An Early Christmas Service in Whanganui From an article by Peter Best in the Wairoa Star
A number of long wooden canoes
were moving swiftly down the river, each expertly paddled by a crew of swarthy men. Other canoes were being hauled up the gently sloping banks and their occupants – men, women and children laden with flax baskets and various provisions, were making their way to a grassy place of assembly where a crowd was already gathered, squatting in family groups, waiting expectantly. Who were these people and what was their purpose? These were Maori people of different tribes gathering for worship at a place called Putiki on the banks of the Whanganui River. The year was 1848 in the month of December. A pulpit had been carried to the field and the Rev. Richard Taylor, Church Missionary Society Agent, prepared to address a large gathering. Many of these people had been barbarous heathen, but now among them were some candidates for baptism and others to partake of the Lord’s Supper. These converts had, in previous years, practiced cannibalism, infanticide and other atrocities. They were now exhibiting “marks of grace” and showing evidence that they were “new creatures in Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:17). In his journal, Richard Taylor remarked, after having examined the candidates, “It is a very gratifying consideration that I have such a body of persons in my district living so consistently, that even the most censorious could not allege anything against their religious or moral conduct”. He went on to explain that the examination of these candidates was so thorough that “if it was found that any had lived on terms of intimacy with any immoral person, he was at once rejected”. Each candidate was presented by his “teacher”.
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