Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/585

EOTTJMA. — KATIYE AGENTS. — CONCLrSIOlT. 547 there, and many people gather anxiously by the water-side, only to be sent back, again and again, with their long cherished hope disappointed. Whose fault is this? Who sickens these poor hearts with hope deferred, and denies them the blessing they so hungrily crave ? Let those who are intrusted with God's gold and silver, and whose religious privileges are so many that they care not to use them all, settle the question with Him who will require much of them to whom much is given. 2. Native Agents. — The extent of the field of operations occupied by the Fijian Mission renders it impossible to supply a staiF of Eng- lish Missionaries sufficient to meet its claims. The work must be mainly carried on by the native agency. This necessity is not com- plained of as an evil. It is according to the right order of Christianity. When the grace of God reclaims these savages and enriches them with the blessing of the Gospel, they, like other converted men, feel a longing for the spiritual welfare of their fellow men ; and it would be a grievous injustice not to give them the opportunity of communicating the light which they enjoy. In some cases, as at Ono, the Gospel has been in- troduced without the knowledge of the Missionary ; and, at the present time, more than two hundred Natives, who have learned to read, and give evidence that they are called to teach, are labouring with zeal and success, under the direction of the Mission, all over Fiji. But more than this must be said. It is not possible to set too high the value of such agents as are raised up among the people. While inferior in many important respects, they yet possess qualifications for the work which no foreign Missionary can ever fully acquire. They are in no danger of suffering from the climate : they can reach places and mix with the people, where a foreigner could scarcely find access : leading the same manner of life and subsisting on the same food as the rest of the people, their support is comparatively inexpensive : their command of the language is perfect : above all, they occupy the same level of feeling and experience as those whom they teach ; and the same sympathy which enables them to frame and present their instructions in the most effective way, insures for those instructions a readier reception. But the time is very far distant, — ^if indeed it should ever come, — when this valuable force will be able to labour effectively without the direction and oversight of the Missionary. Great as are their advan- tages, they want the skill to use them. If lefl to themselves, errors of