BEING THE LIFE OF

CARL. S. VOLKNER

TOGETHER WITH HIS SERMON

THE SUFFERINGS OF THIS PRESENT TIME

A POEM WRITTEN BY HIM
 BEING THE LIFE OF

CARL. S. VOLKNER

By Dr M.A. Tagg

TOGETHER WITH HIS SERMON

THE SUFFERINGS OF THIS PRESENT TIME

WITH A POEM WRITTEN BY HIM

ISBN 0-473-11187-X

South Pacific Reprints

PO Box 68074
AUCKLAND
 4

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showing certain places
mentioned in the text

Hauraki Gulf
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Uf*
Waiheke Is.
Auckiani
■•Kauaeranga
PurirL#
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atam ^a(Tauranga) Waiapu
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Pukawa* Turanga
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Ahuriri (Napier)
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 5

TH E M A R T Y R ’S CRO W N

INTRODUCTION

In the sanctuary of the wooden church of St Stephen the M artyr at Opotiki, is a

marble slab marking the grave of the builder of the church, who died in 1865. The
original headstone may be seen still against the east wall of the church. An old
chalice in a glass case and a bloodstain on the pulpit bear mute witness to the death of
the builder.

M uch has been written about the m urder of CMS missionary Carl Sylvius Volkner at
Opotiki in 1865, and there is considerable debate on the guilt or innocence of those
involved in his death and the reasons for it - but little is known about the man himself.
He was killed by the people he came, half a world away from his hom e in Germany,
to serve. At a time of turbulence over land disputes, when conflict had broken out on
the East Coast of the North Island and Pai M arire supporters around Tauranga and
Opotiki were being pursued by colonial forces and pro-government Maori, Carl
Volkner took his wife to Auckland for safety then returned to be with his people
despite the risk to himself.

W hat sort of a man was this 46 year-old German m inister and what was it that was so
important to him that he should com e so far with no financial support or living and
risk his own life in order to be with those who would eventually kill him?

Volkner has left little of himself except a church building, a few letters and a sermon
which he preached twice - once to a small num ber of Europeans at Turanga,
Gisborne, and again at St John's College Chapel, Auckland. His few letters, apart
from seven written to Sir George Grey to inform him of the movements and concerns
of Maori within his district, are about his daily work and worries as a m issioner in the
Church M issionary Society (CMS). But his first letter to the CMS contains the
phraseology of a man who has received a call from God to minister, and his sermon
shows one who fully understands and feels in his heart St Paul’s experience on the
Damascus Road. It matters not to Volkner whether he works within either the
Lutheran M ission or the CMS. He is a man devoted to a single ideal - the worship
and teaching of God's Word. As Christ loved and died for men, so did Carl Volkner
go to his death - with a genuine love for his fellow men.

A CK N O W L E D G E M E N T S

My special thanks to Kinder Library, St John's College, Judith Bright and Librarians
for their assistance and help with references and microfiche and perm ission to use
Volkner's Sermon.
Also to H B W illiams M emorial Library Reference Section, Gisborne; Opotiki
M useum Archives and Hiona St Stephens Anglican Church, Opotiki.

Mary Tagg PhD.

M arch 2006
First Edition © SPR
Cover: Rev. Carl S. Volkner
I. THE LUTHERAN

Karl Sylvius W olkner was born in Hesse, Kassel, Germany probably in 1819. His
parents' names, occupation or circumstances are not known as many of the
Staatsarchiv Citizenship records were lost in W W II.1 He is described as ...fair
complexioned, grey eyed and kindly disposed.2 The few photographs of him show a
lean medium height man, with high forehead, slightly receding hairline, sideburns or a
short, but bushy beard. Volkner was described by William Fox as 'a man o f
remarkable sim plicity o f character, o f the most single-m inded and devoted piety, and
an extremely conciliatory and kind disposition °

Stokes considers that ...his sim ple-minded piety...m ay have clouded his perceptions4
but Volkner was no fool. He was an intelligent man, practical, determined and
capable. Fox's single-minded may be a better description. Although he spoke both
English and M aori fluently, these were not his native languages and despite his ability
to understand and interpret them, Volkner's writings show indications of a non-
English first language which may have made it a little bewildering at tim es for him to
fully comprehend not only the very different emotive responses of the Maori he
worked amongst, but may also have limited his appreciation of the nuances of people
whose native language was English and with whom he dealt in the church political
context of the missionary times.

Although we do not know anything of Carl Volkner's5 family or background, or what

work he may have done as a youth before joining the North German Missionary
Society (NGMS), his sermon and a few extant letters give a strong indication that as a
young man in Germany he experienced a spiritual conversion which changed his life.
In his letter written from the W aikato Heads to the Central Church M issionary Society
Committee,6 when he applies in A ugust 1852 to transfer from the Lutheran mission to
the CMS, he says:
’A fter having by the Holy G host found the way, the truth and the life fo r
my own soul in Christ I then fe lt more than a great desire to do
something to forw ard the saving Gospel also to the ears o f my fellow
men and especially to those who were not within the lim it o f our
Christian Church. In praying to God it was when I was determ ined to
give m yself to the missionary work...

His later sermon endorses this with his description of the conversion of the Apostle
Paul. Volkner relates closely to Paul's conversion as one who himself has experienced
this certainty and knows personally what it is like. His determination to devote
himself to the missionary cause despite the difficulties he encounters, may have roots
in his native Germanic tenacity, but the manner of his acceptance of his probable
death, as described by Captain Levy and Rev.Thomas Grace, and also his wife's

1 Greenwood, William: Riemenschneider o f Warea, A H &A W Reed. 1967 - Appendix 1.

2 J A Mackay: Historic Poverty Bay and the East Coast N.I.,.NZ. A Centennial M em orial, 1966
Gisborne p.226
3 Stokes, Evelyn in Ed. W H Oliver: The Dictionary o f New Zealand Biography Vol. 1, 1769-1869
Allen & Unwin .Dept Internal Affairs, Wellington. 1990. p567.
4 Ibid.
He anglicised his name to Carl Volkner
6 Microfiche Rev Carl S Volkner: Letters, Reports, Journal 1857-64. NZ Mission C N/0 91 L9 Mic 014
Reel 60
 7

attitude as reflected in her letter some 12 years later, point to the acceptance of a
religious conviction set by an extremely strong spiritual experience. Volkner was not
a 'career' minister, he was a man called by God to spread God's word.

The Missionary Society which Volkner joined when he was about the age of 26, was
formed in 1780-83 when a circle of friends in Bremen established the Deutsche
Christentum sgesellschaft (German Christianity Society). As the result of the visit of a
missionary from Basel en route to London, the Bremische M issionsverein (Bremen
M ission Association) was established in 1819 and in 1836, together with other
mission societies, united to form the North German M ission Society. Headquarters
were at Hamburg. In 1842 five missionaries went to New Zealand and India and the
main work of the mission was established with four missionaries sent to the slave
coast of W est Africa in 1847. Volkner would probably have entered the mission
school to begin his training the year before.

At that time, cooperative work of the member home societies was much hindered.
One of the chief difficulties lay in the confessional question. Both Lutherans and
Reformed desired to avoid perpetuating their doctrinal and ecclesiastical differences
among the heathen. However around 1837 a num ber of men began to stress these
differences, and problems of ordination and instruction added to the difficulties.7 In
1848 the North German Mission Society moved to Bremen and later had to close its
school.8

The NGMS took candidates from all backgrounds. In New Zealand the NGMS
missionaries have always been looked on as Lutheran, but NGMS policy was
interdenom inational.9 Of the first group of NGMS to arrive in Nelson, New Zealand
on the emigrant ship St Pauli in June 1843, Johann Friedrich Heinrich W ohlers came
from a farming family of some standing in the community, Johann Heinrich Trost
was a peasant farm -hand from Lauenberg, Johann Friedrich Riemenschneider the son
of a workman and Johann W ilhelm Christof Heine was the son of a poor w eaver.10

Volkner, whatever his background, was an intelligent, decisive man with a strong,
positive personality. He received a good general education at the NGM S Hamburg
school. Subjects studied included: scriptural studies, church history, German, English,
geography, natural history, algebra, trigonometry, drawing and music. Natusch states
that Wohlers and Riemenschneider, were also allowed special extra lessons in Greek
and Latin.11 Volkner later showed ability in learning Maori quickly. It is not clear if

7 F L Cross Ed.; Oxford Dictionary o f the Christian Church. Oxford University Press, London 1958.
p. 105, Augsburg Confession: "The Lutheran Confession of F aith...is divided ...into two parts. The first
epitomizes in 21 articles the essential Lutheran doc trines.... The second half reviews the abuses for
which remedy is d e m a n d e d . . . p . 8 3 3 f f Lutheranism: ”... the Scriptures are affirmed to be the sole
rule of faith, to which the Creeds and other traditional statements of belief are all subordinated. The
principal Lutheran tenet is justification by faith alone...Redemption consists in his [man's] justification
by faith in C h rist..." & p834 "In the 18th century rationalism made great inroads into Lutheranism and
led to an increasing depreciation of all supernatural elements of Christianity.... German Lutheranism
underwent a crisis in 1817 when Frederick William III of Prussia decreed union between the Lutherans
and the Reformed."
8 Ed: Burton Goddard: The Encyclopaedia o f Modem Christian M issions., Thomas Nelson & Sons,
London. 1967. ppl05, 490 & &833ff. (Loher Memorial Library Australian Lutheran College.)
9 Brother Wohlers: A Biography Sheila Natusch 1969 Pegasus, Christchurch p34
10 Ibid p34 ".. .We hear too of the superior Ochs, who belonged by birth to the educated classes".
11 Ibid p35
Volkner was ordained as a minister before being sent out as a m issionary but both
W ohlers and Riemenschneider were ordained in 1842.Greenwood considers this
possibility when he states in his Preface that: Riemenschneider; W ohlers and Volkner
as ...agents o f the North German M issionary Society ... were hand-picked men who
were given the highest education before ordination and commissioning fo r overseas
service, and there is no record of Volkner receiving theological or pre-ordination
training at St John's College in Auckland. Later, when Volkner was working at his
station as a lay teacher, Rev. M aunsell suggested to the CMS that as Volkner was not
ordained, he should be sent to England to be examined for ordination as both deacon
and priest. He was not, but he did later receive some ordination training from Bishop
W illiams who ordained him deacon in Turanga, and later as priest in Opotiki.

Attracted by the NZ Company's offers of leasehold lands, the NGMS acquired 201
acres in N elson12 and set up a mission to serve the small band of German colonists
who arrived in 1843. Riemenschneider, Wohlers and other NGMS m issionaries relied
solely on their missionary society for support. The home base directed that pioneering
work only must be undertaken am ong the natives, and that there m ust be no
13
encroachment on the work of already established causes.

But in reality, there was little or no support for the missionaries. The North German
M ission Society, having sent W ohlers out with three colleagues to a semi-civilised
country, supposed its duties as far as New Zealand was concerned were over. The
mission was expected to make itself pay by farming - duty must be done in the
uncomplaining German way. All expenses were to be provided out of the mission
coffer and accurate accounts kept and sent home to headquarters. Nobody could spend
the merest penny as his fancy took him without being held accountable for it.14 The
M ission Society’s policy was based on the dubious prem ise of a self-supporting New
Zealand where even missionaries could make their way with little or no financial help.
Communication with the home m ission centre took anything up to two years and a
persistent rumour circulated that the NGMS had been disbanded - it had not, but had
reconstituted itself in Bremen under a new committee of administration.

Heine remained in Nelson m inistering to the spiritual wants of the German settlers.
But finding Nelson, where he m ight have made a small but adequate living as pastor
and teacher, too civilised for his missionary tastes, W ohlers m oved south to
eventually set up his mission on Ruapuke, a small island lying between the mouth of
the Mataura River and Stewart Island. Riemenschneider found work among the
M aoris in 1844 in Taranaki at M otukaram a on the M okau river, until 1846, when he
moved to W area where he rem ained until the outbreak of the Land wars in 1860.
Trost had joined Riemenschneider at the end of 1844, but the physical and mental
strain of mission work was too heavy for him and he returned to Germany in a sadly
broken state, to be replaced by Volkner.

W ohlers' diaries give insight into the situation which V olkner came to in New
Zealand
Letters fro m Inspector Brauer o f the M issionary Society, in H am burg,
informed me that 1 was not forgotten ... 1 was informed that assistants

12 Ibid p35
13 Greenwood op.cit: preface
14 Natusch op.cit p36
 9

would shortly be sent to me, and that the first, Brother Abraham Honore
would shortly be sent out. From this 1 concluded, as a matter o f course,
and that 1 should be able to pay my debt - which began to trouble me
more and m ore...
A t the end o f 1848 Brother Honore arrived, without any money. When 1
asked him how the missionary society could possibly send him to N Z
without any money, he replied it was said in Hamburg that the N Z
mission did not cost any money, and fo r that reason the East India
mission took all they had. That was too much fo r me. 15

Honore stayed in Nelson for a while as Wohlers was also notified that: ...he could
look forw ard to the company o f Volkner, who had been directed to jo in him at
Ruapuke. W ohlers' response to this information was that ...all he needed now was a
supply o f tin and Brass - suitable fo r burning muttonbird fat; a bride fo r Volkner, who
had a fiancee in Bremen and one fo r Honore, to teach the wahines more efficient
ways o f making fla x ... ”16

However, by the time Volkner arrived in Wellington in August 1849, the Society had
decided against him going to Ruapuke and instead he was now to be
Riemenschneider's assistant. W ohlers also arrived in W ellington about the same time,
on his way to Nelson to see if he could obtain money for needed repairs and work
from the German colony there, and the two men met:
1 met Bro Wolkner who had been sent out by our Missionary Society as
assistant to Brother Riemenschneider...From him 1 learnt that our North
German M ission Soc [sic] had been shifted fro m Hamburg to Brem en...
W ohlers also m et his future wife Elise (Eliza) Palmer in W ellington and his comment
gives an idea of the missionaries' dependence on a good woman: .. 1 w asn't thinking
o f m arrying...it was only the necessity and utility o f it which drove me in this
direction...17 V olkner joined Reimenschneider in Taranaki and Honore went with
W ohlers to Ruapuke and married a M iss Madsen there.

