if called on to number the majority of its supporters belonging to any one sect, we should find them the descendants of the old English stock of Puritans, whether under the name of Presbyterian, Calvinistic Methodists, or Independent, no missionary society so swept in the popular heart as this. Men of all denominations, and funds from all quarters of the united kingdom, met here in one common stream, the energy of whose current, we believe, was derived from Christian love.

Bright were the days when the first movers found themselves, beyond their hopes, seconded by hundreds, which quickly swelled to thousands,-when Founders' Hall and Salters' Hall, becoming all too confined, they found Spa-fields and Surrey chapels overflowing. Sweet were the harmonies, when the church was learning to strike a new chord, and singing with enthusiasm its scanty and newly-formed symphonies, to hail the light of the gospel, arising over the gloomy hills of darkness. One might have forgotten, that a few centuries ago the hills of Britain were as gloomy as any in the world, and that to shed the rays of the rising sun over them, an equal degree of zeal must have been infused into some souls long since in glory, and that the Go ye' of the Lord Jesus must have operated on behalf of our country once, as it was doing then on behalf of other lands.

Active, intelligent, zealous, joyful, was the experience of the church of Britain, in 1795, 6, and 7. God gave his children a time of refreshing, by which they sought to glorify him. But ah! how ignorant! how inexperienced were they all the while! It seemed that they were ready to go forth and teach, and the directors at home were to arrange and provide for every contingency. Each who entertained a new idea, congratulated himself on its usefulness; and it was not to be for lack of forethought, or of liberal provision, or of prayer, that the expedition should fail. So thought the willing exiles, and they sallied forth, fraught with their several messages. Not so the Lord of the harvest, who beheld his children, and drew them back, to put them to school—a school of hard discipline, and unthought-of lessons.

Among the fundamental mistakes of missionary societies, is the great one, held still, we fear, by some, though it is fading under experience, and a more careful search of Scripture on the point; men have set out, as if they could accomplish the introduction of Christianity into a country, and fill and furnish that land, baptizing it in the name of Christ, and then go on to the next, just as a jobbing gardener clears up in spring the flower-knot in front of one dwelling, and so proceeds on to its neighbours. Preparing thus to have all in order against the hour when the Master shall come, they forget quite that we are at present under the dispensation of the election of grace,

and overlooking that solemn inquiry, when the Son of man shall come, shall he find faith on the earth?' and that information as to the manner of the Son of man's coming, when his angels shall gather his elect together from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.'

We have heard the simple remark, that there would be a great deal to do to prepare the earth for the coming of the Lord, and therefore that greatest of all events must be still distant; as if the whole world were to be Christianized, to make ready for his appearing, when we might rather observe, that this dispensation of the Holy Spirit, blessed and gracious as it is, has only thus far proved, that not from it are we to look for the general ingathering. It may have done nearly all that it is designed to accomplish; but first this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached to all the world, for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come.' It may be preached for a witness in countries where few souls are rescued, and its silent testimony may dwell in the bosom of one convert, who has had no external help for thirty years but a hoarded copy of the New Testament. Such tokens of solitary Christian life have been betrayed to the church at intervals, to prove to us that the excellency of the power is Divine.

We have seen the Head of the church accomplishing his design of having the gospel of the kingdom preached to all nations for a witness, by agents who knew not why it was that their heart was set on some far-off land, no native of which had ever met their eye, and no accent of whose tongue had ever fallen on their ear. When Hans Egede pondered of Greenland, and Dr Vanderkemp of South Africa, it was not for lack of perishing souls at home, who might have formed the objects of their zeal and love. It was because souls must be called in these remote nations, and witness to the gospel of Christ must be borne to all the world, in preparation for the coming of the end, that the Spirit of the Lord put it into their minds; and though no man of Macedonia appeared in vision to invite them, and though they seemed visionaries themselves to the deriding world, their works have proved that they were moved of the Holy Spirit; for he has honoured their labours with signs following.

Ah! how animated were the hopes of thousands who contemplated the first equipment of the Duff-the providential offer of service from so devoted a man as Captain Wilson-the favour shown by some departments of Government and by the East India Company, -the unwonted and delightful unanimity of parties who had never co-operated before, which led Dr Bogue to employ the remarkable expression, We are called together this evening to the funeral of bigotry,' at which the whole vast body of the people could scarcely

6

refrain from one general shout of joy,—all these subjects of sympathy and hope were new and inspiring.

"The broad basis on which the Society was founded; the magnitude of the operations it contemplated; the number, diversity, and yet unprecedented unanimity of those who enrolled themselves among its supporters, their enthusiasm and their liberality, excited astonishment and admiration, and inspired the most sanguine expectations. A new principle of vitality appears to have been given to the churches." P. 33.

It was a time of great gladness in our Israel-a time to give thanks unto the Lord, and to call upon his name, to make known his deeds among the people-to sing psalms unto him, and to talk of all his wondrous works. Many hearts then learnt their first lessons of Christian communion and fellowship, and many for the first time extended their intercessions beyond their own country, and learned to embrace the glory of God and the coming of his kingdom, as the most precious object of their desires. This, however, was only bracing on the armour,-it was the inspiring note of onset, but not the shout of victory.

The historian has minutely detailed the seventeen weary years of conflict with devil-worship, intestine wars, deeds of terror, of barbarity, along with utter heedlessness and scorn of the offered truths.Also, the difficulties of acquiring a language never brought under grammatical rule,-besides the spiteful and insidious advantage taken by profligate runaway sailors, who had some power of communicating with the natives, and who in their office of interpreter, suggested motives and purposes as belonging to the missionaries, which never had a moment's harbour in their breasts.

