THE CHURCH OF TO-DAY.
(1878-1914).
Thus onward still we press,
Through evil and through good.
--_H. Bonar._
The earliest stage of church-life in colonial New Zealand may be called
the _Eucalyptus_ or Blue Gum period. These dark-foliaged trees mark from
afar the lonely sheep-station, and are often the only guide thereto. It
is in the station-house or in the adjoining woolshed that the service is
held. Seldom is it conducted by an ordained minister, for the number of
such is small, and each priest has a large territory to visit. His
arrival on horseback is not always known beforehand, but in the evening
the "squatter" assembles his family and dependants, the men of the
station, and perhaps a few neighbours. Everyone is glad of the
opportunity. The dining-room or woolshed is made to look as devotional
as possible. The old prayer books brought out from England are produced.
There may be no musical instrument available, but some well-known hymn
is raised by the lady of the house. The priest, in his long surplice,
preaches a practical sermon, for he understands his people and knows
their lives. The service revives old memories in the worshippers, and
carries them back in thought to ancient churches and devout
congregations in the land from which they come.
This early stage merges gradually into what may be called the Pine
period. The large sheep run is broken up into farms, each marked by its
sheltering plantations of _pinus insignis_. The typical place of
worship is now the school. To it the worshippers drive on Sunday, in
buggies or gigs. The services are carried on with some regularity:
different Christian denominations generally use the building on
successive Sundays of the month, and the same congregation gathers on
each occasion. The arrangements are awkward, the seats are comfortless,
but the singing is hearty and the feeling good. Memories of the old land
are less vivid: the young men and maidens are mostly native-born. There
is not the deep feeling of devotion, nor is there the old sense of the
overwhelming importance of divine things. Fewer of the labouring men are
present than were seen in the old woolshed services.
Years pass by, and a village springs up amidst the farms. Small
church-buildings rise almost side by side. The attendants of the
schoolroom no longer worship together. It is the Cypress or _Macrocarpa_
period, when trim hedges divide the gardens--and often the people--from
one another. But the little church, with its cross and other sacred
emblems, grows dear to some. The choir learns to chant and to sing an
anthem on a high festival. Perhaps now there is a vicarage beside the
church. Classes and guilds are carried on. "Church work" begins.
Such is the history of the Church in New Zealand during the latter
period of our hundred years. The frame of the picture is that supplied
by the originally treeless plains and valleys of the South Island. But
the picture itself, in its essential points, would represent other
regions as well--whether mining, maritime, or forest. As a picture, it
is not as bright as we should like it to be; but its shadows as well as
its brightness are but extensions of the phenomena of the religious
world outside. The divisions of Christendom did not originate in New
Zealand.
With a background furnished by the process just described--a process
constant in character, though moving faster or slower according to the
variety of local conditions--we may now fill in the foreground of the
scene with the few events of the last 34 years, which stand out above
the general level of parochial or diocesan life.
The decade of the 'eighties saw no change in the constitution of the
episcopal bench. From 1877 to 1890 the bishops remained the same. Bishop
Harper passed his 80th year, but continued actively at work; after him
in order of seniority came Bishops Suter of Nelson, Hadfield of
Wellington, Cowie of Auckland, Neville of Dunedin, Selwyn of Melanesia,
and Stuart of Waiapu. All worked harmoniously together, the leading
personality being perhaps the Bishop of Nelson.
A sign of recovery from the exhaustion of the war-period may be found in
the stately churches which now began to rise here and there.
Christchurch Cathedral, after its years of forlorn desolation, rose
slowly from its foundations during the later 'seventies, until in 1881
the nave and tower were completed and consecrated. St. Mary's, Timaru,
was begun in 1880, and its nave completed six years later. St. John's
Cathedral, Napier, was rapidly built and consecrated as a finished
building in 1888. Nothing so artistic or so solid as these edifices had
yet been seen in the country, and nothing equal to them was produced for
many years.
Not only were new churches built: they were filled. A great impetus to
devotion was received in 1885 and 1886 from Canons Bodington and G. E.
Mason, who were sent out from Selwyn's old diocese of Lichfield to hold
missions in Auckland and Christchurch. These able men spent 10 months in
the country, and gave of their best to every place they visited.
In 1889, Bishop Harper gave notice of his intention to resign his
primacy, and, in the following year, laid down his pastoral staff. He
had reached the age of 86 before his resignation took effect, but his
mind was still vigorous, and when relieved of the cares of office he
took up the humbler work of giving divinity lessons in a girls' school.
He was pre-eminently a man of peace, but beneath the placid exterior
there lay an indomitable will. One who knew him well wrote of him thus:
"He left upon me the deep impression that he never had an ideal of power
or wealth or fame, but that to go about doing good, and to promote the
welfare of his fellow-men with all his strength, were the objects he had
in view in his whole life."
This resignation was destined to bring about a constitutional difficulty
which recalled the trying days of the Jenner incident. The question
which divided the Church was nothing less than this, Who is the
legitimate primate or chief pastor of New Zealand?