W ith Riemenschneider, Volkner

... began his labours among the natives somewhere in the province o f
Taranaki. Here he was entirely unsupported by the society which sent
him out, and underwent great hardship and privations. He was a
most devoted missionary, and sincerely loved the natives among
whom he lived, but alone, unaided and unordained, he could do
little.18
As much as Riemenschneider was pleased to have a fellow worker, both he and
Volkner realised there was not enough work for two in the one area. There were only
about 500-600 people, so by arrangement they divided the district - Riemenschneider
to work in the northern part and Volkner the southern. Volkner lived either with
Riemenschneider and his wife, or in the old house of a Maori teacher, Piripi. The

15 Houghton, John, trans : Memories o f the Life o f J F H Wohlers, Missionary at Ruapuke, New
Zealand p 170. Otago Daily Times & W itness Newspaper Co. Ltd, Dunedin: 1895
16Natusch op.cit. p l3 9
17 Ibid 140ff
18 Cyclopedia o f New Zealand : The Cyclopedia Company Ltd Christchurch, 1902. p946. Also
Houghton op.cit. 1895 Otago Daily Times
 10

arrangement did not last long - Riemenschneider and Volkner worked together less
than two years. 19

The problems of finance meant that Lutheran missionaries were severely handicapped
in their work. But Volkner was a young, energetic, strong-minded, independent and
intelligent man, stubbornly determined and dedicated to his goal of spreading the
Gospel and he was not about to give up his chosen career as a missionary because of
difficulties. Finding he could expect no material assistance from the NGM S and that
there was little or no worthwhile work for him in Taranaki, Volkner took matters into
his own hands and left Riemenschneider's station to explore the country north. He
eventually reached Rev. Robert M aunsell's mission school at M araetai, W aikato
Heads and offered to stay and assist M aunsell with the school.

2. THE TEACHER

M aunsell's school had between 80 and 100 students who were instructed in the usual
subjects taught in an English primary school. Teaching was in Maori; but they learnt
the pronunciation of English. For teaching purposes the school was in four divisions:
boys' school; girls’ school; adults under instruction; and Pakeha school (taught in
English).

M aunsell had M r and Mrs W hytlaw and Miss Panton as assistants but he welcomed
Volkner's arrival and wrote to Archdeacon Brown on 10th June 1850:
God I trust is about to answer my prayers fo r help... The young man ...
works like a Trojan ... nothing escapes him, nothing is too low fo r him ...
last Saturday he spent with three little idlers teaching them how to wash
out the schoolhouse. 20

Volkner's offer to help in the school was accepted and more than a year later, he was
still with M aunsell, who wrote to the CMS committee on 6 October 1851:
I have had my hands much strengthened by the assistance o f a
missionary fro m a German Society who in wandering up the island took
a fancy to our institution and o f his own se lf offered fo r a little while. His
heart is much in schools and his plans are good. I have assigned him a
number o f boys, and a home fo r him self on the station and they certainly
present a good model to our native teachers. He with five o f his brethren
was sent out to this island by the North German M issionary Society.
Since their arrival here now nearly fo u r years ago they have not
received any supplies from their Society beyond a fe w hundred pounds.
21

Maunsell suggested that the CMS look into the m atter with the German Society at
Bremen. He told them further that Volkner now wished to join the CMS but he could
not recommend V olkner to apply to 'our Bishop' chiefly because:

19 Greenwood op.cit
20 Garrett, Helen Te M anihera: The Life and Times o f the Pioneer Missionary Robert Maunsell. Reed
Books, Auckland 1991 p l7 7 ff
21 Ibid.
 11

.... there are so many crotchets and points and conditions, one o f which
is that he can have no certainty that he will be ordained within any
definite period and that after he is ordained he may fin d that (having
bound him self to go where the Bishop pleases) he is directed to remain
as an assistant at St John's...This young man is 30 years o f age, has
made progress in the knowledge o f the language and o f English both o f
which he is studying hard...Has a very good temper... is very determined
and energetic. His Society has no truck with Rom e and Puseyite systems
fo r both o f which he has a profound dislike; he holds and earnestly
maintains the exclusive sufficiency o f faith in Christ and the other
evangelical doctrines; has a strong liking fo r the natives and has passed
through a good deal o f hardship in his missionary labours" 22

Maunsell enclosed a letter from Volkner to be forwarded to his friends in Bremen,

and asked for an urgent answer from the CMS. He added that Volkner was engaged to
a young lady in Germany, and offered to pay her passage to NZ himself. But nothing
more is heard of 'Lucy', the fiancee left behind in G erm an y .23

W ith M aunsell’s support, Volkner now formally approached the Church M issionary
Society. He wrote to the CMS offering his services as a teacher and catechist. The
letter, received on 7th August 1852, clearly shows the cavalier attitude of the NGMS
and indicates its disorganized state and poor financial dealing:
To the Central Committee o f the C.M.S. in New Zealand
I the undersigned beg to lay before you my wishes referring to the
connexion with you in your missionary work.
After having by the Holy Ghost fo u n d the way, the truth and the life fo r
my own soul in Christ, I then fe lt more than a great desire to do
something to forw ard the saving Gospel also to the ears o f my fellow
men and especially to those who were not within the limit o f our
Christian Church. In praying to God it was when I was determined to
give m yself to the M issionary work and after I had counselled with some
M inisters o f Christ I offered m yself to the North German M issionary
Society at Hamburg and was accepted and after having got two years
and a h a lf in the education o f that M ission Institution was sent to
Taranaki with the particular remark that I was wanted there.
On my arriving at Taranaki 14 August 1849 1 was told by M r
Riemenschneider, the other Missionary o f the Society to whom I was
sent, that there was no work fo r me in Taranaki and also nothing to live
on. Then I wrote immediately to my Society and asked what I should do;
in the mean while I went to Waiaua a little village in Taranaki to try if
possible to do something good fo r the natives and there waited without
means fo r an answer o f the Society and wrote again and again that there
were no Natives belonging to our Church and that Monies by no means
(as the Society wished) would support me and stated in what a most
awkward position I was, but all in vain. I saw and heard nothing o f the
Society; although it is distinctly said in my instructions that all my wants
should be supplied by the Society. In leaving the Society fo r New
Zealand I thought it improper fo r a M issionary to ask about money

22 Garrett op.cit p. 178 - MaunseH's Letter of 6 Oct 1851

23 Garrett gives the name Lucy
 12

matters but when I came here I fou n d no way open before me. After
having been here nearly two years and all my wishes and reporting
seem ed to be altogether unobserved, I then begged the Society either to
send me to a place where I could fin d work and to support me and to
give me permission and assistance to marry or release me fro m their
service. To this letter I received an answer last month, but most
unsatisfactory. In the service o f that Society I have fe lt m yself thoroughly
unable to do any good to the M ission's work or to fu lfil my duty as a
missionary and I can also see no prospect to do any good in fu tu re in its
service because I have lost the pleasure to work under it and all
confidence in them, this is caused by the strange and obscure treatment I
have received from that Society all the time I have been in this Church.
Therefore it is absolutely impossible fo r me to be longer connected with
it and as I fe e l m yself called to the M ission work by a higher authority
than that o f men I think m yself obliged to look fo r another way to be
useful in the work o f God.
I have had opportunity to see a good deal o f the manners the system and
the Spirit in which The Church M issionarys in this Island fu lfil their
duties though I fe e l that I am neither able nor worthy to work in your
lines, yet it has excited in me a great desire to be connected with such an
active body o f Christ's disciples. M ight I ask therefore the presum ption
to utter my wishes to an Honorable [sic] Committee o f the Church
M issionaries, to allow me to assist you in drawing your net that is
becoming almost too heavy fo r you; in such time as you want to employ
.... o f M ission I shall fe e l m ost happy. The Rev M r Kissling and the Rev
M r M aunsell are aqnainted with me and m ight be found willing and able
to give a little clearer information about me.
Signed: Carl Sylvius Volkner.
German Missionary, Waikato Heads. February 7 1852

For Volkner, the main concern was his call as a m issionary of Christ. To do this work
successfully he needed the support of the church, which he was not receiving from the
NGMS. The CM S provided m ore support for its missionaries. M inor differences in
Lutheran and Anglican church thinking could be overcome and he would have no
great doctrinal difficulty in changing to the CMS. Although under Lutheran polity he
would repudiate hierarchical church government, and therefore Rom an Catholicism,
he would be able to accept church government by representation through the S ynod.24

He was accepted as a CMS lay catechist in 1852 and his appointment to the station in
the Waikato as an assistant to the Rev. Robert M aunsell was confirmed as from 1851.

In the meantime tragedy had struck Maunsell and his station. O f 102 boarders in the
school, 20 had to withdraw when typhus broke out at the station. Then late in October
1851, M aunsell's wife Susan died giving birth to a stillborn son, her eighth child.
Soon after, the church at the mission blew down in a fearful gale. M aunsell sent his
children to Tauranga and Auckland and himself struggled on assisted by Volkner and
Miss Panton whom he later married.

74 Ed: Harrison, E.F. Baker's Dictionary o f Theology Baker Book House, Michigan. 1960. p336f
 13

...Volkner has been a great strength, keeping the boys' schooling

going...

James W est Stack, the son of another missionary, was sent to join M aunsell as a
schoolmaster in late 1852. Stack would spend 6 years with Maunsell, and it is clear
that he worked well with Volkner as his colleague as, later, Maunsell and Volkner
were named as godfathers to James and Eliza Stack’s son who was baptized in
Rangiora on 26 Decem ber 1864. W ith his new wife, as well as Stack and Volkner to
assist him, M aunsell's station again thrived. At M araetai, Volkner was in charge of the
men and taught them in Maori, while Stack taught in English.

Volkner worked as a lay teacher in the lower Waikato until 1853. By 1853 the school
again had over 100 pupils and was to be moved to a more suitable block of land at Te
Kohanga nine miles up river from M araetai. Volkner and James Stack m oved up river
to Te Kohanga, Volkner and a party of young men going ahead to Kohanga for three
months to prepare the site for the new Mission. Stack describes the buildings at
Kohanga. Most were put up by the M aoris and were ...ju st like the huts they built fo r
themselves... His schoolroom was built of saplings ten feet high, set up in trenches,
with a roof thatched with nikau palm leaves and toetoe. There were no windows but
enough light for the school came through the spaces between the upright wall posts
and .. although cold winds often blew... Stack reported .../ never fo u n d any
inconvenience in school hours fro m draughts, nor did the men and boys ever
complain o f cold. 25

In 1853-4 there is some difference of opinion as to V olkner’s whereabouts. Garrett

says that After his time with M aunsell at Kohanga, Volkner.......did his training.. 26 If
so, this would mean Volkner was in Auckland and could possibly have met his future
wife there when she first arrived in New Zealand, as she stayed at St John’s College
for a while. But there is no record of Volkner attending St John's at any time. Mackay
says Volkner "..laboured at Kohanga from 1851-54..." 27 but it is much more likely
that Volkner was in fact at Thames for much of 1853-4. Several sources indicate that
for a while during 1853-4 Volkner occupied a post as a teacher and lay catechist
under the Rev. Thomas Lanfear, at Kauearanga on the Waihou River near Thames.
Lanfear, Volkner's future brother-in-law, notes in his journal of January 1853 that he
went to Auckland expecting news of his sister who had sailed for New Zealand to join
him, but as there were no vessels in port, he went on from Auckland to Waikato
Heads to visit M aunsell's station where he would have made the acquaintance of
Volkner. It is very probable that Volkner, after moving Maunsell's school to Kohanga,
left Maunsell and went to Kauearanga to join Lanfear at the Hauraki Station. He was
almost certainly at Lanfear's station when Martha arrived. Lanfear's journal entry of
July 14th 1853 reads:
It pleased God however, that when I went to Auckland a short time since
to fetch my sister, that I should have an interview with Sir George Grey
h im se lf..

25 Garrett op.cit p i 95
26 Ibid p278
27 Mackay, J G Historic Poverty Bay and the East Coast N.I, N Z - A Centennial Memorial. Pub.
Mackay, Gisborne 1966, for the Poverty Bay-East Coast Centennial Council. p226
 14

Volkner was still at Thames in 1854. Lanfear's Journal entry April 5 1854 indicates it
was not long after this date that Carl Volkner and M artha Lanfear were married.
Lanfear writes:
Reached home late at night and found my sister with M iss Walker
returned fro m Auckland where they had gone fo r medical advice on
account o f severe inflammation in the eyes o f the latter. M r Volkner
accompanied them, he has since married my sister...

