their behalf, that nothing but absolute ruin is sufficient to destroy our hopes concerning them. They seem to be advanced alike by friends and foes. Occurrences are adverse only in appearance, and for the moment. Events which, at first, awaken the most serious apprehensions, soon call forth the loudest thanksgivings. While such is the case, we are unable to despond. Hope will live. If it finds no encouragement in the present, it does in the past, and believes that all things, however unfavorable their aspect, will be overruled for good. The mission, to which you are about to proceed as a fifth reinforcement, has been, from the beginning and in a remarkable degree, such an enterprise as the one just described. Before receiving the customary Instructions, of the Prudential Committee, attend to a few facts in illustration of this remark.

When the first missionaries to the Sandwich Islands left this country, in the autumn of 1819, they fully expected to find the old king Tamehameha ruling the islands with despotic sway, and strenuously upholding idolatry. They expected to see the morais standing, to witness the baleful effects of idolatrous rites, and to be shocked by day with the sight of human sacrifices, and terrified by the screams of the miserable victims at night. They expected to encounter a long and dangerous, and to some of them perhaps fatal, opposition from the powerful priesthood of paganism; and to hear the yells of savage conflict often, before the peaceful religion of Jesus should gain the ascendancy on the islands.

But, though no anticipations could have been more reasonable, not one of them was realized. This arose from the unanticipated and wonderful coincidence between the time of their embarkation and of the abolition of idolatry by the king, Rihoriho.

When our brethren arrived, they heard with surprise that Tamehameha was dead; that his successor had renounced the national superstitions, burnt the morais, destroyed the idols, abolished the priesthood, and the whole oppressive system of tabus, put an end to human sacrifices, and suppressed a rebellion which arose in consequence of these measures; and that peace once more prevailed, while the nation, without any religion, waited as it were for the law of Jehovah.

Notice the remarkable coincidence. Had the mission embarked a little sooner, or had the revolution occurred a little later, then had the missionaries arrived amid the alarms and dangers of war, and might have been forbidden, by the jealous islanders, to remain on their shores. A coincidence eminently providential! For, none of the missionaries anticipated such a revolution when they left their native country; and none of the islanders knew that they were coming, till they arrived.

Next, see in what manner Providence counteracted the unfriendly influence of some of the foreigners residing in the islands. It has been well ascertained that there were foreigners from the first, who endeavored to prejudice the native rulers against the mission. They represented the missionaries as deceivers, as political emisaries, concealing evil designs under fair pretences. In particular it was alleged, first, that the English missionaries at the Society Islands had deprived the natives of their lands, and reduced them to slavery; and secondly, that the residence of American missionaries at the Sandwich

Islands was displeasing to the British monarch, of whom the king of the Sandwich Islands had imbibed a sort of dread. So much were the jealousies of the more ignorant and credulous among the chiefs at length awakened, that our brethren knew not how to allay them, and began to be apprehensive of the consequences. In the very crisis of the evil, however, it was unexpectedly removed, in the manner now to be described.

The English government, before hearing of Tamehameha's death, had directed the government of New South Wales to build a schooner, and send it to him as a present. In the month of February 1822, the vessel, having this schooner in charge, put in for refreshments to one of the ports of the Society Islands, where two English gentlemen, the well known Tyerman and Bennet, deputed by the London Missionary Society to visit their missions in those seas, were at that time. As the captain expected to touch at the Marquesas Islands on his return from the Sandwich Islands, and consented to take missionaries to that group, it was resolved to send two Tahitian chiefs to the Marquesas, by way of the Sandwich Islands, and that the Rev. William Ellis, an English missionary known in this country, should accompany them. Messrs. Tyerman and Bennet determined also to go with them. It so happened, therefore, in the providence of God, that this whole company of pious and respectable Englishmen and Society islanders was soon at the Sandwich Islands. Immediately the king and his council invited the Tahitian chiefs to an interview, and ascertained from them the true and excellent character of the influence exerted by the English missionaries at the Society Islands. The English gentlemen, also, assured the king of the favorable disposition of their own sovereign; so that the impositions practised by the foreigners were now fully exposed. The confidence of the natives in our brethren was of course restored and increased; and these effects were rendered permanent by the settlement of Mr. Ellis and the Tahitian chiefs at the Sandwich Islands.

