Effective Reproof

There was a boy at Norfolk Island who had been brought from one of the rougher and wilder islands, and was consequently rebellious and difficult to manage. One day Mr. Selwyn spoke to him about something he had refused to do, and the boy, flying into a passion, struck him in the face. This was an unheard of thing for a Melanesian to do. Mr. Selwyn, not trusting himself to speak, turned on his heel and walked away. The boy was punished for the offense, and, being still unsatisfactory, was sent back to his own island without being baptized, and there relapsed into heathen ways. Many years afterwards Mr. Bice, the missionary who worked on that island, was sent for by a sick person who wanted him. He found this very man in a dying state and begging to be baptized. He told Mr. Bice how often he thought of the teaching on Norfolk Island and when the latter asked him by what name he should baptize him, he said, “Call me John Selwyn, because he taught me what Christ was like that day when I struck him; and I saw the color mount in his face, but he never said a word except of love afterwards.” Mr. Bice then baptized him, and he died soon after.

Life of Bishop John Selwyn