PREVALENCE OF RELIGION. 81 
—skimmed the surface of the water in their light 
canoe, or laboured in the garden—religion was 
the topic of their conversation. Their motives 
were various, and probably often of a very mixed 
character. Some were influenced by a desire to 
be thought well of by their neighbours; many 
wished to be baptized without feeling the necessity 
of, or more earnestly seeking, that spiritual purifi¬ 
cation which it signified; and others, perhaps, 
considering church-membership as -the highest 
Christian distinction they could gain, desired to be 
admitted to the communion, as an end of their 
profession, rather than a means of higher spiritual 
attainments. 
Such individuals, we deemed it, on all occa¬ 
sions, necessary to caution with the greatest dis¬ 
tinctness and fidelity. But while these were the 
motives by which we have reason to believe many 
were influenced, there were others who certainly 
acted from different feelings, who were unable to 
rest under a sense of guilt and its fearful conse¬ 
quences; who desired to hear more about God, 
his mercy to sinners, and the love of their Saviour, 
that their burden of sin might be removed ; while 
some, desirous of expressing their sense of the ■ 
goodness of God, were anxious to be informed 
what they might do to promote his praise. I can¬ 
not look back upon this period of my Missionary 
life with indifference; nor can 1 contemplate the 
state of the people at this time, without believing 
that the Spirit of God was powerfully operating 
upon the minds of many. Of this, their subse¬ 
quent lives have afforded satisfactory evidence. 
Instability is one of the prominent traits of Tahi¬ 
tian character; and did we not believe in a higher 
agency than their own purposes or principles, we 
LII. G 
