16 POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
apostles in the execution of it for our model, we 
hope we have been enabled to proceed according 
to the divine will, and in such a manner as to 
secure the approbation of the Christian churches 
by which we had been sent to preach Christ 
among the gentiles. Our situation at this time 
we regarded as most critical, and our procedure 
in this respect such as, it was presumed, would 
have an important bearing on future generations. 
Happily, however, for us, and for all placed in 
similar circumstances, the terms of the commission 
are unequivocal and explicit; and we could not 
but perceive, that by the same warrant, in virtue of 
which we preached the gospel, and, as the word is 
rendered in the Tahitian, •proselyted those among 
whom we laboured, we were also bound to bap¬ 
tize in the name of the Father, and the Son, and 
the Holy Ghost. The intimate connexion between 
the administration of this rite by the apostles, and 
the reception of the gospel on the part of those to 
whom they preached, also convinced us of the 
design of our Lord, that it should follow the belief 
in the testimony concerning him, which we were 
commissioned to deliver. Hence, it was regarded 
as our duty to baptize those who desired to become 
the disciples of Christ, as well as to instruct them 
concerning his will. 
We did not apprehend that there was any spi¬ 
ritual virtue or efficacy connected with, or con¬ 
tained in, baptism, nor did we consider any spi¬ 
ritual blessings communicated by it, much less 
that most important of all, the one thing needful— 
a regeneration of the heart. It appeared de¬ 
signed, by the great Head of the church, to 
occupy, in the dispensation of the new testament, 
that place which circumcision did in the old. 
