Eastern Polynesia by A. H. Piper

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jan 24, 1907

Eastern Polynesia

By A. H. Piper

A. H. PIPER

The writer is somewhat acquainted with that part of our great field known as Eastern Polynesia. Here are thousands of natives scattered on more than a hundred islands. Before the advent of the gospel, sixty to one hundred years ago, they were savage cannibals, daily practising horrible, heathen atrocities, cruel, vindicative, murderous, no man's life being safe outside the limits of the tribal lands, and then living in constant preparation to attack others, or to be attacked. Christianity put an end to that condition of continual bloodshed. But to-day we see only a mere outward form in religion. “When they knew God, they glorified him not as God, . . . and their foolish heart was darkened,” and so darkened have they become, that it is everywhere evident that they are going back into heathenism. Old heathen ceremonies are being revived. Unseemly dances are again being practised. Magic, witchcraft, and other satanic influences are again gaining control of the people.

Among the natives are a few who see the downward tendency of the times, and call out for help. It was such a one who said to us not long since, “O when can I send my children to your school? for if they stay in this village much longer, they will all become heathen.” Brethren, can you not recognize in the plea of that poor Polynesian father a call to us to give his children “the bread of life” for the last days?

If he was simply desirous of educating his children, he could have done so at the schools on his own island. But no, he wanted more than a mere education. He saw that the children of his village, although learning to read and to write, were growing in vice and immorality, and to see his own children going the same way was more than his father heart could bear. Let us imagine ourselves, we who are parents, in that man's circumstances. How our hearts would yearn toward the little ones God has given us! In giving us the message of Revelation 14, God has greatly blessed us, and shall we not be more zealous in sending it to those whom the Lord has placed in our hands to feed with this “bread of life”?

We are glad that a good start has been made in Eastern Polynesia. Fifteen years ago our missionary ship “Pitcairn” made her first trip to the islands of the South Seas, and to-day we have about two hundred Sabbath-keepers in that field. At a meeting at Raiatea the other day, the writer heard the speaker telling of the first visit of the ship “Pitcairn” to that island. Those on board had announced to the inhabitants of the place that a meeting would be held on the ship on the Sabbath. The time was drawing near for the meeting to begin, but nobody had come from the shore to attend. Just then a native canoe, containing

two men, was seen approaching the ship. They came on board, attended the meeting, and to-day are staunch Sabbath-keepers, contented and happy in the faith, and, with tear-bedimmed eyes, talk of the message as their all in all. One of them tells of how good the Lord is to him, for the Lord has not only saved him, but is also bringing, one by one, his large family of children into the fold of Christ. Especially did he mention his oldest daughter, who, when the wife and mother was laid aside in death, became a mother to her younger brothers and sisters, and a solace to the sorrowing father. We speak of this because in these islands the young are so given up to worldly pleasure and licentiousness that to find a young woman willing to do as this one did, is a very rare thing. It is the bread of life as found in the message that produces such characters. If our brethren in America, and the children who, sixteen years ago, gave of their means to build that ship could see the results of her visits to this part of the world, do you suppose they would regret having invested the money in that way?—No, not for one moment.

There is a power in the message that completely changes those who take hold of it. Moreover, it seems that such changes can not be wrought by anything else. To those who know him best, the Polynesian is a man who can not bear to be ridiculed. Nothing else is so potent to change a native mind as ridicule. The man who has the courage to practise health reform in these islands is a marked man. The majority look upon him as an oddity. He is scoffed at, scorned, and derided. The writer was talking to a sick Rarotongan woman a few weeks ago, urging her to give up eating pork. ‘Give up pig!’ she exclaimed, ‘why, that is an impossibility. What would I do at the birth of a child, at a marriage feast, at a death, if I refused to eat pork? Do you not know that to refuse to eat pork on such occasions is to spurn your host's hospitality? Show me the Maori that ever gave up eating pig.’ When the name of such a one was mentioned, words fail to describe the look of blank amazement that overspread the poor woman's face.

The native brother named, in spite of the ridicule of forty other men with whom he works on regular occasions, refuses to drink tea or coffee, so much liked by natives, and takes a little water, notwithstanding the jeers of his fellow workers, who taunt him with the fact that he is a Seventh-day Adventist. I thank God that Seventh-day Adventists have a truth that can produce such men.

Another incident that shows devotion to the principles of the truth and the tender regard on the part of the Author of truth thereto, came before our notice a few days ago. A young sister with her husband had planted a patch of melons with the intention of marketing them. For some reason, when the melons were ripe, they could find no buyer. Finally the day came in which they decided to dig up the melons and plant other food. The sister said to her husband, ‘Let us put aside the Lord's tenth, and maybe he will send a buyer for his portion.’ This was no sooner done than a man approached the house and bought some of the melons that composed the tithe, and a few minutes later others came and bought the remainder. Although they were not able to sell one of their own portion of the melons, the money received for the Lord's portion was put aside, and subsequently paid to the tithe treasurer.

This same sister, when younger, was crossing the lagoon with her brother in a canoe. When about half-way across, they noticed that a large shark was following them. The brother was very much afraid, for it would have been an easy matter for the shark to upset their frail canoe. The sister in a quiet manner said to her brother, ‘Keep quite still while I ask God to help us,’ and kneeling in the canoe, she offered up her prayer. When she had finished, the shark was not to be seen, nor did they see it again. It is such childlike confidence in God as this that develops characters in harmony with his Word. The simplicity of the religion of such a person is beautiful to behold, and such religion is obtained by a belief in, and an obedience to, the truth contained in the message of Revelation 14.

Nor are we alone in noticing such development of character through obedience to the message. While talking with a native missionary of another church, the conversation turned to the subject of the spiritual condition of the people of the missionary's village, and without hesitation this man said, ‘There is one man in the village whom I consider to be a thorough Christian;’ and the man mentioned, brethren, was a believer in the truth. He was no better than any other native when he first came in contact with the message, and confessed at the time that he had broken, over and over again, every command of the decalogue. But what a change do we see to-day! Instead of an evil-smelling, dirty, and disorderly house, he has the cleanest and neatest home in the village. Instead of living with other native families, so conducive to wrong doing, he has but his wife and children in his home. No other man in the tribe is more industrious than is he, and no other man is more prosperous. Even the enemies of the truth say of him that he is blessed of God. As the Sabbath approaches, go to his home and you will find him preparing for it. Watch the sun sink in the west, and as you do so, you will hear his whistle calling the members of his family to begin the Sabbath with prayer. He is the first to come to meeting, and the last to go away. True, he is but human and makes mistakes, but he is ever ready to confess them and put them away.

What, brethren, has caused such reformations as these? We answer with words inspired by the Spirit: ‘The law of God is the foundation of all enduring reformation. . . . Obedience to God's law is the greatest incentive to industry, economy, truthfulness, and just dealing between man and man.’ Therefore let us be of good courage in the work before us, for it must prosper. Let us be true to our responsibility. ‘The message of Revelation 14 is the message that we are to bear to the world. It is the bread of life for these last days.’ ‘This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.’

Rarotonga, Cook Islands.