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Extracts pertaining to New Zealand from the |
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NOTE TO READER: An earlier Chapter 38 of Vol 2 totally involves New Zealand, but has been omitted here as it deals virtually entirely with the arguments for and against, and the method of introducing the organised Church of England into New Zealand. | |
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. . . . . No Mission in the world has retained its veteran workers to old Veteran age like the New Zealand Mission. The men whose names will come before us in this chapter are, for the most part, the men we have met before. Throughout the 'fifties and 'sixties, W. Williams (Archdeacon, then Bishop), W. G. Puckey, C. Baker, A. N. Brown (Archdeacon), T. Chapman, J. Matthews, B. Y. Ashwell, R. Maunsell (Archdeacon), R. Taylor, O. Hadfield (Archdeacon, then Bishop), R. Burrows, all of whom went out before Bishop Selwyn, and eight of whom ultimately exceeded half a century in their service, were actively at work; while R. Davis died in 1863, Hamlin, Morgan, and Archdeacon Kissling in 1865, Archdeacon H. Williams in 1867, after forty, forty, thirty-three, thirty-three, and |
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New men in the field |
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We have before seen how great a change came over the Native Christian community as the British Colony developed. It was, of course, impossible to keep the Maori Christians in the simplicity and fervour of their first acceptance of the Gospel, amid such surroundings. They had to be adapted to their new environment, and the process was one that sorely damaged their religious life. The C.M.S. Committee, by the pen of Henry Venn, again and again, in the Annual Report, pointed out the disappointment already experienced and the danger of further backsliding; and Ridgeway did the same in the Intelligencer. Thus, in 1855, the Committee dealt very gravely with the subject. "The god of this world," they said, "has not withdrawn himself from the field where he has been so signally overthrown. He only changes his mode of operation, that those who no longer serve him as Heathen may yet continue to serve him as professing Christians." "Christianity," they continued, "has taught the Natives to lay aside their wars and to cultivate their lands. The discovery of goldfields in Australia, and the increase of settlers there, have immensely increased the |
Maori Religious freedom threatened. The reader should grasp the power and sense of freedom in the Gospel delivered in those days. The believers realisation that the price had been paid, it was free, that there was no more obligation to pay penalties for sins, or bow down to man, etc. |
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Ungodly white man and grog shops |
Yet, all the while, the disappointment felt was only the inevitable reaction from too sanguine expectations in earlier days. All the while, spiritual fruits were being reaped which would have caused transports of joy in less fertile fields, such as North India. All the while, most touching narratives were coming home of the Christian deaths of old converts, once ferocious cannibals, after years of faithfulness and consistency in daily life. On earth there was much to cause pain; yet, all the while, heaven was being peopled. Is not that the true purpose of missionary work? Moreover, new stations were opened, particularly on Lake Taupo in the centre of the Island, - where T. S. Grace settled in 1855 with a warm welcome from a tribe scarcely reached before. Fresh agencies, too, were being started as need arose. Schools of various kinds for young and old were opened; R. Maunsell had an important industrial school on the Waikato River; Leonard Williams, on joining his father in the East District, began a theological institution for training Maori evangelists and pastors; a similar institution for the Northern District was begun at Auckland by Kissling (in which the Chief Justice, Sir W. Martin, took a much-valued part), and a third at Tauranga by Archdeacon Brown; while a fourth was projected at Otaki for the South-West District, to start which J. W. Gedge was sent out. Translational work also was being prosecuted as far as time and strength allowed; and in 1856 R. Maunsell was able to announce the completion of the whole Bible in the Maori language, the New Testament revised from W. Williams's edition, and the Old translated by himself. The Society also hoped much from the establishment of the new 7 dioceses of Waiapu and Wellington in 1859. Bishop Williams of Waiapu was keener on the Native ministry than Selwyn had been; and as we have before seen, the increase of the Maori clergy, which afterwards proved so great a blessing, was mainly due to his initiative. Moreover, he gave priests' orders to two veteran missionaries whom Selwyn had left as deacons for several years, and thus provided for the Holy Communion, of which many Native congregations had long been deprived, - an example which, in one other case, Selwyn then followed. |
