ilifornia 
 
 lonal 
 
 lity
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 AT LOS ANGELES 
 
 ROBERT ERNEST COWAN

 
 THE 
 
 LIFE OF JOHN HUNT.
 
 THE LIFE 
 
 OF 
 
 JOHN HUNT, 
 
 MISSIONARY TO THE CANNIBALS. 
 
 BY 
 
 GEORGE STRINGER ROWE. 
 
 LONDON: 
 HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND CO.; 
 
 SOLD ALSO BT 
 
 JOHN MASON, 66, PATERNOSTER ROW. 
 1359.
 
 LONDON : 
 
 PRINTED BV WILLIAM NICHOLS, 
 33, LONDON WALL.
 
 D 
 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 THE materials of this Biography have been long 
 laid by, awaiting the arrangement of far abler 
 hands than mine, 
 
 To prevent a still greater delay, I have under- 
 taken the work, not venturing to hope that I have 
 supplied those who knew Mr. Hunt with a portrait 
 which they will deem worthy of its subject, but 
 anxious that the young men of my own generation 
 should not be without the advantage of such a 
 high example, 
 
 I claim a lenient criticism from Mr. Hunt's 
 friends, on the ground of my having, to some 
 extent, freshened their remembrance of one of the 
 best men they ever knew; and other readers can 
 afford to deal gently with my shortcomings, in 
 
 286090
 
 VI PREFACE. 
 
 consideration of the benefit I am permitted to 
 confer upon them, by making them acquainted, 
 however imperfectly, with a rare model of 
 Christian excellence. 
 
 G. S. R. 
 KENTISH TOWN, 
 November } 1859,.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. Page. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 BIRTH AND BOYHOOD 4 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 CONVERSION 15 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 CALL TO PREACH 20 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 STUDENT LIFE , 34 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 MISSION APPOINTMENT 55 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 DEPARTURE AND ARRIVAL 63
 
 Vlll CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. Page. 
 
 MISSION WORK REWA 6S 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 SOMOSOMO 86 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 VIWA, 1842-3 128 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 VIWA, 1844-5 154 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 VIWA, 1846-7 193 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 VIWA, 1848 243 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE END .. , ... 261
 
 THE LIFE 
 
 REV. JOHN HUNT 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 " NOT UNTO us, LORD, NOT UNTO us, BUT UNTO THY NAME 
 
 GIVE GLORY, FOR TjIY MERCY, AND FOR THY TRUTH'S SAKE." 
 
 As JOHN HUNT lay dying in Fiji, where his 
 zeal had eaten up his strength, he turned 
 to a brother Missionary, Mr. Calvert, and said, 
 " Let me go, a heap of inconsistencies, back- 
 slidings, and unfaithfulness. Let me go, as I 
 trust I shall, through Divine mercy alone, for I 
 have nothing at all in myself, to heaven. There 
 is nothing in me as an example to recommend, 
 which is not much better furnished in the lives of 
 many which have been written." "When told that 
 his survivors would gladly heed his wishes about 
 family and Mission matters, but that he must not 
 bind their hands with regard to himself, he 
 quietly yielded in saying that he would rather 
 
 B
 
 2 CHAPTER I. 
 
 that there should be nothing written concerning 
 him, more than a short notice of his death. 
 
 The dying man was looking at his own life from 
 within, from a position which he only could 
 occupy, and it was not in the cheap cant of a 
 mock humility, but in all sincerity, that he spoke. 
 He read his history as none else could read it. 
 He saw the long and often interrupted processes 
 by which all the good in him had been estab- 
 lished. While others noted the triumphs re- 
 corded in that history, he recalled the hard fight- 
 ing which had preceded them. He knew the 
 difficulties in himself that had to be overcome, 
 and the opposition of his own will that had so 
 long resisted or hindered the inner work, the 
 outward manifestations of which others admired. 
 The reception of every additional good into him- 
 self had involved penitence for the evil it had dis- 
 placed. Others looked at his life; he saw him- 
 self; and, at that moment of all others when he 
 sought, by the simplest faith, to take refuge from 
 himself in the mercy of God, no wonder that he 
 should speak as he did. 
 
 But the Church has an entailed interest in the 
 memorials of the faithful and good. The conceit 
 of an olden time gave the famous ones of earth a 
 place in the sky, and traced their images in groups 
 of stars. And the lives of such as have been
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 3 
 
 great in their goodness, are to be remembered for 
 the cheering and guiding of those whose voyage is 
 not yet done, and over whom the night still 
 gathers. " The Memory of the just is blessed." 
 
 It is encouraging to realize what we are apt 
 sometimes to forget, that Christian heroes are 
 made of the same stuff as other men ; and that, 
 whatsoever we may inscribe on the pedestals to 
 which we elevate them, they still say, " By the 
 grace of God, we are what we are." 
 
 The biographer, then, recognises his task as akin 
 to that of the Christian philosopher. It is, in all 
 the historic details of his subject, to follow and 
 point out, as far as may be, " the excellency of the 
 power " which is at work through all. He would 
 collect the admiration and love of many, not to 
 do service at the shrine of a sentimental hero- 
 worship, that their faith should not stand in 
 the wisdom, or goodness, of men, but in the 
 power of God. 
 
 " NOW UNTO HlM THAT IS ABLE TO . DO EX- 
 CEEDING ABUNDANTLY ABOVE ALL THAT WE ASK 
 OR THINK, ACCORDING TO THE POWER THAT 
 WORKETH IN US, UNTO HlM BE GLORY IN THE 
 CHURCH BY CHRIST JESUS THROUGHOUT ALL 
 AGES, WOULD WITHOUT END. AMEN." 
 
 B 2
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 BIRTH AND BOYHOOD. 
 
 INFANCY : Schooling : Early Work and its Trials : Young Dreams : 
 Religious Beginnings and parental Influence : Anxiety for his 
 Mother's Salvation : Brain Fever : Good Purpose : Cottage 
 Prayer-Meeting : First Visit to a Methodist Chapel : Baud- 
 Meeting : Change of Situation : Removal to Swinderby. 
 
 JOHN HUNT was the third in a family of four 
 children, and was born at Hykehara Moor, near 
 Lincoln, on the 13th of June, 1812. His father 
 lived, at the time, in comfortable circumstances, 
 as the overseer or bailiff on a farm belonging to a 
 gentleman in Lincoln. The property, however, 
 changed hands ; and the bailiff, being thrown out 
 of work, removed, with his family, to Lincoln. 
 Here things went badly with them, and want of 
 employment brought the sufferings of poverty 
 to their home. So low had they come, that the 
 workhouse seemed their only refuge ; and, after 
 remaining two years in the city, they returned to 
 their own parish of Balderton near Newark. Once 
 more the father got work, and from that time was 
 always able to support his family. 
 
 Such was the beginning of John Hunt's life.
 
 EARLY WORK AND ITS TRIALS. 5 
 
 He had from his parents no advantage beyond the 
 example of a sturdy and industrious honesty ; but 
 for that he had more reason to be thankful than 
 many others for their patrimony of wealth and 
 name. And little chance was there, even forty 
 years ago, for country children to gain much 
 learning. John Hunt's school-days were passed 
 under the auspices of the parish pedagogue ; but 
 his education was soon " finished ; " for, at the age 
 of ten years, he began to work on a farm, where, 
 however, he seemed scarcely in his right place. 
 He was thoughtful and serious, and showed signs 
 of mental vigour, so that he could remember the 
 Clergyman's text better than his companions ; but 
 this seemed the only point of excellence. He 
 was not handy at his work, and a consciousness 
 of inferiority annoyed him. Farm-boys are sus- 
 ceptible of ambitious feeling, and there is such a 
 thing as emulation in the filling of a dung-cart. 
 Now John Hunt could not handle a fork, or crack 
 a whip, or tie up a plough-line so skilfully as his 
 work-fellows : so he was held by them somewhat 
 in contempt, and nicknamed after a poor idiot in 
 the village ; and, furthermore, because he seemed 
 wanting in robust health, he was recommended by 
 the rude, hearty lads around him to be a tailor. 
 But he bore their jokes as patiently as. he could, 
 firmly declaring that he would never change his
 
 O CHAPTER TI. 
 
 business; which resolution he set forth so often 
 and so pertinaciously, that he carried with hitu, 
 for years after, the style and title of "Farmer 
 Jack." 
 
 Yet, in the secrecy of his own heart, the boy 
 was meditating other things. His father, when a 
 young man, had been a soldier ; but deserted, and 
 joined the navy, where he saw some service; and, 
 besides being in several other important actions, 
 was present at the Battle of the Nile. On a 
 winter's evening, John had often heard the tales 
 of danger and bravery which his father told 
 with much energy ; and he resolved to be a hero. 
 Though his father had deserted, the son longed to 
 enter the army ; and, in many a day-dream, saw 
 himself rising from the ranks, adorned with every 
 military virtue, doing deeds of mighty prowess, 
 commanding, at last, an army which was always 
 victorious, and then returning, covered with glory 
 and laden with unheard-of wealth, to be the pride 
 and support of his aged parents. He never let 
 any one see his air-built castles until many years 
 after, when he was doing battle in a far different 
 service ; but he worked 011 in the narrow circle 
 of farm-life until the age of fifteen, which he 
 marked as an important period in his career. 
 
 Up to this time, his religious history, such as 
 it was, is worthy of note, as showing within it
 
 RELIGIOUS BEGINNINGS. 7 
 
 the germs of what afterwards sprang up in so 
 strong a growth and such rich fruitage. Neither 
 of his parents could read, and they made no pro- 
 fession of religion; yet they lived with a strict 
 regard to honesty, and what they knew of moral 
 right ; and the father held somewhat strong views 
 about the reality of God's Providence, and the 
 power of prayer. The mother seldom went to 
 church; but her children were taught to admire 
 and practise all things of good report, while they 
 were warned against idleness, theft, swearing, and 
 other vices. They were trained to say their 
 prayers regularly, and always met with a severe 
 reproof from their mother, if they spoke in slight 
 or ridicule of any minister of religion. John fully 
 believed all his father said about prayer and Provi- 
 dence, and, with great simplicity, acted upon his 
 convictions. He was scrupulously regular in say- 
 ing his morning and evening prayers ; and often, 
 on leaving the house to go to work, would say 
 quietly, as he shut the door, "Peace be to this 
 house," and so went on his way happy in the 
 belief that the wish was heard above. In guileless 
 consistency, he prayed about all his little difficul- 
 ties and fears. Thus he asked God to preserve 
 him, when he was frightened about thunder, or 
 dogs, or Gipsies, or anything else that alarmed 
 him; and he always ascribed his safety to the
 
 8 CHAPTER II. 
 
 protection of God. When about eleven years old, 
 he was riding, with another boy, on a favourite 
 horse, which they were taking, with the other 
 horses, to turn out in a meadow. The usually 
 quiet animal threw its young riders, and John 
 Hunt was badly cut about the head, either against 
 a fence or by the horse's heels, he never could tell 
 which. But the narrow escape seems to have 
 helped his habitual trust in a merciful God, 
 though he st^ll remained ignorant of the greater 
 spiritual truths of religion. He could read pretty 
 well, and felt much interested in the historical 
 parts of the Bible ; but little inquiry was excited 
 in his mind as to anything further, except that he 
 was sorely puzzled with the words "for ever" as 
 applied to a future state of punishment. Thinking 
 over this again and again, though he felt no fear 
 about himself, he was full of dismay at the thought 
 of his mother being eternally lost, and often prayed 
 very earnestly for her salvation. 
 
 While John was quite a boy, his father became 
 deeply impressed by the appeals of some of that 
 simple and zealous order of Christians called 
 " Ranters." He yielded fully to this influence, 
 and for a time seemed to live in the possession of 
 true religion. His son, however, took a great 
 dislike to the Ranters, and considered them as fit 
 objects for scorn and contempt, the more readily
 
 BRAIN FEVER. 9 
 
 as the father was evidently losing much of the 
 good he had obtained. ILL other respects, too, the 
 fair promise seemed to be less hopeful in the 
 lad's heart. As he got a little older, he became 
 more skilful in his business ; and this fact, while it 
 raised him to an equality with his fellows, had also 
 the ill effect of leading him into closer companion- 
 ship with them in their sins. He prayed less, and 
 lost much of his earnest feeling about religion. 
 " However," to use his own words, " he never 
 served the devil half so cleverly as he wished." 
 
 When sixteen years old, he fell ill with brain 
 fever, which seemed likely to prove fatal. The 
 thought of death was thus brought closer home to 
 him than ever before, and he was full of dread, 
 being conscious of his unfitness to enter another 
 world. In referring, years after, to this time, he 
 says : " I thought it would be of no use to promise 
 the Lord I would serve Him, if He would spare 
 me, as I had often made such promises jyid broken 
 them. The only way appeared to be, to begin 
 to serve God there and then, according to the 
 light I had. So I fell on my knees, and began to 
 pray. After prayer I read my Bible in earnest, 
 but began with the Book of the Revelation, which 
 considerably affected me, though I understood but 
 little of what I read, having no one to guide me." 
 This fresh growth of good purpose was strength-
 
 10 CHAPTER II. 
 
 ened by the news that a young acquaintance, who 
 had been ill for a very short time, had died of the 
 same disease as that from which John was recover- 
 ing. He now began to seek more light ; and as he 
 read and prayed on, with no man to teach him, 
 light came, and God's Spirit taught the simple 
 heart of that seeking one; and that heart grew 
 softer and softer in blessed penitence. 
 
 As John was getting stronger, some of his old 
 companions came to see him ;. but he found that 
 he could no longer sympathize with them, and 
 that their path and his must henceforth be widely 
 separated. Confirmed by their visit in his purpose 
 to serve God fully, he went one evening into the 
 house of some pious neighbours, and soon began 
 talking about what was uppermost in his thoughts. 
 He spoke of his past life, and remembered, with 
 peculiar bitterness, his having been guilty of the 
 sin of Sabbath-breaking. As he talked, he began 
 to weep ; and then the little company knelt down 
 together to pray, and John prayed with them, 
 earnestly seeking the pardon of his sins. He went 
 home comforted, and with a full purpose to tell his 
 mother all he felt. But his heart failed him, and 
 he determined to serve God in secret. His 
 mother, however, soon heard of what had hap- 
 pened at the cottage Prayer-Meeting, and asked 
 him if it was true. He then spoke to her freely,
 
 BAND-MEETING. 11 
 
 and stated his intention of becoming a thorough 
 and professed Christian. Neither she nor any of 
 his friends opposed him. Everything seemed to 
 favour his religious improvement. His great want 
 was instruction. The sermons he heard at church 
 did not contain just that form of truth which 
 his state required, and he hungered for more 
 knowledge. 
 
 As John grew stronger, he returned to work, 
 and found, as his companion, a young man who 
 was a Methodist. At his request he went, for the 
 first time, to a Methodist chapel, and heard a ser- 
 mon from a Local Preacher. The hearty and 
 devout singing of the congregation seems to have 
 affected him powerfully, and he thenceforth 
 became a constant attendant at the chapel, where 
 his mind quickly opened to understand the Gospel. 
 Few of the good people with whom he worshipped 
 knew his real state, until the occurrence which he 
 thus records. 
 
 " One Sunday night, after preaching, it was 
 announced that, on a certain night, there would 
 be a public Band-Meeting. What this meant, 
 I could not imagine, and by this time I had lost 
 my Methodist companion ; but I concluded that a 
 sermon would be preached on the occasion, and 
 determined to attend, if possible. Accordingly, at 
 the appointed time, I repaired to the chapel, and
 
 12 CHAPTER II. 
 
 found a Leader standing at the door, to prevent 
 improper persons from entering. I was going in 
 as usual, when he mildly stopped me, telling me it 
 was not a general but special meeting, yet adding 
 that he had no objection to my going in, as he 
 believed I was seriously disposed. I went in, and 
 was nmch struck with the proceedings. The 
 Leader gave out a hymn and prayed, and then 
 told his experience. Others followed, so that it 
 appeared to me the rule of the meeting, that all 
 present should speak. I felt it my imperative 
 duty to rise and state what I knew and felt of 
 religion; but the thought of doing so before a 
 company of Christians made me tremble exceed- 
 ingly. At length, however, I summoned sufficient 
 courage, and told, in a few plain words, the exer- 
 cises of my mind. All present seemed much 
 encouraged, and did what they could to encourage 
 me to continue seeking the Lord." 
 
 About this time, he was leaving Balderton in 
 search of a place elsewhere, and set out with a full 
 purpose to acknowledge God in all his ways, 
 hoping to get a situation where he would possess 
 religious advantages. He went to the Statutes, 
 but was not engaged. He then accompanied a 
 cousin to the house of a respectable and pious 
 farmer, who at once took him into his service. 
 The thing was done in a hurry. John had never
 
 CHANGE OP SITUATION. 13 
 
 intended seeking a situation there, and felt that 
 he had not prayed about it. From the time of 
 his going there, he was never comfortable. His 
 strength failed, and he" was convinced that he was 
 not in his right place. In about a month, he left, 
 and attended the market at Newark, taking his 
 stand among the servants who wanted places, and 
 fully trusting that God would direct the right per- 
 son to seek him out. About noon, a stranger 
 came, and at once engaged him to serve his 
 daughter at Swinderby. He then took him to 
 a man who was to be his fellow-servant, and 
 whom John to his great delight found to be a 
 Methodist. This man at once assured his new 
 companion that the situation was just what he 
 wanted ; that there was a Methodist Society at 
 Swinderby, and that the lady he was going to 
 serve was well disposed towards religion. He 
 afterwards found that this was all true, and at 
 once joined the Methodist Society, by becoming 
 a member of a Class. The Class-Leader gave 
 good and profitable counsel to his young charge, 
 who greatly needed it ; for, of late, he had been 
 losing ground. He still tried to serve God with 
 steady purpose, but did it rather from a sense 
 of duty than because his heart was in it. What- 
 ever he had of religion brought him no joy, and 
 very little peace. He heard others talk about an
 
 14 CHAPTER II. 
 
 assurance of God's favour given by the Holy Spirit ; 
 but, while this was the very privilege he longed 
 after, it seemed a mystery which he had no skill 
 to understand.
 
 CHAPTER HI. 
 
 CONVERSION. 
 
 HEARS the Rev. John Smith preach : Penitence : Salvation : 
 Temptation : Progress. 
 
 THE Rev. John Smith was now stationed in the 
 Lincoln Circuit, and news came to Swinderby of 
 the power of his preaching, and of the conversion 
 of many souls. John Hunt determined that he 
 would take the first opportunity of hearing this 
 good man, and, finding that he was to preach at 
 Thorpe, a place not far off, accompanied several 
 others to the service. He afterwards referred to 
 this memorable occasion, as follows : " There 
 was nothing in Mr. Smith's preaching that parti- 
 cularly struck me. The text was, 'This is a 
 faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that 
 Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners/ 
 The sermon was plain, pointed, and powerful, and 
 some parts of it awful ; but the effect on my mind 
 was rather hardening than otherwise. After the 
 sermon a Prayer-Meeting commenced, and, after 
 some time, concluded without anything remark- 
 able. We who were of the Swinderby party
 
 16 CHAPTER III. 
 
 thought it time to go home, and left the chapel 
 for that purpose. I felt much dissatisfied, as I 
 was going away exactly as I came, and proposed 
 to return to the chapel and remain a little longer. 
 To this our party agreed. A Prayer-Meeting was 
 still going on in the chapel, and some were seek- 
 ing mercy. Mr. Smith was praying with a poor 
 woman who could not believe in Christ; and, 
 feeling what was needed, he cried out, with all his 
 soul and might, ' Send us more power ! ' I knelt 
 near him, and remember, with some little feeling, I 
 said, ' Amen.' Immediately a most overwhelming 
 influence came upon me, so that I cried aloud for 
 mercy for the sake of Christ ; while I was, in a 
 minute, as completely bathed with tears and per- 
 spiration as if I had been thrown into a river. I 
 prayed, as in an agony, for a few minutes. Mr. 
 Smith came to me, and asked me what I wanted. 
 I answered, c I want my sins to be forgiven for 
 the sake of Christ/ This was all I knew. I had 
 only one thought, and only one way of expressing 
 it, either to God or man. Mr. Smith asked me 
 if I believed God gave His Son for me. I said, 
 ' Yes/ He then asked, ' Do you believe that 
 Christ has died for you ? ' I said, ' Yes/ He 
 then brought me to the point, and asked, 'Do 
 you believe that God is satisfied with the atone- 
 ment of His Son, and that now, for His sake, He
 
 SALVATION. 17 
 
 forgives you ? ' I could not answer this, but cried 
 to God for help, and was enabled to trust in the 
 sufficient atonement of Christ on my personal 
 account. At that moment I felt the pardoning 
 love of God, and cried out, ' I do save ! I do save ! ' 
 intending to say, 'He does save/ Mr. Smith 
 said, ' No, it is Christ that saves you/ That was 
 what I meant, and what I then proclaimed with a 
 heart full of ' joy unspeakable/ I exhorted all to 
 join me in praising the Lord, and had a most 
 delightful sense of His love, while we sang, 
 ' Praise God, from whom all blessings flow/ Wei 
 then returned home, rejoicing in God ; but on the 
 way I was tempted to believe it was all a delu- 
 sion, until the Apostle's words were applied to my 
 mind, 'Above all, taking the shield of faith, 
 whereby ye shall be able to quench all the fiery 
 darts of the wicked : ' and the temptation was 
 utterly dispelled." 
 
 Such was the place and manner of John Hunt's 
 birth into the new life. The man of mighty faith 
 who knelt by him as he struggled out of the last 
 bonds of unbelief, and uttered his first, incoherent 
 joy-cry of freedom, was no stranger to such 
 scenes. He was not one of those Ministers who 
 can content themselves with the uniform absence 
 of conversions under their ministry, getting com- 
 fort from certain sedative reflections about edify-
 
 18 CHAPTER III. 
 
 ing the Church, instructing believers, and so fortn. 
 John Smith did not make one part of his duty a 
 subterfuge, under which to skulk from the per- 
 formance of the rest. His heart was too large, 
 and too full of the love of Christ, to let him inter- 
 pret success as the mere hothouse growth of a 
 shut-in churchism; and God, whose Gospel he 
 honoured as the Gospel, honoured him, and gave 
 him to see hundreds reclaimed from sin, and made 
 happy and holy in Christ Jesus. 
 
 Little did the preacher think whereunto that 
 rough ploughboy's conversion would grow ; and 
 the ploughboy himself little imagined what a 
 course then opened before him. That heart was 
 prepared by God's tilth ; and there the seed lay 
 safe in God's keeping. 
 
 At first, the religion of the young convert, who 
 was now about seventeen years old, did not 
 prosper : he noticed many inconsistencies in one 
 who professed to be a Christian, and made them 
 the subject of conversation elsewhere ; and thus a 
 cloud was brought over his own spirit. After a 
 few months, however, this snare was removed, 
 and John was left alone among those who made 
 no religious pretensions. And now his heart 
 grew stronger in faith, and he advanced steadily 
 in the knowledge and love of God. The cloud 
 passed off, and the young Christian experienced
 
 PROGRESS. 19 
 
 all the fresh brightness which belongs to the 
 morning of the new life. He thus describes it : 
 
 "In no part of my religious course do I re- 
 member having such near intercourse with God; 
 such tenderness of conscience ; such delight in 
 His service, and such compassion for the souls of 
 others. I was persecuted by those around me; 
 but it was f for righteousness' sake/ according to 
 their own acknowledgment." 
 
 The rigid morality and strict observance of the 
 Sabbath, which were conspicuous in the young 
 Christian servant, exposed him to much ridicule and 
 annoyance ; and he actually left this situation at last, 
 because his principles were not sufficiently elastic 
 and accommodating to suit the looser notions of 
 others. In regard to all other matters, his situa- 
 tion was very comfortable ; but his way to leave 
 was plain, though it was by no means so clear 
 what was the next step to be taken : and a time 
 of painful anxiety followed. But the lad's 
 path was already being turned towards the high 
 career in which he was afterwards to be so greatly 
 distinguished, but of which, then, he had never 
 dreamed. 
 
 c 2
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 CALL TO PREACH. 
 
 ANOTHER Situation : Reading : Self-culture : First public Address : 
 Discouragement: A clear Call: Close Study and Success: 
 Another Step : Prayer and Diligence : A Candidate for the 
 Wesleyan Ministry : Received for the Foreign Work : Examina- 
 tion in London : Theological Institution. 
 
 JOHN HUNT was next engaged by Mr. Wilkin- 
 son, of Swinderby, for one year. And an import- 
 ant year it was. The new master was a good 
 man; and, moreover, possessed books, to which 
 his servants had access. Hitherto John's reading 
 had' 'gone very little beyond his Bible. He was 
 now scarcely nineteen years of age, and had read 
 Bunyan's " Pilgrim's Progress," a part of the 
 Methodist Magazine for 1812, and a few tracts. 
 " This," he says, " was my only library, for the 
 first two years after I began to serve God." But 
 now better times had come ; and the unlettered 
 youth stood amazed and delighted, as all the trea- 
 sures of all knowledge seemed to him to be arrayed 
 on the farm-house shelves. Here he first saw the 
 works of Wesley, Paley, and Dwight, and looked
 
 READING. 21 
 
 with astonishment at the manifold learning of 
 Home's " Introduction," and other kindred 
 works, each of which seemed to open a new world. 
 From this time he began to be a student. He 
 gave himself up eagerly to the reading of Wesley's 
 " Notes on the New Testament ; " but the first 
 book that thoroughly got hold of him was, Mason 
 on " Self-Knowledge ; " and it is impossible to 
 calculate how far the wisdom of that book went 
 to lay the foundation of the young reader's cha- 
 racter. During the rare and scanty leisure left 
 by his farm-work, he read diligently ; and new 
 thoughts filled his mind, and the beginnings of a 
 new life were in him, as he strode along beside 
 the team, or followed the plough. Strengthened 
 by the wholesome and nutritious diet afforded by 
 the books within his reach, his mind began to 
 exercise itself; and lookers-on would never have 
 suspected how, beneath' that blue smock, there 
 was a heart often beating high with the conscious- 
 ness of a power it scarcely dared to credit. 
 
 Whatever else he read or pondered, John still 
 kept his first book in the first place. As in all 
 his after life, so now, the Bible was the centre 
 of his system of study. There his heart was 
 fixed ; and though, as time passed on, his mind, 
 with growing vigour, went forth far, and gathered 
 much wealth of various lore, yet his heart was
 
 22 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 fixed as at first, and everything he won was stored 
 up where his treasure was. Thus, at the time 
 now referred to, he was accustomed to busy his 
 mind with a set subject, while his hands were 
 engaged in daily toil. Once only does this habit 
 seem to haye interfered with his regular work. 
 Once his master gave him orders to take a 
 load of corn to Newark the next morning. John 
 rose betimes, and fed the horses, and made due 
 preparation for the journey ; but, while thus em- 
 ployed, he must have got hold of some specially 
 interesting subject for thought, for he harnessed 
 the horses arid set off to market with an empty 
 wagon ! No doubt his meditations were more 
 profitable to himself than to his master. This, 
 however, was quite an exceptional occurrence. 
 No servant more thoroughly served his master. 
 He was always earnest in everything, and would 
 sometimes astonish his employer by the amount 
 of work he would get through in a short time. 
 Generally, the labour of his hands was not hin- 
 dered by the activity of his mind. Some passage 
 of Scripture usually formed the topic of young 
 Hunt's meditations ; and he set himself to find 
 the main points contained in it, and to trace 
 out the truths which they indicated. Sometimes 
 a feeling would creep over him, as though he were 
 standing before many listeners for whose benefit
 
 FIRST PUBLIC ADDRESS. 23 
 
 he unfolded the written word. But such a thought 
 only startled him, and was soon dismissed. Find- 
 ing that he was much the better for this habit of 
 daily meditation on a fixed passage, he spoke of it 
 to some other members of the Society, and recom- 
 mended them to adopt the same plan. This seems 
 to have deepened the impression felt by some 
 good people, who had marked the earnest piety of 
 the young man, that he was being prepared for a 
 life of special usefulness. One day his master 
 asked him to give a short address on the follow- 
 ing Sunday evening, when there was to be no 
 preacher at the Swinderby chapel. John was 
 frightened at the thought ; but as several others, 
 for whom he had great respect, backed the re- 
 quest, he gave a timid consent. At the time of 
 service, the place was well filled with those who 
 had assembled to hold a Prayer-meeting, and 
 before these John stood up in great fear. But 
 his heart was full of young, warm love ; and some- 
 how his thoughts found ready expression in fit 
 words; and the address which, perchance, would 
 have offended the nice ears of the refined reli- 
 gionist, nevertheless greatly warmed the hearts 
 of those plain villagers, and helped them to go 
 forth more cheerily into their next day's toil. 
 
 They who had asked the young farm-servant to 
 speak at the Prayer-meeting, felt their conviction
 
 24 CHAPTER IT. 
 
 strengthened, as to the elements of power which 
 already began to show themselves in him ; so 
 they requested him, soon after, to address the 
 congregation in a little Methodist chapel in an- 
 other village. His mind was very much disturbed 
 by this application, and he could not think it pos- 
 sible that he had or could have any fitness for such 
 employment. He told all his fears and trouble to 
 his master, and the good man answered in his 
 own plain, honest way, " If the Lord calls thee to 
 the work, He '11 give thee tools to work with." 
 Somewhat enheartcned, yet full of misgiving, 
 John, accompanied by a friend, went to the place 
 appointed. He had arranged his thoughts very 
 carefully, and all he intended to say was clearly 
 before him, as he went over it again and again 
 along the road. He reached the little chapel; but 
 when the time came for him to speak, his thoughts 
 became confused, and then took flight alto- 
 gether ; and this first appearance before strangers 
 was by no means a success. Discouraged and 
 sad, he returned home. That was a restless night 
 for him. All he had thought before about his 
 unfitness for such work came back with a force 
 doubled by the remembrance of his failure; and 
 the only comfort he could find was in resolving 
 never to meddle again with what was clearly no 
 business of his.
 
 DIFFIDENCE. 25 
 
 John's elders, however, still believed that he 
 was to preach, and urged him to make fresh trial. 
 There was in Swinderby a Local Preacher, in 
 whose Class John was a member, and whom he 
 afterwards described as " a very pious and clever 
 man, and one of my earliest and best friends." 
 This Mr. Ely ton was appointed to preach one Sun- 
 day at the village of Girton ; but, seeing that some- 
 thing would prevent, asked John Hunt to go for 
 him. He could not refuse the urgent request of 
 one in whom he had so much confidence. He 
 went to Girton, and got through the service more 
 satisfactorily than at his former attempt. Some 
 good people of respectability and intelligence who 
 attended the chapel were much pleased with this 
 early effort, and greatly delighted the good man 
 who had sent John, by telling him that they hoped 
 he would give them the same substitute whenever 
 he could not come himself. 
 
 But the young man himself was far from satis- 
 fied, and, from this time, passed through a course 
 of the most distressing doubt and temptation, 
 which lasted for some months. He shrank with 
 such unaffected terror from the thought of his 
 presuming, unbidden by God, to touch the holy 
 work of preaching, that for a while he could not 
 receive the encouragements of his friends and 
 fathers in the Church, or admit the fact, which
 
 26 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 others rejoiced to see, that his efforts had been 
 made useful. Yielding, at last, to the judgment 
 of those whom he held in high esteem, he allowed 
 his name to be put on the Circuit Plan as an 
 Exhorter. On receiving the first Plan upon which 
 his name appeared, he took it into his room, and, 
 shutting himself in, spread it before God ; and 
 then he prayed earnestly that he might know 
 whether it was the will of God that he should 
 preach the Gospel. As he knelt, the answer 
 came. His doubts and misgivings passed away, 
 and a clear conviction came upon him that his 
 duty thenceforth was to preach Christ. From the 
 moment when it was first given, to the day of his 
 death, that conviction was never disturbed. 
 
 At this important point in his history, John 
 Hunt was not only called by God to preach, but 
 received, with the commission, special grace to fit 
 him for the work. His piety increased, and, 
 under its influence, the noble vigour and earnest- 
 ness of his character soon showed themselves. 
 Conscious of his want of culture, he caught at 
 every chance of training his mind, and was dili- 
 gent in attending an evening school, where he 
 had lessons in writing and English grammar. He 
 soon became a favourite with the village congrega- 
 tions whom he addressed. When first he ap- 
 peared before them, many wondered to see such
 
 DILIGENCE. 27 
 
 a preacher come. His rough and somewhat un- 
 gainly appearance lost none of its effect when he 
 began to speak in rustic brogue ; but as he talked 
 on, among all his blunders, there was something 
 that won the attention. He aimed at nothing 
 grand, but spoke with simplicity that which he 
 evidently thought and felt. When next he came, 
 the wonder was that he improved so fast. Few 
 had any idea of how he had to watch and work 
 to reach that improvement. He was still a servant, 
 and was too genuine a Christian to make religion 
 an excuse for laziness, or to cheat his earthly master 
 under pretext of better serving his God. Some 
 Sundays he had to preach at a distant place, and 
 could not get back before midnight ; but, though he 
 might have walked many miles that day, he was in 
 the stable attending to his horses by four o'clock the 
 next morning. Beside this, he very frequently 
 spent two whole nights a week in prayer and 
 reading the Bible, with Wesley's, Fletcher's, and 
 Watson's works. Nearly twenty years had been 
 lost, and " the King's business required haste ; " 
 but the young watcher, working with such intense 
 effort, little thought how great was the enter- 
 prise for which he was being fitted by Him who 
 strengthened His servant to gather in months the 
 fruit of years. 
 
 John Hunt, the ploughboy, as he was still
 
 28 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 called, soon became a great favourite at the 
 country chapels in the Lincoln Circuit, and the 
 people flocked to hear him, while many had good 
 reason to be glad that they had ever listened to his 
 voice. In the year 1833, the Rev. William Smith 
 was appointed to superintend the Lincoln Circuit, 
 and, soon after his arrival, had an opportunity of 
 hearing John Hunt preach in a village chapel. 
 There was enough excellence in the young 
 preacher, notwithstanding his rustic bearing, his 
 awkward manner and broad dialect, to convince 
 Mr. Smith that he was listening to one who 
 gave uncommon promise of future power. After 
 the service Mr. Smith went to speak to 
 Hunt, and was astonished to hear him say that 
 he was only a common farm-servant. The 
 Minister then questioned him as to whether 
 he had ever felt any conviction that he ought to 
 give himself up entirely to the work of preaching. 
 The young man was evidently startled at an in- 
 quiry which went at once into that secret place 
 of his heart, where, for some time, there had been 
 a confused moving of unshapen desires and vague 
 longings after some other sphere of action. It was 
 not likely that the ploughboy would feel all he 
 had felt, as he found something in himself that 
 claimed kindred with the master-minds whoso 
 works he had studied with such delight, and yet
 
 ANOTHER STEP. 29 
 
 jog on as a mere ploughboy still. The full- 
 winged vigour, which strengthened so fast, could 
 not but feel some impatience at the binding 
 of the old chrysalis shell. There is in all true 
 genius an instinct as unerring as that of the 
 forest-bird which, hatched in the nest of some 
 homestead fowl, moves restless among the well-fed 
 pensioners at the barn-door, until, finding some 
 day that its pinions have grown strong, it starts, 
 with exulting cry, from the low ground, and makes 
 straight and swiftly away for the freedom of the 
 woods. John Hunt had genius, as true as ever 
 bore up some from the low level where once they 
 walked to the highest and noblest fame. But 
 he had in him more than the impulse of genius. 
 A power, not of this world, wrought mightily in 
 his soul. The word of Him who called those 
 fishermen, so that they left their nets and followed 
 Him, had come to this youth. As yet the word 
 was not all spoken ; but the listener's soul heard 
 enough to make him feel that he might not 
 always hold that plough. 
 
 When, therefore, Hunt was asked whether he 
 had thought of giving himself to the work of the 
 Ministry, he declared that a sense of unfitness 
 made him shrink altogether from such a sug- 
 gestion. But he confessed that he had an 
 "ambition" so he expressed it "to go to the
 
 30 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Cape, as a servant to Laidman Hodgson," the 
 Missionary, who had occasionally ministered in 
 Lincolnshire : there he thought he might do gar- 
 dening and farm-work, and perhaps " a little in 
 teaching children in the Sunday school, and in 
 preaching to the English settlers." This inter- 
 view confirmed Mr. Smith's conviction that the 
 young Local Preacher was to occupy a position 
 of greater activity in the Church; and he was 
 accordingly sent to some of the larger chapels in 
 the country-places, and then into the city. He 
 went on improving rapidly, until, in the beginning 
 of 1834, he entered the service of another Wes- 
 leyan, Mr. George Briggs, of Potter Hanworth. 
 
 During his residence in this place, Hunt gained 
 much power as a preacher. Not only was he 
 sought after in the country, but the city congre- 
 gations listened to him with delight. Judging 
 him by the standard of education and refinement, 
 he was seriously deficient; but his defects were 
 forgotten in admiration of his well chosen and 
 simple language; his rich imagination adorning 
 the solid, logical structure of his discourse; 
 the might of earnestness by which the fire in 
 the preacher's heart mastered his hearers, until, 
 sometimes, the whole audience bowed before the 
 uplifting of that hard, rough hand, and sobs and 
 tears replied to those earnest though ungram-
 
 A CANDIDATE FOR THE WESLEYAN MINISTRY. 31 
 
 matical appeals. The secret of his success is 
 given in a scrap which he wrote about the time 
 of his removing to Potter Hanworth : " I see, to 
 be useful as a public speaker, I must be eminent 
 as a private Christian;" and then he upbraids 
 himself for not having visited the sick diligently, 
 or reproved sin faithfully. While many admired 
 and sought him, he did not seem to be lifted up 
 by their praise ; but the growing consciousness 
 of his own defects kept him very humble, and led 
 him to continued prayer. The power which he 
 exercised in the pulpit, he had gained in the 
 closet. What seasons of intense pleading were 
 passed there, none can know but He who " seeth 
 in secret ! " On one occasion he had retired before 
 preaching, and a young man went to speak to 
 him, but quickly came back, saying that the 
 preacher had not noticed his entering the room, 
 but seemed so rapt in communion with God that 
 he had not the heart to disturb him. 
 
 On a Sunday morning he often went, as early 
 as four o'clock, to see another Local Preacher who 
 resided in the same place, and who still remem- 
 bers him with reverent affection ; and these two 
 would diligently prepare themselves by conver- 
 sation and prayer for the work of the day. 
 
 It was now generally known that Hunt was to 
 be proposed as a candidate for the W'esleyan
 
 32 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Ministry. The first step was to get the recom- 
 mendation of the Circuit Quarterly Meeting. This 
 was given unanimously and heartily in March, 
 1835. In the following May he passed the Dis- 
 trict Meeting, and was accepted as a Preacher on 
 trial by the Conference of the same year. He 
 had never lost his first bias of inclination towards 
 the Mission work, and it was at once decided that 
 he should be sent abroad. He still clung to the 
 idea of going to the Cape, and hoped that he 
 should receive an appointment to that colony. 
 
 When he came up to London to be examined, 
 with other candidates, before the Missionary Com- 
 mittee, his Superintendent Minister had to send 
 the usual communication about him, containing, 
 among other things, some sketch of the candi- 
 date's character and attainments. Mr. Smith's 
 letter about this Lincolnshire farm-boy amused 
 the Secretaries, who thought it a piece of good- 
 natured extravagance; but when they came to 
 examine the young man, they very readily ac- 
 knowledged that he was far beyond the average 
 standard. It was decided that Hunt should be 
 sent to the Theological Institution, which had 
 been established at Hoxton the year before. 
 
 There were some who regarded this step with 
 anxiety and almost with fear. They dreaded the 
 effect of such an entire change upon one in whom
 
 THEOLOGICAL INSTITUTION. 33 
 
 they felt the deepest interest. They saw the need 
 of refinement, but felt alarm lest, in the process, 
 some of the pure metal might be lost. These 
 were not among the objectors who, almost invari- 
 ably uneducated themselves, can see no need of 
 an educated Ministry, and who hold that there 
 can be no increase of learning or mental culture 
 except at the expense of piety. Those who fol- 
 lowed John Hunt to London with their prayers, 
 were the first to acknowledge the benefit he de- 
 rived from his residence there, and became zealous 
 supporters of the Institution, upon which they 
 looked at first with shyness and mistrust. 
 
 Hunt himself rejoiced at the prospect of going 
 to Hoxton; and, spending the latter part of his 
 time in Lincolnshire with Mr. Grimes, of Wad- 
 dington, had leisure to prepare himself more 
 fully for regular study.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 STUDENT LIFE. 
 
 PKOGEESS : Advice to a Class-Leader : Plan of daily Devotions : 
 Letter to Dr. Bunting : Second Session at Hoxton : Christian 
 Holiness : Spiritual History : The Rev. John M'Lean's Visit 
 to Hoston : Revival : Sanctifi cation : Rapid Improvement : 
 The Preacher : The Man : Oxford : Third Session begun. 
 
 IN September, 1835, John Hunt entered the 
 Theological Institution, which was then under the 
 government of that most reverend man, Joseph 
 Entwisle. There were about twenty young men 
 in the Institution, and among these the Lin- 
 colnshire man soon became a general favourite; 
 though his blunders in reading, his ungainly car- 
 riage, and provincial brogue, sometimes provoked 
 a smile. 
 
 It was a great change from farm work to stu- 
 dent life, and, at first, the young countryman 
 found himself suffering from headache ; but before 
 long he was able to apply himself with all his 
 characteristic" earnestness to his studies, and, as 
 might be expected, his progress was rapid and
 
 PROGRESS. 35 
 
 sure. He became warmly attached to Mr. 
 Entwisle and the Tutors, and won the unceasing 
 esteem and love of his fellow -students. As & 
 Preacher he was frequently employed, and often 
 with marked success. About two months after his 
 arrival in London, he writes to a friend : " The Lord 
 has made me a blessing since I came to London. 
 O that I were more holy ! then I believe I should 
 be more useful. I am afraid some will be lost 
 because I am not more holy ! But why should 
 this be the case ? My God is willing to give me 
 all the salvation which Jesus died to purchase for 
 me ; and willing now. Lord, I do receive more 
 of Thy salvation while I am writing ! I do re- 
 ceive by faith an increase of holiness. Lord, 
 help me to believe, and all is mine ! 
 
 ' Give, give me all my soul requires, 
 All, all that is in Thee.' 
 
 "Let us not be satisfied with being ordinary 
 Christians. Let us pray and believe, until praying 
 and believing become -habitual. I believe it is 
 possible to live in the Spirit to such a degree, that 
 it would be as natural to pray and believe as to 
 breathe." 
 
 To the same friend, who had recently become a 
 Class-Leader, he wrote some time afterwards : " I 
 am very happy that I have now to think of you
 
 36 CHAPTER V. 
 
 and to pray for you in an official character. I 
 think this is one of the most important periods of 
 your life. Although I have not sustained the 
 office myself, perhaps I may give a little instruc- 
 tion on this subject. I think, then, that every 
 Class-Leader should be a diligent student of per- 
 sonal experience. You must, in this respect, be 
 always at home, reading your own heart, attending 
 to all its workings, and making experiments. You 
 will find this of great use. In connexion with 
 reading your own heart, you must read and study, 
 as time will permit, Mr. Wesley's ' Sermons and 
 Notes on the New Testament/ in which you will 
 find religion taught in the same way in which 
 God teaches it to every child of His, in His own 
 experience, by His Holy Spirit. These things, 
 of course, must be subordinate to the study of 
 your Bible. And, with respect to that blessed 
 book, we must always be scholars : I mean literally 
 such. We must never give up the practice of 
 committing Scripture to memory. We never 
 speak to or for God better than when we do it in 
 His own words. Recommend this plan to your 
 charge, and follow it yourself. 
 