A third fact to be noticed is the voyage of the king Rihoriho to England in 1823. This singular event was thought at the time to be very inauspicious. It was soon found, however, that his absence from the islands, and still more his death in London, placed the government in the hands of Kaahumanu and Karaimoku, who had become members of the mission church and heartily co-operated with the missionaries in their plans and labors for the good of the people. In other words, the government thus became decidedly Christian. Moreover Boki, who accompanied Rihoriho to England, brought back a charge, which he is said to have received from the mouth of the British king, to attend himself and cause the people to attend upon the instructions of these very missionaries.

A fourth instance is found in the rebellion on the island of Tauai, after the departure of Rihoriho. This rebellion spread great alarm through the isl ands, and for a short time seriously interrupted the mission. But in the end, it was the means of giving a new and powerful impulse to the progress of Christianity and civilization.

And how obvious is it, that all the numberless false reports against the mission, which have been circulated both in this country and in England, though they have been injurious to those who have circulated and to those

who have believed them, have, on the whole, been advantageous both to the mission, and to the general cause of missions; especially when viewed in connection with the outrages upon the mission, of which wicked foreigners have repeatedly been guilty. By all these means the mission at the islands has acquired a degree of publicity in the world, which would otherwise have been scarcely possible. Men of all ranks in America and England, and in other countries, have had their attention directed towards it; some, indeed, with prejudice and enmity, but many with candid inquiry into its merits and success. Able defences of the mission have been published, which would not have been published, or if published would have been read far less extensively, had there not been slanders and outrages to call for them. Who can doubt but the good has far exceeded the evil? Who can doubt that if its enemies have been made more inveterate against the mission, its friends have been rendered more interested in its welfare; that it is known and esteemed by more persons; and has the benefit of more frequent prayers, and more abundant patronage?

In view of these providential interpositions, your confidence should be strong in God. In the present condition of the people of the Sandwich Islands there is much to authorize the most cheering expectations; but then there are some things which will make it truly wonderful, if the heavens do not sometimes gather blackness, and settle even into deep and portentous gloon. Should you ever witness such times, think of the past, and yield not to despondency. Remember the tokens of God's favor. The whole course of events hitherto, indicates that he is on the side of the mission. Such a concatenation of events, as has been noticed, and as might easily have been enlarged, cannot be accounted for on the doctrine of chance. There is an overruling Providence, and that Providence is engaged for the prosperity of the mission. God is evidently the Builder of the spiritual temple, which is going up for his praise at the Sandwich Islands; and the edifice which he has so gloriously begun, we may expect him to finish. Should events hereafter occur which are seemingly adverse, you are not hastily to regard them as being really so. In time past they have in some instances been more eminently subservient to the furtherance of the mission, than any other events whatever. Therefore be not afraid. Though there should be commotions at the islands, do not fear. Though wicked men combine to ruin the mission, do not fear. While you are united as a mission, and thoroughly devoted to God, you need not fear. The Lord will be with you; the God of Jacob will be your refuge.

Having reminded you of these facts in the history of the mission, for your encouragement, the Committee proceed to give you some INSTRUCTIONS for your conduct as missionaries. These, however, will be brief. The Instructions given your predecessors in the mission, are applicable to you; and to them you are referred for a more ample discussion of several important topics. Your mission, dear brethren, embraces an interesting range of objects. Depending on divine grace, it aims at nothing less than making every Sandwich islander intelligent, holy, and happy. Its appropriate work will not, therefore, be fully accomplished, until every town and village in the Sandwich

Islands is blessed with a school-house and church, and these school-houses are all furnished with competent native inasters, and all these churches with well instructed native preachers—until every inhabitant is taught to read, and is furnished with a Bible in his native tongue-until academies, with native preceptors, are established on the principal islands; and the high school, now existing on the island of Maui, has become a college, with native professors—until printing presses are owned and conducted by native publishers, and find employment from native authors, and, so employed, pour forth their treasures of theology, history, and every useful science, for supplying the native demand for public and private libraries;—not until Christianity is fully established as the religion of the islands, and its benign influence has become paramount in every rank and class and condition of the people.

