EARLY DAYS OF CHURCH,

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 770, 19 March 1910, Page 6

EARLY DAYS OF CHURCH,

A FREED SLAVE'S INFLUENCE. A freed slave named Bipahau, or'Matahau, was the real founder, of the Christian Church at Otaki. He had learned Christianity in the north, and he taught it to the fierce old Kauparaha's son, Tamihana Kauparaha, who was afterwards a zealoris missionary to the tribes that had been desolated by Ma father. Tamihana Eauparaha, his* consin, and a few more young men went, to Kapiti Island to study, free from the old:chief's molestation. "We learnt every day, every night," said Tamihana later. "Wβ did not lie down to sleep. We sat at night in the hut all round the fire in the middle. Whiwhi (his cousin) had part of the book, and I. part. Sometimes we went to sleep upon tho book, then, woke up and road again. After we had been, there six months we could read a little very

slowly." One of their few text books was a fragment'of tho Gospel of St. Lake, of which the remainder had been need for cartridges.

Rev. 0. Hadfield's Mission. Then a long journey was made to Waimate, Auckland, to bring back a missionary who would reside at Otaki. The Eev. Octavius Hadfield, afterwards Bishop of Wellington, had just arrived, in delicate health, from England. "I will go," he declared. "I know I shall not live long, and I may as well die there as hero," He was destined to live for many valuable years. The Eev. Henry Wil-' liams went with him to establish him at Otaki, where the two missionaries arrived in.November, 1839. They found a deadly feud existing between £he chiefs Tβ Eauparaha, at Otaki, and Tβ Bangitaake, at Waikanae, with regard to the division of the payment made by the New Zealand Company for Port Nicholson. The missionaries were successful in healing - tho feud, and were received very amiably by old Te Eauparaha, who said that now he bad beard them talk he would "lay aside his evil hvays and turn to the Book." Mr. Hadfield was soon busy with his missionary labours. The Ngatiawa people at Waikanae, wo are told, "paid great attention to Mrl Hadfield's instructions, the usual attendance on the Lord's Day at the pa where

he resided being, above five hundred; one hundred attending a school daily, and' very many besides, who did i: not attend! school, learning 'to road and write : bypossessing themselves' of.; a\'book, .and .spelling it'over'until they, were fully' acquainted with every wora in it. By the chiefs and-'-leading'"men of'the Ngatirau-. kawa tribe''(i.e., 'Te- Rau'paraha's,' tribe) ,the' new -teaching was at. first strongly opposed, but. in July 1840 Mr, Hadfield was able.td: state.that the number-of Na--tives, in the- district who met together daily for prayers.could not be less than 4000. The' ancient superstitions were generally, abandoned; and . those who : etfl. practised them > did so in secret. In February,, 1841, the oommunicants at Otaki, where Mr. Hadfield had formerly" met with great opposition, numbered ■ lis, and' the remnant of the heathen party who had been obdurate for four years came at last to iseek'.instruction.' "' '■-.

An. Early! Visitor—Description of Church. ■■' The Rev. J.F. Lloyd, who accompanied Mr./Hadfield on his return to, Otaki ■ after an illness of-several years, .in October, 1849; gave; to th© "Church' Missionary Intelligencer" a most interesting account of the. pa, the Natives, and ' the present ohurch, which was : then in. course of construction. His story is here slightly condensed. "On reaching Otaki," he .wrote, "we , found the inhabitants, to the number'of about"_6oo,; assembled in an open space adjoining tho east end of, their church. Some of the Natives : were standing, the greater part were seated on the ground in their usual posture... As we approached, the men shook their garments, , crying. out: 'Haere' mai!' their well-known form,. of welcome. We were not, however, x favoured with the tangi, the Natives justly believing this mode of reception to be offensive, to the' English: But as we remained , for,ten minutes or a quarter of an hour, according to the Native custom of greeting, their longabsent. friends, about 30' yards apart from the assembled multitude, the women gave .vent to their feelings by sobs and moans, expressive rather of deep sorrow than of joy, while the. tears rolled down the cheeks of many a tattooed and manly face.

