The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1879-05-03
From the Friend for May. 1871

4 MIssIoNARY's MoNuMENr.-The late
DR.. John Geddie, being then the minister of
Cavendish, in Prince Edward Island, gave
himself to missionary work in the South
Seas in 1916. He reached Aneityum in the
middle of 1915. For some years he and his
family endured many trials and hardships
on that heather island.
In s he formed his first church in the
New Rebrides. A few years later, through
his efforts and those of his fellow-laborer,
Mr.. lnglis, the whole of the population,
numbering $500, was professedly Christian.
In 1863, by their united efforts, the Aneit-
umese were supplied with the complete
New Testament. DR.. Geddie continued TO
labor on Aneityum, making frequent visits
to the other islands, until June 1872, when
he had a stroke of paralysis. He retired to
Geelong, near Melbourne, where he died on
the 18th of December, 1872.
Quite recently q marble tablet to his
memory was placed in the wall of the
chapel where he had so often preached in
A~neityum, and on it are these words, worthy
of being printed in letters of gold:
WHEN HE CAME HERE,
THERE WERE NO CHRISTIANS;
VIE HE WENT AWAY,
THERE WE'RE NO
~. Il. OOSCf Ctfs LtNs W AOh0"
Reading the foregoing notice of the Rev.
Mr.. Geddie's missionary labors reminds US
of his visit to Honolulu in 1S47, when
makihf his circuitous voyage from Nova
Scotia ito the New Hebrides Islands, via
Boston, Cape Horn, and Honolulu, a dis
lance of at least $4,000 miles, equalling the
circumference of the globe. Mr.. Geddie,
having been a settled pastor for eight years,
felt called to 60 81 far hence and preach the
Gospel among the savages of the South
Seas. He went forth with his family, in
Guiding wife and two children, accompanied
by a lay missionary, Mr.. Archibald. They
arrived in Honolulu passengers on board the
EDelisae, of Newburyport, Captain Goodwin.
after a boisterous passage of 167 days. (See
FRIEND for July 1S47.) After remaining
on the Islands about two months, Captain
Westfall, of Sag Harbor, gave them a gra-
tuitous passage to the Samoan Islands on
board the whaleship Crescent. While here
Mr.. Geddie visited the other Islands, and
before leaving published the following
" card y:
A CARD.-We, the subscribers, Missionaries from
the Presbyterian Church of Nova Scotia to the South
Seas, have been compelled by circumstances to take
a circuitous route by way of the Sandwich Islands to
our prospective field of labor. During our sojourn
of nearly two months on these islands, it has been
our privilege to receive numerous acts of kindness,
and to enjoy q degree of hospitality which lays us
under obligation to tender public acknowledgment
to His Majesty who kindly furnished ourselves and
our families with q free passage to and from Lahaina
to His Majesty's Ministers, Messrs. Wylie and
Judd; to Wm. Miller, Esq, Her Brittanic Majesty's
Seamen's Cha plain, and the American Missionaries
generally. Please, gentlemen, accept our sincere
thanks accompanied with our fervent prayers for
your prosperity, spiritual and temporal. We leave
with many regrets, but still confidently hope that a
gracious Providence will smile upon our humble en-
deavors to do our Divine Masters will.
JOHN GEDDIE, Missionary,
ISAAC A. ARCHIBALD, Assistant.
Honolulu, September 7th, 1847.