1855, |
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But meanwhile, the environment was becoming more and more unfavourable, and the difficulties were increasing in every |
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Disputes over land. |
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Shem and Japhet |
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The "King Movement" was at first by no means intended to express any lack of loyalty to the Queen of England. Its promoters, in suggesting the election of a king for the Maori people, had principally in view the importance of uniting them together. In the olden times, each tribe had been independent of all the rest; and when disputes arose, there was no supreme authority to appeal to. "In those days there was no king in Israel: every man [at least every tribe] did that which was right in his own eyes."The more enlightened of the chiefs professing Christianity quite realized that British rule of itself made for peace, and they valued it on that account. But in view of the increasing number of "pakehas" (white men) in the country, and of the unfriendly attitude of many of them towards the old owners of the land, it was felt that the Maori people should be one, and speak with one voice. Ephraim and Judah, Reuben and Dan, should no longer indulge in tribal disputes: let them stand together. "Japhet" had the Governor and his ministers: let "Shem" have a king; and let both acknowledge the Queen as ultimately supreme. This was the letter sent all round the country in 1853:- |
The King Movement' |
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"Listen, all men! The house of New Zealand is one: the rafters on the one side are the Pakehas; those on the other, the Maori. The ridge-pole on which both rest is God. Let therefore the house be one. This is all." |
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Four years, however, elapsed before any overt action was taken. The leading chiefs were reluctant to give occasion for complaint or suspicion. But now appeared another influence. The French Roman Catholic priests saw their opportunity. They could truly say, " We are not English; no settlers or soldiers follow us hither "; so they added, "We come in the name of God only: you can safely take our advice." They quietly went about, encouraging the Maoris in their discontent. One showed an egg, and likened it to New Zealand, saying that the English were only the shell or exterior, because they held the coast; the Maoris were the chicken; why should not the shell be broken, and the chicken come out? But the Maoris interpreted the illustration differently: |
French Romanist not a good influence. |
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1857: Waikato chief Te Wherowhero elected Maori king as Potatau 1st. |
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It was not the King Movement that led to the distressing and sanguinary war of 1860-65, though when hostilities had commenced, it undoubtedly tended to give cohesion to the revolt. The origin of the war was a land dispute. A chief sold to the Government some land at the Waitara on the west coast, in the province of Taranaki, which was in the occupation of another section of his tribe. The Governor, Colonel Gore Browne, proceeded to occupy the land, whereupon the occupants resisted, and the women pulled up the pegs used to mark it out. The Governor at once proclaimed martial law in the district, sent for troops from Australia, and on Sunday, March 4th, 1860, began the campaign.* "Bishop Selwyn and Chief Justice Martin earnestly vindicated the Maoris, but only increased their unpopularity with the colonists. Sir William Denison, Governor-General of Australia, wrote to Governor Browne as a friend, warning him of the danger of his policy. "It would," he said, "lead to steps which, if backed up by England, would in a short time annihilate the Maori race, and permit the occupation by the white man of the rich land yet in native hands, upon which for years past greedy and longing eyes have been cast." "It is savage frenzy," wrote Archdeacon Henry Williams, " to the extermination of the Maori race." |
Taranaki War |
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The war went on in a desultory way, and was practically confined to the Taranaki country. The great majority of the Maoris held aloof, though in their hearts sympathizing with their brethren. Tamihana, the king-maker, wrote an admirable letter to the Governor, proposing that the forces on both sides should withdraw from the territory in dispute, and that the whole question should be referred to the Queen's Council in England, all parties undertaking to abide by the decision; but this sensible advice was rejected. A suspension of hostilities occurring in the summer of 1861, the missionaries, headed by Bishop Selwyn, presented a memorandum to the Governor; and the Bishop, in another communication, thus defended their right to be heard:- |
