V. 
How THE Gospel was First Carried. 
The story of the mission to Fiji, is one of surpassing in- 
terest. From the particulars given in the preceding pages, 
the reader will be able to realize, in some faint measure, the 
depth of degradation and brutal darkness in which the 
natives were sunk. It seemed almost a hopeless task to 
endeavour to win them from their cruel practices. But the 
natives of other islands in the South Seas, who had been 
visited with "the dayspring from on high," remembered 
Fiji with brotherly love. They could not endure the thought 
of leaving their kinsmen, allied by habits and colour, if not 
in all cases by race, to perish in the night of heathenism, 
untaught, uncared for, and unsaved. Therefore, the first 
efforts on behalf of Fiji, came from these. Converted 
natives of Tonga first carried the sound of the Gospel of 
Christ to these island-homes, and told incredulous cannibals 
the wonderful news of the death of Jesus Christ, **the just 
for the unjust," in order to save them. Thus, the first dawn 
of light arose, and the day-star gleamed upon the heathen 
darkness. 
236 
