A VOYAGE WITH MANY DISCOVERIES
1823-1827
“I longed to prove by efforts new
My speechless gratitude.”
BRONTI.
“While it is yet day I must be about my Master's business; and he who helps me onward is twice my friend."—JOHN WILLIAMS.
“FOR my own part I cannot content myself with- in the narrow limits of a single reef; and if means are not afforded, a continent would to me be infinitely preferable, for there if you cannot ride you can walk.”
These remarkable words were written by John Williams to his Directors towards the close of the year 1823. They exhibited the restless energy to which, humanly speaking, the great expansion of his work during this year may be attributed. He discovered Raratonga during 1823, and that island became the fruitful mother of many missions.
The immediate cause of his new enterprise was the account received from the two teachers left in Aitutaki. They had been at first ridiculed by the natives, as "two logs of driftwood cast up by the sea;" subsequently the people changed their opinion of the teachers, and promised that, if Mr. Williams would come to visit them again, they would abandon their idols. Accordingly, on the 4th of July, Messrs. Williams and Bourne left Raiatea, accompanied by six native teachers. During the voyage to Aitutaki, Mr. Williams prepared a series of counsels for his native helpers that are deeply interesting, as, exhibiting both his own ideal and his unwearied activity for the conversion of the heathen. Himself a deeply spiritual man, he advises them thus: "Work well and pray much. Think of the death of Jesus; and reflect that the natives of the islands to which you go are purchased with His blood." He warns them that the heathen "will watch you with rats' eyes, to find little crooked places in your conduct." An indefatigable worker himself, he could say without shame, "Remember well your work. Give to it your hands, your mouths, your bodies, your souls, and God bless your labors! In your temporal concerns be diligent. A lazy missionary is both an ugly and a useless being." His own career is a beautiful commentary upon his concluding sentences. "Have singleness of heart to Jesus and His Gospel. Search His Word, and pray to Him that He will not leave nor forsake you.”
The voyage, thus wisely employed, ended on the 9th of July, when he landed at Aitutaki, and found that "the good Word had taken root" there indeed. The natives, as they crowded round the vessel, held up their hats and books and repeated portions of the Catechism or the grace before meat as a token of their faith in Christ. Upon landing, John Williams found that the native teachers had set a good example of industry to the people; and that, in consequence, many houses had been erected and furnished by them in imitation of the teachers'. The Aitutakians had abandoned idolatry and the eating of human flesh, and had erected a large chapel, which they wished Mr. Williams to declare open. The pulpit in this chapel was ingeniously constructed, like the chapel walls, of wattling plastered over and then whitewashed. Nothing that the teachers did amazed the natives so much as this whitewashing. When the coral was placed in the kiln to be burned into lime, the bystanders shouted, "Oh, these foreigners, they are roasting stones! "And when the whitewash was dry, they exclaimed," The very stones in the sea and the sand on the shore become good property in the hands of those who worship the true God and regard His word.”
The success thus achieved during the short period of eighteen months, greatly cheered Mr. Williams. He wrote in his journal, "I hope for great things, pray for great things, and confidently expect great things to result from these labors." At Aitutaki, he found some natives of Raratonga, who had been driven out of their course by a gale. They had become Christians, and greatly desired to return to their native land. So he took them on board, and, accompanied by the king of Aitutaki, thirty-one of whose discarded idols lay in the hold of the ship, and Papeiha, one of the teachers of Aitutaki, he sailed in search of Raratonga. For eight days he sought in vain; at the end of that time he directed his course to Mangaia. The natives here, at first, were very timid, but, after Papeiha had visited them, they consented to receive teachers. But when the teachers had landed, their goods were seized; one man broke a saw into three pieces, and hung the sections from his ears. Nor was this the worst; Papeiha had a piece of cloth thrown over his head, which was twisted in order to strangle him; others received even worse treatment. Papeiha and his friends reproached the chief with perfidy in permitting such outrages after having promised to protect the teachers; the man replied, "That in Mangaia all heads were equal." Under the circumstances, Mr. Williams decided to abandon his purpose of leaving teachers among these savages. He resolved, however, upon his return home, to send two single men to Mangaia; this was subsequently done, and the two missionaries were well received by the people of Mangaia, who ascribed a pestilence that broke out among them to the anger of the God of the strangers.
From Mangaia, the missionaries proceeded to Atiu, where two native preachers had been living for two or three months. But they were not prospering; they had been stripped of their property, and were even suffering from hunger. The chief of Atiu came on board the mission ship, and the king of Aitutaki at once zealously attempted his conversion. He took him to the hold of the vessel, and showed the astonished chief the once dreaded idols, now treated with ignominy, and without much difficulty persuaded him to renounce his idolatry. The new convert conducted the missionaries to two small islands that were under his sway. There he abolished idolatry, and advised his subjects to accept the new teaching. The people of Mauke and Mitiaro, as these islands were called, were extremely simple; upon seeing the goats, which had been brought by Mr. Williams, they called them "birds with great teeth in their heads." The king of Atiu informed Mr. Williams that Raratonga was not more than nine days' sail distant, and gave him the bearings of that island.