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"While all other classes of Her Majesty's English subjects are |
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Meanwhile the C.M.S. Committee at home had, in January, 1861, gone on deputation to the Duke of Newcastle, then Secretary of State for the Colonies, and found him, though officially cautious, decidedly sympathetic; and in June they were delighted to find that he had superseded the Governor, and was sending Sir George Grey once more to his old post. This appointment was also received in New Zealand with enthusiasm. There was, in fact, some reaction among the colonists, and the ministry which had encouraged Governor Browne in his combative policy was defeated, and a new one was formed with Mr. Fox, the advocate of conciliation, as Premier. Sir G. Grey issued reassuring proclamations; Fox, after making an admirable speech in the Legislature, went and met the Maoris, and proposed reasonable terms; the Bishop and the missionaries used all their influence to soothe their offended feelings; and all looked hopeful again. But the English troops, of whom there were now 10,000 in the country, although in no one fight had there ever been more than a few hundred Maoris - still remained ready for action; and this kept suspicion and disaffection alive. |
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Then, in 1863, an unfortunate thing occurred. The lawyers at length decided that the Maori claim to the land at Waitara, which was the cause of the original dispute, was a just one, and Sir G.Grey resolved to give up the land honourably; but before announcing this, he proceeded to eject them from some Crown lands which they had seized as security for it. "It would have been better," said the Duke of Newcastle afterwards, "if the two things had been done simultaneously." This mistake caused the renewal of the war. The Maoris, unconscious that the Waitara land was to be restored, resisted the ejection from the other land; and Grey, perhaps badly advised (Fox was not now Minister), made up his mind that a real struggle was unavoidable. On July 13th - a Sunday again! - General Cameron and a large British force crossed a certain river, to put down the King movement. "The Rubicon is passed," wrote Selwyn, "and war is declared against New Zealand." Desperate fighting ensued, with heavy loss on both sides. The British were always the |
1863 |
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At two points in the long struggle, after British victories, Sir G. Grey wished to hold out the olive-branch to the unhappy people whom he loved and desired to save; but his ministers would not consent, and, on the contrary, and against the earnest protest of Sir William Martin, decreed the confiscation of large territories, partly owned by Maoris who had taken no part in the conflict. Grey complained bitterly to the Home Government, and Mr Cardwell (who had succeeded the Duke of Newcastle at the Colonial Office) wrote admirable despatches, exhibiting minute knowledge of New Zealand affairs, and supporting Grey's conciliatory policy. Here is one sentence:- |
Grey keen to have peace, but ministers did not consent. |
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"The Imperial and Colonial Governments are bound so to adjust their proceedings to the laws of natural equity, and to the expectations which the Natives have been encouraged or allowed to form, as to impress the |
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Mr. Cardwell's despatches produced immediate effect. On the one hand, the ministry of the day resigned; on the other, a large section of the Maori insurgents heard of them, and at once laid down their arms, in the assurance that they would be fairly treated. Practically the war came to an end; the British troops were withdrawn; and the colonists were left free to manage their own affairs. Under the guidance of some of the kindly men who now came into office, "peace and happiness, truth and justice, religion and piety," might again have been established. But, alas! it was not to be. |
War practically at end. Troops withdrawn. |
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For the great Enemy and Adversary of God and man had already produced a new weapon. It was in the summer of 1864 that the submission of some of the tribes took place, and the new policy of conciliation was announced. But before that, in April of that year, arose the strange Pai Marire or Hau-hau movement, a Satanic device indeed to destroy the last hope of revival and restoration for the Maori people. In one of the latest skirmishes, Captain Lloyd of the 57th Eegiment was killed, and - according to an old Maori custom, which had been abandoned along with cannibalism - his head was cut off.