Then, raising our voices in songs of grateful and triumphant praise to the King of Zion, may we leave them to proceed without our aid. Indeed, we may venture to diminish the numbers in our band of missionaries before we witness such a consummation of our work. Whenever it shall have advanced far towards completion, then will the patriarchs of the mission-the men whose locks have whitened in the service, and who are venerated as the spiritual fathers of the nation-suffice for the purposes of superintendence and counsel.

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Far different are the circumstances under which you proceed to the Sandwich Islands, from those of the first mission. When, thirteen years ago, the venerable Worcester delivered the Instructions of the Committee to that consecrated band, the deepest darkness of barbarian paganism enveloped all the islands, and the immediate prospects of the mission were hid in utter uncertainty. How changed have been those islands since that time; how changed the prospects of the mission; how different your anticipations! Light from heaven has broken in upon the darkness, and the morais and idols, the pagan priesthood and human victims, have all disappeared. You will find the Christian religion professedly the religion of the nation-the principal rulers, with but a single exception, members of the Christian church-spacious houses for the public worship of God, risen and rising in the larger towns-numerous and orderly congregations assembled in them on the Sabbath day-the Scriptures anxiously desired by the people, and received as the word of God-many hundreds abstaining wholly from the use of intoxicating spirits-many thousands connected with the schools-and the nation, as such, beginning to feel the renovating influence of the gospel, to escape from the thraldom of ignorance and vice, and to move onward in the career of religious, intellectual, and social improvement.

And it is in this interesting aspect of the islands, that the reason is to be found which has induced the Committee to send another reinforcement to the mission. When the harvest waves over all the field, then is the time to multiply the reapers.

Your passage has been engaged in the ship Mentor, capt. Rice, to sail from New London; and every provision has been made for your comfort on the voyage.

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So far as may be practicable, be a pattern to the natives of the islands in all things. In building and furnishing your houses, in clothing your persons, in your manners and conversation, set an example of simplicity becoming the gospel. Keep your hearts with all diligence, and in your secular intercourse with the natives beware of indulging a worldly spirit, and of being betrayed into indiscretions, which shall give them or unfriendly foreigners occasion to speak evil of you. After the laudable stand taken by our missionaries generally, we need not say that you will give no countenance to the use of ardent spirits. Use not the poisoned cup yourselves, nor present it to the lip of foreigner or native.

Mr. PARKER and Mr. SMITH-as ministers of Christ, as missionaries of the cross, you will continually bear in mind the spiritual and high and holy nature of your calling. You are embassadors of the Lord Jesus to the dwellers in those isles. You go as agents of no earthly government, the propagators of no political systems. Like the apostles, you will inculcate submission to all lawful authorities, and will be careful yourselves to conduct towards them with all proper deference. You are the Lord's freemen; but your freedom is to preach the gospel without fearing the face of man. Your commission is to PREACH THE GOSPEL, and for nothing else can you plead, as missionaries, the paramount authority of the King of kings.

The Committee are happy to believe, that it is the intention of our national Bible and Tract Societies to relieve the Board from the expense of publishing the Scriptures and religious tracts in our several missionary fields among the heathen. Heretofore important aid has been received, in several of the eastern missions, from the British and Foreign Bible Society, and in some instances from the London Religious Tract Society, which has been gratefully acknowledged. But it is most suitable that they also should be relieved from the necessity of supplying American missions with Bibles and tracts. This work devolves properly on American societies, and on none more properly than the American Bible Society and the American Tract Society; and there is no doubt but those institutions will be enabled by the churches to furnish the means of supplying the whole nation of the Sandwich islanders with the Scriptures and appropriate religious tracts, as fast as the translations can be made, and the printing executed. An important duty, therefore, devolving on you and your associates will be to furnish the translations, and the infor mation from time to time which shall be necessary to aid the societies in procuring the requisite means, and to guide them in their appropriations.

Be in haste, Brethren, to have the gospel made known to every one of the islanders, and to bring the work to a completion; for almost the whole world still lieth in wickedness, and there is much land to be possessed.

Mr. Diell, who is to be your fellow-passenger on the voyage, goes under the direction of a different society, and to minister to a different class of men; but as your brother in the gospel, a missionary of the cross of Christ equally with yourselves, and in a most important sense a co-worker with you for the moral renovation of the islands. As he will be governed by the same principles and motives, sympathizes with you entirely in respect to the great doctrines and duties of religion, and the grand objects and plans of Christian