THE NEW PROPHET.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 1971, 5 January 1907, Page 2

THE NEW PROPHET.

In response to an invitation, sent liy Run, I recently Jiaiil Jiini a visit Thinking an account of liis mission and ivorii may hoof interest I shall endeavour to describe shortly what I learnt from himself and others of the origin of his mission, and my own unbiassed opinion of himself and his

works. Perched on a high terrace, overlooking the ilangaroa river, and consisting of orderly rows of tents,

stands the New Jerusalem, as itua calls his earn]). Within the enclosure are two wooden huts, one of which is hoarded two feet up from the ground, above this a gap all round about two feet high, and then hoarded tip to tlie eaves. The lower part of the house represents the earth,- the gap the void or space, and also the unfinished state of tile Christian Church (with reference to the Second Advent), tlie to]) walls and roof representing tlie Heavens. The whole structure is as a memorial to keep before the eyes of his followers the incompleteness of the Christian Church, d’lie second hut is called the Temple

of Jerusalem, and is meant to illustrate how from small beginnings Solomon’s Temple arose. The history of the coming of Itua, 1 learnt from Hukanui, chief of a Wairoa hapu. On his deathbed To Ivooti told Hukanui, or sent a mosage.to him (lam not clear which), foretelling the advent of a second Christ, and ordering Hukanui to examine all toll ungas who might arise after his (Te Ivooti’s) death, with a view to discrediting the, false ones. Hukanui at once removed his people from Wairoa to Wain)aim (near the site of ltua’s camp), there to await in the solitary desert the coming of the second Christ. As Christ had preached in tlie desert, so must the new Prophet. Hukanui carried out Te Kooti’s instructions, and rejected all claimants to Divine honors till he saw Itua, in whom he recognised the true Prophet as foretold by To Ivooti, and for his work in this connection is known as the forerunner, John the Baptist. Boa is a married man with a family of five. He has under his control an efficient police who maintain the strictest order in the camp,

