"I am the very man," he exclaimed, grasping my hand. "Oh, how much do I
owe to that excellent man! He saved my life; but he did far more,--he
brought the truth before me,--he showed me my own vileness by nature;
and thus, by his instrumentality brought by grace to trust in Jesus, has
my soul been saved. Can one man owe a greater debt to another than I
owe to him? I had begun to like you for your own sake, and for that of
John Harvey I shall ever regard you as a son. Your uncle was an example
of the good a true Christian layman can effect in his ordinary course in
life. Those on board every ship in which he sailed benefited by his
presence, not so much from what he said as from what he did, from his
pure and bright example; for he was a man of few words under ordinary
circumstances, though he could speak on occasion, and well. Many by his
means were brought to know Jesus, and to serve and love him as their
Lord and Master. When John Harvey left the sea and went to live on
shore, he devoted his whole time to doing God's service, and great has
long since been his reward."
This was indeed an interesting discovery. It was gratifying to me to
hear the fine old man speak thus of my uncle, as I was sure the praise
was not undeserved. As I looked at him, too, I felt how great is the
power of grace. I saw before me the drowning youth snatched from the
very jaws of death, and of eternal death, too, and allowed to spend a
long life in making known to the heathen the inexhaustible riches of
Christ. From that day I naturally looked on Mr Bent as an old friend,
and was more than ever with him. Indeed, I confess that I was thus
drawn into a more intimate acquaintance with his daughter Mary than
would have been otherwise the case, and to discover and admire her many
excellences.
The missionary was never idle during his visit to the island, and in a
week after his arrival the king declared openly that he could no longer
withstand the arguments he brought forward in support of his religion,
and that he was resolved to lotu. Hoolan, who had been tipsy for some
days, or as he called it, enjoying himself, was very indignant when he
recovered and heard this, and hastily going to the king, advised him to
wait till the arrival of some Roman Catholic priests, who were the
proper persons to whom to lotu; but the king replied, that the advice of
a man who had been making himself no better than a hog was not worth
having; that he had heard what he was sure was true from the missionary,
and that therefore he should become of the missionary's religion. To
show his sincerity, he resolved to destroy his gods and burn their
moraes, or temples. His great regret was that his daughter and Vihala
were not present to see the work done. The missionary urged him to lose
no time. It was impossible to say what a day might bring forth. It was
not a thing to be done lightly. The missionary visited the king the
evening before the ceremony, and many hours were passed in prayer and in
reading the Scriptures.
The next morning the king, attended by some of his principal chiefs, and
all those who had already professed Christianity, assembled at an early
hour, armed with axes and clubs, and firebrands, and ropes, and
proceeded to the principal morae, or temple. The heathens also
assembled, and stood at a distance trembling, in the expectation that
something dreadful would happen. As the king approached the morae, some
of his own followers even drew back, and formed a knot at a distance.
They had been taught that their gods were full of revenge and hatred,
delighting in doing harm to mortals. As Mr Bent considered it to be
most important that the natives should destroy their idols themselves,
we also stood some way off watching proceedings. The king advanced,
exclaiming, "Jehovah is the true God--these are but senseless blocks of
wood. See!" As he uttered the last word he struck the principal idol a
blow which brought it to the ground. He then rushed at another, several
of his chiefs following his example, and in a few minutes every idol was
overthrown. [See Note 1.] All the time it was interesting to watch the
attitudes and gestures of the heathen, who were evidently under the
expectation that fire would come down from heaven, or that the earth
would open and destroy their impious chiefs. Their astonishment was
proportionably great when nothing of the sort happened, and when the
iconoclasts, fastening ropes round the senseless logs, dragged them
ignominiously forth, while others of the king's followers applied their
torches in all directions to the morae, and set it on fire. While the
conflagration was at its height several of the idols were thrown into
it, and speedily consumed; others were dragged down to the sea, where
blocks of coral were fastened to them, and they were put on board
canoes, ready to be carried into deep water and sunk; while the
remainder we secured, to be sent home as trophies won by the soldiers of
Christ. The king and the chiefs dragged them up to us, shouting as they
did so, "The reign of Satan is at an end--the reign of Satan is at an
end." So far I could agree with them that his kingdom was shaken to the
foundation, as it always is where the free gospel is introduced.
Just at this juncture Hoolan, who had remained on board all night, came
on shore. His astonishment gave way to rage, and walking up to the
king, he shook his fist in his face, and asked him how he dared lotu to
the missionaries, and not wait for the arrival of the Catholic priests
whom he expected? The chief, accustomed to the eccentricities of his
late prime minister, answered calmly:
"Because the reign of Satan is over. The missionaries told us news
which we know to be good, and we have believed them. When the priests
you speak of come, will they tell us better?"
Hoolan had nothing to say; he soon got calm again, and observed, as he
turned on his heel, "Well, I only hope that you'll be after getting on
as well under your new system as you did under mine, that's all."
The king made no reply. He steadily progressed in his knowledge of the
Scriptures, and gave very hopeful signs that he was really converted.
No men could be more scrupulous as to receiving converts in name as
really converted than were all the missionaries I met; and I boldly
declare that very many of the newly converted could give a better reason
for the faith that was in them than can, alas! a very large number both
of young and old with whom I have conversed on the subject in England.
There still remained, however, a strong heathen party in the island,
under the leadership of a warlike and fierce chief, who was very likely,
we feared, to give the king a good deal of trouble. It was necessary,
however, for Mr Bent to return to his station. He says that, although
called by the natives a missionary, he was not employed by any society,
but felt it a privilege to help on the good work, supporting himself by
trading, and supplying necessaries to the ships that touched at the
island where he had fixed his residence. On asking him about some of
the places mentioned in old John Harvey's journal, he said he could tell
me of wonderful works of God which he had either witnessed himself, or
of which he had heard from those in whose reports he could place the
fullest confidence. I need scarcely say how much I felt the idea of
being parted from him and his daughter, and I bethought me that I would
ask permission from the captain to carry them back in our largest boat.
It was at once kindly granted, as a much safer mode of conveyance than a
native canoe. I was very happy at being able to pay this last mark of
attention to those I so much esteemed; and having made every arrangement
I could think of for their comfort during our short voyage, I received
them on board at the earliest dawn, in the hopes that we might reach the
station before night fell. How true is the saying, "Man proposes, God
disposes." Oh that men would therefore throw all their cares on the
Lord, remembering alway that "He careth for us."
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Note 1. In the early Missionary Reports wonderful narratives are given
of the speedy destruction of idolatry in many of the islands. With too
sanguine hopes, some of the missionaries spoke of these revolutions as
the result of religious zeal, and even quoted the prophecy of "a nation
being born in a day." A few years' experience taught them that in many
instances the first profession of Christianity was due to various
influences, and that the people with impetuous impulse followed the
example of their chiefs. Not without prayerful labour and long patience
did the missionaries at length obtain precious fruits of spiritual
conversion from the good seed sown in these regions. The statement in
our narrative only expresses what was often true as a historical fact.
In "Brown's History of Missions," volume two, will be found some of the
more remarkable instances of the sudden overthrow of idolatry.