John Paton: Missionary to the Cannibals: His Autobiography

This is a wonderful book, one of my favorite readings in the past year. I highly recommend it--the first review written is very accurate.

Who has ever heard of a someone who, having a highly succesful preaching ministry in a civilized country, leaves it to others and instead goes to work amongst cannibals on a small island in the middle of a great ocean? Yet this was exactly what John Paton did! He not only was aware of the fact that the islanders were in the habit of clubbing people to death, boiling them and then eating them up, but he also knew that before his arrival to the cannibal islands, previous missionaries had attempted the same task but had beed killed and eaten as soon as they reached the islands. Then why did he go? He went because he wanted the gospel of Christ to have progress, to the salvation of sinners and the glory of God. When he first arrived at the island of Tanna, he had to start from scratch. He had to learn the language of the cannibals, which was hard considering the fact that they had no written letters. But through hard work Paton not only learned the language, he also but it in letters. In his autobiography John Paton tells about the trials he went through amongst the cannibals. He was constantly close to being killed, but always managed to escape. He explains that the only thing that kept him from losing his mind was his living prayer-life with the Lord. But the cannibals did not repent or forsake their idols of wood and stone, but instead became more and more furious over Paton that he finally by boat escaped by the skin of his teeth. That meant that years of hard work had not brought any conversions. After his escape he dicided to go back! But this time to a neighbouring island named Aniwa. And there, after hard work and after a special incident, everybody on the island repents and turns to God! When Paton was old he spoke with the president of the USA, trying to persuade him to prohibit the selling of alcohol to the islanders. He also visited Charles Spurgeouns home and made some very interesting remarks concerning George Muellers orphanges. Personally I must say, that the most impressive part of Patons autobiography is not the adventures amongst the cannibals; but his description of his father James, who in my point of view probably was one of the holiest, but unknown, men ever to walk the ground of Scotland. Shall the world ever see such men again? Or has the zeal of true religion now declined? O, dear friends, let us walk in the footsteps of such men as these, to the glory of God!