Dunedin, curiously enough, was again the point from which the trouble
emanated, and a Selwyn was again the person who unintentionally brought
it about. Bishop Harper announced his intention to resign the primacy to
a general synod at Dunedin in February, 1889. At the close of the
session he called for an election of a bishop to take his place as
primate in six months' time. The first and the second ballots were
inconclusive. Had the third ballot yielded a similar result, the primacy
would have gone, according to the canons, to the senior bishop.
The Bishop of Nelson was the senior by consecration, though not by age,
and he received a large majority of lay votes. But the clergy did not
think him "safe," and gave their votes preponderantly to the veteran
Hadfield. Before the final ballot, the Bishop of Melanesia broke the
silence enjoined on such occasions, and urged the laity "not to let the
election go by default." His advocacy was successful, and at the third
ballot the Bishop of Wellington, having received a majority of all
orders, was declared by the old primate to be duly elected to fill his
place.
But this decision did not remain long uncontested. From a strictly legal
point of view, the proceedings were invalidated by the fact that the
canons gave no authority for an election until the primatial seat was
actually vacant. This technical objection was rendered more cogent by
Bishop John Selwyn's impulsive act. His speech was undoubtedly a breach
of the law, and undoubtedly also it turned the election.
The situation was a difficult one, and it affected more especially the
diocese of Christchurch. For Bishop Harper's retirement was leaving that
diocese vacant, and its synod had elected Archdeacon Julius of Ballarat
to fill Dr. Harper's place. But the election could not be completed
without the sanction of the General Synod or of the Standing Committees
of the various dioceses, and until the primacy question should be
settled it was impossible to obtain such confirmation. Bishop Suter,
acting on the verdict of the Standing Commission--which was to the
effect that the election of Bishop Hadfield was null and void--proceeded
to act as primate, and to invite the Standing Committees to confirm the
action of the Christchurch Synod. Those of Nelson, Auckland, and Waiapu
at once did so; but those of Wellington and Dunedin, holding that Bishop
Hadfield was legally elected, took no notice of the communications of
the senior bishop.
The position was undoubtedly full of interest to lawyers, but it was
painful and humiliating to devout members of the Church. Some weeks were
occupied in fruitless negotiations, but at length, through the influence
of the aged Bishop Harper, a way was discovered out of the thicket.
Bishop Hadfield resigned his claims to the primacy, and Bishop Suter,
whose position was now uncontested, summoned a special meeting of the
General Synod. It met in Wellington on April 23rd, 1890. The Bishop of
Wellington was elected primate, and the election of Archdeacon Julius to
the see of Christchurch was validated, sanctioned, and confirmed.
But larger issues soon occupied the public mind. A waterside strike
paralysed for a time the commerce of the country, and introduced the
era of "Labour." The predominance of Darwin, with his "struggle to
live," gave way to the humanitarian conception of a struggle to let
others live. In some respects the new movement was a return towards the
principles of Christianity, which had seemed to be surrendered in the
war period. As such it was hailed by many minds. The new bishop of
Christchurch was welcomed with a general enthusiasm because he came as
an avowed sympathiser with the aspirations of labour. But the events did
not justify either the hopes of the one side or the fears of the other.
Labour gained a large measure of political power under Mr. Ballance and
Mr. Seddon. Many measures were passed to secure higher wages, shorter
hours of work, more careful sanitation, and better technical training.
Yet, as years passed by, the fundamental conditions did not seem to be
greatly altered. Legislation could not go deep enough. It could not
change human nature. That could only be effected by the diffusion of a
spirit of justice and consideration throughout the community. The effort
to diffuse such a spirit is the proper work of the Church; and as this
truth became clearly seen, the Church felt less and less inclined to
throw herself on the side of any political party.
[Illustration: CHAPEL OF WANGANUI COLLEGIATE SCHOOL.]
Her own efforts to alter economic laws had not been successful; Marsden,
Selwyn, and Godley had found the spirit of individualism too strong for
them: was it not clear that the Christian's duty was to concentrate his
efforts upon the development of unselfish character in both capitalist
and worker; to try to hold the classes together by upholding the sacred
character of the State, and the solemn responsibility of each individual
for the right use of whatever property or cleverness he might possess;
to warn against the dangers of wealth and also against the greed for its
possession; to point to Christ and His world-renouncing example?
The Church, as a whole, therefore, went on in the old way, just teaching
the "Duty to God" and the "Duty to one's Neighbour," and leaving the
State to try to order the social life of the community so as to make
those duties more possible of fulfilment.
But if the policy continued the same, the leaders were gradually
changed. Bishop Harper was soon followed into retirement by others of
his old colleagues. Suter's health broke down in 1891, and on his
resignation the diocese set its seal upon his episcopate by electing his
old friend and archdeacon, the Ven. C. O. Mules, to fill his place.
Before the end of the same year, Bishop John Selwyn was likewise
compelled to lay down his office owing to severe illness.
And men said, "_Bene meruit_"--or, rather,
"He followed in the footsteps of his father."
Not until St. Barnabas' Day in 1894 was his place filled by the
consecration of the Rev. Cecil Wilson, who took up the work of the
Melanesian Mission with great earnestness.
