HAPPY in my work as I felt through these ten years,
and successful by the blessing of God, yet I continually heard, and
chiefly during my last years in the Divinity Hall, the wail of the
perishing Heathen in the South Seas; and I saw that few were caring
for them, while I well knew that many would be ready to take up
my work in Calton, and carry it forward perhaps with more efficiency
than myself. Without revealing the state of my mind to any person,
this was the supreme subject of my daily meditation and prayer;
and this also led me to enter upon those medical studies, in which
I purposed taking the full course; but at the close of my third
year, an incident occurred, which led me at once to offer myself
for the Foreign Mission field.
The Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland, in which
I had been brought up, had been advertising for another Missionary
to join the Rev. John Inglis in his grand work on the New Hebrides.
Dr. Bates, the excellent convener of the Heathen Missions Committee,
was deeply grieved, because for two years their appeal had failed.
At length, the Synod, after much prayer and consultation, felt the
claims of the Heathen so urgently pressed upon them by the Lord's
repeated calls, that they resolved to cast lots, to discover whether
God would thus select any Minister to be relieved from his home-charge,
and designated as a Missionary to the South Seas. Each member of Synod,
as I was informed, agreed to hand in, after solemn appeal to God,
the names of the three best qualified in his esteem for such a work,
and he who had the clear majority was to be loosed from his congregation,
and to proceed to the Mission field -- or the first and second highest,
if two could be secured. Hearing this debate, and feeling an intense
interest in these most unusual proceedings, I remember yet the hushed
solemnity of the prayer before the names were handed in. I remember
the strained silence that held the Assembly while the scrutineers
retired to examine the papers; and I remember how tears blinded my
eyes when they returned to announce that the result was so indecisive,
that it was clear that the Lord had not in that way provided a Missionary.
The cause was once again solemnly laid before God in prayer, and a
cloud of sadness appeared to fall over all the Synod.
The Lord kept saying within me, "Since none better qualified can
be got, rise and offer yourself!" Almost overpowering was the impulse
to answer aloud, "Here am I, send me." But I was dreadfully
afraid of mistaking my mere human emotions for the will of God. So I
resolved to make it a subject of close deliberation and prayer for a
few days longer, and to look at the proposal from every possible aspect.
Besides, I was keenly solicitous about the effect upon the hundreds
of young people and others, now attached to all my Classes and Meetings;
and yet I felt a growing assurance that this was the call of God to
His servant, and that He who was willing to employ me in the work abroad,
was both able and willing to provide for the on-carrying of my work
at home. My medical studies, as well as my literary and divinity training,
had specially qualified me in some ways for the Foreign field, and from
every aspect at which I could look the whole facts in the face, the
voice within me sounded like a voice from God.
It was under good Dr. Bates of West Campbell Street that I had begun
my career in Glasgow -- receiving £25 per annum for district visitation
in connection with his Congregation, along with instruction under Mr.
Hislop and his staff in the Free Church Normal Seminary -- and oh, how
Dr. Bates did rejoice, and even weep for joy, when I called on him,
and offered myself for the New Hebrides Mission! I returned to my lodging
with a lighter heart than I had for sometime enjoyed, feeling that nothing
so clears the vision, and lifts up the life, as a decision to move forward
in what you know to be entirely the will of the Lord. I said to my fellow-student,
Joseph Copeland, who had chummed with me all through our course at college,
"I have been away signing my banishment" (a rather trifling
way of talk for such an occasion). "I have offered myself as a
Missionary for the New Hebrides."
After a long and silent meditation, in which he seemed lost in far-wandering
thoughts, his answer was, "If they will accept of me, I am also
resolved to go!"
I said, "Will you write the Convener to that effect or let me
do so?"
He replied, "You may."
A few minutes later his letter of offer was in the
post-office. Next morning Dr. Bates called upon us, early and after
a long conversation, commended us and our future work to the Lord God
in fervent prayer. At a meeting of the Foreign Missions Committee,
held immediately thereafter, both were, after due deliberation, formally
accepted, on condition that we passed successfully the usual examinations
required of candidates for the Ministry. And for the next twelve months
we were placed under a special committee for advice as to medical
experience, acquaintance with the rudiments of trades, and anything
else which might be thought useful to us in the Foreign field.
