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OF THE

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PRUDENTIAL COMMITTEiE

OF THE

AMERICAN BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS

TO THE

SANDWICH ISLANDS MISSION.

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LAHAINALUNA :

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PRESS OP THE MISSION SEMINARY.

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AOT or ZVOOaPO&ATZOV.

COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS.

In the year of our Lord One Thousand JGtgAi Hundred and
Twtht: Jln Act to Incorporate the American Board of
Commi8$ioner8 for Fore^n JUtssioni.

Whereas William Bartlett and others have heen asso-
ciated under the name of the American Board of Commission-
ers (or Foreign Missions, for the purpose of propagating the
ffospel in heathen lands, by supporting missionaries and dii^
fusing a knowledge of thte holy Scriptures, and have prayed
to be incorporated in order more effectually to promote the
laudable object of their association.

Sec, 1 . Be ft enacted bif the Senxxte and House of Rep^
reaentaHtvts in GenenU Court assenUfkd, €tnd by the authortty
of the same, That William Bartlet, Esq. and Samuel
Spring, D. D,, both of Newbury port, Joseph Lyman, D. D,,.
of Hat^eld, Jedidiah Morse, D. D., of Gharlestown, Sam-
uel Worcester, D. D., of Salem, the Hon. William
Phillips, Esq., of Boston, and the Hon. John Hooker,
Esq., of Springfield, and their associates, be and they hereby
are incorporated and made a body politic by the name of the
AMERICAN BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS FOR
FOREIGN MISSIONS, and by that name may sue and be
sued, plead and be impleaded, appear, prosecute, and defend,
to final judgment and execution ; and in their said corporate
capacity, they, and their successors forever, may take, re-
ceive, have and hold in fee-simple or otherwise, lands, tene-
ments, and hereditaments, by gift, grant, devise, or other-
wise, not exceeding the yearly value of four thousand dollars;
and may also take and hold by donation, bequest, or other-
wise, personal estate to an amount, the yearly income ot
which shall not exceed eight thousand dollars ; so that the
estate aforesaid shall be faithfully appropriated to the purpose
and object aforesaid, and not otherwise. And the said cor-
poration shall have power to sell, convey, exchange, or lease
all or any part of their lands, leueiiv^uV.^, w ^^«t ^x«^^<«e<s?i

for the benefit of their funds, and may have a common seal
which they may alter or renew at pleasure. Pravidedf
however, tnat nothing herein contained shall enable the said
corporation, or any person or persons, ad trustees for or for
the use of said corporation, to receive and hold any sift,
grant, legacy, or bequest, heretofore given or bequeathed to
any person in trust fo^ said Board, unless such person or
persons, could by law have taken and holden the same, if this
act had not passed. '

Sec. 2. Bes it further enacted, That the said Board may
annually choose from among themselves, by ballot, a Presi-
dent, a Vice Presidept, and a Prudential Committee ; and,
also, from among themselves or others a Corresponding Sec-
retary, a Recording Secretary, a Treasurer, an Auditor, and
such other officers as they may deem expedient ; all of whom
shall hold their offices until others are chosen to succeed
them, and shall have such powers and perform such duties as
the said Board may order and direct; and in case of vacancy
by death, resignation, or otherwise, the vacancy may in like
manner be filled at any legal meeting of the said Board. And
the said Treasurer shall give bond with sufficient surety, or
sureties, in the judgment of the Board, or the Prudential
Committee, for the faithful discharge of the duties of his office.
Sec S. Be it further enadedy That all contracts, and
deeds, which the said Board may lawfully make and execute,
signed by the chairman of the said Prudential Committee,
and countersigned by their clerk, (whom they are hereby
authorized to appoint,) and sealed with the common seal of
said corporation, shall be valid in law to all intents and
purposes.

Sec 4. Be it further tnactedj That the first annual meet-
ing of the said Board shall be on the third Wednesday of
September next, at such place as the said William Bartlet
may appoint, and the present officers of said Board shall con-
tinue in office until others are elected.

Sec 6. Be U further enactedy That the said Board, at the
first annual meeting aforesaid, and at any subsequent annual
meetinc, may elect by ballot any suitable persons to be mem-
bers of said Board, either to supply vacancies, or hi addition
to their present number.

Sec G. Be it further enacted^ That the scid Board shall
have power to make such bye-laws, rules, and regulations,
for calling future meetings of said Board, and for the man-

agement of their concerns, as thej shall deem expedient ;
prwrided the same are not repugnant to the laws of this Conn
monwealth.

Sec. 7. Be itfurlker enaeUd^ That one quarter part of the
annual income from the funds of said Board shall he (aithfiil-
\y appropriated to defirar the expense of imparting the Jiciy
Scriptures to uneTangelized nations in their own languages :
Praiided, that nothing herein contained shall he so construed
as to defeat the express intentions of any testator or donor,
who shall give or hequeath money to promote the great pyr*
poses of the Board. Provided, also, that nothing herein eon-
tained shall be so construed as to restrict said Board from
appropriating more than one quarter of said income to trans-
lating and distrihuting the Scriptures whenever thej shall
deem it advisable.

Ssc. 8. Be UfurAer enaeUdf That not less than one third
of said Board shall at all times be composed of respectaUo
lajmen ; and that not less than one third of said Board shall
be composed of respectable clergymen ; the remaining third
to he composed of characters of the same description wheUier
clergymen or la3rmen.

Skc. 9. Be it further enacted^ That the Legislature of
this Commonwealth shall at any time have the right to in-
spect, by a Committee of their own body, the doings, fimds,
and proceedings of the said Corporation, and mapr at their
pleasure alter or annul any or all of the powers herem granted.

Jn the HouMe of Bepreeeniatives, June 1914, 1812.— This
bill having had three several readings, passed to be enacted.

TIMOTHY BlG!i3X>W, :^>eaker.

In tht Senate, June Wth, 1819.— This bill having had two
readings, passed to be enacted.

SAMUEL DANA, Preiident.

JuneWth, 18 IS. — By the Governor, Approved. ^

CALEB STRONG,

Copy— Attest, ALDEN BRADFORD,

Secretary {^ the CammonwefM,

N. B. — The Jiuociateiy alluded to in the foregoing act,
were the Hon. Joh5 Treadwell, LL. D., the Rev. Timo-
thy DwioHT, D. D. LL. D., President of Tale College, Gren.
Jedidiau Huntington, and the Rev. Calvin CiiAriN, all
of Connecticut

ZiAXVlt AV» BIKIVZiATXOV*.

1. Object of the Board.

The object of the Board itk, to propagate the gospel among
unerangelized aatiotia and communities^ by means of preach-
erS| catechistSy schoolmasters, and the press.

9. Members or tre Board.

1. CorporaU Members, — The Corporate members of the
Board, are those who have the right of voting at its meetings.
ThesCi according to the Act of Incorporation, must be elect-
ed by ballot, and only at the annual meetings. Not less
than one third of the corporate members must be laymen.

The corporate members, besides being under special ob-
ligation to attend the meetings of the Board, are pledged to
attend the anniversary meetings of Auxiliary Societies, when
required by the Plrudentia! Committee, as a Deputatton from
the Board ; their travelling expenses, in going to and return-
ing from the places of such meetings, being paid out of the
Treasury of the Board.

2. Corresponding Members, — Clerg3niien and laymen, resi-
ding in distant parts of the United States and in foreign
lands, may be elected by ballot, as corresponding members
of the Board; who, though it be no part oftheir official duty
to attend its meetings, or take part in its votes or resolutions,
yet, when occasionaUy present, may assist in its delibera-
tions, and by communicating informaition and in other ways,
enlighten its course, fitcilitate its operations, and promote its
objects.

3. Honorarif Members, •—Clergymen, on paying fiflty dol-
lars, and other persond, on paymg one hundred dollars, at
any one time, shall be entitled to the privilege of attending
the meetings of the Board, and of assisting m its delibera-
tions as honorary members ; it being understood, however,
that the right of voting is restricted, by the charter, to the
corporate \member8.

4. The certificates of membership for corporate members

..1

shall be signed by the President and Recording Secretary of
the Board ; for corresponding members, by the Secretaries
for correspondence ; and for honorary members, by the
Treasurer.

3. Officers of the Board.

1. The officers of the Board shall be a President, Vice
President, a Prudential Committee, as many Secretaries as
are necessary, a Treasurer, and two Auditors. These must
be chosen by ballot, and they hold their offices until others
are appointed to succeed them.

2. It shall be the duty of the President, and in his absence
of the Vice President, to preside at each meeting of the
Board, and to perform such official acts, either during the
session of the Board, or at any other time, as shall be assign-
ed to him by any bye-law or vote of the Board. In the ab-
sence of both the President and Vice President, the meeting
shall be called to order by the oldest member present, after
which a presiding officer shall be chosen for the occasion.

One of the members of the Committee, or one of the Sec-
retaries of the Board, shall be appointed ^clerk of the Com-
mittee, who shall keep a fiill record of their doings, and sign
all their official acts. The records above described shall be
always open to the inspection of the Board.

3. It shall be the duty of the Prudential Committee to car-
ry into effect all resolutions and orders of the Board, the ex-
ecution of which shall not have been assigned to some other
committee ; — to cause the more inviting fields for missionary
enterprize to be explored, if necessary; — to appoint the
places where missions- shall be attempted, and to determine
the scale upon which they shall be conducted, and to superin-
tend them ; — to appoint, instruct, and direct all the mis-
sionaries of the Board; — to prescribe where the Treasurer
shall deposit the monies of the Board, and the times and
modes of investments and remittances ; — to draw orders au-
thorizing the payment of monies from the treasury; — to as-
certain the state of the treasury at least twice a year, and as
much oflener as they see cause ; — to appoint agents at home
and abroad, with such powers and duties as they may think
are demanded by the best interests of missions ; — and,
generally, to perform all duties necessary, in their opinion, to
promote the objects of the Board ; provided the same shall
not be contrary to any resolution or bye-law of the Boards

nor to the Act of Incorporation. , They shall annnalTy elect a
chairman and clerk, the former of whom shall keep the bond
of the Treasurer.

For the purpose of bringing the whole annual report of the
Prudential Committee under the distinct consideration of the
Board, previous to its acceptance, it shall be prepared in
such w form, 'that, on presenting it to the Board, the several
leading parts of it may be referred to different committees ;
which committees shall be appointed before the actual read-,
ing of the report. The Prudential Committee shall also cause
to be printed, in connection with their annual report, an ab-
stract of the Treasurer's accounts, and such other documents
as they judge proper to be included in that publication.

4. The number of Secretaries shall be determined by the
Board, from time to time, in view of the exigencies of its
affairs.

The Recording Secretary shall keep accurate nnnutes of
the proceedings of the Board, and enter the same in a book
of records, and; certify all such doings of tire Board* as are to
be known only by an inspection of the records.

The other Secretaries shall act as the organs of the Board
in conducting its written correspondence, both foreign and
domestic, except what relates immediately to the Treasurer's
department, and they shall prepare and edit ks official pub-
lications, and perform such other duties as the Board or the
Prudential Committee shall particularly direct ; dividing the
appropriate labors of thair department among themselves,
under the advice and direction of the Prudential Committee.

&, It shall be the duty of the Treasurer to take the charge
of all monies paid into the treasury of the Board, and to give
receipts therefor; — to keep safely all the funds and monies
of the Board, and all notes, bonds, deeds, and other evi-
dences of property ; — to keep fair and accurate accounts of
all monies received and expended ;— ^-to make out annually a
statement of receipts and payments, and of the condition of
the several permanent funds, for the information of the
Board ; — to invest and deposit monies, and make remittan-
ces and payments, according to the direction of the Board,
or of the Prudential Committee ; — to exhibit his books, ac-
counts, vouchers, and evidences of property, whenever requir-
ed, to the Board or the Prudential Committee ; — to conduct
the correspondence relating immediately to his department ;

and perform sircfr other a«ts as arc necessary to the faithful
execution of the duties of his office. ^ ' *

6. It shall be the duty of thfe Auxfitors to examine the
books of the Treasurer tboroi^My and particularly, at least
once a year ; and, if tfapey shM find the accounts correctly
kept and accurately cast, the payHients well vouched, the
balance satisfactorily stated and accounted for, and the eviden-
ces of property duly exhibited, to give their certificate accord-
ingly ; which certificate they shall enter at large in the
Treasurer's books, and transmit or cfeeposit a duplicate there-
of with the Recording Secretary, to be by him entered in his
book of records.

7. In addition to the officers above named, there shalt be
a certain number of General Agents, appointed by the Pru-
dential Committee for particular districts of country ; whose
duty it shall be, within their respective fields, to co-operate
with the agents of other societiesy with the pastors of church-
es, with ecclesiastical bodies, with the officers of the Board
and its auxiliaries, and with other friends of missions, in

, promoting a missionary spirit, and in drawing out the resour-
ces of the christian community, for the speedy promulgation
of the gospel through the world. The General Agents shall
be entitled to the privileges of honorary members of the
Board.

4. Meetings or the BcMlRd,

1 . If, in the opinion of the Prudential Committee, it shall
at any time be dangerous to the health of the members of the
Board, or on any other account highly inexpedient,, to meet
at the place appointed for any annual meeting, the Pruden-
tial Committee are authorized to appoint some other, place
for such meeting, by sending a notice of such change to at
least six of the religious newspapers, published in different
parts of the country, and also a printed notice to each cor-
porate member of the Board. >

2. No member, who shall be present at any meeting, shall
consider himself at liberty to leave, until he shall have ap-
plied to the Board and obtained permission ; and members,
who may consider it necessary to be absent during any part
of a session, shall be expected to give as early notice as pos-
sible of their contemplated absence.

3. The successive daily sessions shall each be opened with
prayer.

4. Committees may be selected from each of the three
classes of members.

5. There shall be an annual sermon preached before the
Board by a person appointed at a previous meeting. A sec-
ond preacher shajl be appointed to preach in case of his
failure, who shall be first on the list of candidates for preacb-
ers at the succeeding anniversary. Should both be prevent-
ed from preaching, the Prudential Committee are authorized
to procure a preacher.

6. At the annual meetings, unless peculiar circumstances
should render it inexpedient, the Board will unite with their
fellow Christians in the celebration of the Lord's supper ;
and such celebration shall take place in the afternoon of the
second day of the session.

7. Each corporate member of the Board, who shall apply
to the Treasurer for the same, shall be allowed ten. cents a
mile for travelling expenses in attending any annual meeting
of the Board, reckoning the distance only one way, and the
usual route from his place of residence to the place of meeting.
It is understood that no one shall receive a greater sum than
the amount of his actual expenses in going to and returning
from the meeting ; and that, in no case shall more than forty
dollars be paid to any one member.*

8. In case of an adjourned meeting, the Recording Sec-
retary shall give suitable notice of the same in the religious
newspapers.

9. It shall be the duty of the President, or in case of his
death, or inability, of the Vice President, to cause a special
meeting to be called, through the Recording Secretary, or
one of the other Secretaries, on the written application of
the Prudential Committee, or any seven other members of
the Boat-d The time of holding the meeting shall be such,
as the officer who calls the meeting shall appoint ; and the
place, that at which the next annual meeting is appofnted to
be held. On receiving an application as above described,
the officer to whom the same is directed, shall cause a sea-

*Thi8 is a modification of one of the old bye-laws of the Board. The design
is to place it within the power of those members, who are unable to pay their
travelling expenses, to attend the annual meeting from year to }rear. — The utility
of thiB rezulation is seen in the fact that members, who otherwise could not have
been present when the sessions were remote from their places of residence, have
been enabled to attend the meetings, with few interruptions, for many succes-
■ive years. The greater part of the members, even of those who make it a rule
to attend every meeting, receive nothing in return for their travelling expenses.

sonable notice of the time and place of meeting to be sent to
each member, and also cause a notice of the same to be in-
serted in at least sU of the religious newspapers published in
difierent parts of the country.

5. Missionaries or thi Board ahd thxir widows and

CHILDREN.

1 . Every person received by the Prudential Committee as
a candidate mr missionary service, is expected to hold him*
self at the direction of the Committee, both in respect to the
field of his future labors, nod the time of his going forth ; it
being understood, however, that his inclmatioD, as well as
his particular quaiificatioDS and other circunstances, shall be
kindly and attentively considered.

S. Applicatvona for employment as missionaries or assist-
ant missionaries, must be made to the Prudential Commit-
tee, who shall carefully inquire into the character and quali-
fications of the' applicants, whether males or females, before
taking them under the patronage of the Board. In special
cases, they are authorized to spend money in preparing the
candidate more fully for the service assigned him.

S. A mistionmry is one, who has been ordained a minister
of the gospel, and ia actoaUy under the direction of the Board.
All others, whether licensed preachers, physicians, school-
masters, printers, etc., are a$9isiant imsaionaries, but, in the
Reports of the Prudential Committee, shall generally be
designated by their specific occupations.

4. Whenever any missionary or assistant missionary has,
in the judgment of the Prudential Committee, violated Ike
instructioiui given him, whether before or af^r entering the
field of bis missionary labors, or has failed to perform any
dtity reasonably required <^ him, they are authorized to dis-
miss him in case they deem it expedient, from the service of
the Board. In all cases, kowever, where the missionary or
assistant missionary has actually been named in any of the
official publications of the Board, as having been received
under its patronage and direction, the individual so dismissed
shall have the privilege of submitting his case to the revision
of the Board, at an annual meeeting.

5. No missionary or assistant missionary of the Board shall
engase in any business or transaction whatever for the sake
of pnvate gain ; nor shall any one engage in transactions or
employments yielding pecnmary profit, without first obtaining

the consent of his brethren in the mission ; and the |m>fits«
in all such cases, shall be placed at the disposal of the mission.

6. The missionaries and assistant missionaries are regard*
ed as having an equitable claim upon the churches^ in
whose behalf they go among the heathen, for an econoniieal
support, while penorming their missionary labors; and it
shall be the duty of the Board to see that a fair and equitable
allowance is made to them, taking into view their actual cir-
cumstances in the several countries where they reside,

7. When missionaries or assistant missionaries return home»
their connection with the Board shall cease as soon as there
is no longer a reasonable probability of their returning to
their missionary labor.

8. When superannuated or disabled missionaries or assis-
tant missionaries, or the widows of missionaries or assistant
missionaries, return to this country with the approbation of
the Prudential Committee, it shall be the duty of the Com-
mittee to miake such grants towards their support, as the cir-
cumstances of each case shall require, and as shall best corai-
port with the missionary character and the interests of the
missionary cause ; — it being understood,

(1.) That no pensions or annuities are to be settled on
any person, and that no grant is to be made, except in ex-
traordinary cases, for any other than the current year.

(2.) That, except in extraordinary eases, after the lapse
of a prear from their return, no grant is to be made to returned
missionaries or assistant missionaries, who are neither superan-
nuated, nor disabled by sickness, and yti are not expected to
resume their missionary labors.

(3.) That missionaries and assistant missionaries, who
return on account of sickness, and recover their health, and
remain in this country, are no longer to be regarded as hav-
ing clain^s upon the Board for pecuniary assistance.

(4.) That missionaries and assistant missionaries, who
return on account of sickness, and partially recover their
health so as to attend to the ordinary business of life for a
number of years, are not to be regarded, when they again
lose their health, as having the same claims upon the Board,
as they had when they first arrived.*

^The object of the 7th and 8th Regulations is neither to
increase nor diminish the claims of returned missionaries and

9. The grants made to returned missionaries and assistant
missionaries shall, in all ordinary cases, be charged to the
missions to which they last belonged, as a part of the expens-
es of said missions.

10. When parents, who are missionaries or assistant mis-
sionaries of the Board, are desirous of sending their children
to this country for education, or for a permanent residence
unless qualified and disposed at II fiiture time to engage in
the work of missions among the heatl^en, the Prudential
Committee, at their- discretion, may allow a sum adequate to
defray the necessary travelling expenses of the children from
the missions with which their parents are connected, to the
place where the children are to the educated, or to reside.

1 1 . After the children have arrived in this country, the
Prudential Committee at their discretion may allow, for a
boy, an annual sum not exceeding fift^ dollars ; — the allow-
ance not to be continued after the child is eighteen years of
age, and the whole sum allowed for any one boy, afler his
arrival in this country, not to exceed three hundred dollars:
and for a girl, an annual sum not exceeding forty dollars ; —
the allowance not to be continued afler the child is eighteen
years of age, and the whole sum allowed fur any one girl,

assistant missionaries, but chiefly to define them. The seventh
regulation states what has in fact been the general usage in
respect to those who have lefl the service of the Board. A
dismission has generally been asked by the missionary, and
voted by the Prudential Committee. A usage, so evidently
proper when missionaries cease to be directed by the Com-
mittee, and no longer have a reasonable prospect of again
entering the service of the Board, is now prescnbed as a duty
in all cases. — Lest it should be thought tnat a dissolution of
the connection with the Board as missionaries, involves of
course a destruction of all claims on the Board for pecuniary
assistance, Regulation e%<rhih recognises certain claims as
existing, notwithstandig this dissolution, and defines them as
specifically, perhaps, as can be done with the present amount
of experience on this subject. — The approbation of the Pru-
dential Committee, required in the regulation, may be either
before or afler the return of the missionary. To obtain it
aflerwards, it will be necessary that the mission, to which the
returning missionary belongs, shall have formally consented
to his return.

after her Arrival in this countiyy not to exceed two hundred
and forty dolhirs.

12. In ordinary cases, it shall be pres^med that a child does
not need pecuniary assistance, when no application is made
to the Prudential Committee for such assistance by the parent
or guardian ; and the grants shall be made only for the cur*
rent year, and not without reason to believe that they are
required by the circumstances of the children.

13. In case children are left without either parent, and
there is no missionary family, or christian friend, or guardian,
by whom such children could be well taken care of in the
mission, the Board will then authorise the removal of the
children to this country, and will provide for them according
to article eleventh.

14. The allowances made on account of thechidren of
living missionaries, or assistant missionaries, in the service
of the Board, wherever the children may be educated, shall
be chained to the mission to which the parents belong.

15. The allowance made on account of orphan children
shall, in ordinary cases, be charged to the mission to which
the parents belonged at the time of their decease.

16. The Board regard it as not consistent with the multi-
plied cares and duties of the Prudential Committee, for them
to undertake the guardianship of the children of missionaries
sent to this country.

6. Th£ Missions.

1 . A majority of missionaries and assistant missionaries in
any mission shall,, in their regular meeetings, decide all ques-
tions that may arise in regard to their proceedings and con-
duct, in which the mission is interested, the decision being
subject to the revision of the Prudential CommitFee. At
such meetings every male missionary and assistant missionary
present, having arrived at the age of twenty-one years, is '
entitled to a vote.

2. it shall be a standing rule, applicable to all missionaries
and agents of the Board, that real estate shall not be pur-
chased at the expense of the Board, nor money loaned belong-
ing to the Board, without the express permission of the
Prudential Committee previously obtained.

7. Permanent Fund for the support of officers.
The permanent funds for Corresponding Secretary and
Treasurer, heretofore kept distinct, shall be merged in one,

and b^ called the ^^ Fund for support of Officei^s ; *^ and the
avails of this fund shall be appropriated to the support of the
Secretaries and the Treasurer of the Board, at the discretion
of the Prudential Committee ; provided that a strict regard
be had to the intentions of donors in such appropriations.

