EARLY CHRISTIANITY IN ML

NZ Truth, Issue 571, 27 May 1916, Page 6

EARLY CHRISTIANITY IN ML

Samuel Marsden's Successors m the Mission Held Gleaned from Many Sources and Authentic Records — 1814-1852 £ Facts ami Figures, Compiled by j. M. Forde. The Arrival of Bishop Selwyn— Creation of an Anglican Diocese Book 6.— Chapter 4 ' < Marriage of the Bishop to be— Advising Recruit* During Crimean War.

On Jane 25, 1839, George Augustus Selwyn was married, his father laying aside for a time the cares of law, and taking his son's duties ias private tutor to his pupils, m order to allow him to go on a wedding tour. He would seem to have his course shaped for him and to be Justified m looking forward to a career of competence and easy prosperity. Mr. Gladstone man appreciative letter- to the editor of the "Times," on April 17, 1878,' had stated that m the case of Mr. Selwyn a distinguished and honorable iluture was assured to him m England* and •«• that he contemplated nothing beyond it. Thus Gladstone:— i Until almost the eve of his accepting the bishopric of New Zealand, he had never thought of such .a Step. . Every influence that could act upon a man appeared to mark fr<m lor profennent and prosperity m England. Connected as tutor with families' of rank and influence, universally popular from his . frank, manly and engaging character, and scarcely less so from his extraordinary vigor as an athlete, < he was attached to-Etdn! where he resided, with a love surpassing even the love of Etonians. In him- , self ho formed a large part of the life of Eton, and Eton formed a large part of his life To him is due m no small share the beneficial movement m the direction, of - religious 'earnestness which marked the Eton of forty years back, [say m the thirties], and which ■was not, m my .opinion, sensibly affected by any influence extraneous to the place itself.' At a moment's notice, on a call of duty, he tore up the singularly deep < roots which his life v had struck Into this soil of England. '""*.■ . . * ; f \ * ■'' There were some of Sejwyn's contemporaries who averred that he was always' preparing himself for a probable future of which he had no clear conception. One thing Is Certain, that, ho , did not look forward with any eagerness to the llfo of an easily placed well-bene-flced English rector; the conditions of such a ministry would hot satisfy his aspirations for , active service nor exhaust his burning zeal. The great extension of the Colonial Episcopate had not commenced m 1839, neither had any foreshadowing Of that remarkable movement been revealed to the church, but the chivalrous splijlt which dwelt m the breast of such men as Honry Martyn, , m our own communion, and m Xavier, Schwartz, Z*egcnbalg and Carey, men of different creeds and hardly less varied gifts and powers, possessed m the fullest measure the heart of Selwyri; ha held and made ho secret of the fact; that tho soldiers of the Cross ought to consider themselves always at the command of thelKsuperiors ready to go anywhere and do anything. ■•"■■■■ V. -' ■.■■■# -; • i' 9". - "■' ■ When a quarter of a, century later (1n' 1854), '-.he said m one of his four famous Advent sermons,' preached before tho University of Cambridge, "Offer yourselves to tho Archbishop of Canterbury aa twelve hundred young men have recently offered themselves tp the Commander-in-chief [for service In tho Crimea, m the war between France, England ana Turkey and Russia]; m thus appealing to the zeal of hfs audlonco ho was but Inculcating what had been to himself r a rigid rule of duty; only thus can w<it account for tho testimony of hl» friends that "he was always preparing himself for work tn tho future of whatever kind it might be," and it is certainly truo that .on hta marriage he took a pledge from lila v/lfo that she would never oppose hIH nfolng wherever] he might be ordered on duty. Prefernjont came m his way, US \va« likely, more than once, but he was not keen to Accept U; his thought* were evidently directed to more (Hutnnt scones, and It Is worthy of notlcu that m a letter written In /Vußust, 183H, some six woeka after his Marriage, tho purport of which wus to otYcr congratulations to a friond on tin?' marriage of a member of lfer family, tho following pa^isugc occurs, Imvlntf no connection wl(ih any. other part of the letter, and by Us very abruptness showing how firmly the matxtr imd tul«m posaeaslon of his th Alights: A good deal of interest Ih bolng exerted about a new colony m Now Zoulaud, find strong wishes are expressed that tho Church should bo well vutablluhcd at first on a

good footing, and not be left as m Australia, to bo built up after dissent and Popery had taken deep root. ■.■■>.;■ .■ .■ ; • : <.'•■". • This rather -ungenerous sentiment: is unfortunately occasionally given expression to m our day. But it was no fault of the British Government that th© Anglican' Church did not take root m Australia.. Australian colonisation was thirty years old before Roman Catholics were recognised, and "Dissents," as , Mr. Selwyn bo elegantly terms it, were only permitted as school i teachers. All this time Church of England chaplains, from Samuel Marsden dqwn, wero drawing good salaries, had churches built at public expense, bad large grants of land given them, held seats on the magisterial, benches, and j considering all things, it is a wonder that the Protestant faith did not take deep root. While Mr. Selwyn was penning the above paragraph, Bishop Pompallier and many "Dissents" had been vigorously implanting the seeds of Christianity m the Maori mind, and it was only as I have pointed out earlier m these articles, when "Rome" and "Dissent" showed such vigor that the Ang-lican Church awoke to the fact that the . authorities y were neglecting something. ♦ ""■.■# • In the autumn of 1839," the Powis family offered Mr. Selwyn a living, to which- hey supposed -he,' would not „ be obliged to go until Easter, 1841, by which time he hoped that the now Church of Windsor would be complete. There was another living of greater value offered him, but he appears to have been indifferent about the whole matter. Even 'in 1841, the '"year which saw his departure Jor New Zealand, he had contemplated a country benefice as his lot, for it is on record that he came to Xiiricoln's Inn on Sunday, January 24, 1841, and described his future vicarage as "antique, without being venerable and ruinous without being picturesque," Yet he did not despond about the place, for although told that the Squires wero the worst sort of "Squire Westerns," ho replied, that however that might be, Lord Powis and his brother were determined to get their estates and^Jjivings into good order, that it was a great privilege to act with such men and that the very fact of the living being m a bad state ought to be an encouragement to take it; that If he could hold it for three gr four years bo might brftig things a 11 ttlo In order and smooth the way for other comers. (To be continued.)