The Impact of Christianity on the Maori People by A. W. Reed
This booklet reprints the text
of a lecture delivered at
Wesley Church, Taranaki
Street,
Wellington
on
November 7, 1953, under the
auspices of the Wesley
Historical
Society
(New
Zealand Branch). It is now
published for the Society as
Volume 12, Number 4 of its
Proceedings.
Acknowledgement is made to
Alfred and Isabel and Marian
Reed Trust for assistance in
the publication of the lecture.
Contents
Introduction
The Evolution of Religious Belief
Missionaries and their Equipment
Forces which Opposed the Gospel
The Unreality of the Faith
The Reality of the Faith
The Need for the Faith
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INTRODUCTION
At some time or another we must all have engaged in the parlour game of
Consequences. You will recall the nature of this simple entertainment: The handsome
Mr. Jones met the heavy-footed Miss Wilkins. The Consequence was that they
married, and the world said, "Serve them right." Simple though it may be, the
principle underlying the game is one of the foundation truths on which the course of
history is based, and both history and life itself may be regarded as a game of
consequences. The variations are endless and the game goes on at this very moment in
a thousand different ways. Let us take a single illustration from our island history. In
the year 1769, Captain Cook sighted New Zealand and met the native inhabitants.
Cook was an Englishman, and the Consequence of his visit was that ultimately Maori
and Pakeha lived together in peace and harmony. That was the end result. A short
term view would lead us to the bitterness of the Maori Wars. The Ultimate
Consequence was the discovery that men of different races may learn to respect each
other.
This analogy may be carried on to a much higher plane. It is with a full sense of
reverence that I remind you that God so loved the world that He gave His only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him (now we come to the Consequence)should have everlasting life. Whatever emerges from our talk tonight, whatever dark
and unpromising events cloud our sky, let us remember that that Consequence is the
ultimate reality, and that in His Providence, no other end is possible.
Tonight we are to study the impact of Christianity on the Maori people, and we may
relate our game of Consequences to this subject. In the beginning of the Nineteenth
Century, certain missionaries from the Christian Church of Great Britain came to the
uncivilised islands of New Zealand and preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the
primitive inhabitants. The Consequence was what? If you have not considered the
subject carefully, but know the rudiments of the history of our Church, if you are
aware of the thousands and thousands of Maoris who, in the eighteen thirties, forties
and fifties, claimed allegiance to Christ, I believe you will say that the consequence
was that the Maori people forsook their ancient gods and became Christians. But this
is not the only point of view. There are students of history who believe that this socalled allegiance was a shallow loyalty, accepted without a full realisation of what it
meant to be a Christian.
Let me tell you of an experience I had some years ago. I was staying at a boarding
house at Rotorua, and was introduced to a young lady who was a University student.
On learning of my interest in New Zealand books, she told me that she proposed to
write a thesis for her degree on the theme that the wholesale conversion of the Maori
people, claimed by the early missionaries, was a delusion and that, in fact, they had no
conception of the real meaning of the profession they made. In order to pursue this
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train of thought she asked whether I could recommend any books that would help her
in her study.
I suggested that she might find that the evidence pointed in the opposite direction, but
she did not think so. I asked what evidence had caused her to formulate such a theory.
She looked at me archly and said, "Oh, I just thought it up!"
Yes, we may laugh at such misguided jumping to conclusions; but we must remember
that without a careful study of the evidence, we are equally to blame if we accept the
theory of a wholesale turning of the Maori people towards any effective and satisfying
belief in Christianity.
To examine the evidence with proper attention is a big task and beyond my time and
capacity, but I hope to present a few facts for your consideration-facts which will
enable us all to make a reasonable judgement for ourselves.
These are the steps we shall take:
(1) To what point had religion evolved amongst the Maoris when the first
Christian missionaries arrived in New Zealand
-in other words, what effect was the Gospel likely to have on such a race of
people.
(2) How did the missionaries undertake their work, and what was their
equipment?
(3) Were there any other forces that affected them in matters of faith?
(4) The case against the conversion of a people.
(5) The case for the conversion of a people.
(6) Conclusions to be drawn.
(7) The Ultimate Consequence.
Look then at the stage of development of the Maori before he was affected by the
white man, remembering, as we must, that later researches have revealed a great deal
of Maori thought and belief which was denied to the early missionary, while at the
same time our knowledge of his character and behaviour while in a primitive state is
much less than that of men and women who spent their lives amongst these "savages".
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THE EVOLUTION OF RELIGIOUS BELIEF
Maori religious belief had evolved to a stage where the gods could be divided into
four distinct categories:
(1) Io, the Supreme God, Creator of the Universe.
(2) The departmental gods, i.e., personifications of the forces of nature and mind.
(3) District gods, belief in whom was more or less widely held.
(4) Demons, spirits, dified ancestors and household gods.
There was a sharp division between belief in God the Creator, Io, and all the other
gods of lesser stature. The gods of the Maori pantheon collectively were described by
the German missionary Wohlers as a sublime mythology, and so they were, as we
shall see when we come to examine them more closely. But belief in Io was even
more majestic, for in Him we see a faith pure and undefiled, a monotheistic
conception of an eternal, beneficent, omnipotent, omniscient God. The belief in the
lesser gods was commonly held but worship of Io was confined to the priests. If it had
been more widely known, it would have had a marked effect upon the teaching of the
missionaries, and the reception which was accorded to their message.
Let us turn for a moment to the universal beliefs of the Maori people. It was "a
sublime mythology", worthy to rank with the conceptions of the Romans and the
Greeks and, what is more important, it was believed implicitly and, in its implications,
was the cord which bound the Maori together as a race. To the Maori mind sacerdotal
belief was the heart of life, but the remaining structure of his faith was the flesh and
sinews and blood, which together made up the whole body. Just as we read in the
opening words of the Bible, "In the beginning God", so to the Maori that which
happened in the womb of time affected him directly in his daily living. We all know
the ancient cosmogenic myths, how Rangi the Sky Father and Papa the Earth Mother
lay locked in a close embrace; how their offspring, the gods, were forced to live in the
narrow space between them, where there was no light, and how these children rebelled
and tried to force them apart; how they failed until Tane, the god of nature, put forth
his mighty power and thrust the Sky Father far away into space, so that light and air
entered, and the gods were able to live in comfort. There were seventy of them
altogether, Tangaroa, the god of the sea and of fish; Tu, the god of war; Tawhirimatea,
the god of wind; Tane himself, god of the forests, of the sun, the fertiliser; Ruaumoko,
god of earthquakes who caused the earth tremors —and many others. It is a beautiful
story, coming from the wide-eyed wonder of a people who had not ceased to marvel at
the gifts of nature. The story tells how Rangi's tears at parting from his beloved wife
fell as the rain; how Tane clothed his father with a mantle of stars and put the sun as a
colossal medallion on his breast, and how he clothed his mother with the cool green of
grasses and trees. Tane was credited with the origin of man, who came of a union
between Tane and the Earth-formed Maiden. Some of the departmental gods became
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enemies and Whiro, who personified darkness, evil and death was a constant
tribulation to more beneficent deities.
This bold and well-drawn picture, which we might call Plan for a Universe, was
dominated by the all-pervading Io, who permitted and no doubt smiled upon this
unfolding of His eternal purpose; and so there was no contradiction between the
priestly and the universal belief. Io no doubt also looked with the calmness and
confidence of the Infinite on the struggle that developed between Whiro and Tane.
