Echoes From the Mission Field: The New Hebrides, a Pathetic Story

R. PATON’S work in Tanna, so full of tragic incidents and trials, was ap­parently without much fruit amongst the cannibals on that island, but here is a story which shows that the seed sown in those early pioneer days struck root.
Twenty years or more after Dr. Paton had paid a visit to a fierce cannibal tribe in the interior―towards the west coast, as we gather―there came two old chiefs through the bush. A toilsome and dangerous journey did not deter them. They sought the missionary stationed at Weasisi, on the east coast, towards the north end of Tanna.
Mr. Gray was surprised at the two strange old men approaching the Mission station. Their appearance was such as to excite curio­sity and awaken keen interest. They were strangers from a dark cannibal tribe, he gathered. The surprise, however, was not in this, but in the fact that each of them was wearing a very old, threadbare, and dilapidated shirts Heathen, as the missionary knew to his sorrow, despise clothing of any sort, so that Mr. Gray’s interest was thoroughly aroused by his strange visitors. Asked their errand, they at once disclosed in eager tones that they had come to seek a missionary, or at least a native teacher, to come into the interior and teach them and their people about “the Jehovah Jesus God.” “But,” said Mr. Gray, “how do you know about Jehovah?” “Oh,” they said, “don’t you see we are Christians? Don’t you see we have on shirts―that we wear the clothing of the Chris­tians?” “Where did you get them, and when, and how?” came quickly from the now thoroughly-aroused missionary. “Well,” they said, “a long, long time ago the Missi that lived on this island (their description showed that it was Dr. Paton) came to our district and told us about the Jehovah Jesus God ; and when he left us he gave us these shirts and told us we should worship Jehovah and give up war ; and he said we should not work on the Sabbath, and should wear our shirts. And ever since we have put on our shirts every Sabbath and had worship, and told our young men not to work.” “But how do you worship?” enquired Mr. Gray. “Oh, we put on our shirts, and we sit round with the young men and say we won’t work; and when they get tired, and we don’t know what to do, we tell them to hold on, and we say: How happy we shall be when someone comes to tell us about the Jehovah God.”
Thus, for twenty long years, a faint glimmer of light had been maintained in the hearts of these poor heathen, who long so intensely for the knowledge of the True and Living God.
The sequel to this moving incident is the advent of our own missionary, Dr. Paton’s son, who goes to the interior from the west coast to tell the story of Jesus and His love to the two old chiefs, if still alive, or at least to their people. God has heard their cry for light. May He now enlighten and save.
The above is taken from “Quarterly Jottings from the New Hebrides.”
ROM “India’s Women” we take an inter­esting little story about the goddess The illus­tration oppo­site is the form of the idol under which she is worshipped in parts of India. To her honor the Thugs commit their atrocious murders. The husband of this goddess was, according to the Hindu tradition, as bad as it is possible to be; yet he is very widely worshipped. Lâ-li, in our illustration, is dancing with joy, because her enemies are all overcome. Kâ-li is sup­posed to be delighted with the smell of blood, but, under British rule, human sacrifices to her glory are no longer lawful.
“A young girl, one of our pupils, who is anxious for baptism, was taken with her two younger sisters to Ka-li Ghat. On arriving, they were told to worship the idol. This they refused, saying it was the work of men’s hands. ‘We will worship the one true God, Jesus,’ they added, ‘Who died for us on the Cross.’
“For this they were beaten by their father. Their landlord, too, was very much enraged, and said to them, ‘If you will not worship Kâ-li, I will set the devil on you.’
“The little ones bravely answered, ‘No devils can hurt those who worship Jesus; the devils can only hurt devil-worshippers.’
“The people present were also angry, and said, ‘These children’s heads are turned through going to school.’ Some were deter­mined that they should throw ghee into the fire and call out to Kâ-li. Seeing that they could not resist the furious crowd, the children threw the ghee, and prayed that God would pardon their sin.
“It was at last decided that they should be kept away from school. They prayed earnestly that their father would change his mind and send them back. God indeed heard their cry, and they continue coming.”
From the little child let us now turn to the aged.
