Kitabı oku: «My First Mission», sayfa 4
Chapter 8
A Missionary’s Craft in Danger – He Preaches Against Us and Our Doctrines, and Abuses Our Friends – His Remarks, However, Are Overruled for Our Good – The Lord’s Promise Fulfilled – I Go to Kula
On the Monday morning I returned to Lahaina, and received a warm welcome from the brethren. They were much interested in the recital of the incidents of my trip. From that time, however, I stayed but little there. Much as I liked the society of the Elders, I could not be content there, for I felt that I ought to be among the natives, trying to teach them the principles of the gospel, and there seemed to be a better opening for this work in other places than at Lahaina.
There being none of the Elders on the Island of Oahu, it was decided that Elders Bigler and Farrer should go there instead of to the island of Molokai. When they sailed for that island, which they did in a few weeks, Brother James Keeler was left alone with no one to converse with in English, unless he occasionally met a white man. This gave him a better opportunity of acquiring the language than he had when we were all there. After some weeks he also was led to leave there and to travel around the island until he found a people who were willing to receive him and the principles which he taught.
When the Presbyterian missionary at Wailuku saw that I had come back there he was displeased. He used all his influence against me among his congregation, and one Sunday he came out in public and delivered a most abusive discourse against the Prophet Joseph and our principles, in which he gave an entirely false statement of the cause of his death, and also warned the people against me.
I happened to be present when this sermon was delivered. While listening to it a variety of emotions agitated me. My first impulse was to jump upon one of the seats as soon as he had got through, and tell the people he had told them a pack of falsehoods. But this I thought would produce confusion, and result in no good. When the services were over, I walked around to the pulpit where he stood. He knew how short a time we had been on the islands, and, I believed, had no idea that I could understand what he had said; when he saw me, therefore, his face turned pale, and to me he looked like a man who had been caught in a mean, low act.
I told him I wanted to give him correct information respecting the things he had told the people that morning, that he might remove the effect of the lies which he had repeated to them; for, I said, they were base lies, and I was a living witness that they were.
He said he did not believe they were lies, and he should not tell the people anything different to what he had said; he thought he had but done his duty, and if the people had been warned against Mahomet in his day, he would not have got so many disciples.
I bore him a solemn testimony respecting the prophet Joseph, and the truth of the work, and said that I would stand as a witness against him at the judgment seat of God, for having told that people lies and for refusing to tell them the truth when it had been shown to him.
Much more was said, for our conversation lasted about half an hour, and while we conversed many of the congregation, some of whom understood English, crowded around.
This was the first occurrence of the kind in my experience in which I was personally prominent, and it had an importance in my eyes which it would scarcely have were it to happen to-day. One of those who listened to and understood this conversation was a brother-in-law of Napela’s, a half-white and a circuit judge, and a leading man on that island. He gave a report of the conversation which was very favorable to me, and altogether I think the missionary’s sermon did good. He intended it for evil; but the Lord overruled it, as He does all the plots and acts of the wicked, for the advancement of His purposes.
The Lord gave me favor in the sight of the natives, and I had their sympathy, though they dare not avow it, for fear of the consequences.
Another reason of the sermon not having so good an effect was the preacher’s allusions to Napela. He had called him by name, as the man at whose house I stopped, and denounced him. This, of course, was distasteful to Napela’s relatives and friends, many of whom were present. Thus this man, who fought in this manner against the work of God, did not prosper as he expected, neither then nor afterwards.
The Lord has said in one of the revelations to His servants:
“Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you, there is no weapon that is formed against you shall prosper; and if any man shall lift his voice against you, he shall be confounded in mine own due time.”
I have found every word of this to be true.
Napela was not frightened by what the missionary had said. He was threatened with removal from his judgeship and with being cut off from their church; but he manifested no disposition to have me leave his house.
The pressure, however, finally became so strong through the continued efforts of the preacher, that I thought it would be wiser for me to withdraw from Wailuku for awhile. I felt for Napela, for he had a heavy opposition to contend with, and I thought that if I went elsewhere, the persecution would not be so severe.
There was a place called Kula, (which means a country near the base of a mountain) where there were a few scattered villages, about eighteen miles from Wailuku, to which I was led to go. It was rather an out-of-the-way place, though just before I went there, a brisk trade in Irish potatoes, which grew spontaneously in that region, had been carried on; the people hauling them in carts, from there to a small port not far distant. These potatoes were carried in schooners to California to supply the gold diggers. But they were of a poor quality, and when the farmers of California began to raise them the trade ceased. The business had begun to fall off when I went there.
I stopped at the house of a man by the name of Pake, who had charge of Napela’s affairs in Kula, and to whom he had given me a letter of introduction when he found that I had determined to go there. He received me very kindly, also a man by the name of Maiola, whom I had met in Wailuku. He was a deacon in the Presbyterian church.
