The First Well.
WE MUST go back fifty years, and fancy ourselves in the little island of Aniwa, one of the far off New Hebrides, if we wish to watch the digging of the first well I am going to tell you of. These islands are formed of coral, made, as you may have heard, by little insects, so small that you could not see them, and yet they are used of God for such great works. Surely He can use, who and what, He pleases to do His work, and He desires us to acknowledge His power and might, for He says in Ps. 111, “The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein.”
In these coral islands, we do not find Springs of water, as we do in our own country, so the people are dependent upon the rain, which falls very freely at one time in the year. They are obliged to preserve this water in tanks, and as you may imagine, after a time it becomes very unwholesome for drinking. When the noble missionary, John Paton, went to the little heathen island of Aniwa, to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to these poor naked savages, he found it impossible to ‘get any good water, so after much thought and prayer, he decided to dig a well, near the Mission House. But to his surprise, he found the natives most unwilling to help him. They had never seen water coming from anywhere but the clouds, and they declared it was impossible for the “Missi,” as they called Mr. Paton, to bring rain from below. It could not be done they said, and they would not give any assistance, no matter what was offered them. So Mr. Paton had to work all alone, and hard, heavy work he found it. At his first attempt, it fell in, and if the Lord had not been caring for him, he would certainly have been killed. But the brave man was not discouraged; again he set to work, carefully supporting the sides as he dug. The heat was very great, and he was almost worn out with the unaccustomed work; his hands were torn and bleeding, but still he labored on, and as he worked he prayed continually that fresh water might be found, for being so near the sea, his one fear was, that the water might be salt, and good for nothing. And as he worked and prayed, the natives around him watched and laughed at the idea of the white man’s God giving them water from beneath.
But at last the great day came. John Paton went one morning to his well, and there was water, fresh water bubbling up, all ready for use. He quickly contrived to get a pail full, and then he offered it to the unbelieving savages. It was hard to get them to taste it, and when they were persuaded to do this, they declared he had got the water from somewhere else. “Come and see for yourselves,” cried the missionary; “look down the well and you will see the water,” but no one would venture so near the edge. At last they made a line of men, holding on to one another, and in this way each got a peep in, and was convinced of the reality of the water.
And now their opinion of the “Missi” and of his God, began to change. Their chief, who, though friendly to Mr. Paton, had never professed to believe in the Lord Jesus, was greatly moved, and coming to Mr. Paton, expressed a wish to address his people in the little meeting house on the following Sunday. Hearing of this, nearly all the inhabitants of the island collected to hear the sermon. They were a strange looking group; some had little or no clothes, some were dressed in odd garments given by the missionary, but all were eager to hear what their chief had to say about the water, which the white man’s God had given them. It would take too long to repeat all the sermon, but he told his people, that the water had been given them by the one true and living God, and, he said, we had never seen water come from below, so we did not believe the Missi, when he told us his God could give us water in this way. Now we see that he was right, and shall we not believe him when he tells us that his God has given His only Son to die for our sins? The people listened to their chief with the greatest attention, and the result of it all was, that nearly everyone in the island decided to give up the worship of their false gods, and begin to worship the one true and living God, who had done so much for them. The next few days were full of interest and excitement. The poor ignorant creatures began, as a first step, to bring their gods of wood and stone to be destroyed by the missionary; some were burnt, some were buried, and some cast far into the depths of the sea. From that day we may say heathenism was at an end in Aniwa. The people crowded to the meeting house, there to be taught of Jesus and His love. Their interest seemed to increase rather than grow less, and in most instances, their changed lives showed the reality of their belief in the one God, and His only Beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. They left off their continual fighting, and killing of one another, and they treated their wives and children with love and kindness; they never forgot to ask God’s blessing upon their food, and many of them attempted in their own way, to have prayer with their families night and morning. What a change from the darkness of heathendom, to the glorious light of the gospel of God; from being naked cannibals, to sitting clothed and in their right mind at the feet of the Lord Jesus; but the Holy Ghost can teach as no man can, and to the power of God alone, the missionary gave all the credit of this wonderful change, “Not unto us, O Lord; not unto us, but unto Thy name be all the praise”, were the words that ascended from his thankful heart.
ML 09/08/1912