A TROUBLE WITH MANY BLESSINGS
1827-1830
“The love of all things springs from the love of one;
Wider the soul's horizon hourly grows,
And over it with fuller glory flows
The sky-like spirit of God.”
J. R. LOWELL.
ON the 26th of April, 1827, Mr. Williams left Raiatea for a second visit to Raratonga. Mr. and Mrs. Pitman had been appointed to work in that island; they now accompanied their friend to their future home. Unhappily the voyagers did not make Raratonga until the 6th of May, and then, as there was no suitable harbor into which the ship could be taken, the missionaries, with their wives, were put into a boat three miles from the shore. While entering the boat, Mr. Williams had a narrow escape from a fearful death. He was handing down his son Samuel, when he was hurled by the waves against the ship, with the infant still in his arms. Both father and child must certainly have been crushed between the ship and the boat, had not Mrs. Pitman promptly seized Mr. Williams by the coat and pulled him into the boat. In addition to the agitation naturally produced by this peril, the missionaries found that their boat was leaking fast; indeed it was only kept afloat by Mrs. Williams sitting in the bottom and baling out the water.
At length, to their great joy, they reached the shore in safety, and soon forgot their recent danger in the hearty welcome given them by the hundreds of natives who thronged the beach. But their happiness was somewhat marred, on the third morning after their landing, by receiving a letter from the captain of the vessel in which they arrived. He said that his ship had sustained so much injury from the waves that he feared to remain longer at his present anchorage. Messrs. Williams and Pitman accordingly went off at once to the vessel, and secured some clothes and a few other necessaries; but they were reluctantly compelled to leave the bulk of their property on board. With these few articles placed in the boat, they had to go nearly seven miles in a gale of wind, which caused a heavy sea. But a canoe from the shore came to their relief, and they landed in safety, to the delight of their anxious friends awaiting them at the water's edge.
When Mr. Williams thus set foot on Raratonga, he had no intention of staying longer than three months. He little suspected that for twelve months that island was to be his home; and that there he should construct his famous ship, The Messenger of Peace.
Quite ignorant of the successes and privation of the coming year, he now assisted in the removal of the settlement to the eastern side of the island, a measure which had been decided upon before his arrival. To his intense gratification, he here witnessed a spectacle which to him must have been of peculiar significance. He was desired to take his seat outside his house, and having done so, a long procession of natives filed past him and laid their idols at his feet. The smallest of these discarded gods was five feet long, and above four inches in diameter; the iron-wood center was swathed with thick rolls of native matting.
The Sabbath following this public renunciation of heathenism, a congregation of four thousand natives assembled for Divine worship. As the chapel proved to be utterly inadequate for such a congregation, it was resolved, in a public meeting held the next day, to erect a building that would accommodate 3000 persons. In seven weeks this structure was finished; a wonderful achievement, when it is remembered that five years before not a native had seen or handled an ax or a plane.
During the erection of this chapel, two incidents occurred which must not be omitted, though perhaps familiar to all. Mr. Williams, while at work upon the building, found that he had left one of his tools at home. He wrote upon a chip a request for the article, and asked one of the chiefs to carry the chip to Mrs. Williams. The man answered, "She will call me a fool and scold me, if I carry a chip to her; what shall I say?" "You have nothing to say," Mr. Williams replied. "The chip will say all that I wish." "How can it speak? has it a mouth?" was the astonished question. The man took up the mysterious chip and carried it to Mrs. Williams. She, after reading the message, threw away the chip, and gave the messenger the required article.
“How do you know that this is what Mr. Williams wants?" he asked in perplexity.
“Did you not bring me a chip just now?”
“Yes, but I did not hear it say anything.”
“If you did not, I did.”
The man caught up the wonderful chip and, holding it high above his head, rushed through the village shouting, "See the wisdom of these English people, they can make chips talk! They can make chips talk!”
The second incident was of a different character. Mr. Pitman, while assisting in the building, had a narrow escape from death. A man who was dragging a heavy beam up to the roof, allowed it to slip, and it descended upon Mr. Pitman, felling him to the ground. He was only stunned, however, and after a time recovered consciousness.
