THE MARTYRDOM OF BISHOP PATTESON.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXVI, Issue 3342, 10 November 1871, Page 2

THE MARTYRDOM OF BISHOP PATTESON.

We have already mentioned that, in the several churches in Wellington, on Sunday last, the officiating clergymen made very touching allusion to the death of Bishop Patteson under the melancholy circumstances which have been narrated in our columns. In !-t, Peter's Church, the Venerable Archdeacon Stock chose for bis text;, Acts vii, 60 versp, " And ho kneeled down and cried with a loud voice, ' Lord lay not this sin to their charge.' And when he had said this he fell asleep." After referring to the death of Stephen and other Christian martyrs, the Archdeacon said : — The same feeling of sorrow is upon the Church here, as then upon that of Jerusalem — He, who was our Evangelist, is taken from us j dying much as Stephen died ; slain by those to whom he sought to bring the glad message of salvation. I would speak briefly upon whafc he was, and what he hath done. We little thought last Sunday, when we gladly gave our offerings to this mission, how heavy a blow had then fallen upon it so sadly and so suddenly. Bishop Patteson was no ordinary man. At the University of Oxford he ■won high honors, and gained . a Fellowship at his College. As the son of one of the highest law dignitaries of England, any career of honor and of usefulness was open to him. But he consecrated his all to the service of the Lord, At the invitation of the Bishop of New Zealand he joined the stuff of the Melanesia!! Mission, and soon, with the glad consent of all, was chosen to bethefirat Bishop of Melanesia— and singularly fitted was he for the work, being gifled with au unequalled power of acquiring the numerous languages of the Islands. I remember well his speuking of this difficulty j that the knowledge of one language was very little help to the gaining another ; — that in one small island separated into fire valleys by steep mountainous ridges, there was in each a distinct language j as strange a thing as if we in Wellington could not speak with those of Makara, nor with those of Wui-nui-o-mata, nor they with us. This fact tells muoh of the difficulty of the work. Such isolation could only have been because of a common hostility. No one jn that island could remove from hisown neighborhood without the certainty of being killed should he be discovered. He spoke furt her of the method adopted in visiting a ne\r island. The boat from the Southern Cross would row in, and remain at some distance from the land. The natives would be drawn up upon the beach, armed, and ready at any moment 'to attack their visitants ; the women and children being never present afc such first visit. The B shop then and hi* 1 party would swim or wade to shore, disarming at once thoir hostility, they yet having not learnt to hate the white man, by this fearlessness and readiness to trust in them. A few presents carefully given to those that appeared to be chiefs would gain their friendship. All this while he would listen for -words and names of persons. Having done this much, the next year, he would land and find the natives remembering his former visit, and awaiting him. Landing among them he would use the words he had gathered up before, and now be permitted to go where he would, gain* ing always more words and familiar expressions. At the next vb it he would find somelads ready to return to the vessel. Froui these would he learn more of the language, until by slow degreos ho would be able to print some few sentences of the Bible, to be carried, with the explanation, by the lads home on thoir return. Such a work must b« of necessity a very gradual one. But that it has not been fruitless is shown by the ordination of the Eev James Sarawaia, who is stationed at Banks' Island to minister to his own people, and by the seventeen native teachers of the mission. But it was not only this gift that so distinguished the Bishop — as his gentleness of manner, his humility of spirit, his single* mindedness, his constant trust in God, AU who knew him can readily recall these his characteristics. It was always remarked that r wise as he was, he never paraded bis knowledge, that self-seeking and self- advancement never seemed to enter his mind. It is no idl<>» epitaph-like, speech to say that he did truly, simply follow Christ : that he was indeed Chnst-like. And what has killed him ? His own words have told us that it was the slave-trade that has begun in these South Seas. I quete again from his memorandum to the General Synod : — " As for using our names, and inventing any stories about us that may induce natives to go on board their vessels, that is the common trick adopted by some traders. ... I desire to protest, by anticipation, against any punishment being inflicted upon natives of these islands, who may out off vessels, or kill boats' crews, until it is clearly shown that these aots are not done as retribution for outrages first committed by white men. Only a few days ago I heard that a boats' orew had been killed at Espirito Santo. Nothing is more likely. I expeot to hear of such things. It is the white mana fault. ... I have experienced no instance of treachery during 14 years' intercourse with them, and I may fairly claim th» right to be bettered when I say that if tha Melanesian native is treated kindly, he will reciprocate suoh treatment readily. . . . But in many of the Islands where we were already on most intimate terms with the people, -we are now obliged to be very cautious." And now, |at Nukapu, where he was well known, on the 20th September he had landed alone, contrary to his usual practice, and there hai he mot with martyrdom. We may be very sure, from all wo know of Bishop Patteson, from his unwearied unselfishness, that his last words would be with Stephen, " Lord, lay not this to their charge." Such a deaih is no death for him, or for his companions. They are in the presence of the Lord whom they served so faithfully. They have reoeived the reward promised to those who, in all their work, would remembor vhat they have themselves gained from God's grace; who would, therefore, glorify God in their body, and in their spirits, which are God's. And what, brethren, is left-, for us. If w« sorrow, and we must sorrow at Buch a death, gained by those who, for gains' salhvJjaye cot hesitated to bring slavery where he scwagntsto preach the glad tidings of God's salvation, without money and without price, vie sorrownot as those who have no hope. As in Judea, and as in England, this death shall be the fore-runner of a new life. The work thus faithfully begun shall not be rudely ohecked. It may be that this death will awaken men to the true character of this shameless trafficking, and so this new slave-trade be stopped, because that through it Bishop Patteson has died. And for us there is the remembrance of his example — the desire to live as he lived, not for self only, but for God—that we, 100, may gain what he, and they wbo died with him, have already gained, the glad welcome of their King—" Well done, good and faithful servants ,• enter yo into the joy of your Lord."