# John Paton’s Home Life
Home Histories
Language: en
Author: by Denny Kenaston
Original issue: The Heartbeat of The Remnant, January/February 2001, Number 1
Source pages: 3–6
Read article:
Original PDF: 2001\-01\-remnant\.pdf
[The Heartbeat of The Remnant, January/February 2001]()
![Portrait of John Paton with a long white beard\.]()
My soul magnifies the Lord as I ponder the beautiful character of the rare jewel we have to study in this Home History\. John Paton was a missionary of the highest sort\. His autobiography reads much like the Acts of the Apostles\. Truly he was an apostle \(“a sent one”\) of the heathen who lived on the South Sea Islands, called New Hebrides\. He was born in Scotland in 1824 and left this world shortly after 1898\. The material for this article was gleaned from his autobiography published by *Banner of Truth Trust*, PO Box 621, Carlisle, PA 17013 USA\.
As I begin this study, it is again worthy of note, to see this godly missionary’s heritage\. I know that God is no respecter of persons, and He will use any and all who give themselves wholeheartedly to Him\. Even though this is true, it seems to me that those who have been preserved from much evil by a Christian home go deeper, and further, with God\. This should be a great motivation to both young and old\. To the young, to keep themselves pure, for God uses the pure and unscarred more\. To the old, that we would keep our children from evil, for their future benefit\. I am not saying that God won’t use the others mightily, for we know that He has many times\. What I am saying is that those who have been left to themselves have more hindrances in the Christian life\.
John Paton grew up in a beautiful Christian home\. His father was sincerely seeking God from his youth\. He could be found almost daily stealing away to a secret place in the woods, to pray, and memorize, and meditate\. These patterns set the course of his whole life, as he never missed his quiet time\. At the age of seventeen he was brought by God into the experience of the new birth\. From that time, James Paton began to make many deep choices that affected his whole life and the life of his future family\. He read of the lives of the old Scottish Covenanters who would not agree that the King of England was the head of the church\. Many hundreds of them gave their lives for this conviction\. His heart said, “That is the kind of Christian I will be\.” While still at home, he appealed to his father and mother to follow the example of the old saints, and have family devotions morning and evening\. His request prevailed because he also offered to help in leading them\. He continued in this practice till his death at age 77\.
John’s mother Janet was also known for her God\-fearing character, from youthful days onward\. John described his dear mother with words that clearly show us the influence she had on him\. “Our mother,” John says, “was a bright\-hearted, high\-spirited, patient\-toiling, heroic little woman\.” Toward the end of his life, looking back on her influence, he said, “I worship the memory of her\.” So James and Janet Paton began their home together with a deep Christian commitment\. God gave eleven children to this holy union\. John was the first born, and that a son\. It was the custom of the godly to dedicate the first born son to God and His service, and so John was given in this way at his birth\. Years later when John was struggling with the call to go to the heathen, his parents revealed to him their secret dedication and prayer\. For twenty\-some years they had been praying that God would send him to the heathen\. John never questioned his calling again, but moved forward in faith nothing doubting\.
As I have studied the history of godly homes, I have observed that the patterns of influence are not always the same\. At times the father is not very active in the training of the children, yet the mother pours her life out for them\. At other times the father is the one with the vision, and the mother keeps the household running, with very little spiritual influence on the children\. Both of these patterns have produced a godly seed to the glory of the God who broods over our homes\. I write this to encourage fathers and mothers where the roles are not in proper biblical order\. Oh, the power of a home where both parents are united with purpose and vision to raise servants of the most high God\. In this study, it is a little hard to discern the place of influence that John’s mother had in his life\. Perhaps she was a hidden woman\. This being the case, I have chosen to focus on his father, which is what John did in his autobiography\.