Whiro was, as we have seen, the father of darkness, evil and death, while Tane
represented light and life and knowledge, for he had been intimately concerned with
their origin and development.
Now, we have reached a significant stage in religious development. This is the ageless
conflict between light and darkness, you may say, the conflict between good and evil,
which is an integral part of many diverse faiths, and especially of Christianity. Here
was a belief which could provide a comer stone for the building of a superstructure of
Christian faith. But we must beware. Whiro was dark and evil, Tane was light and life,
but he was not goodness, nor the personification of goodness. In time this principle
would surely have evolved; in fact, it was an inevitable and logical progres-sion in the
evolution of religious belief, but at that point in history when the advent of the white
man upset the balance of Maori life and thought, the ultimate consequence of his
religious belief had not reached the stage where the penalty of sin and the reward of
righteousness were accepted.
There is further evidence of this in the Maori's belief in the afterlife. He believed in
the survival of the soul, to which we will refer again, and in a habitation for it. He
believed in two spirit worlds, an upper and a lower! Some spirits of the dead ascended
into the twelve heavens of Io-matua, the Parent God, which was the place of peace
where Whiro, the god of evil, was unable to set foot. Other spirits (and these in the
majority), descended into the underworld, to Rarohenga, the land of eternal twilight,
where they might have been destroyed by Whiro if they had not been protected by the
Dawn Maiden. Here again, the overworld was a priestly conception, of which little
was known by the common people, while the underworld was an almost universal
belief. We can see how close we are getting to a conception of Heaven and Hell, but
that logical development had not been reached. Heaven was not a place of reward, the
subterranean spirit-land was not a place of punishment. One was a priestly conception,
the other a common one, and no system of reward and punishment, of nearness to or
remoteness from the love of God, no incentives towards righteousness and no
condemnation of sin were implied.
The Maori had, however, achieved a great deal. He recognised that man was more
than a beast of the field. There was the wairua, the spirit which leaves the body at
death and at other times, as in a trance or sleep; the mauri or life-spirit which leaves
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the body only at death; and the hau, which is the vital element of man, "the breath".
The wairua had to be purged of its grosser elements at death before it was suited to its
spirit life.
The fact that there was no line of demarcation between righteousness and sin, between
godliness and devilry, between goodness and badness had a great deal of bearing on
the Maori's reception of Christianity. But, in the absence of this sense of values, what
check was there on unbridled licence? Often enough the missionaries were puzzled
and dismayed by this lack in the native race, and despaired of achieving any
permanent results in bringing the faith to a people of such alien thought.
But of course there were safeguards. We may hesitate to call the Maori a religious
people, but even more should we hesitate to say that they were not religious. Elsdon
Best once quoted an authority on ancient Egypt as saying that the Egyptians can
scarcely be said to have possessed a national religion, but that they had religious ideas.
And so it was with the Maori. If we exclude belief in Io, who was appealed to only on
the highest matters and only by a chosen few, to Whom no offerings were made
because He was wholly beneficent and therefore did not need to be placated, we shall
still see that religious ideas paid a vital part in his daily life. The Maori had a genius
for personification, and on the highest level. Ancient whakapapa or genealogies show
that from chaos, from nothingness, there came mind, matter, earth, sky, light— and
man. The Maori had no idols, or very few—god-sticks, kumara gods we read of and
have seen in museums, but for a people who believed so completely in gods in many
forms, they were astonishingly few in number. It was the idea, the presence of these
non-material beings which took possession of the mind. The gods, both great and
small, were consulted and appealed to constantly. In chant, in incantation, in rites and
runes, the correct word had always to be used lest evil result. The mind of the gods
was read by omen; the safety of the person and the protection of the gods sought by
prayer and incantation. Confession, absolution and baptism were accepted rites—and
heavy over all lay the dread of tapu.
Tapu! It is not an easy word to define. One can be led into a shallow and inadequate
summing up of this pervading influence. Forbidden, sacred, consecrated, it was all
these and much else. It was the law and the upholder of the law. Man was the fusion
of the elements of light and darkness, of sky and earth, for Tane created the Earthformed Maiden as the progenitor of the human race and infused into his and her
offspring the ira atua, the super-natural life of the gods, for he was father as well as
creator.
The spirit life, therefore, was an important element in the thinking of the Maori
people. The tohunga was the middle man between the spiritual and the material
worlds. It is difficult for us to realise his power—and there was no doubt that he
brought strange force into the life of the people. Of course there were shamans. Black
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magic flourished and had its advocates, but the superior learning, the lore of the upper
jaw in the whare wananga, was on the whole a force, if not for good, at least of
restraint. There was no common urge towards goodness, but the beliefs, the taboos
that had been developed for the protection and survival of the race, and in particular of
the tribe, and the recognition of a spirit world and of supernatural forces were
something deeply ingrained in every Maori in New Zealand.
To such a people the first missionaries came with the Gospel of the Fatherhood of God
and the redemption of the world by the Lord Jesus Christ, with a doctrine of sin and
righteousness, and an appeal to the better elements in man, who was a sinful creature
by nature but who, through the mediation of Christ, could attain to the worship of God
and the practice of goodness.
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MISSIONARIES AND THEIR EQUIPMENT
It is well known that the Rev. Samuel Marsden, the Apostle of New Zealand,
established the first Christian mission in this country. He believed that the Maoris
should be taught the arts of civilisation as well as the doctrines of the faith. This is
good, modern missionary practice, but to what extent the progress of the white man is
a necessary concomitant of Faith is perhaps a more debatable point. The first
missionaries of the Church Missionary Society in New Zealand were laymen—
Kendall the schoolmaster, Hall the shipbuilder and King the ropemaker. Their task
was to teach the Maori people and at the same time, by right living and Christian
teaching, to bring them the truths of the Gospel. As we shall see, they did their work
with but indifferent success, and it was only when the first ordained men of the
Anglican Church came to take charge that there was any noticeable benefit to the
Maori people.
In the Instructions to Early Missionaries which was published as part of the
Proceedings of the Wesley Historical Society a few years ago, as a result of Mr. C. J.
Freeman's research and initiative, we can read the directions which were given to the
Rev. Samuel Leigh at the Public Ordination Service in the New Chapel at City Road
in London on January 17, 1821. It was a moving charge, full of commonsense as well
as the most noble aspirations. Although Leigh was an ordained man, he was told that:
"As you will be appointed to assist the natives in acquiring the knowledge of
agriculture, and some of the useful arts of life, habits of labour and industry must
be cultivated by you, at least in the early stages of your mission. To all things by
which you can promote the real good of the natives you must apply yourselves,
even as the great Apostle of the Gentiles, working with your own hands."
Great-hearted Samuel Leigh!—he had little chance of teaching the arts of agriculture
on his first arrival at Whangaroa—though it may be said that his hasty gift of fishhooks no doubt encouraged them in the art of fishing!
On the more direct work of evangelisation, the following passage is worthy of special
attention:
"In giving instruction to the natives, it is of importance, that you rather propose
and enforce with meekness the glorious truths of the gospel, than dispute with
their superstitions and absurd opinions. No true Christians have anywhere been
made by mere disputations, however well conducted. You are to propose the
gospel in its simplest and most explicit truths, as an undoubted revelation from
God, to dwell upon the wretched and guilty state of man, and to invite and
persuade them to be reconciled to God, Do all of this, not with the air and spirit
of dogmatism, but with the sympathy and kind solicitude of him who came 'to
seek and save that which was lost'."