arrest and punish minor delinquents, and report grave offences to the local police. His loyalty is shown by the number of Union Jacks and ensigns which are flown over his tents. Rua said he was an ignorant mail, and could not read, yet ho knew the Scriptures He' has undoubtedly an abnormal memory, as during our interview he quoted the Bible by halt a chapter at a time. A convert told me, no doubt with the pious wish to exalt his chief, that if only one column of a page was read to him lie could repeat the whole. Rua is a man rather above middle height, about 35 years of age, with jet black hair and beard, which he allows to grow long in imitation of old pictures of Christ. His beard is also forked, which his followers point out with delight, is another proof of his kinship with Jesus. His eyes are dark and dreamy in repose, but brighten up wonderfully when speaking. His mouth is good, the under lip s’ightly full. It hardly indicates strength. " I noticed his eyes particularly for traces of mental weakness, but could find none. Instead of seeing the features of a harsh zealot, as I expected it was a rather sad and attractive countenance. Ho has a clear, pleasant voice, which in our interviews, never rose into passion. The quiet, earnest and matter-of-fact way in which he spoke, left no doubt with me that he was absolutely clear in his own mind as to his mission, and as to his ' origin. At my first interview with Rua, I asked him to tell me what he preached, and on the grounds of his belief that he was the Son qf God. In reply to my question he told me simply that he was a child of God, and that his mission was to preach his gospel to the whole world and to unite all peoples in a common brotherhood. His gospel was Christ’s gospel, and he got inspiration and proofs of his divinity from the Scriptures, which, however, he found were erroneous in parts. One error was that Christ was the only Son of God. As a (act God had two children, both girts. b< fore jncarnati >}i. proof of this .was that Jesus wore his hair long like a girl. His and Jesus’ mission was foretold in the verse in the liible, which says: “Two women shall be grinding at flip mill, the one shall bo taken and the other left," The one taken was Jesus, the one left is himself. The mill at which they grind is the universe, which by their labors is ordered and controlled. In recognition of his having been a female spirit, he has changed his liame to a woman’s, Hephzibah (Hepetepa). The reason that the first of January was such a holy day was that on that clay the rib was removed from Adam’s side to make Eve, and on that day God walked on earth and reproved Adam and Evp for their sin. It is also the clay (ra) of Queen Victoria, King Edward, and Jesus. It was wrong to say that Christ was born on December 251)]; How could he be born at the end of fhe year (or era)? He was born in fee middle of time, and- the true datcTi Juno 25th. “It is wrong to keep Sunday as a holy day, for God ordained the seventh day, Saturday, as holy, and Scripture tells us that no mail, can undo a work of God’s. All these things are true, for they come to mo from God in many ways. Spirits talk with me, and animals inspire me. .“Like Jesus, I have suffered persecution. I have been misrepresented many times, and my life has been attempted. Jesus they killed, and believed in Him too late. I have escaped death, but lie who should succeed in killing me will be cursed with seven times tile curse of Cain.” 11l reply to a question of Rua’s as to my nationality, I answered English. You are Greek, lie said. There are only three races in the world, the Greeks, Romans or Latin, and Hebrews. lie placed the English, Queen Victoria, France, and Jesus in the Greek family, but 1 am liazy as to how he" allocated other nations. The spoke in high praise of the English, and said their origin was divine, as was witnessed by their work in spreading knowledge to all parts of the earth, and especially by their teaching the morality qf Jesus. Ho wound up a half-hour’s address by saying, “After all, there must be a beginning, and there was a time when your ancestors were as ignorant as we are now.” He thanked me for coming, and hoped I would be able to remove sonic mistakes the Pakehas labored under as to his mission. He especially complained that he had Ijeeii accused of a wish to drive the Europeans out of New Zealand. “Mine,” he said, “is a mission of .peace, to raise the Maori up to the Pakelia level, and bind them together,” Ho also added that he wished .it to be understood that there was no difference between himself and the Pakelia. “One of my feet,” he said, “is Maori, and the other is Pakelia.” Afterwards one of his disciples took me to the model temple. “See,” he said, “’that is built on the old war trail. How can there be any more war when New Jerusalem ‘ stands across the path.” I was shown Rua’s dog and told that it was his familiar spirit, with whom he was in constant communication. ' The dog’s name is Take, the first word of a proverb which means “Absent in prosperity, but present in adversity.” The New Jerusalem is kept beautifully clean and is under the strictest tapu. No food is cooked or eaten in the place ,neither can pipes, tobacco or spirits be taken into it. Whenever I wished to enter the place. 1 was al ways warned to leave pipe and to bacco behind

Ihe daily services, which largely consist of recitations from -the hook of common prayer, psalms, and hymns, are nearly always conducted by one of his disciples, of whom lie has twelve.

The service is held at 3 a.m., noon and evening. Rua administers communion himself- but only to his disciples and aged converts. The first duty is to clean up the place and make things tidy, after which the building of New Jerusalem goes on. There are only three streets named in the celestial city, Victoria, King and Rangatira. The reason is that there are only three in the Godhead.

Rua devotes Ills time to teaching the people, attending to the good order and government of the Pa, and to the gradual breaking down of paaujr

Maori customs, with a view to levelling them xij) to European standard. At present he is advocating the establishment of separate homos ioi each family, and the separate cooking and eating of meals by each. Smoking and drinking are absolutely prohibited. Run’s practice of laitllhealing is simple and reverent. in all cases he quotes our Lord s words over the sick one, “You must drink of my blood.” This is all that he deems necessary to effect the cure. The absolute belief and devotion ot his converts is almost pathetic. \\ bile Una adheres to the doctrines lie enunciates, and to his present intense loyalty, this need cause no uneasiness, but on the contrary, hopefulness for the well-being of the Maori. In my farewell interview he indignantly denied that either lie 01 his followers had ever been a burden on any of the Maoris he had visited. Jriis words were, “None of my people have ever accepted food from anyone without payment, nor shall we, for i, their guardian, can provide for them.” , _ Apart from liis theology, I am thoroughly convinced that Rua is devoting his life to the moral welfare of his lieople. Of the good work he has already done, and that it is bearing good fruit, I had ocular evidence, as well as the testimony of one who said that the Ureweras were a rude and turbulent lot before Rua took then m hand, hut that now they were good and pleasant people to meet. More power to Hepetepa Ruatapunui. w K CHAMBERS.