Years ago, I heard
my pastor mention John G. Patton about his willingness to be eaten by cannibals
(p.28)[1] as
he chose to be a missionary. I committed to myself that I would be reading about
this man, but it was only 3 weeks ago that I started to search for his
autobiography, after hearing from another pastor about John Patton’s suffering–the
death of his wife and child within 4 months of his arrival (p.36).
Patton, (a 34-year-old
European, newly married, trained in medicine, literature, and divinity, grieving
the loss of his family on the cannibal island of New Hebrides, and guarding
their graves sleeplessly so that the cannibals will not eat their corpses,) made
a strong impression on me to read about him. What is my lot in comparison to
such a man of God? We do admire great people of God, but do we admire the
hardships and trials they went through? If we pattern our characters after theirs,
we must not be perplexed when trials come along our path. After all, we have so
great a cloud of witnesses (Heb. 11:1-12:1) and autobiographies like this for
us to imitate and endure joyfully.
I do not have enough money to buy whatever book I want, and I don’t need to if I can download a pdf version from the internet. After a week of Google search and research, it pleased my mind to read a pdf version of “The Story of John G. Patton’s Thirty Years with South Sea Cannibals,” Third Edition. It is an autobiographical work, but Edited by his younger brother James Patton, and Revised by his friend, A.K. Langridge.
The narrative is
very lively, and it feels like reading a novel. It is also very engaging. Sometimes,
Patton interacts with the readers directly or indirectly to convict his Christian
readers (p.52, 148).
There are 40 short
chapters in this 256-page book. The first 3 chapters are about his early days. Chapters
4-17 are about his first missionary base in Tanna. Chapters 18-21 are about his
preparation to come back to the island. Chapter 22 onwards is the story of
Aniwans. The Autobiography (writings in 1st person narrative)
concluded by chapter 32. From chapter 33 onwards till chapter 40 is the work of
editors. However, they contain a lot of narratives in the first person.
Langridge
mentioned in the preface that this edition omitted the details of the
Missionary’s worldwide travels in the interest of the New Hebrides Mission. John
Gibson Patton was a Scottish Missionary to New Hebrides (now, known as Vanuatu,
near Australia, South Pacific Ocean) sent by his home church at
Dumfries, Reformed Presbyterian Church. He volunteered when nobody was willing
to go there to be a missionary (p.27). His parents were supportive though with
a heavy heart and he was commissioned at 33 years old.
Patton always
wanted to be a missionary, and he scheduled his life waiting for the right moment.
He studied Greek and Latin devoutly since before he was 12 (p.16). He refused
promotion and even lost his job because he declined the 7-year contract; he was
willing to work for 3 years and then become a missionary (p.18). He had a
wonderful loving relationship with his dad (p.20). He employed himself as a schoolteacher
(to raise money for his further studies) and became a teacher of the choice of
parents and students, but he had to leave because the school Committee preferred
a man who had more academic credentials (p.23). He considered his academic and
ministerial training seriously. He distanced himself from worldliness (p.24,
124)
It took about a
year for Patton to reach Tanna (his first mission centre), one of the many
villages on the island, since he volunteered to go. Some missionaries had been
killed and eaten by the cannibals since 1839 when the London Missionary Society
began to reach out to them (p.29). Government servants had been establishing
their colonial policy since before his arrival. The natives were afraid of the
more developed European technology and life skills (p.48, 88). They were also covetous
of the goods of Europeans – clothes, knives, guns, drinks, biscuits, education,
etc. So, it was possible for the missionaries to contact them having those
privileges and resources (p.140, 185).
Nevertheless,
the traders, non-Christian normal European present there often treated them as
violent animals, not as human beings, making the outreach to these heathens more
challenging. Some of them were so cruel as to introduce deadly measles to wipe out
their population so that White Europeans could colonize the land (p.73). It took
the lives of 1/3rd of the population, and even the lives of the
missionaries and their associates (p.74).
The natives were
selfish, deceitful, revengeful, bloodthirsty, uncivilized, and violent (p.34,
38, 44). They would blame the missionaries for the drought, hurricane,
sickness, misfortune, etc., on the land (p.37). They would surround the
missionary now and then to kill them and eat them. They alleged that their gods were angry with them for allowing the missionaries to preach about another god,
Jehovah.
Sometimes, some
chiefs would defend Patton (p.42). Other times, the same chiefs who were
friendly at some point in time became determined to kill him (p.92). However,
they were cowards too, fearful of night and superstitions. Sometimes, they
demanded Patton go away or stop his missionary activities, or be killed. They
openly told him that they loved the goods of European but not the new religion.