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I believe that the missionaries of every denomination really attempted to carry out the
spirit of these instructions. Of course they often fell short of the ideal, for they were
but human creatures —and in a few cases they were unsuited by temperament for such
a demanding task, surrounded by influences which were wholly alien in thought, and
by physical factors—danger, privation, isolation and loneliness which are almost
impossible for us to understand in our modern environment.
Marsden was a practical farmer as well as a Chaplain with a burning passion for
missionary evangelism, and he believed in what we would today call "subsidised selfhelp", which is one of the cardinal doctrines of UNESCO. He, and others who
followed, of every denomination, wished to lift a primitive people to the material
standards of the white man, believing that the ground made rich and fertile for grain
would also nurture the seeds of the Gospel. It was a wise approach to the problem, but
it had its dangers. You cannot change the mentality of a nation overnight, and the arts
of civilisation imperfectly understood may turn into weapons which inflict grievous
wounds on white man and brown man alike. As we know, this did actually happen in
the case of New Zealand, although the weapons were, not provided by the
missionaries.
A few words in the Instructions to Leigh are worth underlining:
"Rather propose and enforce with meekness the glorious truths of the gospel,
than dispute with their superstitions, and absurd opinions."
It is easy to be an armchair critic of the twentieth century and to bemoan the fact that
the early missionaries did not encourage the mythopoetic faculties of the Maori
people; to be annoyed because they were missionaries and not anthropologists. This is
begging the questions, shutting one's eyes to the magnificent work under-taken by
self-sacrificing men under conditions which would have horrified the critics. They
came as Heralds of the Gospel, not as scientists or pseudo-scientists. We must also
remember that the Maoris were a proud, restrained people who allowed many decades
to pass before they divulged to white men some of the inner secrets of their faith. This
can easily be proved, I think, by turning to the Maori Bible, where the name Atua is
used for God. Atua— the name for a personification of nature, a district god or a
spirit! while all the time the name Io, the Eternal, the Source of Knowledge, the
Parent, the Parentless, the Unseen, the Supreme, the Source of Light, the Vigilant, the
Giver and the Withholder, was there to be used. But the Name was not known to the
missionary, nor to the majority of his congregation. How easy it is to be critical!
But let us return to the "key" words—"absurd opinions". Were they so very absurd?
Maori life was full of fears and superstitions. Ghosts and goblins and weird spirit
forces dogged his path and lurked in the shadows. But so they did with Christian men
and women in the Middle Ages, and although they have been driven away by
twentieth century science, new superstitions constantly rise to take their places.
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An extreme case of this contemptuous attitude towards another faith may be noted in
the journal of the Rev. Joseph Orton, who came in 1837 to investigate some alleged
irregularities in the work of the Wesleyan mission. Orton was an austere but godly
man who was genuinely desirous of understanding Maori beliefs.
"But as regards worship their notions and practices are of so confused a character
as to be quite indefinable as referring to any specific object of adoration, with the
exception of their frequent references to the evil spirit called Wiro. . . ."
Then he refers to the rite of baptism, and says,
"By this ceremony their children are dedicated to this evil spirit Wiro. The
subject of their prayer is that the child may inherit all his infernal qualities of
murderous courage, obstinacy, revenge, and every other vice. . . ."
There was very real element of truth in this opinion, but it was a distorted and, I think,
an unintentionally biassed one. Perhaps it was only natural that the missionaries
should regard the beliefs of the Maoris with a jaundiced eye, but there is no question I
that frequently, and only too frequently, they were incapable of seeing some
foundation on which the temple of the new faith could be built without profaining the
sanctuary. They had forgotten or were unaware of the many early pagan beliefs which
were part of their own Christian inheritance. Too often they attempted to sweep and
garnish an empty room after having driven out the old devil. I am afraid this
conclusion cannot be escaped. There are many evidences that earnest, godly men had
no understanding or training in appreciation of the theological beliefs of the Maori,
and in rightly condemning practices and beliefs that were low and degrading, they
sometimes swept away the sheet anchor of all good conduct before the new creed had
time to give them a rock-bottom of faith.
Eric Ramsden has said that the fare which the missionaries had so earnestly prepared
was somewhat highly spiced for so emotional a race, and that in the calm light of
review there is something to be said for the commonsense contention of Marsden that
the arts of civilisation should precede the benefits of Christianity. "Was it wise,
therefore," he asked, "to force upon a social structure the tenets of an extreme form of
Protestantism? Was it fair to judge the moral delinquencies of the natural-living Maori
by a standard set by John Wesley, a product of another age and totally different
environment? . . . The Maori in his habitual eagerness for something new, had
wholeheartedly consumed a draft that was going to his head."
The missionary took from the Maori his belief in tapu, which was a vital part of his
social structure. "Marsden never laughed at this belief in tapu, which 'assisted the
maintenance of law and order in the community'." But others did not appreciate its
significance. "The missionaries scorned his creed, his innermost beliefs. The whole
social system was topsy turvy. Slaves had actually been made preachers. Earnest
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young Christians, once destined for the communal oven, now had the audacity to tell
their captors how to achieve immortality!"
Added to this difficulty, this handicap of lack of understanding and appreciation of the
finer elements of the Maori mind, were two other stumbling blocks to the attainment
of a real and living Christianity: the bad example set by pakehas who were
unsympathetic with the Church and even bitterly opposed to its principles; and
denominational differences.
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FORCES WHICH OPPOSED THE GOSPEL
You will remember that when Creed came to the Wesleyan mission at the old whaling
station at Waikouaiti, Watkin's first words to him were, "Welcome to purgatory!" In
Yesterdays in Maoriland, Andreas Reischek wrote: "With growing fanaticism and the
cruel narrowness of bigoted belief they (the Maoris) embraced this dance gift of
European civilisation—a brand new creed. The sublime figure of the Prince of Peace,
accepted as a gift from the white man, they saw used only too often as a blind for
robbery and destruction.
Once again, in the name of Christ, muskets, liquor, and syphilis were doing their bit
towards establishing European domination. These are terrible words, but they are
proved over and over again in the remarks of contemporary observers and historians.
Gudgeon said that "the Maori is an observant race and compares practice with precept.
The sin or profanity of an individual produced little impression on the Maori mind, for
they knew that also amongst themselves there were evil men as well as good. It is to
the wickedness of our community that we must attribute the revival of heathenism."
The disruption caused by militant denominationalism was particularly unfortunate.
At first there was cordiality between Episcopalians and Wesleyans. Leigh was
encouraged and helped by Marsden in many ways, and in fact had first come to New
Zealand at Marsden's invitation. There was a good deal of mutual assistance, and the
Maoris regarded them not as rivals but as two divisions of the Christian army. But in
the eighteen thirties the seed of dissension was sown, when it was found necessary to
zone their respective areas of influence. At first Wesleyan and C.M.S. missionaries
united in bitter condemnation of the Church of Rome. T. E. Donne wrote that the
Maori was asked to surrender his belief and accept another one presented to him in
five different faiths and at least three different ceremonial forms. "Had the Christian
religion been presented to the Maori in one definite and concrete form it is more than
likely that genuine conversions to the Christian faith would at that time have proved
more numerous."
The subsequent extension of this bitterness of feeling to Anglicans and Wesleyans was
particularly unfortunate, and adherence to Hahi the Church, Weteri the Wesleyan and
Pikopi the Roman Catholic faith would have been laughable had it not been so serious.
Reischek says that on one occasion, noticing remains of plantations in the King
Country, he asked King Tawhiao how they came to be in that district.
