Sometime between 1884 and 1885 John G. Paton, Scottish missionary to the New Hebrides (Vanuatu), visited Northern Ireland as part of an eighteen month visit to the UK and Ireland to raise support for the pioneering missionary work in the New Hebrides. In his autobiography he reflects on his short stay in Ireland. What he has to say is a great insight to the situation in Ireland at the time, but also has much to say to those of us involved in, or preparing for, the work of the gospel in Ireland today. Here is the last paragraph of his reflections on his time in Ireland:
No man, however dissevered from the party politics of the day, can see and live amongst the Irish of the North, without having forced on his soul the conviction that the Protestant faith and life, with its grit and backbone and self-dependance, has made them what they are. Romanism, on the other hand, with its blind faith and its peculiar type of life, has been at least one, if not the main, degrading influence amongst the Irish of the South and West, who are naturally a warm-hearted and generous and gifted people. And let Christian Churches, and our Statesmen who love Christ, remember - that no mere outward changes of Government or Order, however good and defensible in themselves, can ever heal the miseries of the people, without a change of Religion. Ireland needs the pure and true Gospel, proclaimed, taught, and recieved, in the South as it now is in the North; and no other gift, that Britain ever can bestow, will make up for the lack of Christ's Evangel. Jesus holds the key to all problems, in this as in every land.
This extract is taken from Paton's autobiorgaphy: 'John G. Paton: Missionary to the New Hebrides (Vanuatu)', which is published by Banner of Truth.