Meanwhile, the veteran Bishop Hadfield had laid down both the bishopric
of Wellington and the primacy in 1893. The delicate youth who had left
Oxford in 1837, who had been the first in Australia to be ordained to
the diaconate, and the first in New Zealand to receive the office of the
priesthood, had rallied again and again from what had seemed the bed of
death, and had outlived most of those with whom he began his work. His
frequent periods of illness had been relieved by the reading of somewhat
severe and philosophical books, and he was able to make good use of his
learning in the address which he delivered to the one general synod over
which he presided. On his retirement, he lived quietly for some years
longer at Marton, and passed away in 1904.
The primacy was now conferred, with general unanimity, on Bishop Cowie
of Auckland. For the see of Wellington an English clergyman was
selected at the request of the diocesan synod. This was the Rev.
Frederic Wallis, who brought to New Zealand the learning of Cambridge
and a most genial personality. His episcopate coincided with a rapid
expansion of settlement in the more distant portions of the diocese, and
he was able to man his parochial charges and missionary districts with
able clergy from Cambridge. Under his administration the diocese made
solid progress, and became, instead of the weakest, one of the strongest
members of the New Zealand Church.
Five days before the consecration of Bishop Wallis at Wellington (Jan.
1895), a like solemn service had been held in the Cathedral at Napier.
Bishop Stuart had resigned the bishopric of Waiapu in the previous year
in order to go to Persia as a simple missionary. Into the vacant place
there was now installed one who had declined it at the previous vacancy,
but who was still not too old to take up the burden. This was Archdeacon
Leonard Williams, that son of the first bishop, who had in infancy been
baptised with the children of David Taiwhanga on the first occasion when
any of the Maori race were publicly admitted to the Church of Christ.
His life had been spent in the service of the people among whom he had
thus been dedicated to God's service, and, though older than any of the
bishops who laid upon him their hands, he was able to administer the
diocese for fourteen years before laying down the staff in 1909.
No further changes are to be noted before the year 1900. But the
twentieth century was not long on its way before the primate, Dr. Cowie,
died at his post, after a short illness. The primacy passed to Bishop
Neville of Dunedin, the only remaining survivor of the post-Selwynian
group. The work of the diocese of Auckland proved too arduous for
Bishops Neligan and Crossley, who each resigned the see after a short
tenure of office. The last vacancy has been filled by the translation of
Dr. Averill, who, coming from the diocese of Christchurch in 1909, took
up the bishopric of Waiapu after Bishop Williams' resignation, and has
done much to bring the lapsed Maoris back to the fold. His place at
Napier was filled by another parish-priest from Christchurch, Canon
Sedgwick, whose faith and zeal had been abundantly displayed in the
building of the splendid church of St. Luke the Evangelist in that city.
Wellington and Nelson also have had their changes. The health of Dr.
Wallis gave way in 1911, and he retired to England. The synod elected
one of its own members, the Rev. T. H. Sprott, to take his place; while
in Nelson, Bishop Mules was succeeded by an Australian clergyman, Canon
Sadlier of Melbourne.
Dunedin still keeps its first bishop, who, after an episcopate of 43
years, ranks as the senior prelate of the British Empire. Christchurch
has had but one change. All the other dioceses can reckon three or four.
Of the prelates who have at one time occupied places on the New Zealand
bench, some have retired to England, while others remain among us and
are entitled to a seat, though not to a vote, in the General Synod. Each
diocese (except Dunedin) can point to one bishop's grave in some local
cemetery; while Melanesia treasures the memory of the martyred Patteson,
whose body was committed to the deep within its waters.
The mention of so many bishops calls up pictures of many and various
diocesan activities. These should be recorded in separate histories, but
can hardly find a place within the limits of this book. One notable
effort in which all combined was the General Mission of Help in the year
1910. Fifteen missioners were sent out from England under commission
from the Archbishops of Canterbury and York. They represented different
schools of thought in the Church, and were headed by Canon Stuart of
Canterbury, Canon Tupper-Carey of York, and "Father Fitzgerald," of
Mirfield. Beginning in Auckland, where they were assisted by some
specially selected clergy from the south, they held missions in all the
larger parishes of the city and of the country towns. Waiapu and
Wellington were next visited. After a pause, the original band,
augmented by several North Island clergy, crossed to the South Island
and went through Canterbury and Otago. Nelson was the last diocese to be
worked, but special farewell visits were made by individual missioners
to parishes in which they had laboured in the earlier part of the
course. One missioner, at least, gave himself permanently to the New
Zealand Church.
It is not possible here to give a full account of the mission, but (to
use the words of the official report), "it is safe to say it exceeded
all anticipations in the fervour and earnestness shown, and the manifest
proofs of the Holy Spirit's presence. Most of the missioners themselves
stated that it was a unique experience in their life and work."
Of its after-effects it is not so easy to speak. It did not lead to any
departure from the existing methods of work, nor did it initiate much in
the way of fresh effort. Its results are rather to be seen in a general
quickening of activity in the different departments of the Church's
life. A sketch of these various departments must form the conclusion of
this book.