* This head was embalmed, and carried about as an oracle, that the captain's spirit, speaking through it, might become the medium of communication from the Unseen. At the same time a half-insane chief named Te Ua, who was a ventriloquist, and had some notions of mesmerism, was suddenly put forward as a prophet, commissioned by the Angel Gabriel. The real leader of the movement, however, was a man of bad character named Patara, with a lieutenant named Kereopa. With extraordinary rapidity a new superstition was developed. "Pai Marire"** was a strange mixture of the old Heathenism and new Romanism. Gabriel, it was said, had told them to cast off the English teachers, to burn their Bibles, to abolish Sabbath observance, and to adopt "the religion of Mary"; while with these ideas, derived from the French priests, came a revival of many of the old barbarous Heathen customs, and a justification of them based upon misinterpretations of passages in the Old Testament. A kind of worship of God was instituted, in which remnants of the Christian services they had been used to were mingled with much that was blasphemous. |
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The Maoris at Opotiki were already excited by letters received from the Hau-hau leaders, brought to them by a French Roman Catholic priest named Garavel. The Rev. Carl Sylvius Volkner, a German missionary who had been taken up by the C.M.S. in the country and ordained by Bishop Williams, reported this to the Government; and the Roman bishop shipped his too-zealous follower off to Australia. Then appeared the Hau-hau fanatics at Opotiki under their leader Kereopa, and quickly won over the Natives of the place, who had been left a long time without a resident missionary, and were among the least well instructed of the Maoris. Volkner was away, but on his return, with Mr. Grace, the two missionaries were seized, and Volkner was put to death by the Hau-haus in the presence of his own people. They allowed him to kneel down and pray; then he shook hands with his murderers and forgave them; then he said, "l am ready"; and they hanged him from a willow tree under which he was standing. Unspeakable barbarities were perpetrated on his remains; and his head was stuck on the pulpit in the church, in revenge, it was said, for the removal of Pere Garavel. Why they spared Mr. Grace is not apparent. He was kept a prisoner; but Bishop Selwyn, ever brave and self-denying, sailed off at once to Opotiki in H.M.S. Eclipse (commanded by the present Admiral Sir E. Fremantle), and with the help of the naval officers contrived to rescue him. |
Murder of Volkner |
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This horrible crime naturally caused a great sensation in England, and was held to justify all the hard things that had been said of the Maori race; while of course it was the text for many homilies on the "failure of Missions." "Behold," exclaimed the Times, "the measure of the depth to which this much-talked-of Christianity has penetrated!" In vain did the C.M. Intelligencer point to the many warnings that had appeared in its pages for several years past against a too sanguine estimate of the Maori Christians. In vain did it point out that the Opotiki people in particular, who had let their own missionary be cruelly killed |
Wrong inferences drawn from murder. |
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Repentance and execution of the murderer. |
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But to return to 1865. From Opotiki the Hau-haus went on to Turanga [now Gisborne] on the East Coast, where Bishop Williams lived, and where his son, Archdeacon Leonard Williams, had his Theological Institution. The station was broken up, and the Bishop and his family had to retire, though the Archdeacon remained in the neighbourhood. In 1868 a party of Maoris under Te Kooti who had escaped from prison in the Chatham Islands committed further outrages in this district, massacring several settlers. Turanga in after years became the pleasant little town of Gisborne. Meanwhile Bishop Williams had changed his headquarters to the town of Napier, the capital of the eastern province of Hawke's Bay. |
Turanga Station destroyed. |
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For several years - certainly from 1864, when Hau-hauism arose, to the end of our present period, (1872) - New Zealand was for the most part a grief and a distress to both the missionaries in the field and the C.M.S. circle at home. It was true that in the country north of Auckland the numerous Maori Christians were never affected either by the war or by the apostasy; yet they were affected by evils accompanying increasing trade and consequent pecuniary gain, and the white man's drink-shops were the ruin of many a professing Christian Maori. It was true that in the south-west, under Hadfield and Taylor, the Natives remained loyal; yet they too were subject to the same unhappy influences. It was true that in the north-east, the congregations under the Native clergy ordained by Bishop Williams remained |
1864 |
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'King The Movement' and Hau-hau now closely allied - followers keeping separate in the forests and mountains. |