8. Library of the Board, curiosities, etc

1 . The Library of the Board shall be regarded as embracing
the books, maps, manuscripts, pictures, etc. -at the Missionary
Rooms, and all the books, maps, etc. appropriated to the use
of die several missions, and not included in the original outik
of the missionaries, nor purchased at their private expense.
The Library at the Rooms shall be placed in charge of a
Kbrarian appointed by the Prudential Committee ; and those
of the several missions shall be placed in charge of a librarian
appointed, in ordinary cases, by the mission itself, who shall
be accountable for the books to the mission and to the Pru-
dential Committee.

2. The curiosities deposited in the Missionary Rooms, and
consisting of idol gods and other objects of superstition,
together with specimens in natural history, etc. interesting
oh account of their being brought from countries which are
fields for missionary exertion, shall be carefully preserved,
arranged, and labelled, and kept in a room provided for the
purpose, under the direction of the Prudential Committee.

9. Intercourse with other societies, and with ec-
clesiastical BODIES.

1 . A friendly intercourse shall be maintained with other
protestant societies in this and other lands, which are enga-
ged in the benevolent design of propagating the gospel of
Jesus Christ.

2. The Board will send to the General 'Assembly of the
PresbjTterian Church of the United States, to the Synod ol"
the Reformed Dutch Church, and teethe several General
Associations in the New England States, as many copies of
the Annual Report and other printed documents, as shall be
sufficient to furnish those bodies with the means of infor-
mation with regard to the state and necessities of the Board,
its operations, and the success which God may grant to its
exertions.

Rules passed at the Annual Meeting, Sept. 14, 1837.

,1. It shall be the duty of the Prudential Committee to
dffix a limit to the annual expense ojf each mission.

"2. It shall be the duty of the Several missions to furnish
the Prudential Committee, annually, and as far as possible, in
detail, with a schedule of their probable necessary expendi-
tures, in season to permit the schedule to be. acted upon by
the Committee, and the results of their deliberations made
known to the missions, before, the time for the expenditure
arrives.

' 3. In general, the sole object of the printing establish-
ments connected with the missions of the Board shall be to
exert a direct influence upon the surrounding native popula-
tion ; and no mission, or member of a mission, may print any
letter, tract, or appeal at these establishments, at the expense
of the Board, with a view to its being sent to individuals or
communities in the United States.

4. It shall not be deemed proper for any missionary, or
assistant missionary, to visit the United States, except by
invitation or permission first received from the Prudential
Committee.

/ '

ursTRiroTzoirs

Prom the Prudential Committee of the American Board of
Commissioners for Foreign \Sfissions, to the Rev. Hiram
BiXGHAM and the Rev. Asa TRhurston, — -Messrs. Dan-
iel Chamberlain, Thomas Holman, Samuel Whitney,
Samuel Ruggles, Elisha Loomis, — John Honolii,
Thomas Hopu, and William Kanui, of the Mission to
the Sandwich Islands. '

Dearly Beloved in the Lord,

The present is a moment of deep interest to you, and
to us all. You are now on the point, the most of you, of
leaving your country, and your kindred, and your father's
housas, and committing ypurselves, under Providence, to
the winds and the waves, for conveyance to far distant
Islands of the Sea, there to spend the remainder of your
days; and the rest, of bidding a final adieu to this favored
land in which they were strangers, but in which they have
been blest with a new and celestial birth, and returning to
those same — their native isles, where their kindred dwell,
but where the shadow of death still broods, and where
they know not what unanticipated and untried scenes
await them.

It is for no private end, for no earthly object that you
go. It is wholly for the good of others, and for the glory
of God our Saviour.

In those islands there are many thousands of immortal
beings for whom the Redeemer of men died ; but who
know Him not and are perishing for lack of knowledge.
[t is his gracious pleasure, and his high command that his
gospel should be preached to them; that they may be
turned from darkness unto light — be baptized in the name
of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, and
taught to observe all things whatsoever he, has commanfled,
for their salvation, and for his. everlasting honor and praise.

To this high and holy service you are solemnly designa-*
ted ; to this arduous and momentous work you are hence-
forth to hold yourselves sacredly devoted. You go to the
Sandwich Islands as the messengers of the churches and
the glory of Christ; and expressly and solely for the pur-
pose of doing what you can in your respective stations and
spheres, towards bringing^ your long lost fellow-beings
there into a full participation of the privileges and blessings
which the Maker and Redeemer of the world, in the plen-
itude of his goodness, has provided foy all who receive
and obey his gospel.

It is with reference to this great enterprise, that you are
now to receive some general instructions. If the princi-
ples are not new to you, they are at least such as cannot
be too often reiterated, or too strongly enforced.

The points of especial and essential importance to all
missionaries, and all persons engaged in the missionary
work are four: — Devotedness to Christ; subordination to
righ,tful direction; unity one with another; and benevo-
lence towards the objects of their mission.

1 Devotedness to Christ. This indeed is every
where the vital principle of the christian character. To
the missionary an eminent degree of it is essential.

If the Christian is devoted to Christ, the christian min-
ister is more especially devoted, and the christian mis-
sionary to the heathen, most especially. This is th«
general apprehension and sentiment; the supposed pro-
cess in becoming a missionary ; the profession ; the Con-
dition, the visibility of the missionary life. This holy
eminence must be maintained. Level it, and the mis-
sionary spirit is suppressed, and every mission to the
heathen is dead.

What is the purport of your presenting yourselves
here — a spectacle to God, to angels and to men? What
means this deep feeling ? this extended moving and melt-
ing of heart ? Let the devotement of the missionary come
to be regarded ai in no manner or degree eminent or es-
pecial, and all this feeling will subsidy, this moving aod

melting of heart will cease ; and christians and christian
ministers, finding enough to do at home^ will forget the
command of the ascending Redeemer, and leave the poor
heathen to perish.

Let it then be repeated, and let it be impressed on
your minds indelibly— this eminence of sacred devoted-
ness must be maintained.

Hitherto, though christians, you have been, like other
christians, laboring for yourselves or your families, hence-
forth you are to labor for Christ ; and all the fruits of your
labors are to be held as irrevocably consecrated to him^
for the purposes of his mercy towards the dwellers in the
midst of the seas. You liave given yourselves to him for
this service; you have made your vows, and you cannot
go back. If it be not so, — and if this point be not fixed
with you immovably, — stop where you are, nor ven-
ture to set foot on that board which is to bear this holy
mission to the scene of its labors, and trials, and eventual
triumphs. He who putteth his hand to the plough, and
looketh back, is not fit for the kingdom of heaven : least
of all is he fit for an office in this kingdom, so holy as that
of the missionary, for a service in it so sacred as that of
the missionary work.

Sincerely devoted, however, as you may now be, you
will not feel as though you had already attained, or were
already perfect ; but remember that you are still in the
body, encompassed with infirmities, and appointed to
temptations. If then you have renounced the world, be
sure that in this renunciation there be no reserve. If you
have crucified the flesh with its affections and Justs; be
sure that you make the crucifixion complete, — not sparing
the right eye, if it offend, resolving decisively on the de-
struction of the sin that easily besetteth you. In the
scenes of your mission there will be urgent need of all this.

Whatever of earthly privations, or labors, or sufferings,
or perils await you, they are comparatively as nothing.
You may glory in them all ; you may count them all joy.
Other things, dearly beloved, are before you. Your mis-
sion is to a land of darkness^ a« darfenea^ >X%e^\ ^sA^^

the shadow of death, without order^ aifd wtef e the Dght is
as darkness. To be far removed from these loved dwell-
ings of Zion, where the glory of Jehovah rests with healing
and vivifying radiance, from these temples and these altars^
of the Fiving God, from the thousand salutary influences^
restraining, quickening and cheering, of this extended
christian community ; — to have your residence in the
midst of a strange people, who know not Jehovah, nor
his ways, on whose dwellings the light of heaven has not
shone ; to be surrounded with idols, and morais, and al-
tars of abomination ; and exposed to the impurities, the"
corruptions, the nameless and numberless baleful influen-
ces of an untutored nation, walking after their own lustSy
and fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind.
These will be matters of no light kind. If even here,
amidst abundant means, the divine life is hardly main-
tained ; how will it be in that region of death ? What
will you do there, if not devoted, heart and soul and
body, to Christ ? And what will become of this mission^
and all the hopes of the church suspended upon it?

We say not these things to distress you, and from na
boding distrust respecting you ; but that you may have
them always in remembrance, and being dead forever to
th^ world, and to all that is in the warld which is not of
God, you may be alive in Christ Jesus, and have life more
and more abundantly through faith in him. You will
find him in Hawaii, as you have found him in this land,
A SUN AND SHIELD. His gracious word, lo, i am with
YOU ALWAYS, was' Sufficient for the first missionaries of
the cross : it will be sufficient for you, suflScient for all the
purposes of safety, of support, of guidance, of consolation,
of strength, of courage, of success, of triumph, and of
glory. Abide fixedly on this word, and you will have
nothing to want, and nothing to fear; and by example as
well as by instruction will teach the wanderers of the isles
to observe all things whatsoever he hath commanded you.

2 Subordination to rightful direction.

The kingdom of the Lord Jesus is a kingdom of order.

Missions for the advancement of this kingdom are to be
maintained and conducted by a regular, though simple
and free polity. '

The free-will offerings of many churches, and many
thousands of individuals are cast into one treasury, and
committed,, for application to the intended objects, to per-
sons duly appointed to the high trust. Upon these sacred
funds and under this constituted direction, approved per-
sons, freely offering themselves for the holy service, are
sent forth to evangelize the heathen. The compact, ex-
plicit or implied, engages to them affectionate and provi-
dent patronage, maintenance and aid, so long and only so
long, as they conform themselves to the instructions and
regulations of the service. Contempt or disregard of the
instructions and regulations would tend to confusion and
every evil work.

The humble and devoted missionary, therefore, will con-
sider a due observance of the directions of those who are
entrusted with the weighty concerns of the mission, as a
point of sacred duty on which much is depending. If in
his judgment, the service might be benefitted by an altera-
tion or modification of any part of the system, or any spe-
cial order, he may reasonably confide that his representa-
tions, made in a proper manner, will receive kind and
considerate attention : for of all men in public trust, the
managers of missionary concerns have evidently the least
inducement to treat those who act under their direction
with unkindness or neglect, and the strongest motives to
render them every facility, encouragement and aid in the
faithful prosecution of their work. Nor is it much to say,
considering the advantages which the managers should be
supposed to possess for a correct judgment, and the re-
sponsibihties under which they act, that it will be a very
rare case, in which the cause might be served by a mis-
sionary, acting upon his own opinion, in repugnance to
their established regulations or dehberate decision.

Like the members of other missions, you will find it
convenient tind necessary to form yourselves into a body
politic, having rules and regulations of your own, but con-

formable or not repugnant to the directions of the Board
or Prudential Committee ; for the orderly management of
your joint concerns, for the due distribution of your means
of support, your trusts, and your labors, — ^for the keeping
of regular records and journals, for your correspondence
with the Secretary, and accounts with the treasurer of the
Board, and for various purposes important to the welfare
and success of the mission. Your economical polity will
be founded on the principle established by the Board,
"That at every missionary station, the earnings of the
members of the mission, and all monies and articles of
different kinds, received by them, or any of them, directly
from the funds of the Board, or in the way of donation,
shall constitute a common stock, from which they shall
severally draw their support in such proportions, and un-
der such regulations as may from time to time be found
advisable, and be approved by the Board or by the Pru-
dential Committee." And in your general system, and
particular arrangements, proper regard will be had to the
distinction between missionaries and assistants, to respec-
tive qualifications for different trusts and parts of the work,
to the convenience and satisfaction of individuals, and to
the essential interests and objects of the mission.

To regulations and assignments thus rightfully made by
the body, as well as to the directions proceeding immedi-
ately from the Board or the Prudential Committee, every
member will hold himself bound to give heedful observ-
ance. '' Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves Unto
the elder. Yea, all of you he subject one to another,
and be clothed mith humility : for God resisteth the
proud, and giveth grace to the humble.'' ''He that is
greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he
that is chief, as he that doth serve,'' This injunction of
the sovereign and gracious Lord of missions, cannot sink
too deeply into your hearts. The spirit of it is vital to
the missionary character, and to the missionary cause.

3 Unity one with another.

UnHy founded in brotherly love, — in charity out of a

pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith un-
feigned.

The words of the Lord Jesus, spoken to his disciple?
and apostles, just as he was on the point of resigning
himself to the cross for them and for us, are never to be
forgotten; "This is my commandment, that* ye love

ONE another, as I HAVE LOVED YOU. GrEATER LOVE
HATH NO MAN THAN THIS THAT A MAN LAY DOWN HIS LIFE
FOR HIS FRIENDS. Ye ARE MY FRIENDS, IF YE DO WHAT-
SOEVER 1 COMMAND YOU." Ycs, says the disciple who on
that same. evening leaned upon his bosom, ^^ Hereby per^
ceive we h%9 love; because he laid kown his life for us:
and we ought to lay daion our lives for the brethren.'*^
This sentiment was felt by the first christians, and es-
pecially by the first missionaries of the cross ; ?md the ex-
clamation was extorted from their heathen observers, and
their enemies, "See how Christians love one another."
The same sentiment should be felt — must be felt — by
christians now, and especially by the members of every
christian mission in heathen lands ; and the same impres-^
sion must be made on all who have opportunity to observe
their quenchless charity and their indissoluble unity.

You feel now, dear brethren, little need of injunction or
exhortation on this point. You do love one another;
and your feelings would persuade you that your mutual
love can never be abated — your afTectionate union never
interrupted. The God of love and peace grant that it
may even be according to your present most fervent feel-
ings, and our not less fervent desires. But why is the
commandment of the Saviour so emphatical ? — and why is
the injunction so often and so earnestly repeated by him-
self and his inspired apostles ?

In christians, even in christian missionaries, there are
remains of corrupt nature. Nor should it escape particu-
lar advertency, that the circumstances in which missiona-
ries are placed, if in some respects favorable, are in other
respects unfeiyorable to uninterrupted brotherly love and
unity. Brought together and closely associated as the
members of a missionary estabUstxcftft^^^'^^'j^^"^^^®^^ ^"^

portunities and occasions to become minutely acquainted
with each other, and to perceive and feel the differences
of dispositions, habits and modes of thinking and actings
and the respective defects as well as excellencies of temper
and manner and character; and being in contact with
each other at so many points, whatever of discordant quali-
ties exist among them will almost unavoidably be often
brought into unpleasant action, and not unfrequently, un-
less great care be used to prevent it, into painful and dan*
gerous conflict. Add to all this, that being separated
from the great world, from its various and ever varying
connexions, interests, objects, pursuits, and scenes, their
unsanctified propensities apd passions, whatever they may
be, are necessarily circumscribed, and held within a very
limited range ; and therefore, if exerted or exhibited at
all, will be exhibited and exerted so as to bear with their
whole effect upon particular members or the entire body
of the mission. The almost certain cojisequences are
wounds of feeling, breaches upon mutual confidence, dis-
affections, alienations, animosities, unkind' debates and em-
bittered strifes. The old unsleeping adversary is too fully
aware of all this ; and too clearly sees the point to which
his subtle artifices and malicious efforts may be directed
with the surest success.

The emphasis of the injunctions then — the pathos of
the exhortations on this subject, is not without reason ;
not ^yithout especial reason in application to missionaries.
To maintain brotherly love in its requisite purity, con-
stancy, strength and tenderness ; that you may all be in-
separably one, as Christ and the Father are one, will re-
quire much vigilance, much prayer, much crucifixion of
self, much sanctifying grace. '^Put on therefore , as the
elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kix^d-
ness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long suffering, for-^
bearing one another, and forgiving one another : even
as Christ forgave you,jso also do yc." And give all
diligence to keep yourselves always in this spirit.

4 BliNEVOLENCE TOWARDS THE OBJfiCTS aF TOUR MIS»
SIGN.

Your mission is a mission of mercy, and your work is
to be wholly a labor of love.

For long and dismal ages of darkness, the dwellers in
Hawaii and the neighboring isles have been perishing
for lack of knowledge. The Sun of Righteousness has
never risen upon them ; they have been without God and
without hope in the world, living in the rudest state of
uncultured man. You are going to publish to them good
tidings, to bear them the message of heavenly mercy and
peace, to present to them a light which shall dissipate the
gloom so heavily brooding upon them, and show them the
way of happiness and of dignity, of glory and honor and
immortahty.

Your views are not to be Hmited to a low or a narrow
scale ; but you are to open your hearts wide^ and set your
mark high. You are to aim at nothing short of covering
those islands with fruitful^iields and pleasant dwellings,
and schools and churches ; of raising up the whole people
to an elevated state of christian civilization ; of bringing,
or preparing the means of bringing, thousands and ipil-
lions of the present and succeedinsj generations to the
mansions of eternal blessedness. Why should less be
done or designed in the Sandwich, than has been done,
or is now in fair prospect, in the Society Islands ?

But it is an arduous enterprise, a great and difficult
work. To obtain an adequate knowledge of the language
of the people ; to make them acquainted with letters ; to
give them the Bible with skill to read it ; to turn them
from their barbarous courses and habits; to introduce,
and get into extended opemtion and influence among
them, the arts and institutions and usages of civilized Hfe
and society ; above all, to convert them from their idola-
tries and superstitions and vices, to the living and redeem-
ing God, — his truth, his laws, his ways of life, of virtue,
and of glory ^ to effect all this must be the work of an
invincible and indefectible spirit of benevolence : — a spirit
ivhich is not to be turned from Us ^vix^^^^Vs^^s^jkn^'^s^-

giatitude, or perverseness, or maltreatment, or difficulties^
or dangers ; which sufiereth long and is kind ; which, in
' the true sense of the first missionary to the heathen, will
become all things unto all men ; which will give earnest
heed to the counsels of. wisdom, and be studious in de-
vising the best means and methods of promoting its great
object • and which, most especially, and as its grand re-
liance, win humbly and thankfully avail itself of the gra-
ciously proffered aid of Him in whom all fulness dwells.

It is for Him that you are to do all and to suffer all >
and the same mind that was in Him, when He came to
seek and to save that which was lost, and gave himself a
ransom for many, must be in you.

As his kingdom, to which it is your felicity to belong,
' and the interests of which only you are to seek, is not of
this world : like Him you will withhold yourselves entirely
from all interference and intermeddling with the political
affairs and party concerns of the nation or people among
whom you reside : paying proper respect to the powers
that be, and rendering unto all their dues ; tribute to
whom tribute is due, custom to "Whom custom, honor to
whom honor is due; and' showing unto all men a bright
tod impressive example of a meek and quiet spirit, and of
^ whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and
of good report.

Mr Bingham and Mr Thurston, unto you is this grace
given, that you should be sent forth to preach among the
gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ ; — ^to make Him
known in all his grace and all his majesty, to them that dwell
in the isles afar off, that have not heiird his fame, nor seen
his glory. The world, think what it may> has not an of-
fice in its gift, which is not annihilated, when compared
with that of the christian missionary ; not a crown that
would not fade into utter obscurity in presence of that of
Paul. The seraph nearest the celestial throne might es-
teem it a distinguished honor, to execute, in a manner
befitting its nature and design, the trust committed to you.
Be not high minded, but fear. You are but earthen ves-

sels. All your mifficiency is of God ; and the \v hole glory
will be his.

To you, jointiy, is committed this consecrated mission)
proceeding from the bosom of christian, and of heavenly
love : — ^this little, but precious church, an emanation from
that glory of Jehovah which is rising upon our Zion ; and
djestined, we trust, to be a light and shining in a dark
place, shining more and more, until those long benighted
isles shall dl rejoice in the perfect day.

See that, like Moses, you follow, and faithfully instruct
all to whom your care is to be unremittingly extended, to
follow, the refulgent pillar of unerring guidance ; and that,
like Paul, you resolve, and immovably maintain the reso-
lution TO KNOW NOTHING AMONG THE PEOPLE TO WHOM
JOV ARE SENT, SAVE JESUS CHRIST AND HIM CRUCIFIED.

Messrs. Chamberlain, Holman, Whitney, Ruggles and
Loomis, the apostles of the Lord had their helpers. Gains
their host, and of all the church, Luke the beloved physi-
cian, Marcus, Urbane and Tertius, were helpers. Their
witness is in heaven and their record on high. To the
same high and holy work you are designated as helpers ;
and the same immortal meed is set before yoii. See that you
so run as to obtain. Whatever yoii possess of various arts
and knowledge, and facilities, is to be held as inviolably
consecrated to the service. All will be needed in the dif-
ferent parts of the work ; and all may be turned §) im-
portant account. To you it will belong to strengthen the \
hands and encourage the hearts of the missionaries ; to
do what you can in your several spheres for the mainten-
ance of the mission, and for the instruction, improvement
and happiness, temporal and eternal, of the poor pagans
of the isles, and very particularly of the rising hope of
their families, of their nation, and of the church ; arid to
show to them and to the world that, in the various occu-
pations of life, men may turn all their talents, and all their
labors, and all their cares, and all their sufferings, to the
honor of Christ, and to the highest happir^ess and glory
of themselves and their fellow beings. All this however
you can do, only by keeping quietly each oiv^ vw lv\& ow^s.

place, — pursuing cheerfully each one his proper business^
and bearing joyfully each one his' own burdens, and af-
fectionately the burdens of others.

Remember the Lord Jesus. Though he was rich,
yet for our sakes he became poor, that we through his
poverty might be made rich : though he thought it not
robbery to be equal with God, yet he appeared in the
form of a servant, and went about doing good, and
meekly bearing the contradictions of sinners against
himself Remember too that word of his. He that over-
cometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and
I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but
I will confess his nam£ before my Father, and before
his angels.

The beloved females of the mission are not to be for-
gotten. It was not in regard to things merely temporal
that woman was designed, by the sovereign goodness of
the Creator, io be an help meet for man ; nor is there any
law of heaven for excluding the sex from the participation
for which the same sovereign goodness has fitted them, in
the toils and perils, the joys and the glories of recovering .
the common race, lost in consequence of her being de-
ceived who was first in the transgression.

When the Son of God was on his mission, woman, —
many^omen testified the deepest interest in it, minister-
ed to nim of their substance ; attended him in his jour-
ney ings and labors ; and even followed him, when his dis-
ciples forsook him and fled, and earth and heaven were in
dismay ; — followed hini o it to the scene of his crucifixion.
They loved the Saviour ; loved his cause ; and were hap-
py in doing what they could for him. And among the
helpers of the apostles were Phebe, a succorer of many
and of Paul himself, Priscilla, who was not less forward
than her husband to expose her own life for the safety of
the same apostle, — Mary, Tryphena, Tryphosa, Euodias,
and the beloved Persis ; all of whom labored much in the
Lord ; and their names are recorded with marks of dis-
tinguished approval, for a sweet memorial to everlasting
ages; and before the throne of God and the Lamb they

share in the imperishable honors and felicities of apostles
and martyrs.

These favored daughters of Zion then, who with so
much tender cheerfulness, have given themselves to their
Saviour and Lord for this arduous service, are not without
warrant for thus leaving the world to its own opinions and
pursuits. He, it is not to be doubted, kindly approves
and accepts this sacred self-devotement and these many
sacrifices : and they may assure themselves that by the
directors and patrons of this great enterprise, they are re-
garded and will be remembered with most aflectionate
confidence and interest, as an important part of the mis-
sion.

