198 
of the mission. A civil war in Otaheite 
appears inevitable, and in that case the 
lives of the missionaries would be in 
danger. he directors seem to expect 
that they will be compelled to abandon 
the island, and in that apprehension 
express a wish, that as American ships 
are in the habit of visiting the Pacific, 
they may have prepared the way for 
their Transatlantic brethren. 
The difficulty of attaining the lan- 
guage is stated by the missionaries 
themselves as one of their main obsta- 
cles. ‘hey had been two years on the 
island when they spoke of it thus: 
«© April gth. Our growth in the know- 
ledge of the language is sll slow, and in many 
cases uncertain; which is in a great measure 
owing to our not being able to catch the 
sound of the words with that exactness that 
is necessary. ‘The language abounds with 
vowels, even more than any navigator who 
has given specimens of it was aware of. 
Many words consist of nothing but vowels, 
and each has a sound ; but the natives utter 
their words with such rapidity, that it is 
with the utmost difficulty we can discover 
the true manner of spelling them; and when 
this is accomplished with any tolerable de- 
gree of precision, there is as great a labour to 
arrive at the true sense and meaning of a 
word, or its various meanings ; for one word 
is used to express very opposite things in 
different sentences. And, which adds to the 
difficulty, they abbreviate their words so 
much, that those which we are well ac- 
quainted with, and which, if fully pronoun- 
ced, we should readily understand, are by the 
abbreviation so shortened, that we frequently 
mistake them for new words, and are thus 
puzzled and perplexed. However, we have 
good hopes, that when, by the blessing of 
God, we have mastered the language, and 
reduced it to the best order that ourskill will 
accomplish, it will be easy for others to 
learn.” 
The main cause of failure has been 
overlooked,---the miserable folly, igno- 
rance, and imbecility, of those who 
planned and directed the mission, They 
sent out their missionaries abundantly 
supplied with fire arms, cloaths, iron, 
and every implement cf European con- 
venience which they could possibly re- 
quire. These things are more tempting 
in Otaheite than jewels or gold would 
“be in London, and these treasures they 
exposed among a people who had the 
power to plunder as well as the inclina- 
tion, expecting that they were to be de- 
_ terred from plundering by being taught 
the eighth commandment! The mis- 
sionatles themselves were poor miserable 
THEOLOGY AND ECCLESIASTICAL AFFAIRS. 
methodists, without either common ta. 
lents or common courage; so utterly 
destitute of all, plan and ail forethought, 
that after they had been three months 
upon the island, we find them gravely — 
deliberating whether it would be proper — 
to attempt the abolition of infanticide, — 
and whether they themselves might in- — 
termarry with the heathen women.——~_ 
During the course of four years, they 
have neither made, nor attempted to 
make, a single convert, not having in 
all that time sufficiently acquired the 
language; and they honestly confess, 
that they see no good arising from their 
residence there. The little good which 
as Christian ministers they could have — 
done, their sectarian bigotry prevented . 
them from doing. They refused to 
baptize the woman with whom Peter 
the Swede cohabited. They refused to 
marry him to her; and they afterwards 
refused to baptize his child, alleging, — 
that the mother was a heathen! From 
t ese applications, it is evident that the 
Swede respected the forms of his reli- 
gion, and conceived them to be of essen= 
tial importance; it is evident that he 
had a rooted reverence for the customs 
of his forefathers, and that he was desi- 
rous to teach the child the same prayers 
and the same creed, which he himself 
had been taught in childhood. Their 
refusal could only have proceeded from- 
the uncharitable and unchristian into- 
lerance of their sect, and from that la- 
mentable want of common sense which 
characterises all their proceedings. A 
catholic would have gone through fire 
and water to have sprinkled an infant 
in the name of Christ Jesus. Let us 
not be suspected of attributing any 
mysterious importance to a symbolical — 
ceremony ; what we assert is, that the — 
way to reclaim idolaters is by changing — 
their ceremonies : whatever they believe, 
so long as they are ignorant, they must — 
believe superstitiously ; while they are 
ignorant, therefore, too much stress can=— 
not be laid upon the ritual of religion. 
To expect from them a rational faith, — 
before they are civilized, is as absurd as 
to suppose they could read Shakspeare 
before they have been taught English, 
They must be made, like children, to — 
believe what they are told, merely be- 
cause they are told it; but this can only 
be effected by men of superior and tome 
manding intellect. From this mission” 
no good can possibly result. Let us 
leave the church at Point Venus to its” 
v 