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" I have now one simple missionary idea before me, of watching over the remnant that is left. Our native work is a remnant in two senses : the remnant of a decaying people, and the remnant of a decaying faith. The works of which you hear are not the works of Heathens : they are the works of baptized men whose love has grown cold from causes common to all Churches of neophytes from Laodicea downwards." |
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But he knew that besides the tendency of "neophyte Christianity ' ' to backsliding, there was another important cause of the apostasy. What was that? Let the words of his most trusted lieutenant, Hadfield, answer: - "When a race of noble, honest men, recently converted and brought from darkness to light, are treated with injustice and cruelty by men of the same race as that of those preachers of the Gospel under whose teaching they accepted it, how could it be expected that their confidence would continue unimpaired?" Yet, after all, it was but a minority of the Maori race that openly apostatized. In 1870, Bishop Williams estimated the whole "remnant" of the Maori nation at 35,000, of whom about 9000 were either Hau-haus or of the disaffected "king" party. Even the Hau-haus as a whole ought not to be judged by the shocking outrages of some of them. They were a fanatical sect, but they were not a band of murderers. The account of them by Lady Martin, the accomplished wife of the Chief Justice, is worthy of being carefully noted : - |
Hadfield's opinion. |
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" Some people in England suppose that our Natives gave up Christianity when they formed themselves into the sect called Hau-haus. It was only embraced by a certain number in the middle and south of the Northern Island, and grew up when the people were maddened by defeat, disease, and confiscation of their lands. . . . But, wonderful to |
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It was, nevertheless, a rejection of the pure Christianity they had been taught. One chief said to Bishop Williams, "Bishop, many years ago we received this faith from you : now we return it to you; for there has been found a new and precious thing by which we shall keep the land." Yet there were those who from time to time felt like the spouse in Hosea: "I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now." Many were like a party visited by Archdeacon Maunsell, who said, " We are glad to see you and to have our old service again. We get no benefit from our Hau-hau karakia : it is like a person trying to cross a river in a large square box. There is neither head nor stern, and when we try to steer we cannot get it to move rightly." There were, in fact, two things to be done: to win them back to the Queen and to the Church. The efforts to do either were successful only with individuals, within the period we are now reviewing. The work of after years will come before us in a future chapter. But there was another task, no less important, and no less hard: to save from sin the more numerous loyal and professedly Christian Maoris. Let one illustration be given. Writing of the Maoris who joined the colonial troops in fighting the Hau-haus, R. Taylor says:- |
A rejection of pure Christianity. |
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" What has been the effect of this alliance upon the Natives? Has it benefited them? Has it raised them in the moral scale of society? Alas! it has been quite the reverse. They have had their rations of, rum, and have acquired a love of ardent spirits, and now curse and swear, literally, as a trooper. They may now be seen haunting the public-houses, a disgusting and painful proof of their new teaching. Having had no Sabbath observance, they have learned to neglect it, and to believe it is of no consequence. And thus those men who have jeopardized their lives in our defence, and been signally instrumental in preserving our provinces from destruction, have been ruined in return; and from being, many of them, high-principled men, have become besotted, worthless characters. Nay further, the best way we have found out of showing our admiration and good feeling towards them has been by inviting them to resuscitate the past customs of barbarous life, to dance their revolting war-dances, which even our colonial ladies attend with as much apparent gusto as the Spanish dames do their disgraceful bullfights." |
The evil influences of white troops on the Maori who joined them to fight the Hau-hau.. |
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We have looked at the dark cloud: let us now look at the silver lining. First, take one instance - one of very many - of the chivalry of the Christian Maoris even when fighting on what |
Henare Taratoa at the Gate Pah |
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Next take an incident showing the reverence of the Maori Christians for Divine ordinances, and especially for the Holy Communion. In 1865, Mr. Taylor went up the Wanganui River to conduct services for a large party of loyal Maoris who had just fought and defeated a Hau-hau band. He found them anxiously doubtful whether they could rightly approach the Lord's Table after they had been fighting and shedding human blood:- |