Chapter 9
Another Attack from a Missionary – Courage in Defending the Truth Always Admired – Poverty of the People
Kula, the district where I had gone to live, was visited about once in three months by the Presbyterian missionary who had it in charge. The Sunday after my arrival there was his day to make his quarterly visit, and I went down to the village where he was to hold his meeting. His name was Green, and he and I had met a few weeks previously, and had a conversation in which he grew very angry and said he would curse me.
There was a large attendance of natives at this meeting, and he took for his text the 8th verse of the first chapter of Paul’s epistle to the Galatians:
“But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.”
His whole sermon, as well as his prayer previously, was directed against us, warning the natives about us; but the sermon was the poorest and most childish attempt to show what the gospel of Christ was, that I ever listened to.
After he had finished, I arose and told the people it was best to examine the gospel well, and see what its nature and requirements were, and also for each to learn whether it was in his possession or not. I then commenced to show them what the gospel was.
Up to this time Mr. Green had sat amazed, as it appeared, at my audacity. Such a thing as a person arising in a meeting and questioning what he had said, or attempting to teach anything different, was new in his experience, and he seemed so astonished that he could not speak. But when he saw that I had the attention of the people and they were listening to what I said, he aroused himself, opened a catechism which he called Aio ka la, or “Food of the day,” and commenced asking the people questions. He was determined to interrupt me, and to divert the minds of the people from what I said. Some of his deacons helped him; they answered his questions in a loud voice, and confusion began to prevail.
I saw that no further good could be done then, so I told the congregation that I intended to hold meetings, and would have opportunities of more fully explaining to them the principles of the gospel, and I stopped.
He warned the people not to entertain me, nor to salute me; if they did, they would be partakers in my evil deeds.
To this I made a suitable reply and withdrew.
From this time I commenced to labor in a more public manner among the people, speaking in their meeting houses as I could get opportunity, and doing all in my power to give them a knowledge of our principles.
My speaking before Mr. Green had a good effect; the people saw that I preached the doctrines of the Bible, and that I was not afraid to meet the preachers; the moral effect of this boldness upon a simple people like them, I found to be excellent.
And here let me say that courage in advocating and defending the truth, when tempered with wisdom, is a quality men always admire. The fear of man, and the fear of telling that portion of the truth which he is sent to declare, are feelings that no Elder should ever indulge in. The man who suffers this fear to prevail with him is never successful. The fear of God and the fear of doing wrong, is the only fear that a Latter-day Saint should ever feel.
My training during the first two years of our settlement of Salt Lake Valley, when we were pinched for food, was of excellent service to me during the days of which I write. I should have thought the meagre diet we had in the valley, rich living if I had had it then.
The people were very poor, and I did not wish to be a burden to them in the least. I avoided eating anything, therefore, that I thought they relished or that they had only occasionally. I have told you that potatoes grew spontaneously there; but the country was too warm for them; this, together with the lack of cultivation, made them very poor. The potato when good was not a vegetable I liked very much. But there I could get nothing else, excepting whortleberries, which grew wild, and which I frequently picked and ate, until one day they made me sick, after which I could not eat them any more.
I might have eaten the potatoes better if I could have had salt to eat with them; but this article they were out of just then. The only thing eatable besides the potatoes was molasses. I have never liked to eat potatoes and molasses together since then.
I well recollect how I enjoyed a meal of “poi” on one occasion during this time. The “kalo” out of which it was made, had been cooked and pounded at some distance from there (“kalo” did not grow at that time at the part of the Kula where I was), and packed in the leaves of a shrub called ki; when thus packed it was called pai kalo. It had been warm when packed, which, with the heat of the weather had made it sour and maggoty. But the people had cooked it over again, and made it into “poi.”
My potato and molasses diet had removed all my fastidiousness about what I ate, and I thought this “poi” the sweetest food I had ever tasted. Some people eat maggoty cheese because they like it; I ate this “poi” because it was the best and most palatable food I had tasted for weeks.
But what I lacked in food the Lord made up to me in the goodly degree of His Spirit which He bestowed upon me. What I had to eat was a matter of indifference to me. I was happy, and I rejoiced as I never had before. Dreams, visions and revelations were given to me, and the communion of the Spirit was most sweet and delicious.
I learned a lesson then, which I trust will never be forgotten: that there is a happiness which the servants and Saints of God can have that is not of earth, and that is not in the least dependent for its existence upon the possession of food, raiment or any earthly thing.
Chapter 10
Successful Meetings – Our Principles Receiving Great Notice – Elder Keeler and Myself Go to Keanae and Have Remarkable Success in Adding Members to the Church
A new native house having been completed by Mr. Napela’s men, it was offered to me as a meeting house. On Sunday the neighbors collected together, and we had two meetings, one in the forenoon and one in the afternoon, at which I spoke upon the principles of the gospel and their restoration to man upon the earth, with the authority to teach them. My testimony and words were favorably received by the people, and they were desirous that I should continue to hold meetings.