For nearly three months the two English missionaries labored cordially together in the new settlement. Among other plans, one now adopted proved especially successful. The baptized were divided into classes of ten or twelve families each, for the sake of mutual oversight and instruction. These classes met upon the Sabbath-day for prayer, and also to arrange among themselves for reporting the sermon, after a fashion of their own. "I will take the text," said one, "And I the first division," said another. At their next meeting, these gave in their report of the portion of sermon of which they had charge, reporting the Scriptural references, and answering any questions that might be asked by the leader of the class. By thus stimulating the natives to self-help, the missionaries not only elevated the general intelligence of their converts, but also prepared future native teachers for work in other lands.
But Raratonga, beautiful as it was naturally, and white unto harvest as it was spiritually, was not fertile, and while there Mr. Williams suffered great privations.
Upon his wife, never very strong, and now in very feeble health, the results of the hardships were very serious. After his return to England, Mr. Williams said touchingly, "I have seen my own beloved wife sit down at table, and burst into tears at having nothing to eat, week after week, and month after month, but some native roots, and a very scanty supply even of them, but no European food of any kind.... She never did this under a feeling of disaffection to the cause in which we are engaged, or from regret that she had devoted herself to the work of God; it was the mere overpowering of the feelings of nature." In his "Missionary Enterprises," Mr. Williams also notes, " It was upwards of ten years after our arrival in the islands before we tasted beef; and, when we killed our first ox, the mission families from the adjacent islands met at our house to enjoy the treat; but, to our mortification, we had so entirely lost the relish that none of us could bear either the taste or smell of it. The wife of one of the missionaries burst into tears, and lamented bitterly that she should become so barbarous as to have lost her relish for English beef." In consequence chiefly of this scarcity of food, many of the natives resolved to return to the original settlement. The bulk of the population remained upon the eastern side of the island, however, and Mr. Pitman resolved to stay with them; Mr. Williams accompanied the natives who returned to their original homes. Here he had to repair the chapel, and reconstruct the settlement which had fallen into decay.
But a far more serious difficulty, arising from the ancient customs of the island, presented a barrier to the progress of the Gospel. For example, it had long been the rule that, as soon as a young man attained to years of manhood, he must wrestle with his father. Should the son prove the stronger, he took possession of the house and farm, from which he expelled his parents. This "He might take who had the might, and he may keep who can" was not more cruel than the usage called "Ao Anga." This custom was that, when a man died, all his relatives were permitted to come to his house, and there seize both the house and all its contents, indeed all the property of the deceased, leaving the widow and children to starve. Evil as these practices were, they were too deeply rooted to be easily abolished. As a preparatory step to their abolition, Mr. Williams translated into Raratongan the code of laws which had been adopted at Raiatea. These he expounded during the long evenings, when, in his own garden upon the sea-shore or within his house, he gathered the natives around him; and binding them to him by ties as sweet as they were strong, he made their curiosity a means of imparting lasting blessings to their souls.
Perhaps, however, no incident (apart from the shipbuilding) in his life at Raratonga is so interesting as his description of Buteve. Of this man Dr. Campbell remarked, "One hardly knows whether more to admire this man's temporal or his spiritual industry." Buteve's hands and feet having been eaten off by disease, he was compelled to walk upon his knees. Yet he contrived to cultivate his little patch of ground so skilfully that his wife and three children were well supplied with food. His only implement in doing this was a piece of pointed iron-wood. With this he pierced the ground by pressing the whole weight of his body upon it. He then scooped out the thus loosened earth with his wrist stumps, and placed the plant into the hole. In the same manner he removed the weeds.
One evening he greeted Mr. Williams with the shout of "Welcome, servant of God, who brought light into this dark island." After hearing Buteve's account of the incarnation and death of Christ, Mr. Williams said to him:—
“You pray of course?”
“Oh, yes; I very frequently pray as I weed my ground, and plant my food, but always three times a day, besides praying with my family every morning and evening.”
The remainder of the conversation can be best given in Mr. Williams' own words.
“I asked him what he said when he prayed?
“He answered, ' I say, O Lord, I am a great sinner, may Jesus take my sins away by His good blood; give me the righteousness of Jesus to adorn me, and give me the good spirit of Jesus to instruct me and make my heart good, to make me a man of Jesus, and take me to heaven when I die.'
“Well,' I replied, that, Buteve, is very excellent, but where did you obtain your knowledge?’
“From you, to be sure; who brought us the news of salvation but yourself?’
