1861 he was consecrated bishop Many thousands of miles were traversed by hi the numerous islands of the Pacific known as Polynesia or Melanesia
Of the dangers that abounded he knew aa (the scene of Williams' martyrdom) on one occasion he found that Mr Gordon, the missionary, and his wife had recently both been treacherously slain by the natives At another island, as he returned to the boat, he saw one of the natives draw a boith the apparent intention of shooting him, and then unbend it at the entreaty of his co this, ”we s”
And thus full of faith he laboured on, telling the people of these scattered islands, which besprinkle the southern ocean like stars in the milky way, of the love of Christ
He was still ready to condemn himself just as he did in his early days From Norfolk Island, in 1870, he wrote to his sister when he was holding an ordination: ”At such tied in sole; and I cannot tell you howself the centre, and neglecting all kinds of duties--social and others--in consequence”
He was rieved by the accounts which reached hiht between France and Germany in 1870 ”What can I say,” he writes, ”to ospel of peace and goodwill? Is the sermon on the mount a reality or not?”
Yet he had troubles closer at ho in nuuile or by force to Fiji and other places where labourers anted
Notwithstanding the anxieties which beset hiood bishop continued to work as hard as ever, and very happy he was about his people
On Christmas Eve, 1870, he writes: ”Seven new cos, God be praised, happy and peaceful about us”
He wrote of the large ”family” of 145 Melanesian natives he had around hi on a table with sooing all day long both in and out of school hours!
In August, 1871, he baptised 248 persons, twenty-five of them adults, all in a little ht that a blessed change was going on in the hearts of these people
He had never experienced such cheering success before, and, though his friends were endeavouring to persuade hie for his health's sake, he determined to labour on while there was so much need for his exertion and such blessed results followed
The desire to believe on the part of so One of them said to him: ”I don't kno to pray properly, but I and ht--take away the darkness We believe that You love us because You sent Jesus to become a man and die for us; but we can't understand it all Make us fit to be baptised'”
Sohtened as that After the kidnapping traders had been harrying the islands, one of the chiefs said that, if the bishop would only bring a eance on his adversaries, he would be exalted like his Father above
There was indeed serious cause for the anger of the natives One of them related how he had been out to a vessel with his companions, and a white man had co him by the belt Happily this broke, and he swaot on shore, but the other three were killed--their heads were cut off and taken on board, and their bodies thrown to the sharks The assailants were ht present heads to the chiefs
Five natives from the same island were also killed or carried off, and thus when the bishop visited them they were in a state of sullen wrath
On the 20th of September, 1871, Bishop Patteson came to Nukapu The island is difficult of approach at loater, and the little shi+p, _The Southern Cross_, could not get close in So the bishop went off to the shore in a boat and got into one of the canoes, leaving his four pupils to await his return They saw hiht
About half an hour later the natives in the canoes, without the least warning, began shooting their arrows at the poor fellows in the boat, and ere it could be taken out of bowshot one of them was pierced with six arrows, and two of the others were also wounded
They were full of fears about the bishop, and, notwithstanding the danger, determined to seek for him They had no arms except one pistol which the mate possessed