Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/437

TIWA A^T) MBAF. 405 Him of whom they have not heard? how can ther hear without a Preacher? and how shall they preach except they be sent?' Christians, do not talk as if you pitied the Heathen of Fiji, while you keep from them that which alone can make their salvation possible 1 How can you think of dying until you have done your utmost to place the means of salvation within the reach of every soul of man ? You pray for the conversion of the world. What do you mean ? Do you not know that, according to the present constituted government of God, if the world is to be saved, Christians must put into operation the means by which it is to be efltected ? * Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.' Here is the rule of government. ' How then,' Gk)d asks you, ' shall they caU on Him in whom they have not believed ? and how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher ? and how shall they preach except they be sent ? ' and who shall send them but the Christians of England ? and who to Fiji but the Wesleyan Methodists ? You have adopted Fiji as your field of labour. I beseech you, in the name of perishing thousands, send us la- bourers. " Mbua. — I found things at Mbua much as I expected. I had received a letter from Joshua, our principal Teacher there, informing me that they were at war, but giving satisfactory evidence that the lotu (or Christian) Chiefs had nothing to do with originating the war. This I found to be the case. The war is between Tui ^Mbua and Tui Moru, two brothers, the former the real King of Mbua. This is the second time the pretender has raised a war at Mbua ; and he is not likely to gain his point at present. The Christian Chief did not join in the war until he was obliged to do so ; his name is Kaitono : he is a man of great influence at !Mbua, being the Matam'-vanua of the old King, as well as a Chief of considerable rank; in fact, he has more to do with the management of affairs than the King himself. There are two more men of distinction who have become Chris- tians, and about eighty -three people ; there are also thirty-four of the people of Tui Mbua and Tui Mom, who still profess Christianity. " The present war and other things have prevented those who have embraced Chris- tianity from making much progress. In fact, they cannot advance as they should do, without the direct superintendence of a Missionary. The Native Teachers are excellent men ; but there must be, for some time to come, one Missionary, at least, on each prin- cipal Station ; and I believe the Lord Jesus would send two if He had the management of the affair. We can visit but little the persons who are one hundred or more miles distant ; and even when we do visit them, we cannot remain long ; whereas these people are like children, and require ' line upon line, and precept upon precept,' or they will only become Christians to disgrace the Christian name, and hinder the universal diffusion of Christianity in these islands of the sea. The mode of calculating the number of Mission- aries needed for a cenain field of labour is not the same as in England. It is not fair to say, ' There is a population of three hundred thousand, and they have five Missionaries, and about thirty Native Teachers.' We should rather say, 'Here are three hundred thousand children to be taught, Tfor that is what they aU are,) and they are scattered over a large group of islands, some of them far distant from each other, and these have to be taught the first elements of letters and truth by five 31issionaries, (one of whom has to attend to printing nearly half his time,) assisted by a number of natives, who can only be compared to boys at the head of a class, and who are not at all prepared to take a part in the regular work of conducting a school.' What can they do among so many, and these many of such a character ? " I now proceed to give you some account of my voyage round the island called Xa Yiti Levu. It is about three hundred miles in circumference, and contains, I suppose, nearly a third of the whole population of Fiji. Yery few places on it have been visited before by a Missionary, except those in the immediate vicinity of Mbau and Rewa. I had for some time felt a desire to make a tour round it ; and hearing that an old schooner was going to the western part of it, for the purpose of trading, I asked the owner to take