EARLY CHRISTIANITY IN N.Z.

NZ Truth, Issue 568, 6 May 1916, Page 6

EARLY CHRISTIANITY IN N.Z.

Samuel Marsden's Successors m the Mission Held Gleaned from Many Source* ami Antkentk fcecwd* — 1814-1852 \ Facts and Figurw, Compiled by J. M. F«nf«. The Arriral of Bishop Sdwytt— -Creation tf an Anglican Diocese i / Bock 6.— Chapter 2 Dr. B«lwyn at Eton .and Cambridge— -As Ttator to an Etui— Successful -a« an Athlete. "

Near the close of his undergraduate days, George Selwyn discovered on coming: home at the end of the teem that his father was minus carrtago and Parses. On asking the reason, he found that four sons at>Eton and Cambridge were a heary drain, and that necessary retrenchment needed the discontinuance of the luxuries m question. George then declared that he would earn his ovrd living and never burden his parents v and his high position on the tripos /followed at a later 'period by a tollowsnip at St. John's enabled him to put his resolution Into practice. < , • ■■ • ... „•■.. '■ The intermediate term, which occurs between the taking of the B_A. degree and commencing serious work, was In the case of G«orge Selwyn of short duration, but while It lasted it was spent m foreign travel. No one could blame a young man of 22 summers, fresh from the successful labors of the university, if he devoted some time to the recreation and teaching which arc not to be found m Continental ramblings. In after life the bishop looked upon them as a perilous time; it had probably been no wasted time to Mrn t but there was no settled purpose of mind) about It, and mere enjoyment without such, an object he always deprecated, although no man more keenly enjoyed "nature and human nature* than he did when b* cam© upon them m the way of duty. ■■••.-:': ,■•.-.•.■'• How vivid, says Tucker, was the remembrance of the temptations which this period had brought to himself was shown by the anxietr "which he felt when his elder son arrived at a similar stage In his career. On« who was often by his aid* axwt la bis c*o»**l» m N«w Zealand writes: "We wore m a dlngbey making for a large ship, bound far England, m which he was thinking of sending his wife homo to look after her elder son who was Just going to take his B-A. degrees. I was regretting that he did not wait two years and then , go home himself with Mrs. Selwyn and bring his son back with them to New Zealand. 'No,' he said, 1 remember the wasted time I spent after leaving Cambridge, having no definite place of life and fancying myself free to pleas© myself; so I wish the boy's mother or myself to be on the spot to direct his stops at that Important epoch of Ufa.'" •• . • To his younsror son noon after bo commenced residence at Cambridtfo, he wrote words of counsel which had a wider range and are capable of a mor© extended application: ' "I remember my flrst going to Cambridge and how unpleasant it como after Eton; but after a whtlo the many distractions of Eton rather recommended the place as one where In some measure lost time might be made up. And yet m spite of many resolutions, I lost much time there also. I see In every letter that you have the same disposition as my own, 'A 'strenua Inertia,' active trot not pressing towards a point; never actually Idle, and yet never really working to an end; and yet Christian life m all its varieties Is nothing but pressing towards a mark, and that mark ■ must bo a different one; not a boat race today, or a drill to-morrow, or a party the next day, but a fixed and steady sight ot a distant prize to b« won only by long and steady perseverance In welldoing." • • • In May. IS3I. only four month* after taking hia dotfroc. George Ausruaiu* Solwyn's Continental wamlftHngH came to an end nnd the rnoro serious work of life bogan. H« returned 10 Eton, which m tho words of Mr. Gladstone, ho loved with a lovo passing the love of Etonians and acted aa prlvuUi tutor to tho prcHont TISTO] Karl of Powls. 110 was only one of many young gradual** who held uimllar appointments; tho mere fact of tlnsm being choHt-H for th<? work which they had to do, proved th«im to hay« been men of more than common attainment*. Homo of them? had attained higher distinction ut the University than ScJwyn nnd y«t, while hft nuver assumed the l«&d«r*htp In anything, nil hi« companions luturnlly r<»Kurd<Ml him «* their U'ftd<»r. whether m mudy ur recreation: msd not the k'&at txxubto a(gn of the honor In whicU h« watt bold, and of too connection, tttwyai I

prophetic, that there was a career before him which would one day lend a value to the records of each period of his Me is afforded by tho fact that his sayings and doings were chronicled by more than one of his contemI poraries. and that these pages (Tucker's biography) are Indebted to the carefully preserved Jottings of a friend who nearly half a century ago acted towards him the part or a. friend. ■'■■■ • • . • ' . From these records and from the testimony of his friends who survive, it It clear that he was, as one describes him, "the leading sport of a happy ' circle." In all bodily exercises he was facile princeps; ho delighted m the river, and was m great request as the • charon" of ladies; he was wont to take prodigious walks, finding his way across country by the help of a pocket compass, and often] when taking the daily constitutional he would run across a ploughed field "to Improve his wind." On one occasion being tho

subject of some friendly banter, because he had not Icept a good place m the hunting-field, ho privately hired' horses and literally rode steeplechases, making his way m a straight line across country- to some church or other given landmark, .and allowing n^^fog" to divert him; and this skill so painfully acquired, did him good Bervice, when, as m New Zealand he bad to travel much on horseback. It was to his perseverance m this respoct that he owed the kudos he got at Wellington by riding a borse "whlci ft cblat had lent Mm. As he went along tbe beach he waa.baOed. by every Mnorl, M Tena korua koto hoblba whakataka." (There George, you ; and buekjumper). And on asking the reason of the, unwonted salutation, be was told that he was tiding- the wont buefcjumper m the oountry. Another Instance of his skill, valueless m itself.s but which, witnesses to his indomitable patience, was the way In which he brake a vicious horse called by the Maoris Rona, or the man In the moon. For two long hours be tried m vain to put the pack-saddle on his back. At last , covering the horsed eyes with his pockethandTeeiM chief and holding up one foreleg With one 'band, he pot. the paok-saddle on with the other. His patience m all things, great or small, was Indomi*able. When Sir George Qrey brought some iftbras >lnto the country and vain attempts were made to, ride them, a native chief asked if the Bishop had ever tried to break them m. On being told that it was impossible to do so, he replied, "How sot he has broken ns In and tamed too Maori boaxt, wfagr not tho xebrat" (To be Continued.)