 "As soon as you can, it will be well to ask 
 them to pray in the Class. They will often get 
 more spiritual good in this way than in any other. 
 Try to make them active. When you can, take
 
 LETTER TO A CLASS-LEADER. 37 
 
 them with, you to visit the sick; and use every 
 possible argument to cure their natural shame of 
 religion. 
 
 "But you know all these things; and I beg 
 your pardon for saying so much on the subject. 
 Since I last wrote, I have not been so well in 
 health as formerly ; but I am now getting better. 
 "With respect to my experience, it has varied very 
 much too much. * O, how wavering is my 
 mind ! ' Sometimes I have been getting oa well; 
 at other times I have gone the contrary way ; so 
 that I fear I am not much advanced. Perhaps 
 you think me rather backward in stating my 
 Christian experience. It is not for want of 
 Christian love to you, or of Christian confidence 
 in you. No, the one is pure and fervent; the 
 other firm and unwavering. But the reason (if I 
 have one) is, that I am ashamed of it : not 
 ashamed of the religion I have, but ashamed that 
 I have so little. I find myself reproved, however, 
 for this, in your honest confession of fault and 
 unfaithfulness. I have much cause for such confes- 
 sions. I am a very ungrateful child, and some- 
 times suffer very much on account of my unfaith- 
 fulness. However, I have much cause of gratitude 
 to my long-suffering God. He is good ! He is 
 good ! O that my heart were filled with love ! 
 O that my lips could speak His praise ! I have 
 
 86090
 
 38 CHAPTER V. 
 
 found the Lord good to me in ray public engage- 
 ments lately. 
 
 "Tis worth living for this, to administer bliss 
 And salvation in Jesus's name ! ' 
 
 " I enjoyed the Missionary Anniversaries very 
 much, and I trust was afresh baptized with 
 the Missionary spirit. We had very pleasing 
 intelligence from Africa, the place, I expect, of my 
 future labours. It is probable that I shall have 
 another year in the Institution. I hope I shall. 
 I am just getting into my studies, and another 
 year would be of much more use than this has 
 been. But I must submit to the will of my 
 Heavenly Father and His Church." 
 
 Towards the close of this his first year at the 
 Theological Institution, Hunt had adopted the 
 following plan for his devotions at the beginning 
 and close of the day. 
 
 " 1. Commence the day with praising God for 
 the mercies of the past night; and repeat the 
 Lord's Prayer. 2. As far as possible, lay out the 
 business of the day. 3. Bring every part of this 
 business before God in prayer, and ask His help 
 against the probable dangers of the day. 4. Read 
 a portion of the New Testament, on my knees. 
 5. Head a portion of the Old Testament, and pray 
 for my friends, relatives, the Church, and the 
 world. Altogether this will occupy an hour.
 
 LETTER TO DR. BUNTING. 39 
 
 "Night. 1. Commit to memory a passage of 
 Scripture. 2. Self-examination ; Confession ; 
 Thanksgiving ; Prayer/' 
 
 With much anxiety, and far more satisfaction 
 to the judges than to himself, Hunt passed the 
 examination at the end of the year. He had now 
 learned enough to make him more hungry than 
 ever after knowledge, and was full of fear lest 
 he should be taken away from Hoxton before 
 he had made further progress. In writing to Dr. 
 Bunting, the President of the Institution, he says, 
 " Such is the sense which I feel of my privileges 
 in the Wesleyan Theological Institution, that I 
 regard my coming to it as the most important 
 event of my life, my conversion to God excepted. 
 
 "Amongst the many privileges which I have 
 enjoyed in the Institution, the fatherly and pas- 
 toral care of our honoured Governor, the Rev. 
 Joseph Entwisle, has not been the least important 
 and useful. From him I have received much 
 Christian counsel and advice. He has endea- 
 voured to correct my errors in reading, writing, 
 &c., and has given me much instruction concern- 
 ing Methodism generally, and the duty of a 
 Methodist Preacher in particular. These instruc- 
 tions, together with his holy example, have been, 
 and I am sure will be, of great service to me. 
 He has always endeavoured, and I trust not with-
 
 40 CHAPTER V. 
 
 out success, to impress upon our minds the im- 
 portant truth, that the great work of a Christian 
 Minister is to ' save himself and them that hear 
 him/ 
 
 "The instructions which I have received in 
 Christian theology from our honoured theological 
 Tutor, the Rev. John Hannah, have been of the 
 most beneficial character." After sketching the 
 theological course, he proceeds, "I have invari- 
 ably retired from these lectures with a deep sense 
 of my own ignorance, and with new and exalted 
 views of the authority, excellency, and truth of the 
 Bible. And I trust that, in some degree, my mind 
 has been stored with its truths, and my heart with 
 its grace." 
 
 He then goes on to enumerate his other studies, 
 all of which had, of course, been purely element- 
 ary. He had begun to enjoy researches into 
 History, Logic, Astronomy, Electricity, and Che- 
 mistry, but was paying special attention to Eng- 
 lish Grammar, Geography, and Arithmetic. In 
 concluding, he writes : " I have preached eighty- 
 eight times since I have been in the Institution ; 
 and I hope I have not laboured in vain. 
 
 "Allow me, Sir, in conclusion, to say, that 
 such is my view of the importance and responsi- 
 bility of the Christian Ministry, my own unfitness 
 for the proper discharge of its various duties, the
 
 SECOND SESSION AT HOXTON. 41 
 
 good which I have already derived from the Insti- 
 tution, and the adaptation of everything connected 
 with it to make me ' a workman that needeth not 
 to be ashamed/ that I earnestly request I may 
 stay another year." 
 
 The importance of Hunt's continuing a student 
 at Hoxton was felt by others as well as himself; 
 and in August, 1836, he resumed his work, after 
 having visited his home, and preached about thirty 
 times during the vacation. 
 
 This session was remarkable in the course of 
 John Hunt's studies as the time when he began 
 to learn Latin and Greek. But it is far worthier 
 of note in the religious history of the Student- 
 Preacher. He returned to Hoxton dissatisfied 
 with his own degree of piety, and with a convic- 
 tion of the need of holiness, which seems to have 
 oppressed rather than stimulated him. He ad- 
 dressed himself diligently to the subject of Chris- 
 tian holiness, as a part of his theological studies ; 
 and a solid foundation of well ascertained truth 
 was the result. Already his views on this great 
 matter were clear, well assorted, and carefully 
 guarded. Some who have taught a recklessly 
 loose doctrine of perfection, might learn, with 
 advantage to themselves and their disciples, from 
 the young student. "I am very much afraid," 
 he says, writing to a friend, " of people who have
 
 42 CHAPTER V. 
 
 exalted views of sanctification lowering the stand- 
 ard of justification. I think this is not a needless 
 fear. I have known some who have professed to 
 enjoy entire sanctification, who have asserted the 
 impossibility of forgiving our enemies, and of 
 loving them that hate us, and of blessing them 
 that curse us, in a justified state. Now I am sure 
 this is contrary to my experience, and I think to 
 yours, and I think to the word of God." 
 
 The more Hunt searched into the teachings and 
 promises of the Bible concerning holiness, the 
 more he reproached himself with living unblessed 
 by the great good which he saw within his reach. 
 A notable crisis in the young Preacher's life was 
 close at hand ; and it is well that of this very 
 time we have a brief record given by himself. 
 
 " Nov. 4th, 1836. I now, in the fear of God, 
 commence keeping a diary. I think it will be of 
 use to me. And as this is a very important 
 period of my life, I have no doubt that what I 
 may write will be useful to me in future days. I 
 am now in a poor state in my soul. I have en- 
 joyed much more religion than I enjoy at present. 
 I have been very unfaithful to my God ; and, 
 although I constantly purpose to be more devoted 
 to Him, I am as often unfaithful to my purpose, 
 or I fail in performing it for want of more 
 strength. I trust in Jesus for all that I need.
 
 SPIRITUAL HISTORY. 43 
 
 " Saturday, 5th. I bless God, I think I have 
 had a better day to-day. I went, this afternoon, 
 into the town with tracts, and found many poor 
 creatures glad to receive them. Some of these 
 are wretched indeed. I hope I feel for them ; but 
 I do not feel half enough. To-night I went to a 
 Prayer-Meeting. I professed to be in earnest for 
 full salvation. O that my future life may give 
 evidence that this profession was a true one ! I 
 need, I very much need, this blessing. I know it 
 is the will of God that I should have it. O, why 
 have I not? Lord, save me, I beseech Thee, for 
 Christ's sake ! 
 
 " Sunday, 6th. I had not so much comfort in 
 preaching as I generally have. I think, however, 
 that I am making some progress in religion. 
 
 " Monday, 7th. I think, on the whole, I have 
 made some improvement in my spiritual concerns 
 this day. But I want to be more holy. I am 
 full of sin, and am not fit, either for God's ser- 
 vice here, or for His heaven, if He were to call 
 me. Jesus, let me know my interest in Thee for 
 full salvation. Nothing but this can fully fit me 
 for the important work of preaching the Gospel. 
 O, what are all other qualifications ? Lord, save 
 me ! 
 
 "Tuesday, 8th. I think I am making some 
 improvement in the things of God. I have heard
 
 44 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Brother H. to-night, and I think I shall be more 
 earnest than I have been to save sinners. 
 
 "Wednesday, 9th. I have had a comfortable 
 day to-day. I believe the Lord is leading me on 
 in the paths of righteousness for His Name's sake. 
 I want to be more, much more devoted to God. I 
 expect I shall have to go to Africa, and I am sure 
 I am not at all fit for such an undertaking in my 
 present state. I want more of everything, but 
 especially religion. Lord, save me, for Christ's 
 sake ! 
 
 "Thursday, 10th. I have had a tolerably good 
 day. I have to study very hard, perhaps harder 
 than I ought; but I have much, very much, to 
 learn ; and there are many things which I must 
 learn here, or I shall never learn them at all. 
 But what use will it all be if I have not a propor- 
 tionate degree of religion? Thank God, I may 
 have this ! I may have as much of the best of all 
 gifts as I am willing to receive. God has placed 
 the whole of the Gospel blessings within my reach. 
 I know I have only to ' ask and have whatever I 
 want.' 
 
 "Friday, llth. I have had a good day. I 
 think I make some improvement; but I am not 
 cleansed from all sin. I feel that a want of full 
 salvation is a real hinderance to me. 
 
 "Tuesday, 15th. My silence so long speaks
 
 SPIRITUAL HISTORY. 45 
 
 against me; and this is only one witness. Con- 
 science also speaks, and I find I am not getting on 
 so well as I have been. I was at Gravesend on 
 Sunday, and preached three times, from Matt. 
 xxii. 37; Mai. iii. 16; Acts xiii. 38, 39. I had a 
 good day, and hope I was made a blessing in some 
 degree. I want more of God. Last night I heard 
 Mr. Dawson. A blessed man he is. 
 
 " Wednesday, 23rd. On Sunday I was at Nor- 
 wood. I preached twice and held a Lovefeast. I had 
 a good day, and heard what I had never heard in 
 my life. A gentleman told me that he attended a 
 Lovefeast at Brixton the Sunday before, and, out 
 of twelve that spoke, eleven enjoyed entire sancti- 
 fication. What a blessing ! Glory be to God ! 
 But I don't enjoy it. I find it is enjoyed by some 
 
 in the Institution : professed it to-night in 
 
 the Class-Meeting, and I believe is near to 
 
 the kingdom of God. Lord, help me ! I am far 
 from it yet. 
 
 "Thursday, 24th. I have had a better day, I 
 think, although I am far from being happy. But 
 I do not expect to be very happy until I get fully 
 sanctified. I seem to be a long way from the 
 kingdom of God. I know it is my privilege. 
 Lord, quicken me, for Thy name's sake ! Amen. 
 
 " Monday, 28th. I bless my God for His good- 
 ness to me. If I have not very much deceived
 
 46 CHAPTER, V. 
 
 myself, I have had a good day to-day. I was at 
 Waltham Abbey yesterday and at Copthall. I 
 preached in the morning from, 'We love Him, 
 because He first loved us.' In the afternoon 
 from, ' Be careful for nothing/ etc. In the even- 
 ing, Acts xiii. 38, 39. I had a good day, and 
 hope I was made a blessing to the people. More 
 of the young men are getting full salvation. 
 Glory be to God ! I hope I shall soon be one of 
 them. Lord, help me ! 
 
 "Tuesday, 29th. Thank God, I have had a 
 good day to-day ! I am getting nearer the king- 
 dom of God, and I hope soon to enter in. I feel 
 the Lord is ready to save me. There is a most 
 blessed feeling among us in the Institution at this 
 time. I hope the Lord will arise, and maintain 
 His own work among us, and sanctify us all." 
 
 The time now referred to was indeed memorable 
 at Hoxton. Not long before, the Rev. John 
 M'Lean had visited the Institution, and addressed 
 the students, in his own warm, earnest way. His 
 appeal went on sounding in the hearts of his 
 hearers after he had gone, and day by day they 
 were roused more fully. It was evident that a 
 fresh power was at work, quietly but certainly, 
 among the men. When they met, they wore a 
 more serious look; and, passing by the study 
 doors, one might have heard from some of the
 
 REVIVAL. 47 
 
 rooms the suppressed pleadings of a man in an 
 agony of prayer. At the household worship, 
 morning and evening, the same power showed 
 itself in the intense feeling with which the hymn 
 was sung, and which caused many a response to 
 the petitions of the student whose turn it was to 
 conduct the service. Then at the Class-Meeting, 
 one day, a brother praised the Lord, and told how 
 he felt that "the blood of Jesus Christ His 
 Son cleansed from all sin." That thanksgiving 
 cheered on several who had been secretly weeping 
 before God, and longing to be made holy. Then 
 they were drawn together by the common desire, 
 and from one study and another there was heard 
 the voice of those who cried after deliverance, and 
 the exulting praise of those who felt that now sin 
 had no more bonds for them. Those were glori- 
 ous days in the old Institution house. Men got 
 blessed there who have carried blessing to many 
 since. Hearts were hallowed there which have 
 brought the same power of purifying into many a 
 Church and many a home since. Arms got 
 strengthened there for the work and the fight, in 
 which they have wrought and battled as con- 
 querors since. And some, in whose breasts the 
 glory of the Most High then shone, wear that 
 glory on their brows in Paradise now. 
 
 When the rich baptism came from heaven upon
 
 48 CHAPTER V. 
 
 that band of students, John Hunt's heart opened 
 to receive it. Of late he had been again and 
 again troubled by finding that he had not lost all 
 tendency towards former evil. Sometimes such 
 discoveries made him fear lest, after all, he should 
 become a castaway. He knew that the same 
 grace which, through faith in Jesus, had already 
 changed his heart, while it brought remission of 
 past sin, could also end the perpetual conflict by 
 which only he had since kept his ground. He 
 had known this long; and now the time came 
 when he wholly yielded himself to the working of 
 that grace. Let him tell the history of it himself. 
 " I was praying in my closet, and saw very 
 clearly that God's plan of saving was through 
 faith in Jesus. I therefore came to the atone- 
 ment, just as I was, polluted indeed, but not so 
 much so that the blood of Christ could not cleanse 
 me. As soon as I ventured, I found the Lord 
 faithful to His promise, and the blood of Christ, 
 at that moment, cleansed me from all sin. Since 
 then (about three weeks before) I have had con- 
 stant peace and sometimes ecstatic joy. I have 
 felt no sin, and consequently have been preserved 
 from those troubles which inbred corruption used 
 to cause. I now find daily, what for years I have 
 thought to be impossible, to live without con- 
 demnation. Thank God, all is peace, and calm-
 
 REVIVAL. 49 
 
 ness, and love ! I begin in the morning to praise 
 Him the moment I rise, and thus endeavour to 
 begin, continue, and end the day \vith God. 
 
 " I think it is possible to receive fresh blessings 
 every moment, and to honour God every moment. 
 Why not ? Glory to God ! it must be His will ; 
 and if it be my desire and I have faith, I see 
 nothing to withstand it." 
 
 This great religious quickening at the Institu- 
 tion was no passing excitement, and its effect was 
 far more than the introduction of an enthusiastic 
 mysticism among the Students. The congrega- 
 tions before which they had to minister felt that 
 a new power was upon the young men at Hoxton ; 
 and much Church indifference was disturbed, and 
 many sinners awakened by their preaching. In- 
 stead of yielding to the thought that they must 
 wait until their full ministerial employment for 
 opportunities of general usefulness, the brightened 
 light within them showed them the evil and 
 wretchedness which were in their own neighbour- 
 hood. So they took the poorer districts as the 
 scene of work, and, using the offer of a tract as an 
 introduction, went from house to house trying to 
 do good, and not without marked success. 
 
 As the session wore on, John Hunt, with his 
 heart overflowing with holy joy, grew rapidly in 
 all knowledge. Already there was a great out- 
 E
 
 50 CHAPTER V. 
 
 ward change in him. Much of his roughness had 
 gone ; but all the sterling worth of the man re- 
 mained uninjured. His appearance, manner, and 
 dress, were in keeping with his character. As he 
 stood up to preach, everything about him struck 
 the observers with the idea of power. His tall and 
 well-proportioned frame massive, but not stout, 
 broad of chest and large of limb was the true 
 type of the soul within. When he spoke, good 
 and solid thoughts came forth, with natural utter- 
 ance, in plain, manly speech, sinewy and strong ; 
 no affectation, no tinsel, nothing weak, nothing 
 small. Yet, with all this power, there was nothing 
 unwieldy or vulgar. True, it wanted no keen 
 critic to discover whence he came ; for his words 
 had a northern sound about them, and the 
 preacher had something of the farmer-look still; 
 but his frank, expressive face had become pale 
 with thought and hard study, and there was a 
 masterly light in his clear, steady eye that com- 
 manded respect. And as he went on, warming as 
 he preached, how that eye would flame sometimes ! 
 and what a token of might was the stretching 
 forth of that long arm ! and in every sentence or 
 action there was a manly grace, as far from all 
 coarseness as from a finicking dandyism. 
 
 By his friends he was greatly loved. And no 
 wonder. He was a man ; a man among the
 
 THE MAN. 51 
 
 crowds of the human race who call themselves 
 men, and are not. For verily there are those 
 who have nought of great manhood but the 
 form ; and some have been thrust high up, and 
 crowned with bay, or laurel, or gold, or other 
 glitter, who would have to go back to childhood 
 again to get a chance of becoming MEN. In vir- 
 tue, then, of his simple manliness of character, 
 John Hunt was greatly beloved. A cheery 
 brightness made his face shine, and his whole man- 
 ner was free and happy among friends ; though 
 when, as sometimes happened, he fell among 
 grand people, he was manifestly ill at ease in 
 the unaccustomed restraints of " company." But 
 when at home, he was a companion and a friend to 
 rejoice in. He looked at a subject in a clear, 
 common-sense fashion, and talked accordingly. 
 No tinsel, frippery, or sham had any charpis for 
 him. He sought after the thoroughly good and 
 real, and gathered a great store of such ster- 
 ling wealth more quickly than most men. Yet 
 he was by no means of that hard, cast-iron tem- 
 perament, which affects to despise the tender and 
 beautiful. His heart readily softened into pity, 
 and was made glad by beauty everywhere. Then, 
 too, he spoke out with such an unmistakeable 
 clearness, and all the while looked at you with 
 such a bright honesty, that you felt he could 
 E 2
 
 52 CHAPTER V. 
 
 never deceive any one. Yet he was not one of 
 those rude troublers of all peace who rejoice in 
 wounding and disturbing by what they call their 
 plainness, a decent name which they give to 
 the barking of their currish vulgarity. John 
 Hunt had in him the essential principle of all true 
 politeness, a sensitive regard for the feelings of 
 others, in the absfence of which, the elegancies 
 taught by professors and governesses are but a 
 sorry makeshift. The pursuit of a great object, 
 and constant intercourse with the loftiest truths, 
 raised the man, while the power of a deep and 
 fervent piety made him fruitful in every good 
 word and work. 
 
 At the close of this second year's study, Hunt 
 passed his examinations with great credit; and 
 was engaged during the vacation to work in the 
 Oxford Circuit for some weeks. Before leaving 
 Hoxton, he was glad to learn that he would pro- 
 bably return there, and continue his studies until 
 the time came for him to go abroad. Towards 
 that time he looked with longing. Nothing bent 
 his first missionary purpose, and daily he prayed 
 for fitness to preach the Gospel in Africa. 
 
 " I am now/' he writes to a friend, " as you see, 
 at the grand city of Oxford. It is a most beau- 
 tiful place, to be sure. I think God is making 
 me a blessing to the people here. The congrega-
 
 OXFORD. 53 
 
 tions in Oxford, and in the country places too, 
 have increased much, and there is certainly a 
 deeper interest felt in religious things. I have all 
 the respect that I can possibly desire ; but I want 
 to see a more signal work of God. I thank my 
 God, for myself, I continue to give myself to 
 Him, and He gives His blessing to me. Last 
 night we had a Missionary "Tea-Meeting, and I 
 got almost to the top of my missionary feeling. 
 We had a very affecting time indeed, and I trust 
 the fruits of it will be seen another day. I think 
 I can say my heart is more than ever in the mis- 
 sionary work. I have been rather pained of late 
 to find people so anxious to keep me at home. I 
 give them credit for their affection and motives, 
 but not for the simplicity of their religion. I 
 think true religion is truly missionaiy, and is glad 
 for the Heathen to have the Gospel at any price/' 
 Elsewhere he says, " I think I have not made 
 holiness so prominent as I should have done. I 
 intend to preach on the subject to-morrow, if all 
 be well. I suppose some here are opposed to the 
 doctrine or to the manner of stating it. I am 
 only anxious to be faithful and useful. I think 
 the greater part of the people here are right- 
 hearted. I trust we shall have a blessed work of 
 God. I do not think it will be so, unless they 
 have an increase of holiness. Lord, help me ! I
 
 54 CHAPTER V. 
 
 pray for an increase myself : this is the first step 
 to a revival of God's work." 
 
 In August Mr. Hunt returned to Hoxton, full 
 of affectionate regard for " the dear people at Ox- 
 ford," of whose kindness he spoke in the strongest 
 terms. The remaining months of the year were 
 spent in hard study and frequent preaching. In 
 all his laborious preparation, Africa was upper- 
 most in his thoughts, and he worked on to get his 
 mind more fully furnished and equipped, while he 
 liked to think that his agricultural knowledge 
 would help him to raise the condition of the 
 Kaffirs. 
 
 At this period his public advocacy of Christian 
 Missions is worthy of note. His speeches on this 
 great subject were very telling, and left a deep 
 impression on his hearers ; the effect of which was 
 seen in much of that intense interest which was 
 universally felt in the Mission, of which Mr. 
 Hunt afterwards became such a distinguished 
 member.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 MISSION APPOINTMENT. 
 
 " PITT poor Fiji : " Test : Triumph : J^aving Hoxton : Visit to 
 Lincolnshire : Marriage : Colleagues : Ordination : Letter to 
 Dr. Hannah. 
 
 WHILE Hunt's heart and mind were fixed on 
 Africa, as the place of his future service, a great 
 cry reached England from the far Pacific. In 
 Tonga and the Friendly Islands, the Wesleyan 
 Missionaries had been at work for some time, and 
 with great success. Within two hundred and 
 fifty miles of these islands lay the larger and more 
 important group of Fiji, which was frequently 
 visited, in the way of trade, by the Tongans, who 
 brought back horrible tales of what they saw and 
 heard. After a time, two Missionaries were sent 
 from the Friendly Islands, to try to open a Mis- 
 sion in Fiji. They soon found that but a little 
 had been told of the dreadful condition of this 
 group, where the most revolting cruelties and 
 systematic cannibalism were all but universal. 
 Then was sent to England that appeal, " Pity 
 poor Fiji/' which was issued from the Wesleyan
 
 56 CHAPTEE VI. 
 
 Mission House, and stirred the Methodist Socie- 
 ties throughout the kingdom. It awoke the 
 strongest feeling among the young men at Hox- 
 ton, and Hunt felt as much as any ; but still he 
 regarded it as a settled thing that he was to go to 
 Africa. In the beginning of February, 1838, he 
 received a summons to the Mission House, where 
 he was asked whether he would go to Fiji. 
 Startled at such an unexpected request, he re- 
 turned to Hoxton much troubled, and, making 
 his way to the room of a fellow-student, said, with 
 quick, excited tones, " They have proposed that I 
 go to Fiji." His friend felt almost shocked at 
 this sudden announcement, and deeply sympa- 
 thized with Hunt, whose whole frame seemed 
 writhing with an emotion he had never shown 
 before. He expressed this sympathy, and spoke 
 of the perils and hardships of a Mission to those 
 cannibals. "O, that's not it I" exclaimed the 
 other, almost passionately. " What is it, then ? " 
 Hunt's strong form was almost convulsed by 
 some intense feeling. At last he said, " I '11 tell 
 you what it is. That poor girl in Lincolnshire 
 will never go with me to Fiji; her mother will 
 never consent ! " It was with no craven fear that 
 the young man trembled, but with the yearning 
 of his great heart towards her he had faithfully 
 loved for the last six years, and who had nobly
 
 TEST. 57 
 
 consented to share the Missionary's life anywhere. 
 But the dreadful things just heard about Fiji 
 made him fear on account of that gentler one, 
 who so long had leaned on his strong love. His 
 friend advised him to write at once to Miss Sum- 
 mers, who was then at Leeds on a visit, and to all 
 who were concerned ; and trust in that God who, if 
 He gave the call, would also make the way plain. 
 And, feeling the matter to be too great to admit 
 of anything but simple plainness, he sat down and 
 wrote to " that poor girl in Lincolnshire " as 
 follows : 
 
 DEAR HANNAH, 
 " I HAVE some strange news to tell you, and I 
 am not able to use many words in making it 
 known : you must, therefore, excuse my abrupt- 
 ness. I have been fixed upon by the Missionary 
 Committee to go to the South Seas. You must, 
 therefore, immediately return home, and make 
 preparations for becoming a Missionary's wife to 
 a most remote Station, for twenty years. No one 
 knows my feelings, dear, for our dear friends. I 
 hope the Lord, who has led us hitherto, will still 
 guide and help us. I never had such difficulty in 
 seeing my way. I believe it is of God : it is en- 
 tirely unsought for by me. I need say no more. 
 May our God help us and bless us in this most
 
 58 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 important and distressing affair ! I shall be at 
 Newton, if possible, on Thursday. I hope to see 
 my dear my more than ever dear Hannah at 
 the same time. We have only a month or five 
 weeks for everything. God bless my dear ! 
 
 "J. HUNT." 
 
 Whatever doubts the writer of this letter had, 
 it is clear that he had none concerning her to 
 whom he wrote. Their mutual love had been 
 consecrated, as their costliest offering, to God, 
 without any conditions, and both hearts were too 
 true to draw back. Thus, when Mr. Hunt wrote, 
 it never entered his mind to ask any opinion ; but 
 he simply stated the decision of those whom he 
 felt bound to obey, confident that she who had 
 promised to become the Missionary's wife, would 
 not fail him now. Yet others might seek to put 
 difficulties in the way ; and, until the answer 
 came, Hunt went about among the Students 
 wearing an appearance of dejection, at which they 
 wondered. After a little while he hastened to the 
 friend to whom he had confided his fears, and, 
 with a bright face and cheery voice, cried out, 
 " It 's all right ! She '11 go with me anywhere ! " 
 
 There are some yes, many " who profess and 
 call themselves Christians," who would not have 
 hesitated to tell Miss Summers that she would be
 
 LEAVING HOXTON. 59 
 
 justified in refusing to go. She had been brought 
 up in comfort.; she was not of robust health ; and 
 the privations and dangers of such a Mission as 
 that to Fiji were very great ; and there are many 
 Christian parents who would have refused a 
 daughter for such a work. Their children, gen- 
 teelly religious, may take a Sunday-school class, or 
 a Tract district ; but what is to become of their 
 expensive education, and their elegant accomplish- 
 ments, if they go to some Foreign Mission Sta- 
 tion? So they must stay at home, and practise 
 Christianity made easy. Verily, they have their 
 reward. Poor things ! it might have been greater 
 if they had been less respectable. 
 
 Within a few days Mr. Hunt's appointment to 
 Fiji was settled ; and, before the meeting of the 
 Committee where the formal decision was given, 
 he had so fully made up his mind that he was to 
 go, that he packed up his books and clothes ready 
 to start at once for Lincolnshire. The parting 
 with his fellow-students was hard work. " They 
 seemed/' he says, " as if they could not let me go, 
 such was their affection. They made me a pre- 
 sent of Bloomfield's Testament and Robinson's 
 Lexicon, and left a deep impression on my mind 
 of their sincere love to me. This was all pleasing 
 to me, and will serve, in my future life, to unite 
 me to the Institution in affection and in prayer.
 
 60 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 We Lad a Prayer-Meeting before we parted ; and 
 a melting time it was to us all, and to me in 
 particular." 
 
 About one o'clock on the 14th of February, the 
 formal decision of the Committee was given ; and, 
 by half-past two, Hunt was on the coach starting 
 for home. Before five o'clock the next morning 
 he alighted at the toll-gate near Balderton. He 
 knew the man at the gate as a fellow-Christian, 
 and had written, intrusting to him the task of 
 telling the news about his appointment to the 
 folks at home. This duty had been judiciously 
 performed ; and, after making some inquiries, and 
 resting a while, the traveller hastened to visit his 
 parents, whom he found calmer than he expected. 
 
 The next fortnight was spent among his old 
 friends in Lincolnshire. He preached nearly 
 every night, and sometimes in the morning as 
 well ; but wherever it was, and at whatever time, 
 the people crowded to hear him. He writes, 
 "My message was received with gladness, and 
 much good was done. Blessed be God ! " Neither 
 were more substantial marks of esteem wanting; 
 for contributions to the Missionary's outfit came 
 in on all hands, so that he describes himself as 
 " laden with gifts." 
 
 On March 6th, Mr. Hunt married Miss Sum- 
 mers, of Newton-on-Trent ; and, in a few days
 
 ORDINATION. 61 
 
 after, brought her to London, to make final 
 arrangements for their departure. 
 
 The stirring appeal " Pity poor Fiji " had 
 wrought more than excitement among those who 
 heard it. New and enlarged contributions were 
 frequent ; and a good lady in Lincolnshire, Mrs. 
 Brackenbury, of Raithby Hall, guaranteed the 
 expenses of Mr. Hunt's outfit and passage. The 
 same lady nobly promised to pay 50 annually, 
 for three years, towards his support, if the Com- 
 mittee would send out two Missionaries with him, 
 instead of one, as they had resolved. Another 
 was forthwith selected; and James Calvert, who 
 had been, for a short time, at Hoxton, was ap- 
 pointed to accompany Messrs. Hunt and Jaggar 
 to Fiji. 
 
 On the 27th of March, the young Missionaries 
 were solemnly ordained in the Wesleyan chapel at 
 Hackney, and many an overflowing heart wished 
 them God-speed. About three weeks after, the 
 whole party left for Gravesend, accompanied by 
 the four General Secretaries. Two days before 
 embarking, Mr. Hunt, writing to his beloved 
 Tutor, Dr. Hannah, on several subjects, ended his 
 letter in this characteristic way : 
 
 "Accept of filial love to yourself and Mrs. 
 Hannah. Love also to your dear family. I
 
 62 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 claim you as my father; and I humbly demand 
 that, when you bless your numerous children, 
 some natural, others spiritual, and others minis- 
 terial, whom you nourish and feed, you will ( bless 
 me, even me also, O my father ! ' Let me have 
 your blessing, your paternai blessing. At your 
 family altar, where your heart beats highest with 
 fervent affection, there remember me and mine. 
 " I am, and ever shall be, 
 
 " Your most affectionate Son, 
 
 "J. HUNT."
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 DEPARTURE AND ARRIVAL. 
 
 VOYAGE out : Sydney : United farewell Service : " Letitia : " Tonga : 
 Arrival in Fiji : First District-Meeting : Appointment to Rewa. 
 
 ON the 29th of April, 1838, the Mission party 
 sailed for Sydney, followed by many an earnest 
 prayer for their safety and happiness. Nothing 
 worthy of note occurred during the voyage. Mr. 
 Hunt spent the time on board in diligent study ; 
 a thing which many have resolved to do in like 
 circumstances, but few accomplish it. Family 
 prayer was held in the cabin morning and 
 evening, and preaching twice on the Sunday. 
 Among the Mission party, Class-Meetings were 
 regularly held, much to their enjoyment and 
 profit. In all these services Mr. Hunt took a 
 prominent part. Every one on board respected 
 and loved him, and he tried to do all the good 
 he was able among the sailors as well as the 
 passengers. 
 
 On August 24th, the vessel anchored at Syd- 
 ney, and the Mission party received a hearty wel- 
 come from their brethren M'Kenny and Watkin.
 
 64 CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 Mr. Hunt and his companions remained in the 
 colony about two months, during which time they 
 visited the principal towns, and attended Mission- 
 ary Meetings, and preached in the different chapels. 
 Here they were afresh strengthened for their work, 
 and cheered by the evident success of their efforts. 
 The good people in Australia were delighted with 
 their visitors, and Mr. Hunt soon became as great 
 a favourite there as he had been in England. In 
 the Colony, too, were some who, like those at 
 home, would fain have held back the Missionary 
 from his special work. The inducements offered 
 to Mr. Hunt to remain in Australia were made as 
 tempting as they could be. Why should he go 
 any further? Here was abundant opportunity for 
 useful work. He had already had a long voyage, 
 quite long enough to constitute him a Missionary. 
 If he would stay in the Colony, he should have 
 every comfort secured to him ; but at Fiji, among 
 those disgusting savages, he would have to lead a 
 miserably uncomfortable life ; his dear young wife 
 there, not very strong, would be exposed to suffer- 
 ing and insult, and the people yonder were by no 
 means particular as to whom they clubbed and 
 cooked. But all this cost had long since been 
 reckoned ; and they little knew the man they dealt 
 with, who thought to keep John Hunt back from 
 his duty by any forebodings of difficulty, or
 
 SYDNEY. 65 
 
 allurements of personal comfort. The motives 
 which directed his conduct were far beyond the 
 reach of caprice ; and he could not regard his 
 commission to preach to the cannibals the un- 
 searchable riches of Christ, as a matter for him to 
 play with just as people chose. He valued the 
 affection of those who would have seduced him 
 from his right path ; but he thought no more of 
 their religious principle than he would of that 
 of a Missionary who would have shirked the 
 Island work, while comforting his conscience with 
 some such cordial as " a wider field of usefulness in 
 the Colony." 
 
 On October 25th, 1838, the Missionaries left 
 Sydney. The Rev. John Williams, of the London 
 Missionary Society, who soon afterwards lost his 
 life among the cannibals of Erromanga, sailed, with 
 a party of fellow-labourers, on the same day. On 
 the previous evening, a united farewell service, at 
 which all the Missionaries with their respective 
 friends were present, was held in the Baptist 
 chapel. The two vessels lay several miles off, 
 near the Sydney Heads, and the two missionary 
 companies went in the same steamer to join them. 
 Many loving friends accompanied them thus far, 
 and many more parted with them on the shore, 
 with tears and the breathing of earnest blessing. 
 The time on board the steamer was spent in sing- 
 F
 
 66 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 ing and prayer, and with such fitting dismissal 
 the missionary bands set out on their great 
 enterprise. 
 
 The party bound for Fiji embarked on board the 
 " Letitia," a small and shaky schooner of seventy- 
 three tons' burden. The accommodation was of a 
 very miserable kind, and the passengers had hard 
 times of privation and inconvenience for twenty- 
 six days, after which they reached Tonga. During 
 a stay of about ten days in the Friendly Islands, 
 they supplied the Mission there with fresh stores, 
 and visited the principal Stations ; and being made 
 glad by the greeting of the brethren at work in 
 the Islands, and by witnessing the renewing won- 
 ders of the Gospel among the people, they left for 
 Fiji on the 19th of December, and anchored off 
 Lakemba on Saturday, December the 22nd. The 
 next morning the whole party came ashore, and 
 spent thankfully their first Sunday in Fiji. 
 
 Within the next few days, the Missionaries held 
 the first Fiji District-Meeting, under the direction 
 of the Rev. David Cargill, M.A., who had been on 
 the Station for about three years. The important 
 question of the most efficient disposal of the re- 
 inforcement was well considered ; and, taking into 
 account the inexperience of the new comers, it was 
 resolved that no fresh Station should be tried for 
 the present. Mr. Cross, the companion of Mr.
 
 APPOINTMENT TO REWA. 67 
 
 Cargill in the opening of the Mission, was now ill 
 at Rewa, and had received permission to remove to 
 Australia. His place had to be supplied. E/ewa 
 was a long way off, on Viti Levu, at the other side 
 of the Group. It was no light matter for a young 
 man to go there with his young wife, to live alone 
 among a savage people, of whose manners and lan- 
 guage they were altogether ignorant. Mr. Hunt 
 was requested to undertake this service, and forth- 
 with gave his consent.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 MISSION WORK REWA. 
 
 ENTRANCE on actual Work : First Attempt at Preaching in Fijian : 
 Flood : Progress in the Language : Namosimalua : A Priest's 
 Dream : Return of the King : Tokens of Success : Intimacy with 
 the Natives : Appointment to Somosomo : Visit to Viwa : First 
 Attempt at Translating : Reading : Persecution : Sympathy. 
 
 ON January 3rd, 1839, Mr. and Mrs. Hunt 
 sailed from Lakemba in the "Letitia," which steered 
 for Moala, an island about half-way to Rewa, at 
 which the Captain wished to trade. The natives, 
 however, refused to have any intercourse with 
 their visitors, so that, after standing off and on for 
 some time, the vessel sailed for Rewa. The cause 
 of the Captain's disappointment proved a great 
 advantage to his passengers ; for, on reaching the 
 Rewa Roads on the 7th, they found that, had they 
 been a day later, they could not have landed their 
 goods for some time, as the King was about start- 
 ing, with all his canoes, to attend a feast at the 
 island of Kandavu. 
 
 On this memorable day, the date of Mr. Hunt's 
 entering on his actual work, he thus writes in his
 
 ENTRANCE ON ACTUAL WORK. 69 
 
 Journal. "Jan. 7th, 1839. This morning we came 
 in sight of llewa, and in the afternoon anchored 
 safely in our ' desired haven. 3 We have long and 
 anxiously looked for it ; and, for apparent wretched- 
 ness, it comes up to all our preconceived notions.* 
 Our anchorage was about five or six miles from the 
 Mission Station, our way to which was up a most 
 beautiful river, said to be more than one hundred 
 miles long. The island looked exceedingly lovely 
 as we sailed along the winding stream. Nature 
 all appeared charming till we saw the master-piece, 
 man ; and a sight and especially the first sight 
 of a Fijian is very appalling. The people were 
 much surprised to see us come ; and stood, nearly 
 naked, staring and shouting with astonishment, as 
 we passed. Mrs. Hunt, especially, was an object 
 of wonder, as many of the natives had only seen 
 one white woman before." On reaching the 
 Station, Mr. Hunt found that Mr. Cross's health 
 was so far improved that he had resolved not to 
 leave, but to stay as long as possible to help the 
 younger Missionary, whose heart was much 
 lightened by this decision. 
 
 The same evening/ they called on the King of 
 Rewa, who kindly undertook to land their goods 
 
 * Rewa, at this time, presented a very cheerless appearance, as a 
 great part of the town had been destroyed by fire, and was not then 
 properly rebuilt.
 
 70 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 on the following day ; and though the distance was 
 so great, and there were seven or eight canoe- 
 loads, yet all came safely ashore before the next 
 night. Mr. Hunt says, "I never saw such dis- 
 patch at any of the other islands. We brought a 
 Fijian with us from Tonga, who had embraced 
 Christianity, and his application to his book was 
 most gratifying. He might have been making 
 some Newtonian discovery, he was so intent on 
 learning to read. He was making a discovery of 
 greater importance, ' that Christ Jesus came into 
 the world to save sinners/ O that every Fijian 
 knew this glorious truth ! " 
 
 Mr. Hunt began his missionary work with all 
 the earnestness of his character controlled and 
 directed by the strongest religious devotion. 
 Writing at this period of his history, he speaks 
 of himself as " determined by God's grace to live 
 entirely to His glory, and the advancement of His 
 blessed cause." How unwaveringly he kept to 
 that determination the following pages will tell. 
 
 While establishing his home among the people 
 of Rewa, the new Missionary set himself diligently 
 to learn their language. Day by day he received 
 fresh and terrible proofs of the degradation and cru- 
 elty of those among whom he had come to dwell ; 
 and every discovery of this kind made his longing 
 more intense to be able to communicate the trea-
 
 FIRST ATTEMPT TO PREACH IN FIJIAN. 71 
 
 sures of purity and love of which his own heart 
 was so full. His first attempt to address the 
 people in their own language was made in about 
 a month after his arrival, and the event is thus 
 recorded in his Journal : 
 
 "Feb. 18th. Last Wednesday, Mr. Cross hav- 
 ing gone to Mbau, I had to take the service in the 
 afternoon. I had composed a sermon, intending 
 to preach a week before ; but the rain prevented. 
 Of course I had to read nearly the whole of my 
 sermon; but the people were, in general, very 
 attentive, and I had, for the first, a comfortable 
 time." 
 
 Frightful accounts of cruelty, butchery, and can- 
 nibalism frequently reached the Station, or came 
 under the actual observation of the Missionaries, 
 soon proving that, much as they had heard, the 
 half of Fiji's horrors had not been told. Amidst 
 it all, Mr. Hunt writes : " I feel myself saved from 
 almost all fear, though surrounded with men who 
 have scarcely any regard for human life. We are 
 in the hands of a God whom even the Heathen 
 fear, when they hear of Him. The people at 
 Lakemba say that their god has actually left the 
 island, because our God has beaten him till his 
 bones are sore ! The people are really afraid for 
 the safety of their gods, and some of them have an 
 idea that Christianity will prevail. The King says
 
 72 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 it must be so ; ' for who can stop it ? It will be 
 the religion of all.' " 
 
 A week after his first attempt, Mr. Hunt 
 preached again, " with some comfort/' and found 
 himself able to say a little without notes, "but," 
 he simply remarks, " perhaps not very correctly." 
 It was an advantage that, while he was thus stum- 
 bling through his first efforts in speaking the 
 native tongue, the lung and Chiefs continued at 
 the feast at Kandavu ; so that the congregations 
 before which he practised were scanty, and com- 
 posed of the commoner sort of people . 
 
 In the early part of March, a heavy rain fell, 
 and the river became so swollen as to overspread 
 the country for a considerable distance. The 
 Mission-house, which was built on a raised ter- 
 race, was surrounded with water, and the servants 
 were able to swim in the garden. 
 
 Under the date of March 18th, Mr. Hunt says : 
 " I am able now to take two or three services in 
 a week. I have to use rather copious notes ; but 
 intend to do this for some time to come, as they 
 will do for the people to read after they have heard 
 them, until they can have something better. 
 