"Once a friendly man," Tawhiao replied, "came to us, a missionary, who loved my
father, and we all loved him, for he turned our bad men into good. We lived at peace
with him, and he taught us many useful things. Then, some time after, a second
missionary came, who taught us different things about the one true God. He told us his
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God was better than that of the first priest. He, too, found some adherents. We Maoris
were then divided into two camps, but were still living peacefully together. Then there
came the third missionary, who preached yet a different doctrine. Where-upon we
chiefs and elders held council, and decided as follows:
"That all missionaries should leave the country and only be permitted to return
when they were of one mind about God; for only one of them could surely be in
the right. If they returned of one accord we should listen to their preachings and
judge of it ourselves. But should the missionaries still disagree, then the chiefs
and elders would kill them.'
"As the last two refused to go, we killed them, and what you see are the remains
of their homesteads."
Reischek must have had his leg pulled, but the moral of the story is true. Watkin, for
instance, said of the saintly but autocratic Hadfield, that he "had something to answer
for in endeavouring to poison the natives' mind against their fellow Christians", while
Anglican converts in Otago in 1842 were no doubt repeating the opinions of their own
missionaries when they declared the Wesleyan Church to be he wahine puremu (a
concubine), and not a true wife, as was the Church of England. This very argument
had previously been used by the Roman Catholics against the Anglicans. It is an old
story now, but it will always remain a sad one.
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THE UNREALITY OF THE FAITH
At this point we may summarise our findings. We have seen that the Maori had
advanced in his thinking to an interesting stage, but that it remained short of the
cardinal virtues of the Christian faith. It has been seen that the majority of the
missionaries were godly, self-sacrificing men, trained for their task in the methods of
their day, but without the tolerance and understanding which later years have taught
us; and we have seen how their work suffered because of the dissolute character of
many of the early visitors to our land, and also from their own internecine warfare.
It is not encouraging, nor is it the whole picture, but if we are to regard the
introduction of Christianity and judge it impartially, we must take these factors into
account. Let us see, then, how damaging is the case of those who have criticise the
work of the Church among the Maori people. Time will permit us only to quote a few
typical observations, but it should be noted that a number of them are related in
Morley's History of Methodism in New Zealand.
The first example comes from a report on the state of New Zealand in 1845 by Felton
Mathew, the first Surveyor-General, and is the more striking because he was not
unsympathetic to the missionaries, and was free of the intolerance that characterised
the remarks of those whose ambitions were thwarted by men of goodwill, who
regarded the welfare of the Maori as more important than private gain. Mathew felt
that the character of the Maoris had been over-rated and that casual visitors had
invested them with qualities and attributes of a far higher nature than they really
possessed. "The missionaries themselves," he wrote, "even the most intelligent of
them, if they have not actually sustained, at (least did not attempt to destroy this
illusion—and it is easy to understand the very pardonable feeling which would prompt
them to avoid undeceiving the British public on this point. Dependent as their body is,
for the means of carrying on their great work, on the contributions of that Public, it is
not unnatural that they should rather have inclined to magnify their labours, by
exalting the character of their Converts. Truth to tell, however, the New Zealanders
are acute, intelligent savages, susceptible no doubt of a considerable degree of
civilisation—but they are, after all, still savages—and every attempt to deal with them
in all cases as more enlightened beings, will signally fail, as indeed it has."
Let us see now what Morley has to say on this subject. Naturally he is not a hostile
witness, so his remarks should be weighed the more carefully. He was firmly of the
opinion that Marsden was mistaken in holding the view that savage nations must first
be civilised and then Christianised. The missionaries themselves were aware of the
difficulties of their task. When the catechism was translated, the children quickly
learned it by heart, showing what excellent memories they had, "but the missionaries
sagaciously observed that the restless eye, and the mechanical manner of its repetition,
showed that the truths made a very faint impression." It might be mentioned
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parenthetically that the missionaries were not always possessed of such sagacity.
There is a delightful passage in one of Marsden's journals, in which he remarked
appreciatively of the quiet manner and the attention paid to his discourse on one
occasion. Butler, who accompanied Marsden, recorded in his diary that the natives
were asleep during the greater part of the discourse.
Sometimes there was active derision in place of good-natured tolerance. Muriwai at
Hokianga "always treated the arrangements for religious services with great levity,
and seemed only amused when the subjects of death and eternity were discussed. . . .
One Sunday the preacher was explaining the parable of the rich man and Lazarus,
when a chief interrupted him by saying: 'We want evidence. When a spirit comes from
the invisible world to Horeke or Mangungu, and tells us that he has seen the things of
which you speak, we will believe him; but all the accounts we have as yet received are
directly opposite to yours. Tell us plainly, are there no places to besiege in the other
world, no people to fight with, no guns? Have you yourself seen any persons who
have been raised from the dead?' Being answered in the negative, he laughed heartily
and said: 'Oh, indeed! Then you only heard it from someone else. You pakehas are no
better than old women.' This of course was regarded by all his people as masterly and
conclusive."
Others had noticed that Maoris were apt to go through the motions without an inner
conviction . . . and this, among Pakeha as well as Maori, is possibly worse than open
hostility. The Rev. Joseph Orton, who has already been referred to as a keen observer,
said that on his way to Paihia he noticed that though the boat's crew could not speak
English, they joined in the hymns of the missionaries. "And though we could not
flatter ourselves that they sang from their hearts," he reflected, "it was nevertheless
most pleasing to contemplate that the words of praise had been put into the mouths of
any portion of this barbarous, cannibal race of our fellowmen."
Seven years after his first visit, Orton was still not enthusiastic over Maori
Christianity, for he regarded much of it as superficial.
When asked to go to a service, some of the natives near Mangungu had replied: "What
will you give us if we do?" According to Orton, they were prepared to accept an offer
of so many pounds in cash: if payment were made they would become regular
attenders —they were content to remain heathen. One so-called Wesleyan chief was
not above accepting the proceeds of prostitution from some of the women of his tribe,
and a modern writer has suggested that his regard for the Wesleyan mission was not
devoid of commercial interest. As we have already seen, the influence of nonChristian Pakeha visitors had a bad effect on the Maoris. Hokianga seemed no better
than the Bay of Islands, which was the sink of the South Seas. The Wesleyan
missionaries reported to London that "a wicked New Zealander [i.e., a Maori], when
reported will turn and say in reference to our countrymen: 'Physician, heal thyself!' "
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While the Maoris were at worship, the crew of a visiting vessel lay about its decks "in
a beastly state of intoxication for the Lord's Day."
The captain and crew of a larger vessel which visited the river to obtain timber,
though in appearance '''most respectable men", conducted themselves "in a most
disgraceful manner". It was not uncommon for the Maoris, when they saw such sights,
to say, "Are not these your own countrymen?"
There were vitriolic critics to be found outside the Church. Lieut. Thomas McDonnell,
Additional British Resident at the Hokianga, complained to the Colonial Secretary in
1836 not only of the Maoris, but also of the missionaries: "With regard to the
missionaries, they have had my best efforts to assist them . . . that they have most
miserably failed is a truth which may not be controverted for the native missionaries,
as they are styled here, are by far the most dishonest and corrupt of the New
Zealanders [Maoris]. This system adopted is decidedly wrong—even the very
Testaments which should be distributed 'without money and without price' are
bartered away for 15 or 20 baskets of potatoes or kumara. A slave may be made to
purchase one, so that the chiefs derive all the advantages that the Gospel presents
while the slave, from not having the wherewithal to purchase, may go to Heaven in the
best way he can." (The relation of the rangatira and the slave to the Gospel will be
commented on in another context later.)
