were mere parrots, and only repeated what the Missionaries had taught them. At length the Captain's chaplain and some of the officers came to me, and said, 'We have had a warm dispute, and you must give the casting vote; for some of us say that the Natives are mere parrots, and can give no reason for what they say or do.' I said, 'Gentlemen, you will excuse my giving any opinion on the subject; but if you will visit me this afternoon, I will collect ten or twelve Natives, and you shall ask them any questions upon any subject you choose, and I will simply act as an interpreter.' The Natives met, I think, to the number of fifteen: and I did not give them to understand the purpose for which they were assembled; I only said, 'These gentlemen have some questions to ask you.' The questions were then asked: 'Do you believe the Bible to be the Word of God?' They were startled: they had never entertained a single doubt on the subject; but, after a moment's pause, one answered, 'Most certainly we do: undoubtedly we do.' It was asked, 'Why do you believe it? can you give any reason for believing the Bible to be the word of God?' He replied, 'Why, look at the power with which it has been attended, in the utter overthrow of all that we have been addicted to from time immemorial. What else could have demolished that system of idolatry which had so long prevailed among us? No human arguments could have induced us to

abandon that false system.' The same question being put to another, he replied, 'I believe the Bible to be the word of God, on account of the pure system of religion it contains. We had a system of religion before; but look how dark and black a system that was, compared with the bright system of Salvation revealed in the word of God! Here we learn that we are sinners; and that God gave Jesus Christ to die for us; and by that goodness, Salvation is given to us. Now, what but the wisdom of God could have produced such a system as this presented in the word of God? and this doctrine leads to purity.' There was a third reply to this question, and it was rather a singular one, but it was a native idea: 'When I look at myself, I find I have got hinges all over my body. I have hinges to my legs-hinges to my jaws -hinges to my feet. If I want to take hold of any thing, there are hinges to my hands to do it with. If my heart thinks, and I want to speak, I have got hinges to my jaws. If I want to walk, I have hinges to my feet. Now here,' continued he, 'is wisdom in adapting my body to the various functions it has to discharge; and I find that the wisdom which made the Bible, exactly fits with this wisdom which has made my body;* consequently, I believe the Bible

• Luke, iv. 4. I think I see plainly, that this reasoning is meant not to make out an analogy, but to establish an identity. It is pretty clear, that one and the same wisdom must have directed the arrangement of the body and mind, and have settled the offices and relations

to be the word of God.' Another replied, 'I believe the Bible to be the word of God, on account of the prophecies which it contains, and the fulfilment of them.' (The Reverend Gentleman here related* several proofs, which were produced by the Islanders, from the Gospel History, of the fulfilment of the Old Testament prophecies.) After this they came to the doctrines of the Gospel; among others, to the doctrine of the Resurrection; and the question was asked: 'Do you believe in it?' They replied, 'Yes, most certainly.' 'In what body shall we rise?' they answered: 'In a chapter of the Corinthians, it is said, 'It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.' The Captain would not be satisfied: he requested to know the identical nature of the body which shall be raised. The Natives hesitated some time; and, at last, one said, 'I have it! we shall see him as he is,' and 'be like him.'+ The Captain said again, 'I want to know the precise body which shall be raised.' This occasioned a considerable consultation among them. At length one said, 'It cannot be like the body of Christ when it hung upon the cross: it will be like his glorious body when he was trans

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of each; and moreover, must have been the source of the perfect law of morality and repentance. The same attributes belong to the Creator of the world, and the Author of the Holy Scriptures.

• This was related in public by Mr. Williams; and well reported in a monthly journal.

† 1 John, iii. 2.

figured on the mount.' I did nothing more," says Mr. Williams, "than simply act as an interpreter."

Here is wisdom! Whence came this? How far behind are the majority of European Naturalists and the supporters of mere rational deism and Natural Religion! But did the South Sea Islanders come to these conclusions before the blessed light of Christianity shone among them? No. How slender, and yet how strong, was their Natural Theology, when combined with the preaching of repentance and redemption. Do we find that the great masters in science are, of necessity, the more apt to be touched, or more fully convinced, or more fruitfully impressed with religious truths? I answer, No. Witness La Place and Lamark, distinguished modern philosophers, and remarkable for frigid unbelief, with a multitude equally ready to forget, if not to deny the God who made them-in whom they "live" and "move" and have their "being."*

Assuming Christianity to be true, as you believe, the course of man's advance in the proper knowledge of himself and his Maker should, I think, be very much thus:-He finds himself in the world, with some things to enjoy and hope-some things to suffer

Acts, xvii. 28. "For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring." This may be supposed a very ancient theological truth—a truth, pagan and barren-a truth, Christian and fruitful without end.

and fear; and, as long since taught by Solomon, and by others long before him, it does seem, that the first and wisest thing to be done must be to look with reverence and anxiety to the Great Author of his being and his destinies. We are well agreed, that but very little knowledge of the creation is amply sufficient to satisfy an ordinary man that his Maker exists, and that His powers and benevolence and duration are exceedingly great. Next, I suppose, that the ability to discriminate good and evil, and the knowledge of the goodness of his God, must grow up in him together; but I cannot imagine that the man has made any real advance in the right judgment, until the contemplation of the Divine Goodness has led him to understand and feel his own human sinfulness. All learning that makes this difficult or tardy, is impediment and evil; for this, I am convinced, is all the wisdom he needs learn from Nature, and the Bible would teach him even this with much greater ease, speed, and security. At all events, having attained this, the barrier to his regeneration is now totally dissipated;—to confess himself sinful, and to repent before God, is the wisdom that carries him on to regard the Truths of Revelation with ever-increasing judgment and satisfaction.

In the absence of a better knowledge and will, even the immature and devious Natural Religion of men may be, it is hoped, a step towards the beginning of