 " I want much more religion. There is need, in 
 preaching, of the power which is necessary to 
 make it the sword of the Spirit, and ' the power of 
 God unto salvation.' I believe that this increase
 
 NAMOSIMALUA. 73 
 
 of power will be given, when I have more of the 
 Spirit myself. I desire and determine to make 
 known nothing among the poor Fijians but ' Christ 
 and Him crucified/ O that my speech and my 
 preaching may be with the demonstration of the 
 Spirit and with power ! " 
 
 Just before Mr. Hunt's arrival in Fiji, a pro- 
 fession of Christianity had been made by Namosi- 
 malua, Chief of Viwa, a small but important island 
 off the coast of Great Fiji, on which Rewa is situ- 
 ated. Namosimalua had been one of the greatest 
 monsters of crime that ever Fiji had produced, and 
 hundreds of men and women had fallen be- 
 neath his club. There was never any ground for 
 hope that this man had become converted ; yet his 
 profession of religion was certainly attended by the 
 giving up of many of his evil practices, while he, 
 at times, warmly espoused the cause of Christi- 
 anity. What his actual state of heart was may be 
 judged from the following fact. He ordered a 
 chapel to be built on his island, the site chosen for 
 which was a plot sacred to the old religion, and 
 sacred trees, growing there, were cut down to make 
 posts for the new building. At first he determined 
 that none but the Lotu people, or Christians, should 
 help in the work ; but afterwards the assistance of 
 the people generally was solicited, with an intima- 
 tion that if they refused, they should be trampled
 
 74 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 to death ! When the chapel was finished, the 
 Chief thought it important that a large flag should 
 be attached to a neighbouring tree, with something 
 painted on it vaka Papalangi, in English style. 
 
 Whatever was the personal state of Namosi- 
 malua, his countenance and help were of great use 
 to the Mission, and there were already forty per- 
 sons in Viwa who professed to be Christian. In 
 Rewa, also, the power of the Gospel was beginning 
 to be felt. Several poor creatures were saved from 
 being buried alive, and the Missionaries were 
 encouraged by seeing the indirect influence of the 
 truth. 
 
 A priest had a dream, which he published, to the 
 following effect. His god came to him, and told 
 him that he was going to leave the land. He was 
 not afraid, he said, when Mr. Cross was alone, for 
 he thought it possible for them all to live together : 
 but now Mr. Hunt had come, he was very much 
 afraid ; for Mr. Hunt was so very tall. He feared 
 that he should be killed if he remained at Rewa ; 
 so he was preparing to leave at once. 
 
 On the 2nd of April, the King and his retinue 
 returned from Kandavu. The occasion was cele- 
 brated with all Fijian pomp. About twenty gaily 
 decked canoes some of them very large passed 
 up the river with the King, who was accompanied 
 by nearly a thousand men, whose immense white
 
 RETURN OP THE KING. 75 
 
 turbans, and fantastic folds of painted cloth, 
 helped to make the spectacle more striking to the 
 strangers, who had seen nothing like it before. 
 In the afternoon the Missionaries visited the 
 King, and were well received. Taking the posi- 
 tion he assigned them near himself, they wit- 
 nessed the ceremony of presenting food to the 
 King and his party. Provisions in vast quantity 
 and great variety were brought, with most scru- 
 pulous attention to prescribed form. Every atti- 
 tude was in perfect order; and, as many scores 
 of bearers advanced and retired in long proces- 
 sion, every hand and foot was moved in strict 
 conformity to the same rule. A dance then took 
 place, performed by the ladies, surrounded by the 
 admiring eyes of many hundreds of the people. 
 But, according to Mr. Hunt's account, it must 
 have been anything but an exciting affair. " The 
 whole ceremony," he says, " consisted in taking a 
 particular step, very deliberately and uniformly, 
 and in putting their" hands into particular pos- 
 tures. A company of well trained infantry could 
 not be more exact in every movement either of 
 the hand or foot." This lively exhibition lasted 
 an hour, and finished the ceremonies of the day. 
 
 In this great festival, the Missionaries received 
 every mark of respect from the King and his 
 Chiefs, and diligently used the advantage, then
 
 76 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 and afterwards, to urge these men of influence to 
 forsake their false and cruel religion, and accept 
 the blessings of the Gospel. On the 15th of 
 April, Mr. Hunt writes, "I have preached at 
 Singatoka, this evening, to a large congregation 
 of natives, some of whom were very attentive, 
 and most of them remained until the service was 
 concluded. I endeavoured to explain to them the 
 nature of repentance and faith, and some of them 
 seemed to understand what was said. 
 
 " I am now in much favour with some of the 
 Chiefs. How long it will continue, I know not. 
 I place no dependence on the friendship of Hea- 
 thens. Two of them, Thokonauto and Vativuaka, 
 call me their friend, and seem really to have a 
 strong regard for me. I instruct them as much 
 as I can in the religion of Christ, and they seem 
 pleased with all they hear from me. Vativuaka 
 went to the King, the other day, to ask whe- 
 ther it would not be better for them all to em- 
 brace Christianity. The King said Vativuaka 
 might if he pleased ; but he the King must 
 wait and look after the land. It appears that the 
 greatest Chiefs have not courage to embrace reli- 
 gion before the King ; and of course all the people 
 are of the same mind. Some of the Chiefs assem- 
 bled in the King's house, the other day, to con- 
 sult about a feast, and one said they had better
 
 TOKENS OF SUCCESS. 77 
 
 begin by talking about Christianity. ' Are we to 
 embrace it ? ' he asked, ' or are we to take all the 
 people away ? ' The King said, ' Why talk about 
 the Lotu ? * Do you wish to Lotu ? ' Another 
 Chief said, ' You may all Lotu; I alone will re- 
 main/ This man and another have, universally, 
 a bad reputation, and, I am afraid, will be very 
 troublesome. The Lord has their hearts in His 
 hand. It is rather remarkable that two of the 
 worst men in Rewa have embraced Christianity ; 
 one a most notorious man some time since, 
 and, very lately, another who, though a Tongan, 
 is said to have eaten more men than any one in 
 Fiji" 
 
 The changed lives of such men as these could 
 not but awaken interest and inquiry; but the 
 people were afraid to hear the Missionaries, lest, 
 by listening, they should seem to have gone over 
 to the new religion ; a step which few dared to 
 take until their rulers set the example. 
 
 Mr. Hunt worked on with unfailing diligence, 
 striving, by hard study at home, and by frequent 
 conversations with the people, to get a thorough 
 knowledge of the language. Sometimes the 
 friendliness of the natives became a sore trouble. 
 They are wondrously quick in reading character, 
 
 * Lotu is the native word for " religion," but is now the name 
 universally given to Christianity.
 
 78 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 and soon found out the frank kindness and warm 
 generosity of the Missionary's heart. There never 
 was a more thoroughly unselfish man than John 
 Hunt, or one who found it harder to say " No " to 
 a plea for help. The natives knew it, and worked 
 their knowledge as much to their own profit as 
 his personal loss and the sacrifice of comfort at 
 the Mission-house. " We are much teazed," he 
 says, " with the visits of the people. They seem 
 to think we have nothing to do but to talk to 
 them." 
 
 Such constant and familiar intercourse, how- 
 ever, served to make Mr. Hunt better acquainted 
 with the true state of the people. And the more 
 he knew, the more their burden of evil seemed to 
 weigh down his own heart, and he toiled and 
 prayed the harder, that he might gain power to 
 spread in Fiji the Gospel of Christ. He thus 
 meditates on the results of his inquiry. " Some 
 have said that the Fijians are comparatively a vir- 
 tuous people. Those only have formed this opi- 
 nion of them, who have had only to buy their 
 women and their turtle-shell for muskets and 
 powder. We who have to convert them to Chris- 
 tianity find it very different. All the virtue they 
 possess, is a willingness to gratify the lusts of 
 others when, in doing it, they can gratify their 
 own. It is remarkable that those who talk the
 
 APPOINTMENT TO SOMOSOMO. 79 
 
 most about their virtue are the most afraid of 
 them; so that they dare not walk about among 
 them, unless well armed with pistols, cutlasses, 
 etc." 
 
 In the following month, Messrs. Cargill and 
 Calvert visited Rewa, to join the Missionaries 
 there in discussing some important affairs con- 
 nected with the Mission. The visit is thus re- 
 corded by Mr. Hunt : 
 
 "May 10th. To-day we have the pleasure of 
 seeing our brethren Cargill and Calvert from 
 Lakemba. We heard last night that they were 
 off Nukulau, and I hastened at once to fetch them 
 in the canoe. My heart danced for joy on hear- 
 ing of their arrival, and most gladly did we wel- 
 come them to our shores. It has been agreed 
 that I shall go to a new Station, Somosomo. To 
 this I have consented, trusting it is, as it seems to 
 be, an opening of Providence. We have men- 
 tioned our going to some of the Chiefs and people, 
 who disapprove of it much." 
 
 Towards the end of this month, Mr. Hunt 
 visited Viwa, and the Mission prospects con- 
 tinued to brighten. The following is from his 
 Journal : 
 
 "June 18th. Since I wrote last, a Chief of 
 some importance has embraced Christianity. This 
 is good at this stage of our work ; for we want a
 
 80 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 little influence. The people are much afraid of 
 disobeying their Chiefs ; and no wonder ; for they 
 have not many degrees of punishment here ; most 
 crimes are capital." 
 
 On the same day Mr. Hunt mentions his first 
 attempt at the work of translating, in which he 
 afterwards reached such distinguished success, and 
 by which he has blessed Fiji to the end of time. 
 And, concerning this work, thus writes the man 
 who, not long before, followed the plough on a 
 Lincolnshire farm : 
 
 " I have now been in Rewa five months and a 
 week, and begin to think it time I tried to translate 
 a little. I commence with the Gospels, principally 
 because I have more help in them than in any 
 other part of Scripture. I have a part done to 
 my hand by Mr. Cross, and a translation in the 
 Lakemba dialect by Mr. Cargill. I don't intend 
 to call any man master, but to think for myself. 
 This has been my plan hitherto, and I intend to 
 pursue it. My plan is this : 1st. To read over the 
 chapter for translating in the Greek Testament, 
 and examine particularly any word, about the 
 meaning of which I have any doubt. I read 
 Bloomfield's Notes, and Campbell's Translation, 
 and any other books I have to assist me in ascer- 
 taining the meaning of the text. 2nd. After 
 having, as I think, mastered the chapter, I com-
 
 READING. 81 
 
 mence translating. I use as my standard for the 
 text the Greek Testament, together with the 
 English version ; and for the translation, not any 
 man exclusively, but myself, all the natives I can 
 have access to, and the translations that have been 
 already made." 
 
 While thus engaged, Mr. Hunt gave attention 
 to general reading, and was studying, with great 
 delight, Blackstone's " Commentaries." He says, 
 too, " I read an account of Byron the other day, 
 and of Swift to-day." And then the Methodist 
 Missionary in Fiji goes on to moralize about the 
 lordly poet. " Poor Byron ! I pity him much. 
 He lived a wretched life ; and the best proof one 
 can have of such a man's unfitness for death is, 
 that he thought himself tolerably well prepared. 
 I feel determined to live nearer to God. I am 
 beneath what I should be. I am not in a right 
 element. I pray, and read, and write, and preach, 
 and use all means perhaps ; but I do not use them 
 in the Spirit. I want more Bible religion. ' Full 
 of faith and of the Holy Ghost/ is the character I 
 aim at." 
 
 Before long, the opposition which the truth is 
 sure to provoke, began to show itself in Rewa. 
 The conversion of a Chief of some influence has 
 been mentioned just above. Another Chief, of 
 still higher rank, was offended at his decision, and 
 G
 
 82 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 charged one of the Christians with persuading 
 him. To punish this man, he went to his house 
 and took away an axe and the greater part 
 of his property. Shortly after, the great man 
 seemed to repent, and sent for the Christian to 
 drink yaqona the native grog with him, in 
 token of peace, saying that he always felt unhappy 
 when he had wronged the Christians. However, 
 on the following Sunday, the same Chief sent to 
 borrow an axe of the Tongan convert, who had 
 formerly gained such celebrity as a cannibal. But 
 now he was trying to conform to all the require- 
 ments of the religion which he had lately pro- 
 fessed, and refused to lend the axe on the Sunday, 
 but promised to let the messenger have it on the 
 next day. This made the Chief furious ; and he 
 declared that he would have revenge, not only on 
 the old Tongan, by taking his axe by force, but 
 by plundering all the Christians. In the middle 
 of the night, therefore, he collected above five 
 hundred men, and, putting himself at their head, 
 visited and robbed nearly every Lotu family in 
 Rewa, taking away all they possessed, except the 
 grass on which their mats had been spread. It 
 was considered a wonderful thing that, where life 
 was less respected than property, no one, in all 
 this attack, was injured. The sufferers bore, with 
 noble cheerfulness, " the spoiling of their goods/'
 
 PERSECUTION. 83 
 
 Mr. Hunt remarks, " The Fijians are naturally 
 very covetous, and for them willingly to part with 
 anything is quite contrary to their nature ; and I 
 believe nothing would have enabled them to do so 
 but the grace of God. I am thankful, for this as 
 well as for other reasons, that the thing has hap- 
 pened, as it has given me the opportunity of see- 
 ing Fiji Christians in the fire, and all glory to 
 the God of grace ! they bear the test well. 
 
 " I am thankful, on another account, that we 
 have had this persecution. It has led me to exa- 
 mine my own heart before God; and the result 
 has been that I have humbled myself before Him, 
 and have determined to trust more fully in the 
 cleansing, as well as the atoning, blood of Christ, 
 and to devote myself in heart, and mind, and soul, 
 more fully to God." 
 
 The Missionaries went to the King to complain 
 of the outrage which had been committed. He 
 was very angry about it ; and the Chief his own 
 brother who had perpetrated the offence, was 
 severely reproved. This, however, only tended to 
 irritate him yet more, so that, in the King's pre- 
 sence, he threatened the Missionaries ; at which 
 the King was very much enraged, and, giving his 
 brother a club, seized one himself, and prepared 
 to fight. The Chiefs present now interfered ; but 
 the King said significantly to his brother, " If 
 o 2
 
 84 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 you injure the Missionaries, I will begin to eat 
 Chiefs." All knew the meaning of the threat, 
 and the offender was much alarmed, and begged 
 to be forgiven. 
 
 " We have had," writes Mr. Hunt, " many an 
 anxious hour during these trials of our faith. We 
 know so much of the native character as to know 
 that we need always be ready to part with our 
 property and our lives too. We have endea- 
 voured to turn our care into prayer; and God 
 has, in some measure, sanctified our sorrow and 
 anxiety, by turning our mourning into joy." 
 
 The following extract shows what skill Mr. 
 Hunt had in giving comfort to those who suffered. 
 It is from a letter written to Mr. Calvert, who 
 was then at Lakemba, passing through trouble : 
 
 " We are very glad to learn, from the note we 
 have received to-day, that your minds are kept in 
 peace, and that you ' possess your souls in patience.' 
 ' Let patience have her perfect work, that ye may 
 be perfect and entire, lacking nothing.' The will 
 of God is your entire salvation ; and sometimes 
 the way to a full meetness for heaven, as well as 
 to heaven itself, is through much tribulation. 
 Indeed, those who have washed their robes and 
 made them white in the blood of the Lamb, 
 passed through their tribulation at the same time 
 that, by faith, they washed their robes ; and per-
 
 SYMPATHY. 85 
 
 haps their tribulations were the principal means 
 of bringing them to trust in the blood which 
 cleanseth from all sin. If our troubles are not 
 equal to theirs, our blessings may be as great. 
 We may possess the same purified nature, and be 
 with them before the throne, and serve God day 
 and night in His temple. 
 
 "We feel much for our dear friends at La- 
 kemba, and especially for Mrs. Calvert; but we 
 can only help you and them by our prayers, I 
 have no doubt that all will be right. Duties are 
 ours : events are God's."
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 SOMOSOMO. 
 
 ILL Fame of the new Station : Miserable Passage : Cheerless Recep- 
 tion : Mission-House : Horrible Scenes : Letter to Mr. Calvert : 
 Affliction : An Evening Service : Death of the First-born : Letter 
 to Mr. Cargill : Strangling : Trouble and Annoyance : Enduring 
 Faith : Plan of Theological Study : Small Success : A Cannibal 
 Feast : Danger and Deliverance : Christian Love : Letters 011 
 Entire Sanctification commenced : Visit to Rewa : Extracts from 
 Correspondence : Love to the Heathen : War and Cannibalism : 
 Domestic Affliction : Arrival of the " Triton : " Visitation Tour : 
 Great Peril : Alarm at the Mission-House : Mrs. Hunt's Illness : 
 Letter to Mr. Calvert : New Mission-House : Style of Preaching 
 to the Natives : Divers Occupations : Appointment to Viwa : 
 Sketch of the People : Retrospect of the Mission. 
 
 ON July 15th, the "Letitia" again arrived at 
 Nukulau, which is off the entrance of the river 
 leading to Rewa, bringing the Missionaries who 
 were to occupy the Station on Mr. Hunt's removal, 
 and work the printing-press which they brought 
 with them. They were accompanied by Mr. Lyth, 
 who had arrived from the Friendly Islands, and 
 who, to Mr. Hunt's great comfort, was to share
 
 ILL FAME OF THE NEW STATION. 87 
 
 the toil and danger of opening the Somosomo 
 Mission.* 
 
 Mr. Hunt, though very poorly at the time, at 
 once made active preparations for the removal. 
 He felt some pain at leaving a people in whom 
 he had taken great interest, to go to a place, 
 the savage inhabitants of which were regarded, 
 even in Fiji, with something of the same hor- 
 ror that the Fijians generally are thought of in 
 England. This was entirely new ground for the 
 Mission ; for no Christian agent had visited it, and 
 no one belonging to the place had joined the Lotu. 
 Mr. Lyth says of it : " Its intercourse with the 
 more frequented parts of the Group was rare and 
 uncertain; and ships seldom called there. No 
 white man, at the time of our arrival, resided on 
 the island. One, a Scotchman, who had touched 
 at a neighbouring island, on his way from the 
 Windward to the Leeward part of the Group, had, 
 but a short time previous to our coming, been 
 barbarously murdered for the sake of the little 
 property he possessed/' 
 
 It was not likely that the knowledge of these facts 
 would enliven the prospect of going to dwell at 
 
 * Somosomo, a town of great importance, and one of the chief 
 centres of power in Fiji, is built on the shore of the picturesque and 
 fruitful island of Taviuni, which lies off the south-eastern extremity 
 of the large island of Yanua Levu.
 
 88 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Somosomo. It was true that the King had begged 
 that Missionaries might come to his town ; but it 
 was because he hoped they would bring good store 
 of axes, hatchets, knives, and other articles of 
 European manufacture, whereby he and his people 
 should be enriched. The position, however, was very 
 important. The Chiefs of Somosomo ruled over 
 many islands, and the authorized presence of Mis- 
 sionaries at the head town would be the most effi- 
 cient charter for the Lotu in all the tributary tribes. 
 Then, too, those very horrors and abominations 
 which would have supplied the best reason for not 
 going near such a den of fiendish cannibals, also 
 furnished the Missionaries with the most powerful 
 motive to settle themselves there. The greater the 
 evil the more need of the cure ; so they went, and 
 took with them the Gospel to Somosomo. 
 
 Mr. Hunt, in telling how they regretted parting 
 with the Rewa Christians, goes on to say : " But 
 the difficulty of leaving Hewa and going to Somo- 
 somo only affected us as mortals : as Missionaries 
 we thought nothing of the privations or trials we 
 might have to endure. We expect to sow in tears, 
 as confidently as we hope to reap in joy ; and 
 therefore trials and privations are words seldom 
 used by us, and things that are thought much 
 more of by our dear friends at home than by 
 ourselves."
 
 MISERABLE PASSAGE. 89 
 
 On the 22nd of July, Messrs. Lyth and Hunt, 
 with their wives, embarked for the new Station, 
 accompanied by Mr. Cargill, and came to anchor 
 off Somosomo on the morning of the 29th. Mr. 
 Hunt was very ill during the passage, and all were 
 about as uncomfortable as being shut in a 
 wretched, filthy, little schooner could make them. 
 Moreover, the vessel had a steward who in all 
 respects was as dirty as itself; and a captain who 
 got drunk on arrack, the fumes of which mingled 
 with the foul stench of the hold, which had 
 nothing to divide it from the cabin, where the 
 Missionaries and their wives spread mattresses 
 over chests and boxes, and tried, with but sorry 
 success, to sleep at night. Although the people 
 had made such a stir about having the Mission- 
 aries, yet, now that they were come, no one greeted 
 them; their arrival was treated with the coolest 
 indifference, as they went ashore, and quietly 
 made their way to the King's house. Here they 
 found the King, Tuithakau, a fine old man, above 
 seventy, with a frank and kind face, and his son 
 the Regent, Tuikilakila, nearly forty years of age, 
 and of almost gigantic stature and frame. The 
 Missionaries were well received, and Tuikilakila at 
 once accompanied them to mark out a site for 
 their house. They then returned to the vessel, and 
 spent the Sunday on board. The next morning
 
 90 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 they were all to land. Canoes filled with half- 
 naked savages, the most ferocious cannibals in 
 Fiji, crowded about the schooner, to the great ter- 
 ror of the captain and crew, who kept strict watch, 
 with all the boarding nets up, over their ill-famed 
 visitors. One canoe is brought close alongside to 
 receive the Mission party; and as the ladies are 
 lifted into it, men stand on deck at either side with 
 loaded muskets and fixed bayonets, to keep off the 
 people among whom those ladies and their hus- 
 bands are going to live. All reached the shore 
 safely, and, what was more surprising, none of 
 their goods were stolen. 
 
 For the temporary accommodation, as he said, of 
 the visitors, the King gave them a large house 
 of his own, which, by the help of Mr. Cargill and 
 a carpenter from Rewa, they soon fitted with doors 
 and windows. The house was divided into three 
 principal rooms and a small study, by partitions 
 made of boxes, packing-cases, and mats ; and, says 
 Mr. Hunt, " we were comfortably settled in our 
 new house on the second day." And there they 
 had to live for two years, during which time the 
 King would not let them build a house for them- 
 selves. 
 
 Very soon the Missionaries had fearful proof 
 that the reports they had heard about Somosomo 
 were true. About the time of their arrival news
 
 HORRIBLE SCENES. 91 
 
 came that Ra Mbithi, one of the King's sons, -was 
 lost at sea ; and it was forthwith ordered that all 
 his wives should be strangled, that they might 
 accompany him to the land of spirits. At once 
 the Missionaries entered upon their work of mercy, 
 and went to the King, to pray for the women's lives, 
 Tuithakau was very angry at their interference, 
 but consented to make further search, to ascertain 
 whether the report of his son's death was true. It 
 proved to be correct, and the women were doomed. 
 Mr. Hunt pleaded hard with the ruling Chief, Tui- 
 kilakila, on behalf of his daughter, who was among 
 the condemned ones; but the only reply he could 
 get was, " I have great love to my brother." . The 
 rest is thus told in the Journal. " On the morning 
 of August 8th we heard the cries of the poor 
 females and their friends, and soon they were 
 unmercifully strangled. We were obliged to be in 
 the midst of it ; and truly their cries and wailings 
 were awful. Soon after they were murdered, they 
 were brought to be buried about twenty yards 
 from our house." This slaughter of sixteen women 
 was followed by a kind of festival, which lasted for 
 several days and nights ; and at midnight the in- 
 mates of the Mission-house were startled by the 
 hoarse blast of conchs, and the hideous yells and 
 whoops of the dancers. Many men and women suf- 
 fered the amputation of a finger-joint, in connexion
 
 92 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 with this festival ; and the whole concluded by the 
 distribution, one afternoon, of one hundred baked 
 pigs, one of which was sent to the Missionaries. 
 
 The strangers continued to live peaceably in the 
 King's house, and were treated kindly by the 
 people; but their attempts to teach seemed of 
 little avail. The old King, indeed, professed to 
 be Lotu, though he never showed any good result 
 from it. The people came willingly to hear 
 preaching, and seemed attentive to the Mission- 
 aries, who soon got hold of the peculiarities of the 
 dialect. 
 
 In a letter to Mr. Calvert, dated " August 7th," 
 Mr. Hunt writes, " I have been reading the Life 
 of the Rev. John Smith, and like it more and 
 more. O what a blessed state of communion with 
 God did he maintain ! When I think of imbibing 
 his spirit, the devil says, ' It will not do for a 
 Missionary : if you were in England, it would be 
 all right. 5 I know he is a liar ; yet I practically 
 believe him. I am determined, by the grace of 
 God, to try. Help me, my dear brother. We 
 are engaged in a glorious work : let us do it well. 
 There is much to discourage us ; but God is suffi- 
 cient for all things. I feel for you, now you are 
 alone; but remember your reward is increasing 
 amazingly now you have these special trials. Do 
 not let unbelief say, ' Nay, not for me : I am so
 
 AFFLICTION. 93 
 
 unfaithful/ Unbelief makes God a liar. Do not 
 listen to it, my brother. ' These light afflictions, 
 which are but for a moment, work for us a 
 far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory/ 
 Your perpetual trial of being alone, alone, with 
 a bad King; alone, without being thoroughly 
 acquainted with the language ; alone, among 
 thieves and robbers, will make your eternal re- 
 ward much heavier in glory. Glory is worth the 
 price. Cheer up ! God is with you, and He will 
 yet make you ' rejoice with joy unspeakable/ 
 
 " I hope the Lord will spare your dear child to 
 you. I shall often take her to the throne of 
 grace. Tell her mother to give her to the 
 Lord; and my prayer shall be, that she may 
 hear the word of the Lord, while she is but a 
 child." * 
 
 As the year advanced, sorrows and troubles 
 thickened about the Missionaries. In September, 
 an epidemic influenza, of a very obstinate kind, 
 visited Somosomo. As this broke out during the 
 visit of some Tongan canoes, the people said angry 
 things about it being the disease of the Lotu. 
 Then Mrs. Hunt fell ill with the prevailing dis- 
 ease, and, before she recovered, was attacked with 
 dysentery, which brought her very low, and made 
 
 * A Memoir of this little girl has been published, eutitled, " A 
 Flower from Fecjce." Londou : Masou.
 
 94 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 the prospect of her speedily becoming a mother 
 very alarming. At this anxious time, the pre- 
 sence and affectionate attention of Mr. Lyth were 
 an indescribable comfort, as he had formerly been 
 educated for the medical profession. Such seasons 
 as these prove the importance, nay, the necessity, 
 of giving to Missionaries a medical training, to 
 such an extent, at least, as will enable them to 
 treat ordinary cases. It was now a time of sore 
 trial for Mr. Hunt. Writing about it to Mr. 
 Calvert, he says, " I began to realize the sorrows 
 of being left alone in this land of need, with a 
 feeling quite new to me. Weeping a strange 
 thing with me began to be pleasant, and my 
 mind was most severely agitated, though most 
 divinely supported." Earnest prayers were offered 
 on behalf of the sufferer; and help came. The 
 disease was checked, and, the next day, Mr. Hunt 
 says, " We forgot our sorrow, for joy that a man 
 was born into the world." 
 
 But none of these things, deeply as they stirred 
 the loving heart of the man, had any power to 
 move the Missionary from his great work. On 
 the day when he received his first-born, as from 
 God, after recording the event in his Journal, he 
 says, "I have not been able to do much this week, 
 in consequence of having to be nurse. It is some 
 time since I had a good night's sleep ; but
 
 AN EVENING SERVICE. 95 
 
 ' Labour is rest, and pain is sweet, 
 If Thou, my God, art here.' 
 
 " My dear wife is doing well, and I hope I shall 
 soon be able to resume my translations, &c., with 
 renewed diligence. I have done four or five chap- 
 ters in a rough way. May God, even our own 
 God, make us thankful for all His mercies, and 
 continue to bless us, for His name's sake." 
 
 The light which had gleamed in upon the 
 anxious and fearful ones at the Mission-house, 
 was not to shine long. 
 
 "Oct. 7th. We have had a week of severe 
 trial : our little boy has been very ill. "We have 
 scarcely any hope of his recovery. It is a great 
 trial to us to think of losing our dear babe ; but 
 we must leave it with Him who cannot err. 
 
 " Last night I preached from James i. 2-4. I 
 trust that we shall be enabled to count it all joy 
 when we fall into divers temptations. One of the 
 greatest trials connected with losing our little boy, 
 will be the reproach which the Heathen will cast 
 upon religion and us. I expect they will say to 
 us, ' Where is now thy God ? ' " 
 
 The circumstances of that Sunday evening wor- 
 ship were altogether remarkable, having none of 
 such common-place machinery of devotion as 
 architectural beauty, or ceremonial pomp, or art- 
 istic aids to the service of God. In the middle
 
 96 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 of a great, gloomy house nearly all roof there 
 was a chamber, divided from an apartment on 
 either side by thin matting some six or seven 
 feet high. In this chamber stood the Preacher 
 with a visible congregation of two men, and an 
 invisible audience of two women. His hearers 
 whom he could see were Mr. Lyth, who had just 
 been at the evening service of the natives, and 
 Joseph Rees, a young Englishman, who owed his 
 life to Mr. Hunt's coming between him and a 
 furious Chief who had already broken his ribs. 
 The two invisible listeners were the two Mission- 
 aries' wives, each with a new-born child, Mrs. 
 Hunt's child dying. Therefore the Preacher spoke 
 fitly and earnestly about the trial of faith ; and by 
 that faith great peace and holy joy came to the 
 worshippers, and the old thatched place seemed as 
 near the gate of heaven where God gives alms, as 
 even a cathedral. 
 
 In a letter to Mr. Calvert, written at this time, 
 Mr. Hunt says, after stating that there was no 
 hope of the baby's life, " Here then we are, my 
 dear brother, in the furnace of affliction. But 
 what ? Has God forsaken us ? O no ! Glory 
 be to Him, He is with us in all our afflictions, 
 and will, in His own time and way, deliver us out 
 of them all. We would not alter anything if we 
 could. We only say, ' Thy will be done.'
 
 DEATH OF THE FIRST-BORN. 97 
 
 " My own mind has been prepared, in a certain 
 sense, for what has happened. I had long had an 
 impression on my mind that some great trial 
 awaited me; but I looked for it from without. 
 In this I was wrong. My mind, however, was 
 somewhat prepared by such impressions, and the 
 prayer to which they led, and for what may yet 
 come. ' It is the Lord ; let Him do what seeir- 
 eth Him good/ " 
 
 On the 10th of October, after suffering for 
 twelve days, the child died. Writing to Mr. 
 Cargill, the father thus tells of his loss : 
 
 " I was careful to have him baptized in the 
 beginning of his illness, and his name was John. 
 A perfect image of his father, according to his 
 mother's opinion : and who would dispute the 
 point ? But this fair image of his father was torn 
 from our fond embrace ; nay, not torn, but taken 
 from our arms, into the arms of a Father who 
 loves him more than we could, and who loves us, 
 though He has deprived us of what He so kindly 
 gave. Never shall I forget the patience with 
 which his dear, tender-hearted mother bore this, 
 as well as all the trials that preceded it. The 
 only thing which revolted her was, laying his dear 
 body among the slain of Fiji. If he could have 
 been buried in Tonga, or any Christian land, the 
 trial would have seemed much less. But another 
 
 a
 
 98 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 baptism of the Spirit enabled her to bear this 
 also ; and before our child was taken from us, we 
 had freely given him back to God. My mind is 
 cheered with the hope that his body will rise with 
 many who will be the children of our missionary 
 toils in Fiji, and who will accompany him, and 
 perhaps some of us, from this part of the world, 
 to sit down in the kingdom of God. We laid his 
 dear remains in our garden, and the King sent 
 some of his first carpenters to build a nice house 
 over the grave. Not a word have I heard said on 
 the subject by way of reproach to religion." 
 
 The grave of this little one was the first con- 
 secrating of Fiji as the Missionary's burial-ground. 
 The soil has become very wealthy since then. 
 
 After reviewing all the recent troubles, Mr. 
 Hunt proceeds : " But we have had our blessings 
 as well as our trials ; and blessings with our trials 
 and by means of our trials. We have had spi- 
 ritual peace and prosperity ; have become further 
 instructed in the power and blessedness of reli- 
 gion, as well as the pleasure of seeing some pro- 
 mises of success in our work. The people have, 
 in general, been very kind to us. They have 
 attended to the means of Christian instruction 
 with evident marks of pleasure and interest. They 
 listen with great attention to the word of life, and 
 many of them seem to understand much of the
 
 STRANGLING. 99 
 
 good tidings which we have brought. We have 
 commenced our school, and it seems to promise 
 well; and we have made some attempts at en- 
 larging our sphere of usefulness. On the whole, 
 we thank God, and take courage, praying for His 
 abundant and continued blessing." 
 
 The very next entry in the Journal is this : 
 " We have had another evidence to-day of what 
 Heathenism does for this people. A poor old 
 woman, nearly dead with weakness and the in- 
 firmities of age, was strangled just before our 
 door. Notwithstanding all this cruelty, they are 
 kind to us." 
 
 If a bright spot were to be found, Mr. Hunt 
 would find it; and many a cause of annoyance 
 and even suffering is never mentioned in his 
 journal. For some time the Mission party were 
 not allowed to put any fence round the house, or 
 at the windows, which the heat compelled them to 
 keep open. Thus all chance of privacy was lost ; 
 and the natives, led by curiosity or baser motives, 
 stood at the open windows. Once, when Mrs. 
 Hunt was bending over her dying babe, she 
 looked up to see dark, savage faces, laughing and 
 mocking at her anguish. Among other sources 
 of trouble was the capricious temper of the tyrant 
 Chief, Tuikilakila. One day this great savage, in 
 a flaming passion, flung open the Mission-house 
 H 2
 
 100 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 door, crying out, " Au sa cudru sara ! I ana 
 very angry ! " He then seized Mr. Hunt and 
 Mr. Lyth, one in each hand, and drew them 
 towards the door, where he had left his club. 
 But God took care of His servants. Their words 
 prevailed, and the Chief released them, striking 
 Mr. Lyth contemptuously in the face as he did 
 so. Thus the threatened violence was averted ; 
 but these furious fits of passion, on the part of 
 the Chief, were very alarming. 
 
 The friendship of the great man was sometimes 
 as annoying as his rage was terrible. For ex- 
 ample, when the Mission stores were very low, he 
 would come and eat the meal which had been 
 obtained with great difficulty; or, when very gra- 
 cious, he would kneel down, and thrust his face 
 into that of the Missionary, and, with expressive 
 grimaces and remarks, watch the stranger's way 
 of eating, while the plate was swept again and 
 again by the observer's ample beard. 
 
 It required a strong faith in the workers to 
 keep to their work on this Mission. In the midst 
 of the worst abominations of Fiji, they toiled on, 
 and, but little success appearing, they hoped and 
 trusted that there was good done which they could 
 not yet see. To Mr. Hunt's earnest heart this 
 must have been a sore trial, and he wrote : " Our 
 prospects are rather mysterious. The work of
 
 ENDURING FAITH. 101 
 
 God is going on, I doubt not ; but we have not 
 much appearance of good." It was sowing-time ; 
 and, as the precious seed fell and was hidden, the 
 sowers watched, and watched, eager to begin the 
 ingathering. But the harvest was not to be yet. 
 It was a time of discipline, which, by the long 
 withholding of outward encouragement, strength- 
 ened the faith which it tried. Mr. Hunt per- 
 sisted in believing, and his colleague says of him, 
 " Such faith and patience, perseverance and equa- 
 nimity, under circumstances so difficult, were 
 highly characteristic of the man, and inspired all 
 the rest with courage and with hopes of success." 
 And again, "The want of direct fruit of our 
 labours, of a spiritual kind, was greatly calculated 
 to discourage and retard effort. But it had no 
 such effect on my friend's mind. His motto was, 
 ' Onward : ' he looked at the promise of God, and 
 believed that, depending on Him, we should not 
 labour in vain. He received every instance of in- 
 direct usefulness as an answer to prayer, and a 
 pledge of future blessings. He pleaded with God 
 with holy boldness, and f against hope believed in 
 hope.' The result was that, while all around us 
 was wilderness, our own little enclosure was as 
 a ' field which the Lord had blessed/ I can never 
 forget the happy seasons we enjoyed together in 
 our social means of grace."
 
 102 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The Lord had a great work for His servant to 
 do hereafter. His hand was to give to the Fijians 
 the New Testament in their own language ; and 
 he had yet to stand in the highest places of that 
 hard-fought Mission field, and see renowned 
 strongholds fall before him. Wherefore he was 
 taken to Somosomo for a time, that he might gain 
 power and skill. And here he worked with all 
 his might. To Mr. Calvert he sent the following 
 plan of theological study, which he himself was 
 pursuing : 
 
 "1. I think it of great importance to pay 
 attention to studies of this kind in our own lan- 
 guage. It will prevent our losing what we have 
 spent much time and prayer in acquiring, and 
 will greatly tend to our spiritual as well as mental 
 improvement. 
 
 "2. I think it quite necessary to have a plan, 
 in order to secure time and to save time ; for a 
 good plan will do both. 
 
 " 3. My plan is this : I devote every Saturday 
 to this kind of work. I am not to be diverted 
 from it by the multiplicity of other engagements. 
 I am determined, when I am well, to devote this 
 day to this work. But does not this interfere with 
 my preparations for the Sabbath ? Not at all ; for 
 I have two parts of every day, one to attend to 
 any special work, and the other for such things as
 
 PLAN OF THEOLOGICAL STUDY. 103 
 
 may be necessary. The morning is my time for 
 one thing : the afternoon for many things. 
 
 " 4. However excellent other works on theology 
 may be, I can make best use of what I have 
 studied. I therefore make my own notes of lec- 
 tures my text-book. I am now going through the 
 Epistle to the Romans. I re-write my notes, and 
 add anything I may be able to think for myself, 
 as well as anything I can beg, borrow, or steal 
 from others. I intend, by the help of God, to 
 go through in this way all that I have of Dr. 
 Hannah's. 
 
 " 5. I have it in my mind to write a treatise on 
 Christian Perfection. I intend to state the subject 
 in a few short propositions, and then treat the 
 Scripture proofs and illustrations historically. I 
 then intend to explain and illustrate every passage 
 in the Old and New Testaments, in which I think 
 the doctrine of perfect love to God and man is 
 contained. I turn my attention to the subject on 
 my own account entirely. It has already been 
 made a blessing to me, and I believe it will be ; and 
 for this reason I pursue the subject, intending, by 
 the blessing of God, not to be an author, but to 
 gain personal improvement in this great subject. 
 
 " 6. I want to make for myself a table of con- 
 tents of every chapter in the Bible, including the 
 following particulars : 1st. A clear statement of
 
 104 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 the subject or subjects in each paragraph. 2nd. 
 The aspect under which it is there presented. 3rd. 
 The spirit or strain of the sacred writer. This will 
 assist me in understanding the word of God. 
 
 " I must have something on hand to keep me 
 right. I cannot live unless I am on full stretch. 
 I get to reasoning and other useless things, if I 
 have not better employment. 
 
 " Blessed be God, we have been wonderfully 
 supported in our trials. The Lord has been nigh 
 unto us, and I trust He has sanctified our troubles 
 to us. I am more than ever convinced that reli- 
 gion is the proper remedy for man in his present 
 state, and, therefore, I more heartily seek it, and 
 more fervently recommend it to others. I am more 
 than ever convinced that all the religion of the 
 Bible is attainable by me, and all who believe, as 
 I do, that it is necessary to eternal life. 
 
 " We go on praying, and preaching sometimes 
 to many, sometimes to few. What is in the 
 future we cannot tell. 'Duties are ours: events 
 are God's/ 
 
 At the close of 1839, there was not much to 
 report concerning the Somosomo Station. A 
 building had been rudely fitted up for a chapel, 
 and a regular order of public services was estab- 
 lished. The Missionaries had succeeded in saving 
 the life of an old woman who was painted ready
 
 A CANNIBAL FEAST. 105 
 
 for strangling, and they had let no chance slip of 
 teaching the people. Mr. Hunt had completed a 
 rough draft of the Gospel according to St. Matthew, 
 in Fijian, and had translated Genesis and part of 
 Exodus. 
 
 At the beginning of 1840, things looked darker 
 than ever at Somosomo. One day, eleven dead 
 men were dragged just in front of the Mission- 
 house. They had been killed at Lauthala, a 
 neighbouring town, to avenge the murder of a 
 Somosoman by some of the inhabitants. With 
 exact and ceremonious order, the corpse of a Chief 
 was set apart for the god, and the others divided 
 among the several tribes. The Chief's body was 
 quietly and skilfully cut in pieces within a few 
 yards of the Mission-house, and the other bodies 
 were taken to different quarters of the town, where 
 they were speedily cooked and eaten. The people 
 seemed to become doubly savage after their horrid 
 feast, and some of the Chiefs came and tried hard 
 to get up a quarrel with the Missionaries, who 
 for some time were nearly without food ; for the 
 people feared to supply them, lest they should 
 incur the wrath of their King. The Missionaries 
 applied to him again and again ; but they and 
 their offerings were slighted. On one occasion 
 the King said, " No, I will not let you have food. 
 Jehovah may give you a pig." When this answer
 
 106 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 was reported at the Mission-house, one of the 
 party said, " Now I believe the Lord will make 
 him give us food, since he himself has put us 
 into the hands of God." And so it fell out. In 
 a letter, Mr. Hunt says, " We felt our circum- 
 stances peculiarly trying ; but having no help but 
 our God, and no object but to live or die in His 
 cause, we cast ourselves on His mercy, and calmly 
 waited the end. At length we determined to try 
 again what kindness would do, and took the King 
 a present. We asked the direction and blessing 
 of God before we took it, and our dear wives con- 
 tinued in earnest prayer, while we were away, 
 that we might be guided aright. The Lord heard 
 prayer. The King received us kindly, was much 
 pleased with our present, and gave us a pig as an 
 offering, he said, to Jehovah. This ended the 
 whole affair. 
 
 " One day, during a storm, one of the Chiefs 
 told us they had been consulting about us, and the 
 result of their deliberations was that we should go 
 away ; for they did not intend to embrace Christi- 
 anity. We told them plainly that we should not 
 go till we were driven from them. Thank God, 
 for my own part I feel my love to them increases 
 with their ingratitude and enmity ; and I am 
 determined to spend and be spent in trying to 
 do them good, until God and His Church shall
 
 CHRISTIAN LOVE. 107 
 
 remove me from them. This is the sentiment of 
 us all." 
 
 In Mr. Hunt's private Journal, it is written 
 under the same date as the above letter : " I thank 
 God especially that I can love these my enemies 
 most cordially and heartily ; so that if they will 
 only allow me to live, I will spend my strength for 
 their, welfare." 
 
