MAORI CHRISTIANITY AFTER THE WAR.
Many false prophets shall arise, and shall lead many astray.
--_S. Matt. xxiv. 11._
With the departure of Bishop Selwyn, the Church which he had governed
entered upon a new phase. It was no longer _one_ in the sense in which
it had been one. It still had a general synod, and it soon elected
another primate. But no primate could be what Selwyn had been to the
Church. He had watched the beginnings of every diocese, and had
shepherded in person every settlement before it attained to diocesan
status. The general synod was no real substitute for the influence of
such a personality. It meets but once in three years; its numbers are
small; its powers are limited. The real life of the Church has lain in
the dioceses, and it is in diocesan histories that its own subsequent
history must be found.[16]
[16] It is to be hoped that such histories may soon be taken in hand.
That of the diocese of Waiapu has already been compiled by J. B.
Fielder, Esq., and I would wish to express my obligations to him for
lending me the manuscript of his work.
But the change went deeper still. Hitherto the Church had tried in
various ways to exhibit the Christian life in some visible polity or
order. But the spirit of competition and commercialism had been too
strong for her. The "smash" of the war period left the Church too weak
to attempt to mould the forms of the nation's life. All that she had
strength to do was to proclaim the old message to the individual soul;
to gather together the faithful for worship and instruction; and to act
the part of an ambulance waggon in the rear of the industrial march.
Her influence may have been really stronger than before: it probably
has been so; but it has been indirect, and it has been unseen.
Humanitarian legislation owes more to Christian teaching than its
authors generally admit, and it is by the humanitarian legislation of
the last twenty years that New Zealand has chiefly influenced the world.
Selwyn's successor in the primacy was Bishop Harper, of Christchurch;
his successor in the episcopal see of Auckland was Dr. W. G. Cowie; his
successor in the work of nation-building and social organisation
was--with whatever difference and at whatever interval--Richard John
Seddon.
But this lay in the future. The immediately succeeding phase of colonial
life presents the same contrast with that of the Selwynian period as
does the Hanoverian _regime_ with that of the Stuarts. It was the period
of immigration and of public works. New men came to the front--men who
did not know the indebtedness of the colony to the missionaries. New
ideas flowed in by every mail, and, spreading rapidly from mind to mind,
drew away many from their earlier faith. The reign of Darwin had begun.
But, however it might be with the immigrant, the Maori remained a
religious being. Strange, fanatical, repulsive, as might be the forms
which his devotion took, he was still a believer in a world of spirit.
Selwyn had hoped that this ingrained religiousness would have acted for
good on the colonist. Of such influence there is little trace. The
drawing together which might undoubtedly be seen before the war, had
given place to a movement in the opposite direction. Here again Selwyn's
departure was significant. There never came another who looked upon
Maori and pakeha with the same equal and comprehensive love.
An incident from the days before the war may serve to show what, under
happier circumstances, the Maori might have done for his European
brother:
Sir George Grey, Bishop Selwyn, and an English visitor were travelling
along the east coast, near Ahuriri. In the course of the day they had
been talking to the natives about the duty of reserving certain of their
lands as educational grants for the benefit of their children and of
posterity. In the middle of the night they were woke up in their tent by
a deputation of these natives calling to Sir George Grey, and asking him
whether he himself acted upon the plan he recommended to them, and
whether he gave tithes, or any portion of his worldly goods, to the
Church of God. The governor was bound to admit that he had not done so
in the past; but undertook to do better for the future. The result was
that he bought and gave a piece of land in Wellington as a site for a
church. Bishop Selwyn added an adjoining section, and the English
visitor[17] still another; and thus the diocese acquired what it had
long sought for in vain--a central site for its cathedral church,
diocesan offices, and bishop's residence.
[17] This was the Hon. A. G. Tollemache, who afterwards added another
section of city land for an episcopal endowment.
The diocese in which the two races are brought into closest and most
equal relations is, of course, that of Waiapu. The reconstruction of
this shattered portion of the Church was brought about indirectly by the
same zeal on the part of Governor Grey for securing educational reserves
for the Maoris.
We have seen that Bishop Williams was driven from his home in 1865, and
compelled to take refuge with his brother in the north. For seven years
Waiapu was left without a synod, and, in one sense, it never received
its bishop back at all. Some months after the bishop's departure, his
house at Waerenga-a-hika (near Gisborne) was the scene of a fierce
battle. The Hauhaus held the adjoining _pa_, and the bishop's house was
used as the fortress of the British troops. After seven days' siege the
_pa_ was captured, but the episcopal residence and the college were in
ruins. The bishop remained for two years in exile, and his restoration
was at last brought about in an unexpected way.