When it became known that I was preparing to go abroad as Missionary,
nearly all were dead against the proposal, except Dr. Bates and my fellow
student. My dear father and mother, however, when I consulted them,
characteristically replied, "that they had long since given me
away to the Lord, and in this matter also would leave me to God's disposal."
From other quarters we were besieged with the strongest opposition on
all sides. Even Dr. Symington, one of my professors in divinity, and
the beloved Minister in connection with whose congregation I had wrought
so long as a City Missionary, and in whose Kirk Session I had for years
sat as an Elder, repeatedly urged me to remain at home.
To his arguments I replied, "that my mind was finally
resolved; that, though I loved my work and my people, yet I felt that
I could leave them to the care of Jesus, who would soon provide them
a better pastor than I; and that, with regard to my life amongst the
Cannibals, as I had only once to die, I was content to leave the time
and place and means in the hand of God who had already marvelously
preserved me when visiting cholera patients and the fever-stricken
poor; on that score I had positively no further concern, having left
it all absolutely to the Lord, whom I sought to serve and honor whether
in life or by death."
The house connected with my Green Street Church was
now offered to me for a Manse, and any reasonable salary that I cared
to ask (as against the promised £120 per annum for the far-off
and dangerous New Hebrides), on condition that I would remain at home.
I cannot honestly say that such offers or opposing influences proved
a heavy trial to me; they rather tended to confirm my determination
that the path of duty was to go abroad.
Amongst many who sought to deter me, was one dear old
Christian gentleman, whose crowning argument always was, "The
cannibals! you will be eaten by cannibals!" At last I replied,
"Mr. Dickson, you are advanced in years now, and your own prospect
is soon to be laid in the grave, there to be eaten by worms, I confess
to you, that if I can but live and die serving and honoring the Lord
Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether I am eaten by cannibals
or by worms; and in the Great Day my resurrection body will arise
as fair as yours in the likeness of our risen Redeemer."
The old gentleman, raising his hands in a deprecating attitude, left
the room exclaiming, "After that I have nothing more to say!"
My dear Green Street people grieved excessively at
the thought of my leaving them, and daily pleaded with me to remain.
Indeed, the opposition was so strong from nearly all, and many of
them warm Christian friends, that I was sorely tempted to question
whether I was carrying out the Divine will, or only some head-strong
wish of my own. But conscience said louder and clearer every day,
"Leave all these results with Jesus your Lord, who said, 'Go
ye into all the world, preach the Gospel to every creature, and lo!
I am with you alway.'" These words kept ringing in my ears; these
were our marching orders.
Some retorted upon me, "here are Heathen at home; let us seek
and save, first of all, the lost ones perishing at our doors."
This I felt to be most true, and an appalling fact; but I unfailingly
observed that those who made this retort neglected these Home Heathen
themselves; and so the objection, as from them, lost all its power.
On meeting, however, with so many obstructing influences,
I again laid the whole matter before my dear parents, and their reply
was to this effect: --"Heretofore we feared to bias you, but now
we must tell you why we praise God for the decision to which you have
been led. Your father's heart was set upon being a Minister, but other
claims forced him to give it up! When you were given to them, your
father and mother laid you upon the altar, their first-born, to be
consecrated, if God saw fit, as a Missionary of the Cross; and it
has been their constant prayer that you might be prepared, qualified,
and led to this very decision; and we pray with all our heart that
the Lord may accept your offering, long spare you, and give you many
souls from the Heathen World for your hire."From that moment,
every doubt as to my path of duty forever vanished. I saw the hand
of God very visibly, not only preparing me for, but now leading me
to, the Foreign Mission field.
