The pioneer missionary; life of the Rev. Nathaniel Turner, missionary in New Zealand, Tonga, and Australia

Preface

This book is not a history. If its scope and connecting links appear to give it somewhat of that character, it is but very partially, and only incidentally. The book purports simply to be the Life of a godly and useful man. The writer's inducements to publish it were. First, That a large circle of relatives and friends might have preserved to them in permanent form authentic reminiscences of one they honoured and loved ; Secondly, That the story of his labours might serve in some degree to encourage and stimulate the succeeding race of toilers in the same service ; and. Thirdly, That as the biography would afford glimpses of the formative age of the Christian Church in the Southern World, — its peculiar trials and signal triumphs, — it might awaken or revive the missionar\- spirit, both in England and Australia, where Christian sympathies and benevolence are unduly restricted by local claims.

Special acknowledgments are thankfully made to the Rev. James Buller, to whose correspondence the biographer is indebted for portions of the material from which the chapters on New Zealand have been prepared. Also to vi PREFACE.

the Rev. W. Butters, and Mr. Thomas Hayes, of the Wesleyan Mission House, London, whose friendly offices have secured the revision of printers' proofs in England.

Methodist Preachers have not the leisure for authorship, and this memoir has been prepared amid many disadvantages, during a year of Circuit work. The author is conscious of its manifold imperfections ; but in the hope that it Vy'ill do good, he submits it, not to reviewers and critics, as such, but to all who take an interest in the world's salvation.

Wesllyan Conference, Hobart Town, February ist, 1871.

Contents

CHAPTER ■ PAGE

II. Early Methodism in New South Wales 12

V. The New Zealand Mission, 1814-1S23 38

Chapter I

affected him, that his cousins on seeing him thought him very unwelL He now earnestly sought rehgion, but with insufficient Hght. He wept, prayed, and strove in Christian ordinances, but to no saving result. His outward deportment was noticed in the village. Some called him "the good young man ; " others, " the Pharisee." This led him to self-content, in which he too soon cried, " Peace, peace."

Dark clouds settled for a season on his spiritual path. A pious Calvinist minister, under whose guidance one of his cousins was preaching, and for whose services another cousin had opened his house, disturbed his mind on the subject of election. The effect was distressing, and was only relieved by the truth. A young Wesleyan friend lent him Mr. Fletcher's " Scripture Scales," and the honest examination of this book left him no doubt that God was willino to save all mankind. He was at once affectionately advised and urged to decide for God.

Then followed a struggle for life, which was maintained as well in the prayer-meeting and class-meeting, as in the closet and the church. On the 5th of February, 1812, while at class-meeting for the second or third time, he found peace with God. Fifty years afterwards, on referring to the memorable occasion, he wrote, " So clear to me was the removal of my guilt, and so satisfactory the evidence of my acceptance in the Beloved, that I have never doubted to this day, that I then passed from death unto life."

Satan harassed him, but by faithfulness in private prayer he held fast the beginning of his confidence. He diligently strove to grow in grace, using all the means. The deceiver sought to ensnare him. At one time he struggled for many hours with the temptation that he had fallen from grace. When the conflict was at its height, the hour of the weekly class-meeting came round ; and while in the fellowship of saints, after telling of his con-

B 2

THE PIONEER MISSIONARY.

flict, the snare was broken, and confidence and peace were regained.

Almost coeval with his conversion, was an intense desire for the salvation of others. The earliest objects of his solicitude were his brothers and sisters : and, by his efforts and God's blessing upon them, the three youngest were soon led to the Saviour. Thereupon followed a conviction that God intended him for usefulness in the public services of His church. His successful exercises in the prayer-meeting became the subject of general notice, and more public labours were soon put upon him. From frequent conversation with pious persons on the subject, and from the expressed views of the Circuit ministers, the Revs. Joseph Brookhouse and James Allen, (the latter of whom especially evinced an interest in his career,) his mind became drawn towards preaching the Gospel. In earnest prayer he entreated the Lord to show him His will, and to shine upon his path. The answer came. One Sunday evening, at Coppenhall, he was " constrained " to preach by ]\Ir. Joseph Lowe. The subject of his first address, at which several local preachers were present, was, " These shall go away into everlasting punishment."

