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heart rejoicing within him with an exulting rapture, not unlike that which will animate the spirits of the heavenly hosts, when with shouts of triumph they announce that the "kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ."* The joy was not confined to the breasts of the missionaries. A meeting was straightway held in the mission chapel, to announce the intelligence to the people, and to offer thanks to the Most High, for the success of this first effort to extend the kingdom of his Son. The house was lighted up with all possible brilliancy; an act which harmonized with the object of the assembly; for light had triumphed over darkness. In the course of the evening, the rejected idols were exhibited from the pulpit to the happy throngs, who saw in them the symbols of their own previous thraldom and woful degradation. The national god of Rurutu attracted chief notice. The proper name of this monster-idol was Legion. He was the insular god of gods. With gods he was bedecked externally, and with gods he was filled; for, on opening a small door, which was discovered in his back, no fewer than twenty-four smaller idols were found within him.

Williams employed the capture of the idols to deepen the people's horror of idolatry. While the chandeliers illumined the external scene, the lights which the Spirit of God had kindled in the breasts of the natives were trimmed, and their collected rays poured full on the minds of the assembly. Deacon Tuahine, while gazing on the heap of idols, nobly exclaimed, "Thus the gods made with hands shall perish! There they are, tied with cords! Yes; their very names are also changed!

* Williams, p. 12.

Formerly, they were called gods; now, they are called evil spirits. Their glory, look! it is birds' feathers, soon rotten; but our God is the same for ever!" On this glorious night, Uaeva, too, dexterously displayed the temporal bearings and blessings of the gospel. While the oil of the cocoa-nut was diffusing its radiance on the assembly, he cried out, "Look at the chandeliers! Oro never taught us any thing like this! Look at our wives in their gowns and their bonnets; and compare ourselves with the poor natives of Rurutu, when they were drifted to our island, and mark the superiority! And by what means have we attained it? By our own invention and goodness? No; it is to the good name of Jesus we are indebted. Then let us send his name to other lands, that others may enjoy the same benefit. Angels would rejoice to be employed by God to teach the world this gospel of Christ.”*

The eye of the Christian philanthropist beholds, in this evening's illumination and exhibition, a beauty and a glory of an order far superior to those of European capitals announcing the victories of fleets and armies. What were the triumphs of Marengo and Austerlitz? Triumphs based in rapine, blood, and slaughter. The light and joy of Raiatea were not counterbalanced by darkness, tears, groans, and death, in Rurutu. voice of gladness was heard in both isles. The addresses to which we have referred, supply a wondrous contrast to the savage harangues of Suwarrow and the barbarous bulletins of Buonaparte! How unlike was the benevolent and gentle joy of the mission station to the ferocious and sanguinary exultation of the Romans, when

* Williams, p. 12.

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Lucius Veturius announced in the city the slaughter of the brave Hasdrubal, with fifty-six thousand Carthaginians!* Behold the effects of "the knowledge of the Lord!" See how peace succeeds to war, love to hatred, and sparing mercy to ruthless vengeance!

Aitutaki supplies the next illustration. When Williams first visited that island, its people presented an appalling picture of savage life. Some were tattooed all over; others were fantastically painted with pipe-clay and red and yellow ochre; while some were all begrimed with charcoal; and, thus disfigured, they danced, shouted, and threw themselves into the most frantic gestures. In this bedlam isle, he left two teachers to assail idolatry, and to diffuse the knowledge of the true God and of Jesus Christ. When he next approached their shores, his vessel was surrounded by canoes, the crews of which shouted, "Good is the word of God! It is now well with Aitutaki; the good word has taken root in Aitutaki ;" some holding up their hats, of European make, and others their spelling-books, as proofs of their assertion. The arrival of a chief's canoe communicated the fact, that the maraes were burned; that such of the idols as had escaped the flames, were in the hands of the teachers; and that so general was the profession of Christianity, that not an idolater remained. Every thing harmonized with this representation. A chapel, of the enormous length of nearly two hundred feet, had been erected, and was waiting the arrival of Williams to open it; the sabbath was a day of rest from all labour, when young and old assembled to receive instruction; and family prayer was prevalent throughout the island. On

* Livy, lib. xxvii., cap. 41.

going ashore, Mr. Williams found the face of things entirely changed. Every mind seemed alive to the business of religion. Gentleness, docility, and kindness, were everywhere apparent. The people were occupied according to their tastes, feelings, and different stages of advancement, spelling long words, repeating catechisms or prayers, giving thanks for food, and singing verses of hymns.* This wondrous transformation was effected within the brief space of eighteen months.

The next day presented Williams in a position of glory which, in moral grandeur, far transcended that of Napoleon, when, on his fatal march to Moscow, with eight sovereigns enlisted under his banners, an emperor, kings and a crowd of princes, all impelled by every passion but love, thronged to meet him; him, by whom they had been subdued, humbled, plundered, and oppressed; him, who had injured them all, and whom for that injury they all abhorred. While Williams was in the midst of conversation, his attention was arrested by a tingling sound, produced by striking an axe with a stone, in substitution for a bell. By this means the people were assembled, to the number of from 1500 to 2000, who listened with the utmost decorum and with eager attention, while he preached to them, that "God so loved the world as to give his only begotten Son." How had the love of God triumphed here! At the time of his former visit, these people were constantly killing, and even eating, each other; for they were cannibals but now they were all, with one accord, bending their knees together as friends and brethren, and worshipping the God of peace and love. In the

* Williams, p. 16.

evening, the triumph was rendered complete, by transferring to the vessel the gods, thirty-one in number, that had escaped destruction.*

The word of the Lord had run at a very rapid rate among these people. Papeiha, one of the teachers, had convened them, and proclaimed to them the love and greatness of Jehovah; making war at once upon the idols and upon their temples. The assent of the assembly to his proposition for their destruction, was cordial and universal. The meeting broke up; lights were struck; the conflagration commenced. Straightway all the temples of the island were in flames; and, by the time the morrow's sun arose to illumine the scene, not a single marae remained unconsumed!+ Nor did the marvel

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end with this awful, but delightful, demonstration. same truth which destroyed the temples, overthrew their occupants, the gods. Never was military conquest more complete than was that of the humble men who carried on the spiritual war with idolatry in Aitutaki. The whole population came in procession, district after district; the chief and the priest leading the way, and the people following, loaded with their rejected idols, which they laid at the teacher's feet! Who can estimate the benefit thus conferred upon these islanders? How quickly they were lifted up from their intellectual and moral prostration, and freed from the fetters of a foul and sanguinary idolatry, the evil genius of which had for many ages ruled and tortured the inhabitants of that verdant isle! Is there one among the Christian youth of England, who would not ten thousand times rather have been Williams in Aitutaki, than Napoleon in

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