UpoQ them, under Providence, depend in no small de-
gree its comfort, its harmony and its success. In the do-
mestic concerns; in the education of the heathen children,
in the various cares, and labors, and trials of the mission,
by their assiduous attentions, their aCffectionate offices,
their prudent suggestions, their cheering influences, and
their unceasing prayers, they will help the brethren. ^ And
to them it will belong to show to the rude and depraved
islanders an eflTective example of the purity, and dignity,
and loveliness, the salutary and vivifying influence, the at-
tractive and celestial excellence, which Christianity can
impart to the female character.

John Honolii, Thomas Hopu, and William Kanui,
Httle did you know when you left the dark dwellings of
your nativity, for what purpose you were coming to these
distant shores. Little did you think that you were to be
born again ; to be made the children of Him who created
the earth and the heavens, — the Everlasting God, whom
your fathers had never known ; and to become heirs to
an inheritance, incorruptible, and undefiled, and which
fadeth not away. But the purpose was all known to Him
who leadeth the blind by a way they know not; and is
found of them that seek him not. Unspeakable is the
grace which he has bestowed on you ; unspeakable and
everlasting are your obligations to ham.

It is not, however, for your sake^ o\\Vj^\feaX n3sv>& ^^55^^^

has been conferred. It is to be gratefully recognised and
hailed as a precious earnest of exceeding riches of mercy
to be ere long bestowed upon your nation, and to descend
with multiplying blessings to successive generations.

You go back to your native isles with the richest treas-
ure which the high possessor of heaven and earth could
place in your hands. You must go with your own hearts
filled with this treasure ; and burning witli the desire, and
fixed in the purpose of communicating it to your poor per-
ishing relations, friends, and countrymen. To them you
are to carry back good tidings of great joy ; and to make
known all that you have here learned of utility or import-
ance, for the life that now is, and for that which is to
come.

What could have been the feelings of Opukahaia, had
he lived to see this day ? He does hve ; and he d ^es be-
hold this day : and amid the ten thousand times te^ thou-
sand before the throne of God and the Lamb, he is raising
a new and immortal note of praise for the light which is
dawning upon Hawaii and the kindred isles.

You wiU never forget Opukahaki. You will never for-
get his fervent love, his aifectionate counsels, his many
prayers and tears for you, and for his and your nation.
You saw him die ; saw how the christian could triumph
over death and the grave ; saw the radient glory in which
he lefk this world for heaven. You will remember it al-
ways ; and you will tell it to your kindred and country-
men who are dying without hope.

To the hearts of many thousands in this land) beloved
young brethren in Christ, jou are dear; they have borne
you. often before the mercy seat of heaven : and upon you
as the first fruits of the Sandwich Islands, to Christ, hopes
of unutterable tenderness and interest are placed. Oh,
should you disappoint these hopes ! Should you, the first
of your nation who have had the privilege to know and
confess the true god and eternal life^ — should you
turn away from Him, make shipwreck of your faith, and
plunge again into the corruptions of your former state of
^orance, earth and heaven might be moved I But wha

can tell the temptations that await you? And whose
heart does not tremble, while it hopes concerning you.

Put on, dear youths, the whole armour of God, that
you may be able to withstand in the evil day. We ^e-
seech you and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye
have received of us how ye ought to walk, and to please
God, so you would abound more and more. And this
we pray, that your love may abound yet in knowledge
and in all judgment ; that ye may approve things that
are excellent ; that ye may be sincere and without of-
fence, till the day of Christ ; being filled with the fruits
of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ unto the
glory and praise of God.

Beloved members of the mission, male and female, this
christian community is moved for you, and for your enter-
prise. The offerings, and prayers, and tears, and bene-
dictions, and vows of the churches are before the throne
of everlasting mercy. They must not be violated ; they
must not, cannot be lost. But how can you sustain the
responsibility ? A nation to be enlightened and renova-
ted ; and added to the civilized world, and to the king-
dom of the world's Redeemer and rightful sovereign ! In
his name only, and by his power, can the enterprise be
achieved. In Him be all your trust. To Him, most af-
fectionately and devoutly, and to the word of His grace,
we commend you.

By the Prudential Committee,

S. WORCESTER, Secretary.

Boston, October 15, 1819.

See Appendix A.
4^

xsrsTavoTioNff

From the Prudential Committee of the American Board of
Commissioners for Foreign Missions, to the Rev. Arte-
MAS Bishop, Rev. William Richards, and Rev. Charles
S. Stewart, — Messrs. Abraham Blatchely, Joseph
Goodrich, James Ely, Levi Chamberlain, — MissBET-
N SY Stockton, — Stephen Pupuhi, William Kamahoula,
and Richard Kalaiulu, natives of Hawaii.

Dearly beloved in the Lord,

Having devoted yourselves for life to the service of
Christ among the heathen, you are convened in this city
to embark for the field of labor which has been assigned
you, and upon whic^ your eyes have been fixed with earn-
est desire and fond anticipations. On the morrow you ex-
pect to commence your voyage to the Sandwich Islands,
there to be, united with the beloved brethren who have
been importunately calling for fellow-laborers.

Your object is the greatest, which can employ human
agency. You go to proclaim the gospel as heralds to
those, who never till lately even heard of Christ as a Sa-
viour ; who never listened to the offers of pardon, nor had
any just conceptions of themselves as immortal beings, or
of God as the moral governor of the universe.

Oi such an occasion, assembled in this house of prayer,
surrounded by a multitude of your christian friends, who
take the liveliest interest in the success of your mission
and in your personal welfare, you will receive with peculiar
sensations the last counsels and instructions, which the
Prudential Committee, speaking in the name and behalf
of the christian community, wiU ever be able to give with
the living voice. These parting counsels you will regard
as the result of a truly paternal solicitude for you as indi-
viduals, and for the advancement of the cause in which
you arfe engaged. Permit me here to refer you to the in-
structions/ den vered three yeaia ^o \.o'^^%^T?^»"^\sa5^jass^

and Thurston and their associates when about to lay the
foundations of the mission to which you are assigned.
These instructions were drawn up with great care and
ability, with great wisdom, and unction, by the late la-
mented Corresponding Secretary; there is not a word in
them which the Committee after their experience respect-
ing this mission, would wish to have altered. Several
topics there discussed at some length, need not be intro-
duced here.

A subject of prime importance to the success of any
combined exertions is the preservation of union among
those who tabor together. Our Saviour has laid it down
as a fundamental principle, of universal apphcation, that a
house divided against itself canot stand. This prin-
ciple is to be kept continually in view, by air who take
part in missionary operations. A holy union of heart, of
enterprise, of labor, is to be cultivated by every practi-
vCable method. Among the means of carrying on this spir^
itual cultivation the following are thought worthy of par-
ticular consideration.

If you wish always to be of' one heart and one mijnd,
you will aim, in the first place, to become eminent for
piety. This is, indeed the grand ingredient in every truly
excellent character ; but it operates with peculiar efficacy,
to bring together and hold together all who live under its
divine influence. As God is the centre of all perfection,
and the source of all beneficent activity, they who live
near to God cannot live at a distance from each other.
As God is love, they who enjoy communion with him,
cannot but cooperate most cheerfully and harmoniously
in every labor of love. When piety gains the ascendan-
cy all the elements of disunion are controlled, if not ren-
dered inoperative, or utterly extinguished. Aspire, then,
to such attainments in piety, as shall hft you above those
little interests, which may endanger the peaceful and uni-
ted prosecution of your work.

Secondly, the eager pursuit of a great common object

is a strong bond of union. Such an object, worthy of

j^our most strenuous and unremitted efforts, is ever be*

fore you. The conversion and salvation of the islanders
to whom you are sent — to be accomplished, so far as hu-
man agency is concerned, by the preaching of the gospel^
the establishment of schools, and all the means of impart-
ing religious knowledge, — furnish an object of sufficient
magnitude to claim your greatest exertions. Keep this
in view, as a goal to which you should be advancing with
quick and regular steps. In your most retired meditations,
as well as your conferences with each other, let the ques-
tion often recur; '* How shall we do most for the object
of our desires and hopes? How shall these perishing im-
mortab be saved ? By what new and more effectual pro-
cess can their consciences be enlightened, their hearts af-
fected, and their lives adorned by the practice of christian
virtue ? How shall the power of sinful habit be counter-
acted, and that great moral change be produced, which
is forcibly described in the scriptures as a death unto sin
and a life unto righteousness?''

By inquiries such as these, and by corresponding efforts^
you may hold the success of your joint labors in so prom-
inent a view, that your comm(»i object shall cast into the
shade all other objects on this side of heaven. Especially
will this be the case, if by extraordinary vigor and dili-
gence you make visible progress in your work. Let this
be your constant aim aikd your high endeavor.

Again, it will greatly conduce to your proceeding in
your vocation with unil»xl counsels, if you cultivate the
most endeared personal friendship, founded on religious
principle. By friendship we here mean something very
different from what the world dignifies with this name,,
and Something very different, also, from the mere charita-
ble opinion, concerning each other, that you are chris-
tians. We mean something which will induce you to
cherish each others happiness with the tenderest anxiety ;
to improve each others good qualities, and. regard such
improvement as a common gain ; to aid each other in re-
moving any defects of character, which may be apparent ;
especi^y those, which seem to be at variance with the
employment of a missionary v tii Yj^LVckt w^x ^»s2sv ^^^sNsat

as christians, as fellow-laborers in a most important field,
as persons destined; with the favor of Providence to lay
the foundations of christian society in many O/ dark neigh-
borhood. Consider not such an oversight as an irksome
restraint, but rather as a delightful duty, a mean of spirit-
ual advancement, a source of happiness here, and a prepa-
ration for future glory. Let. your confidence in each
other be entire at the commencement ; and let the result
show, that it was deserved, and that it remained, as time
elapsed and^it was put to the test, not only unimpaired,
but strengthened and confirmed. True christian watch-
fulness, however strict and faitjiful, will never diminish
the care, which each maintains over his own soul. Far
otherwise, it prompts to self-examination, to self-denial,
to a holy emulation in regard to the possession of these
virtues, which it urges upon others. As it springs from
the purest benevolence, its universal tendency is salutary. i

By cultivating the friendship, which is here recommend-
ed, you will arrive at that desirable point in christian ex-
perience, where each will think little concerning his own
things, — much concerning the things of others, — ^but most
of all concerning the things of Jesus Christ.

Another powierful mean of promoting union is Jto enter-
tain a salutary dreacl of disunion. To a person little ac-
quainted with the history of men and of christians, it
would seem unnecessary, or improper, even to allude to
the possibility of disunion among those, who are embarked
in the most glorious and beneficent of causes, and who
are held together by so many bonds, which would seem
indissoluble. But if we look into the New Testament,
we every where find exhortations to peace, to unity, to
brotherly love, and dissuasives from strife and division.
What does all this imply, but that men generally, and
even the best of men, are in danger of suffering from di-
vided counsels and divided efforts; — from alienation of
affection, the fruitful parent of a thousand evils. As truly
converted persons may be said to persevere through a sal-
titary dread of falling away, you may very properly stimur
late .yourselves to a closer union by considering how mglr

anChoUy and disastrous it would te, if your ehjoytoent
should be marred by division ; or by a coolness, which
should neutralize your exertions, and quench your zeal.

Should this unhappily be the case, it obviously could

not be concealed from the people among whom you labor ;

nor from the numerous visitors at the islands ; nor from

your friends in this country ; nor from the christian public

of Europe and America ; nor from the enemies and oppo-

sers of missions. How deplorable such a result would be

your own feehngs will represent more forcibly than Words

can do. That you may justly estimate this subject, be

much conversant with the writings of Paul, that illustrious

missionary to the gentiles, who was fitted by long personal

experience and by the teachings of the Spirit, to point

out all the dangers to which you are- exposed, and to be

your guide as the first preacher? to an untutored people.

Let such exhortations as the following be deeply engraven

on your hearts ; "If there be therefore any consolation in

Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the

Sgirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfil ye my joy, that ye

like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord,

'bne mind." , "Let nothing be done through strife or

tin glory ; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other

jtter than themselves." " Look not every man on his

oVn things, but every man also on the things of others."

" Do all things without murmurings and disputings ; that

ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God with^

out rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation,

among whom ye shine as lights in the world."

The description in the clause last quoted, is eminently
true of every heathen people. However they may differ as
to temperament, habits, and manners, in regard to spiritual
objects they are all crooked and perverse. Among such
people it is peculiarly necessary, that you should shine as
lights, casting a mild and heavenly radiance all around
you, and dispelling the darkness of ages. But how can
this be expected, unless you are most cordially united
among yourselves, and most tenderly attached . to each
other? Marching forward to lV\e s\i\T\Vw5\ c55\^\^\.^ssv^'ev

one steady impulse, and keeping your eyes fixed on the
captain of your salvation^ the victory is sure ; but if your
ranks are broken, and your attention diverted from your
leader, your force will be destroyed, and a most disastrous
overthrow can hardly be avoided.

Let it then be resolved, and let the divine blessing be
invoked upon the solemn resolution, that as children of
God, as missionaries to the heathen, as fellow-laborers in
the same field, you are one ; one in purpose, one in iafFeo-
tion, one in action. Thus will you be prepared* to enter,
with the proper spirit of missionaries, into the necessities
of the people to whose benefit your lives are devoted.

These people you will find in the greatest possible want
of instruction. Though they burned their idols, and dis-
carded their odious and abhorred superstitions, before the
first missionaries reached their shores, — an event altogeth-
er unprecedented in the history of man; — their minds are
still in utter darkness as to religion, their hearts are
under the influence of depraved passion, and their livep
are deformed by gross vices. Painful indeed it is, to be-
hold any portion of our race in such a debasing subjection
to the god of this world. But we are not to shrink from
a knowledge of the true state of things, when that knowl-
edge is essential to the best performance of our duty.

Though your brethren already in the field have commu-
nicated some general notions of God, of Providence, and of
the gospel, to some individuals around them ; yet the mass
of the inhabitants you must expect to sec still remaining

- without hope. Sf»me preparations may have been made
toward conveying instruction, both by means of interpre-
ters and in their own language; but the progress of divine
truth among pagans, speaking a strange tongue, and not

k even having any language adapted to moral subjects, must
be slow at first. You must therefore consider, that so far
as (he arduousness of the work is regarded, you and your
brethren are to commence the business of general instruc-
tion* Before any great results can be expected, the rudi-
ments of moral truth must be brought to the minds of

muJtitudes; the conscience is to be formed and enlight-

lifted ; the heart is to be assailed by the simple, yet com*
manding, motives of the gospel. Man's native sinful*
ness and wretchedness are to be fairly exhibited; the
pardon of sin is to be proclaimed ; the love gf Christ dis-
played; — the atonement with all its blessings described ;
and the destinies of eternity presented to the mind.
Your reliance on the pure doctrines of revelation must be
firm and undeyiating. No other doctrines, no other mor-
al process but the preaching of these doctrines, will ever
prove a remedy for the diseases of the soul.

In your intercourse with the natives of the island, you
will labor to convince them that you are their friends.
This you will do not by declarations and professions mere-
ly, or principally ; but by unwearied labors for their good.
It is an established prirxiple in the Providence of God>
that men will at length discover disinterested kindness.
None are so low in the scales of intellect ; none are so
barbarous in their manners or disposition, as not to know
the proofs of genuine friendship. False views may be en-
tertained at first ; interested persons may excite prejudice ;
having been often deceived may induce caution and jeal-
ousy ; but a long course of beneficence will be a testimony
to its own excellence, which cannot be resisted. Among
the most untutored people, individuals will be found, who
are shrewd observers of human conduct, and have a keen
discernment of character and motives.

The way to secure the confidence of these natural lead-
ers, is to feel an earnest desire for their good, and the
good of their people ; to labor patiently, unremittingly,
and with increasing zeal for this object ; and to show in
the expressive language of the apostle, that you seek not
theirs, but them.

You are to abstain from all interferance with the local
and political interests of the people. The kingdom of
Christ is not of this world, and it especially behoves a
missionary to stand aloof from the private and transient
interests of chiefs and rulers. Inculcate the duties of
justice, moderation, forbeararxe, truth and universal liind-

ness. Do all in your power to make men of every class
good, wise and happy.

Let it be apparent, also, that you have nothing to do
with traffic, or gain ; that far nobler objects brought you
from your native land ; and that you regard all that the
world has to offer as of very little value compared with the
salvation of a single soul. In any discnssions and claims
concerning property, whether the persons interested be
natives or foreigners, take no part. This may be a sub-
ject of considerable importance, in the present state of
things ^t the islands, where you are to reside.

To visitors and occasional residents, whether from this
country or any other, show yourselves kind, affable and
pbliging. Conciliate their esteem by the usefulness of
your lives. Give no occasion for any report, unfavorable
to the work to which you are devoted ; and if your de-
signs should be misrepresented, or even your characters
defamed, you need be under no apprehension, but God
will vindicate your cause.

Nothing will so speedily convince the natives of the
excellence of your mission, as a laborious attention to its
appropriate d utiles. Untutored people are almost univer-
sally idle in their habits, prodigal of time, and prone to
dissipation of almost every kind. A life of industry,
therefore, spontaneously exerted, and persevered in from
motives of public utility, is to them a singular phenom-
enon ; and one which makes a striking impression on
their minds. Be urgent, then, in preachiiig the gospel, in
teaching the young, and in every branch of useful labor,
which your various faculties and acquirements will enable
you to accomplish. You will feel that no time is to be
lost. Even now, almost while I am speaking, intelligence
is received, that your services are imperiously demanded ;
that your arrival will be hailed as the signal for new es-
tablishments ; that the schools are increasing ; that on the
first Monday of last January, the printing of an elementary
school-book was commenced, in a language never before
reduced to writing ; and that the number of readers will

be multiplied faster than the translations and printing can
be executed.

^We know, dear brethren, that you bum with an anxious
' desire in the high and holy ministration of raising a per-
ishing people from their degradation and ruin, and of in-
ducing them to accept the blessings of Christianity and
civiUzation. We know that you will count with solicitude
the days and the hours, which must intervene, before you
can engage in this divine employment.

But while you eagerly teach letters to the rising genera-
tion, and attempt to form habits of industry, and order,
and domestic virtue in your pupils, you will never give ^
countenance to the popular error that men must be civili-
zed before they can receive the gospel. You are well
aware that an ignorant and heathen people never can be
civilized without the gospel. There has not been an in-
stance, since the first promulgation of Christianity, of a
barbarous nation brought into a state of well regulated
society, unless by means of motives, which true religion
alone can furnish. You may, indeed, easily prove to a
heathen and a savage, that good laws, wholesome restraint,
constant occupation, and a regular discharge of the do-
mestic duties, are favorable to the enjoyment of this life ;
but when your proof is ended, what have you accom-
pHshed?

'* Alas! leviathan is not so tam'd."

All the motives which can be drawn from this world are
entirely vain and ineffectual to reclaim from a vagrant Ufe,
to restrain unbridled passion, to soften ilprocity, and to im-
plant a controlling principle, which shall operate in the whole
conduct. You will not leave out of youf estimate that relig-
ion which came down from heaven, and which is incompara-
bly the most powerful agent m transforming the human char-
acter ; the only agent, indeed, which can make a thorough
transformation. What ! shall God be excluded from operat-
ing on the souls which he formed, by means of the truth
which he revealed for that very purpose ? Shall Christ have .
no share in bringing to virtue and to happiness the immortal
beings whom he died to save ? Shall the Holy Spirit he

debarred from exerting the most, beneficent agency, tiil
man's wisdom shall have prepared the way by a process,
which he fondly hopes will end in civilization ? You in-
dulge not, my brethren, in these dreams of a vain plii-
losophy. You have not so learned the gospel. Preach,
then, the glad tidings of Christ's pacification. Make
known the character of God, as the great and holy one,
who is infinitely opposed to sin in every form, and who
will call every work into judgment with every secret thing.
Describe the character of man as it is, depraved,. unholy,
and enslaved to sin ; and you need not fear but its like-
ness will be recognized. Urge sinners of every class and
condition to flee from the wrath to come. The plain
truths, which are important to salvation are as easily un-
derstood, even by the rudest people, as the plainest prin-
ciples of morals, or the elements of human science. Rely
on the means which God has appointed, and you will not
fail of ultimate success. If God should honor your in-
strumentality as preachers of the gospel, civilization, purity
of morals, refinement of intellect and of manners will fol-
low of course.

The question whether God will use human instrumen-
tality in the conversion of heathens, is not now to be set-
tled. You know the promises, you know on what occa-
sion, and by whom, the command was given; "Go ye
into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature :"
a command perfectly intelligible, and of universal obliga-
tion, so long as there is a christian to hear it, or a pagan
to be converted. This command would alone be altogeth-
er decisive ; but it is supported by the whole tenor of
prophecy, and by the broad principle of christian benevo-
lence. . It is only by obedience to this command that any
part of the heathen world has been converted to Christianity.
It was by the labor of missionaries that all the nations of
Europe, and our ancestors among the rest, were brought
many centuries ago within the hearing of the gospel. And
now, within a few years past, what astonishing exhibitions,
of the power of divine truth on the hearts of heathens,
have been made in South Africa^ Sierw Leone, Bengal,

Ceylon, the wilderness of our own country ; but especially
in the Society Islands. The instance last mentioned must
be peculiarly interesting to you, as the circumstances of
the inhabitants greatly resembled those of the people to
whose service your lives are devoted.

The change in the Society Islands is not only more ex-
tensive, than the most sanguine friend of missions ventured
to predict, or even to hope ; but the universality of the
change, within the short period of ten years since it b6-
gan, is unexampled in the history of Christianity. A na-
tion of stupid idolaters, enslaved to the most degrading
superstitions, have become a christian people, regularly
observant of the Sabbath and of public worship, habitually
practising family prayer, and many of them giving satis-
factory evidence of personal religion. A nation of idle'
and dissolute savages have become sober, chaste and tem-
perate. From being false and perfidious, intrigueing, re-
vengeful, cruel and malicious, they have become honest
and faithful, placing confidence in each other and showing
themselves worthy of confidence. A few years sipce they
were totally ignorant on all moral subjects ; now they are
well instructed in religion, formed into churches, meet for
the worship of God in buildings which their own hands
have erected for the purpose, and multitudes read in their
own language the wonderful works of God, translated and
printed by missionaries on the spot.

These facts are familiar to you, my brethren ; you know
the evidence on which they rest to be incontrovertible. I
recount them, not to inform your minds, but to cheer your
hearts on the present solemn occasion, with these speci-
mens of what may, by the divine blessing be accomplished
through your agency. Lift up your voices, then, daily
with the importunate supplication, that the mighty works
which the Redeemer has wrought in Tahiti and Eimeo^
the same he would also perform in Kauai and Hawaii.

You take with you, as an interesting part of your fami-
ly, three natives of Hawaii; who having received the
benefit of christian instruction at the Foreign Mission
School, and having, as we; ttv^al, exipTOfiw^ ^^ ^'qw^x

of divine tnith upon their hearts, are now about returnTiig
to the land of their fathers. These youths are committed
to you as a precious deposit. ' They will be exposed
to many dangers and temptations ; and the utmost vigi-
lance, both in you and in them, may be the means whicft
God will use in preserving them. When further instruct-
ed, they may be of important service, in the various de-
partments of your work. Cherish them most kindly and
tenderly, not only as pupils, but as christian brethren;
and may the great shepherd recognize them as lambs of
his flock, and bring them to his fold.

