Te Pipiwharauroa 7

Te Pipiwharauroa 7

No. 7

1898/09/01

(Maori Version at NZETC)

[1] He Kupu Whakamarama

[2] He Kupu Whakamarama, Number 7, Nelson, September 1898 Editor: Rev. F A Bennett.

THE ADDRESS OF THE BISHOP OF WAIAPU TO THE HUI HELD AT RAUKOKORE, 1898

I am very pleased to be at this gathering, where we can together reflect upon the things which will advance the well-being of this part of the Church of Christ.

Last November I returned to England for the gathering of the Bishops of the Churches associated with our Church. 194 Bishops attended that meeting. One of the great concerns of that meeting was the work that God has appointed for this Church, that is, the spreading of the Gospel to all parts of the world. We are not yet fulfilling this work. Perhaps here this good work amongst us has gone backwards because we are dispirited about the enlarging of the Kingdom of Christ in New Zealand and throughout the world.

In February I was informed by telegram of the death of one of the Bishops I met, Selwyn, who was Bishop of the islands of Melanesia after Bishop Paterson. This is a sad matter for us, indeed for the whole Church.

One thing I have to tell you is of the publishing of the New Testament in Maori. It is a light book for travelling with and the verses in every chapter are separated. It should shortly appear; the printing has been completed.

That is enough of overseas matters; let us turn to the things needed in our part of the vineyard.

One major cause of the trouble affecting people of the Church is the Maori custom relating to marriage. Marriage was given by God in the time of Man’s innocence for the benefit of mankind that the man and woman should become permanent companions, the one for the other. Christ has laid down what God requires: ‘What God has joined together, let not man separate.’ [Matthew 19.6] This is a wonderful treasure God has given us – if a person holds on to what God has laid down. But, if what God has laid down is abandoned, what is a good thing becomes a bad thing, and there are great troubles. Some make the mistake of thinking that parents should arrange a wife for their son or a husband for their daughter, without seeing if they like each other. Then they are united, one to the other, in marriage. Some parents have gone wrong in urging their children to get married when they are immature and cannot know how committed the man is to the woman or the woman perhaps to the man. These are some of the causes why those who are married have separated and gone off to find another leaving the one they married. They trample on God’s gift of marriage; they are like beasts; they practise concubinage. This evil is happening with many and many are conniving at these practices without a word of condemnation. The blessing of God will not be upon the person who does such things.

I was sick at heart when I returned to hear about some things that are increasingly evident amongst people in some places, namely drunkenness and gambling, which make fools of people so that they do not give thought to the things which bring spiritual life. One would have thought that we’ve seen in the past years the evil of these things. Formerly drunkenness increased slowly. Now it is not only men but women and children who are getting drunk and doing disgusting things. It is as St Peter said: ‘The dog returns to his vomit, and the washed pig to his wallowing place in the mud. (2 Peter 2.22)’ Added to this are some pursuits of the Pakeha, horse racing, playing cards, dancing, and suchlike, which many take part in, forgetting the things God wants them to do. I am distressed by such goings-on. The things Christ gave up for us when he died on the cross are to be magnified and desired by those who have been baptized into Christ so that their bodies become a temple [3] of the Holy Spirit. Only by the power of the Holy Spirit will  the overthrow of all the bad things amongst us be achieved.

Another thing that beguiles a person who has faith in Christ is the activity of tohunga who say that by the power of incantations they can heal the sick. Although the words they pronounce are from the Scriptures and our Prayer Book, their practices are like the rituals of the old tohunga and violate the faith of Christ. Death comes to mankind; this body is not permanently alive. If God blesses the healing work of a person so that the sick are healed, that is good. But if the sick person does not live, that too is all right, in that when Christ raises the body in the time to come both body and spirit will be made whole.

I have pointed out these things to you to make you aware of the things that work against the faith amongst us, and in order that you may all be encouraged to eliminate these pernicious things. It is a difficult work but it can be accomplished through the power of Christ who said, (2 Corinthians 12.9), ‘My strength is made perfect in weakness’.

Another thing for us to discuss is stipends for the clergy insofar as the funds collected in the past are diminishing. Let us seek some way of making adequate provision. Perhaps we need to make an appeal for money. Perhaps we need to join two parishes together. Or there may be another solution. May God set us on our way and guide us that we may perceive the things that will bring him glory and that this part of his Church may be blessed.