Mr. Williams resumed his search, although the natives of Aitutaki did their utmost to dissuade him from persisting in his purpose, saying that the Raratongans were treacherous and fierce cannibals. But in spite of their advice, the search was continued for five days, but, as before, in vain; at the end of that time the provisions being almost all consumed, Mr. Williams promised that if the land was not sighted before eight o'clock he would turn back. Within half-an-hour of the abandonment of the enterprise, the look-out man shouted, "Here is the land we are seeking.”
Papeiha landed with another native, and addressed an immense string of people. The king of Raratonga, Makea by name, then came on board The Endeavor, and readily promised to protect the teachers brought for his people. Among the Raratongans conveyed home by The Endeavor was the king's own cousin, whom he greeted affectionately. Relying upon Makea's promise, the teachers were landed, but during the ensuing night they were so shamefully treated that Mr. Williams would not allow them to remain. Papeiha, ever ready when there was danger, offered to go ashore alone and to remain in Raratonga on condition that a colleague, whom he named, should be sent to him. This appeared the only possible course open, and for four months this devoted man labored alone, except with such little aid as the converts brought with him could render. The tiny company increased rapidly, and within a year they erected a chapel at Raratonga, six hundred feet long.
As in many other lands, strange events had prepared the way from afar. A heathen woman, before the arrival of The Endeavor, had brought from Tahiti some rumors of the Gospel. Makea, after hearing her story, had named one of his children Jehovah erected another Jesus Christ. An altar had even been erected to Jehovah and Jesus Christ, which had become fatal for the cure of disease. The Unknown God, whom they thus ignorantly worshipped, was declared unto them by the devoted Papeiha. The first convert who rewarded this earnest worker's entreaties was a chief, who learned how to pray from his friend's lips. As Papeiha, worn out by fatigue, dropped off to sleep, this man awoke him by saying, "I have forgotten it, go over it again;" this happened more than once during the night, and the prayer was repeated again and again: Others of the heathens were interested by the sight of Papeiha's Testament, saying, "There is the God of that man! what a strange God it is, he carries it about with him." An amusing incident connected with this period may be related here. A favorite cat, which had been landed from The Endeavor, while rambling about the island, visited a priest who had renounced his idols under Papeiha's teaching. The man's wife, seeing the cat's eyes shining in the dark, awoke her husband and said "Get up and pray, get up and pray." Puss, however, decamped before the prayer was finished, and being void of fear took up her abode in an idol temple. The worshippers, unaccustomed to such animals, shouted, when they saw the cat, "Here's a monster from the deep! here's a monster from the deep!" Unhappily the cause of all this terror came to an untimely end, by the hands of some valiant warriors.
'Without knowing to what Papeiha's work would lead, Mr. Williams returned home, leaving his devoted helper alone in Raratonga. He had been absent upon this, his first missionary enterprise, about five weeks. To his father he wrote, after his return to Raiatea, My heart is as much alive to missionary work as it the first day I set my foot on these shores; and the work of my Lord and Savior I desire to live and to die. My highest ambition, dear father, is to be faithful to my work, faithful to souls, and faithful to Christ; in a word, to be abundantly and extensively useful.”
Being such a man as he thus describes himself to be, it is not wonderful that he could not remain idle at Raiatea. So in a small schooner he visited Rurutu and Rimatara. In each island he was more than satisfied with the progress already made; and in Rurutu he had the joy of administering the Lord's Supper, for the first time in that island, to sixteen persons, who were the first-fruits of the mission there. As might have been expected from the ordinary course of affairs, the great success of his recent voyage was followed by an equally great trial.
Some selfish merchants had induced the Governor of New South Wales to put a duty upon the tobacco brought from the South Sea Islands. This was a serious blow to the new industries of sugar making and trading in cocoa-nut oils, pearl shells, and other articles, all of which were affected and depreciated by the new fiscal arrangements. Simultaneously with this misfortune, Mr. Williams received a letter from his Directors, censuring his conduct in purchasing The Endeavor. Although he still retained his own opinion, Mr. Williams at once called the chiefs around him, and communicated these evil tidings to them. They at once determined to freight The Endeavor with native produce, and to sell both cargo and vessel in Sydney, for whatever amount, in the altered circumstances, they could obtain. While thus loyal to his Directors, Mr. Williams felt keenly the folly of the course he had been compelled to take. "Satan knew well," he remarked, "that this ship was the most fatal weapon ever formed against his interests in the great South Sea; and, therefore, as soon as he felt the effects of its first blow, he wrested it out of our hands.”