From that time he took many services as a substitute for others ; and when the next Circuit plan appeared, which was for a term of six months, he found that the superintendent had given him forty-two appointments. He had but scanty material for such service ; but with simplicity of purpose, and a heart warm to the work, he obeyed God's call. The Lord gave him favour in the eyes of the people, and the word he preached was owned in the salvation of many. His situation being somewhat unfriendly to the work nearest his heart, he removed to Blakenhall, where he resided for several years with Mr. Thomas Salmon, finding full scope for the powers and zeal which God gave him. Besides preaching two or three times on the Sabbath, and not un-

CHAPTER I.

frequently on the week nights for the ministers, he was almost constantly engaged in holding prayer-meetings, or meeting classes. To meet the mental demands for this course of toil, and the better to qualify himself, it was his custom to spend till midnight in study. In these exercises his soul delighted, and his knowledge and piety grew.

Frequent intercourse with the ministers and the reading of missionary intelligence were much blessed to him. He soon found his s}mpathies drawn towards the heathen. The feeling warmed into a holy passion. The requisite qualifications for the life service of the Gospel were not to be had without much effort ; and he prayerfully set himself to prepare for the work, should God clearly call him to it. At the March Quarterly Meeting, 1820, he was nominated for the missionary service. Having been examined and recommended by the District Aleeting at Congleton, he was received by the Conference, and placed on the President's list of candidates for the foreign work, to be sent out under the direction of the Missionary Committee ; but was given to understand that, from the low state of the funds and other causes, it would be some time before he could be sent to a Mission station. His Divine Master meanwhile found him other v/ork to do. What it was, and how he did it, shall be told in his own words.

" There were a number of populous villages and hamlets, which were sadly benighted and demoralized. They lay chiefly between the Nantwich, Newcastle, Staffordshire, and Whitchurch Circuits, but beyond the reach of the ministers generally. My Circuit Quarterly Meeting, at the instance of Mr. Richard Vernon, of Buerton, unanimously resolved to originate a mission among them. They subscribed among themselves some five or six pounds for the purpose, and appointed a Sub-Committee to carry out their views. The Committee, after consideration, wrote to me, and I at once entered into their plans. It was not known that there was

THE PIONEER MISSIONARY.

one pious person in the whole region into which I was sent ; and I was interdicted from going into any place where the Gospel was preached.

" I began my mission on the last Sabbath of April, 1820, preaching on the green at AikUviii. The few who attended listened attentivelyas I bade them 'behold the Lamb of God.' Though former preachers here had been persecuted, I met with but little molestation, A house was opened for preaching, and a tolerably good congregation collected. Several persons turned to God, and a class was formed,, which I left doing well at the close of my mission.

" In the village of Norton, we were successfully hindered by the vigorous and persevering opposition of the clergyman, and the leading gentleman of the place, a Captain .

These worthies regularly attended at the time and place notified for Divine service, and, each bearing a stick, warned off the villagers from forming a congregation. One Tuesday evening, just as the service was beginning in the square, they personally headed a band with drums and fifes, and came with a mob of fellows of the baser sort right into the congregation. Already the village bells were ringing in derision ; and when the voice and yells of these intruders were added, the service was effectually stopped.

" In Nciij^foii we were similarly opposed, but not with such flagrant impiety. The outward leader of the opposition was a publican. But he was instigated by the clergyman of the parish, known to be living in gross sin. Some good was effected here, and not long after a Wesleyan chapel was built.