 How exactly this accords with his own teaching 
 elsewhere ! " Charity must not be bounded by the 
 desire of others for its exercise ; for in many in- 
 stances those who most need it will be the last to 
 desire its exercise towards themselves. If a man 
 is perishing for want of knowledge, it is our duty 
 to instruct him. If he does not desire to be in- 
 structed, the painful fact does not alter the cer- 
 tainty of his danger of perishing, but makes him 
 a still more piteous object of charity. If he is not 
 thankful for the instruction gratuitously and unso- 
 licitedly offered, his case is still worse, and he has 
 a still greater claim on our earnest efforts to save 
 him. If he hates us for our love, curses us for our 
 blessing, and persecutes and despitefully uses us 
 for our prayers and labours, he has a still greater 
 claim to our charity. His case is desperate. It 
 requires the utmost effort. We must fight against 
 opposing enmity till we overcome it, and melt the
 
 108 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 sullen ore of ingratitude by heaping upon it the 
 fire of Christian charity " * 
 
 For some time past, Mr. Hunt had thought of 
 writing his own views and the fruits of his Scrip- 
 ture searchings on his favourite subject, Christian 
 holiness. He had stated this to Mr. Calvert, and, 
 during the voyage out from England, they had 
 held much earnest converse on this great topic. 
 In reply to some inquiry of Mr. Calvert's about this 
 plan, he writes, March 18th : " I had laid aside 
 almost the thought of building any of the castles 
 on the ground, which I built in the air some time 
 ago. And, what is worse still, I was becoming 
 more careless about the enjoyment of this blessing 
 than I was some time since. I think I am stirred 
 up by your letters to be more in earnest about the 
 blessing myself, and to be more determined to 
 write something on the subject. As to the plan on 
 which I should proceed, my present opinion is that 
 you and I should correspond on the subject, and, 
 whenever opportunity serves, write a letter ex- 
 pressly on it. Observe well, I do not mean that 
 we should have a controversy on the subject, but a 
 free, friendly, sanctified, theological, and experi- 
 mental correspondence." 
 
 Thus were commenced those Letters on Entire 
 Sanctification, which afterwards Mr. Hunt care- 
 
 * "Letters on Entire Sauctification," p. 121.
 
 LETTERS ON ENTIRE SANCTIPICATION. 109 
 
 fully reconstructed, but did not live to complete 
 fully. After his death, they were published, and 
 dedicated, at the writer's request, to his beloved 
 theological tutor, Dr. Hannah.* This volume of 
 Letters is certainly one of the most judicious, sound, 
 and well arranged systems of teaching on Entire 
 Holiness, that has been written, and is full of the 
 vigorous and hearty piety of the writer. 
 
 In a letter to Mr. Calvert dated April, 1840, Mr. 
 Hunt says of himself : " I am sure I love God ; 
 and scarcely dare say I do not love Him with all 
 my heart. But when I try to think so, a great 
 number of things start up before my mind, which 
 are inconsistent with perfect love; and a still 
 greater number of things that are wanting in me, 
 such as I think a person has, who has perfect love. 
 Well, may I not hope that I have perfect love in a 
 small, very small degree ? I am willing to acknow- 
 ledge that I have the least degree any man ever 
 possessed who had it at all : but have I not the 
 least degree? I think this is my conclusion. I 
 feel I have an entire repose in the blood of Christ. 
 I love His name, His book, His people, His work. 
 I feel I love my enemies. I can bless them that 
 curse me. I could give a list of such things in my 
 favour; but then I could give a greater on the 
 
 * " Entire Sanctification : its Nature, the Way of its Attainment, 
 and Motives for its Pursuit." London : Mason.
 
 110 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 other side. What, then, am I to do ? ' This is the 
 work of God, that ye believe in Him whom He 
 hath sent.' When I do this, all is clear, and I feel 
 God is pleased with me, and Christ saves me to 
 the uttermost. So it is thus : when I look at 
 myself, I am discouraged ; when I look at Christ, 
 I am encouraged and comforted." 
 
 In June, 1840, Somosomo was in great excite- 
 ment on account of the arrival of three vessels, two 
 of them belonging to the United States Exploring 
 Expedition, and the other a trader. One of these 
 brought intelligence that the good Mrs. Cargill 
 had just died at Rewa. Mr. Hunt, with his usual 
 loving spirit, determined to go and give what com- 
 fort he could to his sorrowing brother. Commo- 
 dore Wilkes, who showed every possible kindness 
 to the Missionaries, offered to convey Mr. Hunt to 
 Uewa. While he was there, the District-Meeting 
 was held, and the affairs of the Mission carefully 
 examined. In returning to Somosomo, he was 
 compelled to make a long, circuitous passage, 
 during which he spent many days in an open boat. 
 This exposure cost Mr. Hunt a severe illness, from 
 the remains of which he never fully recovered ; but 
 he uttered no syllable of complaint. On getting 
 once more settled he wrote : 
 
 " Our work at present seems to be to stand still, 
 and see the salvation of God. I am not sanguine
 
 LOVE TO THE HEATHEN. Ill 
 
 at all, nor at all afraid. This is my general state 
 when I am in trouble. I seem as if I dare not 
 say, ' The Lord will deliver me ; ' I can only say that 
 He will if He see that deliverance will be best. 
 Praise the Lord, He does wonderfully preserve us. 
 Don't fear, my friends. Praise God, and put your 
 whole trust in Him, for yourselves and for us. 
 
 " In our work, we seem to labour in vain ; but 
 faith can never come to such a conclusion. I 
 would not believe such a thing, if all the philoso- 
 phers in the world were to tell me so. If we 
 preach Christ's truth, He is with us, and His pre- 
 sence is not in vain. ' He must reign till He hath 
 put all enemies under His feet/ 
 
 " I love these poor wretches, obstinate as they 
 are ; nay, I sometimes wish I could love my brethren 
 as much as I love them. And if 7, whose heart is so 
 destitute of compassion, feel thus, what a fulness of 
 love and truth there is in those words which enforce 
 on us the duty of interceding for all men ! ' For this 
 is acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, who 
 would have all men to be saved and come to the 
 knowledge of the truth.' God does not only 
 not will that any should perish, but He does will 
 that all should be saved ; and how does HE will it 
 who gave Himself a ransom to accomplish it ! 
 
 " I want more of this will. I want sympathy. 
 God sets a mark on the men that sigh and that cry
 
 112 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 for the abominations that are done in the midst of 
 Fiji. And if He should say to the destroyer, ' Go 
 through Somosomo and smite ; let not your eye 
 spare, neither have pity/ He will also say, ' But 
 come not near any man on whom is the mark/ 
 If God should permit us even to fall by the hands 
 of the rebels, we shall go to heaven with the mark 
 upon us." 
 
 At the time this was written, Somosomo was 
 preparing for a war, which lasted till nearly the 
 end of the year. During this time the cannibal 
 feasts were more frequent, and barbarous cere- 
 monies were constantly taking place in the town. 
 The ovens were so near the Mission-house, that 
 the smell from them was sickening ; and the young 
 King furiously threatened to kill the Missionaries 
 and their wives, if they shut up their house to 
 exclude the horrible stench. Among all perils and 
 annoyances, Mr. Hunt steadily and earnestly went 
 about his work, always to use his favourite 
 expression turning his care into prayer. 
 
 The year 1841 opened with rumours of fresh 
 wars, whereby the Mission, as far as Somosomo 
 itself was concerned, was greatly hindered, though 
 the consequent influx of strangers gave the Mis- 
 sionaries frequent opportunities of teaching those 
 whom, otherwise, they could never have reached. 
 " With respect to our work," Mr. Hunt writes,
 
 ARRIVAL OP THE "TRITON/' 113 
 
 " we are much as usual. We preach daily, visit 
 sometimes, and have a few scholars. We seem to 
 be doing but little, though I am sure I work hard ; 
 and so do all, so far as I am able to judge. For 
 some time past, I have been prospering in spirit- 
 ual things, and much blessed in reading and 
 studying the word of God." 
 
 In February and March, all the members 
 of the Mission household were ill, and Mr. 
 and Mrs. Lyth lost a child by croup, and buried 
 him under the little house where Mrs. Hunt's 
 baby was laid. In June the survivors were 
 in good health again, in time to enjoy the great 
 event of the year, the arrival of the " Triton " 
 Mission-ship, bringing the General Superintendent, 
 Mr. Waterhouse, with the latest letters, some 
 more than a year old, from England. During Mr. 
 Waterhouse's visit, the District-Meeting was held 
 at Lakemba, and Mr. Hunt accompanied the 
 General Superintendent thither, and to some of 
 the more distant Stations at Vatoa and Ono. As 
 the " Triton " came near Somosomo, on her 
 return, the natives gathered numerously on the 
 hill-side at the back of the Mission-house, the 
 inmates of which could hear them exulting because 
 she had missed the safe anchorage, and was making 
 direct for the rocks, where her destruction seemed 
 inevitable. The savages grew wild with excitement, 
 i
 
 114 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 as they watched her perilous course, and made 
 sure of a rich prize. Their proposal to fasten up 
 the ladies, who were anxiously expecting the return 
 of the Missionaries, in the house, was distinctly 
 heard by their intended victims, who thus were 
 made aware of their danger. A few seconds of 
 dreadful suspense, and then a mad shout rose as 
 the vessel struck on the reef; and the crowd, with 
 fierce cries and whirling clubs, rushed down to the 
 shore, and embarked for their work of blood- 
 shed and plunder. The King was from home, 
 and there was no one to restrain the people. 
 It was a terrible time for the ladies of the 
 Mission-house. Their Fijian servant smote her 
 breast, as she cried out, " Sa kasa na waqa ! Sa 
 kasa na waqa ! " " The ship is fast ! The ship 
 is fast ! " One of the Missionaries' wives went 
 aside, and knelt, and looked up, and prayed: 
 " Almighty Jesus ! we need Thy help ! " And, 
 as she came out again, she met one of her com- 
 panions, who was greatly agitated, and said, 
 "Don't be alarmed. There will be nothing the 
 matter/' They opened the door, and looked forth 
 over the water, to see the " Triton " gently gliding 
 off into deep water, before the canoes could reach 
 her. Soon after this, Mrs. Hunt was again taken 
 seriously ill, and the sorrowful fear of losing his 
 beloved wife was added to Mr. Hunt's difficult and
 
 MRS. HUNT'S ILLNESS. 115 
 
 discouraging Mission-work. At the close of the 
 year he wrote to Mr. Calvert, 
 
 " I am much obliged to you for your sympathy, 
 which I need in my present circumstances ; and, 
 as you are my bosom friend, I shall tell you a 
 few of my troubles, that I may still have your 
 sympathies and prayers. 
 
 " My dear wife has been afflicted several months 
 together, and a long time must yet elapse before 
 she will be strong. She is just now able to get up 
 for about an hour, and with my help walk twice or 
 thrice over the room. Many times it seemed 
 almost impossible that she should recover. I 
 have, of course, been the principal nurse all the 
 while, and my time has been taken up. These 
 things are a sore trial to me, because they keep me 
 from the other duties of my calling. I am almost 
 persuaded, at times, to think I am of no use, and 
 that the Lord will not accept of me as His 
 labourer ; but I would not yield to temptation. I 
 make my case known to God, and He will, I trust, 
 make my way plain before me. At present I feel 
 it is my work to humble myself under His mighty 
 hand. My prayer is, ' Lord, spare her, and grant 
 that we may live to labour in Fiji.' If I am of no 
 use, I make one, and am better than none. I 
 hope for better days. 
 
 " Your kind remarks on my papers encouraged 
 i 2
 
 116 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 me. I had almost given all up on this subject; 
 but I will begin again, by the help of God. 
 
 " You see I am rather low ; but it is not incon- 
 sistent with joy in the Lord. Considering my cir- 
 cumstances, I am generally very happy. Mr. 
 Lyth is very kind. I believe he fully understands 
 Mrs. Hunt's case, and has treated it in the best 
 way." 
 
 At the beginning of 1842, it was arranged that 
 Mr. Hunt should attend to the towns and villages 
 round about Somosomo, while his colleague took 
 charge of the Mission-work at home. In addition 
 to this increased labour, and the nursing of his 
 sick wife, Mr. Hunt was employed in building a 
 new house, as the place where the two families had 
 resided together was very unhealthy, and in other 
 respects undesirable. A house had been erected 
 for Mr. Lyth near the shore, and Mr. Hunt thus 
 describes to his wife, for the benefit of her friends 
 in England, the establishment which he was then 
 completing. 
 
 " Our present dwelling-house is about fifty- six 
 feet long, and twenty-six wide inside. It has no 
 less than twenty upright posts to support it. The 
 roof is well wooded and thatched ; the walls reeded 
 and lined with mats. The bed-room at the south 
 end is floored with boards, except a small part of it 
 which you wished to have as a store. The middle
 
 NEW MISSION-HOUSE. 117 
 
 of the house is made into a large dining-room, in 
 which we have a small native fire-place, which is 
 very convenient when we are ill. The dining-room 
 is separated from the bed-room by a reed wall, 
 lined inside with nice native cloth. At the north 
 end of the house is my study, which is separated 
 from the dining-room in the same way as the bed- 
 room ; but it is not lined : I don't know why. I 
 have also a little store in my study. 
 
 " The front of our house is open to the sea, and 
 is not more than forty yards from it. About ten 
 yards from the sea is our outside fence ; and ten or 
 fifteen yards nearer the house is another well built 
 fence. These fences enclose two gardens, which 
 are your own, and planted with bananas, Cape- 
 gooseberries, pine- apples, and native shrubs of 
 various kinds. The gardens, as you know, are not 
 planted at random. Both your head gardener, 
 (myself,) and your under gardener, (Noah,) have 
 endeavoured to make them as useful and pleasing 
 as possible. We have rows of tall bananas, and 
 nice walks; and everything, in fact, is done so 
 as to meet your own views of neatness, order, and 
 utility. On the other side of the house, and near 
 to it, is a small house for the people to wash and 
 iron in, and which you will find convenient. Fur- 
 ther back is the kitchen, and, at a short distance 
 from this, the servants' house. These houses and
 
 118 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 a fence form the boundary of my kitchen-garden, 
 which is beautifully situated on the side of a hill. 
 The hill is just sloping enough to allow of its 
 being planted, until you get about half-way up, 
 and then it is nearly perpendicular to the top. 
 The garden part is planted with bananas, taro, 
 kumeras, (sweet potatoes,) beans and peas, (a few,) 
 which are all growing most luxuriantly. The part 
 not planted by us is planted by nature with nice 
 shrubs, etc., one of which has a beautiful flower 
 now in full bloom. 
 
 " Over this nearly perpendicular mountain-side, 
 flows, or rather falls, a stream of fresh water, ever- 
 flowing. It comes to the bottom of the mountain, 
 and is there turned inside the garden, so as to run 
 quite through ; then, forming an angle, it empties 
 itself into the sea. 
 
 " This is a brief sketch of our premises. In 
 the same enclosure is Mr. Lyth's house, with 
 appendages similar to ours. The chapel, which is 
 near the centre, and Moses' house, complete the 
 Mission establishment." 
 
 Mrs. Hunt now began to get better, and her 
 good husband entered more heartily than ever 
 into his work of study, translation, preaching, and 
 visiting. The following extract from a sermon on 
 Matt. xvi. 2-1 shows his style of giving the truth 
 to the natives.
 
 STYLE OP PREACHING TO THE NATIVES. 119 
 
 "We must not only deny ourselves, but take 
 tip our cross, which I explained as consisting in 
 those things which are difficult to us. 
 
 " Religion is difficult, especially to new begin- 
 ners, because of the badness of our hearts ; and it 
 is impossible for those who think they can be 
 religious of themselves without praying to God to 
 help them. 
 
 " Religion is difficult. And what is not that is 
 useful? A garden-full of grass is very easily 
 grown; but of what use is it? A bad canoe is 
 easily made ; but it is of no use. A bad house is 
 soon built; but it is of no use. Good gardens, 
 canoes, houses, axes, knives, whales' teeth, &c., 
 are all difficult to get; but they are all useful. 
 Medicine is sometimes very bitter ; but it is very 
 useful. So it is with religion. Our minds don't 
 like it ; but it is that by which we live. 
 
 " We don't like repentance, and faith in Christ, 
 and to keep the commandments of God ; but this 
 is the way to live, 
 
 " Your way of treating your sick is much easier 
 than ours. When a person is sick, you neglect 
 them, or bury them alive, or strangle them. This 
 is very easy. We watch our sick, give them 
 medicine, and feed them. This is difficult ; but 
 our sick often recover, and yours die. Ours is 
 the difficult way ; but it is the way to live. Yours
 
 120 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 is the easy way ; but it is the way of death. So 
 it is with your religion. It is easy ; but it is the 
 way of death. Ours is difficult ; but it is the way 
 of life. 
 
 " But our religion is not always difficult. It is 
 only so when we first begin. By and by it be- 
 comes easy. When we obtain a new heart, then 
 our way is easy. Begin, then. Don't mind the 
 difficulty/' 
 
 In March, Mr. Hunt writes, " I am thankful to 
 say my dear wife is once more well. It is won- 
 derful how the Lord has raised her up. You can- 
 not imagine how she was reduced, or how quickly 
 she recovered. Praise the Lord, O my soul ! 
 Amen and Amen." 
 
 All was thus bright at home, and the Mission- 
 ary went more cheerily than ever about his work ; 
 not content with the fixed regulation duties of his 
 office, but catching at every chance of doing good. 
 Thus while he continued his studies with laborious 
 care, applying himself to the Hebrew and Greek 
 Scriptures, and effecting translations into Fijian 
 of the most masterly kind, not forgetting to keep up 
 his reading in English theology and general litera- 
 ture, he made himself known among the natives as 
 their friend, by a thousand attentions and helps, 
 which introduced them to comforts and advan- 
 tages they had never dreamed of before. In all
 
 APPOINTMENT TO VIWA. 121 
 
 times of their trouble, he was peculiarly kind. It 
 was no uncommon thing for him to act as nurse 
 as well as doctor to the sick. Stooping very low 
 to get in at the little doorway, he would make his 
 way to the mat whereon the patient lay, and then 
 busy himself in preparing arrow-root at the fire in 
 the middle of the floor, at the risk of scorching or 
 scalding his fingers in pouring boiling water out 
 of the great earthen pot which did duty as kettle 
 in the native establishment. 
 
 Such continued efforts on the part of the two 
 Missionaries could not fail to do some good ; but 
 the results were, with some cheering exceptions, 
 general, mediate, and not of that kind which can 
 be clearly stated or represented by figures. The 
 time of Mr. Hunt's residence in Somosomo was 
 near its close ; for after the District-Meeting, held 
 in August, 1842, he went to occupy the Viwa 
 Station, vacated by Mr. Cross, whose ill-health 
 suggested the plan of his removal to Somosomo, 
 where he might be under the medical care of Mr. 
 Lyth. 
 
 At the time of Mr. Hunt's leaving Somosomo, 
 he thus sums up his experience on that Station : 
 " Somosomo has been a place where every feeling 
 of our nature, and every principle of our religion, 
 has been tested. We believe that we have been 
 made a great blessing at Somosomo, though the
 
 122 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 fruits of our labours do not yet fully appear, nor, 
 perhaps, will at present." 
 
 In a letter written on board the missionary 
 brigantine, " Triton," while Mr. Hunt was on the 
 way to his new Station, he gives the following 
 truthful description of the people of Fiji, and of 
 some ascertained results of the Mission. 
 
 " You have heard a great deal on the dark side 
 of the character of the Fijians, I have no doubt ; 
 and of the vileness of their moral character too 
 much cannot be said. Some of the worst features 
 of Heathenism, in the picture drawn by St. Paul 
 in the first of Romans, are too observable in 
 them not to be seen, even by a stranger. 
 
 "The Fijians, however, have some character- 
 istics which make them very interesting to me, 
 and make it a pleasure to labour among them. 
 
 " They are an industrious people. Their houses, 
 gardens, plantations, and canoes, are a proof of 
 this. I was astonished to find a people so deeply 
 depraved, in such a state of civilization in these 
 respects. 
 
 " They plant as much as provides abundantly 
 for their wants, though, in many instances, they 
 do not enjoy the fruits of their industry, from 
 their custom of feasting. These feasts often occur ; 
 and a large number of people assemble at them for 
 the purpose of eating, trading, &c. The Chief of
 
 SKETCH OF THE PEOPLE. 123 
 
 the town where the feast is held considers it his 
 duty to provide very large quantities of food, 
 partly out of respect to the Chiefs and people who 
 come to the feast, and partly that he may obtain 
 a good report in other lands. The object, indeed, 
 is not so much to feed the people, as to have a 
 very large heap of food. They cannot eat the 
 whole of it, and consequently very much is thrown 
 away ; and thus the poor people, who have had to 
 supply food to the visitors, see the fruits of their 
 labours thrown into the sea, through the foolish 
 ambition of their Chiefs. The Chiefs are, how- 
 ever, many of them as industrious as their people. 
 They are not ashamed of soiling their hands, or 
 of cultivating their land. 
 
 " The Fijians are also a commercial people, in 
 their way. They do not sail to other lands for 
 the purpose of trading ; but among themselves, 
 they trade a great deal. Some tribes who are 
 much employed in sailing from island to island, to 
 attend feasts and bring the tribute of the small 
 islands to the principal Chief, never plant, but 
 obtain their food by purchasing it with native pots 
 made by their wives, baskets, whales' teeth, etc., 
 or receive it in repayment for their services to the 
 Chiefs. These men are great traders. Some call 
 them the Jews of Fiji; and Jews many of them 
 are in many respects, and it is very difficult to
 
 124 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 make bargains with them, except for their own 
 advantage. 
 
 " The female part of the population attend to 
 making native cloth, pots, &c. Even the wives 
 of the Chiefs are employed in printing the cloth, 
 and in superintending the making of female 
 dresses (likus), and other things. 
 
 " You will see from these remarks that there is 
 a good deal of variety in the occupations of the 
 Fijians, and that the people are naturally of an 
 active disposition. Government is easy I mean 
 easily attended to in these islands. There is no 
 regular code of laws in existence at present, except 
 some regulations which have been left here by 
 American ships of war, and which are not, as yet, 
 regarded by the people in general. The law of 
 the land is the will of the principal Chief, and he 
 appoints any person he may choose to inflict 
 punishment when he is offended. Perhaps the 
 greatest crime a man can be guilty of is to offend 
 the Chief. For stealing, they often cut off the 
 fingers of the offender. For adultery, the female's 
 nose is cut off, especially if she was the wife of a 
 Chief. Sometimes both parties are punished with 
 death. Some of the Chiefs are exceedingly cruel, 
 even to their wives and children, and the whole 
 of their subjects live in constant fear. Others are 
 kind, and enjoy the affections of their people, who
 
 SKETCH OP THE PEOPLE. 125 
 
 seem glad to be entirely devoted to their 
 pleasure. 
 
 " In war, the Fijians are anything but brave. 
 They generally succeed more by stratagem than 
 by fighting ; and in some instances none are killed 
 on either side, except by what might properly be 
 called kidnapping. 
 
 " The domestic character of the Fijians is by 
 far the best part of them, in my opinion. They 
 really have a good idea of comfort in their fami- 
 lies. In some instances I have seen great affec- 
 tion manifested by the different members of a 
 family to one another : and in preparing their 
 food, comfortable houses, and cleanliness in their 
 food, utensils, etc., they are astonishingly clever. 
 
 " But there are such contradictions in their 
 character, that it is a very difficult thing to form 
 a just idea of what they really are. Children who 
 seem to have a good degree of affection for their 
 parents, will nevertheless strangle them when they 
 are sick or old, especially if the parent requests it. 
 I have seen a woman of high rank led to her grave 
 alive, and strangled there by her own sons, who ap- 
 peared to enjoy the horrid act. The contradictions 
 in their character are partly to be attributed to cus- 
 tom, and partly to that fickleness of disposition 
 which is the characteristic of men who have no 
 education, no good example, no knowledge of God
 
 126 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 or His word, and, consequently, no fixed principles 
 of action; and who, in addition to all this, are 
 under the government of the god of this world. 
 Custom, Satan, and their depraved hearts entirely 
 govern them. Custom is one of the great tyrants 
 of Fiji, and to its powerful influence a great part 
 of the murders and much of the cannibalism of 
 Fiji may be traced. A native will do anything, if 
 it be vaka-Fiji, i. e., according to the custom of 
 Fiji : and until they have had intercourse with 
 Missionaries for some time, they think their own 
 customs are the most excellent in the world, and 
 that it is impossible to improve them. 
 
 " When we first went to Somosomo, the prin- 
 cipal Chiefs were quite impatient of reproof. They 
 did not hesitate at all to say, that the customs of 
 eating human flesh, and strangling, were good ; 
 and considered us their enemies because we lifted 
 up our voice against them. We did not desist, 
 however, until we had told them the truth ; and 
 we soon saw the result, in three instances espe- 
 cially. A town has been taken in war, without a 
 man being killed. A large canoe has been 
 launched, and has made her first voyage, without 
 a single instance of cannibalism ; and the Somo- 
 somo people have feasted their superiors the 
 Mbau people for several weeks, without a single 
 dead body. In the first instance we were one
 
 RETROSPECT OF THE MISSION. 127 
 
 cause, instruraentally, of the people being spared : 
 in the second, perhaps the only cause : and in the 
 third, perhaps the only cause, too ; but we had not 
 directly to interfere ; for the influence which truth 
 had on the minds of the people, made our inter- 
 ference unnecessary. 
 
 "Thus is custom overcome; Satan's power is 
 broken, and the reign of passion is checked ; and 
 even Fijians are beginning to think, and to allow 
 reason to have a place in their conduct of life. I 
 am quite persuaded that nothing but missionary 
 labour could have effected this ; and it can only 
 effect it instrumentally. If we could have seen 
 chaos, in darkness and confusion, we should not 
 have doubted that God had spoken when ' there 
 was light/ No power but His can effect a change 
 in the heart of man, and without this we labour in 
 vain to teach these people better customs."
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 VIWA, 1842-3. 
 
 THE new Station : Namosimalua : Training of Native Teachers : 
 Light and Dark : Various Engagements -. Death of Mr. Cross : 
 Letter to Mr. Calvert : Chairman of the District : Visitation 
 Tour : Searchings of Heart : Unbelief : School Work : A Day's 
 Record : Letters to Mr. Lyth : To Mr. Williams : Literary 
 Work : Kindness imposed upon : Letter to Mr. Calvert. 
 
 MR. and MRS. HUNT reached their new Station 
 safely on August 30th, 1842, just three years after 
 the commencement of the Mission there by Mr. 
 Cross. 
 
 VIWA is one of the small islets which rise from 
 the reef on the eastern coast of Na Viti Levu 
 Great Fiji. At the time of the Missionary's 
 arrival it was of great political importance, and 
 one of the most valuable dependencies of Mbau, 
 the seat of the highest power in the group. It 
 offered great advantages as a Mission -station, in 
 consequence of its being only two miles from 
 Mbau, where, as yet, the Missionaries had been 
 unable to gain a footing, and because of the fre- 
 quent visits it received from people belonging to
 
 NAMOSIMALUA. 129 
 
 all parts of Fiji. The Chief of Viwa, Namosi- 
 malua, was, as already stated, a man of great note. 
 For some years he had been prominent in every 
 conspiracy by which Mbau was troubled, and 
 every war by which its greatness had been in- 
 creased. In all these scenes, Namosimalua dis- 
 tinguished himself by his craftiness in council and 
 stratagem, while his fame as a warrior was deemed 
 bloody and savage even in Fiji. This man had 
 renounced Heathenism, and professed to be a 
 Christian. It is too true that he never was really 
 a Christian, yet he kept to his profession of it in 
 the face of the displeasure and threats of the 
 powerful King of Mbau. In addition to this, he 
 befriended the Missionaries, while he strictly re- 
 frained from all the more terrible crimes which 
 had hitherto darkened his character, although, in 
 point of domestic morality, he showed but little 
 change. 
 
 Under Mr. Cross's diligent care, a good work 
 had been begun in Viwa, and Mr. Hunt found a 
 hundred and twenty persons under religious in- 
 struction, many of whom cheered him by plain 
 tokens of a change of heart. Eight Native Teach- 
 ers were being employed in the places under Mr. 
 Hunt's care. 
 
 The case of the Native Teachers had long en- 
 gaged the serious and anxious attention of the 
 K
 
 130 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Missionaries, and Mr. Hunt had considered the 
 matter with all his usual thoroughness. Many 
 good, soundly converted young men had come 
 out from the more prosperous scenes of the Mis- 
 sion, and showed a strong desire to convey to 
 others the blessedness with which their own hearts 
 were filled. The extension of the work, too, called 
 for more ministering than the few Missionaries 
 could render ; and thus native agency was already 
 in general use. The land was being sown with the 
 seed of the first harvest. 
 
 It was about the training of these native Chris- 
 tians that Mr. Hunt had thought so long and so 
 seriously, and several young men were now under 
 his care. This made a very formidable addition to 
 his other engagements ; but nothing was neglected. 
 Indeed, he enjoyed hard work. He said he could 
 only live " on full stretch ;" and every day proved 
 it. Then this training work was especially a 
 labour of love, and he took it up and carried it on 
 with great zest and delight. The management of 
 this important branch of the Mission had been 
 intrusted to him by his brethren, so that he was 
 engaged in writing simple lectures on theology for 
 the Native Teachers on other Stations, as well as 
 in the instruction of those under his personal care, 
 to whom he lectured three times a week at six 
 o'clock in the morning.
 
 LIGHT AND DARK. 131 
 
 Living in Viwa was very different from the 
 residence at Somosomo. Many of the people 
 were Christians by profession, and some in reality; 
 and, as the Chief protected and helped the Lotu, 
 the Missionary and his wife had many comforts to 
 which they were strangers at Somosomo, while 
 they were saved from witnessing some of the hor- 
 rible things that had so distressed them at their 
 former Station. Yet even in Viwa the old prac- 
 tices of heathen Fiji were not wholly abandoned : 
 witness this extract from Mr. Hunt's journal : 
 
 " Oct. 22nd. This morning a number of 
 women came from Mbau to strangle a poor 
 woman to whom I have been giving medicine 
 for some time. I succeeded in preventing them 
 from strangling her; but they very nearly suc- 
 ceeded in burying her alive unknown to me. I 
 thought I should like to see how she was going 
 on, fearing they would be doing something with 
 her; and when I got into the koro (town), I 
 understood that Verani, the nephew of the Chief 
 of this place, had ordered her to be buried. I 
 immediately went to him, and found him digging 
 her grave with his own hands. I urged him by 
 all means to desist, and succeeded. He ordered 
 the grave to be filled up again, and engaged to 
 leave the woman to me. He rubbed his hands 
 together, saying, 'Dear me, I have dirtied my 
 K 2
 
 132 CHAPTER X. 
 
 hands for nothing;' evidently somewhat disap- 
 pointed. I saw the woman before I went to him, 
 and found that she did not wish to die, and 
 seemed much pleased at the idea of trying a little 
 longer. Ratu-Mara, a Mbau Chief to whom she 
 belongs, had sent word for her to be strangled. 
 I gave her some medicine and food. She did not 
 seem at all willing to die. A message came next 
 morning to inform me that she was dead. I 
 expect they assisted her after all; though they 
 said they did not." 
 
 The next entry shows something of the various 
 character of Mr. Hunt's employment : 
 
 "Oct. 24th. We began, in good earnest, to 
 floor the study. I have been a good deal em- 
 ployed with the men, and have only had time to 
 write up my journal from the coming of the 
 ' Triton.' 
 
 " Oct. 25th. I have written my lecture on 
 'Justification.' I have some difficulty in finding 
 good words. We shall be some time before we 
 are well understood, on some of these points, for 
 want of fit words. To-night I have commenced 
 a short catechism, which is to be the basis of the 
 quarterly and yearly examination of my pupils on 
 the subject of theology. I have got through the 
 Evidences. 
 
 " I shall soon be tired of employing such work-
 
 VARIOUS ENGAGEMENTS. 133 
 
 men (the carpenters) , and do the work myself. I 
 want more religion, and trust in the mercy of God 
 in Christ for it. 
 
 "26th. I have written my lecture on the 
 Witness of the Spirit, and got to the end of The 
 Divine Attributes, in my catechism. My car- 
 penters have been three days, and have not got all 
 the boards ready to put down yet. Wesley (a 
 Native Teacher) preached to-day on, ' If the dead 
 rise not, then is Christ not risen/ A bit of 
 good Gospel towards the close cheered me very 
 much. 
 
 " 27th. Prepared my lecture on Regeneration. 
 Got to The Image of God in which Man was 
 created, in my catechism. Began translating 
 1 Cor. 
 
 " 28th. Spent in temporals chiefly. 
 
 " 29th. Prepared for the Sabbath. 
 
 " 30th. Preached three times to-day in Native, 
 and once in English." 
 
 To his friend, Mr. Calvert, Mr. Hunt writes : 
 
 "I have at present a Lasakau canoe at my 
 service, so that I am well off. I have good pro- 
 spects, plenty of work and pretty good health. I 
 preach three times on the Sabbath, and intend to 
 give three lectures a week, and, if possible, visit 
 Ovalau once a month. 
 
 "I feel as if I were in sunshine, and I ana
 
 134 CHAPTER X. 
 
 always a little afraid in such circum stances. I 
 pray that I may always speak tremblingly." 
 
 During the following month, Mr. Hunt finished 
 his lectures on the Doctrines of Christianity, and 
 began to prepare a course on Geography. His 
 house was now made more comfortable, and he 
 felt thoroughly settled in his work once more. 
 
 On December 8th, the sad intelligence of Mr. 
 Cross's death at Somosomo arrived, and on the 
 following Sunday Mr. Hunt says, " This morning 
 I led the Prayer-Meeting, and preached at ten 
 o'clock on the death of Mr. Cross. It was a time 
 to be remembered, of a truth. Many wept ; and 
 so did I, as heartily as I have ever wept since I 
 left England. I trust the event may be made a 
 blessing to some of the people here. My text 
 was, ' Having a desire to depart and be with 
 Christ, which is far better.' " 
 
 In January and February, 1843, Mr. Hunt was 
 very poorly, and unable to work so hard as he 
 wished ; but a visit to Rewa did much towards his 
 recovery. In March, he visited this place once 
 more, and wrote to Lakemba : 
 
 " I am now at Rewa, as you will see from the 
 date of this ; and I am sorry to say I am here 
 again on mournful business. Our friends here 
 (Mr. and Mrs. Jaggar) have been called to part 
 with their little girl. We have buried the beau-
 
 LETTER TO MR. CALVERT. 135 
 
 tiful clay to-day. She was a most lovely little 
 creature, and her temper was as sweet as her 
 features were pleasing. 
 
 " Here are four belonging to the Mission fami- 
 lies lying in the same spot, awaiting the morning 
 when 'the dead in Christ shall rise first.' O 
 glorious day! Could we but more fully realize 
 it, how perfectly unreal would all we can enjoy in 
 this world appear to us ! Well, ' let us hasten to 
 the day,' that we may be quite ready when the 
 Son of Man shall come. It is a cheering thought 
 to me that death, as well as the judgment, should 
 be called the ' coming of the Son of Man.' Death 
 is the servant of Christ j but he never comes to 
 the faithful without his Master : so that the dying 
 saint can say, < Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly ! ' 
 a much better dying speech than that which 
 Mr. Pope has devised. Here is the grand secret 
 of an easy passage to another world, as well as 
 how to live usefully in this. To become ac- 
 quainted with the Saviour is true wisdom. O 
 my Saviour, forgive my neglect of Thee! The 
 Saviour of my dear babes and me ! Take my 
 body, spirit, soul for Thyself, in time and eternity. 
 Amen, amen. 
 
 " My health is not so good as formerly, I think. 
 Sometimes I am quite poorly. Thank God, He 
 sanctifies it ; so it is all well. We are doing bet-
 
 136 CHAPTER X. 
 
 ter at Viwa than we were. Sometimes I find it 
 difficult to preach ; but I have been able hitherto 
 to take all my appointments." 
 
 At the death of Mr. Cross, his place as Chair- 
 man of the Fiji District was filled by Mr. Hunt ; 
 and thus his already abundant labours were in- 
 creased. For some time he had been anxious to 
 sail round Na Viti Levu, the large island off 
 the coast of which Viwa was situated. Many 
 tribes of great importance inhabited districts and 
 towns upon the shores of Na Viti Levu, which 
 had never been visited by a Missionary, and Mr. 
 Hunt resolved to explore this new ground. In 
 the beginning of April he started from Viwa on 
 the voyage, which lasted about six weeks. The 
 old and very small schooner in which he sailed, 
 had poor accommodation for passengers ; but Mr. 
 Hunt had a marvellous way of making himself at 
 home anywhere, and the trip was very satisfactory, 
 as it gave him the opportunity of visiting some 
 places where the Gospel had never been preached, 
 and of forming an acquaintance with several Chiefs 
 of considerable influence.* Now and then, ad- 
 verse or failing winds detained the vessel, when 
 her distant anchorage prevented any one going 
 ashore. Even these occasions, at a time when he 
 
 % 
 
 * For a detailed account of this tour, see " Fiji and the Fijians," 
 vol. ii., pp. 247-254.
 
 VISITATION TOUR. 137 
 
 was very anxious to get home, were most profit- 
 ably employed by the Missionary. The following 
 extracts are from his private journal : 
 
 " Friday, 28th, (April.) To-day I set apart for 
 abstinence and prayer for a speedy passage home, 
 and prosperity in my soul and work, as well as for 
 my dear wife, who I am afraid will now begin to 
 be anxious about me. 
 
 " Monday, May 1st. We made a trial to-day 
 to get on a little ; but we did not make very much 
 way. I was praying all day for a fair wind, a 
 clean heart, and for my dear wife. I am afraid 
 she will be much concerned for me now. I want 
 more patience than I have, to keep me comfortable 
 when I am from home in this way. 
 
 " Tuesday, 2nd. We got under way to-day, but 
 found it of no use, as the wind was not fair and 
 became very strong, so that we were obliged to 
 come to anchor again. The wind increased and 
 blew almost a gale before night, and continued 
 strong all night, so that we were tossing about 
 with the sea, though in as good a place for shelter 
 as we could find. To me it was a profitable, 
 though a heart-searching time. 
 
 "Wednesday, 3rd. To-day we were at anchor 
 all day, without being able even to make an 
 attempt at sailing. It was a good day, I trust, to 
 me. I feel much more resigned to the will of
 
 138 CHAPTEE X. 
 
 God than I did, and my faith is somewhat 
 increased. O for the full image of God ! I want 
 the wisdom, the righteousness, the true holiness, 
 the light, the love, the peace and joy in the Holy 
 Ghost, which I know is the privilege of all the 
 children of God, and therefore mine. I feel I have 
 not this image. 
 
 " I. I am very ignorant. I have but little of 
 that ' unction of the Holy One ' by which St. John 
 says believers know all things. (1 John ii. 20.) I do 
 not always know what is the will of God as to what 
 I should believe, and teach, and practise. I have 
 not the unction of the Spirit in prayer as I ought 
 to have. I have not the unction of the Spirit in 
 my studies and preaching, which is so needful to 
 make me wise to win souls. 
 
 "II. I have need of righteousness, inward 
 rectitude. 1. Of desire: so that I shall never 
 desire anything but what pleases God and is cal- 
 culated to benefit man, and constantly and 
 strongly to desire this. 2. Rectitude of affections : 
 so as to love nothing but what God loves, and to 
 love in the manner in which He loves : to love 
 Him supremely, His people with complacency, and 
 the world with a pity like His. And because I 
 cannot imitate Him in the degree of my love, I 
 am to love Him with all my heart, and mind, and 
 soul, and with all the strength of all, and every
 
 SEARCHINGS OF HEART. 139 
 
 man as my own soul. 3. Rectitude of conscience : 
 a conscience so awake that it cannot be surprised ; 
 so just that it cannot be bribed ; so pleased with 
 that which is right, that it shall be cause of con- 
 stant joy; so pained with that which is wrong, 
 that he who has it cannot sin : ' a conscience void 
 of offence toward God and men/ 4. Where this 
 is the case, there will be Rectitude of will. Our 
 will must thus be lost in the will of God. ' Thy 
 will be done/ will be our constant prayer, by us, 
 in us, ' on earth as it is done in heaven/ Here is 
 the rule. What I mean by entire resignation to 
 the will of God is this : to be fully persuaded that 
 God orders all events, both great and small; to 
 commit ourselves, body, soul, wife, family, pro- 
 perty, influence, character, all into His hands, and 
 to believe that whatever happens is best ; and so 
 fully to believe this as to 'rejoice evermore, pray 
 without ceasing, and in every thing to give thanks/ 
 We may pray at all times ; but we may not mur- 
 mur or repine under any circumstances whatever. 
 In all these respects I have need of righteousness. 
 " III. I have need of True Holiness. Much 
 that is contrary to the will and nature of God 
 remains in me. Pride, envy, malice, uncharitable- 
 ness, impatience, which sometimes torments me 
 exceedingly, and, more or less, every day, censori- 
 ousness, slander, evil-speaking, deceit, hypocrisy,
 
 140 CHAPTER X. 
 
 unbelief, worldly- mindedn ess, lust, anger, the fear 
 of man, want of meekness and long-suffering, or, 
 to sum up the whole, an awful want of love to God 
 and man. Thus do I need holiness. I trust none 
 of these evils reign in me ; but I have had daily 
 proof that they exist, and strive to rule. 
 
 " The natural result of this want of holiness is a 
 corresponding want of happiness and usefulness. 
 How often my happiness is hindered and almost 
 destroyed by pride ! How easily pride is wounded, 
 and how painful is the wound ! 
 
 " Envy is itself misery. It repines at another's 
 welfare, and prevents us enjoying what we have, 
 though we may have much more than they. 
 
 "Malice reserves the things which make me 
 miserable to-day to continue my misery. It is the 
 store-keeper of misery. Uncharitableness prevents 
 me feeling the happiness of complacency in others, 
 by leading me to undervalue their excellencies. 
 
 " Impatience : wishing and desiring and longing 
 for things, over which I have no control, to be 
 different from what they are; such as winds, 
 weather, health, etc., etc. ; whereas I ought calmly 
 to rest in God, after having done what I can. 
 Impatience towards men : I expect more from 
 them than I ought, and am dissatisfied, angry, or 
 disappointed, when they do not act as I think they 
 should.
 
 SEARCHINGS OF HEART. 141 
 
 " Censoriousness, slander, and evil-speaking, 
 always leave a sting behind, and hinder me from 
 enjoying the company of those I slander, because I 
 am not sure whether they have heard what I have 
 said against them or not. 
 
 "Deceit towards men leads me to fear I have 
 not their confidence, because I know I do not 
 deserve it : and hypocrisy towards God can never 
 consist with confidence in Him who desires truth 
 in the inward parts. 
 
 " Unbelief is a fruitful source of misery. It is 
 the parent of a thousand needless fears, and pre- 
 vents me from drinking of the rivers of pleasure 
 which faith in Christ and in the promises of God 
 secures. 
 
 Worldly -mindedness, a desire for more of 
 this world than is needful for holiness and useful- 
 ness ; a desire of riches or honours, or the plea- 
 sures of sense or the imagination, or such things 
 as shall make us appear of some account in the 
 world. These things are all, more or less, difficult 
 to obtain; and when obtained, they do not give 
 satisfaction, but produce a painful desire for more. 
 Disappointment and dissatisfaction always accom- 
 pany a worldly spirit/' 
 
 In pointing out how these several forms of evil 
 not only mar happiness, but hinder usefulness, 
 especially in a Missionary to the Heathen, Mr.
 
