2/4 POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
and in the discourses delivered in their assemblies for 
public worship. 
The wonderful change that now seemed to be wrought 
in the minds and hearts of many, did not appear to he 
more the immediate result of instructions given at the 
time, than the remote but certain effect of truth im¬ 
parted, and precious seed, which, having been scattered 
years before, was now revived with a power, that 
the individuals themselves could not comprehend, nor 
on ordinary principles explain. This circumstance 
should never be lost sight of; it is a wonderful mani¬ 
festation of the faithfulness of God, who has declared 
that his word shall not return unto him void, but shall 
be found even after many days; and it is remarkably 
adapted to cheer the hearts of all who are called to 
labour and wait patiently, sowing season after season 
in hope, without reaping the wished-for harvest. 
The universal, and in many instances permanent, 
moral and religious change, that has been effected in 
the South Sea Islands, (of the commencement, and more 
important parts of which, a regular, though necessarily 
brief account, has now been given,) appears, in whatever 
view we can possibly contemplate either its nature or 
its results, nothing less than a moral miracle. A change 
so important in its character, so rapid in its progress, so 
decisive in its influence, sublime almost in proportion 
to the feebleness of the agency by which it was, 
under God, accomplished, although effected on but 
a small tribe or people, is perhaps not exceeded in 
the history of nations, or the revolutions of empires, 
that have so often altered the moral and civil aspect of 
our world. This great and important event, confirmed 
in its results, and strengthened in its character, by the 