“True,' I replied, 'but I do not ever recollect to have seen 'you at either of the settlements to hear me speak of these things, and how do you obtain your knowledge of them?’
“' Why,' he said, as the people return from the services, I take my seat by the way side, and beg a bit of the Word of them as they pass by; one gives me one piece, another another piece, and I collect them together in my heart, and by thinking over what I thus obtain, and praying to God to make me know, I understand a little about His Word.'”
“His knowledge," says Mr. Williams, "was such as to afford me both astonishment and delight, and I seldom passed his house, after this interview, without holding an interesting conversation with him.”
Encouraging as such an incident was, Mr. Williams could not remain contented at Raratonga. He began to think with much anxiety about the converts whom he had left in Raiatea, and in the spirit of the Arab warrior, who rode into the waters of the Atlantic, longing to carry his religion to the lands beyond, Mr. Williams pondered anxiously upon the islands as yet unvisited by the Gospel. This longing, which was undoubtedly a call from God, had, before he left Raiatea, led him to resolve to visit the Samoan Islands. But his wife then not unnaturally objected to the perils of his long voyage. "You will be eighteen hundred miles away, "she said," six months absent, and among the most savage people we are acquainted with. If you should lose your life, I shall be left a widow, with my fatherless children, twenty thousand miles from my friends and my home!" Mr. Williams, in compliance with this appeal, abandoned his project, and did not again name it to his wife. But now, at Raratonga, Mrs. Williams was visited by a severe illness, which threatened to terminate her life, and during this season of affliction she examined carefully her past career, and at length concluded that her sickness was sent as a punishment for her opposition to her husband's wishes. So, upon arriving at this opinion, she at once said to her husband, "From this time your desire has my full concurrence; and, when you go, I shall follow you every day with my prayers, that God may preserve you from danger, crown your attempt with success, and bring you back in safety." Mr. Williams immediately exclaimed, "This is the finger of God," and resolved to attempt the voyage forthwith.
But for some months no ship had visited Raratonga, and as "he was never more himself than when circumstances demanded an unusual amount of skill and labor," he resolved to build a vessel. Although without any knowledge of ship-building, and even without the necessary tools, which he had first to construct, in less than three months he constructed a vessel of from 70 to 80 tons burden. Remembering the purpose for which he designed The Messenger of Peace, as he named the ship, this vessel has been rightly termed "no less the evidence of his fervid piety than of his matchless skill." The story of this achievement reads like a romance, but it is too long for insertion here. As a specimen of his difficulties, it may be noticed that when he commenced he had no bellows at all adequate for smith's work. As he had resolved to make himself a pair, the only four goats in the island were slaughtered, and their skins prepared for this purpose. Alas, the bellows thus constructed did not answer the maker's expectations; moreover, the rats ate every particle of leather, and left nothing of the unfortunate bellows but two bare boards. Nothing daunted by this ill-fortune, Mr. Williams tried again, but this time he contrived a wooden box that threw wind as a pump throws water. By the aid of this machine he did all the iron work requisite for the vessel; the timbers, however, owing to the scarcity of-nails, were mostly fastened by long wooden pins. The delight of the natives was unbounded when, for the first time, they witnessed the welding of iron. "Why did we not think of heating the hard stuff," they exclaimed, "instead of beating it with stones? What a reign of dark hearts Satan's is.”
After the ship had been successfully launched, she made a trial trip to Aitutaki, which was about 17o miles distant from Raratonga. Makea, the king of Raratonga, accompanied Mr. Williams in this voyage, which proved the seaworthiness of The Messenger of Peace. From Aitutaki a cargo of cocoa-nuts, pigs, and cats was brought, and the new animals speedily reduced the number of the rats that had previously swarmed over Raratonga. Upon his return from this short voyage, Mr. Williams found that, during his absence, the natives had removed the rubbish that had accumulated during the building of The Messenger of Peace; they had replanted the shrubs, repaired the fences, saying, "We will not leave a chip against which, on his return, he shall strike his feet.”
Mr. Williams' leaving was also facilitated by the arrival of Mr. and Mrs. Buzzacott, who landed at Raratonga in February, 1828. Mr. Buzzacott had brought with him a quantity of iron, which proved invaluable in strengthening The Messenger of Peace; but he also brought sad tidings from Raiatea; the teacher left in charge there had died, and his successor had proved himself unequal to the task which had devolved upon him, and in consequence the people had disagreed. At Rurutu the two teachers had quarreled; and, moreover, two of the mission boats had been cast away, and thus seventy-six lives had been lost.