Well did I know that the sympathy and prayers of my dear parents were
warmly with me in all my studies and in all my Mission work; but for
my education they could of course, give me no money help. All through,
on the contrary, it was my pride and joy to help them, being the eldest
in a family of eleven; though I here most gladly and gratefully record
that all my brothers and sisters, as they grew up and began to earn
a living, took their full share in this same blessed privilege. For
we stuck to each other and to the old folks like burs, and had all things
"in common," as a family in Christ -- and I knew that never
again, howsoever long they might be spared through the peaceful autumn
of life, would the dear old father and mother lack any joy or comfort
that the willing hands and loving hearts of all their children could
singly or unitedly provide. For all this I did praise the Lord! It consoled
me beyond description, in parting from them, probably forever, in this
world at least.
 ON the first of December 1857 -- being then in my thirty-third year
-- the other Missionary-designate and I were "licensed" as
preachers of the Gospel. Thereafter we spent four months in visiting
and addressing nearly every Congregation and Sabbath School in the Reformed
Presbyterian Church of Scotland, that the people might see us and know
us, and thereby take a personal interest in our work. On the 23d March
1858, in Dr. Symington's church, Glasgow, in presence of a mighty crowd,
and after a magnificent sermon on "Come over and help us,"
we were solemnly ordained as Ministers of the Gospel, and set apart
as Missionaries to the New Hebrides. On the 16th April of the same year,
we left the Tail of the Bank at Greenock, and set sail in the Clutha
for the Foreign Mission field.
Our voyage to Melbourne was rather tedious, but ended prosperously,
under Captain Broadfoot, a kindly, brave-hearted Scot, who did everything
that was possible for our comfort. He himself led the singing on board
at Worship, which was always charming to me, and was always regularly
conducted -- on deck when the weather was fair, below when it was rough.
I was also permitted to conduct Bible Classes amongst both the crew
and the passengers, at times and places approved of by the Captain --
in which there was great joy.
Arriving at Melbourne, we were welcomed by Rev. Mr. Moor, Mr. and
Mrs. Samuel Wilson, and Mr. Wright, all Reformed Presbyterians from
Geelong. Mr. Wilson's two children, Jessie and Donald, had been under
our care during the voyage; and my young wife and I went with them
for a few days on a visit to Geelong, while Mr. Copeland remained on
board the Clutha to look after our boxes and to watch for any
opportunity of reaching our destination on the Islands. He heard that
an American ship, the Frances P. Sage, was sailing from Melbourne
to Penang ; and the Captain agreed to land us on Aneityum, New Hebrides,
with our two boats and fifty boxes, for £100. We got on board
on the 12th August, but such a gale blew that we did not sail till the
17th. On the Clutha all was quiet, and good order prevailed;
in the F. P. Sage all was noise and profanity. The Captain said
he kept his second mate for the purpose of swearing at the men and knocking
them about. The voyage was most disagreeable to all of us, but fortunately
it lasted only twelve days. On the 29th we were close up to Aneityum;
but the Captain refused to land us, even in his boats; some of us suspecting
that his men were so badly used that had they got on shore they would
never have returned to him! In any case he had beforehand secured his
£100.
He lay off the island till a trader's boat pulled across to see what
we wanted, and by it we sent a note to Dr. Geddie, one of the Missionaries
there. Early next morning, Monday, he arrived in his boat, accompanied
by Mr. Mathieson, a newly arrived Missionary from Nova Scotia; bringing
also Captain Anderson in the small Mission schooner, the John Knox,
and a large Mission boat called the Columbia, well manned with
crews of able and willing Natives. Our fifty boxes were soon on board
the John Knox, the Columbia, and our own boats -- all
being heavily loaded and built up, except those that had to be used
in pulling the others ashore. Dr. Geddie, Mr. Mathieson, Mrs. Paton,
and I were perched among the boxes on the John Knox, and had
to hold on as best we could. On sheering off from the F. P. Sage,
one of her davits caught and broke the mainmast of the little John
Knox by the deck; and I saved my wife from being crushed to death
by its fall, through managing to swing her instantaneously aside in
an apparently impossible manner. It did graze Mr. Mathieson, but he
was not hurt. The John Knox, already overloaded, was thus quite
disabled; we were about ton miles at sea, and in imminent danger; but
the captain of the F. P. Sage heartlessly sailed away, and left
us to struggle with our fate.
