POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
9 
My feelings, though strong, were not discouraging, 
nor did my choice awaken one emotion of regret; my 
desire to engage in the work, was as ardent as when my 
services were first tendered. From many sources of hap¬ 
piness, and sacred Christian privileges long enjoyed, I 
felt myself, indeed, about to be removed ; while dangers 
and trials, hitherto unknown, could not but be antici¬ 
pated. The Divine promise, however, Lo, I am with 
you always, even unto the end of the world,^^ was my 
support, and under its cheering influence I could appro¬ 
priate the language of the poet, and exclaim— 
O thou great Arbiter of life and death ! 
Nature’s immortal, immaterial sun ! 
Whose all-prolific beam late called me forth 
From darkness, teeming darkness, where I lay 
The worm’s inferior—and, in rank, beneath 
The dust I tread on—high to bear my brow, 
To drink the spirit of the golden day, 
And triumph in existence ; and couldst know 
No motive but my bliss; and hast ordained 
A rise in blessing! with the Patriarch’s joy 
Thy call I follow to the land unknown: 
I trust in thee, and know in whom I trust ; 
Or life or death is equal; neither weighs; 
All weighs in this—O let me live to Thee !” 
The parting scenes, the embarkation, the last view 
taken of his native land, when leaving it for a distant 
clime, in which he expects to end his days, awaken 
indescribable emotions, and render it a season to which 
a Missionary is accustomed to look back, during subse¬ 
quent periods of his life, with no ordinary interest. 
I have witnessed these emotions in others, as well as 
experienced them myself, and shall not soon forget 
c 