 142 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Hunt says of unbelief: "How this locks up my 
 spiritual sense to the moral and spiritual world ! 
 How indistinctly I see God's wrath against sin- 
 ners, and its terrible consequences ! How seldom 
 my soul hears the weeping, and wailing, and 
 gnashing of teeth of the millions of the lost ! How 
 indistinctly I see the arm of God stretched out to 
 save all who are not actually lost ! And how little 
 my soul is aroused when I hear Him tell me to go 
 and declare His willingness to save ! How little I 
 feel the love of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost 
 to a ruined world, and how coldly I make it 
 known ! I can use and hear the words, God, 
 Christ, the Holy Ghost, heaven, hell, lost, saved, 
 and such like, with but little emotion. O God, 
 where is my faith? Surely, if it was alive, it would 
 associate these words with burning ideas, which 
 would influence every power of my body and soul. 
 Now, I beseech Thee, give me faith, and let me 
 not live another moment without its full exercise. 
 How little faith have I in my prayer or my preach- 
 ing ! I do not see and feel in my soul the things I 
 pray about and talk about as a botanist sees plants 
 when he describes them, or as an actor on the 
 stage, or a poet, sees and feels fictions of the imagi- 
 nation. But how much more intense ought the 
 feelings and views of faith to be ! " 
 
 In inquiring how he may lose all evil and gain
 
 CONFIDENCE IN THE REDEEMER. 143 
 
 all good, Mr. Hunt likens himself to the leper, and 
 says, " Like him I come to Christ. I fall down 
 at His feet. I worship Him. I believe it when I 
 say, ' Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me 
 clean/ I not only believe that He can, but that 
 He is my Friend ; that He died to cleanse me ; 
 that ' He is able to save unto the uttermost all 
 that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever 
 liveth to make intercession for them/ I confide 
 in Him, hang on Him, and pray, ' Lord, increase 
 my faith/ I have not so strong a faith as I wish 
 to have, or such as His power, wisdom, and love 
 warrant, and His word invites ; but what I have 
 brings peace and some joy, which I know is in the 
 Holy Ghost." 
 
 Ten days after the above was written, Mr. Hunt 
 was still detained on the voyage, and felt much for 
 his wife, who, he knew, would be painfully uneasy 
 about his safety. It was Sunday, and, after 
 preaching to the crew, he was very dejected, and 
 wrote : " I felt my situation, and was much con- 
 cerned about my dear wife; but, above all, I felt 
 my unworthiness and worthlessness. It seemed as 
 if I had done wrong altogether in leaving home, 
 and in everything I had done since I left home ; 
 and, indeed, all that I had ever done seemed wrong. 
 I felt very much for some time, and then the Lord 
 lifted up the light of His countenance upon me,
 
 144 CHAPTER X. 
 
 and gave me great peace. I felt happy all the day ; 
 so that I could have shouted aloud in praise to God. 
 I could trust in Jesus as my perfect Saviour, and 
 rejoice greatly in His love. I trust my Hannah 
 (Mrs. Hunt) feels every moment as I felt then. 
 Praise the Lord ! It was a seasonable manifesta- 
 tion of His love. I felt I could come to Christ as 
 my perfect Saviour ; that I could come now, and just 
 as I am, without waiting to be better : and I felt 
 a strong confidence in the uuchangeableness of the 
 love of Christ, believing that nothing can separate 
 me from His love to me, a poor worthless worm." 
 After four days more, Mr. Hunt reached Viwa, 
 to the great comfort of his wife and friends, who 
 had been much alarmed at his long absence. On 
 his return he again applied himself to the instruc- 
 tion of his students, and his favourite work of trans- 
 lating. Before the end of the year, he also had an 
 English and writing school in full operation, his 
 scholars being the children of white residents, a few 
 of whom had settled and married native wives on 
 the island of Ovalau. The domestic aspect of the 
 Mission-house was now brightly changed by the 
 birth of a little girl, whose coming brought a 
 father's joy into the loving and tender heart of the 
 Missionary, and helped him to engage the more 
 happily in his great toil. Here are one day's 
 occupation and notes :
 
 LETTER TO MR. LYTH. 145 
 
 "Taught a day-school. Four Levuka* boys. 
 Two Viwa boys, learning English, read the last 
 lesson in the First Books to-day. Translated part 
 of the Baptismal Service from the Liturgy. Had 
 the men's writing school. Loko died. My little 
 girl nicely. Did not enjoy my morning's devo- 
 tions so well as usual, not using my usual help to 
 devotion, the Litany. Did not enjoy my walk 
 till I began to think of perfect love. Read the lat- 
 ter part of the first volume of Milner's Church 
 History. Should like to see a good Church His- 
 tory by a thorough Methodist : I mean a man 
 who lives in the full enjoyment of perfect love. 
 
 " Conversed at tea with Mrs. Hunt on anxious 
 care. There are two kinds of care. One is 
 anxiety to do our duty, which is right. The 
 second is anxiety about providential events, which 
 is wrong." 
 
 In writing to Mr. Lyth, in September, Mr. 
 Hunt shows how fully he himself had this right 
 anxiety to do his duty. " I see more than ever that 
 two things only are worth my attention, holiness 
 and usefulness ; and I am more than ever deter- 
 mined to devote myself to these two things. I 
 love holiness more than ever, and have had a 
 larger baptism of the Spirit who is most fitly 
 
 * Levuka is the chief town of Ovalau, and the residence of the 
 Whites.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 designated Holy. But still I am far from being 
 as holy as I ought to be. I have also a great 
 desire to be useful, though not so great as I should 
 have. I cannot yet say, ' The zeal of Thy house 
 hath eaten me up.' 
 
 " But what must I do to accomplish what I 
 desire ? For I am sure I have a good deal to do 
 with bringing about the accomplishment of my 
 own desires, which are not my own, but the gift 
 of grace Divine. In the first place, I must settle 
 the matter with God, that I will, by His grace, be 
 wholly His, and that I will trust entirely in the 
 blood of Christ for full salvation. This God re- 
 quires, and it is essential, as perfect love and its 
 fruits can only be the results of perfect faith. 
 
 "My consecration to God must include these 
 three things besides : 1. A determination, by 
 His grace, never to indulge in any conversation, 
 follow any pursuit, or read any books, not, in my 
 conscientious opinion, calculated to increase my 
 holiness and usefulness. 2. That I will attend to 
 all things which I believe are calculated to help 
 me in these two particulars. 3. I will allow a 
 considerable portion of time every day, to be spent 
 in reading the word of God and prayer, that I 
 may know what I should do, and what leave un- 
 done, in order to be entirely holy, and as useful as 
 it is the will of God I should be.
 
 LETTER TO MR. LYTH. 147 
 
 " One thing I must keep in mind, and that is, 
 that I must fully believe that my Heavenly Father 
 is of the same mind as myself in these particulars, 
 and that He will manage my outward affairs so as 
 to promote my holiness and usefulness, as well as 
 bless the use of the means. There are two classes 
 of means of grace : those which we use, and those 
 which God uses. Those which we use are called 
 in the old Minutes, ( Instituted and Prudential/ 
 Those which God uses are of two kinds : such as 
 are particularly calculated to make us thankful, 
 and those that are more particularly calculated to 
 humble us. All our blessings and all our trials 
 are intended to be means of grace." 
 
 In another letter to the same, he writes; 
 " During the last six months, I think I have en- 
 joyed more religion than I ever did in Fiji ; but I 
 am not uniform. I fluctuate a good deal. Some- 
 times I think I so love God that no evil has any 
 place in me. Then again I feel the stirrings of 
 evil either from my heart or from the devil. So 
 you see I am weak, or I should know more cer- 
 tainly what is from the devil and what is not. 
 My morning devotions are usually seasons of good 
 to me. I generally use the Litany in private 
 prayer in the morning, and am often blessed with 
 enlargement of heart and freedom of speech before 
 the Lord ; and I believe that I both feel and see 
 L 2
 
 148 CHAPTER X. 
 
 answers to prayer. Then I am often dull at 
 family prayer, and sometimes get a little irritated 
 with the boys in the forenoon, or get a little 
 nervous about something that goes wrong. My 
 Sabbaths are good days; only I want to have 
 seven in a week. And why not ? "Why am I not 
 as spiritual over writing as in preaching ? Because 
 I am weak in faith. I see a great deal yet to be 
 done in me. before I am like my Lord and 
 Master." 
 
 To Mr. Williams, who had just removed to 
 Somosomo, he writes : " I am very thankful to 
 hear of your personal, family, and public pros- 
 perity, and trust the Lord will enable you to 
 preach the Gospel successfully at Somosomo also. 
 You will, no doubt, meet with new trials in a new 
 place ; but you will have new mercies also ; and I 
 hope you will be so taken up with mercies, and 
 have so much to do for the Giver, as not to feel 
 the presence of less pleasant things. Live fully 
 to God, my brother, and then all will be well. It 
 appears to me to be folly to expect perfect hap- 
 piness without perfect holiness. And why not 
 expect perfect holiness ? Is not this the cure ? 
 Cannot Jesus Christ do as much in the way of 
 saving, as sin and the devil have done in the way 
 of polluting and debasing us ? And will He not ? 
 ' For this purpose was the Son of God manifested,
 
 LETTER TO MR. WILLIAMS. 149 
 
 that He might destroy the works of the devil.' 
 Are not pride, envy, malice, uncharitable feelings 
 and conversations, anger, fretfulness, peevishness 
 (often called nervousness), love of the world, un- 
 belief, etc., all works of the flesh and of the devil ? 
 Jesus, the Son of God, will surely save us from 
 all these our sins ; for we are His ransomed, be- 
 lieving people. Let us pray for each other, that 
 all the purposes of our dying Lord may be accom- 
 plished in us, and that He may have the glory of 
 fully saving us. 
 
 " I must now give you a little news, and good 
 news it is. My dear wife and child are doing 
 nicely. The little girl is very fat, and seems 
 hearty. You have been blessed with a living off- 
 spring, and you cannot feel the suspense the 
 painful suspense of those who, like us, have had 
 to part with all that have been born. We rejoice 
 that God has blessed -us again ; but it is with 
 trembling. I trust, however, we can say, ( Thy 
 will be done.' We are both trying to give God 
 our hearts ; and in doing this, we give Him our 
 will, and with it our all ; for a man's will is his 
 all : when that is given, there is not much kept 
 back. We can then sing, 
 
 ' Father, into Thy hands alone 
 
 I have my all restored ; 
 My all, Thy property I own, 
 
 The steward of the Lord.' "
 
 150 CHAPTER X. 
 
 During the year Mr. Hunt had travelled about 
 eleven hundred miles, chiefly by water. He says, 
 in a letter to England, " One place in my Circuit 
 is about a hundred miles off, and another about 
 seventy, and a third thirty. Besides, I have 
 made a missionary tour round an island called Ts T a 
 Viti Levu, about three hundred and forty miles in 
 circumference, and preached the Gospel to the 
 people of five different tribes or kingdoms, who 
 have never before seen a Missionary." 
 
 At the request of Mrs. Cross, Mr. Hunt had 
 commenced a Memoir of her late husband, which 
 he afterwards completed and sent to England, 
 where it was published.* At the same time he 
 worked, at intervals, in writing upon Holiness, 
 and sent what he wrote to Mr. Calvert. His 
 theological lectures and short sermons in Fijian 
 were also being prepared for the press. f In con- 
 nexion with his translating, he set himself to com- 
 pare the various dialects as far as they had been 
 ascertained by himself and the other Missionaries ; 
 and his arrangement of the points in which they 
 differed, on either side of the strong line of 
 
 * "Memoir of the Rev. William Cross, Wesleyan Missionary to 
 the Friendly and Feejee Islands : with a Short Notice of the Early 
 History of the Missions. By the Rev. Johu Hunt." London: 
 Mason. 
 
 f These were published from the Mission press in March, 1844, 
 under the title of Na Vanau Lekaleka, " Short Sermons."
 
 KINDNESS IMPOSED UPON. 151 
 
 | 
 
 agreement running through all, was clear and 
 philosophical. 
 
 But the work of the Mission was hindered by 
 more formidable differences among the people 
 than those of dialect. For a long time threaten- 
 ings of war had disturbed that part of Fiji in 
 which Mr. Hunt was placed, and in the latter 
 part of this year the long conflict between Mbau 
 and Rewa commenced.* Another cause of con- 
 stant anxiety was thus given to Mr. Hunt, not so 
 much on his own account, as about the Mission- 
 ary who was at Rewa in the very heat of the war, 
 and with whom no direct communication could 
 now be held. 
 
 This invariable unselfishness, together with an 
 intense sympathy for those who were in trouble, 
 was one of the main features in Mr. Hunt's cha- 
 racter. The Chief of Mbau comes to the Mission- 
 house and begs a blanket. Just then the family 
 is rather troubled by their scanty supply of this 
 very article ; but the Chief gets the blanket. A 
 messenger disturbs the Missionary at his studies 
 by announcing the frightful illness of some person 
 a long way off. The good man hastens away to 
 the house of the sufferer, and finds that there is 
 scarcely anything the matter with him. This is 
 
 * For a history of the war, see " Fiji and the Fijians," vol. ii., 
 p. 174.
 
 152 CHAPTER X. 
 
 | 
 
 very annoying; but the Missionary tries to be 
 patient, and goes home to his books again. If, 
 however, the case is really bad, he will give and 
 do all he can to relieve it. The natives kno\r 
 this, and are never backward in applying to Misi 
 Oneti, as they call him. But towards his bro- 
 ther Missionaries, when they are afflicted, his 
 tender love is beautiful. Thus he writes to his 
 dear friend Mr. Calvert, who was very ill at 
 Lakemba : 
 
 " I can only pray for you at present. This we 
 do here continually, both in public and private; 
 and the Lord, I believe, answers prayer. I have 
 great hopes that you will be spared to us and 
 your family. Look up, my dear brother ! Thank 
 God, you are not afraid of death, or anxious for 
 life. What a blessing is religion ! We feel for 
 you being alone, and wish you were at Viwa with 
 us a while. The air and company might be of 
 much use to you. The Lord will bring you here, 
 if it be best. He who numbers the hairs of our 
 heads, also marks out our habitation for us, and 
 orders all events, even those which are, in our 
 esteem, of no more importance than a single hair 
 which we pluck out and throw away at random. 
 
 " Thank the Lord, we are nicely. I am much 
 obliged for your concern about me. I consci- 
 entiously take care of my health. Good health
 
 LETTER TO MR. CALVERT. 153 
 
 is a great blessing, and it requires great grace to 
 use it aright. 
 
 "Well, my dear brother, how does your soul 
 prosper? Tell me exactly where you are. I am 
 fluttering about the Cross ; sometimes taking hold 
 of Christ as a perfect Saviour, and feeling some- 
 thing of the cleansing blood ; then getting away 
 again, and temper rises, or some other bitter 
 thing. I see it is all by. faith. We must fully 
 believe, or we make nothing out ; not talk about 
 believing, but believe with the heart. 
 
 " How is dear sister Calvert ? She has ' good 
 report of all, and of the truth itself/ Do you good 
 friends write to us about your souls. Pray for us. 
 Love us, and assure yourselves you are in our 
 hearts to live and to die with you."
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 VIWA, 1844-5. 
 
 SELF-EXAMINATION : Reflections : Economy of Labour : Letters to 
 Mr. Calvert : Hospital Engagements : Murder : Difficulty and 
 Hope : Baptismal Service : The Queen's Conversion : Letter to 
 Mr. Williams : Opposition at Mbau : First Time of presiding 
 over the District-Meeting : School : Voyage to Rotuma : Re- 
 vival : Verani's Conversion : Birth and Death : Letter to Mr. 
 Calvert : Building, etc. : Another Voyage : Letter to Messrs. 
 Williams and Hazlewood : Penitent Prayer- Meeting : Great 
 Revival : Letter to Rev. J. Watkin : War aud Persecution : 
 Review of the Year. 
 
 MR. HUNT began the year 3844, in his journal, 
 with this entry concerning the past and present : 
 
 " Thus closes another year of mercies. It has 
 indeed been such to us, and we have not made 
 anything like suitable returns. Lord, be merciful 
 to us, and still continue to bless us through Jesus 
 alone. 
 
 " I am doing a little in my work, but get on 
 slowly. I have been doing something at Mr. 
 Cross's Memoir, and a little at Entire Holiness.
 
 SELF-EXAMINATION. 155 
 
 I have more work than I can do, and need more 
 time for both private and public duties, and espe- 
 cially for pastoral duties. Certainly time is not 
 heavy on our hands in these islands. We might 
 easily work ourselves to death by doing nothing 
 but what seems necessary to be done. Out of 
 many necessary things, I am obliged to attend to 
 the most necessary. I feel it difficult so to give 
 my heart to God as not to feel anxious ; and yet 
 I see clearly that loving God with the whole heart 
 is the perfect cure of anxiety. If I feel anxious 
 on behalf of any person or thing, it shows that I 
 have an inordinate attachment to them. I want 
 to love God so as to love everything else for His 
 sake, so as to have no interest or concern apart 
 from Him. ' Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, 
 whose mind is stayed on Thee : because he trusteth 
 in Thee/ I cannot fully express what I want ; 
 but I see it, and trust that the Spirit's interceding 
 grace will 
 
 ' Swell the unutterable groan, 
 And breathe my wishes to the throne.' 
 
 "I sometimes feel a little hurried in spirit 
 through the multiplicity of cares and duties which 
 I have to think about. This shows the weakness 
 of my faith, and leads me to pray for an increase. 
 I sometimes feel uncertain as to the path of duty 
 in particular cases.
 
 156 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 " Last night a thought occurred to me, which 
 seemed satisfactory, as to the extent to which a 
 Christian should labour for the good of others. 
 We are doing too much for others, when we are 
 obliged to neglect our own souls, or when we are 
 injuring our health. Our Lord, in His most busy 
 days, doubtless found time for private prayer. 
 Nay, He was determined to leave both the multi- 
 tude and His disciples, in order to secure this 
 object. We do not, however, see any excess 
 likely to injure the body, either in our Lord or 
 His Apostles. The same remark will apply to 
 self-denial. Labour and self-denial, to a certain 
 extent, are conducive to the health of both body 
 and soul ; indeed, it is almost impossible to pre- 
 serve either in a state of vigour without both of 
 these. But either labour or self-denial, carried to 
 excess, is undoubtedly injurious both to body and 
 soul. Care of the body was one of the things 
 recommended to Timothy by his inspired tutor 
 St. Paul. This, then, I think ought to be my 
 rule, until I can find another more agreeable to 
 Scripture and reason : to labour and deny myself 
 so far as my health will permit, and no further. 
 At the same time, I believe that there may be 
 instances in which a man is called to give up 
 health, and even life itself, for the cause of God 
 and the souls of men ; but nothing can make this
 
 REFLECTIONS. 157 
 
 right but a clear sense of duty. Such, I believe, 
 was the case with John Smith ; * but it would be 
 very wrong in any person to follow his example in 
 this respect without his reason. Nay, it is im- 
 possible that a man may be right in imitating Mr. 
 Smith, or any other excellent man, merely from 
 admiring his character, without ever inquiring 
 whether it is the will of God that he also should 
 destroy himself for the good of others. John 
 Smith did not admire the plan he adopted, but 
 followed it because he believed it was the will of 
 God. He might be mistaken. Be it so. 'To 
 his own Master he standeth or falleth/ Certainly 
 those are wrong who follow him for no other 
 reason than that they and many others admired 
 him." 
 
 Mr. Hunt did not seek, by these reasonings 
 with himself, to put a good face upon sloth, or to 
 make laziness do duty in the garb of prudence. 
 To some, discussions like these would be a vain 
 pastime, a beating the boundaries of their undone 
 and uncared-for duty. Not so in his case. In- 
 activity wearies an earnest soul more than work. 
 John Hunt was wont to say that he must be " on 
 full stretch ; " but there were moments of intense 
 zeal when, in the ecstasy of feeling, every faculty 
 doing its utmost, a mysterious fear came and 
 * " Life of the Rev. John Smith." London : Mason.
 
 158 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 warned him that this crisis of power touched upon 
 utter weakness. He knew that when the shaft 
 flew furthest, the bow \vas nearest to breaking ; 
 yet he drew each arrow to the head. It was 
 because he felt himself in danger of attempting 
 too much, that he thus argued about the limits 
 of enough. 
 
 Every man in health may work hard, rfar harder 
 than many suppose, or are likely to find out, and 
 there will be in him a vital power making up for 
 all the wear of toil. If a man keeps up to that 
 mark, he glorifies his manhood ; and, if a Chris- 
 tian, he glorifies his God. But zeal will thrust 
 some beyond, so that they win grand success, yet 
 at too heavy a cost. They overdraw the current 
 supply of strength, and intrench on their capital ; 
 and thus their life is shortened. Many have done 
 this to gain learning, many to win glory, many to 
 get gold, and very many to catch pleasure ; and 
 some, but not many, to serve the Lord Christ. 
 These last have not allowed themselves to yield a 
 slow and exact supply of service, but have crushed 
 the rich cluster into one brimming cup of " wine 
 which cheereth God and man." " Might they not 
 have done more, had they been more careful of 
 themselves ? " asks Prudence ; and Faith answers, 
 "Wait till they all shine out hereafter, to judge 
 how one star differeth from another star in glory."
 
 ECONOMY OF LABOUR. 159 
 
 No doubt the Missionary was right in recog- 
 nising the principle that, in some cases, a man's 
 duty requires him to live in months the life of 
 years. On some special errands of enlightening, 
 God's lamps have to send forth so fierce a flame 
 that they are the sooner burnt out. It is the 
 same duty that calls for the sacrifice, whether the 
 blaze be of zeal or of fagots. Yet, as Mr. Hunt 
 points out, no man is justified in seeking the 
 flame for the flame's sake. His call must be very 
 clear. Whether John Hunt had such a call, no 
 man can tell. His business was urgent ; and he 
 was placed, both as to time and position, in such a 
 momentous crisis of the Fiji Mission, that a vast 
 work had to be done in a short space, and done 
 not secretly, but with demonstration of power. 
 So the man of God wrought till he fell, and, while 
 he laid down his rules of prudence, passed further 
 beyond them every day. Surveying the wide- 
 spread evil around him, and confident that the 
 Gospel committed to him was a suflicient remedy 
 for it all, he regarded his most diligent service as 
 all too little. Thus he writes, " I have now been 
 five years in Fiji. How little use I have made of 
 my time ! ' Quicken Thou me according to Thy 
 word/ 
 
 Yet this hard sowing- work and tillage brought 
 great results of manifold good; and, for the sower
 
 160 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 himself, at length the ripe fruit of comfort, which re- 
 freshed him when his toil was all done. In his last 
 illness, he said to Mr. Ly th, " This complaint has 
 been coming on all the last year. My headache 
 has been attended with much fever. Perhaps I 
 have sometimes exceeded my strength ; but I have 
 no condemnation on that head. I could not have 
 done less with a good conscience. Is it not a 
 cause of joy that I have not that to blame myself 
 for?" 
 
 Cause of joy ? Yea, verily, as full as that of 
 the man whose dying hour shall be lit up with the 
 sublime reflection, " Whatever has been done or 
 left undone, I have always taken care of myself" 
 
 The following letter is dated " February 10th, 
 1844." 
 
 "Mr DEAR BROTHER CALVERT, 
 
 " I AM always glad of an opportunity of writing 
 to you, and much obliged by your losing no op- 
 portunity of writing to us. It proves that your 
 valuable friendship is as constant as I believe it is 
 sincere. We are well and happy. We had a 
 blessed time last night : much of the sanctifying 
 influence of the Spirit was amongst us. We all 
 felt it, and gave God the glory. I wish you could 
 have been with us ; yet the same Spirit is with 
 you. Only believe, and you shall have the same
 
 LETTERS TO MR. CALVERT. 161 
 
 blessed visitation. The ' times of refreshing ' come 
 from the presence of the Lord in answer to 
 believing prayer. We have been rather dull some 
 time, but are now all quickened. 
 
 "The good work prospers in our Circuit gra- 
 dually. We live in uncommon unity as brethren 
 and sisters. O, may peace be preserved among 
 us, and increase yet more and more ! 
 
 " I am doing a little at translating. I have 
 done but little on our subject. I must do more, 
 
 or I shall not get on with anything well The 
 
 Bible is the text-book on the subject. O that I 
 may fully understand its meaning, especially in 
 the extent which has been so little understood by 
 many ! 
 
 " Verani is very anxious to Lotu. Sometimes 
 he is almost determined to risk all ; sometimes he 
 hopes for a more convenient season. There is a 
 great change in him, and in the Viwa people 
 generally, I mean the Heathen. Pray for us, 
 that we may have saving power connected with 
 the truth. Believe me," etc. 
 
 " VIWA, February 2%th, 1844. 
 "DEAR, VERY DEAR BROTHER CALVERT, 
 
 " I HAVE heard that Kamisese is about to sail 
 to Lau ; so I write a line to say we are pretty well. 
 O how we long to hear from you ! Your critical 
 M
 
 162 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 state of health makes it painful to be long without 
 knowing how you are going on. It is a cheering 
 thought that our Heavenly Father and loving 
 Saviour are in every place. We are near in Him, 
 and we trust you to His power, and wisdom, and 
 love. 
 
 "As to writing, you command me. I do as 
 you tell me. I had been a little down about 
 inability, etc. ; but you stir me up and encourage 
 me. I send you a rough sketch of the Memoir 
 (of Mr. Cross) . Perhaps you will be disappointed 
 in me. I do not feel so fully at home as in 
 writing on some other subject. 
 
 " I do not altogether neglect our subject, and 
 cannot get on with other things if I do. The 
 Lord blesses what I write to my own soul ; and it 
 furnishes a subject of conversation on a Sabbath 
 evening for me and Mrs. Hunt. Last Sunday 
 night we had, 'Then will I sprinkle clean water 
 upon you/ etc. It was a good time. I do not 
 exactly preach: we sit down and talk about it. 
 Blessed be God ! He makes us very happy in our 
 lonely situation. We are both trusting in the 
 precious blood, and expect to feel its full efficacy. 
 
 I wonder how you are going on Make full 
 
 use of our blessed Jesus, and all will be well." 
 
 During the earlier mouths of this year several
 
 MURDER. 163 
 
 conversions took place, and a good many made 
 outward profession of Christianity. Growing 
 influence was gained by the administering of 
 medicine, and Mr. Hunt had quite a little hospital 
 at Viwa. Day by day, at a fixed time, a bell 
 was rung, when, very frequently, as many as 
 thirty patients would present themselves, some 
 blear-eyed with ophthalmia, some scaly with 
 leprosy, and the rest suffering from divers ail- 
 ments. Persons of importance were brought as far 
 as ninety miles, to be under the Missionary's care. 
 He was remarkably successful in his treatment, 
 and in many cases the patients joined the Lotu. 
 
 War continued to rage, and the heathen 
 part of Viwa still caused the Missionary much 
 trouble. One morning, after family prayer, news 
 came to the Mission-house that a young man had 
 just been murdered on account of a crime of which 
 there was every reason to believe he was innocent. 
 Mr. Hunt says, " I hastened to the spot on the 
 other side of the island, and found the poor fellow 
 laid on his back, with one side of his head laid 
 open, and part of his brains on the ground. He 
 was still struggling and breathing, and seemed to 
 know us when we approached him. We had 
 nothing with us but a spade. By means of this, 
 however, we cut down a tree, and got some cocoa- 
 nut leaves to make a litter, on which to carry him 
 M 2
 
 164 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 to the Mission-premises. By the time this was 
 done, the people arrived with a mat and some 
 native cloth. We took him into my study, where 
 he lay till afternoon, and then expired. We buried 
 him as a Christian, he having embraced Christi- 
 anity ; and, having never been proved to be guilty 
 of the crime laid to his charge, I thought it would 
 be wrong to allow him to be buried as a Heathen. 
 The murderers were much afraid that he would 
 not die, and sent to me to have him buried before 
 he was dead. I sent to tell them, they should 
 have his body if they took it by force, but not 
 otherwise ; but to this they made no reply. It is 
 said there are two others yet who have to be mur- 
 dered before the affair is finished. It has been a 
 gloomy day. It is a great trial. 
 
 "We were much cheered by letters from Mr. 
 Lyth and Mr. Williams, which were unusually 
 affectionate and exceedingly opportune. Thus the 
 Lord prepares us for our trials, and sustains us 
 under them. We trust also He will sanctify them 
 to us, so that we may have a happy issue out of 
 them. Fiji is very gloomy at present. All is 
 war, murder, and destruction. The war between 
 Mbau and Rewa is of the most malignant kind. 
 Nothing but a revolution in one of the places can 
 settle it, humanly speaking. Almost the whole 
 Group is rent with discord. Still the Lord car-
 
 DIFFICULTY AND HOPE. 165 
 
 rics on His work. Two embraced Christianity 
 yesterday, and our people are, I trust, growing in 
 grace. How much Missionaries need the prayers 
 of the Church, and the promise, ' Lo, I am with 
 you alway, even unto the end of the world ! ' 
 
 " The prayers of God's people act in a powerful 
 way on the interests of Fiji. There are now 
 wheels within wheels. Some are moved by believ- 
 ing prayer, which will have a mighty influence in 
 checking the work of destruction. Fiji is not what 
 it once was. It is not under the sole dominion of 
 the god of this world. There is a Church in Fiji, 
 and Christ will govern the Group for its establish- 
 ment and prosperity. 
 
 " May 26th. Yesterday (Sunday) was a good 
 day, a day of much of the presence of God. The 
 Prayer-Meeting in the morning was unusually 
 good. After prayer in the forenoon service, ten 
 adults were baptized. There was a good feeling 
 during the time I was proposing the questions to 
 the candidates, and impressing on their minds the 
 solemn engagements they were then entering into. 
 When they had answered the whole of the ques- 
 tions, I observed to them that angels had witnessed 
 their vows, and perhaps saints too; and if so, their 
 former pastor, Mr. Cross, had with pleasure wit- 
 nessed them. I urged them to act consistently 
 with their present professions, and with many
 
 166 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 words exhorted them to save themselves from an 
 untoward generation. Some already began to sob 
 and cry, and showed that it was with the greatest 
 difficulty they could contain themselves. 
 " Almost as soon as I commenced baptizing the 
 candidates, the Queen of Viwa was completely 
 overwhelmed. Her heart seemed literally to be 
 broken; and, though a very strong woman, she 
 fainted twice under the weight of a wounded spirit. 
 She revived only to renew her strong cries and 
 tears, so that it was all we could do to proceed 
 with the service. The effect soon became more 
 general. Several of the women and some of the 
 men literally roared for the disquietude of their 
 hearts. As soon as the baptism was concluded, as 
 many as could chanted the Te Deum. It was very 
 affecting to see upwards of a hundred Fijians, 
 many of whom were, a few years ago, some of the 
 worst cannibals in the Group, and even in the 
 world, chanting, r We praise Thee, O God; we 
 acknowledge Thee to be the Lord ; ' while their 
 voices were almost drowned by the cries of broken- 
 hearted penitents. I weep while I think of it. 
 "What a gracious God is our God ! and blessed be 
 His glorious name for ever ! 
 
 " The Queen came to our house after the ser- 
 vice, and, with a countenance full of sadness, and 
 eyes full of tears, said, Misi Onili, au sa rere,
 
 CONVERSION OP THE QUEEN. 167 
 
 * Mr. Hunt, I am afraid.' I directed her to the 
 Lamb of God, and prayed with her. She 
 requested the use of my study, in which she could 
 pour out her soul to God without interruption. I 
 of course let her have it; and there she prayed 
 until God spoke peace to her souL 
 
 " We are thankful for this visitation, O that 
 we may be able to retain the blessed influence thus 
 graciously vouchsafed to us, and may it increase a 
 thousandfold I Amen/' 
 
 Thus was the Missionary greatly cheered : and 
 he greatly needed it ; for war, attended with end- 
 less barbarities, raged all round, and hindered the 
 good work. But here, in the midst of the gloom, 
 a light shone out gloriously, making glad those 
 who dwelt in its brightness, and drawing the 
 attention of those who lived in the surrounding 
 night. Writing to Mr. Williams at Somosomo, 
 Mr. Hunt says of the Queen of Viwa : 
 
 " She is exposed to many temptations, and will 
 be much tried j but God is able to make her stand. 
 This is a drop. O that we may have the shower ! 
 The devil is very busy. The past year has been 
 one of conflict in this place. The Lord has been 
 working, and so has Satan. O for faith ! If 
 Brother Lyth should be stationed here, there will 
 be a good work ; he has more faith than I have, 
 and a better way of bringing souls to Christ.
 
 168 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 " This is the best local news I have to commu- 
 nicate. There is much, very much, bad news. 
 Fiji is in a dreadful state. But God is working, 
 and will work. There is much labour and suffer- 
 ing before us, my brother. O that we may get 
 and keep at the feet of Jesus, and be clothed with 
 humility, patience, love, zeal, and living faith ! I 
 have never yet been able to feel all the depths of 
 humble love. Once during the last year I seemed 
 to sink into nothing, and O, how sweet it was ! 
 But it was gone in a moment. It was to show me 
 what I had not, that I might seek it." 
 
 Mr. Hunt's hopes about the Queen were, for 
 the most part, realized ; and, for three years, she 
 not only remained firm in her religion, but became 
 very zealous in recommending it to others, and 
 not without success. After that time she fell into 
 unfaithfulness for a while ; but was ultimately and 
 completely restored. Inquiry was aroused in the 
 minds of many ; and not only in Viwa, but among 
 the women of the royal town of Mbau, the good 
 influence was felt, insomuch that it was said that 
 the Lotu formed, for a time, the main subject of 
 conversation in Mbau. The Chiefs were alarmed ; 
 for they heard it said openly, " All Mbau is turn- 
 ing Christian ; " and even some of the King's 
 wives had joined the Lotu. The old man could 
 not live long, and at his death he must be
 
 DISTRICT-MEETING. 169 
 
 honoured by the strangling of many of his wives; 
 but if they Lotued, they would declare strangling 
 to be against their creed, and thus oppose the due 
 respect belonging to the King's funeral. There- 
 fore the Lotu must be checked. Many more were 
 ready to renounce their old religion ; but the fear 
 of man prevailed, and again the establishing of the 
 Mission in Mbau was delayed. 
 
 In August, the District-Meeting was held at 
 Viwa, and Mr. Hunt had, for the first time, to 
 take his place as the Chairman. He thus writes 
 in his Journal : 
 
 "August 10th. The ' Triton' arrived off 
 Viwa to-day. We saw her yesterday, so that 
 we were somewhat prepared for our welcome visit- 
 ors. We were very happy to meet with our old 
 and tried friends ^yth and Calvert, and also to 
 welcome two new ones, Messrs. Watsford and 
 Hazlewood, to Fiji. They appear to be men in 
 every way qualified for their work, and I trust 
 will be a great blessing to Fiji. Our conversation 
 turned chiefly on the work of God in this part of 
 Fiji. That we had been graciously visited, was 
 plain in the increase of our number of professing 
 Christians, especially in Mbau. The Mbau 
 Chiefs, however, have seen good to oppose the 
 work, and for a time, at least, it seemed to feel the 
 influence of the opposition.
 
 170 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 " We now began to think of commencing our 
 District-Meeting. This was to me a great trial, 
 one of the greatest I have ever had to endure. The 
 idea of being Chairman of the District seemed to 
 affect me but little when the news first reached 
 me; but when I had actually to take the chair, 
 and be thus placed, in any sense, over my breth- 
 ren, whom I sincerely thought better than myself, 
 I was so affected that I wept aloud, a rare thing 
 for me, especially in the presence of others. What 
 my brethren thought of me, I don't know; but 
 they urged me to commence the meeting, which, 
 however, I could not do, and Brother Lyth 
 finally commenced for me. After that, I was 
 able to go on with more comfort and satis- 
 faction; and the kindness and brotherly feeling 
 of all were great helps to me, in the perform- 
 ance of duties for which, above all others, I am 
 unfit." 
 
 The Meeting went on and ended very happily, 
 and the Missionaries once more returned to their 
 several Stations, leaving Mr. Hunt at Viwa, to 
 continue in his usual work. He had now com- 
 menced a writing school, and paid more attention 
 to catechizing the young people. On a Sunday 
 evening, after the service, about twenty of these, 
 with any adults who chose to come, assembled in 
 his study, ranging themselves round the room,
 
 VOYAGE TO ROTUMA. 171 
 
 while he sat in the midst. He would then ask 
 one of them what he remembered of the sermon 
 last preached, and make the same inquiry of 
 each in turn. One would recollect the text, 
 another one of the divisions, or an illustration, or 
 some particular remark ; and thus the sermon was 
 pretty well reconstructed. After all had answered, 
 they were asked to make any further remarks, or 
 put any questions, as they thought fit. Difficulties 
 were removed, and explanations given; and the 
 class was in great favour, especially with the 
 lads, some of whom received much advantage 
 from it. 
 
 Towards the close of September, Mr. Hunt 
 made a voyage to Rotuma, a lone island about 
 three hundred miles off, where some good was 
 being done by Native Teachers. During this 
 journey, which occupied nearly a month, he visited 
 several of the more important Stations in Fiji, 
 and returned encouraged and strengthened to 
 Viwa. 
 
 The Mission establishment was now consider- 
 ably increased ; for the war and the ruinous con- 
 dition of the house at Rewa had made the leaving 
 of that Station necessary, so that the two Rewa 
 Missionaries and their wives were residing at 
 Viwa. In this little company there grew up 
 a holier love and quickened zeal ; and they
 
 172 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 " spake often one to another " of the tilings of God 
 and their great enterprise. As far as Mr. Hunt 
 was concerned, this association with his fellow- 
 labourers was of great importance. He had but 
 little fondness for merely business matters, and 
 his duties as Chairman had thrown upon him 
 more business than was either pleasant or profit- 
 able. He did not go about his preaching work 
 with the wonted happy freedom and sense of 
 power, and the life of the native services seemed 
 to wane. Several things had hindered the Mission 
 families from holding a Class-Meeting ; but these 
 difficulties were at last overcome, and as brethren 
 and sisters they met together in that social ser- 
 vice to which, beyond all other means of human 
 ordering, Methodism has ever owed its peculiar 
 strength and vitality. Then was that little com- 
 munity baptized with power from on high ; a new 
 life seemed to quicken them, and in their meet- 
 ings for Christian fellowship they rejoiced with 
 exceeding great joy. 
 
 Very soon the effect of this reviving was seen 
 in the native services, and Mr. Hunt says, " I 
 began to feel in preaching something of that 
 saving influence which I used to feel last year, 
 when we were so graciously visited." Just then 
 the Missionaries were cheered beyond measure by 
 an event to which they had looked, and for which
 
 CONVERSION OF VERANI. 173 
 
 they had prayed and worked for a long time. 
 The young and renowned warrior Verani, the 
 nephew of Namosimalua, the Chief of Viwa, 
 became Christian. It was no empty profession 
 that he made ; but in the face of strong opposi- 
 tion from the powerful Thakombau, and with a 
 certainty of consequent loss of influence and 
 wealth, he boldly, but calmly, renounced Heathen- 
 ism, and bowed the knee in the worship of 
 Jehovah. Mr. Hunt says of him : " Verani has 
 done remarkably well since he became a Christian. 
 He has abandoned all his wives but one, and has 
 been married to her. He attends school regularly, 
 and will begin at once to meet in Class. He has 
 been exceedingly attentive to the preaching of the 
 word, and to all other means of grace, since he 
 began. He has, of course, some curious notions, 
 as many people have when they first feel the 
 working of Divine grace. He has dismissed all 
 his servants as well as his wives, and wishes to 
 cook his own food, nurse his own child, and do 
 such other things, as a kind of penance for his past 
 sins. He appears also to be very desirous to 
 abandon all connexion with Thakombau and all 
 his concerns, in which he is encouraged by some 
 of his people who have great influence over him." 
 In the middle of March, 1845, another light of 
 joy shone in the Missionary's home, when another
 
 174 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 little girl brought blessing to the father's and 
 mother's hearts. And verily they needed it ; for 
 Hannah, a frail child of unearthly gentleness, was 
 sickening unto death ; and having done her angel 
 errand, she got leave to wait till the baby-sister 
 filled her parents' arms, and then, with a parting 
 smile, went back to God. The baby was a fort- 
 night old, when they buried Hannah, and the 
 father wrote, in unconscious prophecy, " A small 
 tomb is raised over her dear remains, to mark the 
 spot, perhaps, when we are living together again 
 in a better world." And to Mr. Calvert he wrote 
 thus : 
 
 A, March ZWi, 1845. 
 "Mv DEAR FRIEND, 
 
 "THOUGH I have written fully to Mr. Lyth, 
 aud requested him to let you and all the brethren 
 see what I have written, yet I cannot help telling 
 you again my sad tale, and also my tale of joy. 
 
 " Poor little Hannah ! she is safe and happy 
 with God. I have now three in heaven. I thank 
 God that they are safe. I feel much my need of 
 them now : but O, how awful the thought of their 
 living to sin against my God and be lost ! Some 
 of them might have been, had they lived. God 
 knows ; and He acts according to His knowledge 
 of things, and not according to ours. Yes, it is
 
 LETTER TO MR. CALVERT. 175 
 
 all right , though very painful. Poor little dear ! 
 I did not think I loved her so much ; for during 
 the first day after she died she seemed essential 
 to my happiness ; I felt as if I could not do with- 
 out her. I feel more reconciled, indeed I believe 
 entirely reconciled, now. My dear wife was 
 wonderfully sustained. 
 
 "What a blessing that Verani has come in 
 among us. Thank God ! I hope he will be 
 faithful. Some person wishes to sell him a canoe 
 for a musket ; but he does not like to give one, 
 lest any of the enemy should be shot with it. He 
 wishes to be right altogether. He wishes to be a 
 poor man, and cook his own food, and get to 
 heaven. 
 
 " I have felt some power in prayer for Thakom- 
 bau lately ; and I think most of us have. The 
 Lord can save him. I never thought He could 
 save Heathens so easily till I saw it. How shall 
 we secure His power ? Lord, help us ! O how 
 worthless I seem ! I want to be more united to 
 Him who is the sinner's All. 
 
 "I am doing a little on our subject. I never 
 enjoyed so much as lately, nor was ever so much 
 in love with entire holiness. 
 " We remain 
 
 " Your ever affectionate friends, 
 
 " J. and H. HUNT."
 
 176 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 For two years Mr. Hunt had been busy in 
 building a new Mission-house, and had now com- 
 pleted the first stone house erected in Fiji. It 
 cost much labour and watchful oversight ; but has 
 been a blessing to the Mission ever since. The 
 stone for lime and for building was brought from 
 the reef, often by the Missionary's own hands. 
 And many a valuable article of clothing, or com- 
 fort from the family store, was given to pay greedy 
 workmen, who would be satisfied with nothing 
 else. "When, after all, the house was finished, it 
 was cheerfully given up for the use of the Mission 
 printing establishment ; and thence issued the 
 first Fijian New Testament. 
 
 The translation of the Gospel according to St. 
 Matthew, and the Acts of the Apostles, was now 
 complete, after much diligent care bestowed upon 
 it; and many a walk up and down a favourite 
 path, where Mr. Hunt would pace for an hour 
 together, when he was in difficulty about the best 
 rendering of any passage. Other matters belong- 
 ing to the educational and general work had re- 
 ceived full attention; and in May Mr. Hunt 
 started once more, in Verani's canoe, to visit the 
 out-Stations. 
 
 While on this journey, he wrote to the Mission- 
 aries at Somosomo, Messrs. Williams and Hazle- 
 wood, dating from Solevu, May 23rd, 1845.
 