We drifted steadily in the direction of Tanna, an island of cannibals,
where our goods would have been plundered and all of us cooked and eaten.
Dr. Geddie's boat, and mine had the John Knox in tow; and Mr.
Copeland, with a crew of Natives, was struggling hard with his boat
to pull the Columbia and her load towards Aneityum. As God mercifully
ordered it, though we had a stiff trade wind to pull against, we had
a comparatively calm sea; yet we drifted still to leeward, till Dr.
Inglis going round to the harbor in his boat, as he had heard of our
arrival, saw us far at sea, and hastened to our rescue. All the boats
now, with their willing Native crews, got fastened to our schooner,
and to our great joy she began to move ahead. After pulling for hours
and hours, under the scorching rays of a tropical sun, we were all safely
landed on shore at Aneityum, about six o'clock in the evening of 30th
August, just four months and fourteen days since we sailed from Greenock.
We got a hearty welcome from the Missionaries' wives, Mrs. Geddie, Mrs.
Inglis, and Mrs. Mathieson, and from all our new friends the Christian
Natives of Aneityum; and the great danger in which both life and property
had been placed at the close of our voyage, made us praise God all the
more that He had brought us to this quiet resting-place, around which
lay the Islands of the New Hebrides, to which our eager hearts had looked
forward, and into which we entered now in the name of the Lord.
Mr. Copeland, Mrs. Paton, and I went round the island to Dr. Inglis's
Station, where we were most cordially received and entertained by his
dear lady, and by the Christian Natives there. As he was making several
additions to his house at that time, we received for the next few weeks
our first practical and valuable training in Mission house-building,
as well as in higher matters. Soon after, a meeting was called to consult
about our settlement, and by the advice and with the concurrence of
all, Mr. and Mrs. Mathieson from Nova Scotia were located on the south
side of Tanna, at Umairarekar, and Mrs. Paton and I at Port Resolution,
on the same island. At first it was agreed that Mr. Copeland should
be placed along with us; but owing to the weakly state of Mrs. Mathieson's
health, it was afterwards resolved that, for a time at least Mr. Copeland
should live at either Station, as might seem most suitable or most requisite.
Dr. Inglis and a number of his most energetic Natives accompanied
us to Umairarekar Tanna. There we purchased a site for Mission House
and Church, and laid a stone foundation, and advanced as far as practicable
the erection of a dwelling for Mr. and Mrs. Mathieson. Thence we proceeded
to Port Resolution, Tanna, and similarly purchased a site, and advanced,
to a forward stage, the house which Mrs. Paton and I were to occupy
on our settlement there. Lime for plastering had to be burned in kilns
from the coral rocks; and thatch, for roofing with sugarcane leaf, had
to be prepared by the Natives at both Stations before our return; for
which, as for all else, a price was duly agreed upon, and was scrupulously
paid. Unfortunately we learned, when too late, that both houses were
too near the shore, exposed to unwholesome miasma, and productive of
the dreaded fever and ague, -- the most virulent and insidious enemy
to all Europeans in those Southern Seas.
MY first impressions drove me, I must confess, to the
verge of utter dismay. On beholding these Natives in their paint and
nakedness and misery, my heart was as full of horror as of pity. Had
I given up my much beloved work and my dear people in Glasgow, with
so many delightful associations, to consecrate my life to these degraded
creatures? Was it possible to teach them right and wrong, to Christianize,
or even to civilize them? But that was only a passing feeling! I soon
got as deeply interested in them, and in all that tended to advance
them, and to lead them to the knowledge and love of Jesus, as ever
I had been in my work at Glasgow. We were surprised and delighted at the
remarkable change produced on the Natives of Aneityum through the instrumentality
of Drs. Geddie and Inglis is so short a time; and we hoped, by prayerful
perseverance in the use of similar means, to see the same work of God
repeated on Tanna. Besides, the wonderful and blessed work done by Mrs.