"Though Ashbv was a notoriously wicked place, our introduction into it was peaceable, and for some time we preached in a private house unmolested. The house being small, and but few attending, we ventured to hold service in the open air. After singing through the village, the preacher took his stand on the scat of the stocks. A goodly number

CHAPTER I.

assembled, and though there was some disturbance, manylistened seriously. This daring on the part of the Methodists so aroused the leading Churchmen of the place, that in the course of the week a public meeting was held Qn the subject. It resulted in a great manifestation of popular loyalty to the Church. A crowd assembled at the Methodist preacher's stand, and, preceded by the clergyman and a band of musicians, marched from it to the church ground. They then clasped hands around the building, and exclaimed, ' The Methodists shall never take the church.' Money was given them, which they freely spent at the neighbouring public-house, kept by the clerk of the parish. Here they drank the health of the clergyman, success to Church and State, and damnation to the Methodists. This statement I received from one who had taken part in the movement, but who soon afterwards became converted to God under my ministry. Some lasting good was done in this village.

" A hamlet named Podmore witnessed some special triumphs of the Gospel. The villagers of Bowers had baffled many previous efforts. But here my way was providentially open, and the Lord gave me great success. At the close of my mission, some twenty members, who had been gathered from the paths of sin, were walking together in love, and adorning a Christian profession.

" My centre was Black Brook. This was the scene of my hardest labours and greatest success. By day I went from house to house, holding religious conversation ; and this, as intended, led many to come to the evening services. After some months of varying encouragement, the Lord poured out His Spirit, and many were saved. On one occasion, under a sermon on ' the blood of sprinkling,' an old woman who had passed eighty winters was convinced of sin, and the next week she found peace. At a lovefeast fifteen souls were set at liberty.

" At Woore, where the clergyman was a • blind leader of the blind,' the parish clerk personally assaulted me : here some few were brought to God. Several minor places were included in my mission.

" In this delightful employment I had been laboriously engaged for eighteen months, when I was summoned to the foreign work. Upwards of seventy souls had been gathered into classes, and were being watched over by duly appointed leaders, chiefly chosen from among the new converts during the mission. For these I ascribe, now as then, all honour to God. From the first the villages paid the expenses of my maintenance, except the five or six pounds originally subscribed."

The scene of the labours above narrated is now the abode of a flourishing commercial community. The population has received its increase during the half century from all parts of the British empire. Religion flourishes. ^Methodism has won many triumphs over Satan, and now wields a wide-spread influence among the masses. Its growth is represented by several Circuits and many large churches.

During Mr. Turner's home missionary career he formed the friendship of many excellent young men, who afterwards did good service in the cause of Christ, and with several of whom he carried on an affectionate correspondence. Among them were Thomas Jones, Missionary to the West Indies, and who was lost in " the Maria " mail boat ; Thomas Turner, Missionary to Canada, Alfred Bourne, who died at Oxford, Andrew Doncaster, William Hare, and Thomas Ford, who died in the English work.

In November, 1820, he was examined before the Com-. mittce in London, in company with Mr. John Morgan, who, at a later date, was appointed to begin a Mission at St. Mary's, River Gambia. At the Mission House he came in contact with several excellent brethren who were going out

CHAPTER I.

as Missionaries, among whom were Messrs. Duncan and Young, about to embark for the West Indies.

Another year's delay occurred, and Mr, Turner continued in his loved work as an evangelist. Towards the end of 1821 he was instructed to prepare for New Zealand. On the loth of January, 1822, he was married to Anne Sargent, daughter of Mr. John Sargent of Ipstones, Etruria, Staffordshire. The marriage was solemnized in the parish church of Stoke-upon-Trent. It is an interesting fact that the social religious services connected with the event, and with the family leave-taking, were made, under God, the occasion of the conversion of Mrs. Turner's relatives.

To say " good bye " to his numerous children in the Gospel, and other friends, was no common trial to the young Missionary, or to his wife. It was night when they took coach at Newcastle-under-Lyne for London. Though at a late hour, in the depth of winter, and bitterly cold, more than a thousand friends, numbers of whom had travelled many miles, assembled around the coach to bid them "farewell." The townsfolk near the stage tavern had not been unused to street gatherings ; but they looked on with wonder to see so large a company standing for some ten or fifteen minutes. Amid the falling of the snow there was but one sound to break the stillness. It was the preacher's voice giving a farewell address, from the box of the coach. As the coachman hailed his team, kind impulses seemed to move some good sisters, who bethought them of the pitiless weather, and Mrs. Turner's adieus were given from within, amid a shower of shawls. The latest words they heard, as the coach was driven through the crowd, were those of Mr. Turner's brother: *' We shall now be as sheep without a shepherd." They were entertained in London by Mr. and Mrs. Taylor.