ALCOHOL

By Ware Waitai,

Te Aute.

In past times alcohol was given many names. Many thought that that drink possessed curative powers to protect the body from the many ills that afflict people. Some of these names were ‘strong water’ or ‘water of life’. It had many names.

In those days doctors were given to praising it and saying that it was good medicine for flu and other illnesses.

It is only a little over five years ago that the Pakeha began to look at the real properties of alcohol.

We will set out clearly what they discovered.

I. It was wrong to think of alcohol as a food.

Many people thought that alcohol contained a medicine which strengthened the body. It was seen that this idea was wrong. There was no strengthening, health-giving medicine in alcohol. These are alcoholic beverages: whisky, brandy, gin and beer. These alcoholic drinks are cooked. The barley and other things needed to make alcoholic drinks are cooked. Cooking turns it into alcohol.

Six pounds of barley make one gallon of beer. The things in one gallon of beer are half a pound of alcohol, half a pound of ‘solids’, but most of it – nine pounds - is water. If six pounds of barley were turned into loaves – it would make good bread. But this that is made into drink loses most of its goodness. The waste of food!

II. It is a mistake to think of alcohol as a good thing for strengthening the body.

This misunderstanding is widespread and it is thought that if you give up that food you will become ill. The leading doctors have said that people with healthy bodies do not drink alcohol. Even drinking a little causes internal damage. No part of a person’s body can escape from the malicious effects of that beverage. The spirit is depressed, the blood is poisoned and illness afflicts the head and other parts of the person. The body shivers and trembles.

It was formerly believed that drinking would stimulate many to work, but one can see with one’s eyes the error of that thought. What actually occurs is work left undone, laziness, and drunkenness. If drink is forsaken then, rather, the body and the brain work well. Those doctors who know say that drinking alcohol does not give one energy.

III. It is a mistake to think that drinking warms the body.

One hears some people say, ‘Drink this to warm you up.’ This is very wrong. Those who know have observed that alcohol does not warm you but rather makes the body very cold. So it is that in winter, drink allies itself with the cold southerly to strike people down. A great many people have died as a result of this mistaken idea. It is said [4] that the captains of those ships which sail to explore the polar regions do not like to carry alcohol. These words of explanation are enough for now. Later I will conclude this article about alcohol.

(To be concluded.)

CORRESPONDENCE.

Motuihi,

Foxton,

27th August 1898

To the Rev P Peneti.

Friend, Greeting to you and the Church there with you.

In all our work God is our support and our strength and our helper close to us in evil times. He will help you as you work on this great treasure. He will also inspire us to help you.

That’s enough words!

Concerning your word to the ministers to take thought for our bird, it is good that they take note of it at the right time.

Concerning your invitation to disclose the communications shared by the ministers in the course of their work for the Lord, I am unable to give a firm assessment of the fruit of the words spoken by me in the work for the Lord. That is because people are like the weather, fine one day and bad the next. That is enough of the things I know for certain which show the fruit of the words proclaimed by him in the Lord.

Concerning your command to Aotearoa to name a name for your paper, for all of us together, I have looked for a name and have come up with Rangiatea. Let me explain this name. Rangiatea is a sacred place in Hawaiki. A tuaahu is a sacred place for this people, the Maori. It is set up only by tohunga. Their work at that place is prayer. So, when Hoturoa came to this island he fetched some of the soil of Rangiatea and brought it on his canoe, Tainui. When they arrived at this island they scooped up that soil and placed it on the land as a tuaahu. That was at Kawhia in the Waikato district. Turonga came from that district and carried away that soil which had been brought by Hoturoa. He took it to Rangitoto in the Waikato area as his own tuaahu. Afterwards Turonga went to Heretaunga and married there the chiefly woman, Mahinarangi. When Turonga was returning from there to Waikato he said to his wife, ‘Later, if you have a female child you may call her by whatever name you wish, but if you have a male child he is to be called Raukawa.’ When her time for giving birth drew near, Mahinarangi went to Waikato. She gave birth to a male child in the district of Patetere. Having come to Turonga, the child was taken to the Rangiatea tuaahu and then went through the tohi rite, like a baptism, at which he was named Raukawa. From the district of the descendants of Raukawa the Faith came to this island. The descendants of Raukawa turned to embrace the Faith. A building was erected for the worship of God. Te Rauparaha named that house, Rangiatea. So, hence my choice of this name. Christ opened heaven to all the people of the world. And where Christ was hung on the Cross heaven was opened to all who wish to go there, as if to Rangiatea. Heaven would be empty if there were no guide to it.