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" I told them that their cause being a just one, having fought against those who came with the avowed intention of killing and eating them, and of destroying the European settlement, and likewise of putting an |
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It was at one of the many remarkable Christmas Communions which Taylor used to hold, and which were attended by hundreds of Maori Christians from all parts of his wide district, that a chief, kneeling at the rail, suddenly found that he was kneeling next to another chief who had in the old days killed and eaten his father. He rose up trembling, and went back to his seat, feeling that he could not forgive such an act, and could not partake of the sacred feast without forgiving it. Twice he went up, and twice he returned, overcome by his feelings. At length he reflected how the Lord had forgiven him: that melted his heart, and he went up the third time, and partook, with every shade of natural resentment gone from his mind. |
The ex cannibal Chief at prayer. |
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On two occasions, leading Christian chiefs visited England. In 1851 William Williams brought over Tamihana (Thompson) Te Rauparaha, and in 1855 R.Taylor brought over Hoani Wiremu (John Williams) Hipango. Both were remarkable men, and in one respect their stories are most singularly alike. Te Rauparaha was the son of a very great and warlike chief of the same name at Otaki in the south of the Island. Before any missionaries had visited that part, a Maori from there came back, who had been a prisoner in the North and had been in a mission school, and could read; and be bad with him a torn copy of St. Luke's Gospel in Maori and a Prayer-book, not indeed received at his school, but taken from the body of a little Christian girl who had been killed by his tribe, and her remains horribly ill-treated. He had not himself embraced the Gospel: he only carried the books (then rare) to add to his importance; and when young Rauparaha and another young chief asked him to read to them the white man's book, he only replied that it was a bad book, teaching them not to fight, not to drink rum, not to have two wives. Yielding, however, to their importunity, he did read to them night after night. The result was that the two young men secured, by the payment of some pigs and potatoes, a passage in a small vessel going north to the Bay of Islands*, then the headquarters of the Mission, and went straight to Henry Williams and begged for a missionary; in response to which call, Hadfield, who had just arrived from England (it was in 1838), |
Two leading chiefs visit England. |
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Tamihana and Hoani Wiremu both lived in Islington College when in England, as before mentioned. The latter was commissioned by his tribe to make presents to the Queen, and he and Mr. Taylor were received by Her Majesty and Prince Albert at Buckingham Palace. He was greatly interested in the Jews, and went to the London Jews' Society's Mission at Bethnal Green, where he spoke to them himself; and when some were baptized, they specially asked that he should be present. He was shocked at the Sabbath-breaking in London streets, and in one case brought an apple-woman to tears by his exhortation to her. When taken leave of on his departure for New Zealand, he addressed the C.M.S. Committee in Maori. "He stood," wrote Ridgeway, "like a tower in the strength and firmness of his frame, and his self-possession and forcible manner of address were very striking." |
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On his return to New Zealand, John Williams desired to be prepared for holy orders, and went to St. Stephen's College at Auckland under Archdeacon Kissling; but his industry in studying by dim candle-light affected his eyes, and he had, to his great sorrow, to forego his wish. Then the Governor appointed him to an office of trust and responsibility at Wanganui, where he won general respect. When the Hau-haus came into the district, threatening to destroy the town, he took command of the loyal Maoris to resist them, - the English force under General Cameron |
Hipango fights the Hau-hau |
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Death of Hipango. (also known as John Williams). |
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"Respected Mr. Taylor, - Health to you and all your children. Your word is good, very good, to all our hearts. Strive constantly in prayer to God for us, that He may preserve us from the deceitful and hostile men who are striving to destroy and cast down the dwelling-place of the Spirit of God. Do you strive day and night. But we too have urged the teachers of every pah to pray to God that He may go in the midst of us. This is all from your loving son, |