"The missionaries employ too much of their time in secular affairs to promote their
private interests . . . they are meddling, mischievous, and intriguing. They have
purchased and still continue to purchase all the land within their reach and means:
they are grasping, ambitious of power, and the spirit of the Gospel is lost in their
moral turpitude. . . . There is a most un-Christian jealousy existing between the
Church and Wesleyan missionaries that betrays a spirit of uncharitableness, and
instead of co-operating and joining heartily together . . . they blight and wither both by
strife and contention. In fact, it appears that either party were struggling to drive the
other from the field . . . both ostensibly profess to be 'seeking the Lord' while they are
actually labouring to bring the other into disrepute. I have not overdrawn the picture . .
their conduct stamps them as a disgrace to their profession."
In the late 1830s, Pi, a chief of Waimu, became a convert to Papahurihia, the cult of
the Red God, a devilish creed which disrupted the work of the missionaries for some
time. McDonnell declared that Pi had been offered bribes by the Wesleyan
missionaries to join them. "Had he accepted ... a missionary story would have been
trumped up about conversion, etc.," McDonnell reported to Busby.
Much more might be said, but the reports quoted present a fair statement of the case
against the acceptance of the faith, and in most instances are reasonably impartial
judgments; McDonnell must be excepted, for he was a man of violent prejudice . . .
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but it is only fair that he should be permitted to speak. That a great deal of progress
was made over the years cannot be denied by the sternest critics, but the advent of the
Maori Wars provided a sad chapter in the history of Christian missions. So much of
the work seemed to be destroyed at one fell swoop. Christian institutions were forced
to close, and missionaries had to withdraw from the field. Buller records an episode
that was symptomatic of the times:
"A company of Native allies was then associated with the Colonial troops. One
of these called Katene, one day said to an officer of Gudgeon's force, 'Do you
trust me?' 'I do,' replied the officer. Katene sat and looked in the fire for some
moments, then laid his hand on his friend's knee, and said, 'You are right; and
you are wrong. You are right to trust me now, for I mean you well; but never
trust a Maori. Some day I may remember that I have lost my land, and that the
power and influence of my tribe have departed, and that you are the cause. At
that moment I shall be your enemy. Do not forget what I say!'"
Morley commented that "in that utterance is the key to the darkest and most chequered
page in New Zealand's history", and he was right. The work of the conversion of the
Maori race has always been thwarted and hampered by Pakeha-Maori relations outside
the Church.
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THE REALITY OF THE FAITH
Before we consider the evidence for the defence, let us consider a remark made by
Judge Maning which should be kept constantly m mind: "As for the Maori people in
general, they are neither so good nor so bad as their friends and enemies have painted
them, and I suspect are pretty much like what almost any other people would have
become if subjected for ages to the same external circumstances."
May I remind you, at this stage, of Sister Rita Snowden's version of what missions
really are: "Missions are not dates and numbers," she writes. "Missions are people—
men and women and little children and rough homes in lonely places; Missions are
hours and hours of clean, clear reasoning, and Christian statesmanship—in short, the
work of two hands, two very human hands, the one of them reached up bravely and
trustingly to the great God, and the other as simply to one's fellows."
Let T. E. Donne open the case for the defence: "The missionaries were, in the main,
very worthy men, who had given up the comforts and security of civilisation for the
discomforts, dangers terrors and horrors of barbarism. They not only taught
Christianity' but also advanced the civilisation of the Maori in a marked degree and it
is known that they frequently persuaded Maori tribes who were at war to make peace,
and by their tact and personal influence often dissuaded them from making war. Let
us, for the moment imagine a hell on earth, not one of eternal fire, but a concentration
of the worst elements of human degradation: greed, selfishness drunkenness, strife,
lust and heathenism. A place where there existed neither legal nor moral restraint,
where might was right, murder a pastime and cannibalism a cult. Into the vortex of
this bestial licentious and fiendish whirlpool of wickedness, dropped the missionaries,
their wives and children. Their lives were in constant jeopardy
Threatened frequently with death, and their safety dependent on the passing whim of
barbarians, it was due more to the courage, tact and prudence of the missionaries than
the conscientiousness of the Maori, that the cooking-oven was evaded." That is an
impartial statement on the physical background of missionary work.
There was a foundation of native belief on which the missionary could have built, but
the very intensity of that belief provided corresponding problems. You will recall that
the Maori revealed an amazing capacity for meditation and abstraction, and a welladvanced intellectual ability. The Christian missionary in the early years of the
nineteenth century had no difficulty in convincing his Maori listeners of the
immortality of the soul, and in the existence of the after-life, but he did experience
difficulty in convincing them of the torments of hell, and that God who was so allloving should be so unkind as to make them suffer after death, for such a conception
was entirely foreign to their own belief. They (or some of them), believed that the soul
went through a process of purging and refinement before it was ready to live in peace
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in the realm of Io—a conception that would have been appreciated and used as a link
in the chain of teaching of many a modern missionary, but which would not have been
acceptable a hundred and fifty years ago.
There were other difficulties of a more practical or material nature. The practice of
polygamy was one, and on this the missionaries took a firm and uncompromising
stand. One chief, who was advised to give up his second wife, replied that the love he
had to his child and to the woman herself prevented his doing this—and I feel that no
man ever made a fairer or more worthy decision. But to the missionary of 1830 such
an attitude was regarded as an insuperable obstacle to the acceptance of the faith he
had come to teach.
This brings us to an important point—that it was, and still is, easy to confuse the
morality of one civilisation with its religious faith, and to try to impose more than the
faith itself on the native converts. This point of view may be unacceptable to you if it
cuts across your own private interpretation of what is right or wrong in some
cherished belief. What may be wrong for you may be right for another.
Some time after the establishment of the mission station at Mangungu and for a
number of years afterwards, congregations of 800 to 1,000 Maoris were packed into
the church. It has been recorded by one who worshipped there as a boy that "as the
result of colds and lung weakness the expectoration of the natives, who squatted upon
the floor, was usually frequent and vigorous. This was done too with an indifference
of aim that penalised the unpre-tentious but cherished wardrobe of those days. Many
of the natives were the hosts of entomological life which, if transferred to the juvenile
pakehas, led to a course of domestic discipline not to be forgotten." Such matters as
these have been the subject of unfavourable comment, but let us not forget that they
have little to do with Christianity. Soap may possibly be one of the blessings of
Christianity, but there have been many saints of the Church in Europe in past ages
who were unacquainted with its virtues.
When the mission at Hokianga was established, the confused and troubled era at
Whangaroa and the earlier difficulties of the Anglican missionaries were a thing of the
past. The first startling impact of European civilisation had spent itself, and a second
and critical stage had begun. It is with this more permanent state of affairs that we are
principally concerned. The horizon of the Maori mind was being enlarged, and the
Gospel could be put into its proper perspective. Old practices and ways of thought still
persisted, but accounts of lands beyond the sea, clothing, tools, articles of trade,
agriculture and agricultural implements, commerce and industry all had their effect.
The romantic era of missionary work was over. It had settled into a more quiet and
orderly routine, but the hardships and vicissitudes of missionary experience were still
present.