To you, dear brethren, and to the beloved companions^^
of your bosoms,. the partners of your joys and sorrows, are
these instructions given, with most affectionate desires for
your welfare. They are addressed to you jointly, and
severally, so far as they. may be applicable to your respec-
tive circumstances and relations.

And now, in conclusion, we remind you of 'the, high
embassay on which you are sent. Always remember the
dignity of your calling. This, will not cherish pride. It
will rather be a perpetual prompter to humility. Let who
will mistake the nature of the missionary oflice, be sure
that you never forget it yourselves.

Though your first responsibility be to Christ, as the
Lord of missions, under whose authority you act, there is
abo a responsibility of ho light character to his church on
earth. Yes, dear brethren, the friends of missions in our
own land have a hold on you, which they w^ill never con-
sent to relinquish ; and you are thus laid under obligations,,
from which you never can be absolved. Nor are you to
look at this country alone, when you contemplate the ef-
fect of your labors, your reputation, your influence upon
the great christian public. Such is the faciEty with which
missi6nary^ intelligence is communicated, and such the
eagerness with, which it is received, not omly here, but in
every part of Great Britain, in many parts of Continental,
Europe, and at all the missionary stations in every region
of the world, that yopr character is the conmion property
of Christendom, and you actimdet theipeT^etuatmspection

of immense multitudes of the children of God ; incIuding^
in their number many of the wisest and best of mankind.
Think not, that because you traverse eighteen thousand
miles of ocean, you will therefore be unnoticed and alone.

In the present state of missionary exertions, every mem*
bep of 'the mission family has it in his power to aid, or to
injure the cause, to an extent greater than words can de-
scribe. Should any of your number prove essentially de-
fective in christian and missionary character ; my heart
recoils- at the thought; should yoi;ir conduct bring reproach
upon that holy enterprize, in which you are emterked ;
you will not only clothe in sackcloth the friends of the
Redeemer throughout our widely extended country ; but
as the pages of the missiouaty magazine are turned over,
by people in remote climes, and of different languages,
' you will fill with sorrow the heart of many a Scottish peas-
ant, as he sits down to solace his evening's fire-side, and
falls unexpectedly upon your disastrous story ; you will
wring tears from many a pious widow in Switzerland — I
had almost said from the very rocks, which overhang her
humble habitation. The converted Tahitian will stand
aghast and confounded, when he hears of your fall ; ^and .
youT brother missionaries, in so many distant regions, will
hang their harps on the willows ; — their hands will be par-
alized for a season; their. mouths will be silent, imless
opened for the melanchoUy exclamation, Tdt it not in '
Gatk.

But of this sad picture there is a delightful reverse. If
you adorn the doctrine of God your Saviour in all things ;
if you are found faithful, and laborious, and devoted ser-
vants of Christ ; if each revolving year bears cheering tes-
timony of your perseverance ; if ypur christian virtues
shine with greater and still greater brightness ;; whatever
your immediate suecessr may be, every page of your history
will be read with unspeakaMe interest by the thousands
of our Israel. Your exemplary devotedness will kindle
new zeal, when known at the monthly assemblies, at which
prayer is offered for the conversion of the heathen. It
will strengthen your feUow-kbotet^ \xv \tv5c». «sA ^^^w^

in our western wilderness and in Palestine. The joyful
tidings of your success will penetrate the desolate regions
of Kamschatka, and meet the enterprising missionary, as
he traverses Siberia or fixes his dwelling place on the
shores of the Caspian. And when it shall be told that
your divine Master has removed you from the field of your
labors on earth, though the tear* of friendship may dim
the vision for a moment, a smile of heavenly oriein shall
fix upon the countenance of survivors, while they Think of
your triumph, and your eternal reward. Indeed, my ,
brethren, " you are made a spectacle to angels and to.
men." The missionary vows are upon you ; and you can-
not go back. But were it possible that you s-hould hesi-
tate on the subject, it were better, infinitely better, that
you should abandon your long cherished design now, than
at any time hereafter. You have voluntarily offered your-
selves, after much self examination and prayer for the ser-
vice of Christ among the heathen. He graciously accepts
every cheerful sacrifice, made from a tender regard to the
souls for whom he died ; and in the great and solemn day,
when your labors of charity and kindness to the. people
of Hawaii shall be recognized. He will say, " Inasmuch as
ye have done it unto one of the least of these my breth-
ren, ye have done it unto me." , *
By order of the Prudential Committee, ,

JEREMIAH EVARTS, Cor. Sec. and
Clerk of the Prud. Com.

See Appendix B.

ixorsTRtrcTioio's

From the Prudential Committee of the American Board .of
Commissioners for Foreign Missions, to the Rev. Lorrin
Andrews, Rev. Jonathan S. Green, Rev. Peter J^
GuLicK, and Rev. Ephraim W. Clark, — Messrs. Ste-
phen Shepard, and Gerrit P. Judd, — Misses Mari^l
Ogden, Mary Ward, Delia Stone, and Maria Patten,
— George Kailaa, Henry Ukalimoa, John P. Laau-
LANA, and Samuel J. Palu, natives of Hawaii.

My christian friends,

Before addressing the missionaries, who are now to re-
ceive in public a few words of parting advice from the
Committee, it may be proper to mention the occasion of
the present reinforcement, and the special services which
will be expected from the individuals who compose it.

The missionaries now at the Sandwich Islands have
found, in the good Providence of God, the natives more
ready to hear the gospel, than could have been anticipa-
ted. All the people seem desirous of knowing what the
Bible contains ; and very many enter with deep serious-
ness into religious inquiries. Not a few seem to manifest
a truly christian spirit. It is extremely desirable, that a
tribe of men, in such circumsts^nces, should receive prompt
and efficient aid in escaping from the snares of Satart, and
entering upon the path of life. Now is eminently the
time, in regard to this mission, for keeping up the impulse
which has been given. The laborers in the field have,
therefore, and with the greatest propriety, urged the im-
portance of a large reinforcement.

There is another consideration, which will not be deem-
ed trivial, by any man of a generous mind. Our brethren
at the islands have, for two or three years past, been suf-
fering from the cruel opposition of unreasonable and wick-
ed men. This opposition, thou^ it.sKoulA e,v<».\ft.^Js^'««^-

cerest compassion for the guilty authors of it, must be
counteracted ^nd checked, or the condition of the natives
is hopeless. There are two ways, in which a most salu-
tary check may be imposed, viz. by increasing the moral
power of the mission, bringing it to bear upon the hearts
and consciences of visitors, and Jay causing all classes of
residents to feel, that they act in the full view of the civ-
ilized world. In regard to both these objects, no measure
promises to be so effectual, as to increase the number of
evangelical laborers.

The Committee have for some time been desirous of
doing this ; and now have the happiness of presenting to
their christian friends of this assembly sixteen individvr
als, who have been appointed to a service so desirable
and so important, after having dehberately consecrated
themselves to the work. In this number are four ordained
ministers of the gospel, a physician and a printer. The
whole number may be considered, to an unusual extent, a
representation of the American churches, who are em-
barked in this great enterprise. Two of the ordained
missionaries received their theological education at Ando-
ver, and two at Princeton ; and in the whole number is
one or more from seven States of the Union. The Atlan-
tic region, and interior States, and the vast country be-
yond the Alleganiqs, now unite in sending from their own
borders living epistles to the gentiles. Beside the sixteen
individuals, to whom allusion has been made, four jiatives
of the islands, who have spent several years with us, and
of whom the hope is entertained, that they have become
experimentally acquainted with the gospel, are now about
to return to the land of their fathers.

Who that regards the embassy, on which these repre-
sentatives of the churches are sent, but must consider the
spectacle before us interesting and dehghtful. As an ex-,
pression of sympathy for our brethren, and of love to the
heathen ; as an exhibition, though on a small scale, of
what our country can do for the benefit of distant nations ;
as a tribute of christian affection, cheerfully rendered by
remote parts of our widely extended conjmunity ; as a re-

Cognition of that indebtedness to our fellow-men, which
the gospel imposes, and which has been accumulating
such fearful arrearages against us ; and as one of the bles-
, sed fruits of united counsels and brotherly cooperation —
the present mission family goes forth to the islands of the
great ocean.

And now I proceed to address myself to those, for
whom this assembly doubtless feels a peculiar interest.

Dear christian friends of the Mission Family,

Having deliberately considered the condition of the pa-
gan world, and reflected upon the last command of the
ascending Saviour, you have cheerfully consecrated your
faculties, your time, your lives, to the special service of
promoting the success of, the gospel among the heathen.
To this service, however, you are not self-appointed ; but
you have been called to it by the approving voice of the
churches to which you have belonged, of the circles of re-
ligious society in which you have mov^d, of the ministers
and instructors by whom you have been guided, and of
the Committee, to whom this responsible duty has been
assigned. You stand, therefore, in a most important rela^
tion to the church of the living God, Your station is
eminently a pubhc one. You form a connecting link be-
tween Christendom and the countless millions of unevan-
gelized men. In your character and in your conduct,
you unavoidably bear the destinies of thousands, and ul-
timately of millions. "No man liveth to himself, and no
man dieth to himself," least of all the man, or tlicwoman,
who is set forward as the visible representation of Chris-
tianity before thousands, that have just opened their eyes
to behold the beauty and the glory of moral subjects ; the
man, or the woman, whose reflex influence upon this
country, if such as it-should be, will carry blessings in its
train for generations to come. When you think upon '
this high and sacred calling, these extensive connexions
and dependences, and these mighty influences, which take
hold of eternity, you will not deem it strange, that we feel
a peculiar solicitude that you live, and lahor^ and act ia

62 •

l^ch a manner as shall obtain the gracious approbation of
your Divine Master, while your holy example leads con*
verted pagans in the way to heaven/

The occasion will jiot permit us to say more than a
small part of what is worthy of your most serious atten-
tion. The New Testament is the great directory of
christian missionaries. To that we solemnly commend
you, as to an inexhaustible treasury of wisdom. It is
proper, however, that the conductors of missionary opera-
tions should urge different topics at difi'erent times, ac-
cording to changing circumstances. You are referred, for
direction on many points, to instructions given on similar
occasions, to your predecessors in the same mission ; and
I cEinnot do justice to my own feelings without mention-
ing, as worthy of honorable distinction, the documents
respecting the duties and qualifications of missionaries,
which have been published, within a few years past, by
the Scottish Missionary Society. These you are request-
ed to read with solemn and prayerful attention.

You will bear us witness, that you have not been urged
into this engagement by the Committee, and that you
have not been flattered with the hope of ease, or emolu-
ment, or distinction, or worldly enjoyment of any kind.
Nor do you entertain the thought, that, by your voluntary
sacrifices, you are to make an atonement for your sins, or
for the sins of others. Nor do you expect to get a great
name among men. Were this the design of missionaries,
it would be utterly defeated in a vast majority of cases;
for where a multitude are engaged, as will soon be the
fact, it is impossible that more than a few should be dis-
tinguished in this busy, changing, talking world ; and this
distinction, whatever it might be for a few years, is alto-
gether too contemptible to be an object of pursuit for a
christian. There is a distinction, indeed, which you
" should seek — that of having your names written in the
Lamb's book of life ; but this you will share with the
humblest christian in your native land, as well as with the
converted islander, who was never known on earth be-
yond his little circle. And there is another distinction, to

ivhich the word of God authorized you to direct your aim ;
it is that of being numbered with those, who turn n^any
to righteousness, and who will shine as the stars forever
and ever.

But you go not abroad for yourselves. On the contra-
ry, you take up the cross and follow Christ in the great
work of the regeneration of a world. You go in obedi-
ence to what appears to you an imperious call of duty,
and in the discharge of this duty you expect to find your
happiness. . *

Trials will doubtless await you. What will be their
precise nature, it is impossible for man to foresee. It is
not likely that exactly the same trials will befall you, as
have been experienced by your brethren now at the islands.
It is not probable, that violent men will be instigated to
murder you and pull down your dwellings. This sort of
experiment will hardly be tried again ; and if it should be,
you may put your trust in God, and confidently expect to
be preserved as your brethren were. You are not to be
particularly anxious about external troubles, such as ship
wreck, sickness, or the opposition of wicked men, or such
as the privations of a missionary life, the dangers of an
untried climate, or the longing after friends and home.
By these you may indeed be tried ; but I would especially
guard you against spiritual foes from within and without.
Watch and pray against unbelief, coldness of heart, blind-
ness of mind, deadness of feeling. If all be safe and
sound within ; if you have no distrust of God's promises,
no misgivings about the worth of the cause in which you
are engaged, no disposition to keep back any part of the
pric6, you will be sustained under pain, and weakness,
privations and persecution. It is commonly the fact, that
men are tried in a manner w'lich they never anticipated.
Be prepared, therefore, for every thing, which your heav-
enly Father may see fit to bring upon you, without anx-
iously desiring to know what will be the form, and how
^reat the pressure of your trials.

The christian world has arrived at that stage in tbe
fwogress of things, when the attention of aU thinking m^

18 directed to the missionary enterprise. Multitudes, who
Were born in nations called christian, and who would not
dare to speak otherwise than respectfully of Christ and his
religion, are yet allowing themselves to exult in predicting
the entire overthrow of all missionary operations. They
say, that heathen nations must always rema-n in their
heathenism; and that ignorant and superstitious com-
munities must always remain ignorant and superstitious ;
and that vice must always have its votaries, and Teceive
its hecatombs of human victims. Faint-hearted and un-
decided friends of missions also are full of apprehension
on account of the number and magnitude of the obstacles
to be encountered, and the weakness and imperfection of
missionaries and other agents, and the vast expenses and
sacrifices, which are involved in the prosecution of the
work. You are not ignorant, that missionaries and the
directors of missions are imperfect, and, of themselves,
entirely incompetent to maintain a successful controversy
with the strongest passions, and most inveterate customs
of an ungodly world. Knowing these thingS;^ you will
perceive the necessity of <extrerne caution, in all your pro-
ceedings, lest any thing be said or done, ' hich would give
courage and joy to the enemies of missions, while it sent
fear and consternation into the hearts of the timid and ir-
resolute. Take care that nothing be said or done, of
which God will disapprove;— nothing, which might not
be repeated on the house-tops, without raising a blush on
your cheek, or causing the breast of your friends to heave
with a sigh. In any new movements, act with great deli-
beration; — look at every subject, in its various attitudes
and bearings ; be not carried away by theories; seek coun-
sel from the word of God ; and ask direction from above.
Especially be careful- not to do any thing, which will
weaken the hands of each other, or of your associates in
the work. Uphold and sustain each other with more than
, the compactness of the Macedonian phalanx. There is
no need of division or disunion, of self-preference or jeal-
ousy. If absolute and perfect uninimity, on all great sub-
jecUf wett impossible, the inspired missionary to the gen-

tiles, would not have so many times exhorted the great
body of disciples to be of the same mind and the same
judgment.

You may be thrown into the company of opposers,
where even silence would be construed into a censure erf
your brethren ; and where by a single sentence, or a sin-
gle smile even, you might do more to injure the cause you
love than you would be able to repair by weeks of ardu-
ous labor. 4 .

It is not necessary to tell you, at this late hour, that
piety is indispensable to the happy* prosecution of your
work. Without it, you can neither hope to benefit your
fellow sinners, nor be approved by God. But let me say,
that eminent piety, a deep and alUpervading sense oj
religion, evident progress in the divine life, are to be
sought, not for your own sake merely, but as the means of
saving sinners. Where a man, of whom it could only be
•said that he was charitably deemed to be pious, would be
the means of saving one soul, another, who sustained the
character of eminent, thorough, all-pervading piety, would
probably be the means of saving ten ; and, in the same
proportion, would be the general results of their different
labors. Such is the fixed plan of the divine government,
that you carry with you, as a part of yourselves, the im-
mortal destinies of some of your fellow men. You cannot
avoid shedding around you a salutary or a noxious influence ;
and this influence will be salutary or noxious, in proportion
to the possession or the deficiency of piety. It is not
enough that you save your own souls, (I use language
authorised by an apostle,) — it is not enough that you save
your own souls — you must aim at saving the souls of them
that hear you, of them that see you, of all, to whom you can
extend a beneficent hand. And is it not manifest, that in
proportion to the holiness of your desires, the fervor of your
prayers, the strength of your benevolence, will be the pu-
rity of your example, the constancy of your efforts, and
the vigor of the general agency you will exert ? The man,
who fives and acts wholly for Christ, must see a blessed
result of his activity. If he lives many years^ he must ase

many such results.* And why, my dear friends, should
you not take a high aim, in regard to moral excellence, and
a spiritual disposition? In this great warfare, in which
you are enlisted, why should you not be valiant for the
truth, and be numbered among the most faithful in "the
consecrated host of God's elect ?"

You are to remember, in this conixexion, that though
piety is indispensable, the missionary cause requires some-
thing more than mere religious feeling. There is work
enoftgh for the intellect. The whole process of evangel-
izing the world calls for the exercise of the soundest judg-
ment, the maturest reflection — the most accurate observ-
ation. The great princjples of missionary labor, are in-
deed, sufficiently clear in the New Testament; but the
modes of their application must be various, in some pro-
portion to the various circumstances, in which the differ-
ent parts of the heathen world are found. Apply your
minds, therefore, with all their vigor to discovering the best
methods of gett'-ng access to unenlightend men — of gain-
ing their confidence — of controlling their tempers — of
forming and quickening their consciences — of reaching
their hearts — of causing them to feel their responsibility
as moral beings. Consider the best modes of introducing
education among them — and of forming them into a
reading, thinking, cultivated state of society, with all it»
schools and seminaries — its arts and institutions. A»
you advance, you will find a boundless field open before
you, with ample scope for the highest talents devoted to
the noblest purposes.

That you may be able to accomplish the greatest possi-
ble amount of good, it is obvious that the strictest econo*
my of time should be p actised. Should you be so happy
as to stand in the streets of the New Jerusalem, with re-
deemed pagans to whom you have made known the mes-
sage of, salvation for the first time, how greatly will your
happiness be increased by the presence of each individual,
to whom God had enabled you to sustain this relation.
Then Will you be able to appreciate the privilege of aid-
hg in tj>e work of redemption. Then will you rejoice

in looking back upon any extraordinary efforts, by which
you may have muhiplied the number of those, to whom
you have proved a benefactor — a spiritual adviser, con-
soler, and friend. Then will the true value of time ap-
pear — that precious season of residence on earlh, when
the everlasting states of men are to be fixed — and
when a voluntary agency may be exerted by a humble in-
dividual to accomplish a greater good than to secure the
temporal prosperity of all the states and empires in the
world.

A similar regard should be had to economy, in the use
of all the property placed at your disposal. To send forth
missions to the remotest parts of the globe, and sustain
them there, must unavoidably require considerable pecuni-
ary resources. In the application and management of
these resources the utmost care and fidelity should be ap-
parent ; not because money is too precious to be expended
in this service, for no other service is so worthy of it ; not
because the salvation of a single soul is too small a com-
pensation for the costliest expenditures, for our Saviour
has settled that question once for all, and his decision is
sustained by reasoning which combines the certainty of
mathematical and moral demonstration : but you should
feel constrained to use the wisest, the best, the strictest
economy, from the simple consideration, that the pecunia-
ry means at the disposal of missionary societies are entire-
ly inadequate to answer pressing c^ls upon them. Of
course, the application of such an economy, as will enable
a mission to augment its efficiency, is like the adding of so
much new power to the moral machinery now in opera-
tion. On this subject, utHUy, an enlarged regard to per-
manent utility, should be the criterion of true economy ;
and custom, fashion, and habits of personal gratification,
should be allowed but little influence in the matter. You '
should consult your health, and seek the most advantagous <
preparation for future labor ; and, in your general plans of
economy, should look with a comprehensive view upon the
wants of the world, and upon things as they will exist a
thousand years after ypu are dead ; and should eaacti^soi.

that course by your example, which will approve itself to
the conscience after the most thorough examination.

The Committee feel, with an increasing weight of obli-
gation, the necessity of economy, in every department un-
der their direct supervision ; and they urge it, without dis-
crimination, upon all who are in any sense under their di-
rection. But never has the duty of economy appeared
more important, than since the late unexampled display of
liberality, in the city of New- York, at the meeting of the
Board. When men come forward t6 offer their thousands,
then is eminently the time for the best application of eve-
ry dollar ; for, beside other reasons, it is manifest that this
confidence cannot be retained, unless by a course of the
strictest integrity, and by undeviating conscientiousness in
the use of every advantage thus offered. The money con-
tributed in large sums, or small sums, is, with little excep-
tion, the fruit of hard labor, or of industry, diligence, and
skill in business, or of deliberate and systematic retrench-
ment for this very purpose. It is consecrated to God,
with the most benevolent design, and for the most noble
object. It surely can not be necessary to add, that pro-
perty thus devoted is neither to be wasted, nor misappli-
ed ; and that attention to this subject rises to the dignity
of a high religious duty.

Though the circumstances of this occasion do not per-
mit us to go much into detail, yet there is one topic more,
which we are unwilling to omit. I refer to the Christian
Sabbath, and the manner in which you are to regard it.
If there is any one thing evident to the considerate and pious
man, it is that the sabbath is an institution of God --~and
that it is one of the most affecting memorials of his kind-
ness to an alienated world — a manifestation of his in-
comparable wisdom, in adapting means for the establidi-
ment of a moral government. Whenever the light of the
sabbath dawns upon you, let your hearts be filled with gra-
titude for this inestimable blessing. Remember tbat,
Mrithout the observance of the sabbath, religion can never
exert a commanding influence in a combnunity ; and that,
wherever the sabbath has been generally n^lected, or per-

verted into a day of amusement, religion has sunk into a
mere form, and piety has been extinguished.

Consider yourselves the founders of a new society, and
think how much must depend upon your beginning aright,
in this respect. Let it always be seen, that the sabbath,
from beginning to end, is a different day from the other
days of the week. As the individual, whose mind is ha-
bitually filled with grateful and adoring thoughts of God,
who is constantly desiring the favors of God, and is cher-^
ishing a lively sense of the presence of God ; — as such an
individual is called a man of God : so let the sabbath,
always devoted to the worship of God, to obtainirg an
acquaintance with his character, his will, his government,
and to the restoration of his revolted creatures to his favor
— let this sacred season present itself to the minds of all
who observe your conduct as the day of God — a day
supremely blessed in its influences, — the appointed time
for the hcdiest aspirations to ascend to heaven, and for
the choicest spiritual consolations to be shed abroad in the
hearts of men.

Be not moved by the opinion of worldly men, or of
luke-warm professors of Christianity, on this subject.
But look at the nature of the case. See what man has to
accomplish for himself and others, in this short life. Call
to mind the example of Baxter and Brainard, Watts and
EdWards, and all who were Uke them. Do these things,
and you will be at no loss, in regard to the universal and
perpetual obligation of the sabbath.

Finally, dear brethren, you may enter upon this service,
without any misgivings as to the worth of the cause, or its
rightful claims upon the best affections of your hearts, and
the most strenuous labors of your hands. You go forth,
in obedience to the command of Christ. On this founda-
tion you may safely build. You go forth with the most
affectionate wishes, prayers, and sympathies of the Com-
mittee, by whom you have been appointed. We cherish
towards you a pleasing confidence, of which these pubfic
services are a sufficient testimony* The moral influence
of this christian country is with you. All who love

our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, so far as they are cor-
rectly informed respecting your design and object, will
wish you God speed. Prayers are ascending for you this
evening in all the towns and districts, where you have re-
sided ; and they will continue to ascend, especially on the
monthly concert, frorii thousands of assemblies, in wliich
a hvely interest will be felt for you, throughout every pe-
riod of your future history.

