SELWYN, George August us

[s. 679] : Born at Hampstead, England, in 1809; died, April 11, 1878. Studied at Eaton; graduated at Cambridge University in 1831. It was the fine vigor of his made him one of the oarsmen in the first He was ordained University boat race in 1829. deacon in 1833, and took the curacy of Boveney; ordained priest in 1834; became curate of Windsor in 1839; was consecrated Bishop of New Zealand in 1841 received the degree of D.D. the same year, from both Cambridge and Oxford; sailed for his see December 26, 1841. He early saw a great truth, too often neglected by mi ionaries, which he later expre ed in this form; “The surest way to spread the Gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth is by buildmg up the Colonial churches as His whole heart was in the mi ionary centers.” work to which he was called, and he became at once a tower of strength for the evangelization, of New Zealand and all the surrounding regions. When he preached his farewell sermon before leaving England, his words deeply impre ed a. boy of fourteen who was present, named John C. In 1855, when Bishop Selwyn reP at tes on. turned to Auckland, after a visit to England, he had with him, as a mi ionary, the fruit of that early sermon in the person of Mr. Pattes on, afterward the martyr Bishop of Me lanes i a. Bishop Selwyn arrived at Auckland in 1842, and in 1843 he established there St. John’s College for the education of a native ministry. On the voyage out he had spent much of his time in compiling from the Rarotonga, Tahiti, and Maori New Testament a comparative grammar of He was, therefore, some these three dialects. what prepared to supervise the work of educating Here, again, he was far in a native ministry. advance of many mi ionaries of that time, in realizing the vital nece ity of using native laborers for pioneer work, who had been trained by foreigners. It was a maxim of his that in mi ions one must “use black nets, with white corks.” From the very outset, too, St. John’s College gave instruction in medicine and surgery. On the voyage to New Zealand, Bishop Selwyn’s active, inquiring mind led him to study navigation, with the captain of the ship as his This stood him in good stead when, teacher. besides attending to the spiritual wants of his colonial diocese, he extended his field into Me lanes i a, navigating his own ship, “The Southern When after Cro ,” in his visitation voyages. twelve years of absence he visited England in 1854, he had made seven such voyages through the Me lanes i an Islands, had visited fifty islands, and from ten of these he had induced fifty youths to go to the college to prepare for work as evanHe was deeply impre ed on finding at gelists. some of the southern Me lanes i an islands mi ion The discovery filled him aries from Nova Scotia. with zeal for carrying out his doctrine about colonies centers of mi ionary effort. making the He toolv a prominent part in organizing the Australian Board of Mi ions with the adoption by the Church in Australia of the Me lanes i an Mi ion as its peculiar field. Bishop Selwyn’s talents, character, and services placed him at the head of the colonial life that; >< SeranipTir bishops at the Lambeth Conference, in 1867, While from his social he attended. position, talents, and acquirements he might have commanded the highest ecclesiastical appointments, he chose the obscurity, peril, privation, and drudgery of a mi ionary life among degraded savages for the sake of his He thus spent 27 years among the Master. heathen, content if by any means he might save some. At last, on the earnest request of the Archbishop, he accepted the bishopric of LichHe twice visited the United field in 1868. States, and exercised a powerful influence by his impre ive addre es. In 1878 he was taken ill, was soon partially paralyzed, and continued to fail until the 11th of He died saying, April, when the end came. “It is all light.” SENANGA: A settlement in British Central Africa, situated in the Barotsi region on the Zambesi, about 210 miles N. W. of Shesheke. It stands in a picturesque region at the point where the mountains leave the river and open to view the great Barotsi plain. A great population is found in scattered villages in the region. Station of the Paris Evangelical Mi ionary Society (1898), with (1903) 1 mi ionary and his wife. 680