In company with Mr. William White, Mr. Turner was ordained on January 23rd, 1822. Among those who took part in the service were the Revs. Richard Watson, Jabez Bunting, and Joseph Taylor. The vows of that evening were most prayerfully and solemnly undertaken, and for more than forty years faithfully observed, by the grace of God.

On the 15th of February he left England in the brig' " Deveron," bound for Van Diemen's Land and New South Wales. Among his fellow voyagers was the Rev. William White, also appointed to New Zealand, and who had been received by the Conference before Mr. Turner. He went out unmarried. There were more than twenty passengers, some of whom were very profane, and occasioned the Mission party much annoyance and grief. When in the Bay of Biscay, the brig being kept out of her course for several days, the Missionaries went to special prayer. They had but just risen from their knees when the captain cheerily called out, " Ladies and gentlemen, I ara happy to inform you that the wind has suddenly veered round, and that the brig is laying her course." The passengers landed at Madeira, where they found " the houses low and wretched, and the inhabitants poor and miserablelooking." Fruit was cheap, but everything else dear enough. During the latter part of the voyage several storms were encountered, in one of which they were well nigh lost. The rudder tackling and stern boats were carried away, and the deadlights stove in. The alarm and confusion were not lessened by the terrified mate calling out, " She is sinking ! She is sinking ! "

Van Diemen's Land was sighted on the ojie hundred and twenty-fourth day out, a passage at that time considered very good for a vessel of but two hundred and fifty tons. Some of the passengers, whose profanity had caused much annoyance to Mr. Turner, begged his pardon, and thanked him for his Christian counsel and e.xample while with them.

CHAPTER I. IT

As the brig stood up Storm Bay, the voyagers were delighted with the picturesque coast fringing the base of a hundred hills, clothed with verdure to their very summits ; and when, a few hours later, they had rounded Crawfish Point, and opened upon Sandy Bay, with Mount Nelson on their left, and before them the majestic Mount Wellington, four thousand feet high, with its grand white cliffs and snowy crown glittering in the sunshine, and Hobart Town sleeping at its feet, their admiration was. unbounded.

Chapter II. Early Methodism IX The Colony

In Alarch, 1787, eleven vessels, under command of Captain xYrthur Phillip, R.N., left Old England for New South Wales, with five hundred and sixty-five male and one hundred and ninety-two female prisoners, and a proportionate military guard. After a tedious voyage of eight months, relieved by calls at Madeira and the Cape, they anchored in Botany Bay. Anticipations formed from Captain Cook's report of the place were not realized, and the ships' boats were employed in coasting northward, in search of a better harbour and more promising country. Quite unexpectedly they found Port Jackson, which had been descried from Cook's vessel, and described as a " boat harbour," to be a spacious and inviting one ; and on January 26th, 1788, the expedition by "the P'irst Fleet" landed from Sydney Cove. The wood resounded with the echoes of the axe, and in a few hours a camp of tents and huts replaced the trees which had skirted the lovely crescent bay. Governor Phillip's colony numbered one thousand and thirty persons. The circumstances were new and eventful to all.

The next Sydney-bound vessel from England was " The Guardian : " she was wrecked at the Cape. Complicated difiiculties at Port Jackson, and fears of starvation, from want of supplies, induced the Governor to relieve the community by sending some of the prisoners to Norfolk Island. The " Sirius," which conveyed them, was

CHAPTER II. 13 wrecked on its rough coast. A second fleet arrived with stores from the Cape in 1790. After PhilHp's day, the government was administered successively by Hunter, BHgh, and Macquarie. The rule of the last-named Governor, from i8og to 1821, was marked by the improvement of the community, considerable exploration, and much progress in public works.

