POLYNESI4N RESEARCHES. 547 
of his grace, and, under the constraining influence of the 
love of Christ in their hearts, imbibe their parent’s spirit, 
select his office, spend their lives in supplying his 
lack of service, and carry on that work which he has 
been honoured to commence. In prosecuting this, they 
will have advantages their parents never possessed, they 
will have been identified with the people among whom 
they labour, and will not appear in language and idiom as 
foreigners ; but they will labour under more than coun¬ 
teracting disadvantages, if they never visit the land of 
their fathers, and must necessarily be far less efficient 
teachers of the truths of Christianity than their prede¬ 
cessors in the work. 
There are a thousand things known to an individual 
who has received or finished his education and passed his 
early days in England, which can only be known under 
corresponding circumstances, and which a Missionary can 
never, in such situations as the South Sea Islands, teach 
his child. Those born there may indeed have access to 
English literature; but many books, however familiar 
and perspicuous to an ordinary English reader, will, in 
many perhaps important parts, appear almost enigmati¬ 
cal to those who have never seen any other society than 
such as that now under consideration. It has always 
appeared to me, in reference to a rude, uncivilized, 
illiterate people, who are to be raised from ignorance, 
barbarism, and idolatry, to a state of intelligence, 
enjoyment, and piety—where their character, habits, 
taste, and opinions, have to be formed principally, if not 
entirely, by the Missionary—that for some generations, 
at least, every Missionary’s child, trained for the Mis-- 
sionary work even by a father’s hand, and blessed with 
the grace of God, ought to finish his education in the 
