to my imagination. But it is a delightful thought that they are robbed of their glory, divested of their sanctity, and remain only as relics of the cruel and revolting system of which they formed so prominent a part.

There are very many things in reference to Tamatoa, that I must pass over altogether. I cannot, however, omit to mention, that he was a chief of the highest rank, arii maro ura, or king of the red sash. This sacred sash was used at the inauguration of the king, and was similar to the crown used in civilised countries. At the accession of every new sovereign, a new piece, of about half a yard in length, was added to it; and before this was completed three or four human victims had to be killed and offered. One of these was required for the mau raa titi, or fastening of the pegs to which the sash was attached, while netting the new piece to it; a second for the fatu raa, or putting on the red feather; and a third for the pu raa, or twitching it off the pegs when finished. This Tamatoa gave up to my colleague and myself, as the only relic of their sanguinary custom that had escaped the general conflagration of idols and maraes. We sent it to England, and it is now in the museum of the London Missionary Society.

The circumstances by which Tamatoa was brought under the influence of Christianity were of a very interesting character. He, with his warriors, had gone to Tahiti, for the purpose of assisting to reinstate Pomare in his government; and, while here, the conversion of the people commenced, and Tamatoa, among the others, was induced to embrace the truth: and he, with his warriors, returned to Raiatea, carrying with them, not the mangled bodies of the victims slain in battle, to offer to Oro, the god of war, whom they had endeavoured to propitiate when they left, but in their stead the gospel of peace.

In my speech at the annual meeting for 1836, I gave an account of Tamatoa's reception of the truth. From that time to the day of his death, he was firmly

attached to the religion of the gospel, and did everything in his power to promote it among his people. He was an example to them in his attendance upon the means of instruction, and by his diligence he learnt both to read and write when he was sixty years of age. Every morning, at six o'clock, he was in the school, and assisted in the work of instruction, after which he took his seat invariably at my right hand, when he read in rotation, and was interrogated in the same way as others of the class upon what they read. He always appeared to enjoy this exercise exceedingly. He invariably acted as chairman of our missionary meetings; and although he was not regarded by the natives as a good orator, in consequence of the thick nasal twang with which he spoke, yet what he said was always to the point, and characterised by good sense and pious feeling. On one of these occasions, he used the following figure, and a more striking illustration of that passage of inspired truth will not readily be found: "For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." The effect of his address was heightened by the circumstance that our settlement was upon the sea-shore, and the ocean stretched out before us in boundless majesty, until it appeared to embrace the heavens in the distance. In reference to it, Tamatoa said, 66 We behold the great deep, it is full of sea; it is, however, rough and rugged underneath: but the water makes a smooth and beautiful surface, so that nothing of its ruggedness is seen. Our islands were rough and rugged formerly with abominable and wicked ferocities; but the good word of God has made them smooth. Many other countries are still rough and rugged with wickedness and wicked customs; and the word of God alone can make these rough places smooth. Let us all be diligent in this good work until the rugged world is made smooth by the word of God, as the waters cover the ruggedness of the great deep. Let us, above all, be concerned to have our own hearts washed in Jesus'

blood; then God will become our friend, and Jesus Christ our brother."

Tamatoa was familiar with all the legendary tales, prayers, incantations, &c. of their heathen state; which may be regarded as the literature of the country. These he used at times to apply with great force and beauty in his addresses. An illustration of this may

be seen in the Missionary Enterprises.*

The native converts, not having money, made their contributions in cocoa-nut oil and arrow-root, which were sold to merchant ships, and the money transmitted to England. Passing by the house of Tamatoa on one occasion, I saw him and his wife sitting under the shade of a beautiful bread-fruit tree with a long bowl before them, and found them in the act of preparing arrow-root. Addressing them, I said, “Friends, what are you about? why do you not set some of your servants to work to prepare your arrow-root?" The chieftain immediately replied, "Why this is our contribution to the Missionary Society, and shall we give to the cause of Christ that which the hands of other people have made? No, we will make it with our own hands, that we may be able to say with David, 'Of our own proper good have we given to the cause of our God.'

I visited him frequently in his last illness, and found his views of the way of salvation clear and distinct, and his spirit resting on Christ alone. Just before he expired, he exhorted his son, who was to succeed him, his daughter, and the chiefs assembled on this mournful occasion, to be firm in their attachment to the gospel, to maintain the christian laws that had been established amongst them, and to be kind to their missionary. He then extended his withered arms to me, and exclaimed, " My dear friend, how long we have laboured together in this good cause! nothing has ever separated us now death is doing what nothing else ever did; but who shall separate us from the love of Christ?'"

* See Williams's Narrative, page 230.

Thus died Tamatoa, once the terror of his subjects, the murderer of his people, a despotic tyrant, and a most bigoted idolater. With such facts as these before us, illustrating the moral power and the transforming influence of the gospel, what reflecting or benevolent mind can be indifferent to its propagation?

BY WHAT MEANS WILL THE MILLENNIUM BE EFFECTED?

THERE seems to be a growing conviction, that the duty of propagating Christianity through the world is intrusted, not only to the ministers of religion, but pertains in common to all the Lord's people. Hence christian churches no longer resemble tombs, in which a solitary lamp burns amidst surrounding desolation and death; but they are beginning to shine like golden candlesticks, with many lights, centres of illumination to widening circles. Whenever the church of Christ, generally, shall be brought under the influence of this responsible conviction, that it is designed to be a fountain of life, sending forth refreshing streams through the desert of this apostate world, and causing it, in its most distant borders, to blossom like the rose, we shall then assuredly not be distant from the desired and predicted consummation. There are many pleasing symptoms in the christian activity and enterprise of the present age, that the great body of living believers, like their divine Lord, is resolving, and resolving in the temper of preparation and sacrifice, in the spirit that augurs success, that "the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea."

There can be little doubt that the church at the present moment possesses most, if not all the means, all the chosen instrumentality for effecting this great object. Nothing seems to be wanting, if we may judge by the progress the gospel has made in the last forty years, but the adequate consecration of our resources;

and first of all, the deep purpose, the holy resolution, the exalted volition, that, as far as we can effect it, it shall be done. This purpose, solemnly, devoutly, and confidently formed, would soon bring the vast treasure of christian resources to bear on the great object. When this purpose is once general, and carried into operation, the gospel will no longer remain within its present limits; but it will burst through all barriers, and sweep away before it all obstacles. It will rise like the tide, steady and sure, and wash, like the ocean, all coasts, and fill, like the waters of the sea, every creek and inlet, and leave no land unvisited and unblessed-but unite all nations in one sweet bond of universal brotherhood.

It may, however, not be improper to notice here somewhat more particularly, a question which seems still to perplex the minds of some pious and devoted Christians. What are the means that may probably be adopted by divine Providence to effectuate the universal extension of Christianity? Will they be such as we now possess, and such only, though greatly increased, invigorated, multiplied, and more abundantly blessed? -or will it be by extraordinary means? Will there be great civil commotions and national convulsions? Must the army of the faithful be summoned to a deadly warfare against the papal or the infidel power? Will the Lord again shake terribly all nations, dissolve existing systems and institutions, and permit the outbreakings of popular resentment to tear in pieces the whole framework of society? Must there again be earthquakes in divers places, and fearful sights and great wonders in heaven? Must kingdom be dashed against kingdom, and the whirlwind of divine wrath sweep over the earth to level and annihilate the barriers which idolatry and superstition and infidelity oppose to the spread of the truth? Or further, it may be asked-will there be a return to the agency of miracles, and may we again expect to see the ministers of the cross gifted with the extraordinary endowments of healing the sick, raising the dead, and