## The Godly Man’s House
This may seem like an odd title for a major point in the study of a man’s homelife, but let me explain\. James Paton’s house was laid out in three basic sections, which are worthy of note\. The one end of the house was mother’s domain\. This was the living, and household\-working side of the house\. The kitchen was there, the eating area was there, and it was also where the children slept at night\. The other end of the house was father’s side\. James made stockings for a living, and there were several looms there for this purpose\. It was interesting, as I noted again, that the father worked at home\. His oversight was not far away at any time, though he had to make a living for his family\. The center section of the house was called “ the closet”\. This was the inner chamber, which served as the bedroom for the parents, but had a more significant use of spiritual renewal\. It was the place where James would go, enter into his closet, shut the door, and pray to his Heavenly Father in secret \(Matthew 6:6\)\. All three sections of the house were used with purpose, as tools in the hands of dedicated parents\. A close and orderly family grew up here in this godly man’s house\.
## The Godly Man’s Prayers
Herein did his great strength lie\. James was a man of prayer, in secret and in public\. The closet was the Sanctuary of the little cottage home, the place where the fires of the heart were kindled\. Every day, and many times each day, John’s father would retire to this secret place\. He would often go there after every meal, and shut the door\. The children knew, more by instinct than anything else, that it was time to be quiet, father is praying\. Priestly prayers were offered up to God continually for the family\. The children often heard the sound of a broken man’s voice pleading with God for strength\. Father lived in the Divine Presence of God, as he continued to bathe himself in this holy exchange\. What an example to the children who looked on with assurance, saying, “Father walked with God, why can’t I?” Oh, what holy lessons were being taught as the children saw his face aglow with light and joy as he finished his time of prayer\. The influence of this praying man cannot be measured, for prayer is one of those mysterious hidden tools that work to mold the children’s lives\. John testified of his father, “When on his knees, and all of us kneeling around him, he would pour out his whole soul with tears for the conversion of the heathen, and for every personal and domestic need\.” “We all felt as if in the presence of a living Saviour, and learned to know and love Him as our Divine Friend\.” John continues, “I used to look at the light on his face, and wish I were like him in spirit, and hope that in answer to his prayers, I might be privileged and prepared to take the Gospel to some portion of the Heathen World\.” Dear brothers and sisters, let us beseech God to make us like him also, that our children may have a true example of one who prays\.
## The Godly Man’s Order
Mr\. James Paton had a strong desire to be a minister of the gospel\. These doors did not open for him, so instead he dedicated his home to raise children who would\. We have already mentioned his prayers, which were a beautiful part of the order of this home\. Family devotions were never missed morning or evening\. These family times were divided into three sections\. A portion of scripture was read and discussed, psalms and hymns were sung, and father lead the family in prayers as we have already described\. This went on for forty years, and even as the children began to leave home, he still held them up in prayer morning and evening\. John said, “No hurry for market, no rush to business, no arrival of friends, no sorrow, or joy, or excitement prevented this exercise\.” Father only missed church thrice in forty years, and the joy and excitement of going was passed on to all in the house\. The children grew up listening to many enthusiastic dialogues about spiritual things\. Christianity was a blessing, living for God was a joy, and John caught the spirit of this at an early age\.
The Lord’s Day was made to be the greatest day of the week\. It was not a day to endure, but rather a day that everyone looked forward to all week long\. The day started with a happy four\-mile walk to church, talking and visiting along the way\. The sermons were full of zeal and unction\. Then sober musings over the sermon on the way home\. Many times mother was not able to go to the meeting because of the many children\. This provided father and the children the joyful task of telling her all about the sermon\. Father would pace back and forth giving the sermon over again\. He would engage the children to help with this activity by reading verses from the Bible, and would often branch over into some Bible story or something from Pilgrim’s Progress\. The evening was spent in more teaching, often from the Shorter Catechism, with explanations of verses that went along with the lesson\. As I studied the many holy activities of the day, a warm sense of togetherness prevailed in this lovely home\.