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Within four years of the new start at Mangungu, a distinct change had come into the
lives of the Maoris of Hokianga. We must not argue from the particular to the general,
for individual cases of changed lives do not make a Christian nation, and it is with the
over-all effect of Christianity upon the Maori people that we are concerned. At the
same time we must not forget that Christianity is fundamentally a personal religion.
And so it is at least enheartening to find that in the space of four years, four hundred
Maoris assembled at Mangungu for public examination.
It was found that one hundred of them were able to answer questions from the
catachism correctly, that fifty could read and write a little, and about a dozen could
read their New Testament with ease.
The Sabbath was observed in neighbouring villages, even by those who did not show
allegiance to the Church, and on one occasion an inter-tribal fight was postponed from
Sunday to Monday_which was more than the Queen's soldiers could claim a few years
later.
A story is told of Kotia, a slave at Mangungu, which is a single example of an
important principle. Kotia was deceitful, dishonest and impertinent. One day he
accompanied White to a service at a neighbouring settlement, and as they made their
way through mud and swamp, White told Kotia the story of Joseph. The story made an
extraordinary impression on Kotia. Morley's account of the change is taken from a
contemporary source: "The contrast between Joseph's sincerity and purity, and the
duplicity and licentiousness of the Maoris, and especially his own principles and
conduct was so striking, that he resolved there and then to become an enquirer after
truth. He became humble, obliging, reliable and teachable. For eighteen months he
was tested and instructed as a catechumen, and then, on the last Sunday in 1832, he
was baptised. ... As a convert he showed both zeal and discretion. He assisted in the
school, and became presently an exhorter and prayer leader. Not naturally quick at
learning, perseverance made up for lack of talent. He read and remembered Scripture
texts and quoted them with great aptitude. For twelve months he was in charge -of the
Mission store, and though often tempted by heathen visitors, he was most trustworthy.
Eventually he became a local preacher, and for some years proved his love to Christ
by visiting places far and near to proclaim the Gospel."
Two significant facts emerge from this account. Firstly, the long probationary period
before Kotia was accepted in full as a member of Christ's flock. The missionaries
could not be accused of haste in accepting the apparent evidence of conversion.
Secondly, Kotia was a slave. Do you remember one of McDonnell's criticisms: "A
slave may be made to purchase one (Testament), so that the chiefs derive all the
advantages that the Gospel presents while the slave, from not having the wherewithall
to purchase, may go to Heaven in the best way he can!" Nothing could be further from
the truth! Orton discovered that many of the chiefs remained in "a state of disgraceful
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ignorance", while many slaves could read and write and this, he said, resulted in "an
anomalous sort of persecution." A modern writer, Eric Ramsden, has commented that,
"aware of their intellectual degradation, the chiefs threatened the missionaries that if
they did not instruct them too, they would not only destroy roads and chapels, but they
would withhold their slaves from Christian influence." There was no doubt that slaves
were responsible in no small degree for the rapid spread of the Gospel. In the famous
story of the little girl Tarore, who was murdered, it will be remembered that it was
Ripahau the slave who brought that tattered but treasured Gospel to Otaki, resulting
ultimately in the journey of Tamihana Te Rauparaha and Te Whiwhi to the Bay of
Islands in search of a missionary. There were many such slaves who had been
captured by Ngapuhi in their southern raids. As they were released they carried the
Gospel message far and wide to their own tribes.
There is a striking resemblance in the appeal of the Gospel to the slave community to
the growth of the early Church. It was amongst slaves and poor people that the
message of Christ spread most rapidly; it was amongst the working people of England
that Wesley preached most effectively—and it was the same amongst the Maori
people. Does there begin to dawn a suspicion that this was a normal development?
But as yet we have considered only one positive example of conversion. It would be
easy to multiply it a hundred-fold, a thousand-fold; but still the sceptic might not be
convinced. He might say that it was easy for the Maori to make an empty profession
of faith for the sake of the material advantages he might enjoy. Perhaps we can find
examples which will prove beyond all doubt how sincere were some of the early
converts.
What of Wiremu Patene, Matiu, Rihimona and Hohepa Otene? Surely these were four
young Christians whose names are written in the Book of Life? One Sunday in 1837
they set out from Rotopipiwai at the head of the Mangamuka to visit a chief named
Kaitoke, who was the acknowledged leader of the dreaded Papahurihia cult in that part
of the Hokianga district. Here is the account given by Morley:
"Kaitoke seems to have been an ill-conditioned and bad-tempered native, and
was also greatly under the power of a priest. This priest claimed to be inspired,
and having given Kaitoke some muskets and ball cartridges, he stated that these
would always do execution while he himself remained invulnerable. The
settlement had been visited by teachers previously, and Kaitoke and his party had
threatened that if ever they came again, they would kill them. These young men,
however, said the Saviour had commanded them to preach to all men. True to
their threats, Kaitoke and his party fired upon them. Two of them were shot.
Matiu only lived long enough to say he hoped no one would revenge his death.
Rihimona lingered in agony for some days, and died praying for his murderers.
As the first two martyrs of the New Zealand Church, who literally laid down
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their lives for Christ's sake, their names are to be remembered with honour and
gratitude. Nor were their companions less brave. Patene escaped, though three
bullets passed through his blanket. In spite of threats he remained to watch by his
companions, while Otene, who was out of range ran back to the village from
which they set out, to carry the sad tidings. This event caused much anxiety to
the Mission party. As all the murdered men's friends were bound by Maori
custom to avenge their death, there seemed the prospect of a general war. A large
number soon assembled. The missionaries advised that they should not take the
law into their own hands, but send for Mr. Busby, the British Resident, and get
him to confer with the chiefs on the matter. A war dance was executed, and a
sham fight. Then consultation among the Maoris took place. Some advocated
vengeance, but the Christians pleaded that they should be forgiven, because
Christ prayed for His murderers. At length the latter prevailed; but the resolve
could not be carried out, Kaitoke and his party having entrenched themselves,
opened fire and the Christian chief— Himeona—was killed. As the friends of
the wounded men were about five hundred, they carried the entrenchment by
storm, killed ten persons, and captured the remainder, Kaitoke included. He had
been severely wounded, and being taken to Otararau, he was attended by the
missionaries and recovered. He began to attend the Mangungu service, and on
the first occasion he was present, Wiremu Patene touched all hearts by praying
for his would-be murderer. In the end both Kaitoke and the priest, under whose
influence he had acted, made a profession of Christianity. So even in Maoridom
the blood of the martyrs was the seed of the Church."
But, it may be objected, these were only four men. Let us turn over the pages of
history until we come to the year 1844, and go to Remuera. This suburb of the infant
capital of Auckland was the scene of one of the greatest Maori gatherings ever held in
New Zealand. It occasioned much uneasiness among the settlers, who were few in
number, and to whom the proximity of 4,000 Maoris was an alarming thought.
Wherever Maoris are gathered together there is sure to be a feast, and this one at
Remuera was of gargantuan proportions. Seventeen tribes, from Hokianga and the Bay
of Islands to Waikato, Thames and Kawhia were represented. The reason for the
gathering was the division of the proceeds of the sale of land at Auckland, and the
presentation of some of their grievances to the Governor. The preparations for the
feast had to be seen to be believed. A wall of potatoes, five feet in height and three
feet thick, extended over a quarter of a mile. There were eleven thousand baskets in
the wall, containing about three hundred tons of potatoes. Suspended above this wall
were nine thousand sharks, one hundred pigs, and huge quantities of tea, tobacco and
sugar. Such a hui created the utmost excitement, and such a gathering contained
dangerous elements. The old animosities lay close to the surface, and it was feared
that some ancient grievance might provide a spark which would set off an explosion.