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There were other deaths, more peaceful, but not less touching. Wiremu Tamihana (William Thompson) Tarapipipi, "the king-maker" has been already mentioned. No more remarkable figure appeared among the Maoris. The son of a cruel cannibal chief, he himself was a gentle Christian, a diligent teacher of his people, a firm lover of peace. Although the real head of the 'king party,' his purpose, as before explained, was entirely loyal and peaceful; and he resisted every inducement to join in the war, until that fatal day when Sir G. Grey, overborne by his advisers, permitted the British forces to cross the river. "Now," said Tamihana, "I am absolved from my promise: it is a defensive war." Yet again and again he tried to restore peace, advocating submission on the one side and pleading for considerate terms on the other. When the Hau-haus murdered Volkner, he instantly separated himself from their alliance, and gave himself up to the Governor, who received him with great honour. He went back to his people, but took no further part in public affairs, and died in the following year, holding in his hands a Bible, which he read to the last. His final words to his tribe were, " Stand by the Government and the law: if there is evil in the land, the law will make it right." When near death, he was carried some distance to a place where the whole tribe could be assembled to see him; and each time he was lifted this prayer was said:-
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Wiremu Tamihana, the King-maker. Not to be confounded with Tamihana Te Rauparaha. |
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Here are three other deaths, in the very district afterwards desolated by war, reported in one year by one missionary, Ashwell:- (1) Wesley Te Pake, a once leading medicine-man, for ten years a faithful and influential Christian, a specially gifted speaker; when dying, repeating text after text, and exhorting his people to "hold fast Gospel principles," "be decided for Christ," "pray without ceasing," "hear what St. Paul says, 'If God be for us, who can be against us?'" "O Christ," he exclaimed with his latest breath, "Thou art my Sav - " - the word was not finished, and he entered into rest. (2) Thomas Rangiunoa, a teacher, once a cannibal; "my devoted fellow-helper," wrote Ashwell; "a man whose consistent conduct, cheerful disposition, sterling uprightness, deep humility, and unwearied perseverance in doing good, gained the esteem and love of all who knew him." (3) Levi Mokoro, "formerly a most desperate, bloodthirsty cannibal, and licentious beyond the generality." The first time he was visited he was "feasting on the bodies of his enemies." He received the Gospel message at once, was baptized after due instruction, became one of the most consistent of Christians, was made an assessor by Sir G. Grey, and died after ten years of faithfulness, saying, "Christ only is my support, my hope, and my salvation." |
Three Maori Christian deaths: |
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But the most conspicuous fruits of the work were the Maori clergy. Rota Waitoa was ordained in 1853, and Riwai Te Ahu in 1858; Raniera Kawhia, Hohua Te Moanaroa, Heta Tarawhiti, and Pirimona Te Karari, in 1860; Tamihana Huata, Ihaia Te Ahu, Matiu Taupaki, and Piripi Patiki, in 1861; Matiaha Pahewa, in 1863; Mohi Turei, Hare Tawhaa, and Watene Moeke, in 1864; Rihara Te Rangamaro, in 1866; Renata Tangata and Raniera Wiki, in 1867; Wiremu Katene Paraire and Hone Pohutu, in 1870; Rawiri Te Wanui, Heneri Te Herekau, Wiremu Turipona, and Wiremu Pomare, in 1872;* - twenty-three up to the end of our present period, of whom three died within that period. Nine of these were ordained by Bishop Selwyn; ten by Bishop Williams; two by Bishop Hadfield; two by Bishop Cowie. Not one of these failed in the hour of trial. That is one of the great facts of the history of the New Zealand Mission, to the praise of God's grace. |
* Rota is Lot; |
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Thus died the greatest of New Zealand missionaries. We have seen him before as the young naval officer fighting in the battles of his country: we have seen him taking leave of the C.M.S. Committee as he went forth to the Antipodes in the days of darkest Heathenism; we have seen him working for forty-four years without once returning to England; we have seen him misunderstood, disconnected, and restored; we have seen the results |
The greatest of New Zealand missionaries |
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Yet even this was not all. One of the chiefs of those contending tribes, though long an "adherent" of the Christian community, had never been baptized. Now he came forward and announced that for the future he would be a soldier of Christ. He put himself under instruction, and was received into the Church. When he failed to answer some doctrinal question put to him, he said, "You may puzzle me with your questions; but one thing I know: Jesus Christ died for my sins upon the cross, and I depend on Him." |