Inglis and Mrs. Geddie, at their Stations, filled our wives with the
buoyant hope of being instruments in the hand of God to produce an
equally beneficent change amongst the savage women of Tanna. Mrs. Paton
had been left with Mrs. Inglis to learn all she could from her of Mission
work on the Islands, till I returned with Dr. Inglis from the house-building
operations on Tanna; during which period Mr. and Mrs. Mathieson were
also being instructed by Dr. and Mrs. Geddie.
To the Tannese, Dr. Inglis and I were objects of curiosity
and fear; they came crowding to gaze on our wooden and lime-plastered
house; they chattered incessantly with each other, and left the scene
day after day with undisguised and increasing wonderment. Possibly they
thought us rather mad than wise!
Party after party of armed men going and coming in a
state of great excitement, we were informed that war was on foot; but
our Aneityumese Teachers were told to assure us that the Harbor people
would only act on the defensive, and that no one would molest us at
our work. One day two hostile tribes met near our Station; high words
arose, and old feuds were revived. The Inland people withdrew; but the
Harbor people, false to their promises, flew to arms and rushed past
us in pursuit of their enemies. The discharge of muskets in the adjoining
bush, and the horrid yells of the savages, soon informed us that they
were engaged in deadly fights. Excitement and terror were on every countenance;
armed men rushed about in every direction, with feathers in their twisted
hair, -- with faces painted red, black, and white, and some, one cheek
black, the other red, others, the brow white, the chin blue -- in fact,
any color and on any part, -- the more grotesque and savage-looking,
the higher the art! Some of the women ran with their children to places
of safety; but even then we saw other girls and women, on the shore
close by, chewing sugar-cane and chaffering and laughing as if their
fathers and brothers had been engaged in a country dance, instead of
a bloody conflict.
In the afternoon, as the sounds of the muskets and the
yelling of the warriors came unpleasantly near to us, Dr. Inglis, leaning
against a post for a little while in silent prayer, looked on us and
said, "The walls of Jerusalem were built in troublous times, and
why not the Mission House on Tanna? But let us rest for this day, and
pray for these poor Heathen."
We retired to a Native house that had been temporarily
granted to us for rest, and there pled before God for them all. The
noise and the discharge of muskets gradually receded, as if the Inland
people were retiring ; and towards evening the people around us returned
to their villages. We were afterwards informed that five or six men
had been shot dead; that their bodies had been carried by the conquerors
from the field of battle, and cooked and eaten that very night at a
boiling spring near the head of the bay, less than a mile from the spot
where my house was being built. We had also a more graphic illustration
of the surroundings into which we had come, through Dr. Inglis's Aneityum
boy, who accompanied us as cook. When our tea was wanted next morning,
the boy could not be found. After a while of great anxiety on our part,
he returned, saying, "Missi, this is a dark land. The people of
this land do dark works. At the boiling spring they have cooked and
feasted upon the slain. They have washed the blood into the water; they
have bathed there, polluting everything. I cannot get pure water to
make your tea. What shall I do?"
Dr. Inglis told him that be must try for water elsewhere,
till the rains came and cleansed away the pollution; and that meanwhile,
instead of tea, we would drink from the cocoa-nut, as they had often
done before. The lad was quite relieved. It not a little astonished
us, however, to see that his mind regarded their killing and eating
each other as a thing scarcely to be noticed, but that it was horrible
that they should spoil the water! How much are even our deepest instincts
the creatures of mere circumstances! I, if trained like him, would probably
have felt like him.
Next evening, as we sat talking about the people, and
the dark scenes around us, the quiet of the night was broken by a wild
wailing cry from the villages around, long-continued and unearthly.
We were informed that one of the wounded men, carried home from the
battle, had just died; and that they had strangled his widow to death,
that her spirit might accompany him to the other world, and be his servant
there, as she had been here. Now their dead bodies were laid side by
side, ready to be buried in the sea. Our hearts sank to think of all
this happening within ear-shot, and that we knew it not! Every new scene,
every fresh incident, set more clearly before us the benighted condition
and shocking cruelties of these Heathen people, and we longed to be
able to speak to them of Jesus and the love of God. We eagerly tried
to pick up every word of their language, that we might, in their own
tongue, unfold to them the knowledge of the true God and of salvation
from all these sins through Jesus Christ.
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