Fifteen years after the occupation of New South Wales the penal population numbered some six or seven thousands; but the harvests were so redundant, and no market for the surplus available, that the convicts became a burden on thehands of the Government, and relief was a second time sought by expatriation. It was with this intent that Van Diemen's Land was selected; and in August, 1S03, it became the exile home of the worst of the Botany Bay community. Its founders debarked at Risdon, on the eastern bank of the Derwent, from the ship " Lady Nelson,"' Lieutenant Boner Commander, and Dr. Mountserrat surgeon. They were in all but a few prisoners and soldiers, and were soon unexpectedly joined by a large number from England, under Colonel Collins. It occurred on this wise.

The result of the British policy had led to the contem. plated founding of a new penal colony in the south of the continent, and Colonel Collins sailed in charge of the expedition. He was not more fortunate than his pioneer predecessor, Phillip, in the place chosen for his debarkation,— Port Phillip,— and became so disgusted with his first difficulties as to recommend the abandonment of the place. The expeditions were removed to Van Diemen's Land, where, in due time, they established themselves at Hobart Town and Launceston. They were conveyed from Port Phillip in "The Lady Nelson" and "The Ocean," and arrived in two parties, on January 30th, and February i6th, 1804. The ships' companies comprised Lieutenant.

Governor Collins, Rev. Robert Knopwood, chaplain, several other gentlemen holding commissions in the enterprise, a competent marine guard, and three hundred and sixtyseven male prisoners. In October, 1804, the " Lady- Nelson" having meanwhile surveyed the entrance to the Tamar, a small number of prisoners were sent round under Colonel Paterson to found a settlement in the north. For some time they held little intercourse with their neighbours on the south of the island.

Soon after this, on the recommendation of Governor King, the penal station at Norfolk Island was abandoned, and manv of its families were removed to Van Diemen's Land, where as grantees they originated the settlement of New Norfolk in the south, and Norfolk Plains in the north. The second Governor of Van Diemen's Land, Colonel Davey, arrived in February, 1813. He w'as succeeded in April, 1817, by William Sorrell, Esq., Governor Macquarie, of New South Wales, being then in the ninth year of his administration.

It would serve no good purpose to dwell upon the moral darkness and social disorder of the early days of British settlement in these parts. Through a long, distressful night of iniquity, a watchman here and there waited for the morning, and when at length a few faint grey streaks struggled into the mournful gloom, they came but to reveal its density. Several administrations had passed away, and governmental systems changed, before the bonds of iniquity, whether self-imposed or ordered by home authority, relaxed. Society of all classes was knee-deep in ■oppression, dishonesty, and shameless vice. The habits of the military officers discouraged moral reform. The first Colonial Chaplain, the Rev. Mr. Johnson, of Sydney, had much opposition. In 1803 the priest of a Spanish vessel, visiting Port Jackson, was surprised on finding that no church had been provided, and that the clergyman

CHAPTER II. 15

■sought some shady spot in the open air, for his pubHc ministrations. For four years Mr. Johnson vainly waited for official help, and then, at his own cost, built a church of " wattle and dab," and roofed with thatch. The Governor now sought to enforce attendance upon public worship. The sentiments of the prisoners, as to this improvement, were read in the flames which reduced the church to ashes. His Excellenc}-, it is said, threatened to punish them by employing them on Sundays in erecting a stone church. That threat, however, if made, was not carried out, and a store which became available was fitted up for public worship. Before Mr. Johnson's removal to England, the Rev. Samuel Marsden* arrived, and settled at Parramatta. His earliest religious efforts do not appear to have been very successful. In 1808 he returned to