Mr Ellis has related somewhat minutely the occasions of dropping away of one and another of the missionary band who first settled in Tahiti, and traced, perhaps, we may say, somewhat painfully, disasters on which they fell elsewhere, when fleeing from similar dangers in their appointed field of labour. It is as though a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him. But we know not whether we or the historian should not, in straits similar to theirs, have seen reason enough to read the adverse providences as indicating that this was not the field, and these not the tribes which the Lord designed now to call. There were faithful men who were slain during the wars of the Tahitians, whose sacrifice of life, as far as we can see, had done nothing towards the promotion of the cause in which they were engaged. Their names are as precious, though their characters do not bear with them the splendour of the martyr of Erromanga.' When they were slain, and their brethren had lost all their means of usefulness, even their covering being reduced to a

scrap of native cloth, and their Bibles and elementary books torn up to make cartridges;-when such was their condition, which of us can say that, had we been on the ground, we should not have thought that this door was providentially closed; and have turned aside to see if any other were opened. We have now great variety in the missionary character. We have the carpet knight, who has surveyed the field so as to be able to discuss its condition on platforms, in pamphlets, and books at home. His lighter toils have won him laurels, which he bears blushingly through life, and no man questions the extent of his zeal, or the depth of his spiritual gratitude, for he was a missionary! We have the laborious, the ingenious, the cheerful labourer, who can turn his head with equal zeal and perseverance to remove the mechanical ignorance, or the spiritual wants of those to whom he has voluntarily devoted himself, and who can die in the cause, hastily translated by means of savage clubs from willing toil on earth, to joyful rest in the presence of his Lord. We have the humble, spiritual, practical teacher, teaching and panting, longing and praying, till the showers of the Spirit's blessing bring him in such a harvest of souls, that he has not strength to reap it. Bending under the weight of the answer to his own prayers, he is obliged to escape from the field, to recruit his faded frame, and refresh his pallid countenance, by taking his turn to visit the islands, and supply them with native teachers. We have the intelligent and acute diplomatist, ploughing with what speed he may half a globe of ocean, to lay the case of the wronged Queen of Tahiti at the feet of the Queen of England, and then ploughing his way back again with such scanty redress as has been vouchsafed him. We have the patient and accurate translator, the zealous composer of hymns by which the Lord may be praised in unaccustomed accents. We have the printer, the carpenter, and many other mechanics, animated by the same principles, actuated by the same motives.

We esteem them highly for the work's sake, and feel that they have made the sacrifices which we have only admired. But if there be any who more command our reverence than all the others, they are Nott and Heyward. They are the two who put their hand to the plough and held it without one look back, during the term of their natural life. They did embrace opportunities of escape from personal danger, and by that means extended their teaching to other islands, but they never turned from missionary labour, because of personal advantage, or sought to shift from the present scene, however trying and hazardous, if they could do good in it. The years and the labours of the venerable Nott have extended to the borders of the Mission's Jubilee, and he has at last laid down his consistent

and useful life at his Master's call, his hoary hairs honoured by those whom he had led to the cross, and his memory and example cherished in the home, which fifty years since he forsook, never to return.

There is a remarkable uniformity in the Divine dealings with the members of this mission, and it is all of a character to cast down that which is human, that that which is Divine may be exalted. The wealth of London, the proud liberality of her merchants, all her rich provision for the work, was scattered in Tahiti, till not one copy even of the Holy Scriptures was, for a time, left with the missionaries. The second equipment of the Duff was cast into the coffers of an abandoned privateer, who made the purposed labourers prisoners. The king Pomare, a brutish and sanguinary man by nature, though disposed to be a protector of the strangers, was brought to the lowest ebb by war, and a fugitive from the seat of government. When his heart began to be affected by eternal truths, he was too poor to protect himself.

In the month of March, 1808, a lad about 18, a pupil in the school held under the protection of Pomare in the little island of Eimeo, appeared under much anxiety about his soul, desired to be instructed in the word of God and the way of salvation, and told the Christian friend to whom he opened his mind, that he prayed morning and evening to the true God. Here was a streak of dawn after a long dark night,-hundreds had gone down to heathen graves since preachers of the gospel first planted themselves on these shores. Infanticide, war, human sacrifices, and feasts on human flesh, had gone nigh to empty the land of its inhabitants,—as if Satan, fearing that his worshippers should turn to the paths of salvation, had fomented their rage till they hastened to exterminate each other.

Several about this time showed symptoms of concern for their eternal welfare, though without evidence of decisive change of heart. But such was the famine of more cheering evidence, that even those tokens were gratefully hailed as proving that the word was not totally without efficacy. Another and still more marked conduct of Divine providence in reference to this mission was, that while the ministers abode in Tahiti they observed no signs of a work of grace; but when their endeavours were removed to Eimeo, then they heard that a spirit of inquiry concerning Christianity was excited in Tahiti, and that some observed the Sabbath-day, and prayed to God. The sower had been there, but his hope of a harvest was faint, and now he was driven away. Yet he waketh and sleepeth, and the seed is taking root, and springing up, and when the fit time is come it shall be seen and gathered. It was not the voice of the Missionary lifted up amid the peaceful groves of cocoa-nut trees.

It was

not the voice of carnage, the shout of battle. It was not the fearful yells of the worship of Oro, and the noisome atmosphere of his char