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The most stabilising influence there was the presence of Christian Maoris.
Episcopalian and Wesleyan missionaries accompanied their own people, and
devotions were held morning and evening. On the Sunday, services were held
throughout the day. The newly appointed Superintendent of the Wesleyan Maori
Missions, Rev. Walter Lawry, has described the scene: "I never attended any
Missionary meeting half so telling. . . . Such savages, so tamed; such proud and
haughty warriors, so humble at the Master's feet. ... It was one of the most happy and
interesting demonstrations of the power of the Gospel and unquestionable success of
the Missionaries that I had ever witnessed. Many besides myself saw the grace of
God, and were glad."
There was no doubt that the influence of the Gospel had shown widespread evidence
of its effect on the hearts and behaviour of these erstwhile cannibals. It was not
confined to the centres of civilisation. If you have read Thomas Brunner's account of
An Expedition to Explore the Interior of the Middle Island, New Zealand, 1846-8, you
will have been struck by one of his typically laconic but amazing remarks: "There are
only 97 natives, adults and children, living on the West Coast north of lat. 44°, all of
whom profess some sort of Christianity: 29 of them are members of the Church, and
68 Wesleyans." It is true that there were some sectarian differences, but that was
scarcely their fault. Consider that these Maoris were living in complete isolation from
missionaries, and even from white settlements, yet every single one of them professed
faith in Christ! Could we say that of our so-called Christian community?
What was the nature of this faith? Was it deep-seated and real? Perhaps it is not for us
to judge, but here, for instance, is the testimony of Mary Ann Wunu: "The Spirit of
God showed me all the sins of my heart, and my heart became dark and pained. I
thought all things here were perishing, and I cannot live by them, but the Word of God
endures for ever. This was my thought when I heard the Word of God, therefore I
gave my sins to Christ, and consented to Him, and if I be obedient unto Him till death,
I shall live."
And of Hone Eketone, who afterwards became a native minister: "I will not talk the
thoughts of others; but will tell you my own. When the Gospel came I was in the
house of bondage. I listened, and heard that the new religion was a good thing. I
received this truth, consented to Christianity, and began to worship. Then I thought,
'This is life and salvation.' But no. I went to the class meeting and thought 'This will
save me'. But no. Then I sought for baptism, and thought that would save me; but no,
though I thought I should now be delivered from sin, and be happy. I hoped now all
was right; but found I was still wrong. I went away to Hokianga and came back; but
was still ignorant. Then I saw by the Book, and the teaching of the Holy Spirit, that a
man is not to be saved by outward ceremonies; but by heart work. Great has been my
wickedness. My sins would fill this chapel quite full; and if there were many large
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ships in the harbour, they would all be filled and sunk by the number and weight of
my sins; but I believe God can pardon, and wash them all away; and though he has not
done so yet, I believe He will do so very soon. Finished is my talk." This is
Christianity working in a Maori mind and heart, not a parrot-like repetition of lessons
learned by rote.
As time went by the missionaries insisted that formal professions of faith were
valueless. They insisted on the manifestation of Christian graces. The Catechism was
still learned, but the aim was not now the memorising of the answers, but the
realisation of the truths of the faith. It is important that we remember that the
missionaries were not anxious to encourage precocity.
In the far north Mr. Woon reported that on Good Friday, 1849, "We commemorated
the death of Christ at Katotauru. I preached on the Crucifixion, and described the
events of Calvary. In the after part of the day I continued the subject, and administered
the Lord's Supper to the people collected from the settlements, and spent a solemn and
profitable season. I was pleased to find several respectably clad, and they were
generally clean in their persons. No one rushes carelessly to this ordinance. While in
hand, everything is still as death. One woman appeared in a rich gown, a red-silk
bonnet, and white veil, which had a singular appearance. She removed the bonnet and
veil in approaching to partake. Her appearance formed a perfect contrast to the mats
with which the greater part were clad, and with their dark, tattooed faces. All had
agreed to fast, according to the usage at home, and no food was eaten till the close of
the day. This has been observed throughout the Circuit. They have clear and correct
views of the Atonement."
George Hawke, a respected Australian settler, recorded that when he accompanied the
missionaries to one kainga, "Various matters were reported to missionaries by class
leaders. In two instances it was resolved to withhold class tickets. The persons were
to remain longer on trial. One of the probationers wept bitterly. A woman was
admonished for being lazy. Though diligent in attendance at class meetings, she had
not been regular in her attendance on the publick means of grace." Here was a stricter
rule than we would tolerate within our own church today! The missionaries could
scarcely be convicted of compiling pleasing statistical records of conversions at the
expense of the sincerity of the converts. In fact they multiplied their own difficulties,
and especially so in the case of chiefs who were blest or burdened with plurality of
wives. An application for baptism was made by one well-meaning chief who had two
wives. He considered that his first wife was worthy of greater attention and care than
the second, but he loved them both and could not bear to part with either. George
Hawke wrote in his Journal: "The man appears to have his mind greatly exercised on
the subject. He evidently feels great anxiety."
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Yet in spite of rigid precautions against insincerity and shallowness, in the fourteen
Wesleyan mission stations in 1846, seventeen missionaries had 345 native helpers,
2,960 church members, and 4,874 children at school. By 1853 the numbers had
grown to 4,500 members and 5,846 scholars. Mr. Whiteley estimated that the Maori
population of New Zealand numbered more than 100,000 and that 90 per cent of them
had embraced Christianity. As early as 1836, 700 to 800 Maoris assembled at
Mangungu, and at the time of Marsden's last visit, 129 Maoris had been baptised there
in one day, while a new Apostle Peter had penetrated as far as the Waikato at the risk
of his life.
Think of Hamiora Ngaropi (Samuel Honeybee), the first Maori to be received as a
minister. "Insignificant in appearance, and of no rank, he developed a strength and
maturity of Christian character which won great respect." He had to undergo a long
probationary period as a local preacher. For thirty-one years he faithfully discharged
the duties of a Christian pastor. Through all the excitement of the war period he and
his people remained loyal to the Queen. The later years of his life were spent at
Whatawhata on the Waipa River.Infirmity of age prevented his travelling as formerly,
but long as strength permitted he preached to his own people there. His death, at the
advanced age of seventy-eight, was calm and peaceful, his last words giving assurance
that he was about to enter on life eternal."
We could multiply such examples of genuine conversions; we could show over and
over again how widespread was the interest in Christianity, and how changed lives
had been reflected in the changed habits of a race. Much of it could be attributed to the
impact of civilisation—but civilisation, as we have seen, brought in its train suffering,
vice and degradation. It was the Gospel of Christ alone which saved the Maori people.
At least that is the conclusion which I have seen, the interim consequence of this
impact. But you must judge for yourselves. I have only high-lighted some of the
essential facts in an unscholarly fashion, but at least they are typical opinions and
judgements of people of the time.
Let me ask one question. If an onlooker made the same criticisms of our so-called
Pakeha Christian community today as have been made of the Maori people, could we
escape conviction? Are we better than they—less selfish, or jealous, or self-seeking? I
believe that with all their faults, the Maoris of the days when Marsden and Pompallier
and Leigh planted the banner of the Cross in New Zealand have much to teach us. I
believe that there is an analogy with the development of the early Christian Church in
the time of Paul. And I believe it was a truer conversion of a nation than occurred with
our own forebears, when King Ethelbert of Kent at last accepted Augustine's teaching
and announced that he and his people were henceforth Christians.