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A few years passed away, and then the Maoris, headed by the Rev. Matiu Taupaki, and declining any help from white men, raised £200, and put up a great stone cross in the churchyard at Paihia, the scene of Henry Williams's longest labours, with an inscription in English and Maori, "In loving memory of Henry Williams, forty-four years a preacher of the Gospel of Peace, a father of the tribes. This monument is raised by the Maori Church. He came to us in 1823. He was taken from us in 1867." The monument was unveiled by Bishop Cowie of Auckland on January 11th, 1876, in the presence of an immense throng of Maoris from all parts of the country, several of their leaders speaking;* and among the aged men present was the second Maori convert, David Taiwhanga, the once ferocious cannibal chief baptized by Henry Williams himself in 1830, forty-six years before. The Bay of Islands choir sang Mendelssohn's exquisite chorus, "How lovely are the messengers that preach us the Gospel of Peace!" Has it ever been sang on a more appropriate occasion? |
Maori Memorial to Henry Williams. |
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In the same month that Archdeacon Henry Williams died, July, 1867, Bishop Selwyn sailed for England - not to retire, but to attend the first Lambeth Conference. Of that Conference, and of the Wolverhampton Church Congress, at which Selwyn was enthusiastically received, this History has already spoken. Bishop Lonsdale of Lichfield, who presided over the Congress, died only a few weeks later; and the Premier, Lord Derby, offered the vacant see to Selwyn. He said No at once, decisively; but then Archbishop Longley intervened and begged him to accept, and Selwyn, on the same principle of obedience to Church authority that had originally sent him to the Antipodes, bowed his head and said Yes. He went out, however, to New Zealand to wind up various matters and bid them all farewell. He presided over the |
Selwyn sails for England. |
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"To Bishop Selwyn, greeting! Ours is a word of farewell from us your Maori people who reside in this island. You leave here these two peoples, the Maoris and the Europeans. Though you leave us here, God will protect both peoples; and Queen Victoria and the Governor will also protect them, so that the grace of Providence may rest on them both. father, greetings! Go to your own country; go, the grace of God accompany you! Go on the face of the deep waters. Father, take hence with you the commandments of God, leaving the peoples here bewildered. Who can tell that after your departure, things will be as well with us as during your stay in this island? Our love for you and our remembrance of you will never cease. For you will be separated from us in your bodily presence, and your countenance will be hidden from our eyes. Enough! This concludes our words of farewell to you. |
Maori farewell to Selwyn. |
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It is fitting that there has been only one "Bishop of New Zealand." The title belongs to Selwyn, and to Selwyn only. His original diocese was already divided into six, and Melanesia made up the perfect number of seven in the New Zealand Ecclesiastical Province. On Selwyn's departure his own reduced diocese was named Auckland; and the bishop sent out to succeed him was Dr. W. G. Cowie, a former army chaplain in India, who knew the Punjab Missions well, and whom we have already found working with Dr. Elmslie in Kashmir. In 1870, Bishop Abraham resigned the see of Wellington, and was succeeded by the veteran missionary Hadfield. Thus the two C.M.S. men who had been the pioneers of Christianity in the eastern and southern portions of the Island respectively, William Williams and Octavius Hadfield, at last both presided as bishops over their own mission-fields. |
Bishops Octavius Hadfield and William Williams now preside over own mission fields. |
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We now leave New Zealand for the present. When we again visit it we shall find an immense development of the British Colony and a decided revival in the Maori Church. There were signs of better days coming before the close of our present period. The improved relations between the two races were strikingly described by the New Zealand correspondent of the Times (February 6th, 1872). "The policy of conciliation," he wrote, "has triumphed over the jealousy of races. Our fire-eating politicians no longer talk of 'conquering a permanent peace.' The spade, the pickaxe, the telegraph-wire, and the stage-coach are doing what legions of men with ' arms of precision ' failed to do." Then he referred to the able and intelligent Maoris who had been elected to the Legislature. "They demeaned themselves with so much tact and propriety that they became the favourites of the House, and even the few 'British lions' were tamed or |
Improved relations between the two races |
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