He appealed in vain to the Directors to supply him with a ship, if only to keep the trading vessels (which he called "the very arks of Satan") away. Like the wise man that he was, he did not desert or relax his labors because thus disappointed. With him, as with all strong cedar-like natures, the load of snow upon the branches meant deeper rooting and growth. Confined now to Raiatea, he employed his energies in devising new methods of work there. Among other services arranged, he called a solemn meeting on the New Year's day of 1824, for the purpose of review and re-dedication to God's service. After a substantial repast, the serious engagements of the day commenced. Among the speakers on this occasion was the king, Tamatoa himself, who counseled his subjects thus:—"Let not our profession be like the bamboo, which when lighted blazes most furiously, but leaves no firebrand or charcoal behind for future use.”
Shortly after this useful and happy meeting, one of "the very arks of Satan," laden with spirits, visited the island. Finding that he could not dispose of his cargo in Raiatea, the captain, in revenge, decoyed two or three women into his vessel, and then set sail with them on board.
But a greater trouble even than the annoyance caused by this scandalous conduct now arose. The situation of the settlement left it much exposed to the violent tempests that swept down from the central mountains. As the devastations caused by these tornadoes much disheartened the people, Mr. Williams suggested that they should remove to the other side of the island. This the natives agreed to do, and very shortly a new settlement extended nearly four miles along the seashore; but this time to windward, or upon the north side of Raiatea. Although this entailed very much additional labor on himself, Mr. Williams did not altogether regret this removal. The South Sea Islanders resembled Haydon, who confessed that he required “a great work to keep his mind excited." After forming the first settlement, the Raiateans were relapsing into their habitual indolence; the migration was beneficial, inasmuch as it compelled them to labor once more. But, shortly after this transportation, death again visited the mission band.
On the 7th of March, Mrs. Threlkeld died, and her husband returned to England, with his four motherless children, one of them an infant in arms. In spite of, or perhaps even in consequence of, these trials, the native church continued to prosper; for the number of the baptized had now reached 900 persons. A mischief-maker, and even a busy-body, were remorselessly expelled from the new community; in this course the church at Raiatea might perhaps be imitated by far older churches with advantage.
Among the visitors who brought sunshine with them was the chief of Rurutu, who did not forget his benefactors. He brought with him a young man, whom he wished Mr. Williams to instruct in the mechanical arts of which he was master. While superintending this young man's education, Mr. Williams was able to spare time for the translation of the Holy Scriptures into the native tongue. How he was able to carry on at once so many things, and to excel in each, is a mystery. It was probably because, like Fowell Buxton, "he brought a whole man to bear upon everything that he undertook;" and, therefore, exhaustive as the process was, he was able to effect what might well have occupied the strength of several men. Nor was his wife less industrious; among her many works of mercy, a large class for lame, deaf, and blind old women must be considered as the most worthy of notice. "We were laid aside as castaways, but now we begin to live again," was the touching remark of one of these poor creatures. No examples of Mrs. Williams' instructions have been preserved, but an anecdote may be here given showing her husband's aptness to teach. He was talking to a chief who had repeatedly hindered the teachers in their work. "I spoke pointedly to the chief on the advantages of union and co-operation, which I illustrated by stating that twenty men might easily draw a heavy log from the mountain to the sea, if all pulled at one rope and at one end; but that if a rope were fastened to either end, and ten men pulled one way and ten the other, they would never get the log to the sea.”
Under instruction so suitably conveyed, it is no wonder that the mission continued to increase. So much did it grow that a new and larger chapel was opened on the 8th of February, 1826, in the new settlement. In response to Mr. Williams' appeals, Mr. and Mrs. Pitman were sent out from England to labor in Raratonga. For a time they remained at Raiatea and undertook the care of the school while acquiring the language. To this new friend Mr. Williams lamented: "Had I a ship at my command, not one island in the Pacific but should, God permitting, be visited, and teachers sent to direct the wandering feet of the heathen to happiness-to heaven." But his complaints fell upon deaf ears, and he was compelled to undergo that difficult service of waiting, not idle waiting, by any means, for he now taught himself the manufacture of ropes, constructing with his own hands the requisite machinery. The cables thus produced were disposed of to captains of ships, and thus a new industry was opened to the Raiateans.
In a letter to his sisters in England, written about this time, Mr. Williams says, “I will give your husbands, my dear sisters, a Raiatean cure for a scolding wife. I have a young man at work for me, who is a very good tempered, and a very droll fellow. His wife is very fond of him, but is at times troubled with a terrible itching under the tongue, and while this lasts, scold she must. The young man listens to the effusions of her anger very patiently, and, while she is scolding, he quietly opens the New Testament, and begins to read it aloud. At this the wife storms out—’Why does this fellow read the Word of God? ' And the husband calmly replies, ' To calm your troubled spirit my dear, and to support me against the volleys of your wrath, lest my anger should be kindled too.' The loving wife soon perceives that it is of no use for her to scold, so she embraces her husband, smiles at her own folly, and promises in future to regulate her tongue!”
Towards the end of this year, on the 28th of November, 1826, Mr. Williams' second son was born. He was named Tamatoa, after the King of Raiatea, his father's friend. It is needless, perhaps, to say that the Rev. Samuel Tamatoa Williams is now the successful and honored minister of the Congregational Church at Catford Hill, Kent.