John 15

In the King James Version of the bible, which Du Vernet would have been reading, John 15: 5-6 recounts Jesus’ powerful charge to his followers to “abide” in him: “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.” The agricultural metaphor then becomes a commandment in verses 12 & 13: “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” Language such as this allowed missionaries to understand their attempts to destroy Indigenous rituals and lifeways as acts of Christian love and dedication to God.