“But again their
assembly resolved that we should be killed. They declared their hate for the
worship, because it made them afraid to continue their present courses, and
argued that if I would give up visiting the villages and praying and talking
with them, they would let me stay and trade with them, as they liked the
traders but hated Missionaries! I told them that the hope of being able to
teach them the worship of Jehovah alone kept me living amongst them and that I was
there, not for gain or pleasure, but to lead them to know and serve the only
true God.” (p.55)
They were also extremely cruel to
their women:
"If we did not
beat our women they would never work; they would not fear and obey us; but when
we have beaten and killed and feasted on two or three, the rest are all very
quiet and good for a long time to come!" (p.43)
Sometimes, some chiefs appealed to their
people to become Christians and to give up wars, cruel practices, and superstitions
(p.61). One day, Patton dared their sacred priest to kill him by witchcraft and
mocked them like Elijah mocked the prophets of Baal. Realizing their inability
to kill him by witchcraft, one of them tried to spear him to death but the
people declared that Jehovah was a greater God. (p.67-68) Some people professed
to be converted and attended the worship and endured mockery and persecution (p.79).
After the
outbreak of measles, situations had become uncontrollable. They started killing
missionaries and were planning to kill them all. Now, they had realized that
the Government officers weren’t punishing them for killing the missionaries (p.83).
There were constant threats and attempts to kill secretly and openly, sometimes
in groups or individually. Several times, Patton and the people would see the
intervention of God in restraining them or confusing them (p.97, 111).
The time came
for Patton to leave Tanna as they kept hunting him. He had been there for about
4 years, learning their language, teaching them the alphabet, and working on translating
the Bible into their language (p.114). He had been a social reformer, doctor,
preacher, teacher, and even a mediator to conflicting parties. He went to
Australia and beyond to raise money to build a missionary ship to transport
missionaries and goods to the island. He succeeded in coming back (accompanied
by his second wife), but he had to base his station in Aniwa (15 miles distant
from Tanna) according to the direction of the Synod (p.131).
Patton lost his
wife and baby boy in Tanna 4 years ago, in his first 4 months as a missionary there.
He writes: “and with ceaseless prayers and tears I claimed that land for God
in which I had "buried my dead" with faith and hope. . . It was very
difficult to be resigned, left alone, and in such sorrowful circumstances; but
feeling Immovably assured that my God and Father was too wise and loving to err
in anything that He does or permits, I looked up to the Lord for help, and
struggled on in His work.” (p.36-37).
The mission in Aniwa
was a successful one. Although the Aniwans were selfish and wanted Patton and
his teams to die off quickly, yet they survived and become their eternal
friends later (p.134). Having a wife as a missionary partner proved fruitful
and easier for the cause of the mission (p.182). Mrs. Patton was a huge
influence. She taught the Aniwan women hymns (p.171). The mission centre adopted
orphans, and this transformed even the most hostile family (p.144,). The
orphans would in turn warn the missionaries of the evil plots of their parents,
and thus they were saved.
I like the gospel-centred
principle of Patton and his only trust in the work of the Holy Spirit for
conversion (p.88). At one point in time, Patton decided to sift his attendees:
“When we stopped the
feast at the close, which the Aneityumese teacher had been forced to prepare
before our coming, and for which they were always ready, the audiences at first
went down to two or three l but these actually came to learn, and a better tone
began immediately to pervade the service. We informed them that it was for
their good that we taught them, and that they would get no "pay" for
attending church or school, and the greater number departed in high dudgeon as
very ill-used persons!” (p.144)
The story of Nelwang’s elopement (chapter
24) is thrilling and his conversion is pleasing to read about. Chapter 25
presents Patton as the Moses of Aniwans who brought out water from the thirsty
land. I enjoyed reading about the tactics the natives used to persuade Patton
to stop his “madness.”
The old chief and his
best men now came around me more earnestly than ever. He remonstrated with me
very gravely. He assured me for the fiftieth time that rain would never be seen
coming up through the earth on Aniwa! "Now," said he, "had you
been in that hole last night, you would have been buried, and a man-of-war
would have come from Queen 'Toria to ask for the Missi that lived here. We
would have to say, 'He is down in that hole.' The captain would ask, ' Who
killed him and put him down there? ' We would have to say, ' He went down there
himself!' The captain would answer, 'Nonsense! Who ever heard of a white man
going down into the earth to bury himself? You killed him, you put him there;
don't hide your bad conduct with lies!' Then he would bring out his big guns
and shoot us and destroy our island in revenge. You are making your own grave,
Missi, and you will make ours too. Give up this mad freak, for no rain will be
found by going downwards on Aniwa. Besides, all your fishhooks cannot tempt my men
again to enter that hole J they don't want to be buried with you. Will you not
give it up now! " (p.159)
The sinking (digging) of the Well
seemed to have a strong effect on the Aniwans. They never knew about the
concept of underground water. It was a miracle for them, “the world is turned
upside down” (p165). They tried to sink well for themselves 7 times but were
unsuccessful, and they confessed: "Missi not only used pick and spade,
but he prayed and cried to his God. We have learned to dig, but not how to
pray, and therefore Jehovah will not give us the rain from below!" (p.164).
