The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1929, Sheet 105

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

a while. But soon their captain fell in the struggle,
his followers lost heart, and the enemies drove them
from the island into the river. Soon after, another
rally was made by the loyal natives under the leader-
ship of Haimona Iiroti. This time the Hau-Haus
were defeated and their leader Mateme slain, while
his forces were pursued for some distance. This
victory was the greatest check the Hau-Hau move-
ment had till then received, and it saved the colony
of Wanganui from destruction. When the brave
Christian natives came into the town with the news
of their victory, they were joyfully and gratefully
welcomed, and the British flag was hoisted half-mast
in honor of those who had fallen on the field of battle.

Rev. Hamuera Te Punga, New Zealand.
A Native Maorl, Now Serving a White Congregation

in New Zealand.

One brave missionary, however, was destined to
seal the Christian faith with his life. This was the
Rev. Carl Voelkner, a German by birth, but who had
been ordained and appointed by the Church of
England because of the lack of missionary spirit to
be found in the Church of his native land. Voelkner
is described as a devout and consecrated man, whose
one desire seems to have been to bring the Maoris to
the Savior.

Missionary Carl Voelkner.

He was stationed at Opotiki, on the Bay of
Plenty. At the outbreak of the Hau-Hau movement
he removed his wife to Auckland, but he returned to
his flock and nursed several cases of dangerous fever
when the victims’ own relatives had forsaken them,

103

thus exposing his life to a double danger. One day,
when approaching the shore in a coasting schooner
in company of another missionary, they saw a large
number of natives lining the river bank. As they
cast anchor, they were warned to escape, since the
Maoris had sworn to kill them on sight. Two days
before, a rebel chief had been there preaching the
new fanatical faith and seeking recruits for the rebel
army; the Hau-Hau flag, with a Hebrew letter em-
blazoned upon it, had been raised near the mission
chapel; Voelkner had been shamefully maligned,
and in their mad joy the fanatic natives had declared
that they would cut off Voelkner’s head and send it
as a trophy to Zerubbabel, the great prophet of the
new religion. A Maori ex-policeman greatly aroused
the people by an address and the showing of
a soldier’s head which would speak at sunset. He
denounced Christianity in the strongest terms and
claimed that the missionaries had robbed them of
their lands by lies and misrepresentations.

A Brave Missionary’s Capture.

On the Sunday previous a dance around the wor-
ship post was kept up all day, and a gibberish was
muttered which was claimed to be the speech of the
Hau-Hau god. Missionary Voelkner’s house was
broken open, his furniture was destroyed, and his
books were torn up. The impostor thus destroyed
the fruits of many years of hard labor. The catechist
who had been left in charge during Voelkner’s ab-
sence was among the first to accept the new doctrine
of devils.

The warning given Voelkner and his companion
came too late; and as they landed, natives crowded
about them in a whirl of savage joy, and the women
danced around them with hideous gestures. The
missionaries and the crew of the schooner were taken
prisoners and twenty men were set to guard them.
Two Jews who were on the ship were set free, being
told by the Hau-Haus that they had nothing to fear
since they had the same religion.

Voelkner Dies a Martyr’s Death.

Voelkner prepared for his death. “We must put
our trust in God,” were his simple words in the hour
of death. Without a murmur he met his fate, only
asking for permission to kneel down to pray. After
he had been stripped and his eyes had been band-
aged, he was hoisted to a high branch of a willow-
tree. He told his murderers that they were making
themselves guilty of a great crime, but at the same
time he assured them of his forgiveness and even
shook hands with his cruel executioners. He died