Walter Lawry’s
Part 4
DURING a love feast held in the chapel on the island of Lakeba, 48 Fijians spoke freely of how the gospel of God brought “much good to their souls”.
In the continuation of the book, “A Second Missionary Visit to the Friendly and Feejee Islands,” Walter Lawry gave a brief account of those who spoke at the feast, as recorded by Richard Lyth who was a methodist missionary and medical doctor appointed to Lakeba.
Testimonies were shared in great reverence and most shared how they reconciled through “God and the death of his Son”.
Joel Mafileo, a Tongan chief said: “I see the work of the Lord. We thought the world of the Lord in Fiji was difficult but I now see it.
“I first saw it in Oneata, and now I see it in Lakeba. I see the power of God; the people believe in the Lord, Fiji wants labourers.”
Another man, Nathaniel Koroi Vuki shared how he was once a bad man who had come from Bau to persecute the Christians but received the love of God.
“I was a man-killer, but the Lord has turned me and loved me. It is right I should be sent to work for the Lord in some land, because of having been so great a sinner.”
Many others stood up in tears and talked about how they forsook their past and embraced a good future.
Viwa to Nadi
After a considerable time on Lakeba Island and holding a successful district meeting with the missionaries of Fiji, Lawry moved on to other parts of Fiji.
“I am now at the mission house but its former occupant is gone,” Lawry wrote.
“The vigorous and energetic John Hunt is not here but is passed over before us.
“A tropical sun; exposure to heat, when in the full power of its blazing forth; working hard in the garden and on the house; sleeping at Bau in wet clothes and in a draught: — these brought on dysentery and death.”
After holding a public worship day and spending time with the Calverts, Lawry was visited by Bauan chief, Cakobau.
“Mr Calvert, who never misses an opportunity of letting in light upon him, communicated his own views and mine upon the lotu (Christianity); and the black chief evaded what was said with “considerable cunning”; but he
“contrived to get his head into every room and his hand into every dish”.
“He has no charms for me, after a visit to the superior chiefs of Tonga, who, compared with this naked and cannibal warrior, are high in the scale of civilisation.”
After leaving Viwa Island, the ship John Wesley sailed past Ovalau and soon anchored in Nadi Bay.
“The rocks are so numerous about here as to make it a most undesirable place for a vessel of above twenty tons to visit, and more especially as they are all sunken rocks, about from eight to ten feet underwater, and therefore invisible in cloudy weather.
“We landed Mr and Mrs Moore last night and went ashore at six this morning to see their station, and bid them farewell.
“Their house, built of wood and floored, has four rooms and a verandah, with a goodly number of kind-hearted natives living about them on the sea-shore, with every prospect of extensive usefulness, which is somewhat interrupted by the never-ending little wars of the tribes in the neighbourhood.”
Bua and Bartimeus
After a short time in Nadi, the ship John Wesley proceeded to Bua and here Lawry was introduced to a man named Bartimeus.
“He is from Ono and when Mr Waterhouse was there, with Mr Calvert and others, it was quickly noised abroad over this lotu island (converts) that the sacred men had come who had the power to baptise and marry.”
Waterhouse and Calvert encouraged the men who wished to be married to come to them.
“So there was a general rising of the people, the men who wished to have wives, or who thought they might wish in that direction hereafter were running up and down, a hundred in a crowd asking, 'Will you marry me?', and 'No' was the common reply.”
Bartimeus was one of these men who was met with several declines and at last made an offer to a much older female.
“After their marriage, the old lady told him that she thought he might be of use to her in planting and procuring her food and on
that account she had married him,” Lawry noted.
“Poor Bartimeus was chagrined but there was no remedy.”
Lawry said as time went on, this man continued his work while the old lady lived on another island.
“He used to ask if it would be right to pray for her death and was told it would not be right so to pray; although she was not a help meet for him, yet she was his wife.”
So when the news of his wife's death was brought to him, he felt great relief and remarked that he would never look for another one again.
The mission setting in Bua
According to Lawry, from the two districts he had visited, Bua had the best chapel he had seen.
It was clean, strong and well laid out with finishings that reminded him of a cathedral back home, built not only in the best style but of the best material.
“The worship was solemn and cheerful, intelligent and feeling, about 200 persons were present,” he said.
“At a small distance from the chapel is the dwelling house of Mr and Mrs Williams, standing by the side of a navigable stream, in a lovely grove of breadfruit, cocoas and bananas with a very rich alluvial soil of several miles extent, producing fine crops.”
One morning while taking a stroll with Thomas Williams, Lawry came across an elderly man named Job.
He was the last of his tribe and received Christianity a while back and
urged his people to do the same but was met with resistance.
“Job left them and came here to live (Bua mission) for the sake of Christ's ordinances.
“People fell on Job's friends, killed and roasted some, and all who could escape did until their memorial has ceased to exist, except in the case of Job and two or three others, who, fleeing to Dama, embraced the lotu there.
“Such is the present state of things here, that one sees only two ways before any man; namely, lotu and live, or, resist the light and perish, this is the day of decision in Fiji.”
After completing his visit to the Fiji group, Lawry returned to the mission station in New Zealand and remained the General Superintendent of the Wesleyan Society's Missions until 1854.
History being the subject it is, a group's version of events may not be the same as that held by another group. When publishing one account, it is not our intention to cause division or to disrespect other oral traditions. Those with a different version can contact us so we can publish your account of history too — Editor.