THE MARTYRS OF TONGA 17 
the sad scenes through which they had passed; and in the 
journal which narrates their proceedings at this time, they 
record their experience of the divine faithfulness and care. 
“We still found,’ they write, ‘abundant cause to bless the 
name of the Lord, who had given so much and taken away 
so little of what was essentially necessary for our real hap- 
piness. Though stripped of every worldly good, without 
so much as a garment to cover us, yet our heavenly inher- 
itance remained inviolate and inviolable; though at a distance 
from friends, and exposed to enemies on all sides, we might 
yet rejoice in the presence of our heavenly Father, our best 
Friend, and His promised protection; and though life seemed 
more than ever uncertain, and death impending, yet neither 
could separate us from the enjoyment... . 
““We could not be insensible to the loss we had sustained, 
whereof we esteemed the word of God, and other books, of 
which we enjoyed a great number and variety, the most con- 
siderable ; but we still had access to the throne of grace, and, 
oh, what difference had His distinguishing grace made be- 
tween us and the many thousands around us who never heard 
of His word nor the salvation it reveals!’ ” 
“What a touching record is this, considering the circum- 
stances in which it was made! As Mr. Ellis remarks in his 
history of the London Missionary Society, pages 78, 79: 
‘Men who at such a time thus realized the genuine fruits of 
the faith they professed, when it works by love, and brings 
its possessor under the influence of things hoped for, and 
the evidence of things not seen, were not destitute of some 
of the highest missionary qualifications.’ 
“Alas! the faith and patience of these devoted servants 
of God were to be yet more severely tried. About sunset 
of the day on which the foregoing record was made, two of 
them, impelled by hunger, set out in search of food. Water 
they had found during the afternoon in a hole among the 
rocks. The search for food was so far successful; the two 
soon returned to their companions with a single breadfruit 
2 