"When the first : greetings were over we entered the church—a noble, building, when we consider by whom it was erected. ; It is 80 feet long by 36 wide, and 40-feet high, and .is entirely of Native workmanship. The.. walls are built of huge pieces of totara wood, coloured Ted, of about three feet in breadth and 13 feet in height, and of great ■ strength and thickness. These are let firmly, into the ground, and are placed upright at- intervals of , about three feet, .the spaces between being filled up with that peculiar network that is' sometimes to. be seen in the better description of Native dwellings, but which is executed in Otaki Church in a manner superior to any I have met with elsewhere. The ridgepiece of the roof, which, runs the whole length of the building, and is formed of one magnificent piece of ■totara wood, is supported by three huge pillars of the same timber, running' up the centre of the building. The interior would undoubtedly look much better if the roof had been supported by two rows of pillars instead of one, : thus forming' a centre and two side aisles; but a roof constructed in this manner would have required a degree of skill which-the Natives are not yet masters of, and they naturally wished to have the gratification of building the church entirely by their own hands, any , assistance from strangers. The church is to be lighted by six lancet-ehapod windows on each side, eleven, feet in height,. and by four of the same shape, , but of larger dimensions at the east end. When the whole building is completed it will, I believe, be a standing proof in tho country of this fact—that the Maoris have quite as much natural capacity for tho arts as ourselves, and that in a very few years, if they advance as they are now doing, they will furnish as skilful mechanics as are to be found even amongst our own people.

Otaki in 1849. _ ' "The village—or town, as the Natives call it—of Otaki is not yet finished. Two private houses have been built, which would bo comfortable- residences for any Europeans; but most of the Natives are at present residing in temporary huts,'as they very properly wish to complete the church before they commence their own dwellings. "In the evening there was a congregation of about GOO in the church, which was latjer than usual, many Kalivca

baring come in for the occasion from the neighbouring pas. ' I was delighted with the alacrity and regularity with which the Natives here, and elsewhere along the coast, attended the daily morning and evening services of their church. As the mothers on such occasions have no one to leave at home in charge of their infant children, they carry them upon their backs to church, closely wrapped up in 'their blankets or shawls, according to the Maori fashion. Morning service commences at Otaki, in winter, as soon as it is light, and evening service about sunset, when the wort of the day is over. Every morning, as soon as the service is concluded, school begins,' which is attended by almost the whole congregation, consisting. of old and young, women and children. The adults are formed into classes in the church, as there is no other building large, enough to contain them all; or, if the weather be sufficiently fine, they assemble upon the grass outside. The young are drafted off to the schoolhouse.

Te Rauparaha at School. "It is a singular, as well as most interesting, sight to see the old tattooed Natives, from the highest chief down to the lowest member of society, sitting promiscuously in their respective classes, and catechised, perhaps, by some youngei member of the congregation, . who has been chosen for the office of monitor, on account of his . consistent conduct and superior attainments. There I saw, every morning, the old and once powerful chief Eanparaha, who, notwithstanding his great age of more than 80 years, is seldom missed from his class, and .who,- after a long life of perpetual turmoil, spent in all the savage excitement of cruel and bloody wars, is .now to be seen every morning in his accustomed place, repeating those blessed truths which teach hyri to love the Lord with all his heart, and mind, and soul, and strength, and his neighbour as himself." Describing a Communion service in the' Otaki Church, Mr. Lloyd wrote: "Never have I seen in any English congregation more reverence or devotion than I witnessed upon this occasion; and I may safely say the same of all the public services that I attended at Otaki and the other villages along the coast. The responses of our beautiful, service were given with a fervour and unanimity such as I have never heard in any ohurch in our own more favoured country. . . Their native tunes, which strongly resemble the most ancient chants of the.Western churches, and which are by no means the easiest style of music, were sung by the whole congregation at Otaki, from the oldest/man to the youngest child, in perfect tune as wall as time." '.: i