Three Early Christian Leaders of Hawaii [Electronic Resource]

THREE EARLY CHRISTIAN LEADERS OF HAWAII By Oscar E. Maurer, D. D. Former Moderator, General Council of Congregational Christian Churches Published by The Board of the Hawaiian Evangelical Association Honolulu, T. H.—May, 1945 „ ... With the cempllmenfs of the Autnof THREE EARLY CHRISTIAN LEADERS OF HAWAII CONTENTS Page I. BARTIMEA LALANA PUAAIKI The Blind Preacher of Maui - 3 II. DAVID MALO Hawaiian Preacher of Social Righteousness 11 III. JAMES HUNNEWELL KEKELA Missionary to the Marquesans 21 First Ordained Hawaiian Minister Note: The preparation of the three brief biographies which follow has afforded me a great deal of pleasure. It has been to me but another evidence of the power of the Christian message. I trust that those who read these stories will, with me, be impressed by what Jesus Christ can do in the lives of those who serve him fully. I want to acknowledge my indebtedness to the following people who have helped me, both in unearthing material and in check- ing what I have written: Miss Bernice Judd, Librarian of the Hawaiian Mission Children's Society; Miss Ethel M. Damon, her- self the author of outstanding books on the early history of Ha- waii; Miss Emily V. Warinner, who was for many years the Managing Editor of The Friend; and the personnel at the Public Archives of Hawaii. Without their help this piece of work would not have been possible. OSCAR E. MAURER Bartimka- Lalana Puaaiki Sketch probably made in the United States for Mr. Bingham's story of Bartimea printed by the American Tract Society I BARTIMEA LALANA PUAAIKI The Blind Preacher of Maui St. Paul was willing to become a fool rescue by a relative, would however, have for Christ's sake, and in the first Christian been a doubtful favor, except for the cir- century there were many who were glad cumstances of his later years, for he is said to be rated "fools of God" by their to have been. an ungoverned child, and his sophisticated pagan contemporaries. But name Puaaiki, (Little Hog) perhaps bears when a professional jester sickens of his this out. Among other habits he early ac- folly and opens his mind to wisdom; when quired a fondness for awa, a narcotic root a blind man achieves inner vision, he, too, injurious in its effects on body and mind deserves a place in the annals of spiritual when used to excess. He became skillful regeneration. in the hula pahua, a dance of the classical or heroic era in Polynesia which was, even BARTIMEA LALANA PUAAIKI, of in Bartimea's time, becoming obsolete, as Maui, was such a person. From the very Dr. N. B. Emerson states. It was accom- beginning his life was subjected to de- panied by a low, monotonous chant and gradation. The exact date of his birth, in rhythmic beating of chest and drum, often Waikapu, is not known, but it was prob- mounting to frenzied manifestations which ably about 1785, thirty-five years before in the capable hands of a court jester no the Gospel came to the Islands. He evident- doubt became ridiculous contortions. ly was an ill-favored child, or may have been considered a nuisance by his mother, When he became a man in years, Puaa- for she attempted to bury him alive. His iki was of dwarflike stature, nearly blind. [3] and diseased. His unkempt beard hung the missionaries preach. Perhaps the very down to his breast. His only garments fact that he was practically sightless made were an old dirty kihei, or native kapa, his hearing more acute. At any rate Puaa- thrown over his shoulders, and a malo, or iki heard in more than a physical sense. loincloth. His ludicrous appearance and Our present age, preoccupied with scienti- his skill as a dancer attracted the atten- fic analysis of mental and spiritual as well tion of Kamamalu, the favorite queen of as physical phenomena, is sceptical of sud- Liholiho, Kamehameha II, and she attach- den conversions. However, among the data ed him to her retinue, not as a companion to be considered in the analysis of Puaa- but as a court fool or jester, sending for iki's experience there remains the attested him when she and the chiefs felt in need fact that this wretched, blind, pagan heard of entertainment, and rewarding him with and accepted something which completely pittances of food and potions of his fav- and permanently changed his life. orite awa. Such were the conditions of The fact that there had been a complete Puaaiki's life when the first missionaries change was soon proven when the chiefs arrived at Kailua in the spring of 1820. sent for Puaaiki to entertain them with the He was