You go under the authority of those precious words,
Lo, I am with you always even unto tlie end of the
world: — a charter which you will not misunderstand, and
which will never be revoked. Under the mighty shade
of this protection, you may always feel safe and happy ,^
humbly expecting the presence of Him, who is exalted to
be King in Zion, and who will acknowledge every sacrifice
made from reverence to his authority, and love to the
souls for whom he died.

Signed in behalf of the Prudential Committee,

JEREMIAH EVARTS, Cor. Sec.

Boston, Nov. 2, 1827.

See Appendix C.

ivsTauoTioirs

From the Prudential Committee of the American Board of
Commissioners for Foreign Missions, to the Rev. Messrs.
D WIGHT Baldwin, Reukeh Tinker, and Sheldon Dib-
ble, and Mr. Andrew Johnstone.

Mt dear brethren and friends,

You now present yourselves, in the presence of God
and this assembly, to receive the parting counsels and di-
rections of the Committee, by whose appointment, and
under whose care, you are going forth to the heathen.

It is no new or sudden impulse that now operates upon
your minds. Some of you have long considered yourselves
as devoted to the service of Christ among distant nations;-
and all of you have directed your thought? to the subject, for
such a length of time, and with such seriousness and con-
stancy, as to divest it of those appearances, under which
it is first presented to the young and ardent. You regard
the missionary life as a sober reaUty. You enter upon it
as a series of voluntary labors and self-denials, which, a»
you have reason to expect, will have no termination while
you live, and from which, as you hope, you will be re-
ceived to the kingdom of your heavenly Father. You
go to the heithen with a deep and affecting sense of their
spiritual wants ; — with ai reverential regard for your Sav-
iour's authority ; — and with full confidence in his promise,
that he will be with his servants always, even to the end
of the world. You go as the messengers of the churches,
as living epistles from the discij les of Christ in our favor-
ed land, to the suffering and perishing of our race for
whom, as well as for ourselves, Christ died. You go od
the benevolent errand of proclaiming the message of sal-
vation — a message fraught with mercy in all its grada-
tions, from the commencement of a deliverance from sin
to the glorious consummation in life everlasting. Yqm. ^

> 62

to the poor, the degraded, the despised, the lost, the
friendless, the helpless, and, as the agents and almoners of
Him, who possesses all the treasures of wisdom and knowl-
edge, you offer them durable riches, the/most glorious ele-
vation of character, everlasting honor, with the friendship,
aid, and unchanging favor of God. You go to stand by
your brethren, who have been sometime in the field, to sue- y
cour them when ready •to faint, from having borne the
burden and heat of the day ; to unite with them joyfully
in gathering the first fruits of the early harvest; and to so-
lace their minds with the thought that, when their labors
shall have terminated, others will carry on the work, which
they have so auspiciously begun.

In this attitude you stand. By such hopes are your bo-
soms swelled, and by sjich prospects are you surrounded.
Verily, your steps take hold on eternity. You are dealing
with precious and immortal interests. Your conduct must
have an influence, for good or for evil, on many of your
fellow-men. You cannot think it amiss, therefore, and
this assembly will not think it amiss, that you should be
publicly and solemnly addressed on this occasion. \

Besi(}e the general importance of the objects to which
you are devoted, there is another consideration, which
makes it proper that the Committee should address you
publicly. I refer to the public relation, which subsists be-
tween missionaries Jind those to whom the friends of mis-
sions have intrusted the responsible service of sending
forth, superintending, and directing evangelical laborers.
However inadequately we may discharge the duties assign-
ed us, it is proper that these duties should be publicly
recognized. How arduous the suitable supervision of mis-
sionary concerns is, the great body of Christians have little
apprehension. Even you will probably never know,
though after a few years you may have had such experi-
ence as will enable you to imagine, with what trembling
solicitude despatches from missionary stations are frequent-
ly opened; — how the heart sickens, and almost faints,
lest evil tidings should arrive, and lest, through the oppo-
sitioa of wicked men and the wiles of Satan, or the inju-

diclous management of the Committee, or the imperfec-
tion of missionaries, or the removal of valuable men by.
death, or some other adverse occurrence, the cause should
suffer, the designs of good men should be defeated, and
the heathen should not receive the benefit intended for
them. Very often, on the other hand, tears of joy and
gratitude start into the eye, as it runs over pages written
by the beloved missionary;— one who relates wonderful
things, which God has done and is doing by feeble instru-
mentality ; and describes the manner in which the designs
of the great adversary are thwarted, and the gospel is
promoted by attempts to obstruct its progress. Not to
dwell upon the cause incident to providing for numerous
families in remote parts of the world, and of meeting the
various changes and contingencies, which must be expect-
ed in this uncertain state, the deep interest which the
Committee feel in missionaries personally, is of itself at-
tended with much solicitude. In some points of view it
greatly exceeds the interest, which parents ordinarily feel
in their own offspring.

Be assured, my dear friends, that between the members
of this Committee and all faithful missionaries, there aris-
es a personal attachment, which grows stronger, as the
occasion for bringing it into exercise increase in number
and importance. This remark is made tlie rather, as you
have had fewer opportunities of personal acquaintance
with the Committee, than have happened in regard to in-
dividuals composing any previous reinforcement to the
Sandwich Islands. In the language of the apostle, it is in
our hearts to live and die with you ; that is, so long as
life remcdns, we wish to co-operate with you constantly,
heartily, and most affectionately, for the promulgation of
the Gospel.

After these preliminary observations, the Committee
proceed^ to give you some direct instructions. You will
always bear in mind, however, that the New Testament is
the great store-bouse, whence you are to draw directions
of ^vine authority, for your daily use.

Within a few days you wiU embark, with \hft\«caM8SB«i^.

of Providence, on board the ship New England, of this
port, destined for the Sandwich Islands. If you arrive
safely, you will enter, with all practicable speed, upon the
great work to which you have consecrated your lives. In
doing so, and while prosecuting your labors, you will be
guided by the following instructions, unless you find them,
as we trust you will not, at variance with the Holy Scriptures.

1 You will constanly bear in mind, that you are en-
gaged in a great and elevated calling. This consideration,
if properly cherished, and viewed in . a true light, will not
encourage spiritual pride, nor fill you with a vain confi-
dence. On the contrary, it will make you humble. Nothing
can more deeply affect us with a sense of our unworthiness,
than a just appreciation of the exalted services, which Grod
has seen fit to assign us. Nothing can more efleclually
banish solf-complacency, and exclude boasting; for there
must always be a mortifying sense of deficiency, when we
compare what we have done with what we ought to have
done, and with what we should have done, if our hearts
were perfect before God.

Let it be often in your thoughts, then, that you are em-
ployed in a great work ; — that you sustain an office which,
if well susta'ned, is the most exalted office held among
men — an office which angels would doubtless prefer to
all others, if they were permitted to exert an open and
visible agency for the benefit of our race. AH faithful
ambassadors of Christ, wherever they discharge their liigh
functions, even in the most retired and tranquil parish of
a christian country, hold a station which, for its inherent
dignity, greatly transcends the office of a legislator, a states-
man, or a ruler of any grade. And among the abassadors
of Christ, the missionary clearly holds the most distin-
guished rank. If reference be had to the difficulties which
he has to encounter, or the variety of cares which often
press upon him, or the unhappy consequences which may
follow a single mistake, or the greatness and nobleness of
the objects which he has perpetually in view, — no other
employment can bear a comparison with his.

When the lassitude of a sultry climate opjjrfesses you,
Und tempts you to indolence, remember that you have no
time to be idle; for you are executing an agency, which
is of unspeakable importance, and admits of no delay.
When you are provoked by the ingratitude of those for
whom you labor, or the machinations of opposers, or the
treachery of false friends (if you should be called to these^
trials,) remember that you have no time to be peevish or
angry ; for you are discharging duties which have respect
to eternity. When you are tempted to be vain, or self-
complacent, on account of any remarkable success, with
which your labors may have been crowned, or any pecu-
liai^ approbation, which you may have received from your
fellow-laborers, or the christian public, — remember, that
these things considered in themselves, are too small to oc^
cupy your thoughts, or to hinder you in your work. Aim
rather at that fidelity in executing your commission, which
shall be followed by the commendation of your Lord.
This seeking the favor of God will neVer interrupt your
labors, nor impair your energy, nor distract your thoughts,
nor be in any measure incompatible with the highest esti-
mate of your calling.

2 Permit us to urge upon you here the consideration^
that your calling requires great diligence. This is partly
implied in what has been already said ; but it deserves a
more particular exhibition. Very seldom is any thing
valuable acquired among men without diligence. The
wise man sai^, long ago, the diligent hand maketh rich ;
and the farmer, the artisan, the mariner, the merchant,
have found, in every age, that diligence alone affords a
reasonable assurance of success. Much more strongly
does this appear in reference to moral things. Men dre
naturally in a wayward state ; and this trait of character
is very prominent in all heathen nations. It is hard to
correct them. It is hard to reform them. It is generally
hard to enlighten them ; — and it is harder still to make
them deeply sensible that they are sinners and need sal-
vation: AU these things have been done ; and^ with the

blessing of God, ivill be done again ; hut, in the doing of
them, great diligence is necessary. Divine truth must be
communicated in many ways, and en all occasions. Ad-
monition, exhortation, reproof, must be administered.
The law of kindness must be on the lips of the faithful
missionary, and the law of benevolence must perpetiwlly
warm his heart.

Besides, you will always have much to do to regulate
your private and persoiial afiairs in a strange land, and
among a strange people. The correspondence with your
patrons and friends at home, the duties of hospitality, the
preparations for public, preaching and teaching, the super-
intendence of schools, the translation and distribution <^
the scriptures, tracts, and school books, and other cares
incident to these, would occupy, if it were possible for
you to bear such labor, every hour of the day and the
night. Add to these things the vicissitudes of sickness
and pdin, of disappointment and bereavement, and it is
evident that your lives, if you would be faithful, must pre-
sent a series of incessant labors.

I know it has been said by the enemies of missions,
that young men and women go abroad on missionary ser-
vice for the sake of leading an easy life. The time of
this assembly will not be wasted, however, by a formal
refutation of this thoughtless objection.

You, my dear friends, who have consecrated yourselves
to this service, can doubtless testify, that you always re-
garded the life of the missionary, as a life of severe labor.
So your friends and relatives have regarded it. And the
individuals here assembled will testify, that your patrons
represent it in no other light. Nothing that is written
or said on the subject, either by missionaries, or the di-
rectors of missions, can authorize any other expectation.
Still it may not be useless to bring the matter distinctly
before you on this occasion. It is much easier to expect
to be laborious, and to resolve to be so, than to hold out
in a laborious public service for a long succession of years.
Most men are induced to labor only by the pressure of
ne/^snty, or the strong impulse of avarice, or ambition ;

and it is not every true christian, nor every missionary,
who has benevolence enough to carry him through a lite
of -unremitted exertions, made solely for the benefit of
others. The virtues of diligence and industry are to be
cultivated, therefore, and cherished, as christian graces.
They are not to be obtained without an effort. They
cannot be formed into a habit, except by great resolution
and perseverance ; and, unless formed into a habit, labor
will always be irksome.

One temptation to remit your diligence, will arise from
the changes of situation and circumstances, to which mis-
sionary undertakings are exposed. You may, in certain
circumstances, be apt to think, that some time hence, when
a particular advantage shall have been gained, or a particu- .
lar obstruction removed, you will begin to labor with great
vigor and zeaJ; but that now you can do little with a
prospect of success. The question should not be, how-
ever, what you may hope to do hereafter ; but what you
can do now. Let it- be a settled purpose, followed by a
corresponding prartice, that you will every day do some-
thing for the spifikial good of your fellow-men.; and that
this something shali^be the very best thing, which, in the
circumstances of the case, you can do ; and after pursuing
this practice for years, you will find that you have done
much for the cause of God. The very least that you can
have done will be, that you have left a standing and con-
sistent testimony to the power of your benevolence ; — to
the divine principles which led you forth to the heathen ; —
to your confidence in the efficacy of the gospel; — and to
your firm belief in the retributions of eternity. Such a
testimony, borne for a length of time, cannot be without
good effects. But the probability is very great, that you
will behold many direct proofs of your fidelity — and that
the angels of God will rejoice in heaven over many souls
brought to repentance through your spiritual diligence.

The most touching motives to such persevering activity
in the cause of God, are found throughout the New Tes-
tament ; but esipecially the examples of Paul and the other
apostles, end of Cluist himself> should he suflSftAftjal v^ V«sc-

ish all tendency to self-indulgence, and to stimulate &ke
most sluggish to unwearied exertions. And when to the
example of our blessed Saviour are added his descriptioii
of the fields white for the harvest, and his command to
work while the day lasts, for the night cometh in whuA
no. rrvan can toork, it should seem that no missionary will
think of excusing himself from a course, which was sanc-
tioned by such authority, and is commended by so many
powerful considerations.

Juet it not be supposed, that a life of labor is of necessi-
ty a life of pain, anxiety and sorrow. Far from it. Prob-
ably no mere man ever had more exalted enjoyments than
the apostle Paul ; and certainly no mere ma[n ever en-
countered more severe, constant and unwearied labors.
The great secret of making a laborious life pleasant, or
even tolerable, consists in making the particular acts of
labor, which are performed daily, a gratification. When
this is done, the great point is gained. Let it be urged
upon you, then, my dear friends, to make your calculet-
tions for obtaining the greatest part of your enjojrmetit, as
you agre passing through the world, from strenuous labor.
After taking suitable care of your iiealth, let labor be
sought as regularly as your daily food, till it becomes as
easy and natural to he engaged in some useful employ-
ment, as it is to breathe.

3 From the very commencement of your missionary /
life, cultivate a spirit of enterprise. Without such a spirit,
nothing great will be achieved in any human pursuit.
And this is an age of enterprise, to a remarkable and un-
precedented extent. In manufactures, in the mechanic
arts, in agriculture, in education, in the science of govern-
ment, men are awake and active ; their minds are all on
the alert ; their ingenuity is tasked ; and they are making
improvements with the greatest zeal. Shall not the same
enterprise be seen in moral and religious things ? Shall
not missionaries, especially, aim at making discoveries and
improvements in the noblest of all practical sciences, —
that of applying the means which God has provided^ for

the moral renovation of the world? There are many
problems yet to be solved, before it can be said, that the
best mode of administering, missionary concerns has been
discovered. What degree of expense shall be incurred,
in the support of missionary families, so as to secure the
greatest possible efficiency, with a given amount of money ;
how to dispose of the children of missionaries, in a man-
ner most grateful to their parents, and most creditable to
the cause ; in what proportion to spend money md time
upon the education of the heathen, as a distinct thing
from preaching the gospel ; how far the press should be
employed ; by what means the attention of the heathen
can be best gained at the beginning ; how their wayward
practices and habits can be best restrained and corrected ;
[low the intercourse between missionaries and the chris-
tian world can be conducted in the best manner, so as to
secure the highest responsibility, and the most entire con-
fidence ; and how the suitable proportion between minis-
ters of the gospel retained at home and missionaries sent.
3Lbroad, is to be fixed in practice, as well as in principle :
all these things present questions yet to be solved.

There is room for boundless enterprise, therefore, in
the great missionary field, which is the world ; and bles-
sed will be the name of that man, by whose perspicacious
diligence, new and eflfectual measures for bringing the
gospel to the minds and hearts of the heathen shall have
been discovered.

4 Let us urge upon you to seek for a temper and state
[)f feeling habitually raised j^bove the world. You re-
member the declaration of our Saviour, if any man tvill
save his ly^e he shall lose it -. and if any man will lose
his life, he shaU keep it unto life eternal. You are here
:aught ; that the best way to enjoy this Kfe, is to hold it
n entire subserviency to the life to come. Heaven should
je constantly in view. Your treasure should be there.
Yom great interests should always present themselves to
/on as lodged there. If you are able to do this, it is not
K>ssible timt jrou should be -unhappy. Bxil \h^^ ^^:^^ ^»sv.

•

not do, unless you hold daily Gommunion with your heav-
enly Father ; cultivate a most intimate regard to his^wiU;
see his hand in all the allotments of Providence ; fear his
displeasure more than every thing else ; and regard his
favor as a perfect guaranty of all that is truly desirable.
In order to gain so great a blessing, as to live habitually
above the world, you must be familiar with the revealed
will of God, make it the rule of duty, refer every thing to
it as a standard, and expect all its promises to be aa-
complished.

The advantages of such a course are incalculable. A
divine impulse will be made upon your character, which
all will see and acknowledge. Whatever you do will have
a heavenly aspect. The blessed similitude will be caught
by others ; and the inflence, which you will thus insensibly
acquire, will be imparted to many, and will operate on
earth, long after you are removed to heaven.

With such an all-pervading principle in operation, you
will have no inclination to differ with each other about
small things : — to be anxious,^ in regard to your personal
accommodations; — or to be solicitous, as to the estima-
tion in which you may be held by your fellow-men. The
great inquiry in your hearts and in your mouthis will be,
how shall we do the greatest possible good to perishing
sinners ; and thus have the most abundant treasure laid
up for us in heaven ?

These are topics, my dear friends, on which it seemed
important to express the views of the Committee* You
cannot fully comply with the advice now given, unless
you lead eminently religious lives ; — unless you cultivate
pious sentiments and pious habits, and spend your days
in the fear of God. It has often been supposed, that mis-
sionaries coidd not be otherwise than pious, exemplary and
holy ; that the very fact of their entering upon a mission-
ary life not only proved their present goodneds, but the
certainty of tlieir holding out to the end ; that they would
be in such circumstances, as that they could not help
making progress in the dmne life ; and that, of all men
Hviag, they would be the last who should need to make

efforts for the preservation of religion in their own hearty.
But these are mistaken notions, as we trust you are well
aware. Mismonaries, not less than other christians, ex-
perience a. warfare in their own hearts, as wiell as from
without. On some accounts, they peculiarly need extra-
ordinary efforts to preserve the life of piety in their own
souls; and it will never be safe for them to intermit their
watchfulness, or consider themselves exempt from spirit-
ual dangers.

5 There is one point of christian morals, to which I
would call your attention for a few moments, though it
may seem an insulated topic. I refer to the importance of
your being very exemplary in the observance of the Sabbath.
You believe that God set apart one day in seven from
common to sacred purposes ; and that all men, to whom
the revealed will of God is known, are solemnly bound to
observe this consecrated portion of time. Receiving the
institution as an ordinance of heaven, you can see by a
thousand facts and arguments, that it is reasonable, and
indicative of infinite wisdom. How can those, who deny
the divine authority of the Sabbath, ever expect that the
heathen nations will be converted to Christianity ? How
is it possible, that a careless multitude, supremely devoted
to the pleasures and cares of this life, grovelling in vice
and immersed in sin, should get time to hear the gospel,
unless you can tell them witii confidence that God 'com-
mands them to rest one day in seven from their ordinary
pursuits ? We may suppose, that a few scattered indi-
viduals may be converted without a knowledge of the Sab-
bath ; but how can the mass of any community attend
public worship together, unless there is a day set apart for
the purpose ? And how is it possible that a day can be
set apart for the purpose, if it do not rest upon the au-
thority of the jCreator and Redeemer of mankind ? Let it
be established in your minds, then, that the keeping of
the Sabbath is absolutely essential to the conversion of
the heathen nations ; for without it, they could never be
brought, as a general thing, to attend to the gos^L

After these considerations, relating to the whole course
of missionary duty, permit me to mention some things
more peculiarly interesting to you, in your present circum-
stances.

As you are traversing two oceans, you will have four or
five months, during which to be employed, as at all other
times, in your heavenly Father's business. Let your con-
duct on board the ship be such, as shall have a salutary
influence oh all who sail with you. Seek the permanent
and spiritual good of the seamen. Happy will it be, if
jrou can number among them some early fruits of your
missionary labors ; happier still, if all should be so deeply
impressed by your faithful endeavors for their good, as to
become friends of God and helpers of the missionary
work.

On yoiir arrival at the' islands, you will be called to co-
operate with missionary brethren, whom you never saw,
but whose characters are known to you by means of their
letters and journals. These brethren you will love and
honor; — some of them as pioneers of the mission, and
others as worthy co-operators with them. You will aim
to be of one mind, and of one judgment, on all important
subjects. Let your hearts be joined in affectionate sym-
pathy, and your hands in efficient labor. And, as you
V ar^ removed from the world, one after another, let your
dying prayer ascend for your associates of the mission,
and your dying smile be enlivened by the joyful expecta-
tion of meeting them, with, many souls saved by your and
their instrumentality, in regions of light.

Among your most important and affecting duties to the
natives will be the care of new converts ; — the protection
of these lambs of the flock. With minds not subjected to
discipline, and but little enlightened ; with hearts retain-
ing the same liabiHty to evil, as the hearts of new converts
in christian countries, but without the same knowledge
and strength to resist temptation ; exposed to the arts of
wicked men from Europe and America, and to many dan-
gers, which you can hardly anticipate, they vrill need your •
tender solicitude and sleepless vigilance. How many

motives press upon you to perform this part of your duty
faithfully! Upon the perfhanent character of converts
from heathenism the missionary cause much depends.
You will see the necessity, therefore, of being very thorough
in your examination of candidates for admission to the
church; of being very observant of their character and
conduct, for a considerable time ; and of imploring daily
those divine influences for them, by which alorte they can
be effectually preserved.

Another class of natives, who will receive special atten-
tion from you, as soon as you shall have learned their lan-
guage, will be composed of such as are anxiously seeking
the salvation of their souls. This class was numerous
last year, at the islands which you are about to visit; and
it may be hoped that the same pleasing state of things
will continue. In dealing with such inquirers, the utmost
'fidelity will be demanded, as well as patience, kindness,
affability, tenderness, and every quality suited to gain the
confidence of a rude people. It is easy for men to de-
ceive themselves, on the subject of personal religion.
They will be almost certain to do so, if their spiritual ad- *
visers are not aware of this tendency, and disposed to re-
sist it. Be on your guard, therefore, when you arfe at-
tending to the spiritual condition of individuals, lest you
be guided by your own kind wishes and good-natured •
hopes, rather than by the rules of scripture and the evi-
dence of a godly life.

There is another class of natives, who will share in
your evangelical efforts, and will perhaps demand the
greater part of them. We refer to those who remain in-
attentive to religion, either as careless heathens, or as con-
tented with making a mere external acknowledgement of
Christianity, while hving destitute of its power. There is
danger that, when the novelty of christian institutions
shall have died away, many of the people will fall back to
their former state. Against such a calamity you will da
all in your power to guard them.

Again, you will occasionally, perhaps frequently, be
visited by ship-masters and mariners, and other individuals.

^rom christian countries. Doubtless many, who sail from
this port, will sometimes touch at the islands. To all for-
eigners, you will show yourselves kind and friendly, de-
siring their temporal prosperity, and their spiritual good.
To those who, by acts of kindness and generosity, prove
themselves to be valuable friends of the mission, you will
of course make grateful and hearty acknowledgments, and
will consider them as honorable co-adjutors in your work.
How often does the apostle to the gentiles speak of those,
who had. in any way favored him in his journeyings, or his
labors, and how are their names transmitted to all poster-
ity in the undying records of the New Testament.

Aim, in all your intercourse with strangers, to disarm
prejudice, to conciliate esteem, and to approve yourselves
to their consciences as benefactors of the . heathen, and
friends of all men. If, after your best efforts for their
good, these should be unhappy men, who slander your
character, counteract your influence and teaching, and
strive to lead into irretrievable ruin the souls you are labor-
ing to save, you will pray for these opposers of the truth,
and entreat God to forgiye them ; for they know not what
they do. While you do not return railing for railing, you
will yet bear a testimony against all their abominations,
and never cease to exhibit to themselves and others the
enormity of their guilt. Woe to the man who shuts out
the light of life which is beginning to shine upon regions
of spiritual death. Woe to the man, who would dash
the cup of salvation from the hands of the poor perishing
sinner, jufet applying it to his eager lips.

The Committee have been speaking, dear brethren, of
the duties which will devolve upon you. Think not, for a
moment, that we would forget, or keep out of view, the
reciprocal duties, by which we are bound. But to speak
of these, falls appropriately within the scope of a public
service assigned to another. Bear in mind always, that
the Committee would cherish a most affectionate friend-
ship for you personally, though separated by mountains
and oceans ; and that they hope never to cease praying

that God would make you the instruments of his mercy
to thousands.

And now^ my dear friends, under what overwhelming
motives do you go forth to the heathen ! Your relatives
and personal friends, and the multitudes of your christian
acquaintance, look upon you with increased interest and
affection, and most ardently desire that you may be a credit
and a benefit to the great cause, in which you are engaged.
The contributors for the support of missions confide in
you, that you will prove faithful agents and representa-
tives of the church of Christ. Crowds of inquiring souls
are waiting for the proclamation of mercy, which you car-
ry. The Son of God directs you to deliver his message
to the gentiles, and to turn them from darkness to light.
The gates of heaven are open to receive redeemed men,
who shall be brought to the knowledge of the truth by your
cheerful and voluntary agency. And if you shall be so
happy, as to stand before the judge at the great, and final
day, and to say, " Here are we. Lord, and here are these
inhabitants of the islands, whom thou hast given us," you
will then know, to your inexpressible joy, what it is to
prove yourselves benefactors of men, in the great matter
of their salvation.

Signed in behalf of the Prudential Committee of the
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions,

JEREMIAH EVARTS, Cor. Secretary.
New Bedford, Dec. 22, 1830.

See Appendix D.

IiarSTRITOTIONS

From the Prudential Committee of the American Board of
Commissioners for Foreign Missions, to the Rev. Messrs.
John S. Emerson, David Belden Lyman, Efhraim
Spaulding, William Patterson Alexander, Richard
Armstrong, Cochran Forbes, Harvey R. Hitgjhcocic,
Lorenzo Lyons, — Messrs. Alonzo Chapin, and Ed-
mund H. Rogers.

Dear Brethren,

The time has arrived for us, in behalf of the Prudential
Committee, to give you the customary Instructions.

On the morrow, should circumstances permit, you will
embark in the ship Averick, captain Swain, bound to the
Sandwich Islands. The usual provision has been made
for your comfort, but you must be aware that numerous
inconveniences are inseparable from so long a voyage.
These you will make the occasion of increasing your pa-
tience and self-possession, and of preparing you for others
of a more trying nature, to which you will be subjected in
the prosecution of your missionary labors. " Above all
things, have fervent charity among yourselves." You
have come together from different parts of our extended
country, and from different colleges and seminaries, and,
in the great majority of instances, have had no personal
acquaintance until within a few days past ; but you all
belong to the same church, of which Christ is the head ;
you belong to the same missionary band, and are in pur-
suit of the same object. You have the same views of the
condition of the heathen, and of the grand remedial sys-
tem provided in the gospel ; and you drink daily from the
same fountain of salvation. " See," then, " that ye love
one another with a pure heart fervently." Your charity
towards each other snonld be nothing less than that high
and commanding principle, so forcibly \lbi&tx^\»(i vdl \k^

•

life and epistles of the first missionary to the heathen ;—
which "suffereth long, and is kind;" which "envietb
not, vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave
itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily pro-
voked ;" which " thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity,
but in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things,
endureth all things, and never faileth." To 'the captain)
and otl\er officers of the ship, your character and profes-
sion ensure the most respectful attention. The Pruden-
tial Committee believe, that during the last twenty years,
in which the Board has been sending missionaries to for-
eign lands, such an attention, on the part of the missiona-
ries, has never failed, in a single instance, of being scru-
pulously rendered. And it is certainly due. Upon the
commander, especially, devolve responsibilities the most
weighty, requiring that his authority should be implicitlj
regarded by all on board. At the same time, the CGm-
mittee are confident, that no reasonable pains will be
spared by captam Swain and his officers, to render your
situation as comfortable, as the nature of the voyage wiB
permit.

On your arrival at the islands, the brethren who have
preceded you in the mission, or a part of them, will be
convened, and your particular locations will be determined,
after mutual consultation. Every community must have
rules for the government of its members. The residence
and occupations of the missionaries' at the Sandwich Is-
lands are determined by a majority of votes, in stated or
special meetings of the mission ; subject, however, to the
revision of the Prudential Committee. No better method
Is known for ascertaining " the mind of the Spirit.'' You
will take a part in the transactions of that meeting, and
should indulge in no predilections, no anxieties befcNre-
hand, but should endeavor to feel, as you may be sure
your brethren there will feel, the strongest desire that
each of you may occupy precisely that sphere in which
you may accomplish most for the glory of God, and the
good of men.
You go, dear brethren, " to ^e^ate the way of the

Lord" in the islands of the Pacific — to perform that pre-
liminary work, without which the blessings of salvation
will not be conferred upon the inhabitants. This is your
glorious object — to be the heralds and pioneers of the
King of Zion. And this is your motive^ in iaddition to
the express command of heaven — the certainty, that the
inhabitants of the Pacific will not rise to holiness and
happiness without the religion of Christ. Where is the
people, now ignorant of the gospel of Jesus, that is holy
and happy ? Ye merchants, whose ships visit every port,
and ye sea-faring men, who have witnessed the manners
of a hundred tribes and nations, say — where is there a
holy and happy people, that is ignorant of the gospel?
The merchant, the sailor, the traveller, the missionary, all
have failed to discover such a people. The illusive ap*
pearances of a first visit have, sometimes, indeed, imposed
upon the credulous, and we have seen accounts of com-
munities, on some of the coral isles of the ocean, that
were said to exist in patriarchal simplicity . and peace.
But a nearet view has discovered that despotism was there,
and war, and treachery, and impurity, and all the evils
and miseries of unbridled and barbarian vice.

And what can reform and elevate those communities,
except the gospel ? We may ask this respected audience,
whether a single island in the vast deep has been made
holy and happy by the mere influence of commerce ? The
object of commerce is traffic and gain. It does not even
profess to be disin terested in its pursuits, nor to have leis-
ure for plans o? benevnfence in foreign lands. And though
it has increased the number of esculent fruits in some of
the islands, and has often cheered the mis^onary in his
voluntary banishment, and enabled him to extend his in-
fluence through many a group, and, as an auxiliary to the
gospel, is destined to be an important means of difiusing
light and blessedness* throughout the islands and shores
of the Pacific ; yet, where is the spot, in that ocean, in
which die effect of commerce has been to difluse purity,
peace and joy ?

Nearly half a ceatury has elapsed, duce Cook uaxi^te^.

1 s

die archipelagoes of the Pacific, and ever since comnierce
has been busy in those seas. But where are the smiling
towns, with well built houses, and the various handicraft?,
costumes, and manners of civilized life, risen into being
through the influence of commerce? There are none;
and there are no facts to countenance the idea, that any-
thing, except the gospel, will civilize those barbarous
tribes.

But the gospel wiB civilize them. The gospel reaches
the cause of their degradation. Vice is at war- with the
very instincts of man. It is at war with his natural affec-
tions. The apostle characterizes the heathen as " without
natural affection." (jHeathenism is antisocial, cruel, de-
moralizing and debasing^ The gospel restores the natursJ
affections. It restores ^the social principles. It make^
husbands love their wives, and parents love their children,
and children love and reverence their parents. It puts an
end to infanticide, and the murder of aged and infirm pa-
rents. It introduces purity and order into the family,
and thus lays a foundation for purity and order in the
community at large. It wakes up intellect,- and enter-
prise, and a host of generous and noble feelings. It brings
the holy and almighty God in among his creatures, and
opens upon them the vast realities of the spiritual world;
and, drawing a broad and luminous distinction between
virtue and vice, points to the ceaseless blessedness of
heaven as the reward of virtue, and the interminable mis-
eries of hell as the punishment of vice. When you have
brought such an influence as this to bear upon the savage,
he becomes conscious of his intellectual and moral nature.
His understanding and his heart are disenthralled. Hi»
manners are softened. He wishes to learn. He acquires
a taste for the arts and customs of civilized life. He be-
comes comparatively industrious, and builds him a house,
which he furnishes, as far as he is able, with artictes of
convenience and comfort. A neat village arises around
the house, which has been reared for the. public worship
of God. Schools are multiplied, and the power of the
press is felt, and the power of the preacbed gospel. The

Spirit of the Lord is poured out ; a church is gathered ;
the ordinances of the gospel are introduced ; and the Sab-
bath is observed. All classes feel the influence ; and the
government becomes more and more a government of
laws, and more and more regardful of the rights and opin-
ions of the people. Thus, through jthe powerful agency
of the gospel, society rises to that state of order, intelli-
gence and comfort, to which we give the name of civili-
zation.

Such an influence as has been described, you go, dear
brethren, to exert upon the inhabitants of the Sandwich
and Washington Islands; and may you Uve to exert it
long, and to see glorious fruits resulting from it.

When you have entered the field of your missionary ex-
ertions, your duties will be various, having respect to your-
selves, to the islanders, to the Prudential Committee, and
to* the churches of your native land.

I. In respect to yodAselves.

Cultivate personal pi^ty. The life of a missionary
among the heathen has been supposed to be favorable to
the growth of piety, and in some respects it is ; but in
others it is the reverse. Your helps to piety will be few
in number, and the temptations to remissness in duty,
many. Cultivate your christian graces, therefore, with
double assiduity. Acquire extraordinary habits of devo-
tion. Spend more than the usual time in daily prayer.
Live nearer to God, than you have reason to believe is
common with the ministry at home. Walk with God,
and abide under the shadow of his wings, and make him
your portion and exceeding great reward. Moderate at-
tainments in piety will not ensure happiness to the foreign
missionary. He must be strong in the faith, that he
may look beyond the present life with a lively hope, or he
will, of all pious men, be the most miserable.

Cultivate your minds. You take with you the Bible,
that original fountain of religious knowledge. You take
also helps for studying the Bible ; and you have select and
well chosen libraries, embracing wc^ks in most of the

I-

great departments of useful science. If other helps of
thiB kind are really important to your usefulness, they will
be furnished. With such advantages for mental cultiva-
tion, we charge you to avoid intellectual impoverishment.
Cherish systematic habits of study, as a duty you owe to
Christ your Lord. It is said of SwartzJ that during his
protracted mission, he never preached to the natives of
India, without previous study of the subject on which he
was to discourse. Let your studies, however, all bear di-
rectly on the grand object of your mission. Determine to
know nothing but what can be made to exalt and glorify
Jesus Christ in Polynesia and the adjacent continents. In
respect to every such object, keep your mind actively em-
ployed, and be continually making progress in useful
knowledge.

CuUwctte habits of activity. Your usefulness will be
proportioned to your activity. " He which soweth spar-
ingly, shall reap also sparingly ; and he which soweth boun-
tifully, shall reap also bountifully."

II. IN BESPECT TO THE ISLANDERS.

Feel for thern. Realize their pitiable condition, so that
your feelings of commiseration shall be Iroused to sleepless
energy.

P^o^yfof them. In every prayer remember them, and
often with strong crying and tears. Observe days of
prayer and fasting on their account, in which from morn-
ing till night you shall commend them to the loving kind-
ness and tender mercy of your covenant God.

Instruct them. Exemplify in your Hves the nature of
the moral law, and of the principles of the gospel. Be
yourselves, in all holy conversation and godliness, what
you desire the islanders to become. The life is a book,
which you cannot withhold from the natives, and which
the most untutored will read and understand. Your ex-
ample being holy, your precepts vn!l have tenfold weight ;
and the minds of the people of the Sandwich Islands you
will find wonderfully open to instruction. Teach them
^^when thoa sittest in thine house, and when thou walkeBt

* 1^ -

by th^ way, and when thou lies! down, and when thou
risest up." Teach them in familiar conversation, in cale^
chetical instruction, in public plreaching, and through the
medium of schools, and of the press. Teach them to read
and write and think. Teach them arithmetic, and expand
their minds by a knowledge of geography, and of the out-
lines of astronomy and history. But first of all, and above
all, teach them ^' the principles of the doctrine of Christ,"
and as fast as possible, make them famiUar with the whole
volume of inspiration. You will find the New Testament,
and parts of the Old, translated into the native tongue^ and
arrangements made for rendering the whole Bible into the
Hawaiian language. Those of you, therefore, who re-
main at the Sandwich Islands, will not need to be trans-
lators of God's word ; but you will have great occasion to
aid in its distribution, and to expound its meaning to the
people. And it will be your duty to prepare other books
for the press, as soon as you are able.

III. In respect to the prudential cobcmittee.

Confide in the Committee. Who are in circum-
stances, which would make them more earnestly desire
your usefulness and happiness? Whatever measures they
may adopt, whatever errors commit, you may be sure their
intentions are kind, and that, if in an error, they will
gladly be enlightened.

Be frank in your communications. Such is the rule
the Committee will follow in their communications with
you. Suggestions, advice, and whatever else they think
important, they will communicate without reserve; and
if at any time they see cause to admonish, they will mean
all they say, and no more. They desire and expect you
to b6 equally fr$mk. Let there be no reserve between us.
Whatever you wish the Comriiittee to know, conununi-
cate ; and should you ever feel yourselves aggrieved, be
sure the Committee will be ready to bestow upon the case
a prompt and fraternal attention.

Be fuU and accurate in your HatemefUs of fads.
After the first occupation of a field, the Cooandttefc d^-

pend for information respecting it chiefly on their mis?
sionaries. You hence perceive, that an obligation rests
upon you, individuaUy and collectively, to keep them fully
and accurately informed.

IV. In respect to the churches of tour native

LAND.

Be faithful unto death. You are the messengers and
agents of the churches. They send you forth, and* they
support you. They design to furnish you, as far as possi-
ble, with the means of livelihood, so that you may give
yourselves wholly to the work of evangelizing the heathen.
They expect you so to do, and so you have solemnly en-
gaged to do. The obligations to circumspection and faith-
fulness unto the end, which rest upon you, are greater
than those which rest upon the pastors of churches at
home, by so much as your sphere of action is more con-
spicuous than theirs. Any great unfaithfulness in you
v.'ill be known through the churches, and who can esti-
mate the evils that will come ! The churches have a right
to deprecate such a calamity, and to require of you that it
shall not be brought upon them, and that you should even
suffer greatly in your own persons, rather than bring a
sickening, paraliziiig influence upon their benevolent en-
ergies. And oh ! brethren, what good may you eflfect at
home, by an elevated career of christian duty among the
heathen. Though your light shines from far, it will be
seen, and many " seeing ^our good works, will glorify
your Father who is in heaven." Few men are more use-
ful to the churches at home, than the diligent, faithful, de-.
voted, able missionary among the heathen.

But, in order that this may te true, you must labor for
the spiritual benefit of the churches. This you will do
chiefly by communicating, through the oflScial pubhcations
of the Board, the results of your observations and labors,
not in an exaggerated, or vain glorious manner, but with
an humble desire, "by manifestation of the truth," to
rouse the churches to greater zeal and enterprize in the
cause of missions.

Act upon enlarged tnews of the work on which you
are sent. The churches aim at nothing less, than to teach
every inhabitant of the Sandwich Islands to read God's
holy word, and to supply every family with an entire copy.
This is their aim and intentionl Through you and your
associates, and with the aid of the Spirit of holiness, they
will endeavor to effect the utter banishment of intemper-
ance, pollution, idleness, and crime from those islands,
and thoroughly incorporate • the principles of virtue into
the national character of the inhabitants. This high pur-
pose you will make your own, and carry it out into all
your plans and proceedings.

Should some of you be sent to the Washington Islands,
as is the expectation of the Committee, you will patiently
and earnestly strive, relying on divine grace, to effect the
same glorious changes among their now benighted and
savage tribes.

And these two clusters of islands you will regard as
centres of a great system of christian missions, to be here-
after prosecuted by the American churches, with the di-
vine permission, for diffusing the blessings of the gospel
over all the islands and shores of the Pacific.

" Finally, brethren, fare\velL Be perfect ; be of gpod
comfort ; be of one mind ; live in peace ; and the God of
love and peace shall be with you."

By order of the Prudential Committee,

R. ANDERSON.
DAVID GREENE.

Missionary Rooms, Nov. 16, 1831.

See Appendix E^

IINTSTHUOTZOINrS

From the Prudential . Committee of the American Board of
Commissioners for Foreign Missions, to the Rev. Messrs.
Benjamin W. Parker, Lowell Smith, and Mr. Lemu-
el Fuller.

Dear Brethren,

The thought must encourage you, on the eve of your
departure, that the mission to the Sandwich Islands has
ever enjoyed, to human appearance, preeminently the iare
of divine Providence. Future events cannot, indeed, be
inferred with certainty from the past. A bright morning
may be followed by a day of clouds and a night of storms.
Enterprises, auspicious in their commencement, may be
disastrous in their issue. Yet some enterprises are so
marked from the beginning with evident interpositions of
Providence in their behalf, that nothing but absolute ruin
is sufficient to destroy our hopes concerning them. They
seem to be advanced alike by friends and foes. Occur-
rences are adverse only in appearance, and for the mo-
ment. Events which, at first, awaken the most serious
apprehension, soon call forth our loudest thanksgivings.
While such is the case, we are unable to despond. Hope
will live. If it finds no encouragement in the present, it
does in the past, and beheves that all things, however un-
favorable their aspect, will be overruled for good.

The mission, to which you are about to proceed as a
fifth reinforcement, has been, from the beginning and in a
remarkable degree, such an enterprise as the one just de-
scribed. Before receiving the customary instructions, of
the Prudential Committee, attend to a^few facts in illus-
tration of this remark.

When the first missionaries to the Sandwich Islands
left this country, in the autumn of 1819, they fully ex-
pected to find the old king Kainfe\i«rw5iW\>^^

With despotic "sway, and strenuously upholding idolatry.
They expected to see the temples standing, to witness the
baneful effects of idolatrous rites, to be shocked by day
with the sight of human sacrifices, and terrified by the
screams of the miserable victims at night. They expected
to encounter a long and dangerous, and lo some of them
perhaps fatal, opposition from the powerful priesthood of
paganism ; and to hear the yells of savage conflict often,
Defore the peaceful religion of Jesus should gain the as-
cendancy on the islands.

But, though no anticipations could have be^n more rea-
sonable, not one of them was realized. They arose from
the unanticipated and toonderful coincidence between
the time of their embarkation and that of the abolition
of idolatry by the king Liholiho. When our brethren
arrived, they heard with surprise that Kamehameha was
dead ; that his successor had renounced the national su-
perstition, iburnt the heiaus, destroyed the^ idols, abolished
the priesthood and the whole oppressive system of kapus,
put an end to human sacrifices, and suppressed a rebellion
which arose in consequence of these measures ; and that
peace once more prevailed, while the nation, without any
religion, waited as it were for the lavi^ of Jehovah. »

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

Next see in what manner Providence counteracted the
unfriendly influence of some of the foreigners residing
in the islands. It has been well ascertained, that there
wrere foreigners from the first, chiefly natives of Great
Britain, who endeavored to prejudice the native rulers
ajfainst the mission. They represented the missionaries
as deceivers, as pohtical emmissaries, concealing evil de-

signs under fair pretences. In particular it was alledged>

• first, That the English missionaries at the Society Islands,
in the South Pacific, had deprived the natives of their
lands, and reduced them to slavery ; and, secondly, That
the residence of American missionaries at the Sandwich
Islands was displeasing to the British monarch, of whom

• the king of the Sandwich Islands had imbided a sort of
dread. So much were the jealouses'of the more ignorant
and credulous among the chiefs at length awakened, that
our brethren knew not how to allay them, and began to
be apprehensive of the consequences.

In the very crisis of the evil, however, it was unexpect-
edly removed, in the manner to be described.

The Eni^lish government^ before hearing of Kameha-
meha's death, had directed the Governor of 'New South
Wales to build a schooner and send it to him as a present.
In the moiith of February, 1822, the vessel, having this
schooner in charge, put into one of the ports of the So-
ciety Islands for refreshment, where two English gentle-
men, the well known Tyerman and Bennet, deputed by
the Loiidon Missionary Society to visit their missions in
those seas, were at that time. As the captain expected
to touch at the Marquesas Islands on his return from the
Sandwich Isla ids, and consented to take missioiiaries to
that group, it was resolved to send two Tahitian chiefs by
way of the Smdwich Islands, and that the Rev. William
Ellis, an E:igLsh missionary well known in this^ country,
should for a season accompany them. Messrs. Tyerman
and Bentiet determined also to go with them. It so hap-
pened, therefore, in the providence of God, that this
\Wiole company of pious and respectable Englishmen and
Society Islanders was soon at the Sandwich Islands. Im-
niediatLly the king and his council invited the Tahitian
chiefs to an interview, and ascertained from them the true,
and excellent character of the influence exerted by the
English missionaries at the Society Islands. The English
gentlemen, also, assured the king of the favorable disposi-
tion of their own sovereign ; so that the impositions prac-
tised by the foreigners were now fully exposed* Th(i

confidence of the natives in our brethren was of course re-
stored and increased; and these effects were rendered
permanent by the settlement of Mr. Ellis and the Tahitian
chiefs at the Sandwich Islands.

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

A fourth instance is found in tJie rebellion on the island
of Kauai after the departure of Lifioliho. This rebellion
spread great alarm through the islands, and for a short
time seriously interrupted the mission. But in the end, it
was the means of giving a new and powerful impulse to
the prog ess of Christianity and civilization.

A id how obvious is it, that all the numberless yVitec re-
ports agiinst the mission, which have been circulated
both in this country and in England, though they have
been injurious to those who have circulated and to those
who have believed them, have, on the whole, been advan-
tageous both to the mission and to the general cause of
missions ; especially when viewed in connection with tlie
outrages upon the mission, of which wicked foreigners
have been repeatedly guilty. By all these means the mis-
sion at the islands has acquired a degree of publicity in
the world, which v/ould otherwise have been scarcely pos-
sible. Men of all ranks in America and England, and in
other countries have had their attention directed towards
it ; — some with prejudice and enmity, but many with can-
did inquiry into its merits and success. Able defences of

the mission have been published, which would not have
been published, or if published would have been read far
l^ss extensively, had there not been slanders and outrages
to call for them. Who can doubt but the good has far
exceeded the evil? Who can doubt that, if its enemies
have been made more inveterate against the mission, its
friends have been rendered more interested in its welfare ;
that it is known and esteemed by more persons, and has
the benefit of more frequent prayers and more abundant
patronage ?

In view of these providential interpositions, let your
confidence, dear brethren, be strong in God. In the
present condition of the people of the Sandwich Islands,
there is much to authorise the most cheering expectations :
but then there are some things, which will make it truly
wonderful if the heavens do not sometimes gather black-
ness, and settle even into deep and portentous gloom.
Should you ever witness such times, think of the past,
and yield not to despondency. Remember the tokens of
God's favor. The whole course of events hitherto indi-
cates that He is on the side of the mission. Such a con-
catenation of events as has been noticed, and as might
easily have been enlarged, cannot be accounted for on
the doctrines of chance. There is an overruling Provi-
dence ; and that Providence is engaged for the prosperity
of the mission. God^is evidently the builder of the spirit-
ual temple, which is going up for his praise, at the Sand-
wich Islands ; and the edifice which he has so gloriously
begun, we may expect him to finish. Should events here-
after occur which are seemingly adverse, you are not
hastily to regard them as being really so. In time past
they have in some instances been more eminently subser-
vient to the futherance of the mission, than any other
events whatever. Therefore do not fear. Though there
should be commotions at the islands, do not fear. Though
wicked men combine to ruin the mission, do not fear.
While you are united as a mission, and thorouo;hly de-
vote to God, you need not fear. The Lord will be witli
you ; the God of Jacob will be your refuge-

Having reminded you of these facts in the history cf
the mission, for your encouragement, the Committee pro-
ceed to give you some Instructions for your conduct as
missionaries. These, however, will be brief. The In-
structions given your predecessors in the mission, are ap-
plicable to you ; and to them you are referred for a more
ample discussion of several important topics.

Your mission, dear brethren, embraces a wide range of
objects. Depending on divine grace, it aims at nothing
less than making every Sandwich islander intelligent,
holy, and happy* Its appropriate work will not, therefore,
be fully accomplished, until every town and village in the
Sandwich Islands is blessed with a school house and
church, and these school houses are all well furnished with
competent native masters, and all these churches with well
instructed native preachers — until every inhabitant is
taught to read, and is furnished with a Bible in his native
tongue — until academies, with native preceptors, are es-
tablished on all the principal islands ; and the High Schod,
now existing on the island of Maui, has become a College,
with native professors — until printing presses are owned
and conductf^d by native publishers, and find employment
from native authors, and, so employed, pour forth their
treasures of theology, history, and every useful science^
for supplying the native demand for public and private li-
braries ; nor until Christianity is fully established as the
religion of the islands, and its benign influence has be-
come paramount in every rank and class and condition of
the people.

Then, raising our songs of grateful and triumphant
praise to the King of Zion, may we leave them to proceed
without our aid. Indeed, we may safely diminish the
numbers in our band of missionaries before we witness
such a consummation of our work. Whenever it shall
have advanced far towards completion, then will the patri-
archs of the mission, the men whose locks have whitened
in the service, and who are venerated as the spiritual fa-
thers of the nation, suffice for the purposes of superintend-
ence and counseh But what an amount of bbor must

first be performed by missionaries ! in the study, in con-
verse with individuals, in family visitations, in the school
room, in the seminary, in the pulpit, and at the pess!
In labors such as these, incessant, arduous, and often dis-
heartening, you engage to spend your lives ; nf)r will it be
strange if, in conjunction with a torrid zone, they should
shorten the periods of your earthly pilgrimage.

Far ditferent, however, are the circumstances under
which you proceed to the Sandwich Islands, from those
of the first mission. When, thirteen years ago, the ven-
erable Worcester delivered the Instructions of the Com-
mittee to that consecrated band, the deepest darkness of
barbarian pa^nisra jenveloped all the islands, and the im-
mediate prospects of the mission were hid in utter uncer-
tainty. How changed have been those islands, since that
time ; how changed the prospects of the mission ; how
different your anticipations ! Light from heaven has brok-
en in upoii the darkness, and the heiaus and idols, the
pagan priesthood and human victims, have all disappeared.
You will find the christian religion to be professedly the
religion of the nation — the principal rulers, with but a
single exception, members of the christ an church — spa-
cious houses for the public worship of God risen or rising
in th3 large towns — numerous and orde ly corigrtgations
assembled on the Sabbath day: — the sc: ptures a xiously
desired by the people, and received as the wo.d of God —
many hundreds abstaining wholly from the use of intoxi-
cating spirits — many thousands, both among the old and
the young, connected with the schools — ai d the ration
beginning to leel the renovating; influerxe of the^ g<"spel,
to escape from the thraldom of ignorance and vice, and to
move f )rvvard in the career of religious, intellectual, and
social improvement.

It is in this iati resting aspect of the islards that you
find thi^ r; asr n which has induci d the Committee to send
another re nforc^ment to the mission. When the harvest
waves over a 1 the field, then is the time to multiply the
reapers.

Your passage has been engaged in the ship Mentor,

9»

captain Rice, to sail from this port ^ tod every provision
has been made for your comfort on the voyage. Those
concerned in fitting the ship for sea, have taken a friendly
interest in your welfare ; and should the bond of christian
love be strong among yourselves, you need anticipate no
inconveniences on your way, save what are inseparable
from a long voyage on the ocean.

On your arrival at the islands, the first business will be
to assign you places of residence. Tins will be doi e by
the mission ; and this being done, the Committee recom-
mend that you apply yourselves assiduously to the study
of the native language. In order that you may the soon-
er acquire the language, and that you may win souls to
Christ, submit to the toil of a free personal intercourse
with the people. Let the same mind be in you that was
in Christ Jesus. Show the islanders by your conduct,
that you have come among them from an earnest desire
to be the means of savin.; their souls. So far as may be
practicable, be a pattern to them in all things. In build-
ing and furnishing your houses, in clothing your persons,
in your manners and conversation, set an exam: le of sim- .
plicity becoming the gospel. Keep your heaits. with all
diligence ; and in your secular intercourse with the na-
tives beware a(^ indulgiiig a worldly spirit, and of being
betrayed into ind scretions, which shall give occasion to
thc^m or to ui f ieitdly foreigners to speak evil of you. Af-
ter the laudable stand taken by our missionaries t^enc rally,
we need not say th it you will give no conntci.ance to the
use of ardent spir ts. Use not the poisoned cup your-
sel\ es, nor pn se'it t to the Ip of foreigner or native.

Mr Pa; k'T and Mr Smith, as ministers of Christ, as mis-
sior-arif s of the cr>ss, you will continually bear in mind
the spiritu il and high and holy nature of your calhng.
Yon :iro erib'ssadors of t'eJLord Jesus to the dwellers on
thf»^e is es. " Y'^>u <^'o us the airentsofno earthly govem-
immi, the propigat^rs of vo poHtical systems. I;ike the
nf)o ties, you w 11 incnlcite submission to all lawful au-
thor! tus, aT d will be carefrl yourselves to conduct towards
them with a'l proj>er dv ference. You are the Lord's free-

men ; but your freedom is, to preach the gospel without
fearing the face of man. Your commission is to preach
THE GOSPEL, and for nothing else can you plead, as mis-
sionaries, the paramount authority of the King of kings.

TIvB Committee are happy to beheve, that it is the in-
tention of our national Bible and Tract Societies to relieve
the Board from the expense of publishing the scriptures
and religious tracts in our several missionary fields among
the heathen. Heretofore important aid has been received
in seveml of the eastern missions, from the British and
Foreign Bible Society, and in some instances irom the
London Religious Tract Society, which has been grate-
fully acknowledged. But it is most suitable that they also
should be relieved from the necessity of supplying Ameri-
can missions with Bibles and tracts. This work devolves
properly on American societies, and on none more proper-
Iv, than the American Bible Society and the American
Tract Society ; and there is no doubt but those institu-
tions will be enabled by the churches to furnish the means
of supplying the whole nation of Sandwich islanders with
the scriptures and appropriate rehgioiis tracts, as fast as
the translations can be made, and the j^rinting executed.
An important duty, therefore, devolving on you and your
assoc ates, will be to furnish the translations, and the infor-
maton, from time to time, which shall be necessary to aid
the societies in procurijig the requisite means, and guide
them in their appropriations.

Be in liaste, brethren, to^have the gospel made known
to ev ry one of the islanders, and to bring the work to a
compl tion ; for almost the whde world still lieth in wick-
ed ess, and there is much land to be possessed.

Mr D ell, who is to be your fellow-passenger on the
voy ge, goes under the direction of a different society,
and to minister to a different class of men ; but as your
brother- in the gospel, a missionary of the cross of Christ
equal'y with yourselves, and in a most imoortaht sense a
co-worker witli you for the moral renovation of the islands.
As he will be governed by the same pr nciples and mo-
tives, sympathises with you entirely in res^ ect to the great

doctrines and duties of religion, and the grand objects and
plan^ of christian benevolence which signalize the present
day, the Committee rejoice in his appointment as a mis-
sionary to the seamen, resorting in such numbers to the
Sandwich Islands. You, also and your brethren will re-
joice in it, and will do all in your power to aid and en-
courage him in his arduous, but interesting task. It is
understood by the Committee, that wherever Mr Diell's
particular residence may be, his appropriate sphere of la-
bor embraces all the foreign seamen on all the islands.
He is to be their pastor and teacher ; and the direct ef-
forts of the missionaries of the Board in their behalf, will
be in accordance with principles and rules having his
cheerful assent.

You, Mr Fuller, go out to labor in another department,
but in the same ^eat work with your clerical brethren.
You will be coworkers with them in publishing the gospel.
The press is our substitute for the gift of tongues, and you
go to assist your brethren of the same profession already
there in providing the holy scriptures, and tracts and
other useful books for the thousands of natives who have
learned to read, or are now acquiring that important art
You go also to assist in teaching the art of printing to the
natives themselves, so that they may possess the means
of furnishing themselves with libraries of useful knowledge.

As you, and Mr Rogers of the last reinforceme: t, have
preferred, with the approbation of the Committee, to go
for a season upon a contract, rather than in the relation
of assistant missionaries, neither of you will have the right
of voting in the business nieetings of the mission, though
you will be entitled to the privilege of assisting in the de-
liberations of those meetings. The nature of your duties,
your opportunities for being useful, and your social and I
religious privileges, will be the same as if your Connection y,
with the mission were entire. You will also be governed
by the votes of the mission, as well as by the Instructions
of the Prtidential Committee, and, as a printer, will con-
form to the views and wishes of the missionary, or mis-

sionaries, who shall be entrusted with the particular su-
perintendance of the printing establishment.

Finally, dear brethren, the Committee would earnestly
inculcate the duty of attending most carefully to the spirit-
ual state of your own hearts. A missionary, of all other
good men, must be most miserable, whose affections are
allowed to wander in pursuit of the world. Live near to
God. Have fellowship with the Father and the Son,
tlirough the blessed spirit of grace and truth. Let the
love of Christ, and the worth of immortal souls for whom
he died, and regard for the glory and happiness of his
kingdom, constrain you, and those who are the partners
of your life, to devoted, ceaseless activity. Be faithful
unto death, and the Lord Jesus, the King of Zion, will
givte you an unfading crown of glory^ in his presence on
high.

By order of the Prudential Committee,

R. ANDERSON, ) ^ / •
DAVID GREENE, ] *^^^^^^^*^*-

Missionary Rooms, Nov. 6, 1832.

See Appendix F» '

XITSTAUOTIONS

From the Prudential Committee of the American Board of
Commissioners for i'oreign Missions, to the Rev. Titus .
CoAN, — Mr Henry Dimond, and Mr Edwin O. Hall,
' —Misses Lydia Brown, and Elizabeth M. Hitchcock.

Already has Mr Coan learned, in the wild regions of
Patagonia, what it is to dwell among untutored heathen.
Whatever was romantic in his conceptions of the mission-
ary life, must have been corrected by experience. And
yet he now goes, nothing discouraged, and the ardor of
his zeal nothing abated, to preach the gospel at the Sand-
wich Islands. . Another of you goes as a book-binder, and
another as a printer; to operate upon the native noind
through the medium of that wonder-working power, the
press. The married females of your company will be
more or less employed in teaching. And of the unmarried
females, one goes to instruct the native women in the
manufacture of cloths for domestic uses, and the other to
make her home with a brother, and devote her time to
teaching. Such, in general, are the dut es which call you
from your native land; and such the objects, which the
Committee have in view in sending a sixth reinforcement
to the mission at the Sandwich Islands. The nature of
your duties must be determined by the necessities of the
Island population. These necessities are in the process
of a rapid developement. We have now more insight into
the actual state of the native mind, and the actual progress
of the mission, than we had a few years since ; and we
know better to what species of efforts, we ought to direct
our special attention. We find the national mind more
deeply debased by sin, than we had supposed ; not more
averse to holiness ; but more disinclined to thought, more
paralized, more nearly " destroyed for lack of knowledge."
We have discovered that we accom\>V\s\v\^^^^^^'5^^^^«^^*

100

er when we teach him to read, and to commit the ibrmu-
laries of truth to memory, than we had imagined. So lost
is his immortal spirit to the power of reHection, that if
taught to read, he is almost sure to read without intelli-
gence. Strange as it may appear to you, books, perhaps
in the majority of instances, fail utterly to communicate
ideas, or awaken thought. This is even true of multi-
tudes of natives who have acted as school masters. And
it must be confessed, that much of the influence we have
brought to bear upon the native mind, has operated merely
on the surface, without penetrating to the vital springs of
action. There has indeed been a great and wonderful

, change in the nation ; a vast change in the state of the
national mind. There have been not a few conversions
unto God, some of which have been of the most signal
and unequivocal character. Still we are less advanced in
our work, than we have seemed to be. We have more to
do, more hard work, requiring patience, faith, and a mar-
tyr-like devotion. There are even external causes oper-
ating upon the nation of the Sandwich Islands, or threat-
ening to operate upon it, w hich may jeopardize our grand
object; that pf giving the nation, through the blessing of
God, an existence and standing in tlie world as a christian
people. So that our hope of ultimate success must rest
in God, whose servants we are ; and we have need to
cultivate more and more our faith in Him.

Yet is it ours, under the direction of the wisdom which
cometh from above, to adapt our means to circumstances,
and to the end we have in view. To the Committee it
would seem, that the mission ought to devote more time
and attention, than it has done, to perfecting its system
of education. This we believe is the conviction of all the
missionaries. The Committee are determined to render
every necessary assistance. In addition to the one thou-
sand dollars, which the mission is authorised to expend
annually upon the High School at Lahaina, twelve hun-
dred dollars may be employed, next year, if necessary, in
aiding and stimulating the natives to erect model schod

houses at the several stations. Schools taught in, these

101

houses will serve both for model schools, and schools to
educate teachers ; and the mission will of course procure
the most competent teachers for them in their power, and
may pay them wages, should that be deenned advisable.
Apparatus has been sent out for infant schools, and a
thorough trial should be made of such schools, since they
are thought to be eminently adapted to the condition of
children among a heathen people. Miss Hitchcock will
find employment in some one of the departments of school
instruction at the station occupied by her brother on the
island of Molokai.

For Miss Brown a department of labor has been pre-
scribed, such as never yet has been expressly provided for
by the Board ;7— a secular departnient, in appearance, but
still one intimately connected with the progress of the
mission in respect to its main design. " If a^iy nian vnll
not work," says the apostle to this gentiles, "neither shall
he eat." But the Sandwich islander knows how to do
but a very few things which belong to civilized life. He
scarcely knows how to work in our sense of the term.
GodUness is indeed "profitable unto all things," having
the "promise of the life that now is," as well as of "that
which is to come." But its influence is rather to predis-
pose the ignorant to receive instruction, than actually to
instruct them ; and it is indispensable that they be taught,
as well in respect to their life in this world, as in the world
whicli is to come. What the Sandwich islanders most
need to learn now, so far as their temporal wants are con-
cerned and bear on their moral improvement, is, how to
manufact re cloth for garments. The mass of the people
wear but httle clothing, and have but little to wear. Cot-
ton grows sponfei' dously upon the islands, and is of a good
texture, but the natives know not how to make it into
clotk; and the climate being warm, they feel no necessity
of bestowing thought upon the subject. Miss Brown,
having been long accustomed to that species of domestic
industry ii which the daughters of New England used to
be trained before the general application of water-power
to the spiadle a^d the loom, goes to the islands to instruct

102

the females there how to ply the wheel and the loom, and
so manufacture clothing for their families. The Commit'
tee are of opinion, that the simple domestic instrumeoti
are far better adapted to the state of society at the islandi;
than the more complicated, labor-saving machinery, whid
is moved by mechanical power, though such power migkt
there easily be appUed. The natives need to. have thei
labors increased, rather than diminished ; and in the prpf
ress of society from a state of barbarism, the spindle aD^
distatr, the hand-wheel, and hand loom, come in order
before those ingenious contrivances which almost super-
sede the labors of man.

A number of wheels and looms, with other necessai;
accompaniments, are already on board the vessel which
takes you to the islands. At the annual meeting of the
mission, which will be held soon after your arrival, it wil
be decided where the experiment shall be made ; and a
committee will doubtless be cq)pointed to advise as to the
manner and extent of the experiment. The mission wiD
employ such funds as shall be necessary to ensure its suc-
cess. The result will of course be communicated to the \
Prudential Committee.

From what has been said concerning the backwardness
of the native mind to receive ideas from books, the Com-
mittee might seem to depreciate the value of the press,
and of that object which leads two of your number to the"
islands. Far otherwise, however, is the design of the
Committee. Nothing deserving the name of education
for the great body of a people, can exist without the press
and printed books. Nor is it possible, humanly speaking,
without many more books than now exist in the language,
and in a brief space of time, to rouse the Sand,wich island-
ers, as a community, to intellectual action. The great
cause of embarrassment and discouragement in the High
School at Lahaina, is the want of elementary books. And
such books must be prepared, and printed, and strongly
bound, and dispersed among the schools, as fast as the
teachers are able to use them to advantage. The broad
fields of knowledge must also be laid open, as soon as

103

may be, to those few natives who are able and disposed to
traverse them ; and every possible inducement and facility
should be aiTorded for their intellectual and moral cultiva-
tion. Thus at length, with the aid of that Spirit without
whom we labor in vain, and spend our strength for nought,
the curiosity of the islander will be awakened, his intellect
H loused, his powers of perception and thought brought into
exercise, his moral nature experience a visitation of spirit-
ual life, and his soul be raised from the dust of the earth
to employments and joys becoming an immortal being.

Finally, dear brethren and sisters, the Committee would
exhort you all to be strong in the Lord. The service you
' are to perform among the heathen, is commanded by the
■ God of heaven, and is therefore a practicable service.
' Missions no where are impracticable. There is no great
^ Saharian desert which cannot be cultivated, in the mind
it of this world. Revolted as the human mind is from God,
kl and corrupted, and debased, it is, through God^s grace,
* recoverable. By the voice of the Son of God, as heard in
I the gospel, it can be and it will be renovated. That voice
i< you are to be on th^ Sandwich Islands. There you may
find multitudes of souls, for whom Christ died, who never
^ heard of his redeeming love. You carry to them tidings
of that amazing fact, of exhaustless interest, of inconceiva-
ble importance. Who that hath reflected upon the sub-
ject, can think lightly of your enterprise ? You go, leaving

" Hoine^ and ease, and all the cultured joys.

Conveniences, and delicate delights.
Of ripe society^ in the great cause

Of roan's salvation.

High on the pagan hills, where Satan sits
Encamped, and o*er the subject kingdoms throws
Perpetual night, to plant Immanuers cross,
The ensign of the gospel, blazing round
Immortal truth; and in the wilderness
Of human waste, to sow eternal life ;
And from the rock, where sin with horrid yell.
Devours its victims unredeemed, to raise
The melody of grateful hearts to Heaven."

104

It is with joy, therefore, the Committee bid you go, in
the namp of Christ, in the full belief that He will be with
you, and crown your efforts with his blessing, and at length
receive you into those mansions which he has prepared
for the rest of his missionaries.

By order and in behalf of the Prudential Committee,

B. B. WISNER,
R. ANDERSON,
DAVID GREENE,

Secretaries.

S^Rssionary Rooms, Boston, Nov. 22, 1834.

See Appendix F.

I IS-STRVOTZOVS

From the Prudential Committee of the American Board of
Commissioners for Foreign Missions, to the Rev. Isaac
Bliss, Rev. Daniel T. Conde^ Rev, Mark Ives, and
Rev. Thomas Lapov, — Messrs. Seth L. Andrews,
Samuel N. Castle, Edward Bailbt, Amos S. Cooke,
Edward Johnson, Horton O. Knapp, Edwin Locke,
Charles Mc Donalb, Bethuki. Munn, William S»
Van Duzbe, and Abner Wilcox, — Miss Ma&cja M.
Smith, and Miss (kjcia G. Smith.

Dear Brethren^

A few weeks since, it was painfully uncertain whether
you could proceed on your mission during the [resent
year, for want of funds to meet the expenses of your out-
fit and voyage. Our receipts bad faOen short of our ex-
penditures to an unprecedented extent, and at the same
time the country was sinking into a state of commercial
embarrassment and distress unparalleled in times of peace.
In these circumstances, the Committee thought it not
right for them to assume the responsibility of sending you
forth, and they did not assume it. They referred the case
to the churches ; and the churches, as far as their judg-
ment and wishes could be ascertained, haye decided that
you ought not to be detained. Hence we have called you
to this place of your embarkation, and hence this great as-
sembly has come together to bid you God sp^d. Your
passage has been engaged on board the barque Mary Fra-
zier, captain Sumner, and every needful preparation made
for the comfort of your long voyage. In behalf of this
assembly, in behalf of the churches^ and in the name too
of the Lord and Head of the churches, we bid you go,
strong in faith, joyful in hope, patient, persevering, always
abounding in the work of the Lord.

It may, however, be properly asked, why we send so
large a company to the Sandwich Islands, where already
JO*

106

there are twenty three ordained missionaries. The ans-
wer' to this inquiry is found in the peculiar circumstances
of that mission.

' Who has not heard the wonderful fact that the govern-
ment of the Sandwich Islands abolished the public rites
of their religion, while the first mission was on its way to
them from this country? Since then — now seventeen
years — -the nation has been without a religion, except so
far as it has embraced Christianity. What more singular
and interesting spectacle than a nation, relinquishing at
once the idolatrous rites of their fathers, and waiting so
long a time to be instructed in the knowledge of a new
religion ! As a nation too, they have once and again refused
the proffered rcHgion of papal Rome, that they might
give undivided attention to ours ; and the very ship in
which you sail carries the materials for a christian church
at the seat of government, ordered by the king of the
islands, and for the purchase of which he has deposited -
1500 dollars with the secular agent of the mission.

The vacuum occasioned in the civil and religious affairs
of the nation by the abolition of their relii^on, was filled
in a good degree, during the first twelve or fifteen years,
by tlie native schools, which spread in an extraordinary
maimer over the islands. More than a third part of the
adults were for a lon<i time enrolled among the members
of these schools. " When the people of the nation were
literally without a God, and without an altar, and without
a faith ; when ancient religious ceremonies and customs
were declared to be no more : when the pulse of the na-
tion was feeble and fluttering and ominous of an awfbl
pause — in the dispensations of providence the schools
were made to act as a reviving cordial, restoring life to the
chiefs and people ; giving them new consciousness of ex-
istence ; and in short, supplying them with matter for
thought and conversation and action."

At length, however, the native teachers were found by

their pupils to have taught all they knew, and the schools

of course lost their power to interest and declined. This

produced a crisis in the nation, and also in the af&irs of

107

the mission : and it seemed as if there was about to be a
fearful return to the monstrous rites of former times.
But, notwithstanding some lamentable examples in high
places, the nation on the whole maintained the remarkable
position it had taken.

Upon discovering that the pc»wer of the native schools
was exhausted, the mission instituted the inquiry how far
it was possible for its members to exert a direct influence
upon the entire mass of the inhabitants. To understand
the merits of the case, it is necessary to remark that the
inhabited islands are eight in number. Moreover, these
> islands being of volcanic origin, are much broken by moun-
tains, precipices, and deep ravines, which naturally divide
them into districts of greater or less extent, and more or
less difficult of approach the one from the other. The
number of these districts is thirty-eight, each containing a
population, on an average, of 3,500 souls ; and it was as-
certained that not more than half of these districts could
be supplied with christian instruction by the direct labors
of the missionaries now on the ground. In other words,
half the territory and half the population of the islands
must be lelt to the darkness as deep and total as that of
paganism.

In view of these facts, the mission appealed to the
churches for 18 more ordained missionaries,' two physi-
cians, and 21 lay-teachers, that the gospel mi^ht at once
be made known to the whole waiting people. The preach-
ers were to preach in the vacant districts ; and the teach-
ers were to instruct normal schools and rear up native
teachers at 21 of the stations j and at the same time take
the charge of common school instruction throughout the
islands.

It has not pleased the head of the church to respond
fully to this request of his servants. We behold indeed
the two physicians, but only three of the 18 preachers
which were requested, and only nine of the 21 tejchers.
The other layman in the company is designed to become
an associate for our present superintendent of the secular
concerns of the mission — a depailmetA. oi NsakyjR. ^^^>s^

108

out of the fact that the mimion is supported on the princi-
ple of common stock. The two unmarried female teach-
ers have specific duties asngned them on the island of
Maui. Whether the whole number of laborers requested
by the mission will ever be sent, must depend on the dis-
position of the churches to fumirii the missionaries, and
also the funds to support them. We much fear, however,
that if any important districts in the islands are long left
vacant, papal missionaries will seize upon tbem, and rear
again the standard of a system of idolatry more fearful,
because far moire inveterate in its hostility to the true
gospel, than the one which has been abrogated.

The clergymen and physicians in your company are re*
ferred for instructions to those given to their predecessors
in the mission. But specific instructions must now be
given to the nine lay-teachers, these being the first mis-
sionaries of this class sent to the islands.

You have come, dear brethren, into this connectioD
with the Board, with the expectation of making the cause
of christian education at the Sandwich Islands yom* lead-
ing employment while you remain in the mission.. You
go to relieve the preachers of the word, as far as possiUe,
from the care and instruction of schools. The mission at
its next general meeting, which will be held soon after
your arrival, will decide upon your individual locations,
and you will doubtless be dispersed over the islands, some
of you residing at the stations of ordained missionaries,
and a few perhaps alone. That you may be happy in
these assignments, you should carefully guard against pre-
dilections for particular districts. Be willing to be s^t
any where, aud wherever the majority of voices in the
mission shall assign your station, thither go with alacrity
and joy, as to the place where God will own your labors.

In each of yonr districts there will probably be a model
school, where examples of correct teaching will be set,
and where teachers will be trained for the village schbob
in the district. This school will ordinarily be committed
to your instniction, and this duty, with the superintend-
ence of common school education in the district, will form

109

your department of labor and responsibility. You will be
expected to institute schools wherever they can properly
be sustained ; to visit the schools as often as may be ne-
cessary ; and especially to induce the children and youths
as far as possible, to attend them. Heretofore the greater
part of the pupils have been adults. Happily you Will
how find, through the well directed industry of the mis-
sion; a tolerable supply of books for the schools. Besides
the New Testament and portions of the Old, which will
of course be daily read in all the schools, Woodbridge's
Geography, Worcester's Scripture Geography, the intel-
lectual Arithmetics of Colburn, and a Bible Class Text
Book have been translated into the native language and
printed, with elementary books in geometry and vocal
music. Besides these, there is a book of hymns in the
Hawaiian language of 128 pages, {6t which the demand
has been such that no less than 52,000 copies have been
printed during the 12 years past, in different editions, for
the use of the natives. There are also spelling books, an
Almanac, tables of Logarithms, tracts explanatory of the
Scriptures, and two Newspapers, one of which, having the
subscription at one dollar a year, has 3,000 native subscri-
bers. And yet it is not sixteen years since the Hawaiiaa
tongue was wholly unwritten, a mere chaos of barbarous
sounds !

You are expected to act in concert with the ordained
missionaries in your several districts. They are the pas-
tors of the people ; you the teachers of the schools. They
and you will he mutual helpers of each other. The pas-
tors will be your natural advisers ; and while you are not
made subordinate to them in the sense of being placed
under their authority, you will readily perceive the expe-
diency and propriety of conferring with them in all cases
before taking steps of importance. Both you and they
will of course be equally governed by the resolutions of
the mission, by the decisions and instructions received
from the Prudential Committee, and by the laws and regu-
kitions of the Board.

The Committee trust that noive ^i '^ow V^sn^ \s»sj^ns».^

110

as to the propriety of your going to the Sandwich Islands
as teachers of schools, rather than as preachers of the ffos-
peL Your profession is not indeed recognized in the his-
tory of the apostolic missions. In the first age of christian
missions, all, who went forth as missionaries, went as
preachers of the gospel. The Committee can merely
glance at the considerations, by which your present course
is fully justified. In the^r^^ place, you should consider,
that the only history of apostoUc missions transmitted to
us, is of their missions in the best educated and most civ-
iUzed portions of the world. The missions described in
the book of Acts were in Asia Minor, Macedonia, Greece,
and Rome, then the very foci of civilization. Of their
missions to barbarous nations and tribes, we are told
nothing in the New Testament. 2. Wherever the apos-
tles established churches in those highly civilized portions
of the world, they found among the converts persons who
had been educated at Alexandria, Tarsus, Athens, or some
others of the Greek or Roman schools, whom they could
ordain as pastors or evangeUsts : and therefore were not
obliged to train them up by a course of education. Such
educated persons can no where be found in barbarous na-
tions like the one to which you are going. 3. Education
for the maaa of the people, is wholly a modern invention,
growing entirely out of the invention of the printing piiess.
The apostles had no such system of education, by which
the multitude could be taught to read ; and no press to
multiply books for every man and every child. God has
reserved these for later and more favored ages, when the
civil and social condition of the world should be better
adapted to the universal propagation of the gospel. 4.
For want of the amazing fkcihties which we enjoy for in-
fluencing masses of mind, it is an instructive fact that no
less than three centuries elapsed, notwithstanding the mi-
raculous powers afforded the apostles, before the gospel
achieved even a nominal triumph in the Roman empire;
and beyond that empire we have no certain knowledge of
permanent effects from the apostolical missions. FiuMjff
the objection to the use of the press and education in

Ill

modern missions becauise the apostles did not use them, is
upon an erroneous' and exceedingly absurd principle. It
assumes that we are to use no instrumentaUties in missions
to the heathen, except such as the apostles used. This
being admitted, the modern missionaries must reject the
compass and quadrant, and other modern improvements
in navigation, and get to his distant field beyond the ocean,
as well as he can, by fellowing the coast and watching the
stars. He must debar himself from the use of rail-roads
and steam-boats, and all printed books, and all the dis*
coveries of science and 'all the inventions of art for 1800
years past. The apostles used none of these facilities,
and they used none of them simply because they did not
then exist. For the same reason they did not use the
press, nor printed books, nor schools for the multi-
tude. These facilities and a thousand others have been
developed by the wonder-working providence of God since
their time. They are providerUial remlations of means
to be employed, made since the completion of the written
word. And they are designed for our instruction, guid-
ance and help iu every good work, as really as the written
histories and revelations of the New Testament. God
has, in his providence, therefore, fully recognized the pro-
fession of the school teacher as among tl^ means to be
employed in the propagation of the gospel through the
earth. Indeed, the grand reason, so far as instrumental
causes were concerned, why the leaven of Christianity was
300 years in diffusing itself through the Roman empire,
and w hy Christianity afterwards almost lost its hold upon
the world for many ages, was doubtless the want of the
press, and a system of general education. And if we are
to accomplish our work for the pagan world in less time
than it required to bring the Roman empire to a professed
subjection to Christ, it will doubtless be, so far as instru-
mental causes are concerned, because we avail ourself of
the immense focilities afforded by modern times, and es-
pecially of the press, for acting at once and powerfully
and steadily upon whole communities of mind.
It results from these views, that preachings education^

112

;3ind printing, ate three permanent departments of labor
in modera missions. They are so at the Saitdwich Is-
lands. And tliere will be a permanent demand for your
labors as teachers, until the nafion has become so far en-
li^tened and renovated, that they can do without our aid.

I And here let us remind you of what you have been told
already, that we are not sending you to the islands as
■ teachers, tliat you may there find a shorter way into the
ministry than you com Id at home. You are sent forth with
no such design, w*th no such expectation. You have
weighed the subject, and chosen to go as teachers ; and
such you expect to remain. The standard of education
adopted for our ministry at home, must by no means be
lowered for that portion of our ministry which is sent
abroad. Nay, if possible, there are more and weightier
reasons in favor of a thoroughly educated and able minis-
try, in our missions to the heathen, and even barbarous
heathen, than among the churches of christian lands.
The more barbarous and degraded a people is in mind,
manners and condition, the more is there to be done be-
fore tney will be raised from their degradation ; and where
the greatest power is needed, there it should be applied.
Mediocrity of talent and attainment may indeed find a
place of usefulness among the heathen, as it does at home;
but there are thie strongest reasons why we should main-
tain our present elevated standard of ministerial qualifica-
tions generally through our system of missions; aid the
more because our several missions are fast becoming so
many seminaries for raising up a native ministry, to act as
evangelists and pastors among their countryrnenTJ We
have proposed, also, an elevated standard of q'lacTfications
for our teachers ; it being the leading object in your de-
I^artment to train up a competent native agency for the
schools; and we look with Uvely hope to the teachers'
seminaries now coming into existence in various parts of
our land, for teachers to meet the successive demands of
our missions, who shall be thoroughly trained in the theory
and practice of their profession. Some of you have been

thus trained, and all of you have had an approved experi-

113

ence in the business. But we earnestly exhort you all t6
re^rd yourselves as learners for a great while to come.
Be deeply interested in your object — enthusiststical, if
you please ; obtain clear, eidarged, aniniatilig views of
your duties ; and connect vnih them a course of observa*
tion, experiment and study, which shall expand and
strengthen your minds, and increase your power of doing
good as long as you live. 75ten shall you iee the evidence
that God has called you into this department of labor, and
that he accepts your services, and you will be content to
remain in it. Remember that station alone does not se-
cure usefulness — usefulness is the result of the divine
blessing ; and the blessing of God is to be expected only
in the place of our duty. If he call you to be teachers,
and you urge your way into the ministry, you would sac-
rifice your prospect of an useful and happy life.

These free remarks, beloved brethren, are called for by
the occasion, this being the first time of our sending forth
such a company of teachers, and not by any special ap-
prehension on our part, that you will tiot, in an eminent
degree, adorn your profession. Our personal acquaint-
ance with you, has but strengthened the favorable impres-
sions, founded chiefly on testimonials., which led to your
appointment.

In conclusisn, the Committee address a Few WDrds of
advice and caution to the whole company of the mis-
sionaries.

Th6 Jirst respects the government of the Sandwich Is-
lands. Those islands are to be your home, their rulers are
to be your rulers, and their laws will be binding-upon you.
Whatever then may be your opinion of the personal char-
acters of any of the chiefs, you will in virtue of their office,
treat them with deference and respect. " Submit your-
selves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake,
whether it be to the king as supreme, or unto governors,
as unto them that are set by him for the punishment of
evil doers, and for the praise of them that do well : for so
is the will of God." Great circumspection wH. b^ \NRawKa.-
sary to secure the confidence ot l\\e 'eViv^fe. ^\\\.^^\s^^

114

their favor sliould by no means be sacrificed by interfering
with the exercise of their authority ; it should be sought
neither by undue familiarity, nor by flattery, nor by any
time-serving policy whatever. You will best secure their
countenance and support by a meek^ zealous, and disin-
terested performance of your proper duties.

2. Among the common people avoid assuming airs of
authority, as if you were chiefs. To this you will be
strongly tempted by their abject condition and manners.
You will be provoked, also, to impatience, and to feelings
of contempt destructive of a benevolent regard for their
fciouls, by their mental stupidity, their childish follies, their
shameless vices, and the seeming worthlessness of their
existence and influence. But all these feelings and airs
towards the people whom you go to save, must be checked
in the bud. Remember the meekness and gentleness of
Christ, and the amazing condescension and love which
characterized his whole mission on earth.

3. Your brethren now in the field, will have strong
claims on your confidence and respeet. Some of them
were pioneers in the mission, and though often calumnia-
ted by resident foreigners, and. by visitors, and sometimes
even by men of considerable standing in the world, they
enjoy the unabated confidence of the Committee. Indeed,
no respectable stranger, after becoming acquainted with
them has ever said aught against them ; and it is now too
late for any one to substantiate a charge against the judg-
ment, zeal, disinterestedness, or success of these brethren
and their associates. No man can point to private prop-
erty to the value of a single dollar, which any member of
the mission has acquired at the Sandwich Islands ; and
the proofs of their character and usefulness are found in
the written language, the printed books, the ability to read
in a fourth part of the adult population, the tendencies to
order in the hitherto chaotic elements of society, in short,
in enduring characters of light on the opening mind and
i?eart^ and on the rising institutions of the nation. You

will meet these brethren in the cordial greetings of the
landing place, the social iuletcouTS^ oi \\\e AsiTaa^xici circle,

115

and the more formal deliberations of the annual meeting

of the mission, with feehngs of unfeigned deference, as

older brethren, who have endured the burthen and heat

of the day, and possess more experience, more v/isdom,

and probably more grace, than yourselves. If you differ

= . from them in matters relating to the natives, or the niis-

s sion, the probability will be far greater that they are right

■ than that you are. And thus it will be until long after

« you shall have become familiarly acquainted with the lan-

j guage of the islands.

4. Another caution the Committee would give is, that
you avoid cherishing such expectations with regard to the
progress of the mission, as will lead to disappointment on
your arrival at the islands. Of this there is the greatest
danger. Not that you have over-estimated the absolute
progress of the mission. Probably more has really been
effected, through the abounding grace of God, than any
of you are aware of. But, from want of a correct knowl-
edge of the actual state of the nation, when the mission
began its labors, and of the immense difference between
the intellectual, moral, and social state of a barbarous and
a civilized people, the first aspects of the people will pre-
sent far less of good and more of evil, than you had an-
ticipated. They will strike you as being below the level
of any community you ever saw ; and it would be strange
indeed if they were not : but then you cannot be aware,
as the older brethren of the mission will be, of the " lower
depths" from which they have been thus far raised.
Moreover, you will have 9. painful illustration of the ini-
I^erfection of human language as a means of conveying
ideas across wide oceans, and especially when conveying
ideas respecting a people that is barbarous to another that
is civilized. Unless corrected by experience or reflection,
we receive the words which represent things among these
barbarous people in the strength of meaning they have
, among ourselves. Thus, when the missionaries at the
Sandwich Islands, in their letters and journals, speak of a
house, a church, a school, or a college, the idea awakened
in our minds is too often that oi ho\\se%^c\\\«dsv^'s»^'^Ow^»^^^

lie

and colleges as they are in our own land. So when they
speak of piety among the natives, and a revival of religion^
and conscience, and faith, and hope, and zeal, and broth-
erly kindness, our ideas are modelled on. what we have
seen among ourselves, in a eommunity that has been re-
ligiously educated from the cradle. The words have a
strength of meaning in our minds, which they had not in
the minds of the writers, and which they have not in fact.
If such has been your experience, you must prepare for
disiappointment. It is the mere elements of piety, only its
germinent principles, which you should look for, and not
for the " stature of a perfect mao in Christ Jesus.'' It is
the work of the Spirit on uncultured, brutalized mii\d^
surrounded by mind as devoid of form and culture as it-
self. It is the Spirit operating, as it were, on chaos, re-
ducing it to order, and preparing it for future use, rather
than upon the finished earth, to make it bud and blossom
and bring forth fruit. In these circumstances, you should
expect to see the graces of the Spirit almost in their low-
est, degrees of possible developemeiit, and existing too^
sometimes, in connection with such imperfections, as
would be inconsistent wilh christian character in . moie
favored circumstances.

But this is too dark a picture. Keopuolani, and Kau-
mualii, and Kalanimoku, and Kaahumanu remind us that
the grace of our Lord has in many instances been exceed-
ing abundant in those benighted islands, with faith and
love which is in Christ Jesus. In those departed chiefs^
and in others in common Kfe the transforming grace of
Christ has abundantly appeared, notwithstanding unfa-
vorable circumstances. They are the first fruits of the
harvest we confidently expect in due time. But in the
present state of intellectual and moral culture in the b-
lands, such instances, without a miracle, can hardly be-
come general.

Again, be cautious in communicating ^r«f impressions

to your friends at home. You perceive how probable it

IS that they may be erronious. They can scarcely be

otherwise. You have not the me^was, ns\ml\& vg^wotaut of

- 117

the language, of ascertaining the real character of the na-
tives, nor have you the f>roper standard forjudging them.
Indeed, you should always be considerate in your private
letters, for too frequently such letters from missionaries
find their way into the rehgious newspapers.

Finally, be united among yourselves. Never is the
maxim more emphatically true than in a mission, that un-
ion is strength. The want of it is a death-inflicting paral-
ysis. Thus far there has been union in the Sandwich
Islands Mission ; O let not your arrival be the signal for
division. Let there be union in feeling, in counsel, in
action, — a holy, heavenly, indissoluble union. Let it be
a union founded in love to each other, and to the cause
of Christ. Love each other, and love all the brethren,
with pure hearts fervently. Better Jiot embark, unless
you have formed the determination, depending upon di-
vine strength, that nothing shall break the unity of your
spirit with all your associates in this work of faith and la-
bor of love. A divided mission, if there were such an
one, would soon become the grief of the church and a
lauorhing stock to the world.

The Committee earnestly pray, that you may be filled
with the Holy Ghost, from this time forward. Through the'
power of Him who made the preaching of -the apostles so ef-
fectual on the hearts of men, may your labors be crowned
with glorious success. The field you are to occupy is
one of peculiar interest. Degraded as are the people,
they are thrown, as it were, into the very arms of the
churches ; and we have the fairest prospect of seeing them
raised from the depths of paganism so far as to become
incorporated among the nations of Christendom, within
the space of a single generation. ^ This is our aim, and,
with the blessing of God, it may be accompUshed: If any
ask, why we send so many missionaries to the Sandwich
Islands ? this is our answer. We wish the work to be
done in the shortest possible time. Let the Sandwich
Islands become a glorious exemplification and proof of
what may be effected by christian missions. Brethren,
you will be a spectacle to men, as well as to angels arid

118

to God. From all parts of the christian world men will
be looking upon you. You will be surrounded by a great
cloud of witnesses. Oh, then, realize your responsibilities
to be holy, zealous, devoted, disinterested, worthy succes-
sors of the apostles. Run with patience the race set be-
fore you. Endure as seeing Him who is invisible. Be
faithful unto death, and you shall receive a crown of liffe
that fadeth not away.

Beloved brethren and sisters, in the name and in behalf
of the Prudential Committee, we have given you these in-
structions, and now we bid you an affectionate farewell.

R. ANDERSON, >

DAVID GREENE, [Secretaries.

WM. J. ARMSTRONG, )

Missionary Rooms, Boston, Dec. 3, 1836.

See Appendix H.

i <

R6v. Hiram Bingham.

^* Asa Thjurston.
Mr Daniel Chamblrlain, (left in 1823.)

*' TuoMAs HoLMAN, (left in 1^21.)

** Samuel Whitney.

*^ Samuel Ruggles, (left in 1833.)

" Elisha Loomis, (left in 1826.*)
John Honolh. Thomas Hopu. William Kanuk

Mrs Sybl M. Bingham.

^' Lucy G. Thurston.

** Jerusha Chamberlain.

** Lucia Holman.

*^ Mercy Whitney.

** Nancy Ruggles.

*^ Maria T. Loomis.

Rev. Artemas Bishop.
" William Richards.
*^ Charles S. Stewart, (left in 1825.)
'^ James Ely, (left in 1828.)
'' Joseph Goodrich, (left in 1835.)

Abrham Blatchley, M. D., (left in 1826.)
Mr Levi Chamberlain.
Miss Betsey Stockton, (left in 1825.)
Stephen Pupuhi. Wm. Kamahoula. Rfchard Kalaiula.*

Mrs Elizabeth E. Bishop.*
" Clarissa L. Richards.
^* Harriet B. Stewart.*
" Louisa E. Ely.
" Martha B. Goodaich.
^' Jemima M. Blatchley.

120
c.

Rev. LoRRiN Andrews.
*^ Jonathan S. Green.
<< Peter J. Guliqk.
*^ £rHRAi3i W. Clark.
Gerrit p. Judd, M. D.
Mr Stephen Shepard.*
G. Kailaa. H. Ukalimoa. J. P. Laaulana. S. J. Pa

Mrs Mary Ann Andrews.

'^ Theodocia Green.

" Fanny T. Gulick.

" Mary K. Clark.

" Laura F. Judd.

" Margaret S. Shepard, (left in 1834.)
Miss Maria Ogden.

" Mary Ward.*

*^ Delia Stone.

*' Maria Patten.

Rev. DwiGHT Baldwin.

'* Reuben Tinker.

*' Sheldon Dibble.
Mr Andrew Johnstone, (left in 1835.)

Mrs Charlotte F. Baldwin.
" Mary T. W. Tinker.
'^ Maria T. Dibble.*
" Rebecca Johnstone..

Rev. John S. Emerson.

*' David B. Lyman.

" Ephraim Spauldino, (left in 183().;

** William P. Alexander.

" Richard Armstrong.

" Cochran Forbes.

" Harvey R. Hitchcock.

^^ LoRESzo Lyons.

121

Alonzo Chapin, M. D., (left ia 1835.)
Mr Edmund Horton Rogers.

Mrs Ursula S. Emerson.

** Sarah J. Lyman.

" Julia B. Spaulding.

'' Mary A. Alexander.

*• Clarissa C. Armstrong.

'' Rebecca D. Forbes.

'^ Rebecca H. Hitchcock.

*' Betsey C. Lyons.* ^

" Mary A. T. Chapin.

Rev. Benjamin W. Parker.

'' Lowell Smith.
Mr Lemuel Fuller, (left in 1833.)
Mrs Mary E. Parker.

" AsrBJL W. Smith.

Rev. Titus Coan.
Mr Henry Dimond.

*^ Edwin O. Hall.
Mrs Fidelia Coan.

'** Ann M. Dimond.

^* Sarah L. Hall.
Miss Lydia Brown.

" Elizabeth M. Hitchcock.

Rev. Isaac Bliss.

^* Daniel T. Conde.

" Mark Ives.

*' Thomas Lafon.

Seth L. Andrews,. M. D.
Mr Samuel N. Castle.

** Edward Bailey.

" Amos S. Cooke.

*' Edward Johnson.

122

Mr HoRTON O. