POMARE’S PROFESSION OF CHRISTIANITY. 985 
principal chief of Raiatea, to renounce idolatry, 
and become the disciples of Jesus Christ ; but they 
had assured him, whatever he might do, they 
would adhere to Oro. Others expressed the same 
determination; and Pomare came forward alone, 
requesting baptism, and desiring to hear and obey 
the word of God, as he said ‘“‘ he desired to be 
happy after death, and to be saved at the day of 
judgment.” He did not confine his efforts to 
private conversation, but in public council urged 
upon Tamatoa and Mahine, the chiefs of Raiatea 
and Huahine, the adoption of the Christian reli- 
gion; hereby publicly evincing his own determina- 
tion to adhere to the choice he had made. 
The Missionaries had every reason to believe 
that the king was sincere in his desires to be- 
come a Christian; but as they then deemed 
only those who were true converts to Christia- 
nity, proper subjects for the rite of baptism, and 
feared that his mind might not be sufficiently 
informed on the nature and design of that ordi- 
nance, and that he was rather an earnest inquirer 
after divine truth, than an actual possessor of its 
- moral principle and spiritual influence, they pro- 
posed to him to defer his baptism until he had 
received more ample instruction. They were also 
desirous to receive additional evidence of his 
sincerity, and of the uprightness and the purity of 
his conduct, during a longer period than they had 
yet observed it. The king acquiesced in their 
proposal, and requested their instructions. 
At the same time that the king thus publicly 
desired to profess Christianity, he proposed to 
erect a large and substantial building for the wor- 
ship of the true God. His own affairs remained 
unsettled and discouraging; he was still inexile; 