It was a busy time, and I was only able to hold one meeting during the week. But on the next Sunday I had a most excellent time. Five were baptized and confirmed, and the spirit was powerfully poured out upon all present; many were stirred up to repentance, their hearts were touched and the tears coursed down their cheeks. Brother James Keeler, who had been stopping in Lahaina, was with me that day, he having reached there the previous day. Our joy was very great, and I thought it one of the best days in my life.
We held meetings during the week, and on Sunday I baptized and confirmed six persons.
It was in much weakness that I labored in the ministry; but I began to taste a joy that I had never before known, and my heart was filled with praise and gratitude to the Lord for deeming me worthy to receive the Priesthood, and to go forth on a mission.
Nineteen persons had joined the Church at Kula, and I felt impressed by the Spirit to go elsewhere and open other places in which to minister the word to the people.
The news of what was being done at Kula – the new religion as it was called – the new method of baptism – for up to that time the people had been sprinkled – and the doctrine, so strange to them, that God has spoken again to man, and sent His holy angels to minister unto him, was noised about, and there began to be a great curiosity felt by many of the people to hear.
Although the natives of the Sandwich Islands had been taught to read, and the Bible had been placed in their hands, and they had been trained to look upon the sectarian missionaries as their spiritual teachers, yet the religion of these missionaries did not generally satisfy them. There was not the power about the God which the missionaries worshiped that they believed there was about the gods of their fathers. The missionaries taught them that God no longer revealed Himself to men, that prophecy, miracles and the gifts mentioned in the Bible, had ceased.
But we taught the very opposite of all this. We told them God had not changed. He was the same to-day that He was when the Bible was written. His gifts and blessings were for men now, as much as they were eighteen hundred years ago. Man had lost faith, and he did not obey God’s laws, therefore, he had lost favor with the heavens, and the gifts and blessings were withheld.
The Bible upheld us in our teachings, and there was a consistency in our doctrines which pleased the honest.
The most of the natives of the islands supposed the Bible meant what it said; they had not learned to think that it meant one thing when it said another. But after our arrival the sectarian missionaries tried hard to teach them that the word of God had a hidden meaning, and that it was not like other language – a task, however, which, with a plain, simple people like the natives, they found very difficult.
The missionaries had great influence with the chiefs and the government. Their religion was, in fact, the State religion, though not so declared by law; it was popular to be a member of their church, while it was unpopular not to be connected with it.
It looked like a formidable and hopeless task to attempt to preach the gospel to a people and in a government over whom sectarian priests had such complete control. But we knew God could break down every barrier, and remove every obstacle. We put our trust in Him, and we were not disappointed.
I was led, as I have said, to prepare to go to some other place to labor, so as to extend the knowledge of the gospel. I had arranged to start on a certain day, but was detained. My detention was providential, for that day Brother James Keeler arrived, accompanied by a native, by the name of Namakaiona. Brother Keeler, after leaving Kula, had traveled around the island until he reached a place called Keanae, where he stopped. He had read the scriptures to the people of that place, and quite an interest had been awakened among them, many were anxious to hear preaching, and to be baptized. He wished me to come over there; they had furnished him with a horse to come over after me and bring me.
The road over which we traveled part of the distance to reach Keanae, passed through a most romantic country. The vegetation was of the most luxuriant description, the trees being of a kind new to me, and very grand. Such a wealth of vegetation I had read of, but never before beheld; and is not seen it any land outside of the tropics. The shrubs and ferns were in great variety, and grew in almost endless profusion. Many of the trees were masses of living green from the root upward, being covered with a multitude of vines and creepers of various kinds.
The road was impassable for carriages or wagons; in fact, horsemen had to dismount and lead their horses in many places up and down the hills, they were so steep. Whatever the people who lived in the villages on that side of the island needed, they either carried in, on their backs, or brought around in boats. To me the journey was most romantic, and I enjoyed it, the more so as I now understood the language, and was able to obtain many interesting items from the natives with whom we traveled and met, concerning the country, and their history and traditions.
Our arrival at Keanae created great excitement. The people had been watching for us, and seeing us approach from a long distance, had gathered to meet us. Had we been princes they could not have treated us with greater consideration and honor. We obtained the Calvinistic meeting-house the afternoon of our arrival, and there was a large attendance to hear the preaching.
This was on Wednesday, and from that time until Monday we were constantly speaking, baptizing, confirming and counseling the people. During that time there were upwards of one hundred and thirty baptized. The Spirit of the Lord was powerfully poured out, and all rejoiced; I never enjoyed myself so well before in my life.
When I started back to Kula, which I did on Tuesday morning, I felt very tired, with the amount of labor that I had performed. My object in returning then, was to organize the Saints who had been baptized into a branch, so that I could return again to Keanae.
In organizing the branch at Kula, I ordained two teachers whose names were, Kaleohano and Maiola, and three deacons, Pake, Kahiki, and Mahoe.
After two weeks’ absence, I returned to Keanae, and we organized four branches of the Church in that region. We only ordained teachers and deacons as officers, thinking it better to let them gain experience in the duties of these callings, before ordaining them to the Melchisedek Priesthood.