One more area of this godly man’s homelife is worthy to consider\. Although the home was very clearly ruled by love and not by fear, and obedience was the norm, there were still times when the children needed a spanking\. This was a holy and reverent affair\. Father would first go to his inner chamber for a season of prayer where he would pour the need out before God, and ask for wisdom\. This became the severest part of the punishment\. It was, in fact, a message to the conscience, and brought the Almighty into the discipline\. As the children beheld the pain and sacrifice that their father went through to spank them, their love for him abounded\. The need for spankings were few, because of the effective way it was done\.
## The Godly Man’s Relationship
Malachi chapter 4 speaks of the importance and power of the relationship between a father and his children\. The closeness of this father and son is exemplary\. As I studied their love and respect for each other, and the soul tie they had and held all their days, sweet memories rose in my own mind\. I remember saying good\-bye to two of my own children, who were heading to the foreign fields\. The many deep, silent communications that passed between us at our parting will never leave my memory\. In his Autobiography, John reflects upon the time when he left home to prepare for mission work\. He was twenty\-two years old at the time\. I will be quoting him heavily in this section, for this is the best way to see the deep respect he had for his father\.
I quote from the book: “My dear father walked with me the first six miles of the way\. His counsels and tears and heavenly conversations are fresh in my heart, as if it had been yesterday\. Tears are on my cheeks as freely now, as they were then, as memory steals me away to the scene\. For the last half\-mile we walked on in almost unbroken silence\. His lips kept moving in silent prayers for me; and his tears fell fast when our eyes met each other in looks for which all speech was vain\. We halted on reaching the appointed parting place; he grasped my hand firmly for a minute of silence, and then solemnly and affectionately said: “God bless you my son\! Your father’s God prosper you and keep you from all evil\!” Unable to say more, his lips kept moving in silent prayer; in tears we embraced, and parted\. When about to turn a corner in the road, I looked back and saw him —\- gazing after me\. Waving my hat, I was round the corner and out of sight in an instant\. My heart was too full and sore to carry me further, so I darted into the side of the road and wept for a time\. I then climbed the dyke to see if he yet stood where I had left him; and just at that moment I caught a glimpse of him climbing the dyke and looking out for me\. He did not see me, and after he gazed eagerly for a while, he got down and set his face toward home\. I watched through blinding tears, till his form faded from my gaze; and then I hastened on my way\. I vowed deeply and often, by the help of God, to live and act so as never to grieve or dishonor such a father and mother as he had given me\.” Oh, what beautiful words which flow from the heart of a loving son\. They are a humbling challenge to me\. It is easy to see from this account that what we do when the children are home will last long after they are gone\. May God renew our vision to build close ties with each child as we still have them with us\.
## The Godly Man’s Fruit
There are many things that we could put under this title, because of the many years of faithful service from his missionary son\. John Paton, who he was, and all he did, inspires my own heart\. I recommend a reading of the entire book\. However, I would like to focus on a bit on young John Paton for a few moments\. John grew up in what he called a peasant’s home\. The large family of eleven children created an element of ongoing necessity that molded his character\. We often look at these necessities as hardships and setbacks\. This is not the case most of the time\. In fact, God uses them for the molding of choice servants for His Name’s sake\. John had to begin working in his father’s business at an early age\. Before he was twelve, he was working from six in the morning, until ten at night\. There was time off for meals, but still the hours were long and hard\. The income went to help the family with the many expenses incurred just by living\. This meant school would have to be set aside\. This did not slow the aspiring missionary down in the least\. From the age of twelve, his heart was set on being a missionary, and every spare moment was spent in study and preparation\. We may look on from our more modern perspective, and think that this is mean or unfair\. But let us look again\. In the days of most of the godly people that we read about, a boy became a man when he was about twelve years old\. Our modern play mentality has blurred our vision of what a child can and should do at an early age\. We think that they must have many years of fun and play before they start shouldering responsibility\. The hardships and burdens he learned to bear in his youth went with him and sanctified his way all his days when on the field\. Brothers and sisters, let us prepare soldiers for the spiritual battlefields of the world\. No army would train their soldiers in fun and ease, and then send them out to a battlefield of hardship and pain\. The Lord of the harvest will send forth prepared laborers into His harvest fields\.