In addition to these two large branches of our General Fund, there had come to myself or to my British Committee very considerable sums for Special Funds. Notably these two:—the Native Teachers’ Fund, designed to pay a small yearly salary, formerly of £6, but now beginning at that figure and after two years’ faithful service rising to £8, to each of those Converts to whom God had given the capacity and the call to become Helpers to the Missionary in School and Church, and in many cases Pioneers of the Cross where no white Missionary had ever gone: and also, the Dayspring Maintenance Fund, already referred to and described. The latter of these two was, of course, retained in the hands of the British Committee at my call, till such time as the Churches and the Mission Synod decided for or against a Mission Vessel. The former they continue to administer, at my direction and under my sanction, through one of the Missionaries on the Islands, who acts as their treasurer and agent. So far as the annual donations will allow, we freely grant to every Missionary all the assistance in our power for the training and maintaining of these Native Evangelists, many of whom are destined to become the future Pastors of the people. Up till now our difficulty has been to find enough of suitable and reliable Native Teachers to be allocated to the Churches, Bible Classes, Sunday Schools, and individual Christians, willing to support them. But we hope for great things from the Training College recently opened on Tangoa under Dr. Annand, one of our ablest and most devoted Missionaries; and my British Committee have undertaken to pay the salary of his Assistant, £150 per annum, with my cordial approval. Many prayers are uplifted daily for this Missionary Institute on the New Hebrides, at the very heart and centre of these Cannibal Isles, that the Lord God would own it and send forth thence trained and consecrated Evangelists to build up and to rule the New Hebridean Church of Christ in the days that are to be,—no longer under European tutelage, but under Native Pastors. We would glory to lead on to that consummation, and then to pass to other fields of labor!
It is but right for me to mention, though most readers are already aware of it, that all my Helpers and Fellow Workers at Home and in America give their time and strength freely and gladly, without thought of any reward except the joy of the service. All actual outlays incurred in the on-carrying of the various schemes are, of course, met out of what we call the General Fund; but every other penny, that comes to them or to me, goes directly to the extension of the Gospel on the New Hebrides. Each donation or subscription is acknowledged in our little quarterly magazine known as Jottings, a copy of which is posted to all our correspondents and supporters, and which is now the bond whereby God keeps us together and sustains our interest in this work—another development, not so much of our seeking, as rather thrust upon us by the necessities of the work of the Lord, which so increased that my Helpers could in no other way overtake the correspondence, or circulate the Mission news so eagerly desired. It is thus that those who unfeignedly seek to serve are led on by the Master Himself. The Pillar of Cloud and Fire still marches before us; but, alas, how many have lost the power to behold it!
I praise God every day of my life for all these dear supporters and correspondents, far scattered in every Land, but one in heart for the salvation of the New Hebrides. Through their generosity, my British Committee with my joyful approval have undertaken, in addition to the support of Native Teachers and the subsidy for Maintenance of Dayspring, to defray the entire cost of two Missionaries and their wives, and also two Lay European Assistants. Nay, if the generosity of friends should continue, they are at the moment of my writing hopefully contemplating the support of a third Missionary, with, if possible, a Lay Assistant also. These are surely God-honoring fruits from the planting of my humble book in hearts that love the Lord, and from the zeal and devotion and extraordinary gifts of our Honorary Organizing Secretary—with whom, and with all our Helpers everywhere, we reverently say, Glory to God and not unto us!
Our loving God orders everything well. But for that Fund handed over by me to the Victorian Church, I know not what would have become of the New Hebrides Mission during the intervening years, since the crash of our Australian Banks and the consequent terrible financial depression. Thousands and tens of thousands of our people were literally ruined. Money could not be obtained, even for the ordinary and inevitable expenses of our Congregations. Ministers’ stipends were, on almost every hand, temporarily reduced. The Foreign Mission Committee’s income fell so terribly, that nearly everything was consumed in meeting the claims of the Mission to the Aborigines and to the Chinese. In 1895 the contributions to the Dayspring Fund fell in Victoria from £500 to £200, and even that was raised with difficulty. In fact, but for our Fund, the salaries of several of the Missionaries and Native Teachers would of necessity have been cancelled, and our forces withdrawn from the field. God be praised, that calamity was averted! All our Army for Jesus have been maintained at their posts; nay, additional Pioneers have actually, despite these depressions, gone forth and pierced the Kingdom of Darkness here and there with shafts of Gospel light.
On my return to Victoria all these schemes, and particularly the new proposals as to the Dayspring, were fully laid before the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church at Melbourne. Though the Ship was offered as a free gift to the Mission, and the additional £1,000 per annum was now provided, without laying one farthing of financial burden on them or on any of the Churches concerned, yet our Victorian Church resolved to proceed with great deliberation, and to carry, if possible, the approval of all parties concerned. They entered into correspondence with each of the seven other Churches coöperating in the New Hebrides, and with each of the Missionaries on the Islands, and agreed to instruct the building of the Ship only if all, or a clear majority, cordially approved. More than ten years ago, all had sanctioned the raising of the money for a new and larger Steam Auxiliary Ship, and that sanction had never been withdrawn. But many things had happened since then; and it was at least brotherly and considerate, if not absolutely obligatory, to confer with them all ere proceeding further.
