18 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
factory evidence of sincerity in belief that Jehovah 
was the true God, and Jesus Christ the only 
Saviour, was considered a sufficient warrant for its 
administration to those who required it. 
No one, however, at any time desired to exer¬ 
cise undue influence over the opinions of his coad¬ 
jutors ; and, although uniformity was desirable, we 
did not think it important to sacrifice much for 
oneness of sentiment or practice in this respect. 
After repeated and prayerful deliberation, recog¬ 
nizing, and aiming to act upon, the broad and 
liberal principles upon which the Institution, under 
whose patronage we laboured, was founded, it was 
mutually agreed that each Missionary should, in 
his own station, pursue that course which appeared 
to him most in accordance with the declarations of 
scripture. 
In two of the stations, or perhaps three, the 
Missionaries have baptized those only whom they 
had reason to believe had been baptized by the 
Holy Ghost, and were Christians in the strictest 
sense of the term; the children of such persons 
they also baptized. In the other stations, the 
Missionaries have administered this rite to all 
whom they had reason to believe sincere in pro¬ 
fession of discipleship, without requiring evidence 
of their having experienced a decisive spiritual 
change. In this respect some slight difference 
prevailed, but on every other point there has been 
perfect uniformity in their proceedings. 
The first public baptism that occurred in the 
islands took place in the Royal Mission Chapel at 
Papaoa, in Tahiti, on the 16tli of July, 1819. 
Pomare, the king of the island, was the individual 
to whom, in the midst of what, but a few years 
before, had been a scoffing, ignorant, obstinate, 