M artha Emma Lanfear (sometimes known as Emma and sometimes as M artha) was
28
the daughter of the Rev. Lanfear, Vicar of Christian M alford in Wiltshire.^ She came
to New Zealand in 1852 to be with her brother, the Rev Thomas Lanfear, a CMS
missionary at the Hauraki Mission Station near Thames. Accompanied by a Miss
Clara Walker, she sailed on the ship "Cashmere" on which Archdeacon W illiam
W illiams was also a passenger. Archdeacon Williams was returning to New Zealand
after having his M aori grammar printed in London. During the seven-month voyage
he taught Maori to both young ladies. 29 On arrival in New Zealand M artha and Clara
stayed at St John's College with the Rev and Mrs Blackburn until Lanfear took his
sister to Thames.

The Volkners rem ained with Lanfear for some time after their marriage. Volkner, as a
lay catechist, assisted Lanfear with his work and accom panied him on some of his
missionary journeys as Lanfear notes in his Journal and in letters: On June 10 1854
Lanfear writes that he went to Opita: ...M r Volkner accompanying me. We lodged at
M r Thorp's... and he describes in a letter to Rev. Henry Venn, dated July 21 1854,
another visit he m ade with Volkner to Thorp's station. They lodged with Thorp and,
on the Sunday, Lanfear and Volkner took services for two separate parties of natives,
as well as Lanfear conducting an English service at Thorp's house where he also
catechised two of Thorp's children.

In 1855 Volkner was transferred to Tauranga as a lay catechist and assistant to

Archdeacon Brown at the mission.30 Alfred Nesbit Brown came to New Zealand in
Novem ber 1829. A fter some years in Paihia, he opened a CMS station at M atam ata in
1835, which was forced to close eighteen months later because of intertribal warfare.
Rev. Henry W illiam s had visited the Opotiki area in April 1828 and considered the
possibility of establishing a CMS mission in the W hakatane area and m ission work
began in the Tauranga and Rotorua areas as early as 1835 when Piripi Taum atakura, a
liberated slave of the Ngapuhi and a Christian who had attended school at W aimate,
was landed at Rangatukia in 1834. In January 1838 Brown moved with his family to
Te Papa, Tauranga, and by 1839 had purchased 1333 acres of land and established a
CMS station. Brown was installed as the first Archdeacon of Tauranga in
September! 844.31

28 Ed: McLintock, A H . A n Encyclopaedia o f New Zealand. Vol 3. R E Owen Government Printer,

Wellington 1976 p497
29 Information from Opotiki Museum Archives
30 Hall, Noeline V. I have Planted: A Biography of Alfred Nesbit Brown. Dunmore, Palmerston North
1981 p. 187
31 Dictionary of NZ Biography. Op cit p43. Also: Hall, Noeline V. Op.cit.
 15

32
In March 1840, the Roman Catholic Bishop Pom pallier visited Tauranga. One of
the chiefs, who was married to a W hakatohea woman of the Catholic faith,
encouraged the local people to welcome the bishop and to become members of the
Roman Catholic church and a mission was set up. Pom pallier noted the protestant
mission situated three to five miles away.

Two years after Brown had arrived in Tauranga, Mr John Alexander W ilson, a former
Royal Navy man who had become a CMS lay catechist, landed at Ohiwa in December
1839 with a chief Ngakuku and several other Maoris. By this time there were several
hundred professing Christians along the East Coast and the day after his arrival,
W ilson visited the Pa Kowhai and found morning prayer had just finished. He stayed
to participate in an open air Sunday School. Wilson settled in Opotiki and selected
"Hikutaia" as a mission site.

In 1841 Popallier revisited Tauranga and went on to Opotiki and established a further
mission. Wilson now had opposition from the Roman Catholic missionaries who were
competing with the CMS in securing the allegiance of the Maoris along the Bay of
33
Plenty." W ilson was also distressed by the evil results that were springing from the
association of the M aoris with European traders. The dissolute lives of many traders
not only degraded M aoris who associated with them but also helped to dissuade
others from accepting Christian teaching. Still Wilson was able to present candidates
for baptism - there is no mention of confirmation - to Bishop Selwyn in 1844, and on
one occasion, when Archdeacon Brown was present, there were 540 adults formed
into classes.

Brown had a large archdeaconry to service which took him away from Tauranga on
frequent journeys. So M r C P Davies had been sent to assist him. Brown did not have
an easy time at Tauranga. There were land disputes between Maori and pakeha
settlers, intertribal disputes over land and raiding parties, murders and sickness among
the natives. Brown went to the Bay of Islands with his seriously ill son for some
months in 1844, and when Archdeacon William W illiams visited Tauranga in March
1845 he found M r and Mrs Davies at the mission with the infant school as their
special sphere of work. Davies reported in February 1845 that the school at Otumoetai
was going on steadily with 91 children, an average 70 attending daily. In May 1846
Brown writes: . ..the children at the school are progressing, but they require to be
removed from their parents before any necessary discipline can be introduced among
them.34 He also notes at this time ...th e natives around us appear to be getting into a
very unsettled state.

W ilson left Opotiki about the beginning of 1852 and was replaced by Brown’s
assistant, M r Davies, who remained at Opotiki until 1855 when ill-health caused his

32 Brown gives the date as March 7, Pompallier gives it as March 11 - Gifford & Williams consider
Brown's the more accurate date. Gifford, W H & Williams, A Centennial History o f Tauranga
Capper Press, Christchurch 1976. p 175f
33 Lyall, A C Whakatohea o f Opotiki Reed, Wellington. 1979 p. 151-2
"The signatures fo r the Treaty o f Waitangi in this part o f the country were taken by M r J W Farb,
trading master o f the schooner "Mercury" . O f the seven chiefs who signed the Treaty fo r Whakatohea,
Farb added a note "The chiefs at Opotiki expressed a wish to have it signified who were Pikopos (ie.
RCs) and who were not, which 1 did by placing a crucifix preceding the names o f those who are, as
above and at which they seemed perfectly satisfied."
34 Gifford &Williams op.cit 151
 16

retirement to A uckland.35 Opotiki, was now without a missionary. After the departure
o f Davies in 1852, Brown had laboured on at Tauranga without an assistant. His wife
died in 1855 so Brown's daughter Celia, along with M iss Baker, helped in the schools
and took the place of her mother until Volkner was appointed as assistant.

Initially it seemed Brown had gained an enthusiastic assistant in Volkner, but

Volkner's association with Brown would prove to be a somewhat difficult partnership.
A tkin notes that Volkner was of M oravian background and quite possibly had an
active missionary heritage. If so, his frustration and impatience are understandable.
He had been called to the mission field but had been unable to work adequately as a
priest and missionary with the Lutherans and had changed mission society to do so.
He had been given work by the CMS as a teacher and lay catechist and was now
nearly forty, but still not ordained and still without a mission station of his own.

Brown did not have the ambition of Volkner. He had declined the offer of a bishopric
in 1847 and again in 1853. He was perhaps a more thoughtful and cautious man than
the direct, logical Volkner. He had been longer in New Zealand and had a better
appreciation of the political difficulties in colonization, the increasing danger of the
M aori situation and the difference in emotional response between Maori and Pakeha.
Both men loved the people they worked amongst, but Brown appears more aware of
the problems in the spiritual and educational work among the Maori, while Volkner's
response was always that of absolute faith in God's intentions.

As well as the worsening situation over Maori land disputes and the increasing unrest
among the natives, the 1850's were a time of uncertainty and change in the
reorganization of the Church under Selwyn; and in the relationship o f the CMS
missionaries in New Zealand to the parent body in England over the question of
whether the CMS should withdraw completely from its labours in New Zealand.36
W hile the W aiapu church organization showed a steady development under W illiams,
for some years the Tauranga mission showed a decline in the number of converts and
deterioration in the religious behaviour of the M aoris. Brown believed the Maori
capable of being raised to living by European norms. He put tremendous faith in their
education. Two things were very close to Brown's heart and engaged much of his
attention: a central boarding school for Maori children where they could be isolated
from parental interference and kept under steady discipline; and an institution for the
training of native teachers. Brown had sent his plans for a school and training institute
to London but they cam e back with his intended school for up to 100 children reduced
37
to 10. The proposed training institute was better received as it included agriculture.
Up to the time when the Society withdrew its monetary assistance, Brown complained
that the grants for the schools were not substantial enough to provide the necessary
training and boarding schools could not accommodate as many as was desirable.

Volkner worked well at first as a teacher, carrying out efficiently Brown's plan to
build the school and make it self-supporting. Eventually however he and Brown
disagreed. Looking at his work in both Maunsell's and Brown's schools there is no
doubt that Carl V olkner was a very effective teacher and an assiduous worker who

35 Atkin .A. The M issionary Era o f the Diocese o f Waiapu. MA Thesis, University of Auckland 1934
p58 gives angina as the cause of his ill health. Davies was ordained deacon in 1852.
36 Hall op cit. pl 81
17 Gifford & Williams op.cit p211
 17

could organise well and apply ideas practically. It may well be that his value to the
CMS was in fact his teaching ability. But Volkner’s heart was not in teaching work.
He was not satisfied to remain a teacher and lay catechist and he came to regard his
time at Brown’s school as a "waste of a missionary”38. He argued that the school had
gone down in numbers so much that there was only one boy left, thus justifying the
stand he took.

3. ORDINATION.

Brown was disappointed with Volkner. He wrote to G A Kissling, secretary of the

Education Board, when Volkner went to Auckland for a visit in August 1856, saying:
You will be able to see fo r yourself whether he is going fo r medical
advice or whether he has any other motive fo r his journey. I am fo rc e d
to the conclusion that M r Volkner o f Tauranga and M r Volkner o f
Waikato are 2 different persons - perhaps his marriage, his increase in
salary & his different position have produced the change.
Brown may have a point in regard to his comment on Volkner's marriage. M artha, the
daughter of a vicar and sister of a missionary, who had come so far to join her brother,
had a similar firm commitment to missionary work. She herself appears as a strong-
minded woman who fully supported his efforts to be ordained to his own station. She
had made the acquaintance of W illiam W illiams on her journey to New Zealand when
he taught her M aori on the voyage. W illiams granted Volkner's wish to take the
Opotiki station very promptly after his own appointment as Bishop and may have
done so largely because he knew M artha Volkner well. M issionaries' wives were
important to the success of mission work. Andrews notes that Chapman, in a letter to
W illiams, says that M artha Lanfear was a "woman of property"39.

Volkner became a naturalized New Zealander in 1857 and in September of that year
he wrote to the Secretary of the Church Missionary Society:
Having heard that M r Davies is not likely to return to Opotiki and that a
very active Roman catholic priest has been stationed there since he left
and that the natives are anxious to have a Protestant M issionary, it
therefore appeared to me that I was wanted there much more than here.
A t the same time I fe lt con vinced that that fie ld o f labour would suit my
health and disposition better than this where all my time is taken up in a
government school o f 15 boys in the management o f which I fe e l m yself
very much limited. These considerations induced me to apply fo r Opotiki
to the Northern Committee. I fin d it is not competent fo r this Committee to
remove me.
Since then I have fe lt fa r more than before how very much my present
position wears my health and spirits, I think it therefore my duty to ask
you before my health becomes impaired to remove me and if possible to
give me as an Assistant M issionary a Station and school o f my own.

Nothing further happened. While Archdeacon Brown was aware that Volkner had
asked to be rem oved to a station of his own and knew that as an ordained missionary

38 Volkner's words - Letter 30 August 1858

39 Andrews, Philip: No Fear o f Rusting: A Biography o f the Rev. Thomas Chapman. Rotorua and
District Historical Society 2001 p251
 18

Volkner would not be content to continue to work in schools as a teacher, Brown left
the decision to the Parent Committee to judge whether the job of education was more
important than V olkner’s desire to head another station. Burrows, in a letter to the
CMS 10 June 1858, is kinder towards Volkner when he says Volkner was ...a zealous
labourer but required more scope fo r his energies.40

Eleven months later, on August 30th 1858, Volkner wrote again to Rev. Chapm an
Your letter o f Febr. 4th in which you kindly inform me that suggestions
have been made to change my sphere o f labour, but that you were not able
at the time to state the sentiment o f the Parent Committee, I received ju st
as I was about to send the follow ing statement to the secretary M r
Burrows. The number o f boys o f our Tauranga school has dwindled down
to only one. I write this to inform you that there is no more work here than
one M issionary can easily do by him self and that it is still my sincere wish
to be removed fro m here. The latter I told the Archdeacon Brown on his
departure fo r the last annual Committee and am very sorry that the
minute o f that Committee, which I shall give at the fo o t respecting my
removal to the Eastern District was objected to........
To the natives even it is obvious that I am not wanted here, that they asked
me the questions: 'What are you doing here? Why this waste o f
Missionaries here at the Papa and none up the coast? Why do you waste
your breath in preaching to the walls o f an empty church here and leave
the large handsome churches fu ll o f Maoris up the coast without a
preacher? Why do not you go? Who is to blame fo r this? " "I am willing
to g o ," I replied, "but God m ust send me through my Fathers in England. "
Extract from the minutes o f the Northern Committee:
"Referring to letters o f Parent Committee dated Febr. 15/57... the Bishop
has expressed to him his willingness to recognize M r Volkner as a
Candidate fo r ordination in case o f his location to the Eastern District
Resolved That if it meets with the approbation o f Archdeacon
Brown, M r Baker is stationed at Tauranga and M r Volkner's services be
offered to the Committee o f the Eastern D istrict..."

This must have aroused some com m ent and action for Brown indignantly wrote to
Robert Burrows on 7 October 1858,
This is Correct but 1 know o f no exertions that he has used to replenish
the number o f Boys - and he had neglected to add - that there are still in
the Tauranga School two Native teachers & their wives & eleven Girls.
When M r V says that "there is no more work here than one M issionary
can easily do by him self 1 can only express my own inability to tend
satisfactorily to a flock scattered through Tauranga Patetere, M atam ata
& M aungatapu - which is nominally the Tauranga Parish...
...The Questions M r Volkner says have been p ut to him by natives are but
natural as proceeding from those who are without a resident M issionary
& anxious to possess one...

