Memoirs of the Life and Labours of the Rev. Samuel Marsden, of Paramatta, Senior Chaplain of New South Wales; and of His Early Connexion with the Missions to New Zealand and TahitiMarsden, Samuel
Religion
Memoirs of the Life and Labours of the Rev. Samuel Marsden, of Paramatta, Senior Chaplain of New South Wales; and of His Early Connexion with the Missions to New Zealand and Tahiti
Marsden, Samuel
Marsden, Samuel, 1765-1838; Missions -- French Polynesia -- Tahiti (Island); Missions -- New Zealand; Māori (New Zealand people)
"Yesterday I assisted my much esteemed friend, Mr. Simeon, but
here I shall have no continuing city. The signal will soon be
given, the anchor weighed, and the sails spread, and the ship
compelled to enter the mighty ocean to seek for distant lands. I
was determined to take another peep at Cambridge, though conscious
I could but enjoy those beautiful scenes for a moment. In a few
days we shall set off for Portsmouth. All this turning and
wheeling about from place, to place, and from nation to nation, I
trust is our right way to the heavenly Canaan. I am happy in the
conclusion, to inform you that I have got all my business settled
in London much to my satisfaction, both with government and in
other respects. The object of my mission has been answered, far
beyond my expectations. I believe that God has gracious designs
towards New South Wales, and that his gospel will take root there,
and spread amongst the heathen nations to the glory of his grace.
"I have the honour to be, dear madam,
"Yours, in every Christian bond,
"SAMUEL MARSDEN."
His prayers and devout aspirations for New Zealand had been heard on
high, and "the way of the Lord" was "preparing" in a manner far beyond
his expectations, ardent as they seem. The ship Ann, in which he sailed,
by order of the government, for New South Wales, carried with her one
whom Providence had raised up to act a part, only less important than
his own, in the conversion of that benighted land.
The ship had been some time at sea before Mr. Marsden observed on the
forecastle, amongst the common sailors, a man whose darker skin and
wretched appearance awakened his sympathy. He was wrapped in an old
great coat, very sick and weak, had a violent cough, accompanied with
profuse bleeding. He was much dejected, and appeared as though a few
days would close his life. This was Duaterra, a New Zealand chieftain,
whose story, as related by Mr. Marsden himself, is almost too strange
for fiction. And as "this young chief became," as he tells us, "one of
the principal instruments in preparing the way for the introduction of
the arts of civilization and the knowledge of Christianity into his
native country," a brief sketch of his marvellous adventures will not be
out of place.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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