The first convert who happened to be also the chief of the natives, Mr. Namakei,
now, was excited to be a preacher of the new religion, and he preached
powerfully, and the people gave up idolatry (p.164).
There
were social transformation and spiritual disciplines in the lives of the people:
The practice of prayer before meals, the practice of family worship in the
morning and evening, and the observance of the Sabbath.
Necessarily these were
the conspicuous features of our life as Christians in their midst-morning and
evening Family Prayer and Grace at Meat; and hence, most naturally, their
instinctive adoption and imitation of the same as the first outward tokens of
Christian discipline. Every
house in which there was not Prayer to God in the family was known thereby to
be heathen. This was a direct and practical evidence of the New Religion;
and, so far as it goes (and that is very far, indeed, where there is any
sincerity beneath it), the test was one about which there could be no mistake
on either side (p.167).
One boat's crew refused
to work on the Sabbath, and gave as their reason that God's Book forbids work
on the Sabbath. "We fear God," they said, "and will not work for
you on the Lord's Day." They were told that if they refused to work like
others on board they would get no food. The answer came quickly, "We can
live without food for a day, and we will not work."
(p.227)
Chapter 26 contains the story of the translation of the Bible into their language and the building of their church. Chapter 27 contains the story about the conversion of Chief Youwili, and also the baptism of converts after careful examinations. By now, Patton was sure the natives were greatly fond of and loved him. He would often threaten them of leaving when they misbehaved (p.177). Patton recorded generously about the new social order of the lands and the activities on Sunday in this chapter. Soon, they became preachers, evangelists, and missionaries to the other parts of the island.
In heathendom every
true convert becomes at once a Missionary. The changed life, shining out amid the
surrounding darkness, is a Gospel in largest 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 them (p190).
Chapter 29 records the eloquent
preaching of Naswai and the insolent mockery of Nerwa and his conversion. Chapter
30 records the torture of Mungaw and his irrational behaviours aftermath. It also
has an interesting story about Lamu, the rejected candidate for baptism. In the
last two chapters of his autobiography (chps. 31-32), Patton records his trip outside
the island and his return to the island. In the following chapters, the editor records
Patton’s desire to stop the slave trade even meeting with US Presidents.
Patton’s mission was successful:
“In our absence the
native teachers have worked faithfully. Every child above infancy can
read the New Testament fluently. We gave out the new hymnbook (of 153 hymns)
and the new Catechism, which I had translated and got printed and bound in
Melbourne.” (p.239)
“"It was," he
said, "a feast of real joy to see that my long-cherished prayer may yet be
fulfilled-' the New Hebrides with its every island, tribe, and native for Jesus
and His Glory.' We now occupy twenty-five of its thirty islands, and have 17,000
natives avowedly serving Jesus as their God and Saviour; of these 330 are consecrated
to the work as teachers and evangelists” (p.243).
Patton went out of Aniwa for medical
treatment of his wife. She died and he wasn’t allowed to go back to Aniwa again
because of his failing health. He died peacefully in the Lord in 1907 (p.252-253).
This book is
accurately titled “The Story of John G. Patton’s Thirty Years with South Sea
Cannibals” because it’s more the story of Patton in Hew Hebrides than his autobiography.
I would like to know more about his wife, his family, and his relationship with
them, which I couldn’t get here. His theological beliefs, reflections, and
struggles aren’t recorded much, but his belief in the sovereignty of God over salvation,
suffering, sinners, and all situations is clearly portrayed by what he went
through. This book is so focused on the mission at New Hebrides, it serves as a
great book for missionaries. However, one would need to refer to other sources
to know more about him to imitate his faithful life – his doctrines. I started reading
with an expectation to know who John Patton was, and I ended up learning more about
what John Patton did. And frankly, I would like to know the person also, perhaps
more than his works because it’s the who that produces works, though our world
would like to claim to know a person by what he does. So, that’s me and my take.
[1] Page number is as appeared in
the original book. The pdf version has 268 pages, but the original book has 256
pages with extra pages for 8 illustrations.