“There came to the mission house a message. It was from an old woman of a hundred: ‘Ask that Bible-woman to come and see me again. She told me of Some One who could take me over the river of death―a Saviour. May she come and see me again.’
“The Bible-woman was out of the way, and the English missionary went in her stead. Arrived at the Indian house, after the usual Oriental salu­tations, she looked round for the chief object of her visit, the old woman of a hundred, but did not see her.
“‘Where is she?’ she asks. ‘She is very old,’ they answer; ‘she has outstayed her time, and we have laid her in yonder cowshed, across the yard.’
“‘Why have you done so to her?’ enquired the English lady, choking down her Christian indignation.
“‘It was her own desire,’ they answered. ‘She told us that if we laid her there, she would need none to attend to her, and she would be less trouble to us.’
“‘May she come and speak to me here?’ asked the visitor.
“‘She will be very glad to,’ they answer. ‘It is very cold for her where she lies, and she will be warm here in the sun.’
“They brought her out of the cowshed. Across the yard they carried her―rather, they dragged her. At the feet of the English lady they laid her―more nearly flung her―down on the asphalt floor.
“In miserable plight she lay. In pain and misery all over, in utter bodily wretchedness, she was not able even to lie down, but only could sustain herself upon her hands and knees.
“‘Stoop down,’ she said to the lady, ‘that I may be able to see your face.’
“She did so, and then the poor old woman of a hundred, laying her weary head between her thin hands, feebly uttered her prayer ‘Oh, Lord Jesus, save me ; wash me from my sins ; take me over the river of death.’ Then the mind seemed for a moment to wander, and she could only utter, ‘Jesus, Jesus.’”

Union Amongst Christians
3.
ON two former occasions we spoke of the union of true Christians which God Himself has made; their union as members of God’s family, and their union as members of Christ’s body. In each case the union can be neither made nor broken by human power, but upon man devolves the responsibility of living out the union on this earth. Alas! the spirit of main­taining, practically, the union that exists, is deficient in some of God’s people; neverthe­less many mourn the walls which separate Christian from Christian, and seek to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
We will on the present occasion briefly con­sider the divinely-established union of the people of God in reference to the future. There is a great deal of activity in Christendom generally, to effect what is termed the reunion of Christendom; and we may do well to compare man’s scheme and God’s plan respecting this matter. Let us suppose the future realized that so many seek after. What would that future be? A confederation of kingdoms, kings, and prelates, under one common head­ship, to whose word all would be obliged to bow, or to undergo the severest penalties of imprisonment and death. Now, would
THE PLAN DETERMINED BY GOD
be in any sense whatever realized by such an union? God’s people are all one family. Would the love of God the Father prevail on the earth in such circumstances? Would holi­ness exist in men’s souls and exhibit itself in their lives? The world would be more wicked than it is―at least if the manner of life of those centuries prevailed during which His Holiness the Pope, and the Inquisition governed the kingdoms of Christendom; and during which the sword was ever drinking blood in the name of Holy Church. Would Christ be recognized as the Head of His body the Church were the scheme realized? For centuries Rome has made less and less of Christ in her services, and those who clamor for union with her do as she does. Much is made of priests, little of Christ, the High Priest; much is made of the sacrifice of the Mass, little of Christ’s one offering of Himself; a sacrifice to God; much is made of continual effort to produce sancti­fication, nothing of the truth that by one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. Whenever images of Christ fill men’s souls, Christ Himself has but a little place in man’s heart. Where the Mother of Jesus is prayed to she is the Favorite, and her Son is secondary to her. If there were reunion with Rome, and thus an united Christendom, we should have Christendom with
CHRIST OUTSIDE THE UNION.
In the union which God will display, holi­ness, and the glory of Christ will prevail. Every member of God’s family will “be holy and without blame before Him in love.” Every one will be a manifestation of God the Father’s nature―holy and blameless before God’s own all-searching eye. He will read in every heart holiness such as He can rest in. There will be no blame attachable to any child, since every child will be so holy and so wise, as never to be found fault with by God the Father. And all will repose in the love which is divine. Such is the end and glory for all the members of God’s family, and the very thought of it affects the child of God in his daily life on earth in ways of holiness and love. And when this prospect is before the soul the present aim at re­uniting Christendom, its kingdoms, its princes, its prelates, and its evil and good, is seen to be unworthy of God beyond the powers of utterance―nay, as a scheme of rebellion against Him.
