THE MAORI WAR AND CHRISTIANITY.

Colonist, Volume IV, Issue 314, 23 October 1860, Page 3

THE MAORI WAR AND CHRISTIANITY.

Some thirty-six years, ii we mistake uot, Christina missions have occupied a post in New Zealand. The present estimate of the Maori population is some 50,000 in round numbers. If Christianity be.the powerful tiling it once was, and if it has been faithfully represented by its professors and mission iries, are not thirty-six years time enough to have justified the expectation, that all the 50,000 aborigines of that country will be found convert d, at least to n decent profession of Christianity? If it be believed that the present census of the Maori population is not more than half what it was when the ini.-sions commenced, the matter assumes another and not less striking aspect. iluvv is ii that Christianity has not preserved '■j\s i;i!eies-ing people from Si> rapid and terrible a decay ? Christiauiiy is favorable to Health, to peace, to industry, to prosperity. It iToniotes family settlements, and thus tends to uuiiipiy population. It destroys the crimes th.it. produce premature disease and death. How is it that the M.iori population has waster] away indrT Christian influence and teaching? The las! question suggests the. inference that, frO;n whatever c;iuse, the Gospel has not been so influential and effective in New Zealand as from its aticiwiit triumphs, and its known nature and origin, we should conclude that it ought to iiave been. The conclusion is strengthened by the present affairs" of that country. If the Christianity of the Maoris be general and genuine, as thirty-six years of missionary labor among a population of that size should have made it, then must this war be accounted for on a principle most unfavorable to the British power established there. If the Maoris are fit to be recognised as Christians, it must be presumed that they believe their present contest with the British is a righteous one. But both sides cannot put their respective causes on righteous grounds. If the Maoris are not uachristianised by their warlike efforts, the British Government must be nearly so. At least the latter must, have done something fearfully wrong to provoke such hostility from a Christianised people. But we suppose this inference will not be allowed. The Maoris will have to bear the reproach. Let us assume that it is just that they should bear it, that they are guilty of rebellion against a lawful power to wiiicb they are legitimately subject, —then is this assumed fact, a proof that they have had their Christianity over-estimated in missionary reports—that in reality only a sprinkling have been converted by the power of the.Gospel. Certainly no Christian will be a rebel; that i«, no Christian will try to overturn a legitimate Government that has a manifest claim to rule him. He will suffer much first, and commit himself to God. It is with pain we doubt the spiritual efficacy of the missions in New Zealand. There has undeniably been an outward amelioration of h.tbit and disposition spread far and wide; and we acknowledged this to be good. But hearts have only here and their been saviugly touched, and effectually turned to God. Hence when such a commotion arises as that which now threateis the British power there, there are tno few real Christiaus to stem the rage and to extinguish the fury. We have in fact been ! beguiled with their profession, which is little better than the " form of godliness " without its " power." The friends of the Gospel will do well to look into, this matter. The whole population should have been so changed by this time, as to destroy all danger of such a war as this. But such an inquiry can never be commenced without damaging some names that have been deemed respectable. Have the missionaries always acted as men of Qod, as messengers of JV-su: Christ, as self-denying promoters of the salvation of men, as moral lights shining in the darkness ? What did their claims of thuusauds

of acres of Maori land, and their various trading practices carried on by virtue of thair position, tell ? Where was their life of faith ? Where was 'heir absoute spirituality and devotedness, I heir disdain of whatever, iv their praotioe, might prejndii'e the native reception of the sjospel ? , The missionaries and their connections did many things, which could not but prevent the simple truth as it is in Jesus from conquering the innate depravity of the M.aori heart. This is a well-coustdered statement, written, however, with deep regret. The Gospel was not the sole rule of practice. The present fruits are just what might have been expected. The missionaries '' sought great things ior themselves " ami thus failed to demonstrate the spilitihi'ity mid loveliness of their religion. How could they expect it to work its way ? The whole evil however has not been done by the missionaries. Had they been ever so right minded, thr.y would have found their task a peculiarly hard one fnwn the moment the British power was planted among their charge. The officers of the government so introduced were of the same religious profession as the missionaries. They were professedly both Christian and protestant What the Government did, it could not be expected that the partially enlightened Maories would believe inconsistent with the real sentiments of the missionaries, especially when any selfishness, appeared in the personal conduct of the latter. Nothing could appear worse, more seilish. more deceitful, more fraudulent, thuu the whole conduct of the Government, to the. minds of these professed converts. The effect was natural and inevitable —tiie Maoris took the name • f Ciiristiaajjjfaud evidently believed that it, was little besides a name. How can any one he snpris djthat their Christianity could not prevent; them from (going to war. even in an nnrighteou cause, if iau occasion should arise to tempt t hern ? And then comes the question, how far their present warfare is more unrighteous, than the whole couiSQ of (lit* Bii:isli Government has been with regard to thrrn ? Aud the righteous God will not allow that question to be lor ever unanswered. It is very easy lor men of shallow minds, with no reference for the essential rights of human nature, to sneer at the Maoris, and to talk of ramies of exterminating them—no Chris tiau can thus speak The Maoris all know that the treaty of Waitangi was a must dishonest imposition, that it hound only <> handful of natives, that it gaze no right over the country, and that all that has been done by virtue of it has been based on a fraud. And the Government that committed this piece of dishonesty, and the successive governments that have maintained its consequences, have all contributed to drive away from the Maori mind all confidence in a Christianity professed by such wrongdoers. The thing then that the righteous God calls for. is not the sending of armaments, or of corps of Australian blacks, as a writer iv the Herald humanely recommends, or of Volunteer regiments from this country ; but a confession of guilt, a retractation, as far as it can be done, of the wrong measures, and a reparation of all damages to the utmost. Let the New Zealand Government look w. 11 into its own position, and honestly rectify whatever is possible. The colony cannot lie, and for many reasons ought not to be annihilated, but uo shame or self-will should stand in the way of rijhteousness. Bloodshed should be deprecated by a Christian people iv relation to the Maoris. How cisc can they ever be converted ? And sure y their true Chrisiianisation is the first thing to be desired. The colony is secondary.— Christian Pleader.