A PIONEER AMONGST THE MAORIS.

Northland Age, Volume 16, Issue 36, 29 May 1919, Page 7

A PIONEER AMONGST THE MAORIS.

THE REV. MATTHEWS.

TWENTY-FOUR years ago there died at Kaitaia a pioneer who was loved and honoured by all with whom he came in contact in the person of the Rev. Joseph Matthews. We reprint the following, from the bunday at Home ” of 1896, from the pen of the Rev. A. R. Buckland, M.A., as we are sure that it will be of interest to the younger generation, and serve to remind therrrof the services rendered to the district by those who have gone before: —

“On November 3, 1895, there died at Kaitaia, New Zealand, the Rev. Joseph Matthews. He was the oldest missionary upon the roll of the Church. Missionary Society, and he died at a missionstation which he himself had helped to found in the year 1*833. When he landed in New Zealand, he and his fellow missionaries were the only European residents amongst the war-loving, maneating natives of the When he died, New Zealand was a prosperous colony, the Christian Church within it minutely organised, and the Maori remnant largely ministered to by men v of their own blood, many of whofn had been his converts and pupils. Some account of his earlier experiences may help us the better tounderstandwhat the missionary cause owes to some of its littleknown workers*

Joseph Matthews came from the Oxfordshire village of Deddington, and, after a year’s training at the Church Missionary Society’s Islington Institution, was sent to New Zealand age of twenty-two, in the year 1831. He sailed a layman, and was not ordained until 1845. It is significant of the feeling towards missions in the thirties, that, of the seven men sent out by the Church Missionary Society in the year Joseph Matthews sailpd, only three were English. Of the others, one was a Prussian, one a • Hanoverian, one a Wurtemburger, and one a Swede. Of these four, two had been trained at the Basle seminary. Mr. Matthews lived to see the day when the very flower of the English youth counted it a jo y to volunteer for fields as forb tdding as cannibal New Zealand s P emed in the early thirties. Mr. Matthews sailed from Ply v mouth on March 18, 1831, under very different circumstances from those who now make the voyage out a welcome time of refreshment and rest. The Government gave him a passage in a convictship leaving for Van Dieman’s Land. The voyage was not tineventful, for it was found that the convicts had arranged a plan for falling upon the officers and crew whilst they were on deck Divine worship, and seizing the ship. The plot was discovered, and the Argyle reached her destination in September, after a six months’ voyage. But the young missionary was still far from his destination, and it was not until March of the following year that he landed in New Zealand. Pt And here it may be convenient io see what, so far, has been done o evangelise the Maoris.

But two societies had, up to .his time, ventured upon the shores of New Zealand. The heroic Marsden had landed on the North Island with the first three agents sent out by the Church Missionary Society in 1814. It was not until 1825 that the first Maori convert was baptised, and no other fruit was fathered until 1830. Hard upon die heels of the Church Missionary Society trod the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society. The true beginning of its work Wair'the visit of the Rev. Samuel Leigh in 1818, and the first appointment was made in 1821. Grave anxieties and severe disappointments tell upon the Methodist Mission, so that in 1836 onlwj one station was held. Yet s<? vast was the change already in progress, that, when Bishop Selwyn came out tp his diocese in 1842, he could say, “We see

here a whole nation of pagans converted to the faith.”

That testimony is the more remarkable when we consider what the forces of the Church Missionary Society were in the year Joseph Matthews was sent out. The Society’s report gives the names of four clerical missionaries, eleven catechists (of whom Mr. Matthews was one), one “ printer,” and one “ artisan.” It was not a strong force, but it included the heroic brothers Williams, and men, who, if less widely known, were worthy to be their helpers. The list also gives one other name, against which is the old-time entry : “At sea ; supposed to be pirated.” This missionary had sailed with his wife, but the ship was never afterwards heard of. Yet if the workers were few, the prospects were deemed hopeful. A survey of the field prompted “unfeigned gratitude to the Father of Mercies.” The missionaries had come safely through grievous peril, were obtaining a greater ascendancy over the native mind, had been allowed to act as peacemakers, had done some translational work, and had been cheered by the baptism of eight adults. Marsden himself was hopeful. He had written home thus: “ The time will come when human sacrifices and cannibalism will be superseded in New Zealand by the pure, mild, and'heavenly influence of the Gospel of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour.”

It was a prophetic statement, soon to be verified in the most wonderful way. Yet, about this time, Henry Williams had written in his diary, “ Felt very weary in body, and much distress of mind at the present state of things in this land. All is dark, dreary, and dire confusion.” But it was the darkness before the dawn. (To be continued.)