In the same year (1853) as that in which he received the shock of the
Maori's midnight question, Sir George Grey induced the Rev. Samuel
Williams to leave the school which he was carrying on for Hadfield at
Otaki, and to move across the island to Hawke's Bay. Here he gave him
4,000 acres at Te Aute for a Maori school, and the natives of the
district gave a similar amount. The country was covered with bush and
fern, the land yielded no rental, and there were no funds for the
school. At last, Samuel Williams took the work into his own hands. In
order to create a school he must begin by farming the land. After
several years of experiment and of anxious labour, he succeeded not only
in bringing the school estate to a condition of productiveness, but in
giving a valuable object lesson to other settlers. Now he could begin
the school; but who was to help him in the work of instruction? His
thoughts turned to his uncle, the dispossessed bishop, who, on his part,
was seeking some new base from which to begin his work over again. In
response to his nephew, the bishop brought his family to Hawke's Bay in
1867, and was at once prevailed upon by the people of Napier to take
charge of their vacant parish. Bishop Abraham, of Wellington, in whose
diocese Hawke's Bay was situated, gladly availed himself of the
episcopal visitor for work among the Maoris. The position was a strange
one, for here was a bishop living outside his own diocese and working in
an adjoining one. The general synod of 1868, however, set matters right
by transferring Hawke's Bay to the diocese of Waiapu. Bishop Williams
made Napier his new headquarters, and the diocese took the bilingual
character which it bears to-day.
Not so soon or so happily settled was another trouble which took its
rise in the same siege of Waerenga-a-hika in 1865.
The fight at this place was well-nigh the end of Hauhauism, for the
British bullets laid low many a misguided enthusiast who relied on the
prophet's promise of invulnerability. But amongst the Maoris who fought
on the British side was one Te Kooti, who was accused--unjustly, as was
afterwards proved--of traitorous communication with the enemy. For some
days he was kept a prisoner in the guard-room in the bishop's house; he
was then deported with the Hauhau prisoners to Chatham Island. They were
promised a safe return in two years on condition of good behaviour, and,
by the testimony of all witnesses, their behaviour was exemplary.
But Te Kooti had no kindly feelings towards his captors. He fell ill on
the island, and imagined himself the recipient of a new revelation. In
fact, his mind was constantly dwelling upon the Old Testament,
especially the imprecatory psalms and the prayers of the Jews during
their exile in Babylon. His book of prayers contained two collects which
show the grandeur and the fierceness which he drew from these
Scriptures. Here is the prayer for the deliverance of the exiles: "O
GOD, if our hearts arise from the land in which we now dwell as slaves,
and repent, and pray to Thee, and confess our sins in Thy presence,
then, O Jehovah, do Thou blot out the sins of Thy own people, who have
sinned against Thee. Do not Thou, O GOD, cause us to be wholly
destroyed. Wherefore it is that we glorify Thy Holy Name. Amen."
A fiercer note is struck in the collect "For deliverance from foes":
"O Jehovah, thou art the God who deliverest the people repenting:
therefore do Thou listen hither this day to the prayer of Thy servant
concerning our enemies. Let them be destroyed and turned to flight by
Thee. Let their counsels be utterly confounded, and their faces be
covered with sadness and confusion. And when Thou sendest forth Thy
Angel to trample our enemies to the earth, through Thee also shall all
their bones be broken to pieces. Glory to Thy Holy Name. Amen."
Such being the intensity of Te Kooti's feelings, it is not wonderful
that he quickly won over the 300 disillusioned Hauhaus who were
imprisoned with him on the island; nor that, when the two years were
over without any word of release, they should have become restless and
discontented. The wonder is that when at last they overpowered their
guards and took possession of the island, they should have acted with
the moderation which they showed. They sailed back to New Zealand in a
schooner which they had captured, and Te Kooti always averred that at
that time he did not intend to interfere with anyone. It was during the
months following, when he was pursued among the mountains, wounded and
famished, that the savage reawoke in Te Kooti. In November, 1868, he and
his men made a sudden onslaught upon the settlers of Poverty Bay, and
massacred every man, woman, and child whom they met. Driven once more to
the mountains, he was hunted from place to place by the loyal Maoris,
but he was never captured; and for years his sudden murderous raids
struck terror into the homes of the colonists. The "king" Tawhiao would
have none of him, but at length the government of the day thought it
wise to grant him a pardon, and the old outlaw ended his days in peace.
His doctrines are still held by many of the Maoris in the Bay of Plenty
and elsewhere. They are called "_Ringa-tu_," from the practice of
holding up the hand at the conclusion of their prayers. They observe the
seventh day as their Sabbath. Some have introduced the name of our
Saviour into their worship, but "Jesus Christ is to them a name and
nothing more, and their children grow up in heathen ignorance."
The phenomena of Hauhauism and of the _Ringa-tu_ certainly suggest the
question whether it was wise to translate the whole of the Old Testament
into the Maori language. It can hardly be a mere coincidence that
Maunsell's translation was finished and published in 1856, shortly
before the troubles began. Tamihana, it is true, is said to have read
his Bible in English, but his followers must have been for the most part
dependent on the Maori version. Even the Hauhaus, though professing to
abjure the white man's religion altogether, were dependent on the white
man's book. "From the Bible," wrote Lady Martin, "which was their only
literature, they got their phraseology. The men who excited and guided
them were prophets; Jehovah was to fight for them; the arm of the Lord
and the sword of the Lord were on their side, to drive the English into
the sea."
