Missionaries Slain in New Guinea and Native Response
COMPARATIVELY few particulars have been received concerning the slaying in New Guinea of the missionaries, Messrs. Chalmers and Tomkins. The London Society requested that no acts of vengeance should be inflicted upon the tribe that was guilty of their death. But the government deemed it necessary to administer some punishment, and so the house in which the missionaries were killed was burned, and a large war canoe blown up with dynamite. We quote from one of the native preachers who has been working in New Guinea for nearly thirty years, having been one of the original band of South Sea missionaries, which shows the Christian spirit that prevails among the converts in New Guinea: “May you have life and happiness. At this time our hearts are very sad, because Tamate [Mr. Chalmers] and Mr. Tomkins and the boys are not here, and we shall not see them again. I have wept much. Tamate I shall not see again here, but if we are strong to do the work of God thoroughly and all the time till our time (on earth) shall finish, we shall see him again. Hear my wish. It is a great wish. The remainder of my strength I would spend in the place where Tamate and Mr. Tomkins were killed. In that village I would live. In that place where they killed men, Jesus Christ’s name and his word I would teach to the people, that they may become Jesus’ children. My wish is just this. You know it. I have spoken.”