Life of John Coleridge Patteson : Missionary Bishop of the Melanesian Islands by Charlotte Mary Yonge
page 266 of 960 (27%)
page 266 of 960 (27%)
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attempt at giving him food, which produced a further spasm, he was
lying quietly when Patteson felt his pulse stop. '"He is dying!" the Bishop said. '"Father, into Thy hands we commend his spirit."' Patteson's 'Amen' came from his heart. The poor fellow made no sound as he lay with his frame rigid, his back arched so that an arm could be thrust under it. He was gone in that moment, unbaptized. Patteson writes:-- 'I had much conflict with myself about it. He had talked once with me in a very hopeful way, but during his illness I could not obtain from him any distinct profession of faith, anything to make me feel pretty sure that some conviction of the truth of what he he hd been taught, and not mere learning by rote, was the occasion of his saying what he did say. I did wish much that I might talk again with the Bishop about it, but his death took us by surprise. I pray God that all my omission and neglect of duty may be repaired, and that his very imperfect and unconscious yearnings after the truth may be accepted for Christ's sake.' The arrow was reported to have been poisoned, but by the time the cause of the injury had been discovered it had been thrown away and could not be recovered for examination. Indeed, lockjaw seems to be so prevalent in the equatorial climates, and the natives so peculiarly liable to it, that poison did not seem needful to account for the catastrophe. Altogether, these lads were exotics in New Zealand, and exceedingly |
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