Again, in the union of the Church, which will be displayed in glory, every member of that body will be a witness to the glory and honor of Christ. In all things He will have the pre-eminence. His sacrifice and His priestly work will be abundantly magnified, and all that He has done will more and more redound to His honor in the eyes of all His people. In that day He will present His Church “to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing”― not a spot of defilement, not a trace of in­firmity, but, by virtue of His passion and His priestly work, glorious forever. Each member of the body will contribute to the excellence of the whole, and the excellence of the whole will contribute to
THE GLORY OF CHRIST, THE HEAD.
Such is the future—sure and settled—into which all believers will enter. Now, in the aspirations for the reunion of Christendom such prospects have no part. The pure, the holy, the heavenly, can be loved and longed for only by such as God has made pure and holy and heavenly in Christ.
We are all expecting developments in re­ference to the Church. There are two which are at hand.
The true members of Christ will soon be removed to heaven, when they will see Christ’s glory, as He has promised, and when the future, of which we have spoken, will be realized. In how short a time this may occur we know not. But in a little while He that shall come will come, and will not tarry. And all God’s true people will be glorified with Christ, for when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall we also appear with Him in glory.
The other development refers to the mass of professing Christendom, out of which the true members of Christ’s body will have been taken. There will be a reunion of Christendom, a gathering together of kingdoms, kings, and prelates, and peoples―one vast confedera­tion―but Christ will be outside it, and the Antichrist will be in it. He will be its ruling energy, and, instead of the Holy Spirit of God directing and controlling, Satan, the spirit of lies and of evil, will take His place.
We may, therefore, see a sign of the times in the desire for union that exists―a sign to the true that the hour of union with Christ of all saints in heaven is at hand; a sign to the false that the hour of darkness of Christendom is near. Let the Christian be more and more eager for true union of heart and spirit with “all saints” ―all the beloved of God, His Father. Every such experience is a little fore­taste of the sweets of Home―a little sample of the eternity of bliss; while, on the other hand, longing after the essentially worldly and man-advancing idolatrous principle of the re­union of Christians, under the antichristian head of Rome, is a terrible portent that the dark hour of Christendom is approaching, and that the time of the uprising of Antichrist is near.

Sunday Morning Texts
1.
VERY human being is either with Christ or against Christ in the great battle between good and evil in this world. Neutrality when Christ is in question is impossible. “He that is not with Me is against Me: and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth” (Luke 11:23), are His own words. Every true Christian is on Christ’s side in the battle, even though he may be weak, and at times almost afraid to witness for his Lord.
2.
A very important word of Christ’s mercy to us is this: “If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me” (John 13:8); but He did wash His disciple’s feet, and what He did for Peter, He does for us all. That is, He removes the defilement which we contract during our walk through this world, and renders us clean, so that He may sit down with us and open out our hearts to His words, in order that we may have part with Him in His ways and words of love for us. Thus we are enabled to have communion with Him respecting His thoughts about His love.
3.
“Rejoice with Me” (Luke 15:6) were the words to his friends of the shepherd who had found his sheep which had been lost. Deep was his own joy in the finding and the home-bringing of the wanderer―so deep that he would not have it merely to himself, and therefore he called together his friends to share his joy. Jesus is the Shepherd of whom the parable speaks, and He calls us who love Him to rejoice with Him in His joy in saving the lost. Let us seek more and more to enter into this His joy. It is the essence of true evangelic fervor.
4.
Yet one more of Christ’s words, with Me, shall fill our hearts. “Father, I will that they also whom Thou hast given Me be with Me where I am; that they may behold My glory which Thou hast given Me” (John 17:24). In these words we read again our Lord’s love. Our highest joy in glory will be to behold His glory, and He wills that this portion shall be ours. There will be many grand things in heaven for the eye to see and the ear to hear, hut the grandest sight of all will be the glory bestowed by the Father upon the Man Christ Jesus. He was despised and rejected of men on earth, He shall have the highest place in heaven. Every sorrow, every shame, borne here will be answered by a fresh glory there.