Through the providence of God, the people of Israel were led step by
step from the rude violence of the days of Joshua and the Judges to the
spiritual religion of the prophets and the revelation of love in Jesus
Christ. With the Maori the process was reversed. The Old Testament was
kept back to the last. Having begun in the spirit, they were sought to
be made perfect in the flesh. What wonder if, when they took into
account the whole course of the white man's dealings with them, they
should have become convinced that the missionaries were sent before to
tame their spirits so that the colonists might follow and take their
land?
The condition even of the loyal Maoris after the war was an unhappy one.
Bishop Selwyn always spoke with thankfulness of the fact that not one of
the native priests or deacons had faltered in his attachment to the
Christian faith or to the British crown. But, with the exception of Heta
Terawhiti, they were unable to penetrate into the King Country, or to do
much in any way to rouse their countrymen to fresh exertion. Nor were
the white missionaries more successful. They were now elderly men, and
they seem not to have had the heart to make fresh efforts. Morgan had
died in the year 1865; Ashwell returned to his station after some years;
but Dr. Maunsell remained in Auckland as incumbent of Parnell. One or
two efforts were made to effect an entrance into the King Country, but
before proceeding far the missionary was always turned back. Those
Maoris who had fought on the British side were seldom the better for
their contact with the white man. Drunkenness became prevalent among
them, and altogether the after-war period presents a sad picture of
apathy and decline.
Nor can it be said that up to the present time there has been any
general revival. But cheering symptoms may be noted. The King Country,
which long remained closed to the missionaries and to all Europeans, is
now open in every part. The old "kingship" is still existent, but it is
now perfectly orthodox. At the installation of the present holder of the
title (in 1912), the Maori clergy were present in their surplices; hymns
such as "Onward Christian Soldiers" were sung; and a descendant of
Tamihana "anointed" the young chief by placing the open Bible upon his
head. North of Auckland, and on the north-east coast, a steady pastoral
work has been carried on continuously by native clergy and layreaders
under the supervision of English archdeacons. On the Wanganui River,
numbers of lapsed Maoris have returned to the Church; while in the Bay
of Plenty and around Rotorua, a great improvement has been manifest
during the last few years--an improvement largely due to the efforts of
Goodyear, Bennett, and the native clergy.
But, on the whole, the Maori of to-day is difficult to reach. He has
seen too much to be easily moved to wonder. When Marsden rode his horse
along the beach at Oihi, the natives were struck with admiration at the
novel spectacle. To-day the missionary, mounted perhaps on a humble
bicycle, may meet his Maori parishioner driving the most expensive kind
of motor car. Kendall acquired great influence over the native mind by
exhibiting a barrel organ which he had brought from England: if he
had arrived to-day he might have been invited to listen to a selection
of modern airs from a Maori-owned gramophone.
[Illustration: ST. LUKE'S, OAMARU.]
The chief hope lies in the education of the young. The government
primary schools are doing much throughout the country, many of their
teachers being trained in religious high schools and colleges. Of these
the Church has a fair number. St. Stephen's School at Parnell, Auckland,
still carries on the work begun by Selwyn at St. John's. It is a
technical school with 60 boarders. A similar institution for girls is
the Queen Victoria College in the same city.
The Te Aute estate in Hawke's Bay, so successfully managed by Archdeacon
Samuel Williams, supports a secondary boarding school and college, which
exert a great influence among the high-born Maoris. From this
institution has sprung the "Young Maori" party, which has done much to
raise the standard of living in the _pas_. A kindred institution,
supported by the same endowment, is the Hukarere School for girls at
Napier. This is perhaps the most influential of all the agencies for the
advancement of the Maori.
The old Waerenga-a-hika College lay desolate for many years after the
war, but is now revived as an industrial and technical school. Similar
institutions have been established in the diocese of Wellington, at
Otaki in the west, and at Clareville in the Wairarapa. In the South
Island there is a boarding school for girls at Ohoka in the diocese of
Christchurch.
There is nothing in the nature of a university college for Maoris, but
at Gisborne stands the theological college of Te Rau, where candidates
are trained for the ministry of the Church. From its walls many
promising young clergymen have come. Thirty-three are now at work--19 in
the diocese of Waiapu, 10 in Auckland, and 4 in Wellington. These with
17 other Maori clergy make up a total of 50.
The religious future of this fine race is shrouded in uncertainty.
Mormonism is strong in some districts, and competes with the _tohunga_
(medicine man and priest) in drawing away many of the unstable from
Christian influence. The bright hopes of Marsden and of Selwyn have not
yet been realised, but many saintly souls have been gathered in, and a
faithful remnant still survives to hand on the light.