M artha Volkner added to the dispute in 1858 by saying to Brown that her husband's
health had been shattered by his work in the Waikato and that he required a complete

40 Hall op.cit. p i 88
 19

change from the district. However, Volkner was still with Brown when Christian von
Hochstetter, the Geologist and writer, visited him in M ay 1859.
...our worthy countryman, the Rev M r Voelkner came to meet us with
open arms. M ay 10 1859: M r Voelkner and his amiable wife had been
expecting us fo r some days, and pressed by our kind host and hostess, we
remained two days in Tauranga during which we experienced the greatest
kindness and hospitality. Te Papa (ie the plain), the residence o f the
Archdeacon Brown, who during our visit was absent...M r Volkner
conducted a school fo r boys and girls, which he had founded fiv e years
ago, raising it in a very short time to a most flourishing institution. The
school-children had collected fo r me, at his request, a great num ber o f
pretty sea-shells...
On May 11 Volkner accompanied Hochstetter to the area south of Te Papa which had
been the scene of a war between Ngatihoko and Ngaiterangi over land claims.
M ay 12 - Kind M rs V had baked some fresh bread and prepared an
excellent roast-pork fo r our benefit on the road; and thus most liberally
provided with food, we again parted from a mission house, the kind and
hospitable inhabitants o f which I shall never fo rget.41

Bishop W illiams took a hand in V olkner’s affairs. The Diocese of W aiapu was
constituted in Septem ber 1858 by Letters Patent. W illiam Williams attended the first
General Synod which began on M arch 1 1859 as Archdeacon of W aiapu, and was
consecrated Bishop by Selwyn on 3rd April 1859. It is almost immediately after this
that Williams puts out the following memo on 21.4.1859
M emorandum fo r members o f the Committee fo r the Diocese o f Waiapu:
1st It appears that M r Volkner applied to the Northern Committee and
also to the Society more than 12 months ago to sanction his removal from
Tauranga to some other station
2nd That the Northern Committee has sanctioned this application by a
large majority
3rdly That the parent Committee has also given its approval to M r
Volkner's removal
4th The Bishop o f Waiapu having reported that the schools at Turanga are
greatly in need o f further help in order that the work may be carried out
efficiently:
It is resolved - that unless there are any new features o f the case
which arise the sanction given by the Parent Committee, M r Volkner be
directed to remove to Turanga.
We assent to the above resolution - William Waiapu

The Volkners were established at Bishop Williams' station at Turanga by the end of
December 1859.42 Lanfear's Journal for December 6th 1859 reads:
Sailed fo r Auckland to be present at the Diocesan Synod... We landed on
the 7th and went to Archdeacon Kissling's. Synod commenced on the 13th.
The Bishop o f Waiapu was at Archdeacon Kissling's. M y brother-in-law

41 Gifford & Williams op cit. pp 213-6

42 There is some disagreement in sources about the date 1859 or 1860. Volkner was with Brown when
Hochstetter visited in May 1859 and Lanfear's Journal, and Volkner's letter to Chapman of Nov. 1860 -
both indicate Volkner moved in December 1859.
 20

M r Volkner and sister were in lodgings near waiting fo r a vessel to take

them to the Bishop's Station...

Volkner was ordained deacon by W illiam s on 3 June 1860. He wrote to Chapm an on

Novem ber 20th. from Turanga:
I have to inform you that I removed last year fro m Tauranga to Turanga. I
arrived at the Bishop's Station on the 26 o f December. I assisted in the
school till my ordination which took place June 3rd. Since then I have had
the charge o f the Primary B o ys’ School at this place ie. I instruct the
children from 2 to 3 hours daily and take them to work fo r about the same
length o f time. The average num ber during the year has been 43. Nearly
every third Sunday I take the duties at Whakato.

In August 1861 Bishop Williams appointed Volkner to Opotiki, the place for which
Carl had applied earlier when he was in Tauranga and which he again wanted because
of M artha’s poor health in Poverty Bay. Andrews comm ents that Thomas Chapman,
who had previously had the mission at Maketu, while recognising his fellow worker's
earnestness, did not altogether approve of Volkner's being located at Opotiki, and may
have felt the form er North German M issionary Society man to be something of an
outsider. Chapman wrote to Bishop W illiams on 8th October 1861: There are reasons
why I should have been glad fo r one o f us to have been placed there... One of those
reasons, Andrews says, was that Volkner's wife, although an amiable Christian
woman, did not seem to Chapman suitable to be a missionary's help-meet. In his letter
to W illiams, Chapman says that M rs Volkner, although a woman of property, was
something of a miser: ...She (but this is an awful secret) made a boast that they cd
live upon 16/- a week; & from M any things I saw at Tauranga I am inclined to believe
it...43 This is at odds with Hochstetter's report of her hospitality, and the later
building of the church at Opotiki. W hile Volkner appears often as an ambitious man,
not always easy to work with, there is considerable evidence that he was kindly and
warmhearted, an energetic worker and good teacher, and a man determined to follow
his calling as a m inister of God. Volkner was indeed '...a man o f remarkable
sim plicity o f character, o f the most single-m inded and devoted piety...'

4. MINISTER

Opotiki had been a relatively peaceful area. Tribal wars had ceased, the people
returned to their lands and cultivation and trading flourished. Boats were acquired for
trading purposes and the rich river flats were covered in gardens, peach groves and
small settlements with well carved buildings. Carl and M artha arrived in August 1861
and established their headquarters on the land which is the present vicarage property.
They named the m ission "Peria" which is the Maori form of the word "Berea" found
in Acts 17:10, emphasising again Carl Volkner's feeling of affinity with St Paul.

Volkner entered into his work with zeal for the mission had been without a resident
priest for nearly six years, although it had been serviced periodically by Chapm an and
Brown. The W hakatohea responded to Volkner and he enjoyed their respect and

43 Andrews gives these two quotes from letters in the Williams' family papers - the second quote is
dated 12.9.1861
 21

confidence.44 He set about establishing schools and the building of a church. He

wrote to the Chairman of the Board of Education on 1 1 April 1862 as follows:
I have been lately stationed at Opotiki and fin d that the district has been
much neglected, especially with regard to schools. It is o f the greatest
importance that they should be established without delay.
As I am thrown upon my own resourses [sic] fo r beginning the station I
am unable to do anything fo r supplying the things necessary fo r the
commencing o f schools. I therefore beg leave to solicit from the Board o f
Education a grant o f the follow ing articles fo r six Village schools and
one Boarding School...
Followed by a list of requirements.

W atson Rosevear in the Centennial History o f the Church o f St Stephen the M artyr
1864-1964, gives September 1862 as the date for Volkner's ordination as priest at
Opotiki. The building of a church was all-important to Volkner, so important that he
and his wife supplied much of the funding necessary for the building45. Local Maoris
promised to cut the timber if Rev Volkner undertook to see to the building of a
church. The contract, which specified a church 60ft by 27ft, was signed on 27 August
1862 by Thomas Bridson and John W ilson, Builders, of Auckland, the contract price
at the time being £25046, the contractors agreeing to supply all the iron and nails.47
The work comm enced in 1862 and was concluded in 1864 with the pit sawn timber
coming mainly from the W aioeka and Otara valleys (the pits used are still visible).
The kauri timber was brought by boat and the Ngaitai tribe helped to transfer it from
Auckland. There were some delays in the building as one of the contractors had to
return to Auckland, and also because the plane irons the Maori workmen used on the
tim ber were highly prized for making adzes and replacements, when they went
missing, had to come from Auckland. The church was finally com pleted and
dedicated on 30 January 1864 as Hiona Church - the M aori form of Zion48

Volkner also re-built the station at his own expense49. The CMS had sold the old
Mission House in Opotiki, which had been vacant since Davies had left the station,
for £30 so Volkner had had to build a new house. As well, Volkner was not receiving
the full salary for ordained priests, and the CMS had not paid his removal expenses.
Volkner, as so many missionaries, was caught in the dispute between the CMS and
the NZ Anglican Church hierarchy. He wrote two letters to Venn - both dated June
11 1863, the second of which indicates that he has had previous discussion and
correspondence over the matter of expenses and costs. W illiams supports Volkner's
claim for expenses, as the funds received from the sale of the old M ission house at
Opotiki had been spent on Brown's schools at Tauranga. and Volkner was unlikely to
get refund of expenses, and had built his mission house at Opotiki himself.

44 Ed. Brillan S J & Grace, G F, C W &A V :A Pioneer Missionary Among the Maoris 1850-1879.
Being the Letters and Journals o f Thomas Samuel Grace. G H Bennett Palmerston North p. 135ff
45 This is confirmed by Lanfear in his letter to Venn of 21.8.63 - see further.
46 These are the contract figures given in the parish history. Rosevear gives the contract price as £250.
Volkner reported to the CMS a final figure of '..more than £600’. The Government made a grant of
£ 100.
47 The original contract, written on an ordinary piece of notepaper, is still in the hands of the Vestry,
and a photographic copy may be seen in the porch of the church.
48 Rosevear A Centennial History o f the Church o f St Stephen the Martyr. Op.cit p. 13
49 Lanfear to Venn 21.8.63
 22

Sir - Having been obliged to leave Turanga on account o f Mrs Volkner's

health, I applied to the Committee to be stationed here which was
complied with; but there were no funds available fo r form ing a new
station. I agreed to bear the expense o f this but asked at the same time
fo r £30 fo r which the old M ission house had been sold not long before I
came here and the stuff o f which I could get again fo r the same price. A s
the expenses had been paid fo r our going to Turanga, I took it fo r
granted in making my calculation that they would also be paid fo r our
removal here. To lessen them I sold some o f my heavy furniture at a loss.
Since then the diggings here have much raised the price o f timber and o f
wages so that my house cost much more than I expected, I have had
also very heavy private expenses during last year fro m Mrs Volkner's
illness and the loss o f a valuable horse with its outfit fo r traveling [sic]
which I had to replace; and my yearly travelling expenses was [sic] to at
least £20. Since my connexion with the Society I have never except fo r
removal to stations, drawn on it fo r anything beyond my salary which
you know is now £175. It gives me pleasure to spend in the cause in
which the Lord permits me to work from my private means. For the
charges o f this year I had to [?] and as in[sic] event o f ill health
disabling me I have only my own resources to look to, I can - not [sic]
afford this.
From the causes I have named I fin d m yself much out o f pocket and I
write to ask you to allow me the expenses o f removal and the price o f the
old Mission House
I am dear Sir, Yours respectfully
C S Volkner
To the Reverend H Venn, Secretary o f the Church M issionary Society
Expenses o f
Rem oval from Turanga £45
F or old Miss [sic] House £30
£75

Opotiki June 11th 1863

To the Rev H Venn Secretary o f the Church M issionary Society
Sir, In the beginning o f M ay 1862 I had a conversation with M r Burrows
reporting some expenses I had incurred in removing from Turanga the
end 1861 and I was led to believe that there would be no difficulty in
getting them refunded...
...I stated to the Bishop in Committee, the substance o f my letter and
what M r Burrows had written m e... the Committee passed the follow ing
resolution dated January 10th 1863 which I had to forw ard to M r
Burrows
"Mr Volkner's request (that he should be allowed the £45 expenses o f
removal and the £30 paid fo r the old Mission House at Opotiki) is a
reasonable one and that if the Rev R. Burrows is at liberty to make use
o f any fu n d s which pass through his hands belonging to the Church
M issionary Society fo r such purposes as this, he be requested to comply
with them" Signed William Waiapu Chairman.
M ay 25 1863 I received the follow ing in answer from M r Burrows dated
April 27 1863: "Some weeks ago I received through you a copy o f a
 23

resolution respecting some expenses you had incurred at Opotiki

recommending, if I had fu n d s to my disposal, that those expenses should
he met by them. I regret to say I have no funds at all on hand, nor do I
consider that I should be called upon to meet such expenses. The £30
(received fo r the old Mission House at Opotiki) have long been spent at
Tauranga..., I am not likely to have any local fu n d s on hand fo r some
time. I told you before that I am in no way responsible fo r any expenses
incurred in the Diocese o f Waiapu in connexion with the M issionary
work"
Signed R Burrows
I f the Bishop had thought it proper to pay the £ 30 out o f the £300 M r B.
alludes to he would not have referred me to M r B., fo r that money had
been granted long before the Committee passed the above resolution
respective o f the £30. A nd i f his Lordship had not considered M r
Burrows responsible fo r the expense o f removal would he have allow ed
the Committee over which he presided to refer me to him without saying
so? It seems that since the beginning o f last year, when these expenses
were incurred alterations in the financial arangements o f this Diocese
have been made.
Who has the disposal o f the £50 [?] received fo r the society's land at
Tauranga, I know not. [If?] it is spent I believe fo r school purposes at
that place, it is right, I think that the £30 received fo r the old M iss [sic]
House here and spent at Tauranga fo r the school purposes should be
refunded out o f those £50. For at Tauranga two houses fo r missionaries
were built at expense o f the society about the same time when I had to
incurr [sic] these expenses and undertook to fo rm a new station here...
...The only way left to me is to lay the case before you and respectfully
to request your kind and early attention to it. A year has already passed
in correspondence in this country respecting it and I have had much
inconvenience already in consequence o f not receiving the money I fu lly
depended on when I agreed to fo rm this station and mission.
I remain dear sir, yours respectfully C S Volkner
To Rev H Venn Secretary o f the Church M issionary Society - Opotiki
June 11 1863

Volkner's brother-in-law, Thomas Lanfear, visited Carl and Martha at Opotiki a

num ber of times. His letters to Rev. Henry Venn and M ajor Hector Straith of London
CMS confirm the Volkners' paying the cost of building the station at Opotiki, as well
as advancing a considerable sum for the building of the church. Lanfear indirectly
comments on the CMS attitude to Volkner when he writes to Venn on 21.8.63:
I have been spending twenty-five days with my sister and brother-in-law
M r Volkner at Opotiki - and have ju st despatched a fu ll account o f my
visit and return overland to M ajor Straith. ...I obtained leave o f absence
from the Bishop fo r my journey.
M r Volkner has built a new Station at Opotiki at his own expense and
advanced a considerable sum o f money to the natives fo r the building o f a
new church. This he has been enabled to do through his marriage with my
sister - but he told me privately that though he grudged not the money, yet
his heart would have been cheered if the Society had addressed to him a
fe w words o f encouragement or approval. I know him and that a fe w kind
 24

words, which I am sure have not been intentionally wanting, would

effectually heal his soul. He is a good and efficient missionary.
His salary is £25 a year less than that o f the missionaries who have been
sent out by the Society. When at Opotiki I wrote to Bishop Williams o f
Waiapu, asking him to intercede fo r M r Volkner's reception into fu ll
connexion with the Society after the example o f his Lordship's late
lamented nephew - M r G Davis. M r V has now been fo r many years in the
employ o f the Society & is in fu ll orders. The addition to his salary is not
a large sum, not a great object in itself but in receiving it he would be
raised again to social status with his brethren. I do not know how my
request has been received by Bishop Williams, but fro m what I know o f
him, I cannot imagine otherwise than kindly. The additional sum would
not pay the interest o f the money M r V has laid out...