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Perhaps the most important statement that I can make is that of Buller, who, writing
after the Maori Wars which had disrupted the work of the missionaries, was able to
say: "Many are disposed glibly to talk about smoothing the dying pillow of the Maori
race. I rather look forward, and see a native Church, with its native ministry, leading
tribe after tribe to the foot of the Cross, and crowning Christ as 'LORD OF ALL'."
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THE NEED FOR THE FAITH
This study of the origins of Maori missions will have little value unless it teaches us a
lesson for the present day. There is no need to dwell on the developments of the
succeeding years. except to remind you that the Maori wars brought suspicion and
resentment of the Pakeha to the Maori people, and went a long way towards
destroying the long and patient work of the early years. The Maoris were in an
unenviable position, for the old mana had lost its power, and in their deep spiritual
need they turned to strange cults—Hauhauism, Pai-marire and Ringatu, and later
Ratana. In each case there was a very definite if distorted Old Testament, and in some
cases even Christian background to these faiths, which are by no means dead.
In a paper read before the Social Sciences section of the New Zealand Science
Congress in 1951, the late Professor I. L. G. Sutherland pointed out that "religion is by
original definition that which binds, and this it is far from doing in the Maori world
today." He said that the latest census revealed more than forty sects, with the intrusion
of a number of more fundamentalist, end-of-the-world, day-of-judgment European
sects which are making their way by high-pressure methods in some Maori districts
and fragmenting the people still further. "It is ... an indication of Maori instability and
insecurity that such changes in religious adherence can so easily take place."
The Churches which first converted the Maori race, amongst which are the
Methodists, still have large numbers of adherents, but there are many Maoris who do
not come under such spheres of influence.
The problem of racial relationships is a vital one. I hope that you never adopt the
cheap, superficial attitude of many white people towards the Maoris, laughing at
stories of traffic in family benefits and childish outlook on life. If some of them are
deficient in these and others respects, the fault is ours. In his natural state the Maori
has no real indecency, is scrupulously polite, generous, not dishonest or criminal by
nature and, in spite of everything that is said about him, capable of sustained effort.
But on the other hand he has lost the faith in his ancient gods, vet is still ruled by
them. We must not confuse our culture with his, for he still has his destiny to work out
in a world that has advanced two thousand years and more in a single century. An
experienced teacher of a Maori school tells me that the toddlers who come from the pa
have several amazing key-words in their vocabulary. Where the white child's life is
framed within such words as Mummy, Daddy and Home, the key-words of the Maori
child's vocabulary are ghost, cry and beer. Perhaps that is too sweeping a statement.
but she assures me that the most important word of all is ghost. The kehua still lurks in
the shadows. And what of beer? The same teacher has said that while the Pakeha
works and lives to build fences between himself and his neighbours, to erect a home
where he can live in peace and privacy, the Maori spends his money on three things—
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telephones, taxis and beer. Why? Because these things break down barriers. The
Maori is not by nature a home-lover. The hapu of the tribe is the unit, not the small
family of father, mother and children. These are national, racial characteristics and, if
they differ from ours they are not necessarily bad. And so telephones, taxis and beer to
break down the barriers that the white man has raised between the collective unit of
the tribe.
These people are doing the very thing that the Church of Jesus Christ is constituted to
do, that it can do. If we can give the sympathy and the leadership, the Maori will
follow. Consider the work of the Young Maori Party, a good many years ago now.
Men like Sir Peter Buck, Bishop Bennett, Sir Maui Pomare, Sir Apirana Ngata, Rev.
Reweti Kohere, Hone Heke, M.P., and others led their people far along the path of the
Christian faith.
The question is not only, have we accepted the Maori people, but have they accepted
us? Are our lives such that they will give them confidence in our faith? We must not
tell them to forget their past. It is as glorious as our own, and we should recall that the
very existence of our social and political institutions depend on our traditions. They
too can build on their past, and develop a culture that will be their own and different
from ours.
Perhaps, as Sir Peter Buck believed, there will ultimately be a fusion of the best
elements of both races. Only one thing we can give them that will endure for ever—
stability, the stability of faith.
"A background of religion," wrote Norman Smith in The Maori People and Us,
"heightens the voice of conscience, and provides y a fertile soil which will nourish an
understanding of obligation, as it will aid the development of character in the
individual, in the family and in the community. I urge its virtues upon the notice of
Maori leaders, but they should watch to see that broad common-sense is not displaced
by bigotry, fanaticism or intolerance."
This emphasis on religion is important. It is enheartening to see how much thoughtful
people are concerned with our present Pakeha attitude of cultural arrogance in which,
as Dr. Piddington puts it, "the desirable ideal of equality is confused with a conception
of identity." A great deal is being said and written at this time on the problem of the
future of Maori life and culture, and it is good that it should be said and written; but,
on the other hand, too little is said about the binding and strengthening influence of
the Christian faith.
Our task is still the glorious work of evangelism; it is the appreciation of the fact that
the Maoris are our brothers and sisters in Christ, belonging to another family with its
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own traditions and outlook. We have done them great wrong, but we can lead them
into the peace and security of the heavenly pastures.
In his transcription of the beliefs of Teone Taare Tikao, Herries Beattie concluded
with these words: "It is hard for a Pakeha rightfully to estimate how' much a Maori
accepts of Christian belief, but I heard him speak well of the Lord Jesus Christ. That
Name, and the power of that Name, is the crucial test, and with this thought I take
leave of my old friend."
And with the same thought I take leave of you, for it is the final Consequence of all
Eternity.
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Other Reading:
MAORI AND MISSIONARY. Early Christian Missions in the South Island of New
Zealand, by the Rev. T. A. Pybus, edited by A. W.Reed. Years of patient and
enthusiastic research by the author into the development of early missions in the south
have resulted in this carefully compiled account of the impact of Christianity on the
Maoris. 8½ x 5½in, 197 pages, 22 illustrations.
THE MAORIS OF THE SOUTH ISLAND by T. A. Pybus. A closely-knit story of the
growth of Maori population in the south through immigration and conquest from the
North Island, and of the effects of the first native contact with Europeans. 8i x 5i, 71
pages, five illustrations.
THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THE MAORI, by Rev. R. T. Kohere. The author was
educated at Te Aute College and Canterbury College, took Holy Orders and returned
to minister to his own people of the East Coast. In his long, active life he has
combined the best of the culture of Maori and pakeha. Illustrated.
TEACH YOURSELF MAORI, by K. T. Harawira. A book that will be a boon to
everyone who is interested in learning the Maori language. Compiled by a licensed
interpreter, this publication proceeds simply, step by step, and is well provided with
exercises and answers. 7½ x 5. Paper boards. Second edition.
REEDS' CONCISE MAORI DICTIONARY. A really popular little Maori dictionary,
invaluable to all who are interested in the language .It contains about 6,000 Maori
words and their meanings, including canoes and famous names in legend and history,
an English-Maori section, and a collection of proverbial sayings in Maori and English.
7in x 5in. Third edition.
REV. C. H. LAWS, B.A., D.D.: Memoir and Addresses, edited by Wesley Parker,
M.A., B.D. A sympathetic biography of a former principal of Trinity Methodist
Theological College, a man who found joy in his work as pastor and in the pulpit,
work he planned with care and pursued with diligence. 8½ x 5i, 162 pages, three
illustrations.
Published by
A. H. & A. W. REED
182 Wakefield Street
Wellington
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