The vast majority of the Missionaries at once reaffirmed their approval of the scheme. All the Churches concerned, except one, either cordially approved or left the matter to the free decision of the Australasian Churches and the Missionaries on the field, in which decision they intimated that they would heartily concur. The one exception was the Church of New South Wales, influenced, as already indicated, by its close association with the Trading Company, though doubtless from motives entirely honorable, so far as individuals were concerned. What is known as The Dayspring Board, with its headquarters at Sydney, was also strongly opposed, and for similar reasons, too manifest to need specification here. But I cannot regard the opposition of that Board as either defensible or requiring to be taken into account at all. It is simply an Advisory Committee. It neither raises any money for the Ship nor for the Mission. It is the Executive, at most, of the Mission Synod and the Churches concerned; and its proper and only function is to carry out, in a helpful and business-like way, the instructions received from the Missionaries. It is absurd, therefore, that such a Board should have any vote on the question of a Dayspring or no Dayspring, any more than would a paid Agent executing the orders of the Missionaries for articles of merchandise. A delicate sense of honor should have made them feel this, and act accordingly, instead of becoming, as they did, not only avowed opponents of the scheme, but, in some cases, even bitter partisans and unscrupulous antagonists. For myself, I frankly say that the opposition of a Board so constituted should not only be discounted, but should be wholly ignored.
The Victorian Church, therefore, through its Foreign Mission Committee, ordered the Dayspring. She was built by Messrs. Mackie & Thomson on the Clyde, under the instructions and the personal supervision of John Stephen, Esquire, of Linthouse. Better, more skilled, more reliable advice could not be obtained in Britain. It was all gratuitously and ungrudgingly given for the sake of the Mission, and we felt deeply indebted for the same. The new Steam Auxiliary Dayspring, on her completion, was exhibited to friends, subscribers, and Sabbath Scholars, at Glasgow, at Ayr, at Belfast, at Douglas, and at Liverpool. Thousands upon thousands of people flocked to see the little Missionary Ship, and to wish her Godspeed. She was universally admired. The Public Press commented on her trim appearance, substantial workmanship, and perfect adaptation to the service for which she was destined. She had been built and equipped within the £7,000 set apart for her construction. She had every necessary accommodation for Officers and Crew, for Missionaries and their Families, and for Native Teachers; and when she sailed away from Liverpool, the representatives of my British Committee, upon whom had lain the heavy burden of all the details, praised God that the plans and toils of so many years had at last been brought to so auspicious an issue. It marked the beginning of a new era, it was hoped, in the Conversion of the New Hebrides, and the little Ship was borne away on the wings of prayer and praise!
She performed the Ocean voyage to the highest satisfaction of all her Officers. At Melbourne she was welcomed with much enthusiasm. On her first trip to the Islands, the hearts of our Natives thrilled with great joy at the sight of their own Gospel Ship. On her second visit, her powers and capacities were most severely tested, and her adaptability to the needs of the Mission. She had to call at all our Stations, and carry up to Aneityum all the members of the Mission for the Annual Synod in the month of May. She had on board fifty passengers, forty adults, and ten children, exclusive of the Native Teachers and their families, and, after the Synod, she had to carry all these back again to their several scattered Stations. It was the unanimous and decided opinion of all concerned, that, during no previous Synod Trip under any service, had we ever enjoyed the same comfort and the same happiness. There was thanksgiving, on every hand. The dissensions of the past were buried. The Mission Synod had now their own Ship; and they unitedly resolved to turn her to the best possible account in the Cause of Jesus and for the speedy Evangelizing of the New Hebrides. Our hearts were at rest. We turned aside to other labors, thanking God that in all this many prayers had been answered, many tears had borne precious fruit. The Dayspring was the crown and complement of our Missionary Enterprise for the salvation of these Islands—God bless her!
Our dear little Mission Ship performed her third trip also with perfect safety, and with much satisfaction to all the Missionaries. Her new Captain, who had formerly been her first Officer, and who in his earlier days had sailed these same Seas in the Southern Cross, was a great favorite alike amongst the Missionaries and the Natives; thoroughly capable, firm yet gentle, deserving and commanding universal respect. The Ship had, as the result of experience, been in some matters overhauled and readjusted, to meet special requirements; and her fourth Voyage was entered upon with hope and joy. She was loaded with provisions for the Missionaries and their Families, with wood for the building of their Houses and Schools, and with whatsoever was most urgently required by them for three months to come. So that at every Station, on every Island, the eyes of our beloved Missionaries and their Converts were eagerly looking out across the Seas for the flag of the dear little Dayspring.
Alas, they looked in vain! She struck on an uncharted reef, not far from New Caledonia,—a disaster against which no skill and no experience could guard, in those not yet thoroughly explored and ever-changeful Seas. Her Officers and Crew did everything that men could do to save her, and struggled on till all hope had perished. With sore hearts, they at last provisioned and manned the two boats, and committed themselves to the deep—agreeing on certain general lines of action, that, please God, they might again come together and be rescued. In a very short time, after they had withdrawn, a high wind and a heavy sea working together completed her destruction, and they beheld the dear little Dayspring plunging head-foremost from the reef into the Sea, and disappearing, masts and all, within the hungry Ocean.