 ANOTHER VOYAGE. 177 
 
 " I am now, as you will see, visiting the out- 
 Stations of this Circuit. I find things in a very 
 encouraging state so far. We have had some 
 very good seasons, and the people appear to be 
 very much benefited by our visit. To God be all 
 the praise ! We have one drawback to our plea- 
 sure, and that is the somewhat severe illness of 
 Verani, our excellent Chief, who is with us. I 
 trust the Lord will hear prayer and restore him, 
 and bless him with grace to go on as he has 
 begun, zealously serving the Lord. We have his 
 large and commodious canoe, and most of the Viwa 
 male population, with us,* the very men and 
 canoe that a short time since were in these parts 
 for the purpose of destroying their fellow crea- 
 tures. ( Praise God, from whom all blessings 
 flow!' 
 
 " I am glad to hear of some turning at Somo- 
 somo, and hope that this is the first-fruits of a 
 glorious harvest. O that it may be so ! You 
 have many trials, and I believe God will sanctify 
 them to you ; and when He has tried you, you 
 shall come forth like gold. We obtain blessings in 
 time of trial, and by the instrumentality of pain- 
 ful events, which we can obtain in no other way ; 
 and this, if there was no other, is a sufficient rea- 
 son why we should be tried. I praise God most 
 
 * A large double canoe carries from eighty to a hundred men. 
 N
 
 178 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 for my trials, and doubt not you do the same. 
 Yet a little while, and they will be over. I feel 
 eternity very near. I do not know why, but it 
 seems very near while I write. May God make 
 us all quite ready ! Thank God, the blood of 
 Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth from all sin. I 
 was much impressed yesterday with the thought 
 of the quantity of the precious blood which Christ 
 shed. It flowed from His temples when they 
 were crowned with thorns ; from His back when 
 he was scourged with cords ; from His hands and 
 feet when He was nailed to the tree ; and from His 
 side when pierced with the soldier's spear. This 
 thought affects me much. The provision to wash 
 us from sin is abundant. There is a fountain 
 opened in the house of David for the purpose. 
 May we all wash and be clean ! 
 
 " But I must conclude. The ' Triton ' may 
 come before I have another opportunity of writing. 
 If she does, I shall hope to see you on our way to 
 the District-Meeting, and have the pleasure of 
 your company thither. I love you all very much, 
 and beg you to love and pray for me, 
 " Your affectionate Brother, 
 
 "JOHN HUNT." 
 
 This visit to the out- Stations, the details of 
 which were of the ordinary kind, ended with Mr.
 
 DISTRICT-MEETING AT VIWA. 179 
 
 Hunt's return, on June 13th, to Viwa, where he 
 found all had gone on well during his month's 
 absence. A few days afterwards, Messrs. Calvert, 
 Lyth, and Williams arrived at Viwa from their 
 several Stations, where the District-Meeting was 
 commenced. It was then adjourned to Lakemba, 
 and in the course of it Mr. Hunt preached, with 
 much power, to his brethren on his one great 
 subject of Holiness. 
 
 After the District-Meeting, Mr. Hunt con- 
 tinued in his usual course of work, and paid a 
 visit of oversight to several Stations. On settling 
 down again at Viwa, his mind was taken up with 
 the state of the good cause, and with devising 
 means for its improvement. He and his brethren 
 were looking for larger success. Their own hearts 
 had been quickened; and their trust was sound 
 that others should share the gift of life. For 
 there is ever the closest relation between the state 
 of the workers and the condition of the work ; and 
 God commits His grace to men's hearts, not as to 
 coffers to hoard it, but as to channels to dispense 
 it; and he who receives good, gets with it the 
 most effectual charge to do good. Wherefore the 
 members of the Mission circle being filled with 
 heavenly life themselves, looked to see that life 
 spread. Being aware of the dawn, they waited 
 for the day. And the day came. 
 N 2
 
 180 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Mr. Hunt, finding more earnestness of atten- 
 tion in the native congregations, suggested that 
 a "penitent Prayer-Meeting" should be held 
 every Saturday. It was arranged accordingly; 
 and when the time came, an unusually large 
 number of people assembled. Mr. Hunt opened 
 the service with singing and prayer, and then went 
 on to tell the people why such a meeting had been 
 called-, for the confession of sin, and pleading for 
 God's mercy through Jesus Christ. He then 
 stated that any one who felt disposed was to pray 
 aloud, and Paul, a quiet, gentle old Christian, began 
 to pray with much feeling. All the people bowed 
 down in solemn recognition of the manifest pre- 
 sence of God. And the Spirit of life moved 
 upon those prostrate hearts. There was a general 
 heaving, and then a sound of quiet weeping and 
 emotion, that could hardly be repressed. Neither 
 could it be checked long. A deep groan burst 
 out, and a bitter cry answered it ; and one after 
 another sobbed, and called on Jesus for mercy, 
 until many voices joined in prayer and weeping 
 before God. Some would have deemed it a sadly 
 discordant noise ; but it made true harmony 
 with the praise of watching angels. Before long, 
 some who had been Christians in name for 
 months, trusted fully on Him whose religion they 
 had hitherto only professed; and, feeling the
 
 PENITENT PRAYER-MEETING. 181 
 
 joy which comes by believing, they prayed on 
 behalf of others, and many cried aloud in an 
 agony. The meeting closed early ; but the work 
 went on. The penitents went to weep at home, 
 and continued all night in prayer. And now the 
 ingathering began, and God's servants rejoiced 
 before Him " according to the joy in harvest, and 
 as men rejoice when they divide the spoil." For 
 several days, ordinary business was almost sus- 
 pended, and from many a house in Viwa, and 
 from the Chief's house most of all, could be heard 
 far off the sound of those who mourned and cried 
 for mercy, mingling with the songs of those who 
 rejoiced in the Jjord. In some cases the strong 
 feeling produced a surprising effect on its subjects. 
 Most of the women fainted several times during 
 their distress, and the anguish of the men was 
 almost terrible to hear and see. Some, being 
 thrown down on the ground, were hardly held by 
 four or five strong men. 
 
 Undoubtedly much of this passionate excite- 
 ment could be traced to natural causes, and philo- 
 sophically accounted for. It has not been con- 
 fined to one or two instances; but many times 
 and many lands have witnessed the same thing. 
 Yet here is much that science has no power to 
 analyse ; here are phenomena that transcend all 
 philosophy, except the soundest philosophy of a
 
 182 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 childlike trust in God's good Spirit. In later 
 days, and nearer home, we have been hearing of 
 similar effects, and have had them discussed 
 psychologically, and classified as peculiar forms of 
 disease. Would that the disease were epidemic 
 among all the nations ! for a strange and sound 
 health has come of it. Some, fond of playing 
 with edged words, say, it is largely if not entirely 
 the work of the devil. Then may the Churches 
 have bright hope; for they never witnessed a 
 more authentic case of Satan casting out Satan. 
 " Righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy 
 Ghost," follow this agony of soul, not after a new 
 fashion, but as it was in the beginning, when 
 multitudes, hearing Peter preach, were pricked to 
 the heart. When men's hearts are elated with 
 common joy, will they not shout? When men's 
 hearts are broken with sorrow, will they not 
 mourn? And never did any sorrow wound the 
 heart like the conviction of sin. There is no fear 
 so appalling as that of God's wrath ; no reproach 
 so keen and stinging as that of guilt in the light 
 of His love. A man who knows the love of God, 
 for the first time, as his, and feels himself rid of 
 guilt, and gifted with pardon, never experienced 
 any such joy before. Why, in what moves men 
 most, should they be most unnatural ? 
 
 Mr. Hunt remarked about the most violent
 
 GEEAT REVIVAL. 183 
 
 cases of distress, "There was nothing silly or 
 wild in what they said ; indeed, we were asto- 
 nished at the manner in which they expressed 
 themselves both in prayer and praise, and in their 
 exhortations to others, after they found peace. 
 Generally, after they obtained the favour of God, 
 and became a little calm, they would begin to 
 exhort those about them with amazing power and 
 fluency." Again he writes : " Some of the cases 
 were the most remarkable I have ever seen, heard 
 of, or read of ; yet only such as one might expect 
 the conversion of such dreadful murderers and 
 cannibals would be. If such men manifest nothing 
 more than ordinary feeling when they repent, one 
 would suspect that they are not yet fully con- 
 vinced of sin." 
 
 This state of things continued for some time, 
 during which the Missionaries and Teachers were 
 employed continually often at night as well as 
 by day in visiting those who were in distress 
 about their souls. In the public services, the ex- 
 citement was very great, and tears of joy or sorrow 
 flowed everywhere, the preacher and people some- 
 times joining together in overwhelming emotion. 
 The Te Deum was chanted with a nobler reality 
 of worship than was ever reached by robed clerks 
 and choristers at a warrior's triumph. It was the 
 fit victory-song of redeemed souls ; and the dark
 
 184 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 faces quivered with joy as they answered one 
 another, in that heathen land, saying, " We praise 
 Thee, O God! we acknowledge Thee to be the 
 Lord." But when they reached the words, " Thou 
 art the King of glory, O Christ ! " voices failed ; 
 and streaming eyes, and broken cries of " Jesu ! 
 Jesu ! " lifted a more eloquent praise to God. 
 
 " During the first week of the Revival," says 
 Mr. Hunt, "nearly one hundred persons pro- 
 fessed to obtain the forgiveness of sins through 
 faith in Jesus Christ." Again : " The result has 
 been most happy. The preaching of the word has 
 been attended with more power than before the 
 Revival. Many who were careless and useless, 
 have become sincere and devoted to God. The 
 experience of most has been much improved, and 
 many have become, by adoption and regeneration, 
 the sons of God. Others have been much estab- 
 lished, and all feel that the revival has constituted 
 a new era in their religious history. It has spread 
 through the Circuit. Nakorotumbu, Nandi, 
 Mbua, and other places, indeed, I think every 
 place, more or less, has been blessed.* The people 
 that sat in darkness have seen a great light. 
 Many never understood till now what we have 
 
 * No news of the good work at Viwa had reached Ono ; yet, at 
 this very time, there was a great reviving in that far distant island, 
 and many conversions were the result.
 
 LETTER TO EEV. J. WATKIN. 185 
 
 been preaching to them for some years. We were 
 delighted when we last visited the out-stations in 
 this Circuit. We left them all alive to God, and 
 our ministrations in the word and sacraments 
 were most signally owned of God. The mats of 
 the chapel were wet with the tears of the com- 
 municants at the table of the Lord ; and in many 
 instances the Ministers were scarcely able to 
 minister because of the glory of the Lord." 
 
 Mr. Hunt gives his views on the general sub- 
 ject of Revivals, in a letter to the Rev. J. Watkin, 
 of New Zealand, written in 1846. He refers to 
 the late success at Viwa, and then to the remark- 
 able work of conversion which had gone on in the 
 Friendly Islands since. 
 
 " They have had another wonderful Revival at 
 Tonga ; something like the one you were favoured 
 to promote several years ago, (1833-1834,) the 
 fruit of which has been very great. I am quite 
 persuaded that this is the blessed means which 
 God has particularly chosen for converting the 
 world. It is a way of saving souls which lays the 
 pride of man in the dust. We like to have souls 
 saved in connexion with the gradual use of means, 
 so that we can philosophically trace the event to 
 its cause. But the blessed God goes out of our 
 ordinary way, pours contempt on our philosophy, 
 and, by means we should never have thought of,
 
 186 CHAPTEK XI. 
 
 accomplishes His own purposes. So be it, blessed 
 Saviour ! Do Thine own work in Thine own 
 way ; and especially take care of Thine own honour, 
 about which men in general are so careless. I 
 know you say, Amen. 
 
 11 The work in Fiji has been very remarkable, 
 associated, of course, with much that men would 
 call ' extravagance, enthusiasm/ etc. : such as 
 women praying till they faint, and then recovering 
 from their fainting only to pray till they faint 
 again; men in such agonies of distress, or such 
 ecstasies of joy, as to require three or four persons 
 to prevent their injuring themselves or others ; 
 the suspension of all worldly business, and exclu- 
 sive devotedness to the salvation of their own 
 souls and the souls of others ; a total or nearly 
 total neglect of food, sleep, and all conversation 
 or thoughts of anything but salvation. 
 
 " This is enthusiasm ! I pity the Christian 
 Minister who can call it such. The common way 
 of expecting to get to heaven without using the 
 means, or by using them ineffectually, is the true 
 enthusiasm. We have enough of this in Fiji, and 
 hail the day which has now dawned upon us, the 
 day of His power." 
 
 It was impossible that such a mighty energy of 
 good should work in that land of wickedness,
 
 WAR AND PERSECUTION. 187 
 
 without rousing the opposition of the evil which it , 
 assaulted. While the Gospel brought its blessings 
 of peace and love to Viwa, the old religion of the 
 people seemed to have put on the strength of 
 despair, and cursed and crushed them as it never 
 had before. On either side of them, and very near, 
 the Viwan Christians watched the fury of the 
 most terrible war that Fiji had known, marked by 
 barbarous cruelties more fiendish than the oldest 
 could remember. The new converts were exposed 
 to danger because of their refusal to join Mbau in 
 the war with Rewa; and Thakombau himself 
 stated that, had it not been for the presence of the 
 Missionaries, Viwa should certainly have been 
 destroyed. To a few poor Christians on the island 
 of Ovalau, he sent word that they must either give 
 up their Christianity, or come to Mbau and be 
 cooked. They replied : " It is very easy for us to 
 come to Mbau and be cooked ; but it is very diffi- 
 cult to renounce Christianity." Soon after they 
 received a message, telling them that Viwa was 
 to be destroyed, and that they must go to the 
 doomed place and share its punishment. They all 
 went. 
 
 The Christians seemed to be made only more 
 faithful by the discipline of persecution and annoy- 
 ance, to which their religion subjected them ; and, 
 to the joy of their Teachers, they stood firm and
 
 188 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 prospered, until the storm passed away, and there 
 was peace once more. 
 
 As the war with Rewa neared its crisis, its hor- 
 rors increased, and the persecution of the Chris- 
 tians became more malignant. At the beginning 
 of December, a number of Somosomo people came 
 to Mbau. Thirty captured Rewans were cooked 
 for their entertainment, and it was noised abroad 
 that the Christians should furnish the next meal. 
 A plot was laid for the destruction of Viwa ; but it 
 failed. 
 
 The Mbau King ordered that no food should be 
 taken to Viwa ; but before its inhabitants felt the 
 pressure of the prohibition, Rewa fell by treachery, 
 and its smoking ruins were the scene of a bloody 
 pillage. The King, with his army, arrived at Viwa, 
 fresh from the slaughter. The great man came, 
 in savage mood, to the Mission-house, just as 
 breakfast was ended. Mr. Hunt had gone into 
 the town ; but Mr. Watsford was at home. Tha- 
 kombau sat down by Mrs. Hunt, who offered him 
 tea and food. He drank the tea, but flung the 
 bread back, and asked haughtily for Mr. Hunt. 
 He had been sent for, arid a messenger was 
 dispatched for the Viwan Chief Namosimalua, who 
 came presently, entering the house, with submis- 
 sive respect, on his hands and knees. As he 
 crossed the room, the King said, " Split his head
 
 THAKOMBAU. 189 
 
 with an axe ! " Just then Mr. Hunt's voice was 
 heard, saying, as if all were well, " Sa loloma Saka, 
 My love to you, Sir ! " This made a diversion, 
 and saved the Viwan's head. Thakombau then 
 declared that he had come to execute his threats. 
 Mr. Hunt begged him to adjourn to the stone 
 house; and there the Missionaries pleaded \*ith 
 him, for a long while, to be merciful. 
 
 The Christian natives were very firm. Two of 
 them meeting near the Mission-house, shook hands 
 warmly, and, with a cheerful smile, exclaimed, 
 " Heaven is very near ! " They even prepared food 
 to set before their enemies. They retired to the 
 bush, their usual place for prayer, and many a 
 voice was heard there in exulting praise, and many 
 praying for the salvation of their persecutors. 
 
 The Heathens said, " O, if you Missionaries 
 would go away ! It is your presence that prevents 
 us killing them. If you would go away, you 
 would not have reached Moturiki," (an island close 
 by,) " before all these Viwa people would be in the 
 ovens ! " 
 
 While the consultation was going on in the 
 stone house, Lydia Yatea, the converted Queen, 
 entered, and on her knees, with many tears, 
 besought her kinsman Thakombau to join the 
 Lotu which he threatened to destroy. She told 
 how happy the religion of Jesus made her, and
 
 190 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 how it fortified her against all fear of death. The 
 great Chief wondered at this strange religion, 
 which enabled its disciples to be so happy in 
 prospect of the ovens. 
 
 All that day, the returning warriors, armed 
 with clubs and muskets, were arriving in Viwa, 
 until the place was filled and surrounded with the 
 forces of Mbau, against whom the few Christians 
 were powerless. But they showed no wish to 
 resist. They were God's people, and He, in 
 whom they trusted, cared for them. In propor- 
 tion as the Heathens grew in number, so they 
 seemed to waver in purpose, until they said, " We 
 came to kill these people, and we cannot lift a 
 hand." Towards night they withdrew quietly, 
 acknowledging that the Christians' God was too 
 strong for them. As they passed through the 
 bush to their canoes, many of the converted 
 Viwans, whom they had come to destroy, accom- 
 panied them, carrying for them the clubs which 
 had been brought for the expected slaughter. 
 
 After this, the dark and imminent storm 
 passed away, and the Missionaries and their 
 charge were left in comparative freedom. 
 
 Amidst all these things Mr. Hunt kept simply 
 and earnestly to his work, rejoicing to see the 
 Gospel proving itself still to be " the power of 
 God unto salvation " in the case of many. He
 
 REVIEW OF THE YEAE. 191 
 
 thus reviews his own feelings and doings during 
 the year. 
 
 " In my studies, I have paid some attention to 
 Theology, especially to the doctrine of Entire 
 Sanctification. I have made some improvement in 
 Greek and Hebrew, and also in Fijian. Matthew 
 and Acts have engaged a good deal of my atten- 
 tion in the work of translating ; but I have not 
 confined myself to these. I have paid a little 
 attention to general literature: but it is little 
 indeed that a Missionary can do in that way. 
 Spiritual things have been too much neglected; 
 yet I have been systematically attentive to devo- 
 tional duties, and have enjoyed very much of the 
 presence of God. So far as I can judge, the past 
 year has been the happiest and most useful of my 
 life. O that it may be the beginning of good 
 days ! and that my path of holiness, happiness, and 
 usefulness, may be 'as the shining light, which 
 shineth more and more unto the perfect day ! ' 
 
 " I propose to myself three things in which to 
 take a part, according to the ability which God 
 gives me : the conversion of the Fijians to Chris- 
 tianity, not in name, but in power; the transla- 
 tion of the Scriptures into their language ; and the 
 revival of Christian Holiness at home. I can 
 assist in the two first by my presence and actual 
 exertions; in the last only with my pen. Thank
 
 192 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 God for the success which has attended my labours 
 during the past year, in the first two parts of my 
 work : and I ought to praise Him for what He has 
 enabled me to do in the third. I have written, 
 prayed, and lectured on the subject, and have, at 
 any rate, increased in knowledge myself, in this 
 most important of all matters to a Christian Mis- 
 sionary. In the practice of medicine, in instruct- 
 ing youth, and in visiting from house to house, I 
 have not been either so diligent or successful as I 
 could wish. I think I might have done more in 
 all these respects. O that I may be more faithful 
 for the future ! 
 
 " As a family, we have been much blessed. 
 We have had better health, and every needful 
 blessing."
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 VIWA, 1846-7. 
 
 VISITATION Tour : Letter to Mr. Williams : Letters to Mr. Calvert : 
 Letter Home : Translating : Esteem of the Natives : Letter to 
 Mr. Calvert : Another Tour : Journal : Secular Work of a Mis- 
 sionary : Journal continued : Sermon : Return .- Another Child : 
 A new Task : Extracts from Mr. Lawry's Journal : Letter to 
 Dr. Hannah : Letter to Lincolnshire. 
 
 AT the beginning of 1846, Mr. Hunt, accom- 
 panied by Mr. Watsford, paid another visit to the 
 out- Stations, the condition of which he generally 
 found to be very encouraging. The journey ended 
 on February 8th, when he writes, " We reached 
 our home in peace and safety. Thank God, I 
 have never enjoyed a trip so much, and was never 
 so much assisted in my work, or so happy in my 
 soul. I pray that it may be a lasting blessing to 
 me and the people. We found all well at home, 
 which completes our happiness. None but a Mis- 
 sionary knows his sorrows or joys. 
 
 " 9th. Put things a little straight, and began to 
 prepare Matthew for the press. I have now seve- 
 o
 
 194 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 ral months of hard study before me, and have much 
 need of Divine help. Truly we may say, our 
 sufficiency is of God." 
 
 The adjoined extracts, from a letter to Mr. 
 Williams, reveal much of the writer's inner self, 
 and manifest the close and loving fellowship he 
 had with his brethren. 
 
 "ViwA, April 23rd, 1846. 
 "Mv DEAR BROTHER WILLIAMS, 
 
 " As our General Letter contains public news, 
 I shall satisfy myself by giving you a little peep 
 into our private affairs. We are all busy, as usual. 
 I have been preparing Matthew au<^ Acts for the 
 press, which I find a laborious task, though I 
 translated them last year. My plan is, 1. To 
 compare my old translation with the Greek as 
 carefully as I have time. 2. To hear a native 
 read it, and inquire about every obscure or doubt- 
 ful place. 3. To write a fair copy. I manage a 
 chapter a day, on an average, besides my other 
 almost innumerable duties. But for me it is hard 
 work. As I administer all the medicine, purchase 
 food for the three families, and attend to nearly 
 all calls from without, of every kind, I am as fully 
 employed as possible. 
 
 " I am also, in addition to my regular studies, 
 giving weekly lectures on Entire Sanctification,
 
 LETTER TO MR. WILLTAMS. 195 
 
 an outline of the first of which I send you. I 
 really do not know when I wrote my journal; not 
 for want of inclination, but actually for want of 
 time. 
 
 " My worthy colleagues are as fully employed 
 as myself. They have looked over Matthew, and 
 
 are going over John together I wish to confine 
 
 my own attention to three particulars : the con- 
 version of the people from Heathenism to Christi- 
 anity, and from the power of Satan to God; the 
 translation of the Scriptures; and the revival of 
 the great doctrine of Entire Sauctification among 
 all with whom I have any influence. I very much 
 doubt my ability to do much towards the last 
 desirable object ; but, by the grace of God, I shall 
 attempt something, perhaps something in the 
 way of authorship, though about that I .am not 
 fully decided, and shall depend more on the 
 judgment of friends than on my own. Meantime, 
 to maintain a clear consciousness of the pardoning 
 love of God, to be cleansed from all sin, to be 
 filled with all the fulness of God, and to walk in 
 the light as He is in the light, are the daily 
 subjects of my prayers for myself. I make it a 
 point to bring these subjects daily before the 
 throne of grace. O that I did so with becoming 
 fervour, and a realizing faith in Jesus ! 
 
 "I find it profitable to be systematic in my 
 o 2
 
 196 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 devotions, not only as to time, but as to the bless- 
 ings prayed for. After I have gone through the 
 topics just referred to, in the order in which I 
 have named them, I endeavour to address our 
 heavenly Father as the God of Nature, and pray 
 to be preserved from all natural evil, and to enjoy 
 all natural good, both bodily and mental. Next, 
 as the God of Providence in general, as the Ruler 
 of all the nations of the earth ; when I pray to be 
 delivered from all political evils and errors, and to 
 be blessed with everything in this respect which will 
 make me more useful ; such as wisdom, and influ- 
 ence over those in power, so far as I may be con- 
 nected with them. My next petition has reference 
 to the blessed God, as the Father of all the fami- 
 lies of the earth ; and family blessings and pre- 
 servation from family evils are the burthen of my 
 petition. Next I endeavour to address the Great 
 Head of the Church ; and here my brothers, the 
 Cause, etc., are remembered. Lastly, I try to 
 sum up all, and apply to the ever-blessed Fountain 
 of all grace for that instruction, help, and com- 
 fort that I need. The Lord's Prayer concludes. 
 Sometimes I feel this part of my prayer is rather 
 an expression of confidence, than a cry of need to 
 God. I feel as if I could realize what I pray for, 
 and lose myself in God as the God of Providence, 
 as the Father of the families of the earth, as the
 
 LETTER TO MR. CALVERT. 197 
 
 Head of the Church, and the Fountain of all grace 
 and blessing. The former part of the prayer ex- 
 presses much more than I experience ; but I must 
 continue to pray till I receive the full answer. 
 
 " I said I should write a private letter. And so 
 I have. I have made you acquainted with more 
 than any other person knows. My most private 
 concerns are those between God and myself. I 
 have told now for the first time to man, what 
 I am continually telling my heavenly Father. I 
 felt led to do so, and hope it may not be unac- 
 ceptable to you." 
 
 It was characteristic of Mr. Hunt, whose heart 
 had no power to conceal anything that moved it 
 deeply, that all his letters about this time con- 
 tained much about his three cherished objects of 
 effort. Thus he writes to Mr. Calvert : 
 
 " MY DEAR FRIEND AND BROTHER, 
 
 " OUR work is going on gradually. I hope to 
 have it ready to put into your hands by the Dis- 
 trict Meeting. I want more experience, and more 
 acquaintance with Christians. I cannot learn 
 much that suits my purpose from books; and I 
 feel the want of observation very much, which a 
 year or two among the good Methodists in Eng- 
 land would give me. I think the work must not
 
 198 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 be published for some years to come. It is not 
 yet ripe. It is too meagre. It is my constant 
 prayer that we may be able to do something that 
 may serve the cause of holiness at home, as well 
 as labour successfully in these islands. I have my 
 mind on three points : the conversion of the 
 Fijians ; the translation of the Scriptures ; and the 
 revival of Scriptural Holiness in our dear country. 
 " I have very much ardent love for you, and 
 am thankful for your friendship. I have been, 
 much blessed this year ; though my prosperity 
 has not been so uniform as I could wish. I hold 
 by the Cross. I need Jesus very, very much 
 indeed. I trust in Him, and in Him alone." 
 
 The above is dated from Ovalau, where Mr. 
 Hunt was visiting the Society. About ten days 
 after, July 3rd, he writes again to Mr. Calvert 
 from Viwa : " I am going on with our work 
 gradually. I have been lecturing on the subject 
 for several weeks, on the Friday evening, which 
 has been a help to me. I should like to go 
 through the whole once more, and then I think I 
 must give it up. The subject is all-important, and 
 forms a part of what I consider the real business 
 of my comparatively useless life. I feel a strong 
 desire to succeed to the utmost of God's will; but 
 I hinder myself. I am not self-denying enough.
 
 LETTER HOME. 199 
 
 I want more of the 'perfection' spoken of by 
 James (iii, 2) . I feel a particular defect in this. 
 I am generally very happy and cheerful, and am 
 in danger of saying too much. How easy to 
 grieve the blessed Spirit ! I have faith in Jesus, 
 and love Him much. Pray for me. 
 
 " My dear brother, you must not distress your- 
 self about anything but vital matters ; and in 
 these, ' by prayer and supplication, with thanks- 
 giving, let your requests be made known unto 
 God ; and the peace of God, which passeth all 
 understanding, shall keep your heart and mind 
 through Christ Jesus.' 
 
 " My health is pretty good. On the whole, I 
 am worse for wear ; and yet I am not ill. I hope 
 Mary will continue to pray and love Jesus, and 
 that Philip and Anne* will follow hard after. 
 What a blessing to have a prospect of a family of 
 praying children ! May the God of families still 
 bless you ' " 
 
 The following passages from a letter home show 
 how the natural affections of the Missionary were 
 sanctified, though in nowise abated. Especially 
 the old, yearning love for his mother, which had 
 begotten in his boyish heart the first anxiety he 
 had ever felt about salvation, shows its most 
 earnest outgoing still in the same direction. 
 
 * Mr. Culvert's children.
 
 200 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 "DEAR PARENTS AND FRIENDS, 
 
 " YOUR letter dated < April 21st, 1845/ reached 
 us in August, 1846. We were very thankful to see 
 a letter from you, however short. You were well 
 when you wrote ; but you do not say whether dear 
 mother is happy in the enjoyment of the favour of 
 God or not. I should like to know particularly how 
 your souls prosper. This is the main thing. If you 
 love God, all things will work together for your good . 
 If you do not, nothing is a blessing to you. Your 
 desire to see us is perfectly natural ; but you must 
 leave it entirely to God. He sent us out, and He 
 alone must send us back again. If we ought to 
 return, we shall. If we ought not, you would not 
 wish us to return. What a blessing that we are 
 employed in so good a work ! What are we, that 
 we should be honoured of God to preach the 
 Gospel to the Heathen? If the Apostle Paul 
 considered it a favour to be so employed, how 
 should we adore Divine condescension, which has 
 raised us from ignorance, poverty, and sin, to sit 
 among the princes of His people ! 
 
 ' \Yhat am I, O Thou glorious God ! 
 
 And what my father's house to Thee, 
 That Thou such mercy hast bestow'd 
 
 On me, the vilest reptile me P 
 I take the lesson from above, 
 And wonder at Thy boundless love.'
 
 LETTER HOME. 201 
 
 " I trust my dear friends feel thankful that \ve 
 are so .well employed, and will consider it a bless- 
 ing that we are labouring and suffering in so good 
 a cause." 
 
 After speaking of domestic affairs and the state 
 of the Mission, Mr. Hunt continues : " I only 
 wish my dear parents, and brothers and sisters, 
 and all my relations, enjoyed what many of these 
 Fijians enjoy. Many who, a little while ago, were 
 among the worst cannibals in the world, are now 
 rejoicing in God their Saviour. A few years since 
 they were more like incarnate demons than men. 
 Now they are ' sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed 
 and in their right mind/ Some have died happy 
 in the Lord, since we have been at Vi\va. One, 
 who lately died, spent his last hours in exhorting 
 his friends to persevere in loving and serving God. 
 He said, ' I am safe. I have no doubt that I 
 shall go to heaven. You be diligent ; and, when 
 I am gone, remember that you have family prayer 
 three times a day.' Formerly, when Fijians died, 
 they exhorted their friends to avenge their wrongs, 
 by killing those who had injured them. But now, 
 thanks be to God ! some of them die in such a 
 way that one can pray, ' Let my last end be like 
 his.' 
 
 "But what, my dear friends, is the secret of 
 all this ? How is it that these cannibals are get-
 
 202 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 ting saved, and many who are called Christians 
 are dying in their sins, and going to eternal 
 misery ? This is a serious question. The only 
 answer I can give is, that the Heathen believe 
 the Gospel ; the Christian Heathen do not. We 
 preach the same Gospel which you hear at home, 
 and preach it in the same way ; and there is not, 
 I believe, in general, more of the Divine influence 
 attending the ministry here than at home ; and 
 yet, all things considered, it is much more suc- 
 cessful. The reason must be, as I said before, 
 that the Fiji cannibals believe the glad tidings; 
 English Christians, many of them, do not. 
 
 "We have, as you may suppose, much opposi- 
 tion as well as success. Sometimes ' the Heathen 
 rage, and the people imagine a vain thing. The 
 Kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers 
 take counsel together, against the Lord, and 
 against His Christ/ But hitherto the Lord has 
 been our Deliverer. Our mercies are many and 
 great; and our trials are of the same character. 
 There is nothing ordinary here. You can form no 
 idea, in a Christian country, of our joys and sorrows. 
 We are perfectly happy in our family, in our own 
 souls, and in the work of God. We have most 
 excellent fellow-labourers, and many, very many 
 dear friends in various parts of England ; some 
 of them you know, others you do not know. We
 
 TRANSLATING. 203 
 
 have all we need. 'Praise God, from whom all 
 blessings flow ! ' " 
 
 During the later part of 1846, Mr. Hunt was 
 working harder than ever at translating, while all 
 his other engagements were followed out with un- 
 abated zeal. At the District-Meeting held in 
 August, it had been resolved that Mr. Lyth should 
 remove to Viwa to assist in completing the Fijian 
 version of the New Testament, and in carrying 
 it through the press. In October he arrived, and 
 thus a fresh impetus was given to this important 
 branch of the work. Not that Mr. Hunt felt free 
 to do less ; for he must still be " on full stretch." 
 In his little study, which was built at the end 
 of the garden and overlooked the sea, he toiled on 
 with an energy increasing as he proceeded. It is 
 true he took some time for recreation, when he 
 sallied forth to walk, carrying his little girl in his 
 arms, and the Greek and English Testaments and 
 Fijian translation in his hands ; in which times 
 of recreation his friends have passed close by him 
 without being noticed. It was a pain to him to 
 be severed from his favourite employment, unless 
 some other part of his high calling demanded 
 attention. No wonder that what was done so 
 lovingly was done well. Others engaged them- 
 selves in the same matter, and did important
 
 204 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 service; but several tilings contributed to put 
 Mr. Hunt at the head of the translating depart- 
 ment. He had studied the language diligently with 
 special reference to this one object ; moreover the 
 version was to be in the dialect of the district in 
 which he resided ; and when his brethren saw the 
 first specimens of his translation, they said at once, 
 "This is what we want," and, by common con- 
 sent, put the management in his hands. 
 
 The fruits of this daily toil were valuable ; and 
 they were costly. Mr. Hunt lost strength while 
 he gained progress. The loss hardly showed itself 
 yet ; although, now and then, anxious eyes, made 
 skilful \vith love, marked signs of failing, only 
 slight, but causing fear. Perhaps the Missionary 
 himself was aware of some such tokens : a hint 
 now and then in his letters seems to show this. 
 But the foreboding never made him slacken his 
 effort. He saw the greatness of the work, and the 
 fear of coming weakness made him crowd more 
 effort into every succeeding week. He had now 
 but two objects to labour for, since he had some- 
 what hastily wound up his Letters on Entire Sanc- 
 tification, and sent them to Mr. Calvert. He had 
 managed the building of a large and commodious 
 Mission-house, when the white people at Ovalau 
 had rendered valuable service, out of their respect 
 for Mr. Hunt. This was now finished, and the
 
 ESTEEM OP THE NATIVES. 205 
 
 beginning of 1847 found the Missionary occupied 
 with nothing but translating, and the various 
 branches of strictly Mission work. 
 
 One thing was noticed and admired by ail. 
 However closely Mr. Hunt was engaged, he never 
 hesitated to attend to any one who needed his 
 help. Neither was the help given grudgingly, but 
 with as cheerful a good- will as if the student had 
 never been interrupted. The natives, even the 
 heathen part of them, learned to reverence and 
 almost love this man of God. They knew that 
 they could reckon on his friendship, and that his 
 word never failed. Their trust in his truthful- 
 ness was remarkable ; and no doubt was all the 
 stronger because of the contrast with the habitual 
 falsehood among themselves, and the gross injus- 
 tice which had marked the dealings of some of the 
 white traders in Fiji. This was illustrated when 
 a levy was imposed on certain districts, to raise 
 wherewithal to enable their Chief to fulfil a con- 
 tract made with a colonial trader. So many gal- 
 lons of cocoa-nut oil were to be supplied, and in 
 one instance very likely in more the trader 
 understated the size of the casks which he sent 
 ashore to be filled. The people detected the cheat 
 and protested; thereupon the Captain declared 
 that the Missionary had deceived them as to the 
 quantity to be supplied. They said promptly,
 
 206 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 "Will the sun rise to-morrow?" "Of course it 
 will/' "Then so certain is the word of Misi 
 Oniti" (Mr. Hunt). 
 
 In the earlier part of 1847, the translation of 
 the New Testament was complete. Mr. Calvert 
 returned the Letters on Entire Sanctification, 
 which again passed under the careful revision of 
 their author, who worked at them as long as he 
 was able, but left some unfinished at last. On 
 April 26th, he writes : 
 
 "Mv DEAR BROTHER CALVERT, 
 
 " I HAVE been through the Letters on Entire 
 Sanctification again. They are another stage for- 
 ward. I am not satisfied with them, and was of 
 opinion that they ought not to be printed ; but 
 Brother Watsford touches a string that affects me. 
 He says they have been made a blessing to him, 
 and he believes they will be to others. This is 
 the point with me. If they are really calculated 
 to do good, I shall be satisfied and, I trust, 
 thankful. I am determined now, more than ever, 
 to try to live as I have written, and prove, by my 
 experience and conduct, that these things are so. 
 Help me, by your prayers, letters, etc. 
 
 "Thank God, He has given me health and 
 strength to go through the New Testament.
 
 LETTER TO MB. CALVERT. 207 
 
 " I am now preparing for my voyage. I expect 
 to be away six weeks. May the good Master be 
 with me ! I have felt Him very precious the few 
 past days ; but I am an unfaithful servant ; yet I 
 feel He is mine, but want to feel it much more. 
 
 " Be sure you take care of your health, and be 
 very systematic and earnest in your devotional 
 exercises. I have been reviewing my own, and 
 find I have greatly declined. I find, if devotion is 
 not made a serious business, it becomes mere for- 
 mality. I have been prevented for some time 
 from attending as I ought to these duties, and it 
 seems to me that I. am just where I was when I 
 left them off; and the work too, both among the 
 Christians and Heathen. 
 
 " I have now commenced afresh, and have 
 written, for my own use, a plan for the regulation 
 of my private devotions, which I will send you. 
 
 " I. Times for Private Devotion. From six to 
 seven in the morning. From nine to ten in the 
 evening. 
 
 "II. Devotional Exercises. 1. In the morn- 
 ing, while dressing, repeat a hymn of praise, or a 
 Psalm, or recount the mercies of God during my 
 past life, and especially those acts of mercy which 
 appear most particularly to call for special 
 acknowledgment. As soon as you are dressed, 
 praise God ou your knees.
 
 208 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 " 2. Kead a portion of Scripture. I have 
 commenced Mr. Wesley's Testament, and intend 
 to read a chapter morning and evening, with the 
 Notes, if possible, daily. 
 
 " 3. Pray especially for the following blessings. 
 (1.) Pardon of all past sins. And do not be satis- 
 fied without more and more clearly realizing your 
 acceptance. (2.) For Entire Holiness, in a similar 
 way. (3.) To be filled with the Holy Ghost 
 throughout the day. (4.) For bodily, mental, 
 and spiritual blessings ; including protection from 
 all evil, and the bestowal of bodily strength, mental 
 vigour, spiritual guidance, preservation, comfort, 
 etc. (5.) For family, political, and ecclesiastical 
 blessings ; including deliverance from all family 
 evils, all political harm to self and people, and 
 from all evils in the Church ; and for help in 
 attending to every part of my work. (6.) Pray 
 particularly for individuals, such as relations, 
 friends, brethren, and others. (7.) Conclude with 
 the Lord's Prayer ; enlarging on each petition as 
 circumstances require and the Spirit assists. 
 
 " I find it a good plan to mix meditation and 
 self-examination with prayer; and to walk the 
 room to meditate. It prevents dulness and 
 drowsiness. 
 
 " Before praying for the pardon of sin, think 
 what particular sins you have been guilty of, and
 
 LETTER TO MR. CALVERT. 209 
 
 confess them particularly on your knees. So of 
 Entire Holiness. Think what particular things 
 which are wrong still remain in you, and in what 
 you are still particularly deficient. 
 
 " In praying for bodily, mental, spiritual, family, 
 political, and ecclesiastical blessings, I find it very 
 profitable to contemplate the .character of God, as 
 the God of nature and mind, the Fountain of spirit- 
 ual good, the Father of all the families of the earth, 
 the King of Kings, and the Head of the Church. 
 
 " I think the whole can be performed in an 
 hour. The evening is the same as the morning. 
 I give you this plan, not as a new or excellent one, 
 but one that I have found useful. I followed it, 
 in most of its parts, a long time since. For some 
 months I have not been so particular, having 
 yielded to the pressure of work. I have now 
 returned to it, and not without a sensible bless- 
 ing. God be merciful to me, a most unprofitable 
 servant ! Amen. 
 
 " My dear wife and child are well, and we are 
 all in peace and comfort. The work is much the 
 same as when I last wrote. Our people are under- 
 going a trial from Satan. This is evidently his 
 revival time. But our God will bruise him under 
 our feet. O that it may be shortly ! " 
 
 The voyage referred to in the above letter, was the 
 p
 
 210 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 usual visitation tour to the out-stations of the Circuit. 
 On starting, Mr. Hunt thus commences his journal. 
 
 "April 27th, 1847. This morning I parted 
 with my dear wife and friends at Viwa, and set 
 sail for this place, Kavula, with the intention of 
 paying a pastoral visit to the various places in this 
 Circuit. We had a pleasant day, which enabled 
 me to read part of Reed's ' Advancement/ * which 
 I found searching and humbling. Indeed, it was 
 the means of increasing what I have felt for some 
 time, a conviction that I must be a different man, 
 both as a Christian and a Minister, before I can 
 answer all my Saviour's great design in sending 
 me to Fiji. We reached our port late at night, 
 but had a sweet moon and good pilots. We met 
 Paul, a quarter of a mile on his way to Viwa, with 
 a note from Ratu Elijah (Verani), stating that a 
 Mba Chief and one or two others had embraced 
 Christianity. Elijah had been to Kavula, and 
 wished to go on to Viwa, but did not know what 
 to do with his new converts, about whom he feels 
 much concerned. I think it is likely we may have 
 to go to Mba; but whom to place there as a 
 Teacher, I know not. Lord, direct ! 
 
 " 28th. I made the necessary inquiries this 
 morning respecting those who had been preparing 
 
 * " The Advancement of Religion, the Claim of the Times. By 
 Andrew Reed, T).D." Ward. 1847.
 
 JOURNAL. 211 
 
 for baptism. In the afternoon I married two 
 couples, baptized seventeen adults and two chil- 
 dren, and preached from, ' I indeed baptize you 
 with water/ etc. I had a very bad headache, but 
 tli at did not prevent a blessing. 
 
 "29th. This morning I preached from, ' Simon, 
 son of Jonas, lovest thou Me ? ' etc. I afterwards 
 questioned several of the Society respecting their 
 experience on this one point, asking each, ' Do you 
 now feel you love Jesus ? ' They all answered in 
 the affirmative. O that all their conduct may 
 show that they spoke the truth ! I afterwards 
 administered the Lord's Supper, and we found a 
 special blessing. I was led to dwell particularly 
 on Christ's presence in the Sacrament. Perhaps 
 this truth has been so much perverted by Papists, 
 that Protestants have gone to the opposite extreme. 
 There is a presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper, 
 which is real to every believer. Of course it can 
 only be a spiritual presence ; for what else can be 
 present to the spirit ? Popery holds Christ's natu- 
 ral presence. Real presence does not appear to me 
 to be a good word. The presence of Christ in the 
 Eucharist is undoubtedly real ; bnt not His bodily 
 presence. The omnipresence of God is undoubtedly 
 real, yet not natural or bodily, but spiritual, and 
 therefore a proper object of faith. Such also is 
 the presence of Christ in the Eucharist. 
 p 2
 
 212 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 " In the afternoon the members of Society paid 
 us a visit at the house of the Teacher. They 
 brought a quantity of yams, and other property, 
 as an expression of their love ; and sang the Te 
 Deum before the house. It was very affecting to 
 see them. They appeared to be sincere in their 
 gratitude to God, and their love to us for His sake. 
 Our Teacher here is an excellent man ; but a Mis- 
 sionary is needed. "Wesley (a Teacher) preached 
 a useful sermon this afternoon, which, I expect, 
 closes our services here. 
 