So the work of our bird is to open the hearts imprisoned by the deeds of this world, and also to show that Heaven is open, is Rangiatea’d.

Friend, Rev Peneti, may we all be blessed amidst the many evils of this troubled world.

From your humble friend,

(Rev) Hone Teri Paerata.

Taumarere,

Kawakawa,

25th August, 1898.

My friend, Peneti, greetings to the one who arranges for our bird to fly singing in this district. The heart is filled with gratitude for your work of clarifying the meaning of some of the things in the Scriptures which serve to stir up the thinking of people who persist in their ignorant mistakes.

Friend, I attended indeed to the account of the Book of Fables of Sidney Spaulding. I have never seen it and I would like to see a copy of that work of fiction.

Friend, we held a large gathering on 10th August at Taharoa. The purpose of this gathering was to open a church. Six of us ministers attended along with three Pakeha clergy. One hundred and twenty people came there. There were 22 communicants. The offering was £4.17s.3d.

[5] 

Friend, we see from these things the indifference of people. No-one has written a word to you about this work.

May the Lord strengthen you to do what he wants, indeed all of us.

From your friend,

(Rev) T Paerata.

Canterbury College,

Christchurch,

August 22nd, 1898.

To the Editor.

Greetings, friend. Your bird in its flight has arrived at my small marae, and my heart went out in gratitude when I heard his instructive call. Friend, you have found the medicine for some of the sicknesses of the Maori Church, that is, it not having a voice to point out its strengths and weaknesses. There are papers for us, for the Maori, but those papers are afraid to commit themselves to the work of faith. May your voice be strong to arouse the hearts of the Maori people, oppressed and strangled by the thoughts and works of the world. I send my small seed to feed our pet so that it may soon be strong. If you are wanting a new name for our paper I think a good name is ‘The Morning Star’, but let the elders choose a good name for our treasure. May the Creator strengthen you.

Reweti T Kohere.

Kaikohe,

Auckland,

August 15th, 1898

To the Editor of the Kupu Whakamarama.

Friend, I am delighted with the Kupu Whakamarama because, first, a way has been found so that we can know what the Maori ministers are thinking - it tells about the ways the fellow-workers go about their work in the one vineyard of God, wherever they live, giving encouragement when one sees the writings of the fellow-workers. It serves to give joy to those who are joyful, and to show contempt for those who pour scorn, just as Isaiah said: When we look at Christ ‘there is nothing excellent that we should desire him (Isaiah 53.2).’ However that statement is about the thoughtless who don’t look, who don’t think. Indeed, what is the purpose of the prophet’s words? Isaiah 11.6-9

Are the words in these verses the real purpose of his writing? No, one would think it is about man, but I don’t say so. These words of the prophet are not about New Zealand only but concern the whole world, but, although our islands are very small they are the objects of the prophet’s purposes. The words of Isaiah fall into two sections; (1) the ‘attacking’ time; (2) the ‘friendly’ time. First, the ‘attacking’ time corresponds with that time when our ancestors lived divided before the coming of the Gospel. What did they do? Who indeed can tell of it? It was indeed a matter of weeping, lamentation, and crying. But although it was during the time when they were living separated, the prophet disclosed the coming time of peace when the wolf and the lamb will live together, etc. So we know that these words are rather about us insofar as the things spoken by Isaiah apply not to those who lived apart but to us who live together, who have no fear of lions, that is, of enemies. Second, now we have understood that the friendly time is this time of peace, the time – this time, when we are flooded with understanding (Verse 9, 2 Corinthians 4.6). So look at how things were formerly and how they are now. The situation of our ancestors was as if they had been born in the winter of the year and were bitten by the snow in the night. Our ancestors who were born in the summer of the year suffered little of the biting of the snow. So the coming of the Gospel was to them like emerging into the warmth of the sun. They greeted it like warmth and seized upon this treasure. We, the people of this present time, are like those born in the summer of the year. We are not afflicted by cold. It is always warm. Hence we are dispirited, disbelieving and faithless. We chase after new religions, like the practice of some who went after the mythical stories of Solomon Spalding. Now, ask yourself, Whence comes peace? From the Gospel of Jesus Christ which came first to us, but as you said, we did not have much in the way of religious devotion to attract us. So this is a great thing, to gather together with contented hearts (1 Timothy 6.6). Finally, seek rest for your souls (Matthew 11.29).