Leaving Mr. Buzzacott to Mr. Pitman's care, Mr. Williams started for Tahiti, which he reached after a fourteen days' sail. From thence he went on to Raiatea, arriving off this island on the 26th of April, 1828. He now generously agreed to lend his Messenger of Peace to the Society, and Mr. Pritchard and Mr. Simpson started in her, to visit the Marquesan group of islands, where they hoped to establish a mission. They were about twelve months absent, after which voyage they visited the Hervey Islands. During this period, Mr. Williams was resolutely endeavoring to reduce the mission affairs to order. He found, on his arrival from Aitutaki, the news of his father's death awaiting him; after this bereavement, death entered his own household, removing this time a newly born babe. While suffering from these afflictions, which he keenly felt, Mr. Williams was greatly cheered by a successful missionary meeting, held at this time. The Christians came in large crowds from other islands, and ten large, decked boats lay at one time in the harbor.
Unable himself to leave Raiatea, Mr. Williams sent a small schooner-rigged boat to visit the remote mission settlements. This was the first expedition that had been commanded by a native, and to Mr. Williams' joy it proved highly successful.
In the beginning of the following year, 1829, he was himself able to visit Rurutu. Here he investigated some charges brought against Puna, the native teacher, and was able to not only acquit, but to commend him. While at Rurutu, Mr. Williams met a native chief who had been waiting at this island for more than two years, in the hope of obtaining a teacher for his native land. During this exile, the man's wife and two children had died, but he had refused to return to his home until he had accomplished his purpose. "I have been bearing all patiently," said this noble man, Philip the chief of Tubai, "as I hope to effect an object that will be good to my land." Mr. Williams was altogether five weeks away from Raiatea, while on this voyage.
After his return, he was much encouraged by the visit in succession of three vessels, whose officers most happily aided the missionaries. The first to arrive was the Satellite sloop of war; the second was the U.S. ship Vincennes; the chaplain of which latter vessel thus records his opinion of the mission: "Much as the sincerity and piety of the church members in this island have been doubted, from all that I have observed, I was led to the fervent prayer that I might myself at last be equally worthy with many of these of a seat at the marriage supper of the Lamb." An even more weighty testimony to the triumph of the Gospel was given by the commander of H.M.S. Seringapatam, the third vessel that touched at Raiatea about this time. His opinion is all the more important because he and his officers at first rather doubted the piety and sincerity of the natives. Mr. Williams, upon hearing their suspicions, at once suggested that the officers should themselves personally examine the converts; a proposition to which they agreed. In three houses the Englishmen proposed a series of questions obtaining such answers as clearly convinced them that the natives were not mere parrots, repeating words which they had heard without understanding their import. As an example of native reasoning, the reply of an old priest to the question, "Do you believe the Bible to be the Word of God, and Christianity to be of Divine origin?" deserves notice. The man lifted up his hands, and rapidly moved his fingers and his wrists; he then opened and closed his mouth, after which, lifting his leg he moved it in different directions. "I have hinges all over me," he said, "if I wish to handle anything, the hinges in my hands enable me to do it. If I want to utter anything, the hinges to my jaws enable me to say it. If I wish to go anywhere, here are hinges to my legs to enable me to walk. When I look into the Bible, I see there proofs of wisdom which correspond exactly with those which appear in my frame. I conclude therefore that the maker of my body is the author of that Book." This Paley-like argument quite convinced the officers that neither this man nor the other converts were as they had suspected, and they cheerfully bore testimony to the intelligence of these ingenious reasoners.
After the Seringapatam had left the island, Mr. and Mrs. Williams paid a brief visit to Tahiti, whither they conveyed their two sons for education. They had not long returned home before a terrible hurricane burst upon Raratonga. It uprooted great trees, demolished several houses, and partially unroofed the chapel. While Mr. Williams was busily engaged in repairing the damage caused by this storm, The Messenger of Peace returned. She entered the harbor the 25th of February, 1830, and Mr. Williams immediately commenced preparing for his long anticipated visit to the Samoan group of islands.