* The Rev. Samuel Marsden was the son of a tradesman in the village of Horsforth, near Leeds, where he was born on the aStli of July, 1764. Both his parents were of repute as upright and pious. They are known to have been favourable towards the Wesleyan Methodists ■of their day. In his boyhood he was placed at the grammar school at Hull, of which Dr. Joseph Milner was the head master. Thence he went into his father's business, but his mind was not in it. He was a member of the Methodist Church, and zealous in the service of Christ. The Elland Society opened his way to Cambridge, where he studied in St. John's College. Before he had completed his studies he was offered, it is supposed through the influence of Mr. Wilberforce, the appointment of " Chaplain in His Majesty's territory of New South Wales." At first he declined the offer, — it would seem, from motives of diffidence. His objections, however, were overruled, and he received his commission under date January ist, 1793. He married Miss Elizabeth Ristan, and voyaged to Sydney. His course in New South Wales was one of high public spirit, guided by piety and benevolence. His varied difficulties and labours in the interest of the aborigines and of prisoners are matters of history, as also his deep and practical interest in the welfare of the New Zealand race. He voyaged to England once, and to New Zealand seven times. He died on the 12th of May, 1S38, at Parramatta.

England for a season, during which time the colony was without a clergyman. His representations, however, secured further appointments, and he was afterwards aided by the Revs. Messrs. Cartwright and Cowper.

In Van Diemen's Land religion was nominally represented by a gentleman, who, though he combined the magisterial with the clerical functions, was quite unabfe to cope with the abounding iniquity.

The time will come, within this century, when the Christian world will accord to Methodism no small honour, as the pioneer of advanced civilization in both hemispheres. The tone of Samuel Marsden's character and life purpose was doubtless received and matured under Methodist teaching; for in early days he was a member of the Methodist Society. Through life he practically honoured his parents' views of Methodism. It was at his request that Mr. Bowden, a teacher of the Great Queen Street charity schools, and highly respected for his personal qualities as well as for his piety in the London West Circuit, of which he was a member, went to New South Wales as a schoolmaster. He was joined by another Wesleyan, Mr. John Hosking, who was introduced to the chaplain by Joseph Butterworth, Esq., M.P. The value of their presence and piety is apparent from the following communication to the Wesleyan Mission House, forwarded by a zealous member of the society which they founded in Sydney, soon after their arrival. It was published in the January Missionary Notices for 1814, and is the earliest authentic account of Methodism in the southern world of which I have any knowledge : —

" Sydney, New South Wales, y»/v 10th, 1S12. " Ox the 28th we got safely into this port, which is a most astonishingly beautiful, romantic, capacious, and commodious harbour, {sic,) of which I need say but little, several authors having done this better than I can do Of

CHAPTER II. 17

Methodists we have here in Society the following persons : in Sydney, Mr, John H., who leads a class in his own house, consisting of Mrs. H., Mrs. B., and Mrs. I., and three of the senior girls in the school. Mr. B. has also a class in his house, consisting of IMr. H., I. F., T. J., husband of the above, and a soldier or two of the 75th Regiment. Our meetings generally are very comfortable and profitable. At Windsor, we have a class under the care of Mr. E.,. consisting of six. Mr. E. is a pious, sensible young man, sent here from Ireland, where he was converted while under sentence of death for forgery. He was bred to the bar; and being of a humble, affectionate disposition, and zealous in the cause of God, I doubt not (especially could his reproach be wiped away) would make an useful man among us. He has been employed for some months past in teaching school, and he goes some miles into the country on Sunday, where he reads the Church Liturgy, and expounds or preaches to the settlers, several of whom are thankful for his labours. This is a very recent undertaking, only of a few weeks, so that we can speak but ver3r little of its success.

" March 6th, 1812. — We held our first class meeting, and it has continued ever since.

" April 3rd. — Our friends at Windsor came down, and we held a lovefeast, which was a most blessed season. God was eminently present, and gave us such a meek, humble, simple, loving spirit, that the place was a little heaven ; and each thought himself the most unworthy of so great a blessing. We had been consulting on the most effectual means of procuring the Gospel among us by means of itinerant preaching. We had justly concluded that, although we have a few worthy clergymen here, yet till we see more labourers going forth in the spirit of their work, with pure, disinterested principles, labouring only to win souls to Christ, v/e cannot reasonably hope that

c

God will make bare His arm, and display His saving power.

"We therefore determined to address our Missionary- Committee, and to solicit their aid in sending us some Ministers whom God has anointed for so great a work. Of such men we doubt not our native country has several, whose desire is only to spend and to be spent in the work

of saving souls One of the most powerful arguments