already past his thirty-fifth year. hula. It was dangerous to refuse such a re- "he The king and chiefs were in Kailua quest, but he sent back the answer that when the pioneer missionaries arrived, but had done with the service of sin and Satan serve the were about to remove to Honolulu which and that henceforth he would of the was to be the future capitol of the mon- king of heaven." Instead making archy. Having given the missionaries per- chiefs angry the courageous answer ap- for there is no mission to remain in the Islands for a sea- parently impressed them, it tried son, the royal party sailed for Oahu. Rev. evidence that they resented or to Hiram Bingham accompanied them and prevent him from receiving Christian in- the nearly blind dancer was also in the struction. Indeed, some of the chiefs them- party. In Honolulu he had a severe illness selves soon afterwards began taking a which so aggravated his eye-trouble that serious interest and all of them were he was unable to make his customary visits friendly to the mission. Queen Kamamalu, so to the Queen, who promptly forgot her who had been Puaaiki's patroness, was poor jester. While in a pitiable condition far influenced by the gospel as to aban- of sickness and hunger, Puaaiki was visited don many of her pagan habits and to at- by Honolii, a Hawaiian youth who had tend in some measure to instruction in the attended the Missionary School in Corn- Christian faith. wall, Connecticut, where Henry Opuka- Puaaiki not only experienced an entire haia had also been a pupil. Honolii spoke change of heart himself, but almost im- to Puaaiki of a great physician who, only, mediately began telling the good news to could heal his maladies and restore his others. He returned to Maui and was sight. Let the incredulous scoff, but it was already laboring among his former com- then that the fool had his first flash of panions when Rev. Messrs. Richards and wisdom. He eagerly asked, "What is Stewart took charge of the mission station that?" Honolii told him about Jesus Christ, at Lahaina, May 31, 1823. The station the Great Physician of souls and he said Journal under date of January, 1824 con- at once that he wanted to go where he tains the entry, "A Pious Blind Man: could hear about him. As soon as he was There is perhaps no one in the nation who able to crawl he went with Honolii to hear has given more uninterrupted and decisive [4] " proof of the saving knowledge of the truth was no stranger there. His bending pos- as it is in Jesus than has Puaaiki, a poor ture, his clasped hands, his elevated but blind man who has been mentioned in the sightless countenance, the peculiar em- Journal kept in Honolulu. No one has phasis with which he uttered the exclama- manifested more childlike simplicity and tion, '0 Jehovah,' his tenderness, his im- meekness of heart— no one appears more portunity, made me feel that he was pray- uniformly humble, devout, pure and up- ing to a God not far off, but to one who right. He is always at the house of God, was nigh, even in the midst of us. His and there, ever at the preacher's feet. If was a prayer not to be forgotten; it touch- he happens to be approaching our habita- ed our very souls, and we believe it would tions at the time of family worship, which have touched the soul of anyone not a has been frequently the case, the first note stranger to the meltings of a pious spirit." of praise or of prayer word which meets In April of 1825, Puaaiki was examined his ear, produces an immediate and most as to his fitness for church membership and observable change in his whole aspect . his name was propounded to the church Indeed, so peculiar has the expression of at Lahaina. Mr. Richards, who conducted his countenance sometimes been, both in the examination, wrote in his Journal, public and domestic worship, especially "While questioning this blind convert from when he has been joining in a in his hymn heathenism, my mind has often turned to own language ... an expression so indica- the thousands in America, who with all tive of peace and elevated enjoyment, that their light and all their privileges, have tears have involuntarily in started our not half the knowledge of the Gospel that eyes . He is poor and despised in his he has." After a probationary period of person, small almost to deformity, and his three months the candidate was baptised countenance, from the loss of his sight, not and received into the church. "On the prepossessing; still, in our judgment, he 10th of July, 1825," records Mr.

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