Apart from these worries, Volkner, a man in his forties, was at last able to set about
doing the work he had, so long ago as a young man, dedicated his life to. But while he
was developing his station and schools at Opotiki and building the church, the land
wars had spread and although many of the W hakatohea people to whom Volkner
m inistered had rem ained neutral they were increasingly drawn into the war on the
side of the Waikato and the supporters of the King movement, against the Crown and
their traditional enemies the Arawa. The political situation was becoming intense and
the conflict in the W aikato was spreading towards the north.

The war in the W aikato caused a great falling off in church attendance yet many of
the M aori clergy and converts rem ained firm. By 1863 most missionaries in the
W aikato and Taupo areas had left their stations and withdrawn to Auckland. Lanfear
was still able to visit all his Thames district in 1864. Spencer remained at Tarawera,
Brown at Tauranga, Hadfield and Taylor also remained at their stations. Rev.Thom as
S Grace, who was stationed at Pukawa nearTaupo, was not so fortunate and had to
leave. In 1863 he sent his family to Auckland and joined Volkner at Opotiki to assist
him in the work there. Volkner's report for the year is a positive and confident one:
Report fo r 1863 District o f Opotiki.
In my annual report o f last year I was able to state that a marked change
fo r the better had taken place am ongst the people here. They have now
had a year's trial and I am thankful to say they have gone on steadily in
their new course. In their conduct and habits in dayly [sic] life an
improvement is seen by those who have long known them. Not a single
instance o f drunkenness or tattooing has occurred during the past year.
This is more than I dared hope fo r at it's[sic] beginning - The opening o f
the year fo u n d them in a quarrwl about land which unsettled them much,
with the consent o f both parties this has been dropped though at one
time I feared bloodshed could not be avoided.
In spite o f m any messengers having been sent here from Taranaki,
Kawhia, H auraki and Waikato to induce our people to join in the war
and neighbouring tribes going to Waikato fo r that purpose, they have not
only not joined, but the different tribes o f this district have each written
to the Governor and two o f them have sent deputations to his Excellency
to assure him they have no intention o f joining in the present war.
The natives here have worked hard all the year to get the timber sawn
fo r their new church and to raise money to pay the carpenters fo r
 25

erecting it. It will cost more than £600. The last instalment £150 they
have paid. A t the outpost the natives have also exerted themselves to
build churches and houses fo r the minister. Some have been finished.
The village schools I have got up are attended by 72 scholars several
have learned to read and write. The weekly classes o f the teachers have
been more regularly and numerously attended this year. The people have
eagerly bought the word o f God and on the whole have attended service
better in spite o f the disadvantage o f not having a church.
Also the dying have given clear prove [sic] that in the last hour Jesus
was their hope.
To be able thus to write at the present unsettled time gives us double
cause fo r thankfulness.

Volkner worked diligently amongst the Opotiki people and won their esteem and
affection.50 From his report it is plain to see why he later believed the W hakatohea
would remain peaceful and that he himself, had nothing to fear from them. But with
the uncertainty of the situation, he did find himself in an awkward position. W hile he
was anxious to keep the W hakatohea people from becom ing embroiled in the war, as
a European, he felt it his duty to support the Government. He wrote seven letters to
Grey between January 13th and February 26th 186451 detailing what was happening
in his district. In his letters, Volkner reported that envoys from Kawhia and people of
Ngatiporou appeared in the Tai-Rawhiti districts seeking active support. W hakatohea,
along with other tribes, were induced by these envoys to participate in stopping
further European advances. 400 men of Tai-Rawhiti m ade a final stand two miles
west of Matata but eventually broke in disorder. Aporotanga, the last of the old
W hakatohea chiefs was taken prisoner and was shot dead by Tohi te U rurangi’s
52
w idow ;

Some historians consider that Volkner did not realise that by supporting the Pakeha
Government he put him self in an ambiguous relationship with W hakatohea by both
acting as their m inister and providing information about their political disposition. But
he likely did, as he writes to Grey on February 16, 1864:
As there is no Government agent in my district to inform you o f the
movements o f the natives here, I think I should be wanting in my duty to
you if I did not make known to you what happens around me relating to
the present disturbed state o f the natives. But as I have reason to fe a r
that it would interfere with my future usefulness in the cause in which I
am engaged if it were publicly known that I give such information to
you, I therefore humbly but earnestly request your Excellency to receive
my accompanying letter as private communications to yourself and not
publish my name or abode with any information you wish to make use
o f My brother-in-law, Rev T Lanfear, had some unpleasantness with his

50 L M Goldman in "The History of the Jews in New Zealand AH & AW Reed, 1958 comments that
Volkner: ..quickly won the esteem and affection o f the Maoris by his kindness and understanding. He
had also won the respect o f two Jewish brothers, Morris and Samuel Levy, who had established a store
there...p 86
51 Howe, Earle: Bring me Justice Anglican Provincial Bicultural Education Unit, Newmarket,
Auckland 1991. Volkner's letters to Grey are reproduced in full in Appendix l.p.48 - Letters are dated
1864 : January 13th; January 15th; February.4th; February 8th; February 15th; February 16th and
February 26th.
52Lyall op.cit.pl 54
 26

natives because his name was published with some information he gave
respecting them . A nd I know that, besides the people who sail in the
coasting vessels, there are agents among the natives who snatch up
everything that can be turned against English missionaries, and use
every opportunity to raise the other natives' suspicion against us.
I am Your Excellency's most obedient servant
C S Volkner

The role of traders and missionaries as informants on local affairs, or as letter carriers,
was not unusual. M ost missionaries gave regular information about tribal movements,
wars and disputes in their reports and letters and wrote to their bishops, the CMS and
governm ent on the state of Maori affairs and attitudes in their districts53 - as Lanfear
writes to Major Straith at the CMS in London, on April 13 1863
... sending to you the account o f a journey I have lately made to
and from O potiki... Mr Volkner, who married my eldest sister, lives at
Opotiki hence my wish to go there... We found my sister in good health
but her husband was absent on a mission journey and did not return till
eight days afterwards...
...During my stay at M r Volkner's I spent one Sunday at Ohiwa, going
on Saturday and returning on the Monday. M any o f the natives being
seated on the beach at the pleasant eventide I jo in ed them there and
began a conversation respecting the war. William Thompson (the King
M aker) had not long before been at Ohihwa[sic] to decide this quarrel
between the Whakatohea and the Ngatiawa and had given his decision
in favour o f the latter on the ground that it was theirs by right o f
conquests. This however the Whakatohea would not admit and
consequently rejected Tamihana's decision. I endeavoured to argue the
point with them that if then the Ngatiawas be not a right, why have they
been undisturbed in it so many years? Oh because o f the Faith which
brought peace to the Land. I fe a r then that your fa ith is become very
small since it is losing its fo rm er good effects?
Ans - Oh we have been looking on and we see that other believing
natives have been fighting fo r their land, and that you the Pakehas
(white men) have been doing the same at Taranaki. Therefore we will do
it also. But did you not consent to a boundary line between you and the
Ngatiawa - why not at [sic] that line remain? Ans: The Ngatiawa were
stronger than we and took our land, the earth o f our forefathers fro m us;
but now we see that we are become stronger than they and are
determined to have our own again. But did you not call fo r the decision
o f your King, and did not Tamihana give his decision - yet you will not
abide by it. Ans: His decision was not just. But how if he should come
with power to enforce it. Ans: It matters not. It is good to die on one's
land. Ha, that is very wise so whilst you have already so much land
that you cannot possibly cultivate it, you are ready fo r the chance o f
adding more to it, each one fo r him self to run the risk o f exchanging o f
all he now possesses fo r an estate 6 fe e t by two, I said, tracing at the
same time with my stick upon sand the dimensions o f a grave. This

53 Lyall op.cit.p321 Ashwell also wrote directly to Grey about the Maori feelings and tribal
movements in the Waikato, yet his station was left undamaged during the wars.
 27

closed the discussion during which many other things were said than I
have here told...
Lanfear's questioning in this letter shows some of the differences between M aori and
European in the thinking and concepts of land ownership and values, which was the
basis of many of the misunderstandings during the land disputes.

At this time also, the rivalry between the Roman Catholic missionaries and the CMS
added to the discontent. The foundation of a Roman Catholic Mission at Otumoetai
...caused Brown and his fellow missionaries, all o f whom held extremely low-church
views, grave annoyance and anxiety...54 Father Garavel, a priest stationed at Opotiki
and Gisborne, travelled extensively throughout the area and was held in high regard
by many Maoris. In 1863, Garavel was still able to move freely throughout the area,
carrying out his spiritual ministrations and carrying letters to both parties, which
caused some Europeans to see him as disloyal.55 Garavel carried a m essage from
W iremu Tamihana to the W hakatohea people requesting W hakatohea support the
Kingites against the Crown. Volkner on hearing of this, went directly to see Garavel
him self and reported on the matter briefly in two letters to Grey.56 He describes his
visit to Garavel in a letter written to Rev. Long, on M arch 30 1864, when he was in
Auckland:
I most sincerely thank the Church Missionary Society's Committee fo r
receiving me into fu ll connection with the Society and also fo r refunding
me the £75.
You will have seen from my last report that I had great cause fo r
thankfulness fo r the natives o f my district having kept quiet. A great
change fo r the better had taken place in them and they showed great
interest in religion. Thus we were going on quietly and I hoped they
would be kept out o f the present unhappy collision with Government in
which the natives o f other districts were involved.
On Christmas day we had a feast. The Protestant party had hoisted the
Queen's fla g and all rejoiced. About dusk I went home to tea, leaving
them all in a state o f happiness. In about h alf an hour I returned to bring
the fea st to a close and to get Synodsmen elected. But how was I
disappointed when I found them all in a ferm ent and talking about it
being their duty to go to Waikato to help the people there in fighting.
When I spoke about electing Synodsmen they replied "Do not speak to us
about that, our eyes and our thoughts are turned to Waikato." On
inquiring what had caused this sudden change in their thoughts, I was
told that the R Catholic priest had brought a letter fro m the rebel party
at Waikato. I did not believe he had done so, and went to him with the
man who had told me. When I asked the priest whether he had brought
the letter, He hesitated a little and then answered in the affirmative and

54 Gifford, W H & Williams, H B A Centennial History o f Tauranga. Capper 1976 pi 08

55 Simmons, E R: Garavel in Dictionary of New Zealand Biography op.cit pl43 Cited in Howe, op
cit. p 13. Also confirmed by reference to Garavel in Opotiki Catholic Church History "Celebration and
Memories: 150 Years Opotiki P arish". (Church only copy - no date, publisher or editor.)
56 Letters: Volkner to Grey 13.1.1864' ...A t the same time this party was disturbing the people on the
coast, a letter from Tamihana inviting all the chiefs here to help drive the pakeha from the Waikato was
brought here by Father Garavel. This letter unsettled the natives at Opotiki and up the coast more than
any they have had... Volkner to Grey 4.2.1864... This party however, began to turn in fa vo u r o f going
to war after the arrival o f the letter from Waikato brought by Father Garavel to the above named
chiefs...
 28

in going out with me he told me the contents o f it which were that all the
Maoris in the Bay o f Plenty and the East Coast were to come at once
and help drive the Europeans away o f whom the writer spoke in an
offensive way.57 From that mom ent the people step by step became more
deeply involved in the war and in spite o f the Government's kindness in
writing to them and in many other ways and o f all my efforts, they
would not be convinced that the home Parliam ent had not given
instruction to the Colonial Government here to destroy all the natives
who fig h t with them, take the island and make slaves o f those who
remain quiet.
Nothing can be kinder and more ju st than the conduct o f Government to
them. I have not been able to trace the source fro m whence this report
comes but it does not sound at all as if o f Maori origin. On the 30th Jany
[sic] a meeting was held in which all the tribes o f the Bay o f Plenty were
represented. They decided in fa vo u r o f the King M ovement. On Feby 1st
they started fo r Waikato. They were stopped on their way by the Arawa,
which led to a collision o f these tribes in which six persons were killed.
I decided on M rs Volkner's going to Auckland, and fo r me to stay. A fter
she had left, I went to the Bishop and got his advice.
Having seen his cheering countenance and been strengthened and
cheered by his counsel and partaking o f his hospitality I left his station
refreshed in body and soul on my way to Auckland which I reached 4
days ago, and am now on the p oint o f starting fo r Opotiki
This is a trying time fo r a Missionary. The people we wish to save, seem
to be bent on their own destruction. They listen to no one's advice, nor
will they learn fro m what has passed at Waikato. "Let our land go, and
let us die as men, rather than become slaves" seems to be their motto
now.