 "30th. This morning we left our friends at 
 Kavula, and proceeded to Nairara, where we 
 found our Teacher and people somewhat surprised 
 at our appearance. We had a conversation with 
 the Chief of the place, on the subject of embracing 
 Christianity ; but he appeared unwilling for the 
 present. Namosimalua and Elijah had both tried 
 to persuade him, but in vain. A Chief from Na 
 Viti Levu persuaded him not to comply, but to 
 wait. I urged upon him an instant compliance, 
 and explained to him, as affectionately as I was 
 able, the awful hell which is the portion of those 
 who refuse and rebel. He did not seem much 
 affected, but listened very attentively. We left 
 him without a definite answer either way, but with 
 the persuasion that he would soon embrace the 
 truth. At night, the Teacher came, requesting
 
 JOURNAL. 213 
 
 us to remain over the Sabbath, that the Chief 
 might Lotu, as, he said, we might never meet 
 again. Of course we were very glad to stay. 
 
 "May 1st. I spent the day principally in 
 reading Reed's ' Advancement/ which I found to 
 be very profitable. The views there expressed 
 with regard to the conversion of the world are, I 
 think, very just in general, and the spirit breathed 
 through the whole work is excellent. One opi- 
 nion was new to me, and appeared at first sight to 
 be very satisfactory ; but I should like to see it 
 more fully explained, and tested by the word of 
 God. It is, that those among the Heathen will 
 be saved, who would have accepted the Gospel, 
 had it been proposed to them.* These are not 
 the exact words in wh'ich the sentiment is ex- 
 pressed; but I think the writer is evidently 
 of this opinion. I am persuaded that there are 
 great numbers who would embrace Christianity if 
 they had it proposed to them in a proper way. 
 But who is sufficient thus to propose it ? How 
 difficult is this which many appear to think any 
 one can do ! One view of the writer I think very 
 doubtful ; and that is, that Christianity might be 
 
 * Dr. Reed's words are, "We cheerfully admit that, wherever 
 
 there is such a disposition of mind as would thankfully receive the 
 Gospel if it were presented, there is essentially a state of salvation." 
 Page 236.
 
 214 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 much more effectually promoted by mechanics and 
 Colonies than it has been. One objection against 
 mechanics, in my mind, is, that a mechanic is 
 naturally associated, in the minds of Heathen, 
 with a class of men who are the greatest opposers 
 of Christianity. If a man has a secular character, 
 he is ranked with captains of vessels, and mer- 
 chants, and a variety of others, whose only object 
 in visiting heathen nations is to get what they 
 can from them, without any regard for the tem- 
 poral or spiritual interests of the Heathen. I 
 believe, the less Missionaries have to do even 
 with the arts of life, the more successful they will 
 be in the saving of souls. They might, perhaps, 
 be successful in spreading a kind of secular Chris- 
 tianity, which, however useful, does not meet the 
 case. Jesus Christ set His disciples apart from 
 secular things, that they might be at entire liberty 
 to attend to the spiritual kingdom in themselves 
 and others. A man whose business it is to spread 
 righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy 
 Ghost, needs no other employment. This kind of 
 work implies a sedulous attention to the pro- 
 motion and advancement of this kingdom in his 
 own soul, without which he will not succeed with 
 others ; and his own soul will not prosper in this, 
 unless regular and large portions of time are 
 devoted to private reading of the Scriptures,
 
 JOURNAL. 215 
 
 meditation, and prayer. Those who are neces- 
 sarily engaged in secular affairs, may prosper in 
 their souls, without much time being given to 
 devotional exercises : but those who are set apart 
 for the work of the Lord, may not waste the time 
 they ought to give to devotion in any secular 
 employment whatever. It is nothing to the pur- 
 pose to say, that such a mail can maintain the 
 spirit of prayer in the midst of business : he may, 
 but how few do / It is not probable that many 
 will. My conclusion is, that those whose work it is 
 to spread scriptural Christianity, should be as free 
 from secular affairs as possible. I wish we could 
 be much more free than we are, even in Fiji." 
 
 It would be very unjust to Mr. Hunt to argue 
 from the sentiments here recorded, that he thought 
 lightly of the good which a Missionary might do 
 to an uncultured people, in the way of leading 
 them up to the benefits of what is understood by 
 civilization. Before being sent to Fiji, he himself 
 looked forward with delight to the advantage which 
 his agricultural knowledge would enable him to 
 confer on the Kaffirs, among whom he expected to 
 be sent ; and he rejoiced as much as any in the 
 better style of houses among the Fijians, and 
 other improvements in their temporal affairs, 
 which they received through the Missionaries,
 
 216 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 and through Mr. Hunt himself no less than any. 
 He dreaded, however, and with good reason, 
 the reversing of the true order, and the attempt to 
 make civilization prepare the way for the Gospel, 
 instead of regarding temporal good as consequent 
 upon spiritual blessing. His faith in the Gospel 
 as " the power of God unto salvation to every one 
 that believeth," was so simple so like that of St. 
 Paul that he was very jealous of anything which 
 seemed to question the efficacy of the mere preach- 
 ing of the Gospel. He accepted Paul's word as to 
 the relative claims of man's wisdom, and " the 
 Foolishness of God." 
 
 Moreover, Mr. Hunt had sympathy with the 
 apostolic judgment anent the unfitness of a 
 Minister of the Word being encumbered with the 
 ministry of secularities. Recognising the plain 
 principle, that success in a spiritual work called 
 for spiritual fitness, and having gained such an 
 intimate knowledge of his own heart, he feared 
 anything that tended to come between him and 
 the source whence he derived all the elements of 
 the only power he cared to possess : wherefore it 
 was that he would fain have taken the same 
 ground as the Twelve, who said, in declining to 
 act as purveyors and commissaries, " But we will 
 give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the 
 ministry of the word." To resume the Journal :
 
 JOURNAL. 217 
 
 " I may make another observation on the book 
 which has led to these remarks, which is, that I 
 feel sorry that the author has not the Wesleyan 
 and Scripture view of Entire Sanctification, which 
 I think would give a definiteness to the state of 
 religion, which he desires so much to see prevail 
 among the Churches of our beloved country. In 
 reading his work, one cannot avoid thinking of 
 such men as Fletcher, Bramwell, Smith, and 
 many others, who were made, by entire sanctifica- 
 tion, just what he describes the Churches should 
 be. I do not believe any of these would have 
 been what they were, unless they had embraced, 
 with all their hearts, this doctrine, and experienced 
 this blessed grace. I have found this defect in 
 many works on practical Christianity, whose 
 authors see exactly what Christianity should be, 
 but do not tell us how to attain it. They have 
 not clear views on this part of the subject. Mr. 
 Wesley's sermons on The Repentance of Believers, 
 on The Way to the Kingdom, and on Christian Per- 
 fection, should always be read with such works. 
 
 " 2nd. Sunday morning. At day-light we had 
 a Prayer-Meeting. The Chief, with eight or nine 
 others, attended, for the purpose of praying the 
 first time to the true God. Praise God ! May he 
 be kept faithful, and be a Christian indeed ! 
 Many of the Chiefs have mixed motives in re-
 
 218 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 nouncing Heathenism ; but we rejoice when they 
 are brought, in any way, under the sound of the 
 Gospel. ' The entrance of His word giveth light ; ' 
 but it seldom enters the minds of Heathens till 
 they renounce their false gods. Their salvation 
 seems suspended on this condition, to which they 
 have power given them to attend, even while they 
 are Heathen. After they have complied with this 
 condition, the difference in many cases is very 
 great. They are now benefited by the means. 
 They were in a salvable state before ; but they are 
 now in the way of salvation. 
 
 " We had a good day. I endeavoured to show 
 them the claims of the God of love on them, 
 arising principally out of the fact, that He has 
 given His Son for them. This is truly an 
 infant Church ; but God is able to make them 
 stand. 
 
 "3rd. We left our friends at Nairara this 
 morning, and set out for our next port. We 
 called at two heathen towns on our way, and 
 preached the Gospel, persuading the people to 
 renounce their false gods. All said it would be 
 well to do so ; but they are waiting one for 
 another to take the lead, and all waiting for a 
 termination of war, before they can find time to 
 attend to religion. The Fijians have evidence 
 enough before them, that nothing but Christianity
 
 JOURNAL. 219 
 
 can terminate their wars; still, they are disposed 
 to try what they can do by fighting, though every 
 war necessarily lays the foundation for a new one. 
 The only way to have peace upon earth is for each 
 contending party to bring their weapons of war, and 
 lay them at the feet of Jesus, and bury all their 
 animosities in the grave of abandoned Heathenism. 
 The people of Fiji have an evidence of what Chris- 
 tianity will do for warriors, in its influence at 
 Viwa. The Viwa people were almost always 
 fighting. In passing through this part of Fiji, 
 you are continually pointed to the scenes of their 
 past contests. Here you see an island that was 
 emptied by them ; there a town that was entirely 
 destroyed by their treachery or power ; at another 
 place, the miserable remnant of a once populous 
 town (I mean populous for Fiji) are allowing their 
 beards to grow until they can be revenged on the 
 Viwa people, for the destruction of their town, 
 and the murder of their friends. Now the Viwa 
 people are endeavouring to spread the Gospel of 
 Peace where they once carried the horrors of 
 war. Five of them are now employed as regular 
 Catechists ; others are Local Preachers, or under- 
 going the necessary training for these important 
 stations in the Church. These are evidences of 
 Christianity found on the spot, and are more 
 convincing to the natives than a translation of
 
 220 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Home, Watson, or Paley would be, could they 
 be procured. 
 
 " We reached Nanganga before night, so that I 
 had time to preach in the open air to a somewhat 
 attentive congregation. Our Teacher here is a 
 good man; but the old Chief wishes to have a 
 Tongan. The poor old man knows but little of 
 Christianity, and does next to nothing for its 
 advancement among his people. It is the day 
 of small things here. 
 
 " 4th. We set out for Mba, which we reached 
 late at night, the wind having been light all day. 
 It is between forty and fifty miles from Nanganga, 
 and one hundred and twenty from Viwa. It was 
 dark before we entered the river, which looked 
 very dismal, on account of the dark, thick man- 
 groves which grow on its sides. We reached the 
 town in safety, and were welcomed by the Chief 
 who has renounced Heathenism. After taking 
 refreshment, we had some conversation and prayer, 
 and retired to rest. Perhaps a Missionary owes 
 it to the grace of God that he is without fear 
 under such circumstances, as he certainly does to 
 His providence that he is quite safe. The Mba 
 people have the worst character of any people in 
 Fiji for cannibalism. It is said that they have a 
 temple built, but wait till they are able to murder 
 some white man, before it is consecrated, in con-
 
 JOURNAL. 221 
 
 sequence of a ivZba Chief having been wantonly 
 shot, some years ago, by an American Captain. 
 Whether the report is true or not, I cannot say. 
 1 have been in their power twice, but have had no 
 reason to suspect them of any bad intentions 
 towards me. 
 
 " 5th. We held a service in the house of the 
 Chief, when his household, consisting of eleven 
 persons, embraced Christianity. A number of the 
 Heathen were present, and listened attentively 
 while I endeavoured to impress on them the 
 nature and claims of Christianity. 
 
 "We met with a number of Nandronga men 
 here, to whom I preached the Gospel, and they 
 appeared somewhat interested ; but refused to 
 embrace the truth at once. They urged the old 
 reason warmly, that they must first kill, arid of 
 course eat their enemies, and then become Chris- 
 tians. The other two Chiefs of Mba gave the 
 same reason. Yet Providence appears to be teach- 
 ing them that they cannot put an end to war by 
 fighting. O that they would love and embrace the 
 religion of the Prince of Peace ! 
 
 " 6th. The rain fell almost all night, and there 
 was no prospect of sailing this morning. I there- 
 fore determined to make use of the time in the 
 best way I could. I went to the large bure 
 (temple), and found full employment all the fore-
 
 222 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 noon in preaching to a number of natives in the 
 bure, and in writing my journal. The weather is 
 clearing off a little ; but there is not much pro- 
 spect of a fine afternoon. Two embraced Chris- 
 tianity this morning. Praise God ! I trust the 
 good work will spread. 
 
 " The houses here are built on quite a different 
 plan to any I have seen in the Windward Islands. 
 Many of them, especially the bures, appear quite 
 round outside, and taper towards the top in a 
 conical form, so that, when finished, they look 
 like round haystacks. The inside looks well, as 
 the rafters are close together ; and, instead of 
 using reeds, they make a kind of net-work 
 of bamboos, which has a nice appearance, is very 
 substantial, and prevents the earth of the grass 
 [with which the roofs are covered] from dropping 
 through. The houses are very durable, and as 
 warm as ovens. 
 
 " We had another service to-night, after which 
 we counted our number, and found that twenty- 
 three had embraced the truth. We spent the 
 evening in teaching them the vakatusa (Con- 
 fession)-, etc. Though their language is very 
 different, yet they understand a great deal of 
 what is said to them in the Mbau dialect. 
 
 " 7th. We set out early this morning for 
 Eakiraki. The wind was fair for a considerable
 
 JOURNAL. 223 
 
 distance, and then became light, as well as much 
 less favourable. We therefore called at Vatea, 
 where we found a number of Rakiraki people 
 fishing, to whom we preached the Gospel; but 
 they were not willing to attend. As night came 
 on, we thought we should have the wind from the 
 land, and determined to sail all night. Accord- 
 ingly we set off about sunset, and had as com- 
 fortable a night as we could expect. We were 
 aground several times. Once our mast, sail and 
 all, fell overboard, and we narrowly escaped harm. 
 We were, however, mercifully preserved, and 
 found ourselves not far from our port at daylight. 
 We had not much sleep, of course ; but we 
 managed to keep up a fire, and had plenty of 
 yams to keep out the cold. 
 
 " 8th. We reached Thokova, and found the 
 old Chief, as usual, so large that he can scarcely 
 stir, and yet begging for health. I asked him 
 what he called health, if he did not enjoy it 
 already. But he keeps to his point, " Me'u bula 
 Let me live ; " which would be very well if he in- 
 cluded anything besides the body ; but beyond 
 this he does not appear to have any conception. 
 His brother, who is also a professor of Christi- 
 anity, is much of the same mind. The people 
 appear willing to become Christians ; but I verily 
 believe that the two Chiefs who profess Chris-
 
 224 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 tianity prevent them. This place reminds me very 
 much of Somosomo. It is very similar ; indeed, it 
 is the Somosomo of this Circuit. 
 
 "9th. We held three services to-day. Our 
 old Chief had made a kind of promise that his 
 household should Lotu to-day ; but when it came 
 to the point, he told a falsehood and got off. As 
 I had but few hearers, I preached in the afternoon, 
 principally to the Teachers, from the Parable of 
 the Sower. The following is an outline : 
 
 "I. THE SOWER. II. THE SEED. III. THE 
 VARIOUS KINDS OF GROUND INTO WHICH THE 
 SEED FALLS. 
 
 " I. THE SOWER has three things to do. 1. To 
 select the proper seed to be sown ; which requires 
 wisdom. 2. To sow the seed; which requires 
 diligence and labour. Sowing is hard work. 
 3. To see that it is properly covered with earth, 
 protected, weeded, etc. ; which requires much care, 
 i. e., prayer, pastoral oversight, and discipline. 
 
 "II. THE SEED. This must be, 1. The word 
 of God ; Scripture properly read or quoted. 
 2. The genuine meaning of that word. 3. Any 
 other sentiments which correspond to the truth 
 of the Bible, though not expressed in the words 
 of Scripture, or any part of its direct exposition. 
 
 "III. THE GROUND. Here are, 1. The way-side 
 hearer, the hardened, careless sinner. 2. The
 
 JOURNAL. 225 
 
 stony-ground hearer, who believes without much 
 evidence, and abandons the truth without much 
 reason. 3, The hearer who is tormented by the 
 cares, and deceived by the riches, of the world. 
 4. The good hearer, who believes, considers, and 
 practises what he hears. 
 
 " 10th. We determined to start for the Large 
 Land (Vanua Levu). The prospect was not very 
 favourable, as the wind was strong. But our 
 crew were in high spirits, and made excellent 
 preparations for a stormy passage, by reefing the 
 sail, after the Tonga fashion. This we found to 
 answer well, and we reached Mbua in safety, 
 before night. We found our friends in health 
 and alive to God ; for which we praised the Lord 
 and took courage. What a contrast between 
 visiting such a place as this and the one we have 
 just left ! 
 
 " llth. This morning I waited on Tui Mbua 
 (the Chief), and promised to have the house for 
 the Missionary built on his side of the river, if he 
 would engage to become a Christian. He sub- 
 sequently refused to comply, by wishing the house 
 to be built at Tiliva, which pleased the people 
 very much. They commenced operations at once, 
 and soon had things in a forward state. We had 
 an interesting service in the evening. 
 
 " 12th. The house proceeded rapidly to-day. 
 Q
 
 226 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 About noon I received a note from David Whippy 
 (an American), stating that he was very ill, and 
 wished I would go and see him as soon aa pos- 
 sible, as it might probably be the means of saving 
 his life. I held a service in the evening, and ad- 
 ministered the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, 
 intending to sail for Ndama in the morning. 
 The improvement made by this people during the 
 past year is very pleasing. But there is much 
 yet to be done. They have built a nice chapel. 
 
 " 13th. We set sail for Ndama. I held two 
 services in the new chapel, which exceeds that at 
 Mbua. It is, by very far, the best building in 
 the place ; which is all we can expect. The work 
 has prospered much here during the year. 
 
 " 14th. We proceeded to Solevu. I found 
 David very ill; but a little improved. It is 
 another loud call to the white men here. 
 
 "15th. I preached this morning in native, 
 baptized several persons, and preached afterwards 
 in English. Here, too, we opened a new chapel, 
 which far exceeds any building in the place, and 
 which the white men have paid for by subscrip- 
 tion. It was built by the Nandi people. 
 
 "16th. I attended to the sick, and held a 
 conversation with the Solevu people respecting a 
 piece of ground on which to build a Mission- 
 house. I obtained the land ; but they wished the
 
 RETURN TO VIWA. 227 
 
 Christians of Nandi to build the house. I deter- 
 mined, therefore, to go to Nandi in the morning. 
 
 "17th. We reached Nandi early. The people 
 were delighted with the prospect of having a 
 Missionary. 
 
 " 18th. I spent the day in a variety of ways. 
 At night I married several couples, preached, and 
 afterwards had a consultation with the Teachers 
 on several points of importance. The last day or 
 two, I have been reading Cecil. No book affects 
 me so much." 
 
 After exactly a month's absence, Mr. Hunt re- 
 turned safely to Viwa. The great work now was 
 the printing of the New Testament, which went 
 on prosperously ; and before August an edition of 
 one thousand copies of the Fijian Testament was 
 worked off, besides a very large number of the 
 Gospel according to St. Matthew, and the Acts 
 of the Apostles. When Mr. Lawry attended the 
 District-Meeting in September, well-bound Testa- 
 ments were presented to the Meeting, and all 
 rejoiced together in the accomplishment of so 
 great an enterprise. In speaking of this visit and 
 Meeting, Mr. Lawry says, "In this Mission, 
 everything takes from the Chairman, not a som- 
 bre hue, but a tinge of evergreen, a glow of life ; 
 and giant strides are being made iu every part of 
 the Fijian work." 
 
 Q2
 
 228 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 In the same month, Mr. Hunt's family was 
 enlarged by the birth of another daughter, which 
 was named after the little one who had died ; and 
 thus the parents' great, new gain was made a 
 memorial of their past loss. 
 
 During the District-Meeting, Mr. Hunt was 
 urged by his brethren to undertake the translation 
 of the Old Testament. He consented ; but with- 
 out that hearty cheerfulness with which he had 
 entered upon and finished his late work. It was 
 not that he regarded an accomplished task as a 
 good excuse for future idleness. He knew of no 
 goal while he had strength left to run. But this 
 new undertaking was entered upon as a bare duty, 
 as though he was conscious that he should never 
 live to finish it. His Master had apportioned this 
 work to others ; and for them was reserved the 
 peculiar grace which would give it a zest. For a 
 faithful soul has as keen a relish in doing its own 
 duty as a healthy body has in taking food. And 
 if alongside this truth as, indeed, every truth 
 the devil shapes a corresponding lie, it is a very 
 sorry trap, into which no man would step with 
 his eyes open. But that is just it. Let a man's 
 own inclination blindfold his judgment, and it 
 really does not need much art to snare him. 
 Now this good man, John Hunt, was a hard sub- 
 ject to blindfold, and, like John Wesley, saw a
 
 EXTRACTS FROM MR. LAWRY^S JOURNAL. 229 
 
 devilish craft in the theory that a man was never 
 to do anything but what he felt free to, i. e., 
 what he liked. So he took up the task at once ; 
 and whatever misgivings he had, there were none 
 about the way of God's appointed service being 
 the way of God's given grace. Thus he says in a 
 letter : " It is a great work ; but God can give me 
 strength, if it please Him that I should do it ; 
 and if it be not pleasing to Him, I do not wish 
 to do it." 
 
 Soon after the District-Meeting, in the begin- 
 ning of November, Mr. Hunt accompanied the 
 General Superintendent, Mr. Lawry, in the 
 " "Wesley," to establish two new Stations on the 
 large island of Vanua Levu, Mbua and Nandi. 
 Verani, the converted Chief, sailed with them as 
 pilot, and they were escorted by a large double 
 canoe, commanded by the Viwa King, Namosi- 
 malua. 
 
 The second Sunday of the cruise, while the 
 " Wesley " was anchored off Mbua, is thus 
 described by Mr. Lawry : " In the morning, I 
 preached on, ' If any man be in Christ Jesus, he 
 is a new creature/ During the reading of the 
 Scriptures, and the Litany, as well as through the 
 entire service, a blessed unction rested upon us all. 
 We had two native services ; and in the evening 
 Mr. Hunt preached a thoroughly Wesleyan ser-
 
 230 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 mon on, ' Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with 
 all thy heart/ etc. He poured forth thought upon 
 thought, so just, so weighty, so original, so 
 luminous, that I sat upon the quarter-deck, look- 
 ing at this wonderful man with amazement and 
 admiration. There was an energy and a sim- 
 plicity about his appeals, all but overwhelming. 
 The scene was altogether lovely : the setting sun, 
 the cloud-capped mountains, the placid ocean, the 
 listening crew and Native Teachers, and the intelli- 
 gent, zealous preacher, from whom were coming 
 forth 'rivers of living water/ united in giving 
 effect to the occasion, and made me willing to ride 
 upon the mountain-wave, and feel at home upon 
 the sea. This was none other than the house of 
 God, this was the gate of heaven ! " 
 
 Mr. Lawry concludes his Journal of this visit 
 thus : 
 
 "Viwa, Dec. 6th. We weighed anchor this 
 morning for New Zealand, after taking a most 
 affectionate leave of the excellent Mission families 
 at Viwa. They are accomplishing a noble work in 
 Fiji, and a great door and effectual is open to 
 them. Mr. Hunt is an extraordinary man, both 
 in body and mind; and all his fine powers are 
 devoted to Christ, and his Fijian infant Churches, 
 for the conversion of these energetic people. By 
 his brethren he is very greatly beloved ; and they,
 
 LETTEE TO DR. HANNAH. 231 
 
 in turn, are much and deservedly beloved by their 
 Chairman." 
 
 The following letter, written to his revered and 
 beloved tutor, Dr. Hannah, shows well the nature 
 of Mr. Hunt's employment about this time, and 
 the state of feeling in which he pursued it. 
 
 " VIWA, FIJI ISLANDS, Dec. 1st, 1847. 
 
 "MY VERY DEAR FRIEND, 
 
 "YOUR very excellent and affecting letter, 
 received per ' John Wesley/ was most thankfully 
 welcomed by myself /and Mrs. Hunt. We value 
 our friends at home more than they can well con- 
 ceive, and more than they would be willing to 
 credit, if we were able to tell them. I am sure, 
 my dear Sir, you will believe me when I say, none 
 are more valued than yourself. I should be 
 ashamed of my heart, if it did not beat with affec- 
 tion of the purest and most ardent character to 
 one to whom I am under many obligations. I 
 am aware you may say you only did your duty. 
 That may be ; but I see more and more, that those 
 who do their duty deserve our best thanks, and 
 our warmest gratitude, though before the Great 
 Master they must ever consider themselves 
 unprofitable servants. 
 
 " I must now begin to give you some account of
 
 232 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 our affairs here. There are so many things that I 
 wish to mention, that I don't know whereto begin. 
 Perhaps I had better commence with what has 
 engaged most of my attention during the past 
 year, namely, the translation and printing of the 
 entire New Testament in the language of Fiji. 
 
 " We have felt our need, for some time, of an 
 idiomatical version of the Scriptures of the New 
 Testament. Some portions had been translated 
 by our predecessors; but these, as might be 
 expected, were very incorrect, and far from being 
 fully intelligible to the natives, in consequence of 
 their being so much in the English idiom. It is 
 easy to learn the words of a language, and not 
 very difficult to put them into a sentence; but 
 there is much difficulty connected with expressing 
 an idea exactly in the way in which a native would 
 express it, if he had the idea in his own mind. 
 This is what has been attempted in this transla- 
 tion, and the Brethren in the District say that the 
 difficult task has been performed much to their 
 satisfaction. Some approve of the version even to 
 admiration. To God be all the praise ! 
 
 "I have now commenced reading for the Old 
 Testament, the Brethren having decided that I 
 shall try to translate the whole; and Brother 
 Ly th is' to examine. I do not approve of the plan 
 myself; but as it was the only one on which the
 
 LETTER TO DR. HANNAH. 233 
 
 Brethren could be unanimous, I submit to it, and, 
 by the help of God, shall proceed with the work as 
 quickly as possible. Five years is the time I have 
 thought of, if I have health, and no more hin- 
 derances than I have had in the New Testament. 
 Pray for me, my dear Sir, that I may have wisdom, 
 and patience, and grace to render into correct and 
 idiomatic Fijian the Holy Book of God. I cannot 
 enter into any explanation of my plans, in the 
 course of a letter. How glad should I be if I had 
 the privilege of an hour's converse with you, about 
 once a week, to ask advice, to propound difficul- 
 ties, etc. ! But I must not anxiously wish for 
 impossible things. 
 
 " My leading principle in translating is to give 
 what I fully believe to be the mind of the Spirit. 
 So far, I wish to be servilely literal. The next 
 thing is to give the sense under the same aspect as 
 it is presented by the sacred writers, following, as 
 far as possible, their mode of expression, in words, 
 figures, and everything that constitutes style and 
 manner; yet not so as to injure the sense by 
 adopting foreign idioms. In a word, what Hooker 
 speaks of as being very desirable, but not much to 
 be expected, we are endeavouring to accomplish ; 
 namely, a version which shall be neither a mere 
 verbal rendering of the words of Scripture, on the 
 one hand, nor a paraphrase, on the other. These
 
 234 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 are not his words, as you know ; but I think it is 
 the sense of what he says.* It is easy to give a 
 mere verbal rendering, and equally easy to make a 
 paraphrase ; but that which shall be as faithful as a 
 verbal rendering, and as easy to be understood as a 
 paraphrase, without being one or the other, is not 
 easy. 
 
 " I must not enlarge, but now say a word or 
 two about our Institution. We have not yet 
 formed a regular establishment for the instruction 
 of our Native Teachers. The reason is our per- 
 suasion that we can accomplish the object much 
 better on our present plan. That plan is to have an 
 Institution in each Circuit, under the care of the 
 Superintendent. As we have a printed course, all 
 is easy. Viwa is considered as head-quarters ; and 
 the plan we pursue here, is a model for the rest, so 
 far as it will apply. I have prepared an abstract 
 
 * Mr. Hunt refers to the following passage : " Touching transla- 
 tions of Holy Scripture, albeit we may not disallow of their painful 
 travels herein who strictly have tied themselves to the very original 
 letter; yet the judgement of the Church, as we see by the practice of 
 all nations, Greeks, Latins, Persians, Syrians, Ethiopians, Arabians, 
 hath been ever, that the fittest for public audience are such, as fol- 
 lowing a middle course between the rigour of literal translators, and 
 the liberty of paraphrasts, do with greatest shortness and plainness 
 deliver the meaning of the Holy Ghost. "Which, being a labour of so 
 great difficulty, the exact performance thereof we may rather wish 
 than look for." Ecclesiastical Polity, book v., chap. xix.
 
 LETTER TO DR. HANNAH. 235 
 
 of the short sermons referred to in my last, espe- 
 cially of those on the Doctrines and Duties ; and 
 these, with the Rules of the Society, constitute a 
 book of twelve closely printed pages, 24mo., which 
 has become a great favourite both among the Mis- 
 sionaries and natives. Its only excellence is its 
 adaptation to our people. The plan on which it is 
 prepared, is very simple. The question refers to 
 some great theological truth, and the answer is 
 given, if possible, in the words of Scripture. The 
 first question is, ' How was man when God made 
 him ? ' Answer : ' Moses has reported that " God 
 made man in His own image." ' The sixth ques- 
 tion is, ' Are we near falling into hell on account 
 of our sins ? ' Answer : ' Yes. David reports, 
 "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all 
 the nations that forget God." ' Giving the name 
 of the sacred writer, makes the passage more 
 interesting to them, as they like much to be 
 acquainted with such things. This Catechism was 
 prepared for the Native Teachers ; but most of our 
 people have committed the whole to memory, and 
 can repeat it, questions and answers, from begin- 
 ning to end, without making three mistakes. No 
 one among us could stand a theological examina- 
 tion better than some of the women of Viwa, if 
 they were allowed to keep to the Catechism. 
 Would that they experienced the truth thus stored
 
 236 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 in their memories ! This is the case with some ; 
 but not, by any means, with the majority who 
 profess Christianity in Fiji. We have about forty 
 persons under theological training in the Group, 
 many of whom we hope will be useful to their 
 countrymen. 
 
 "The whole subject of education is now 
 engaging much of our attention. We must now 
 become schoolmasters. We have the New Testa- 
 ment printed, and, if all be well, shall soon have it 
 in the hands of our dear people. But this will not 
 do. They must have it in their minds and hearts, 
 and transcribe its living truths into their lives. 
 Our whole attention, in the pulpit and out of it, 
 must be directed to the accomplishment of 
 this end. What a blessed end ! We can 
 only be instruments; but this we may, nay, 
 must be. 
 
 " We can now report upwards of three thousand 
 who attend our ministry and that of our Teachers, 
 every Lord's Day. One pleasing circumstance 
 connected with these is, that they are located in 
 various parts of the Group, embracing many dis- 
 tinct political states. Seven of these are included 
 in this Circuit, (Viwa). This is an important fact. 
 We have not the first Chiefs in each of these 
 places ; but we have Chiefs of much influence in 
 each of them ; so that this Circuit, according to
 
 LETTER TO DR. HANNAH. 237 
 
 Fijian ideas, is very respectable. We are now 
 dividing it into three, so that my work, in one 
 direction, will be much more circumscribed ; but, 
 thank God ! it will not in another. There are one 
 hundred thousand people on the large island just 
 over against us, and our Circuit includes three 
 important places on that island : one, about sixty 
 miles from Viwa ; another, about ninety ; and a 
 third, one hundred and twenty. Another place, 
 about a hundred and eighty miles from us, is now 
 opening. I visited it some years ago, and received 
 a message from a Chief a few days since, stating 
 that, if I would visit them again, he would embrace 
 Christianity. I am looking out for an opportunity 
 to go. We have abundance of work of every kind, 
 much more than we have strength, or wisdom, 
 or grace to attend to as we ought. We desire to 
 be found faithful. 
 
 "You will read accounts of the Revival with 
 which we have been favoured. On that, therefore, 
 I need not dwell. I fully believe in the great use 
 of revivals in these islands. The Natives require 
 much Divine influence, as well as much Divine 
 truth. Pray for us in this respect, even as I 
 know you do. 
 
 " I wrote you, last year, by Mrs. Wilson, on the 
 subject of Entire Sanctification, and sent you an 
 outline of my remarks, which I hope you received.
 
 238 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 I have altered my plan a little, and am pleased to 
 find that ray altered plan corresponds with the 
 sketch you have kindly given in your last, 
 almost exactly. I shall enclose a very brief 
 outline. The Brethren here wish me to publish 
 soon ; but I wish to follow what I think I remem- 
 ber you recommending : ' Write after you have well 
 thought, not before/ Many authors write first, 
 and think afterwards. 
 
 " I must conclude long before I have done. I 
 fear, however, that my engagements will not allow 
 me to write another letter this time. 
 
 " And now, my very dear friends, accept again 
 our many, many thanks for your kind remem- 
 brance of us. O, it was kind in dear Mrs. 
 Hannah, to send little articles of clothing that 
 your own dear children had worn, and a hand- 
 kerchief for me that you yourself had used. I 
 show it to my friends here as a precious treasure, 
 and they love me more for having so evident a 
 place in your affections. Our last little daughter 
 is named Hannah, after her Mother, Grand- 
 mother, and yourself. But what am I doing? 
 I am trying to tell you how much we love you, 
 and only prove that our love is untellable, if I 
 may coin a word. About going home again, I say 
 nothing. I leave that to the Great Master ; pray- 
 ing, however, that, if possible, I may live and die
 
 LETTER TO LINCOLNSHIRE. 239 
 
 in Fiji, much as I love England. I conclude, with 
 much love. 
 
 " Yours very affectionately, 
 
 "J. HUNT." 
 
 The following extracts are from a letter writ- 
 ten by Mr. Hunt to some of his old Lincoln- 
 shire friends, at about the same date as the 
 last. 
 
 " We sympathize with our dear friends in their 
 various trials, and hope and pray that they may be 
 sanctified, which is indeed their legitimate use. 
 We bless God for our trials, which have, of 
 course, been of a kind that you can know 
 little of. But God knows them ; and we know 
 that all things, whatever may be their nature, 
 work together for good to them that love God. 
 There is no doubt that things are made a 
 blessing to us in proportion as we love God : so 
 that to love God with all our heart, and with all 
 our mind, and with all our soul, and with all the 
 strength of all, is the way to secure the sanctifica- 
 tion of every mercy and every trial. I trust you 
 all keep to the simplicity and fulness of the 
 Gospel. The preaching of John Smith is still, to 
 my mind, the right kind of preaching. I never 
 think of him, and such men, without feeling 
 ashamed and instructed. I am quite sure that
 
 240 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 nothing but entire holiness will do for us. 
 Others, who may not have heard of the great 
 salvation, or seen its effects on others, may be 
 indifferent about it, and be innocent ; but the case 
 is different with those who have heard, and 
 seen, and felt the blessedness of this glorious 
 gift of God. 
 
 " I must now tell you something of our affairs 
 here. In a temporal point of view, our circum- 
 stances are much improved. We have health, 
 and a healthy family ; a good house to dwell in, 
 and plenty of all we need for the body, without 
 much care. This is all we desire; and, thank 
 God ! this we have. The good work in which we 
 are engaged also continues to prosper. We have, 
 of course, some opposition, and much indifference 
 to contend against ; but still we see the work of 
 the Lord advance, not stopped by the calm, or 
 hindered by the storm. God is still with us, and 
 makes us a blessing. 
 
 "The work of conversion has been going on 
 among our people gradually, during the last three 
 years. You are aware that here there are 
 generally tAvo conversions, one from Heathenism 
 to Christianity as a system, and a second from sin 
 to God. Both these are of the greatest import- 
 ance. Without the first there is no hope of the 
 second. We seldom witness anything like peni-
 
 LETTER TO LINCOLNSHIRE. 241 
 
 tence in a Heathen. Generally, it is not until 
 they have professed Christianity for some time, 
 that they sincerely seek the Lord. This, I think, 
 is the great difference between the spread of 
 Christianity in our day, and its spread in the 
 days of the Apostles, Then Heathens were at 
 once converted to God. The grossest idolaters 
 became at once true spiritual worshippers of 
 Jehovah, and trusted, as humble penitents, in 
 His Son Jesus Christ, receiving the Holy Ghost 
 to assure them of acceptance, and to renew them 
 in righteousness and true holiness. Thus saved, 
 they were at once prepared to be useful, feeling in 
 themselves the reality and comfort of the great 
 truths which constituted the principal subjects of 
 the Apostle's ministry. In our day such con- 
 versions are rare ; and, consequently, the work 
 among us assumes a different aspect from that \J 
 described in the Acts of the Apostles. Our people 
 are like most of our congregations at home. A 
 goodly number are truly converted : a further 
 number are desiring salvation : others are pro- 
 fessing to worship God, but have only the form 
 of godliness ; the power they know nothing of. 
 We have upwards of three thousand professing 
 Christians ; and if they were like the three thou- 
 sand saved on the day of Pentecost, I have no 
 doubt that Fiji would soon be converted to the
 
 242 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Saviour. "We have now 1,730 in Society, and 
 159 on trial. 
 
 "We have been very busy, during the past 
 year, in the New Testament, which is now printed 
 in the native language. This, as you may 
 suppose, has cost somebody a good deal of trouble. 
 I hope we may have the Old Testament done in 
 five or six years hence, if our life and health are 
 spared. These things are little thought of by our 
 friends at home. They know something of that 
 part of our work which consists in visiting various 
 places, preaching the Gospel, and teaching 
 schools ; but they know of little that is done 
 in the study, what hours of anxious thought 
 spent in deciding the meaning of words and 
 phrases, and how the Word of God is to be put 
 into the language of the people, without altering 
 its meaning, or making it difficult for them to 
 understand it. A pale face, a feverish state of 
 the body, a mind almost distracted, and an 
 appetite perhaps impaired, indicate that something 
 severe has been going on behind the scene. 
 Thank God ! He affords His aid, and then, 
 
 ' Labour is rest, and pain is sweet.' "
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 VIWA, 1848. 
 
 EXTRACT from Mr. Lawry's Journal : Letter to a Friend : Letter to 
 Mr. Calvert : Letter of Advice to Mr. Malvern : Trip in the 
 " Calypso : " Sickness : Relapse : Trouble and Peace : Prayer 
 for the Missionary : Relief : Praise : Patient Waiting : Last 
 Letter : Last Relapse. 
 
 MR. LAWRY says in his Journal : " How the 
 Missionaries can study or exercise themselves, in 
 this oppressive climate, is scarcely conceivable; 
 yet they do both, and complain not: but those 
 who are newly arrived feel greatly distressed, until 
 they become seasoned against the heat and the 
 mosquitoes." 
 
 A further quotation from the same interesting 
 journal may be fitly given here. " Our Mission- 
 aries here are hard-working men, and men of all 
 work. They rise early and translate the Scrip- 
 tures, or prepare other good books: they teach 
 the natives useful arts, and guide them in all they 
 do : one part of the day is devoted to native 
 schools, and another to the schooling of their own 
 children. They preach the Gospel to all who will 
 n 2
 
 244 CHAPTER, XIII. 
 
 hear it, morning, noon, and night. They ad- 
 minister medicine to the sick, and settle disputes 
 for all parties. They are consulted about every 
 important enterprise, and have their hand ill 
 everything that is going on. They are lawyers, 
 physicians, privy-counsellors, builders, agricul- 
 turalists, and frequent travellers on the high seas 
 in the frail native canoes. They are men. 
 
 ' Whose path is on the mountain-wave, 
 "Whose home is on the deep.' 
 
 They study hard, that they may give a faithful 
 translation of the "Word of God ; several of them 
 daily read Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, for this 
 end ; beside their constant application to the 
 perfecting of their knowledge of the native 
 language, in which they preach and converse 
 daily with ease and fluency. These things they 
 do in the ordinary course of their daily labour 
 as Pastors of the flock of Christ; beside the 
 oversight they are obliged to take of their own 
 domestic affairs, where the busy housewife plies 
 her care, and where the tedious natives crowd 
 around." 
 
 This description applies exactly to Mr. Hunt, 
 as, indeed, it does to his noble fellow-workers in 
 the Fiji Mission. It was not only the arduous and 
 manifold activities of his office that slowly, yet 
 perceptibly, wasted his strength; but that work
 
 LETTER TO A FRIEND. 215 
 
 " behind the scene " had already sapped his con- 
 stitution; his headaches became more frequent, 
 and though he began the year 1848 with as much 
 apparent vigour as ever, and as much industrious 
 and earnest devotion to his duties, yet every 
 month's toil urged on the hidden under-working 
 of exhaustion which nothing could supply. 
 
 Mr. Hunt addressed himself diligently to trans- 
 lating, as well as to the revision and enlargement 
 of his manual of theology, which consisted of a 
 series of short sermons. In February he wrote in 
 a letter to England : " I am very full of employ- 
 ment, from the beginning of the year to the close, 
 and have now some years' work on hand of the 
 most important kind, in the way of translating 
 and composing works on a small scale in the 
 native language, while I have, in addition, full 
 work as a Pastor, Evangelist, etc. Mrs. Hunt 
 has plenty on her hands, and would be very glad 
 of mother's help ; but we both think, at her age, 
 your advice is best: 'Get ready for heaven, and 
 meet them there/ This is a sure way of seeing 
 us again. All besides is uncertain. What is our 
 life ? A vapour, a span, nothing, and vanity 
 
 " My friends in the Lincoln Circuit can never 
 be thought of by me with ordinary feelings, as it 
 is to them, under God, I owe my all. And though
 
 246 CHAPTER xnr. 
 
 my all is but little, it is my all. May God abun- 
 dantly prosper them ! 
 
 "This letter is all about little things. Well, 
 life is made up of these. Do not forget the great 
 things, Holiness and Usefulness." 
 
 About two months later, he says, in a letter to 
 Mr. Calvert, " I am writing an entirely new copy 
 of the short sermons, adding several new ones, 
 much enlarging the old ones, etc., so that it is a 
 task of considerable labour. I find it difficult to 
 put Homer in a nutshell. I could easily put as 
 much in as the shell would contain, and leave the 
 rest out ; but I find it requires much thought to 
 compress huge volumes into a small book, so as to 
 get the most important ideas, and so to express 
 the whole that a native can understand it. I 
 must do my best ; but I am more and more dis- 
 satisfied with everything I do 
 
 " We are much as usual in our work, etc., and, 
 I trust, in a somewhat prosperous way in our 
 souls. Still there is not that overflowing love to 
 God, one another, and all men, that we had last 
 year. I do not know the reason. I state the 
 fact, and ask your prayers for us. My own soul 
 prospers, thank God ! I have my trials and con- 
 quests, my joys and sorrows, most of them in 
 God."
 
 LETTER OF ADVICE TO MR. MALVERN. 247 
 
 In the early part of this year, Mr. Hunt wrote 
 the following characteristic letter to the Rev. John 
 Malvern, who had recently begun his work as a 
 Missionary at Lakemba. The advice contained 
 in it was the teaching of his own life as well as 
 of his pen. This is true of what he says about 
 morning preaching. Many a time had he preached 
 at home with no listener but Mrs. Hunt ; yet every 
 part of the usual service was gone through with 
 as much solemnity and order as if he had been 
 ministering before a crowd. He spoke what he 
 Lad proved, when he said, " You will never want 
 a sermon." His own preaching resources seemed 
 unlimited ; and his early and long-continued habit 
 of making some passage of Scripture the main 
 subject of daily meditation, kept up an unfailing 
 supply of well-considered texts. 
 
 "Mr DEAR BROTHER, 
 
 " I AM obliged for your short note, and should 
 be glad, according to your request, to write you a 
 long letter of advice, etc., if I knew what kind 
 of advice you wanted. Ask me as many questions 
 as you please, and I will answer them if I can ; 
 or suggest the subjects on which you wish to have 
 my poor opinion. 
 