Concerning your statement that we should ask for more copies of the papers, friend, I am embarrassed lest I be proverbially spoken of by Ruangu, ‘O Tamareia! you demolish food but only Ruangu remained at the end of the day.’ [Nga Pepeha 392] Ruangu was a warrior while Tamareia was a fool. But if there was food Tamareia’s had was quickly there [?(ara) kei horo ki te kii kia 10 sic ?Turanga i te kohikohi ko Peneti ana na Matiu Kapa.]

Friend, your request to provide a name for your paper has arrived. My thought is perhaps to think of this bird as like the white heron. [6] There is a proverb about that bird: 

 Kotuku kaiwhakaata, parera apuparu.
‘The white heron looks at its reflection while the duck gorges itself on mud.’ [cf Nga Pepeha 1642]

Not that the paper is like the duck gobbling up indiscriminately whatever is written; it is rather like the white heron that looks carefully.

From (Rev) Matiu Kapa.

ANSWERS TO QUERIES

From Nikora Tautau. Luke 13.6-9 Let me explain the three years – the first, the second and the third. One explanation goes like this: those three years are the three years Christ was preaching. This parable was pronounced in the third year of Christ’s preaching. Christ preached for three years and was then crucified.

From Hemi E Taitimu.

(1) What is the ‘chasm’ spoken of by Abraham to Dives (Luke 16.26)?

That chasm separates good and evil. In this world good and evil dwell together. In the realm of the spirit they are separate.

(2) Who is this Melchizedek, King of Salem ((Hebrews 7.1)?

The accounts of Melchizedek are in Genesis 14.18-20. See also Psalm 110.3, Hebrews 5,6 & 7, and Genesis 14.18.

‘The King of Salem.’ Salem was the original name for Jerusalem.

‘Bread and wine.’ These are a foretelling of the body and blood of Christ.

The name of Melchizedek was hidden for a thousand years before it was used again by David in Psalm 110 as a pattern for the Messiah. A thousand years after David it was proclaimed by Paul in his Letter to the Hebrews to show that the priesthood of the Levites had been done away with.

The reasons for comparing Melchizedek to Christ in Hebrews are

(i) both were priests though neither had the standing of Levites;

(ii) both were superior to Abraham;

(iii) the origin and the end of both of them are not known;

(iv) both were not only priests but were also Kings of Righteousness and Peace.

Friends, we see here one of the mistaken teachings in the false ideas of the Mormons.

Melchizedek is permanently a priest (Hebrews 7.8). He is an extremely holy man, not to be likened to someone who assumes priesthood, because his priesthood and life are permanent. In this also he is likened to Christ. The Mormons’ taking up of this priesthood is strange. It is something extremely holy and it is not right for it to be taken up by any others. Only two hold this priesthood, Melchizedek and Christ. So when the Mormons appropriate this they profane this holy matter, through error or perhaps foolishness on their part. There is not a word of scripture to support their appropriation of the priesthood of Melchizedek.

FINAL JOTTINGS

1. I have just returned from visiting the people of Kaikoura, Wairau, Waikawa and Whangarae. I was away from Nelson for six weeks. This is the reason it has taken so long for our paper to appear. Soon after you receive this edition (Number 7) Number 8 will arrive on your marae.

2. Many people have written requesting copies of Numbers 1,2 and 3, of this paper. I have to point out that no copies of these numbers remain. Those requesting them have taken them all.

3. Many copies of this paper are sent to some of you. Don’t keep them to yourself or waste them, but share them with your friends.

4. Upon the death of Rev Hetaraka Warihi (Wesleyan minister of Wairau) the conference of the Wesleyan Church met in Auckland and passed a motion committing their work in the Province of Nelson to the Church of England to carry out.

5. The Inspector of Maori Schools has been to inspect the children of the school at Whangarae. Great was his admiration for the commitment of the children and their teachers to their work. We are now looking for some way to set up a permanent school at Whangarae.

6. During the last days of September the children of the Maori School at Kaikoura provided entertainment. They performed songs. The amount raised was £11. This money is to be used to buy a harmonium for their school.

7. In October (Number 8) the list of gifts will be published. They did not get into this paper.

May God bless us and guard us.

From Rev P Peneti, Nelson.

Bond, Finney & Co, Printers, Nelson.