From Volkner's account of his meeting with Garavel, there is no doubt whatever that
Garavel knew the contents of the letter he carried. Grey asked Bishop Pom pallier to
act and Garavel was called to Auckland and questioned. He in turn, accused Volkner
of passing information to the government and denied any knowledge of the contents
of the letter. He was allowed to return briefly to Opotiki, but Pompallier withdrew
him and he left New Zealand for Sydney on August 1 1864.58 Volkner does not at any
time in his letters to Grey, or Long, state that he told Garavel he would inform Grey,
but he does say he consulted with Bishop W illiams who him self wrote to Grey to tell
him of the matter. It is possible that Garavel’s conduct in carrying the letter
contributed to his removal to Australia,59 but there could have been other reasons also,
as Pompallier is known to have had some differences of opinion with G aravel.60
W hatever the reason for his departure, Garavel left Opotiki without giving any
explanation to the M aoris and so Volkner's role in Garavel's removal was questioned
and a rumour that Garavel had been hanged for treason in Auckland, confirm ed for
some W hakatohea their suspicions that Volkner might be a spy or informer for the

57 Some sources say that Garavel was unaware of the contents of the letter - but Volkner’s letter to
Long, quite clearly says that Garavel not only knew of the contents of the letter but told Volkner what
they were.
Simmons, E R in Dictionary of NZ Biography op.cit p. 143
59 Davidson p320
60 Simmons, E R in Dictionary of NZ Biography op.cit. pl43
 29

pakeha Government.61 In the volatile political and social context in Opotiki pressures
were now building up in the W hakatohea with many of the people becoming
disillusioned with things Pakeha.

Early in 1864 The Government had despatched troops to Tauranga. They cam ped on
the M ission property and Archdeacon Brown became chaplain to the troops.
Relations with the M aoris deteriorated. A party of Maoris from the East Coast tried to
join the Tauranga M aoris but were prevented by an engagem ent at Maketu. Volkner
wrote to Venn on M ay 19 1864 after the battle at Maketu
M y last letter to you was dated M arch 26. In it I informed you that the
natives o f my district having jo in ed the war party and fought with some
o f the so-called loyal natives o f M aketu and Rotoiti who would not allow
them to pass through their country on their way to Waikato...
A fter a short stay in Auckland I returned to my station. I found some o f
the people had gone hut others preparing to go fo r another campaign.
The reason fo r acting contrary to their form er decision not to go to the
war with the loyal natives was, they said, a letter fro m the chief o f these
people in which he has used very insulting language to them and to all
the tribes in the Bay o f Plenty and challenged them to come to fight.
Once more I tried to show them that they could not fig h t with the loyal
natives without coming in contact with the soldiers. But it was all in
vain. They would go being sure o f victory and success in the end.
They went fro m all parts o f my district in 21 war canoes and boats in the
different parties at different times from the 12th to the 19th April, in all
about 700. A ll were in high spirits. On 22nd April news reached us that
they had taken 2 redoubts fro m the loyal natives and some spoil. On the
29th we heard that they had been defeated by the loyal natives, the
soldiers and 2 steamers and had suffered great loss.
After they had all returned home I fo und that 20 out o f my district had
been killed and several wounded. A great many guns [...] their canoes,
several boats and all their clothes they had left behind. They had been
completely routed and came back in parties o f 7-10 to 15.
Among the dead was one very influential chief They seemed to be much
humbled. They spoke very kindly to me and seem ed to be comforted by
my presence. A s many as I asked how it had happened they had been so
completely defeated and had fle d in such confusion, they being double
the number o f the enemy - answered "God defeated us as we were made
foolish as a punishm ent fo r the evil we have done. It is through the
mercy o f God that any have come back alive. " I spoke to them about
making peace and coming to terms with Government but they would not
hear o f it. I believe the reason to be that they have no confidence in
government. They cannot give the Europeans credit fo r justice or good
intentions. They say that all the Government does, whether they fig h t or
are friends, it is all fo r the sake o f getting our land. When the land is
gone those who have not been killed will be made slaves and dogs. It is

61 E R Simmons. In Cruce Salus: A History o f the Diocese o f Auckland 1841-1982 p.73. It is important
to consider the differences of thinking. To the Maori "spying" was a severe crime - it would not be
inconceivable to the Maori that Garavel might have been hanged by the pakeha Government for
"spying" on behalf of the Maori. Thus the later hanging of Volkner by the Maori would be equally
justified.
 30

an honour to die on our land. It is a disgrace to he a slave to the pakeha.

This is the language o f the natives after a severe defeat. The Colonial
Government may speak about disarming the natives but the natives are
ready to die rather than give up their guns...
.../ am glad to say that out o f 15 teachers in my district only 6 went on
the campaign to Maketu. They went without weapons only on the
condition that nothing o f the old heathen customs prophesying, seeing
visions or having dreams was to be countenanced amongst them. On
their return I learned that not only had they kept to this but that these
teachers also made their morning and evening prayers. I saw 500 with
their guns eating their fo o d placed before them. N ot one o f them touched
a potato until a blessing was asked and they never take up arms on the
Sabbath unless they are attacked on that day which to their great
disquiet is done by civilized and Christian people. In these times the
natives are greatly excited and but little real spirituality is visible. It is
difficult to make them believe that we are impartial which is a great
barrier against our doing them good. But it is remarkable how, in spite
o f all, they acknowledge the hand o f God in the war. In speaking to a
young man about their last defeat, he said "We see after all that it is all
in the hands o f the chief in Heaven. We must do w hat he w ills." A nd
there are some who really look to God fo r help in their time o f need.
As regards their conduct to the Europeans it could not be better from the
beginning o f the war up to this present time. The Europeans in the Bay
o f Plenty were not only not sent away and not m olested but asked to
stay. That the Europeans left Tauranga was through a misunderstanding
o f the letter fro m M r Thompson. They were begged by the Tauranga
natives not to go. N or have I m et with a single instance o f a European
being insulted or his property being endangered, but on the contrary
many vowed that they would protect them with their lives....
A t the M atata they were encamped a fortnight on the spot [?] to the
Europeans who were from home at the time, their homes being left to the
mercy o f those in the camp yet they never touched a single thing
belonging to the Europeans. When the friendly natives had broken into
M r Grace's store and gone away leaving it open the hostile party came
after them and took out some prayer books.... N or do I see any reason
fo r hoping that peace will soon be made. I am sorry to say that those
who have (.. ?..) suffered most fro m the war are not those who deserved it
m ost...

It is soon after this, in June 1864, that Volkner, on one of his journeys to Auckland,
preached at St John’s College Chapel. His sermon, which was first given to the
English congregation at Turanga, and is reproduced in full at the end of this study,
gives some insights into Volkner’s faith and his behaviour at the time of his death not
many months later. He opens with reference to St Paul’s sufferings: No man ever
suffered more fo r the cause o f Christ than the Apostle Paul did... and speaks of Paul’s
soul ...being filled with the magnitude and certainty o f the fu tu re glory o f the elect o f
God... with the conviction of one, who like Paul, has him self walked the Dam ascus
road. Volkner foreshadows his own m artyrdom in his acceptance of suffering in the
cause of Christ. Personal danger or harm to himself, personal suffering, difficulty, or
 31

death are never his fears. Why should he worry when death is only the opening of
eternal life? Volkner obeys only one command: God's W ord.

Volkner remained at Opotiki and continued with his work during 1864. The church
had been completed and dedicated on January 30 1864 and Volkner now had the
assistance of Rev. Thom as Grace. After the defeat of rebel Maoris at Te Ranga in
June, the situation appeared to have quietened, but an outbreak of typhoid in late 1864
in which 25% of the population of Opotiki died, added to the social insecurity.
Volkner did all he could to alleviate the suffering. He m ade five trips to Auckland
betw een April 1864 and March 1865 to procure medicines and get clothing and
blankets.62 He may also have gone to Auckland in the latter part of the year to see his
brother-in-law and family as Lanfear had applied for leave to visit England but had
rem ained at Hauraki until summoned by the Bishop to safety in Auckland. Lanfear's
Report to the CMS finishes at the end o f December 1864, so he did not leave New
Zealand until after that date.

5. MARTYR

Despite Volkner's efforts to reason with his people, the W hakatohea were caught up
in the inter-tribal tensions. The violent shooting by a rival tribe, of the W hakatohea
chief, Te Aporotanga, and the ‘vice-regal inaction’ over the incident were seen as
further cause for anger and complaint against the governm ent.63 Aporotanga’s death
also m eant there was no man in the tribe of real influence to guide their thinking and
this was significant when the prophets of Pai M airire64 arrived in Opotiki in early
1865 and were therefore able to sway W hakatohea into joining their cause.

Pai M arire - T h e Good and the Peaceful’ as its adherents styled it, is also known as
Hauhauism. It was a syncretic religion originated by the prophet Te Ua Haumene, of
the Taranaki tribe, It theologically combined traditional Maori religion and the Maori
versions of Roman Christianity with Te U a’s own innovations.65 Little is known of Pai
M arire before April 1864, but from that date it spread rapidly across the country, with
King Tawhiao becom ing a convert in November 1864.66 The rituals involved
frenzied chants and a Niu, or sacred pole, was often set up and a dancing ritual

62 Davidson, Allan K: Retribution, Repentance and Reconciliation in Papers read at the 2002 Summer
Meeting and 2003 W inter Meeting of the Ecclesiastical History Society. Ed. Kate Cooper & Jeremy
Gregory. The Ecclesiastical History Society 2004 p.320
63 Davidson op.cit 319
64 The spelling of Pai Mairire varies.
65 Buller, Rev James "Forty Years in New Zealand" 1878, Hodder & Stoughton London, p344 gives the
tenets of Pai Marire as follows:
I. All its followers to be called "Pai Marire" 2.Gabriel with his legions will protect them. 3.The Virgin
Mary will be always with them. 4. The religion of England as taught in the Bible, is false. 5. The
Scriptures must all be burnt. 6. No notice must be taken of the Christian Sabbath. 7. Men and women
to live promiscuously. 8. Complete victory to follow the vigorous "Hau." 9. The European population
to be driven out of New Zealand. 10. This will be done when the head has made its circuit of the land.
II. Men will then come from heaven to teach them knowledge. 12. The priests have the power to teach
the Maories English.
66 Belich, James: The New Zealand Wars and the Victorian Interpretation o f Racial Conflict Penguin
Books (NZ) 1998 p204ff
 32

perform ed round it.67 The leadership of the Hauhau movem ent passed to Patara
Raukatauri. He and Kereopa Te Rau,68 with a large following, marched through the
land, carrying the teachings of the prophet Te Ua and claiming allegiance of other
natives. Infuriated by meeting resistance from other Christian natives, they vowed
vengeance to all missionaries.

In January 1865 there was another outbreak of typhoid in Opotiki, and in early
February Volkner was warned of the impending arrival of the Hauhaus. He took his
wife to Auckland for safety and while there he and Grace collected more medicines
and supplies for Opotiki. During their absence, Kereopa Te Rau and Patara
Raukatauri arrived in Opotiki on 2 February with their warriors. They were
accom panied by two army deserters who carried the heads of Captain Lloyd and a
drum m er boy of the 58th regiment, who had been killed in the Taranaki war, as
symbols of the cult of Pai Marire and evidence of its irresistible force.69 Their arrival
stirred up the differing factions among Te W hakatohea people and many were caught
up in the new religion. The Hauhaus ransacked the mission and Kereopa demanded
that Volkner be handed over to him70 but Volkner was absent in Auckland. Patara
then sent Volkner a letter telling him not to return; that no m inister was to be allowed
to rem ain among the M aori people and if Volkner returned he would be killed, but
Volkner was on his way back to Opotiki with his fellow missionary T S Grace .

There is much conjecture as to why Volkner ignored the warnings and chose to return
to Opotiki. But his own writings show that he was not a man who was afraid of any
physical hurt or suffering, and his report to the CMS shows every confidence in his
relationship with the W hakatohea people. He was also a kindly man, helpful to the
people he loved who were in need of the medicines and supplies he brought with him
from Auckland. Volkner was a man of direct action, with a clear mission from God, in
whom he trusted implicitly. His people were at Opotiki - he should be with them.

A full account of V olkner’s death is in the Great Britain Parliamentary Papers - The
Affairs o f New Zealand, which reproduces in full Captain Levy's Diary of M arch 2
1865, the day Volkner was killed, as well as several other accounts. Samuel Levy had
the store in Opotiki and his brother was captain of the schooner Eclipse which traded
along the coast. Both were in Opotiki at the time Volkner was killed. As Jews, the
M aoris considered them to be independent of the Christian missionaries and
government. The Levy brothers’ reports together with Thom as Grace's account of his
and Volkner's imprisonm ent give a graphic and full account of events.71 Captain
Levy's is particularly direct and clear.

V olkner and Grace left Auckland on the Eclipse with Captain Levy at 4pm on the
26th of February. On W ednesday, M arch 1, Levy records they sailed up the river
expecting to see everything quiet as usual but were surprised to see a large num ber of
natives assembled on the bank:

67 Rosevear op.cit. Waiapu: The story o f a Diocese p68 gives a description of the ceremonial, in his
text and footnote.
68 W ho had been baptised a Catholic
69 Lyall op.cit p 157 also L K Gluckman : Kereopa, the Psychodynamics o f a 19th Century M urder in
Historical Review Vol XIII No3 1965
70 Ed: McLintock: The Cyclopedia o f New Z ea la n d , op.cit p.946
71 Great Britain Parliammentary Papers
 33

M y brother (Samuel)...when he saw the two reverend gentlemen on

board, was quite aghast at their coming at the very worst time, fo r the
Natives had only, on the previous day registered an oath to kill every
minister or soldier they came across...
V olkner and Grace rem ained on board while Levy tried to arrange escape for them,
but they were bound and taken to a whare, while the natives plundered the cargo and
locked it in Samuel’s store. Levy's crew - three seamen - and another man, Lewis
M ontague,72 were locked up with W illiam Hooper, Grace and Volkner, under an
armed guard of twenty men, in Hooper's house.

The following day, the Levys, with Dr Agassiz a trader, attempted to reason with the
Maori chiefs, to the point of giving up the stores, the ship,and cattle. Two of the chiefs
told Volkner and Grace that they could go back to Auckland with Capt.Levy, but they
were not released, and the Levys were told the missionaries would be shot.
I next saw a party o f half-castes going towards the whare...the party
asked fo r M r Volkner, who came out without his hat, and then returned
fo r it, apparently pleased as the natives had told him they were going to
take him to a meeting; but alas fo r him, it was the meeting o f death. A s
he was walking with them they told him their object. The reverend
gentleman then asked permission to stay near the church and pray fo r
fiv e minutes, which they acceded to. He sent one o f the Natives fo r his
prayer-book, and whilst this was taking place the Natives went on board
the vessel fo r a block and strap, which they made fa s t to the topmost
branches o f a large willow tree, about 200 yards fro m the church. A bout
800 Natives had now assembled, and M r Volkner was marched under the
tree. The Natives took o ff his coat, vest and shirt, which the principal
chief put on being quite pleased with the watch and chain. This chief was
Kereopa o f Maketu, who was travelling with the Taranakis, and a main
cause o f all the evil. Poor Volkner had only his fla n n el and trousers to
cover his nakedness. He manifested the greatest calmness throughout
and shook hands with many o f the Natives whilst they were tying his
handkerchief over his eyes and hauling him up to the fa ta l branch. The
Natives m arvelled greatly at the tears running fro m M r Volkner's eyes.
They did not pinion either arms or legs, but left him to dangle fo r nearly
an hour in the air, whilst some o f the natives were hauling at his legs to
get o ff his boots and trousers, sharing what was in the pockets whist he
hung over them. One o f the natives also put on the trousers in the dying
man's presence. A fter letting the body hang about h a lf an hour, it was
lowered and taken to the church, near which they fen ced in a place,
spread the body out in the form o f a cross, and proceeded to cut o ff the
head, the body being still warm, and symptoms o f life being yet apparent.
The inhuman fellow s then carefully cut the flesh round the chest and
back, and chopped o ff the neck with an old axe. The Natives then fo rm ed
themselves into a line, and prepared to taste the blood as it ran out o f the
7?
head and body...

72 W illiam Winters Hooper's account - also in the Parliamentary Papers. Hooper was a settler in
Opotiki. The tree Volkner was hanged from was "about 40 or 50 yards" from Hooper's house.
73 Great Britain Parliamentary Papers 1866 (3601) Colonial Secretary's Office, Wellington , March21
1865.
 34

Levy continues with the account, including Kereopa's eating of Volkner’s eyes and the
drinking of his blood. Later, all the Europeans, including Grace - who did not know
Volkner was dead, were tied up in Hooper's house, but were eventually released,
except for Grace. In the evening the Levys were taken to a meeting held in the
Catholic chapel, where Volkner's head was placed on the pulpit. The sailors spent the
night with Grace, in M r Hooper's house, although everything had been taken out of it.
The chapel bell rang all night and the natives were called to different meetings. On
4th M arch, Grace was perm itted some freedom, his fate to await decision from the
chief Patara. In the afternoon, a great num ber of dogs were running round a water
closet, where Volkner's body had been thrown. Levy asked permission to bury it, but
was later told it had been buried.

On M arch 5th, some attempt was m ade to justify Volkner's murder when the
Europeans were taken into Volkner's church to a meeting. Patara laid three charges
against the dead Volkner: his going to Auckland as a spy for the Government; that a
cross had been found in his house and therefore he was a Rom anist deceiver; and that
he had returned to Opotiki in spite of instructions to stay away. Levy's account of the
events following the killing, and of Grace's eventual release, ends on March 17.

Grace's account describes Volkner's approach to his death:

On our return fro m Auckland we were soon to learn, after crossing the
bar at 9.30 and unable to return, that we were am ongst Pai M arire
fanatics. The vessel was seized even before it berthed. A tall M aori fro m
Taranaki came aboard and seem ed to be in command. We remained on
board until 3pm., during which time there was great excitement on
shore. Tiwai [the interpreter] told us we had “come into the L io n ’s
M outh ”. After being ordered ashore, we were m arched o ff to the Rom an
Catholic Chapel and remained standing fo r 2 hours while the M aoris
held meetings. The Taranaki native returned with other M aoris and fro m
him we were able to secure an enclosure fo r rest, about 300 yards off.
A fter much searching we fo und our belongings which had been rifled
from the ship and bundled into M r L e v y ’s shop. The sailors, M r Volkner
and I, after reading o f the Psalm and prayers, lay down to rest, but not
to sleep. There were no guards and escape could have been
possible...U ntil after midnight we could hear the greatest commotion
and shoutings going on in the Roman Catholic Chapel. We passed a
sleepless night.
March 2nd. Great excitement going on outside. H ad prayers together.
Read the 9th Psalm. We thought money would m ost likely satisfy them
and suggested this scheme to our Captain who had been separated fro m
us, but he declined to have anything to do with us in the matter74. We
went away dejected, when poor, dear Volkner said, “We must trust in
God ”. We returned to our prison house and had prayers again and read
the 10th Psalm, The tall native returned to us and a fu tile discussion took
place. One o f the maoris said to Volkner, “I see you frig h ten ed ”. A t this

74 Levy and his brother offered £500, and then £1000 for Grace - which was "indignantly refused, they
(the Maoris) telling us that not even £8000, or any money would get M r Grace away from them, as they
fu lly intended to take him to Taranaki as their slave.."
 35

time they evidently knew what was going on. They told us a meeting
would soon take place. We quite believed Patara had returned.
Later, Heremita (apparently known to M r Volkner) took care o f all our
possessions. It was now lpm. A nd we had prayer and reading fo r the last
time. The portion read was the 14th Psalm. My dear frie n d offered a m ost
earnest prayer and throughout the morning had been calm o f manner
with a beautiful smile upon his face. About 2pm. M r Volkner was led o ff
and I was forcibly kept behind and locked in. Two long hours o f m ost
painful suspense and sadness passed by, but there was no return o f M r
Volkner. I now saw Heremita who had led the party away, return and
report to the guards. I caught the words “He has been hung on the
willow tree”. The words went to my heart and I called upon the Lord.
Shortly after this all the armed men returned in great excitement and we
were marched o ff to a house occupied by M r H ooper and robbed o f
everything. I begged in vain fo r my little prayer book. A ll this time I was
earnest in my enquiries fo r M r Volkner but could get no satisfaction. I
still entertained hopes o f my frien d ’s safety, being unable to force m yself
to believe that which was the dreadful truth. Our hands were tied behind
us but later were loosened, much to our amazement. A fter this, upon my
inquiry about the house in which I had been told M r Volkner was, one o f
the Europeans said to me in a quiet way, “Ask no more fo r him, you will
not see him again This was the fir s t certain information I had o f his
death. That night I had every reason to believe it would be my last night
on earth. As I lay awake I could distinctly hear the confusion, the
dancing and shouting going on in the Roman Chapel and also in the
Church. Thus ended this day upon which the first blood was shed in N Z
fo r the G ospel’s sake.75

Volkner's head was carried away by the Hauhaus and it is not known where it was
finally left. It was never found. His m utilated body was retrieved and buried by
friends outside the east end of the church. Grace was able to read the burial service
over the remains. Fourteen days after his capture, Grace was helped to escape from
the whare where he had been held and, hidden in the bottom of a boat, was row ed out
to sea where he was later picked up. After the murder, the church was used as a
redoubt and a prison until it was rededicated as the Church of St Stephen the M artyr
on 21 November 1875. A sanctuary was added to the building in 1910, which brought
Volkner's grave within the church, and a m arble stone was placed over it.

M artha was staying in Parnell at the hom e of her friend Clara, then Mrs M cCall,
when she heard her husband had been killed by the HauHau. W hen advised of Carl's
death, Martha's com m ent was "He has won the crown." A fitting tribute from a
widow who believed im plicitly in her husband's mission.

M artha and Carl had no children. M artha returned to England to live with her brother
and his family and it was from there that she wrote in 1877 to Matiu Te R anapia at
Tirohanga.

75 Extract From the Reverend T S Grace's Diary Concerning the M urder o f the Reverend C.S.
Volkner, C.M.S. 1865. Some transcripts of Grace’s account vary slightly in their wording.
 36

“Dear Te Ranapia,
I have received your letter brought to England by M r Grace. I was m ost
grateful fo r it and I know fu ll well that you have not forgotten your
frie n d Te Wakana (MrVolkner). I, his widow, am living here on the
other side o f the world. It is now 12 years since his death, but I never
cease to think o f him. Nor have I ceased to be grateful to you fo r having
disassociated yo urself from the words and actions o f Kereopa and his
followers. I suppose most o f them have now perished. Who knows? N or
do I know whether my prayers have been heard - prayers that I offer day
by day that they may be brought to repentance and their sins washed
away and they be cleansed by the blood o f Jesus Christ. That will be
made plain when they reach the other world.
I was very glad to hear o f you attaining prosperity in this world, but
have a care that you do not fo rg et the words o f the Apostle Paul that he
wrote to Timothy - see chapter 6, verse 9,10,17,18,and 19 o f the fir s t
Epistle to Timothy. M y friend I beg you to fo llo w God alone (Luke
12,21) and to be like Abraham, who did not put his fa ith in wealth, but
turned to the truth and took the words o f God fo r his help and support.
M y friend if you sin do you go before Jesus and pray that your sins be
washed away and you be made clean? Always keep in mind the words
spoken to the gaoler at Philippi (which you will fin d in the Acts o f the
Apostles) and the words o f Jesus when he said “He who turns to me will
not be cast o u t”. O Friend have you turned or not? I f you have not,
make haste and do so, because it is a short thing this life o f the body, and
what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his
own soul? M y great wish is that we all reach Heaven and take our place
among the countless thousands o f peoples o f the whole world that stand
in the presence o f the throne o f God.
Goodbye now. M ay you be firm in the true faith. From your loving
friend, Martha Volkner.76

Why did Carl Volkner return to Opotiki when he knew that his life might be in
danger? Why was he so calm, even smiling in the face of certain death? Volkner's
sermon gives the answer to both his life and his dying. W hatever came his way, he
would seek to teach God's Word, and nothing in this world could shake his absolute
trust and belief in Christ. Carl Volkner kept the faith and won the crown.

The attached Sermon, first preached at Turanga, [Gisborne] and later at St John's College in
Auckland, was originally published in 1868. The poem which follows it is written by Carl
Volkner.

76 Opotiki Library information from Mrs E M Gurton, a grand-niece of Clara Walker.

 37

THE

SUFFERINGS OF THIS PRESENT TIME

A SERMON

Preached in

St John’s College Chapel

June 1864

By the late

REV. C.S.VOLKNER

PREFACE

The following Sermon, which was first written for a small English congregation
at Turanga, New Zealand, amid the arduous duties of Missionary life, and is now
published in deference to the wishes of valued friends, needs a few words of
explanation.
It has been feared, that precious as the truths contained in it are, it was
scarcely fitted to meet the public eye in this country; but any failures in its
diction will we are sure be overlooked when it is remembered that it was not only
written under the pressure of Missionary work, but by one to whom both English
and the language in which he daily ministered were alike foreign tongues, and
our only desire in thus consenting to its publication is that the glorious hopes and
consolations of the believer, so fully delineated in it - those hopes which were
alike the solace of his life and gave him strength in the hour of his lamented
death - may by the Holy Spirit's accompanying power be carried home to so
many hearts - so that he, being dead, may yet speak for Jesus, and may comfort
others with the comfort wherewith he was comforted of God.