 " You are just beginning your work ; and, 
 therefore, need much prayer and consideration, in
 
 248 CHAPTER XIIT. 
 
 order that you may get into the right track nt 
 first. Many have suffered much for want of this. 
 I advise you to read and be guided by the rules 
 j laid down in the ' Large Minutes/ the rules of the 
 Bands, etc., contained in vol. viii. of Mr. Wesley's 
 Works. Let your observance of these rules extend 
 to what is said about needless self-indulgence, 
 speaking evil of the absent, and all things ; and I 
 am sure you will be a happy and successful Mis- 
 sionary. I regret exceedingly my violation of 
 some of these rules, and am fully persuaded that 
 every one of them must be fully attended to by all 
 who would be wholly the Lord's. The ' Twelve 
 Rules of a Helper/ and all that follows, will claim 
 your particular attention. Morning preaching 
 has been long given up among us; but I think it 
 would do us much good to preach a sermon to 
 ourselves, every morning, from five to six, o'clock, 
 or, if that be too early, from six to seven. Go 
 through the service. Sing or read a hymn suit- 
 able to the subject of your meditation, and engage 
 in prayer. Then explain a portion of Scripture, 
 and apply it to your own heart and circum- 
 stances ; and close with another hymn and prayer. 
 You will find this an excellent means of improving 
 your mind, and heart too. During the day, you 
 can be thinking of a passage for the next morning, 
 and making any inquiries about it that may be
 
 LETTER OF ADVICE TO MR. MALVERN. 249 
 
 necessary. You will never want a sermon if you 
 follow this plan, and your heart will be kept in 
 tune for preaching, which is a very important and 
 difficult thing in Fiji. Try the plan, and tell me 
 in your next how it succeeds. In the evening, 
 you should spend an hour in preparing a native 
 sermon, and in praying over it and for the 
 prosperity of the work. 
 
 "Don't let little things take you from your 
 work. Avoid chit-chat. Talk about something 
 when you talk. 
 
 " One part of our duty is to take care of the 
 body. Temperance and exercise are both essen- 
 tial. Our food here is coarse ; and unless we take 
 at least two hours' exercise in the open air every 
 day, we shall none of us have health, in my opi- 
 nion. ' O, but I have no time ! ' You must 
 make it. You can walk and pray, or read any 
 thing interesting and instructive, or converse. 
 And I assure you that by regularity in exercise, 
 food, sleep, etc., you will improve your mind as 
 much as your health. A well-educated mind is 
 one which is under our entire control. This is 
 obtained by discipline ; and regular habits greatly 
 assist in disciplining the mind as well as the heart, 
 and are essential to the health of the body." 
 
 It seems that, with regard to this last par-
 
 250 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 ticular, Mr. Hunt was scarcely as wise as he 
 was strict in following his own counsel. He 
 frequently worked in the garden, for the sake 
 of exercise, at mid-day, when the fierce heat 
 rendered comparative rest necessary, and when 
 out-door labour served merely to produce ex- 
 haustion. He afterwards acknowledged that this 
 was wrong; yet he thought it best at the time. 
 Then, if any one wanted his help, he seemed 
 unable to refuse it, though his work, already 
 too great for him, was increased thereby. 
 
 Thus passed the first few months of 1848. In 
 June, H.M.S. " Calypso/' commanded by Captain 
 Worth, visited Fiji. Mr. Hunt accompanied the 
 Captain to several places, cheerfully rendering all 
 the aid he could, although at the cost of great 
 toil and injurious exposure. On one occasion, 
 after becoming much heated by walking, he re- 
 mained for some time in the chill, damp night 
 air. The cold struck him, where white residents 
 in Fiji have most to dread disease, and symptoms 
 of approaching inflammation of the bowels showed 
 themselves. Now, as in all times of sickness, it 
 was a great comfort to have for a colleague Mr. 
 Lyth, whose medical training had already enabled 
 him to contribute largely to the well-being of the 
 Mission families. Mr. Lyth was uneasy at finding 
 that, with intervals of relief, the attacks returned
 
 SICKNESS. 251 
 
 again and again, without yielding to the usual 
 remedies. Each attack weakened the strong, 
 active man; but in July he became very much 
 better, and, impatient to be at his loved work 
 again, went for several successive days to the 
 Infant School. Another and worse relapse fol- 
 lowed, and thenceforth the Missionary's work was 
 done. His last sermon was preached in July, at 
 the wooden Mission-house, from, " Praying in 
 the Holy Ghost." 
 
 His tender and faithful attendant says, " It now 
 became evident that there must be some latent 
 cause existing, or some serious mischief going on, 
 in the system, to occasion these renewed attacks ; 
 for, notwithstanding the means used, the symp- 
 toms became" worse, proceeding from spasm and 
 irritation, till at length decided inflammation of 
 the mucous membrane supervened. Another fea- 
 ture of this complaint was, that the symptoms 
 were generally aggravated about the day of his 
 accustomed headache, (which now entirely left 
 him,) and continued so for some days, followed by 
 a remission of shorter or longer continuance." 
 
 In the beginning of August, Mr. Hunt was 
 quite prostrated by another and more severe 
 attack, during which he suffered acute and long- 
 continued pain. The question of his removal to 
 one of the Colonies had been fully discussed; but
 
 232 CHAPTER XITI. 
 
 lie feared lest the voyage should be too much for 
 him. And the Missionary's heart clung to Fiji, 
 and he had reckoned upon dying in the scene of 
 his life's work; so he quietly resolved to stay 
 where God had led him, and to leave the issue 
 -with Him, in whose Providence he had, from 
 youth up, placed such unquestioning trust. The 
 possibility of removal was now taken away, and 
 the sick man's agony and exhaustion told of ap- 
 proaching death. Then there came a great dark- 
 ness upon the Missionaries, their wives, and their 
 little ones; for they dreaded to lose him, to 
 whom they had loved to look with admiring reve- 
 rence and fond affection so long. And, with the 
 bad news, the darkness spread into many a Viwan 
 home ; and hearts which had received their all of 
 good from the hand of the dying man, mourned 
 bitterly as for a father. In his sharpest agony, 
 the sufferer's heart had rest. He said, " I feel 
 the same uniform peace of mind ; however my 
 pain is, there is no change in that respect ; but " 
 referring to his pain "I feel my troubles" Again 
 he said, "I want a clearer manifestation of the 
 love of God, to enable me to rejoice in my 
 sufferings. I have peace. Pray for me ! " 
 
 Prayer was made without ceasing of the Church 
 unto God for him. Some whom he had been the 
 first to lead to the mercy-seat, now prayed
 
 RELIEF. 253 
 
 mightily that he might be spared. The people, 
 with sad faces, flocked, on the Saturday evening, 
 to the chapel, and bowed themselves before God. 
 Out of the midst of that prostrate company who 
 wept in their common trouble, the voice of one 
 after another was uplifted on behalf of their Mis- 
 sionary. Elijah Verani cried aloud, " O Lord ! 
 we know we are very bad ; but spare Thy servant. 
 If one must die, take me ! Take ten of us I But 
 spare Thy servant to preach Christ to the 
 people ! " 
 
 Once more the disease abated. In a few days 
 Mr. Hunt could sit up again, and walk about the 
 room with a stick, and, soon after, go out into the 
 verandah. He looked out on the familiar scenes 
 with a new feeling, not weakening but accom- 
 panying the old. His heart yearned as strongly 
 as ever for the success of the work committed to 
 him ; but he had just trodden the dim path which 
 lies along the mysterious confines of the two 
 worlds. The light of the eternal and unchange- 
 able had broken up the shadows of that border- 
 land of darkness and storm, causing him to see 
 things as he never had before ; and a still, small 
 voice, which the stooping ear of loving watchers 
 could not catch, had told him, that he must 
 die. " I know not how it is/' he said ; " but 
 something within me tells me that my work is
 
 254 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 done." It was but a little bend in the same path 
 that brought him back into life again. But there 
 was something solemn, and almost a mystery of 
 heavenliness, about the tall, thin, stooping figure, 
 and pale face, and earnest eyes of the sick man, 
 as he paced to and fro with slow and feeble steps. 
 When he spoke of himself, his wife and friends 
 listened with a kind of awe. " I thought once," 
 said he, " that I was very near the port ; you 
 cannot imagine how easy it was for me to go. I 
 felt that I had no tie to earth, not even my wife 
 and children. I felt an entire deadness to the 
 world/' Again he said, " I have settled the mat- 
 ter. I have thought that my case might soon 
 turn either way; so I have solemnly given my 
 body and soul to God, through Jesus Christ ; and 
 I feel that He accepts me. I am perfectly re- 
 signed to His will." 
 
 When Mr. Hunt said he was perfectly resigned 
 to the will of God, he did not mean, as some do, 
 that he crouched in forced silence beneath a heavy 
 yoke. He rejoiced, he exulted in his trust, and 
 desired his brethren to tell the people at the 
 Prayer-Meeting, how his heart overflowed with 
 love, and to offer his public acknowledgment of 
 God's mercy, in so far relieving his pain. The 
 native Christians hoped that their loved pastor 
 was to be restored to them now, in answer to
 
 PATIENT WAITING. 255 
 
 prayer, and were very glad before the Lord. Ratu 
 David, a Christian Chief of Mbau, said in his 
 prayer very fervently : ' We were in trouble : we 
 feared that Thou wert about to take away the light, 
 and leave us in darkness, on account of our sins, 
 that Thou wert about to quench the light, and 
 remove from us him who had taught us the word 
 of life : but we stayed Thy hands ; we refused to 
 let him go, and, for Christ's sake, Thou didst hear 
 the prayers of sinners." 
 
 For several weeks, during which Mr. Hunt, 
 though very feeble, was comparatively free from 
 pain, he was kept in quiet retirement, and strictly 
 forbidden to engage in any part of his work. In 
 this long pause, he looked back carefully over the 
 past ; and while every remembrance of evil smote 
 his heart with keen reproach, every stroke brought 
 him once again to His Saviour, to whom he thus 
 clung closer and closer. He was able now to con- 
 sider the past, by itself. As far as this life was 
 concerned, no wishes, or cares, or plans for the 
 future withdrew his attention, or warped his judg- 
 ment. All earth's future for him was narrowed, 
 to the shutting out of every uncertainty. His soul 
 looked forth from the Cross by which he held, 
 beyond this world; and between him and the 
 crown laid up for him, he saw but one sure event, 
 the fight that was to end his life's conflict.
 
 256 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Neither did he doubt the issue. Already, to faith, 
 the victory was gained, and the man of God. givt 
 with the power of God, awaited the struggle in 
 perfect calm. 
 
 In these hushed and solemn days of waiting, 
 Mr. Hunt showed the liveliest interest in the 
 Mission to which his best years had been given, 
 and would have taken some part of its activity, by 
 writing or consultation, had he not been strictly 
 forbidden, or, as he said in Fijian style, "placed 
 under tambu" by his doctor. In thus taking up, 
 to any extent, his old duties, the old feeling of 
 working-joy quickened again; and under the influ- 
 ence of it, he could almost persuade himself that 
 his course was not yet finished, and that he should 
 once more be spared to preach Jesus. When, in 
 the sweet lull which followed his pain, a fuller gift 
 of God's love stirred his happy spirit into ecstasy, 
 he found it,, easy to interpret this exulting vigour 
 of soul as an earnest that, after all, his bodily 
 strength should be renewed. Under such feelings, 
 he wrote his last letter about August 29th. It 
 was to Mr. Williams, at Mbua. 
 
 DEAR BROTHER,, 
 " I AM going to attempt to write to you a line 
 or two, but know not how I shall succeed, as I am 
 far from being fit for work. You will be thankful
 
 LAST LETTER. 257 
 
 to know that I am able to make the attempt, as I 
 trust I truly am. 
 
 " I thank you and Sister Williams exceedingly 
 for your kind sympathy. Indeed, I seldom think of 
 it without tears. It is one of my greatest com- 
 forts, to see so much kind feeling manifested 
 towards one so very unworthy of it, both by my 
 Brethren, and Sisters, and the natives. When 
 Solomon [a beloved Viwan Native Teacher, 
 stationed at Mbua] arrived, the worst was over, 
 and I had got a decided turn towards health. I 
 have been making slow progress in the same 
 direction since then, and hope, in a month 
 or two, I may be fit for service, if it so please 
 God. 
 
 " My gracious Lord has indeed been kind to me 
 in my affliction. I have seen more of His good- 
 ness than ever, and want a thousand tongues to 
 praise Him with. I feel He has greatly blessed 
 me. O, help me to praise His goodness ! 
 
 " I had peace during the early part of my afflic- 
 tion ; but felt that I needed a clearer manifestation 
 of the love of God, to enable me to rejoice in the 
 midst of the severe pain I was then suffering. 
 When the doctor told me that, if I had anything 
 to say, I had better say it, referring to temporal 
 things, I found myself perfectly ready to make 
 up my final account with the world ; not a single 
 s
 
 258 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 tie seemed to be unbroken. Still I did not feel 
 joy, but a desire to depart, and almost an unwil- 
 lingness to return to life. On Sunday week, how- 
 ever, the Lord filled me exceedingly with His 
 love, and my cup of joy did indeed run over. O ! 
 the tenderness of soul I felt, the melting of the 
 soul into love, grateful, tender, humble love ! I 
 never felt anything like it. You may be sure I 
 then longed to be gone ; but the gracious Lord, in 
 connexion with this manifestation of love to my 
 soul, gave me a satisfactory persuasion that He 
 could and would heal my body. I said, ' Lord, 
 Thou canst heal me ; I shall not die, but live, and 
 declare the works of the Lord/ Since then I have 
 I been going on very nicely in body and soul. I 
 f am able to read, and find great comfort from the 
 New Testament, Mr. Wesley's Sermons, and the 
 / Lives of Early Methodist Preachers. From 
 these, and waiting upon God, I seem to get a 
 daily blessing. 
 
 " My dear wife has been wonderfully preserved 
 in health and peace, though, of course, much 
 harassed. My Brethren and Joseph Rees have 
 assisted her greatly in the night. The children 
 have also been remarkably well during the 
 whole time. Indeed, all have been able to do 
 what they could wish for me, and were as willing 
 as able.
 
 LAST LETTER. 259 
 
 "I must now say a word respecting your many 
 kind notes, letters, etc., to me. I am much obliged 
 for them. They all breathe a spirit I very much 
 love. If it be any satisfaction for you to know, 
 that all your plans, labours, etc., meet with my 
 full approbation, I assure you this is more and 
 more the case. You are more and more dear to 
 me in every way, and I rejoice much in your 
 present peace and prosperity. I feel much for 
 your being alone in the coming trial. But you 
 will not be alone. The great and good Physician 
 will be with you. He sent His disciples two aud 
 two; but if the harvest is so plenteous, and the 
 labourers so few, that some must be single-handed 
 He will make up the deficiency. 
 
 "Your Report, accounts, etc., came safe to hand. 
 I like your Report. I agree with you exactly 
 about the appointments on Vanua Levu, and what 
 
 you say will undoubtedly be acted upon I don't 
 
 know exactly what the movement of the ' Wesley ' 
 will be after she reaches Viwa : it will depend 
 much on circumstances. I may see you in her, if 
 I should continue to improve, and if she should be 
 yet some distance off. 
 
 " My dear Brother will excuse my going any 
 
 further. With much love to Sister Williams, and 
 
 earnest prayers for her comfort and safety in the 
 
 hour of trial, and again thanking you both for 
 
 s 2
 
 260 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 your kind sympathy, in all of which my dear wife 
 most heartily joins, 
 
 " I remain, 
 
 " Very affectionately yours, 
 "J. HUNT." 
 
 Within a day or two after this letter was 
 written, the " John Wesley " arrived from New 
 Zealand. This was always an important event; 
 and the housing of stores, the opening of packages, 
 and especially the reading of letters and news, 
 often a year old, kept every one on the alert. It 
 was impossible to shut out Mr. Hunt altogether 
 from the general influence, and the excitement 
 evidently told upon his shattered strength. Then 
 came the District-Meeting, accompanied by many 
 anxieties, caused especially by the removal of 
 several Missionaries ; and all this, no doubt, 
 hastened the last and fatal attack, which came 
 upon him fiercely on the 15th of September.
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 TEMPTATION : Victory : The last Snare : Calm : Prayer for Fiji : 
 Perfect Peace : Joy : Triumph : Death : Visits to the Dead : 
 Burial : Monument : Genius : Holiness : Dr. Hannah's 
 Testimony. 
 
 THE path had turned again. Once more, God's 
 servant found his face looking towards another 
 world. But now he was to pass over. The last 
 time he walked hard by the way of death, he had 
 been unmolested ; now he found himself opposed. 
 The Evil One from whose kingdom he had been 
 delivered, whose will he had resolutely resisted, 
 and whose power he had beaten down in the scene 
 of its most unhindered triumph, now, in the time 
 of extreme weakness, met him in mortal strife. 
 Already Mr. Hunt had been thrust at with sore 
 temptation, since his partial recovery. While he 
 was magnifying the power of his Saviour, shown 
 forth in all his own unworthiness and sin, the 
 devil, masked with light, took up the lesson of 
 blessed humbling and poisoned it. He fastened 
 the sufferer's mind, with a deadly fascination, to
 
 I 
 
 262 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 that one unmixed thought of unworthiness, until it 
 seemed incapable of hope. It was the old device 
 to shut out the Saviour, to make a Golgotha 
 without a Cross. And, for a time, a great dark- 
 ness shrouded the Christian's soul. He thought 
 of his active service on God's behalf, of his diligent 
 studies, his many and earnest preachings, his long 
 and agonizing prayers, and his manifold toil. But 
 not one remembrance comforted him. Each 
 seemed corrupt, and the pall of his unworthiness 
 covered the whole. Then came the sting, " My 
 life has been worthless and unprofitable, worse 
 than useless ; " and he groaned with the wound. 
 But a voice whispered into his soul : " If I be not 
 an Apostle to others, yet doubtless I am to you : 
 for the seal of my apostleship are ye in the Lord." 
 Then was the spell broken, and he saw the Church 
 of Viwa Christians at prayer; one bright recollec- 
 tion after another came back, of dark cannibals 
 convinced and converted, as he led them to the 
 Cross of Jesus, and, with the Cross, light came, 
 and another victory was won ; but not the last. 
 
 When the fatal relapse of disease took place, 
 then the inner conflict was renewed more fiercely 
 than ever. Before, it was but ana outwork, now it 
 was the citadel that suffered assault. In the midst 
 of his intense pain, the dying man saw, promi- 
 nently thrust forward, sins long ago repented of
 
 CALM. 2G3 
 
 and forgiven, and the recollection of his unfaithful- 
 ness grew and darkened, till it threatened to hide 
 the Cross once more. 
 
 At this time Mr. Calvert was at Viwa ; and to 
 him Mr. Hunt told his distress. He found sym- 
 pathy and good counsel, and was strengthened by 
 the prayers of others; so that full deliverance 
 came, and Satan was cast down conquered ; as he 
 ever is by that faith which rests on an Almighty 
 Saviour, and realizes that His salvation is 
 altogether and only for sinners. This battle over, 
 the Missionary passed on undisturbed towards his 
 reward, saying, " I have a strong desire to depart, 
 if it please the Lord, and to be with Jesus, which 
 would be far better." 
 
 A day or two after his last seizure, on the Sun- 
 day, he asked Mr. Calvert to read to him the 
 ninth and tenth chapters of the Epistle to the 
 Hebrews. He listened intently, and his heart 
 glowed with love to the Great High Priest, and 
 trusted joyfully in His atonement. When the 
 reading was over, and some time had been spent 
 in prayer, he said : " Paul gives such a view of the 
 work of the Saviour in those two chapters, as fills 
 me with admiration of and feelings about the 
 Saviour, which I cannot express. I feel Him_a 
 perfect Saviour. I never had such views and hold 
 of the Saviour as I have in this illness."
 
 264 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Another week of increased feebleness and great 
 pain followed. On the 23rd, the more distressing 
 symptoms disappeared, and the sick man had 
 comparative ease: but it was the lull which 
 precedes death. 
 
 He spoke calmly and trastfully_ about his de- 
 cease^ With Mrs. Hunt he reviewed the way in 
 which God had led them, and then, as they looked 
 f forth to the coming separation, he said, " Let us 
 \ leave it all to the Lord. He knows what is best for 
 \_ each of His own." She replied, "Yes, my dear, 
 ( we will give ourselves to Him for life and for 
 v?' death." He joyfully answered, " O yes ! that is 
 how we began ; and that is how we '11 finish ! " 
 
 On the 26th, Mr. Calvert read to him John 
 
 xviii., and then prayed at his bedside. It was 
 
 evident that Mr. Hunt joined very earnestly in the 
 
 prayer, and he was observed to weep. When those 
 
 who had just united in committing their great, 
 
 crushing care to Him who cared for them, stood 
 
 looking at the dying man, they .marked how he 
 
 kept on silently weeping. In a little while his 
 
 emotion increased, and he sobbed as though in 
 
 [acute distress. Then, when the pent-up feeling 
 
 J could no longer be withheld, he cried out, " Lord, 
 
 , bless Fiji ! Save Fiji ! Thou knowest my soiil has 
 
 \ loved Fiji : my heart has travailed in pain for Fiji ! " 
 
 It was no sorrow on his owu account that made
 
 PRAYER FOR FIJI. 265 
 
 the Christian weep. His own prospect was all 
 unclouded brightness, and he had safely stored his 
 last treasures his wife and children in heaven. 
 They were in God's keeping. But there was 
 something that clung about his heart more closely 
 than these. That object to which all the energies 
 of his great soul had been devoted, was the last to 
 be left. He had lived for Fiji, and his every 
 thought, and desire, and purpose, and plan, and 
 effort had long gone in this one direction, 
 the conversion qf_ Fiji. For some weeks, he 
 had been laid by from his work, his voice hushed, 
 and his hand powerless. Yet he had never ceased 
 to pray for the people of the Islands ; but now his 
 prayers also were to cease. Never till then did he 
 feel how Fiji had become identified with his very 
 life. And, in his utter feebleness, the spirit 
 within him strove and struggled with its great 
 burden. Those who stood by feared to see the 
 weak frame so tossed about, and tried to soothe 
 him. Mr. Calvert said, " The Lord knows you 
 love Fiji. We know it; the Fijian Christians 
 know it ; and the Heathen of Fiji know it. You 
 have laboured hard for Fiji when you were strong : 
 now you are so weak, you must be silent. God 
 will save Fiji. He is saving Fiji." At this the 
 dying Missionary was calmer for a little while ; 
 but still he wept. The burden was there yet ; and
 
 266 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 his spirit, strengthened with the powers of an end- 
 less life, shook the failing flesh, as it rose up and 
 cast the great load down at the Cross. He 
 grasped Mr. Calvert with one hand, and lifting 
 the other, mighty in its trembling, he cried 
 aloud, " O, let me pray once more for Fiji ! 
 Lord, for Christ's sake, bless Fiji ! save Fiji ! 
 Save Thy servants, save Thy people, save the 
 Heathen, in Fiji ! " After this he gradually 
 quieted down, and his peace was unbroken. 
 
 Two days later, he said to Mr. Calvert, " For 
 two days I can think of nothing but St. Paul's 
 words, f l am in a strait betwixt two, having a 
 desire to depart, and be with Christ ; which is far 
 better.' " He then added, with great feeling: 
 " ' For to me to live is Christ.' If needful for my 
 family and the Church, I shall be raised. I have 
 no choice. I am resigned to the will of God. I 
 am more : I love the will of God. He rules." 
 His friend said, " If we ruled, we should keep 
 you. But the Lord knows best." "Yes," he 
 quietly answered, " He is my Ruler, my Proprie- 
 tor. He will soon make it up in many ways." 
 The next day was the Quarterly Fast. Some one 
 told him, "We have had very good meetings 
 to-day. The natives pray earnestly for you : they 
 never forget you in their prayers." He rejoined, 
 "I have no doubt of it. I feel the benefit of
 
 PERFECT PEACE. 267 
 
 them." On this day, Mr. Hunt received, fgr the 
 last time, the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. 
 His peace was perfect. 
 
 The following Sunday found him much weaker, 
 but still more tranquil, and refreshed by a better 
 night's rest. He told Mr. Lyth, in answer to an 
 inquiry about his state of mind, " That continues 
 the same. I have no anxiety, nor is any tempta- 
 tion permitted to assault me." Yet, in all this, J 
 he said, " I have comfort, constant comfort; but I 
 have not joy_^ I desire a greater manifestation of 
 
 God's love : but perhaps I could not bear more in 
 
 
 
 my weak state." 
 
 On the Monday, he said to Mr. Lyth, " I can 
 fully confide in Jesus. Jesus is very precious to 
 me : He is very present with me : I only want 
 more of Him." Tuesday brought a slight return 
 of pain. When Mr. Lyth asked, ' Well, Brother 
 Hunt, what do you think the Lord is about to do 
 with you ? " Mr. Hunt replied, with a smile, " I 
 don't know ; only something very good." 
 
 On Wednesday morning, October 4th, Mr. 
 Hunt's face showed that mysterious change, which 
 no one can describe, but which makes those who 
 never saw it before tremble, the change of 
 approaching death. He asked Mr. Lyth to read 
 to him the chapter which so many ask for in their 
 last hours, which has dried so many tears, spukcn
 
 268 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 peace so often in the storms of life, and shed, 
 from its immortal brightness, a light athwart the 
 great dark of death, and mingling with the excel- 
 lent glory beyond. The dying saint drank in the 
 strength and comfort and peace that well up in 
 the fourteenth chapter of St. John, and said, 
 " It is very encouraging, and very suitable to 
 me, to Mrs. Hunt, and to you all. Its strain, 
 too, is so compassionate and tender; just what we 
 need. There are a thousand things in us needing 
 His forbearance." He then quoted the verse, 
 " But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God 
 is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and 
 sanctification, and redemption." (1 Cor. i. 30.) 
 Then he went on, in a clear, emphatic whisper : 
 "Christ is made unto us, of God, our wisdom 
 to enlighten us, our righteousness to atone for us, 
 our sanctification to cleanse us, and our redemp- 
 tion to deliver us from a great many temptations, 
 dangers, and difficulties ; and He will deliver us 
 in death, and bring us to glory. What a perfect 
 Saviour ! God makes Christ such to me. These 
 are the views that support me now. I look to 
 Christ alone. I dare not look at myself, or at 
 anything I have done." 
 
 Now the Christian's gaze was all fixed on / 
 Christ. Nothing could divert it. He saw nothing T 
 but Christ : Christ covering past sin ; Christ -
 
 JOY. 269 
 
 sheltering his widow and orphans ; Christ holding 
 his hand with almighty love ; and Christ filling 
 heaven with glory for him. The pilgrim was not 
 far from home now ; and this light of home fell 
 upon him as he drew near, and made the still calm 
 of his peaceful trust sparkle with the gladness for 
 which he had longed; so that he exclaimed, 
 " Xow He is my joy ! " 
 
 On being told that his end must be very near, 
 Mr. Hunt replied, "I do not think the time is 
 come yet : this seems too easy and pleasant for 
 dying." Turning to his mourning wife, he said, 
 " If this be dying, praise the Lord ! " Then he 
 lay still, as if trying to feel that he was about to 
 depart ; and, after a time, said, " Plow strange ! I 
 cannot realize that I am dying; and yet you all 
 look as if I were." 
 
 Noon came swiftly to the watching ones around 
 that bed, and he whom they watched was rapidly 
 getting weaker. An hour after, Mr. Lyth said to 
 him, as he lay there often smiling, and always 
 worshiping, " You are very happy, Brother 
 Hunt." He answered, " Yes. I am getting 
 weaker." " Yes, you are getting near the port : 
 you are crossing the river, and the Lord Jesus is 
 with you." A whisper started from the dying 
 lips, " Glory ! " " You see a bright prospect 
 before you," continued his faithful friend. " I
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 see nothing but Jesus/' was his answer. His 
 mind was perfectly clear, and his words, though 
 faint in sound, had all their wonted vigour. He 
 turned to Mr. Calvert, saying, " It is a solemn 
 thing to die, very solemn." His friend replied, 
 
 I" Mr. Wesley, in dying, clung to Jesus, and you 
 do." " Yes," he said, " I cleave to Jesus, and am 
 right ; I have nothing else to look to. He is all I 
 have to trust in. If I look from Him, I am in a 
 vortex ; I have doubts and condemnation. But I 
 have full faith in Him. I have peace and pardon 
 in Him. I have no disturbance at all." 
 
 Then they saw how the saint addressed him- 
 self afresh to pray to the sinner's Saviour ; and 
 for some time, the moving of the white lips, and 
 aspect of the face, told that he was engaged in 
 intense and silent worship. Presently, as his eyes 
 looked up with a bright joy that defied death, he 
 exclaimed, " I want strength to praise Him abun- 
 dantly. I am very happy ! " Mrs. Hunt, who 
 bent over him, in the last effort of helpless love, 
 
 (asked, " Have you had a fresh manifestation of 
 the love of G od ? " " Yes," he answered : " Hal- 
 lelujah ! praise the Lord Jesus ! I do not depend 
 on this," he added emphatically, and shaking his 
 head ; " I bless the Lord, I trust in Jesus." 
 
 Again there was a pause of silence, and the 
 happy, triumphant spirit of the Christian forced
 
 DEATH. 271 
 
 the dying flesh to do service of praise once more. 
 "Now He is my joy ! I thought I should have en- 
 tered heaven singing, Jesus and salvation ! Now 
 I shall enter singing, Jesus, salvation, and glory 
 eternal glory ! " In his ecstasy, he tried to raise 
 himself, but could not, and his head fell back, as 
 he said, " Hallelujah ! Hallelujah ! " again and 
 again. He already joined in the praise of Paradise. 
 " Hallelujah ! " he repeated twenty or thirty times, 
 every time fainter, till his voice was hushed. 
 
 Presently he spoke again, and left messages to 
 the other Missionaries and their wives, to the 
 native Christians, and the Chiefs, especially Tha- 
 kombau. Afterwards he prayed for his children, 
 and urged them to live according to their mother's 
 teaching and example. He solemnly committed 
 that good and faithful woman to God's holy ' 
 keeping, and asked heavenly blessing for a devoted 
 native servant. Then he begged Mr. Calvert to 
 pray. 
 
 About three in the afternoon, his right arm rose, 
 as if convulsively, and, as he turned on his side, 
 grasped his fellow Missionary Calvert, who put his 
 arms round him. For a few minutes there was 
 heavy and broken breathing, and then a solemn 
 hush disturbed by the sob of a widow : " Lord, com- 
 fort my poor heart ! " and an earnest " Amen " 
 from those who stood round.
 
 272 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Leaving his body in his brother's arms, John 
 Hunt, the Missionary, died. 
 
 The sad news soon spread through Viwa, and 
 the natives came to look on their dead Pastor 
 and friend; and many of the hearts gathered 
 round that bed were very full of grateful remem- 
 brance of him who should teach and help them 
 no more. 
 
 Early the next morning came Thakombau to see 
 the body of him, before whose warnings his stout 
 heart had often quailed, and who had bound to 
 himself the proud spirit of the savage Chief by the 
 charity of the Gospel. Now the great man, 
 attended by a large retinue, gazed at the pale 
 face with evident emotion ; and when told how the 
 good man had died, and how he had left a dying 
 word of love and entreaty for him, he was much 
 moved. 
 
 At three o'clock that afternoon, a plain coffin, 
 borne by native students, was carried out of the 
 Mission-house. It had on it no emblazonry, and 
 no record but this : 
 
 BEV. JOHN HUNT, 
 
 Slept in Jesus, 
 
 OCTOBER 4iH, 1848, 
 
 Aged 36 Years.
 
 BURIAL. 273 
 
 There followed that coffin a woman, bowed 
 beneath the weight of her first day's widowhood. 
 And with her came his fellow Missionaries ; after 
 whom, in decent attire, there walked the foreign 
 residents, and a crowd of Fijians. At the grave, 
 Mr. Lyth read the burial service of the English 
 Church, and Mr. Calvert spoke in the language of 
 the natives, while tears wet many a dark cheek, as 
 the earth closed over the remains of the Preacher 
 of the Gospel. 
 
 When the news of Mr. Hunt's death reached 
 England, John Chubb, Esq., of Islington, sent 
 out an iron monument and fence, which stand 
 over the Missionary's grave at Viwa, a memorial 
 of a man who loved God wholly, served Him 
 faithfully, and left the world better than he 
 found it. 
 
 Here ends the history of John Hunt, whom the 
 Spirit of God found an unlettered ploughboy on 
 the broad plains of Lincolnshire, and changed his 
 heart, and gave him power to bless the country- 
 folk, and then the citizens, with his words ; who \ 
 
 9 , 
 
 left the fields and wrought hard in the study, and, 
 being full of faith and the Holy Ghost, did, by his 
 preaching, turn many to righteousness; who, 
 being sent to the ends of the earth to preach 
 Christ, went forth with cheerful faith ; who made 
 T
 
 274 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 a home among the savage men-eaters of Fiji, and 
 prayed and toiled, until he saw many of these 
 men of blood living blameless, loving, and useful 
 lives, and reading in their own rich language the 
 New Testament of the Lord Jesus, and a literature 
 which, though scanty, was pure ; and who, " after 
 he had served his own generation by the will of 
 God, fell on sleep." 
 
 And what raised this man, and other worthies, 
 so far above the average level of ordinary Christi- 
 anity? Was it genius? Some things in their 
 history seem to show this, and enforce the convic- 
 tion that they would have distinguished themselves 
 in any calling. But genius never made a man 
 virtuous, or unselfish, or a devoted helper of his 
 kind. Genius never impelled a man to seek the 
 salvation of souls, or ever secured those triumphs 
 which, one day, will be the only victories that win 
 crowns. 
 
 John Hunt's greatness consisted in his holiness. 
 He saw that God demanded, promised, and pro- 
 vided a complete holiness ; " and being not weak 
 in faith, he considered not" those things which 
 reason and experience declare to make a perfect 
 salvation impossible : " he staggered not at the 
 promise of God through unbelief; but was strong 
 in faith, giving glory to God ; and being fully per- 
 suaded that, what He had promised, He was able
 
 HOLINESS. 275 
 
 also to perform." If any one would understand 
 the secret of this good mail's distinguished excel- 
 lence, let him read the Letters on Entire Sanctifi- 
 cation, which all who knew the author allow to be 
 a reproduction of his own experience ; and if any 
 one would serve God and man as well as John 
 Hunt did, he must follow the counsels of that 
 most scriptural volume. 
 
 The different dialects of a various churchism 
 may call it by different names, but the people 
 of God must give more and more prominence 
 to the doctrine of holiness, through faith in the 
 Lord Jesus Christ. Thus Mr. Hunt writes, after 
 using the illustration of a sick patient who is 
 always convalescent, but never well : 
 
 " This is exactly the case with numbers of Chris- 
 tians of the present day. It must be from one or 
 other of these two causes : either their spiritual 
 physicians do not prescribe the proper remedy, or 
 the people do not use it, when prescribed. The con- 
 sequence is, that the Church is continually finding 
 fresh cause to lament her inefficiency to accom- 
 plish the task assigned her by the Saviour, that of 
 letting her light so shine, in the family, in the 
 neighbourhood, in every part of the country where 
 she is established, and in the world, that others 
 may see her good works, and glorify her Father 
 which is in heaven. Her light does shine; but 
 T 2
 
 276 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 it does not ' so shine ; ' nor will this be the case, 
 until entire holiness is more generally prescribed, 
 as THE remedy for the present state of the 
 Church/' * 
 
 Many testimonies might be added to the worth, 
 the love, the piety, the godly nobility of the sub- 
 ject of this Memoir, from the hands of those who 
 deem it one of their life's crowning blessings that 
 they were enriched by his friendship. One such 
 testimony is of peculiar interest, and may fitly 
 close this record. At the Annual Meeting of the 
 Wesley an Methodist Missionary Society, held in 
 Exeter Hall, May, 1849, the Reverend Dr. Han- 
 nah, the revered Tutor and fondly cherished friend 
 of the late Missionary, who together with all 
 who have felt the guiding of his faithful and 
 steady hand in the things of God regarded him 
 with a peculiar affection, said : 
 
 " Is it a discouragement to us that Missionaries 
 themselves pass away, and pass away, in many 
 instances, just in the full tide of their ministerial 
 usefulness? This also should be employed as a 
 motive for good. I may, perhaps, be excused if, 
 among the seven Missionaries whose deaths are 
 named in the Report, I advert in my own mind 
 particularly to one ; to one who, for a season, was 
 
 * " Entire Sanctificatiou," p. 269.
 
 DR. HANNAH'S TESTIMONY. 277 
 
 placed under my own care, and whose character I 
 intimately and gratefully knew. May I say that I 
 refer to the Rev. John Hunt, who lately fell, fell 
 in his armour, gloriously fell, fell to rise for ever, 
 in Fiji? 
 
 " He was a man of humble origin, and, at first, 
 of humble attainments; but he received the grace 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ in truth, and that grace 
 made him what he was. But for that grace 
 he might have passed through life unknown and 
 unnoted. Grace called forth mind; that mind 
 discovered unexpected energies; and these ener- 
 gies, under the guidance and blessing of the 
 Lord the Spirit, yielded labours, the fruits of 
 which shall not easily die. 
 
 " I never knew a man more right-hearted with 
 respect to the great work of our Lord and Saviour. 
 I never knew a man whose principles were more 
 staid, whose zeal was more perpetually fed by 
 charity, and who was more disposed to devote 
 himself in every possible way to the advancement 
 of his Master's praise. And although his life, in 
 human estimation, may seem to have been cut 
 short in the midst, yet in abundance of labours, 
 and in extraordinary success, John Hunt lived a 
 long life. He crowded the labours and successes 
 of many years into ten ; and, although he has 
 passed away when we wished he might remain, I
 
 
 ., 
 
 * 
 
 . 
 
 / EL.1. /g 1 
 
 278 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 CUWv*'V*to i&/. 
 
 trust his example will yet live, and will yet 
 
 operate." 
 
 " NOW UNTO HlM THAT IS ABLE TO DO EXCEED- 
 ING ABUNDANTLY ABOVE ALL THAT WE ASK OR 
 *" THINK, ACCORDING TO THE POWER THAT WORKETH 
 IN US, UNTO HlM BE GLORY IN THE CHURCH BY 
 CHRIST JESUS THROUGHOUT ALL AGES, WORLD 
 WITHOUT END. AMEN." 
 
 Wt*eA fr'-'i/jfe Wlb 
 
 /// "^ 
 
 ? 
 
 
 
 THE END. 
 
 h 
 
 
 , 
 ,, 
 
 LONDON : PKINTED BY WILLIAM NICHOLS, 33, LONDON WALL.
 
 Just Published, 
 
 FIJI AND THE FIJIANS. 
 
 Vol. I, The Islands and their Inhabitants. 
 
 BY T. WILLIAMS. 
 
 Vol. II. Mission History. 
 
 BY J. CALVERT. 
 
 EDITED BY G. S. EOWE. 
 
 With Illustrations, Two Vols., post 8vo., cloth, price 12s. 
 
 LONDON: 
 ALEXANDER HEYLIN, 28, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.G. 
 
 NOTICES OF THE I>EESS. 
 
 " THESE two volumes add Fiji and the Fijians to the store of 
 general knowledge. The first, on The Islands and their Inhabitants, 
 is one of the very best books of its kind ever produced. It is as 
 minute as Dubois oa the Hindus, without any of its prolixity, as 
 comprehensive as Lane on the Modern Egyptians, and ten times 
 more lively. In a very small compass it gives us more knowledge 
 of the country, manners, mind, and religion of the Fijiana, than we 
 can obtain, from much reading, of many of our oldest possessions. 
 The second volume, on Mission History, tells such a story as never 
 was told before. No romance has so many exciting crises, wild 
 scenes, hair-breadth escapes, and horrors. No history, even of the 
 Church, contains such a straightforward and convincing account of a 
 moral transformation, of rapid and steady victories gained by the 
 labour of gentle men and heroic women over unutterable ferocity. 
 The illlustrations, which are due to the talent of a lady, are admirably 
 finished, and complete the lines and colouring of the picture of Fiji 
 and the Fijians which the whole work successfully impresses on the 
 mind." London Review. 
 
 " IT is not often that we have presented to us volumes so rich as 
 those now before us are, in observation, in glimpses of wild life, and 
 in descriptions of men, whose disposition and habits are all we can 
 
 picture a savage's to be We leave these volumes with our best 
 
 wishes, and we commend them to our readers. The illustrations are 
 carefully and skilfully drawn, and add much to the nature and interest 
 of the work." North British Review. 
 
 " Fiji and the Fijians, especially the first volume, is replete with 
 valuable information, some of it of a startling kind, respecting the 
 people of whom it treats, and who seem to form the connecting link 
 between the inhabitants of Eastern and Western Polynesia, partaking 
 in some respects of the peculiarities of both, though in others differ-
 
 ent from either. The second volume adds another page to the 
 history of the remarkahle moral and social changes which the intro- 
 duction of Christianity has produced in numbers of the most super- 
 stitious as well as the most barbarous races of men, proving that the 
 Fijians, whose ferocity was at one time invincible, can, by means of 
 religious teaching, attain a considerable amount of spiritual enlighten- 
 ment, and by the use of letters and the stimulus of commerce acquire 
 a good degree of civilization." Quarterly Review. 
 
 " THE execution of the volumes is very thorough. They contain 
 an astonishing mass of small facts compressed skilfully together ; and 
 when we close them, we feel as if we understood the Fijians as well 
 as civilized men can ever understand savages with whom they have 
 never come into actual contact." Saturday Review. 
 
 " IN these two very interesting volumes the first descriptive, the 
 second historical we have not only a variety of fresh pictures from 
 the remarkable Fiji group, but the story of a social reformation which 
 
 has certainly been of vast service to the aborigines Mr. Williams's 
 
 descriptions of the island manufactures, domestic architecture, and 
 canoes, are particularly curious ; as well as his accounts of the turtle 
 
 fisheries and the trade in red parrots The illustrations are not a 
 
 little striking." Athenteum. 
 
 " WE can say of the first of these volumes that it is a highly 
 interesting and very inclusive work of reference on the subject, 
 written in a style at once intelligent, lively, and free from convention- 
 alism." Literary Gazette. 
 
 " THE work is thickly strewn with illustrative anecdotes of a most 
 interesting and graphic character." Eclectic Review. 
 
 " IT is the hest, most complete, most thorough, and most interest- 
 ing hook of its class that we have ever read. The writer of the first 
 volume is a Wesleyau Missionary, who, heing something more than a 
 Missionary, has been able not merely to collect together a certain 
 number of facts, and place them under certain heads, and so to form 
 a literary museum of Fiji curiosities ; but he has done what a person 
 possessed of very special qualifications only could have done. He is 
 a good geographer, and has the rare faculty of making his geo- 
 graphical descriptions interesting and intelligible Scenery under 
 
 his hands can be readily imagined His perceptions are acute, his 
 
 sympathies broadly human : he inquires with carefulness, and narrates 
 without exaggeration. His style is clear, very natural and consecu- 
 tive, neither too bald nor too adorned : he unites to the zeal and 
 patience of a Christian Missionary, the general information of a good 
 
 reader, if not the cultivation of a scholar To have gone to Fiji 
 
 and only to have written this book, would have been a great work. 
 
 To have been the means in half a generation of turning the very 
 
 choicest refuge of Satan and his angels into a school of Christ and 
 the home of every Christian virtue surely no work nor honour can 
 excel this." Christian Spectator . 
 
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