-— 
“wwe each of us deemed very opposite. That 
ich an event would take place, we long 
uve had reason to fear, from  brpther 
ris’s conduct towards the females. About 
ree weeks or a month ago, brother Lewis 
ed brother Harris apart, and privately in- 
terrogated him on the propriety of his marry- 
| ing a native of Otaheite: afterwards he in- 
“terrogated brother Eyre in the same private 
manner. ‘Twice or thrice he called brothers 
~Hlarris and Eyre aside, and questioned them 
ypon the point. At first they seemed fa- 
yourable to his inclinations upon certain 
conditions—that he aimed at the glory of 
od in what he did; and if the person he 
d chosen had not known man by lying 
th him, &c. But at the second interview 
h each of them, (having reflected upon 
matter) they objected to the lawfulness 
the action, and used arguments to dis- 
nde him therefrom. Brother Eyre having 
ormed brother Jefferson of the substance 
is private interviews with brother Lewis, 
other Jefferson did, on Saturday, July 7, 
fier evening prayer, desire the society to 
stop, and mentioning to them the cause of 
heir detention, requested of brother Lewis 
ty, Whether he was determined to marry 
eathen woman or not? He for some time 
ed the question, considering (as he said) 
a mode of procedure unjustifiable ; but 
e end he said, he had told brothers Har- 
d Eyre his mind upon the matter a day 
‘0 before ; which was—he should drop 
on then turned upon the inconsistency 
‘lawfulness of the action, for proof of 
\ | was produced 1 Cor. vi. 16.: from 
henee arguing the impropriety of a christian 
S$ marrying.an heathen harlot. But 
r Lewis would not allow that mar- 
was there meant, only fornication 
it wedlock. In reply it was said, 
r itwould apply to-whoredom with= 
arriage, it would also apply to mar- 
h an harlot: and it was at the same 
sserted, that from the manner in which 
robable that there is not a female on. 
land, above the age of twelve years, 
s ot an harlot.” 
4 : 
le “however, persisted in his resolu- 
and having broken the bond of 
ernity, Mr. ‘Thomas Lewis was ex- 
pmunicated by the church of Christ 
sie on Point Venus, Otaheite. 
Brother Cock, the first who had fal- 
linto this temptation, was one of the 
ty who left the island: he had gone 
tany Bay andthere relapsed. « Poor 
1 Cock,” says one of the brethren 
h him, “is like the sow that was 
» but now turns to her wallow- 
g in the mire.” This was not the 
‘ase with poor Lewis: he cohabited 
TRANSACTIONS OF THE MISSIONARY SOCIETY. 
houghts of it for the present. The con-- 
dren of the natives are brought up; - 
197 
with the woman whom they would not 
permit him to marry, attended worship, 
and made every effort in his power to 
be re-admitted to communion with the 
brethren. This mode of life he conti- 
nued for more than twelve months, and 
was then murdered, there is every rea- 
son to suppose, by his wife and her rela- 
tions. 
Shortly after this event, brother Har- 
ris took an opportunity of quitting the 
island. This loss was made up by the 
return of Henry and his family from 
Botany Bay ; but a more afilicting loss 
befel them: brother Broomhall turned 
metaphysician, and found out that ‘be- 
cause the soul did exist, it must neces- 
sarily cease to exist ! 
As they could not confute Mr. Broom- 
hall, (for of course he was immediately 
unbrothered ) they excommunicated hir. 
He remained a year longer upon the 
island, and then left it in the missionary 
ship, which brought out a reinforceme: t 
of eight single brethren. A married 
brother who escaped from Tongataboo, 
where three of the society were killed, 
and where the mission has been of ne- 
cessity abandoned, has since joined the 
church of Point Venus, containing now 
fourteen members, three of whom are 
married. 
Such was the state of the mission in 
July, 1801, when their journals end. 
‘The missionaries have applied to the 
directors for a reinforcement of at least 
twenty or thirty brethren, recommend- 
ing that the major part of the number 
be married persons. It is not very pro- 
bable that the directors will attend to 
this, nor indeed that they should be able 
to find adventurers. At the outset of 
the enterprize there were candidates in 
abundance for the employment.. A se- 
cond cargo was provided with as little 
dificulty, before any accounts of the 
proceedings of the first had been receiv- 
ed. These were taken by-the Bonaparte 
French privateer, and carried into Spa- 
nish America, and nothing remarkable 
resulted from the voyage, except that 
the son ef an Englishman was christen- 
ed Ebenezer Gershom. But when a 
third expedition was to be fitted out it 
was known that the islands. were not 
flowing with milk and honey. Forty 
persons were wanted for the work, and. 
only twelve could be found. The di- 
rectors themselves appear, by their con- 
cluding reflections, to have little hope of 
the success, or rather of the continuance 
O 3 