A SERMON

"For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with
the glory which shall be revealed in us” - Romans viii. 18

Forcible and powerful are the words of an experienced man of God. In listening to the
testimony of Paul we feel that he believed and therefore spake. From the time of his
conversion up to his glorious martyrdom, he suffered much, in various ways, and continually
experienced the fulfilment of those remarkable words of the Lord to Ananias, ”1 will show
him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake."
He had a full measure of the sufferings of this present time - perhaps no man ever suffered
more for the cause of Christ than the Apostle Paul did - and yet he speaks of those sufferings
as not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed, thus shewing the
knowledge he had of the greatness of that glory, and of the certainty of its future revelation in
believers. Of both these things notice is taken in our text. In the seventeenth verse St Paul
says, if we suffer with Christ we shall also be glorified with Him. There can be nothing
 38

greater or more perfect than the glory to which Christ has been exalted, than the glory which
the Heavenly Father has given to His beloved Son.
The apostle being convinced that he and all true believers shall enter the same glory with
Christ their head, expects then the greatest of all glories. Is it possible to obtain stronger
assurance that we shall certainly be made partakers of this glory, than this which is offered us
in communion with Christ, the Redeemer of the world? He who truly suffers with Jesus, will
surely be exalted with Jesus to His glory. Indeed, so faithful is our loving Saviour, that he
surely will not exclude the partakers of His sufferings from His glory.
Paul's soul being filled with the magnitude and certainty of the future glory of the elect of
God, considers in this state of mind the sufferings of this present time, and weighs them
against the future glory. He finds them as the mere dust of the balance, and therefore
exclaims, "I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with
the glory which shall be revealed in us;" that is, I am fully convinced that the future glory, in
duration and magnitude so infinitely surpasses the present sufferings, that they are nothing to
be accounted of, and that those who would rather lose the future glory than endure these
sufferings of this present time commit the greatest folly.
We shall be able to look deeper into the precious truth of this striking passage, which the
Holy Ghost has revealed to the apostle, if we consider more fully -
I. - The sufferings o f this present time.
II. - Compare them with the future glory.
I. - The sufferings of this present time, of which the apostle here speaks, are the sufferings
which believers have to endure, not as men in general, but as believers, as followers of Christ
Jesus. And he particularly refers to the overflowing cup of suffering which the first witnesses
and confessors of Jesus Christ had to drink - who were killed all the day long, and counted as
sheep for the slaughter.
They were looked upon by the world as a curse and off-scouring, and had to suffer death
for the name of Jesus. What would be more terrible in the eyes of a worldling - of a person
who has no hope beyond the vanities of this present world than this? Yet how little, how
trifling were they in the eyes of the Apostle Paul. The reasons for this are - first, because they
are the sufferings of this present time - they are such sufferings as last only for a time, and
when that time, which God Himself has determined, has expired they must cease.
" They come to break the fetters which here detain us fast,
And force our long reluctant hearts to rise to heaven at last,
And brighten every prospect of that eternal home
Where grief and disappointment and fear can never come."
Suppose these sufferings lasted all his days, how short is this life! Our days are as a span,
and our lives pass away as a shadow. Time flies, and we are borne away on its wings to
eternity. Every moment the believer gets nearer to his Father's house, where God will wipe
away all tears from his eyes, and there will be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying,
neither shall there be any more pain. But not all the lifetime of the believer is a time of
suffering - God gives many an hour of quiet rest, and many a refreshing draught in the heat
of trial. Count up your days of suffering, and to what do they amount? They include but a
short part of your lifetime. Suppose you had to suffer ten or twenty years in this world, what
is that period when compared with eternity? Not what a drop of water is in comparison to the
sea. If we view the sufferings of this present time from this point, how little, how light
become the sufferings of the believer! He suffers but a short time, and though his sufferings
be ever so trying or ever so painful, the comfort remains - they must end.
Again, the apostle thinks the sufferings of this present time but light, because they are
under the special direction and providence of God, our Heavenly Father.
Nothing can happen to the child of God but what is designed for his spiritual good. He
knows that his sufferings are not intended for his destruction, but serve to perfect him.
"They come to teach him lessons which bright days could not yield,
And to leave him blest and thankful when their purpose is fulfilled."
Though the world, Satan, and all his host may rage, like the breakers of an angry sea, the
almighty finger of God has set them their bounds, which they cannot overstep.
 39

What loss is it to him if they kill his body? They only release the soul, which they cannot
kill, from this poor tenement of clay. Could it be called a loss, if they took from him this
transitory life and God gave him an everlasting life instead? In this the apostle only rejoices,
and in the name of all believers says, 2 Cor. iv. 8, 9, "We are troubled on every side, yet not
distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but
not destroyed."
The believer is also strengthened by Divine comfort, and enlivened by the hope of an
everlasting, unspeakable joy, prepared for him. The unbeliever, who has neither of these
privileges, is soon overcome by and despairs under comparatively small sufferings. To the
wicked, the smallest trial is harder than the greatest to the righteous. The latter say, though
we suffer much for Christ, yet we are abundantly comforted through Christ.
In the heat of temptation, the Spirit of the Lord is nigh to them and their souls are revived
by His comfort. Although they are in a burning desert, yet their Saviour leads them to fresh
waters. The word of God is an open fountain of living comfort, and the many gracious
promises in it are able to strengthen their souls. Hard and heavy were Stephen's sufferings -
he was in the power of his enemies, and his life became a prey to his persecutors - but they
were easy to him, as he saw heaven open and the Son of Man at the right hand of God. So is
the believer in all his sufferings; in the midst of death he is even comforted, because he has
the living hope of everlasting life.
The believer knows that his sufferings, which are but for a time, must soon end - that they
are under God's special direction and providence, and must serve for his good. Strengthened
by Divine comfort and a lively hope, he rejoices in the midst of them, saying, "Our light
affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight
of glory; though our outward man perishes, yet the inward man is renewed day by day."
II. - In comparing the sufferings of this present time with the glory that shall be revealed in
us, we shall soon see that the apostle has sufficient reason for thinking them not worthy to be
compared with the future glory, and that there are great reasons for us to endure willingly
and gladly these sufferings which work in us an exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
The ground on which the apostle's argument rests may be easily described. The glory
which shall be revealed in us is an everlasting glory - a glory which shall never end. This
alone makes it inestimably precious.
What does not man suffer to obtain a glory of this world, which soon ends. What is the
glory of science, of learning, of riches, of rank? Is it not like a meteor, like an ignis fatuus
which turns you off the right way, that blazes for a moment and then disappears in endless
night. But the glory of the believer, which he sees by the eye of faith, is a real, a substantial
glory. It is not right to murmur, to be impatient, or even to try by every, even unlawful means,
to get released from suffering. You surely cannot think it at all advisable or right to refuse to
bear the cross our Saviour bore, to shrink from going in the way which leads to everlasting
glory. Be it so, that you must go through much tribulation to enter into the kingdom, ere long
all suffering and sorrow will for ever have passed away, whilst that glory will deepen and
expand as eternity rolls on its endless ages. What can you gain more than to arrive safely at
God's throne, and partake of that fulness of joy and those pleasures which are at his right hand
for evermore. This glory is not subject to fear or danger, for it is a perfect glory.
The sufferings of this present time are lessened through hope and comfort. In the dark days
which come upon us, God often permits us to view the light of joy, and in the distance we see
eternity dawn, and our weary souls are refreshed.
The everlasting day of joy no dark cloud of sorrow can disturb. There is no fear of a
sorrowful evening, or a dreadful night. Nothing can disturb the rest of the perfected saints, in
whom this glory shall be revealed. For this they have the promise of truth itself. "Ye now
have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh
from you."
What is a lifetime of toil, of struggle with poverty or sickness, ever so bitter, and even if it
ended in martyrdom, compared with one draught of the river of pleasure, one breath of
Paradise, with one wave of heaven's glory, with one sight, with one smile of Jesus! Light is
 40

the burden God lays upon His people, but great is the joy which follows it. The glory of the
saints in heaven is like the glory of God, which knows no change of light or darkness.
This glory which shall be revealed in us,is not the merit of our sufferings - it is the merit
and reward of Christ's sufferings - it is in relation, not with ours, but with Christ's sufferings -
as they were infinitely greater than ours, so is the glory He has obtained for us by His passion
infinitely greater than our sufferings.
Did God measure the glory which He has designed for His children by their sufferings on
earth, how little, how trifling, and how short would it be! Thanks to Christ's sufferings,
there is an exceeding and eternal weight of glory for us. Yet let it be understood, at the same
time, that those sufferings which believers have to endure in following Christ, are a part of
God's appointed way, whereby we may obtain that glory. It is in this view that the apostle
says, in 2 Cor.iv.17, "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far
more exceeding and eternal weight of glory."
All who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Through much tribulation
we must enter the kingdom of God. God our heavenly Father must chasten His children on
account of their sins. The devil and the wicked hate them because they are not one with them.
They assail them by temptation and by tribulation. But if you follow the Lord, fear not; He
will deliver you out of them all, and you will see that it is good for you that you were
afflicted. The sharp-edged tool, the hammer, and the fire, are necessary to produce a
handsome vessel. The image and the superscription, which make the coin valid, result from
the heavy pressure of the die.
There never was, nor ever will be, a Christian who obtained not his knowledge under the
cross, his experience from the cross, and reaped not godliness from tribulation. "For what son
is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are
partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons."
If you will be a child of God, you must be subject to His rod. The bride of Jesus must be
pure; the temple of the Holy Ghost must be undefiled. He who will obtain the rose, must not
fear the thorns. He who wishes to obtain Christ's righteousness and salvation, must know that
he may not find them but in, through, and with the cross.
In the deep and bitter waters of tribulation, those precious pearls are found. He who hopes
on that day to receive the crown of everlasting life from the Lord's hand, must not shrink from
first receiving from it here the crown of thorns. He who will reign with Jesus must first die
with Him.
"It is a faithful saying, if we die with Him we shall also live with Him, if we suffer with
Him we shall also reign with Him."
There are people who, so far from being willing to suffer for Christ, are even offended at
Christ's sufferings, and think those who suffer for the name of Christ fanatics and deluded
fools. If they were required to suffer they would devise a way of their own to get out of it,
regardless of God's way.
Thanks be to God that we may worship him in peace. But what if the Lord should take
His fan in His hand, and purge His floor, to separate the chaff from the wheat? How many of
us would be willing to take up the cross and follow Him? Although we are not now molested
by outward persecution, there are nevertheless many other ways in which the tried Christian
has to suffer from his enemies, the devil, the world, and his own treacherous heart. He cannot
please them, and follow Christ at the same time. "The friendship of the world is enmity with
God." "The flesh lusteth against the Spirit." "What communion has Christ with Belial?"
If you will follow Christ, the world will surely hate you. But do you prefer living after the
corrupt customs of this world to suffering shame for Christ? Do you prefer indulging in your
sins to denying yourself for Christ? Remember, for the sins in which you indulge Christ died.
Your darling sins you will not cast away - you cannot make up your mind to suffer, to deny
yourself, to take up the cross.
But remember, if you will not crucify the flesh and its lusts, that everlasting glory will not
be revealed in you. In you will be revealed God's righteous wrath. God now reveals in you
His long-suffering mercy. Oh, that it may lead you to repentance! But alas! You prefer
wearing wreaths of fading flowers with the children of this world, and despise the crown of
 41

thorns. Your pleasures are not worth comparing with the wrath, the sufferings which shall be
revealed in you.
Woe unto them who trifle away the time of grace, and live and die in sin. "Whosoever
will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake, shall find it."
Children of God, when you are in sorrow, trial, or affliction, and your burden seems to
become too heavy for you, when it presses hard, when you are laid very low, your prospects
are very dark, and your heart almost fails you - then remember the glory which shall be
revealed in you - the crown of everlasting life. Oh! murmur not when your heart is tempted to
rebel against God, give no place to such impatience, but look to Him who endured such
contradiction of sinners against Himself. Learn from Him who was meek and lowly, and
humbled Himself to the death on the cross for you. Oh, then, remember that the sufferings of
this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in you.
Whenever trouble is knocking at the door, and the Lord is dealing bitterly with you, consider
it as a call to a new life. Many of us are spiritually asleep, and the Lord sends these rousing
dispensations to awake us from our slumber; let us hear the voice, let us hearken to the call,
let us stir ourselves up, let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord; let us make
it a matter of special, earnest prayer, that the affliction God sends may not miss its end, but
that we may have reason to exclaim in the issue, with David, "It is good for me that I was
afflicted; before I was afflicted I went astray, but now have I kept Thy Word."

A Translation o f some Lines written for a young Friend by

the late Rev.C.S.VOLKNER

BETHINK thee, thou a pilgrim art,

And Heaven the home thou seekest,
Go on thy way with joyful heart -
Christ will support the weakest.
Watch, lest thy love and zeal decline,
Pray for His strength, then vict'ry's thine.

And be thy way with thorns beset,

E'en they shall work thy good:
In darkest trial, Oh, ne'er forget
To look to Jesu's blood!
Thus from the cross shall comfort flow,
When conflicts end Heav’ns joy thou'lt know.

Should thy earthly friends forsake thee,

Jesus will thy soul sustain;
To His faithful care betake thee,
Thou art His, with Him remain.
Whilst sinners yield to dark despair,
His saints rely upon His care.

Then rest thee here on Jesu's love,

In ev'ry hour of sadness,
Thou'lt Him in glory see above,
In those bright realms of gladness,
Where God's the sun, where songs of praise
With friends long lost, for aye thou'lt raise.
Rev. Carl. S. Volkner
 43

Mrs Volkner
(formerly Miss Martha Emma Lanfear)
 44

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 46

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June 1959
September 1959
September 1964
June 1965
September/December 1965
December 1967
November 1972
May 1973
November 1974
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May 1983
May 1989
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“Peria,” Volkner’s house. The front towards the harbour bar.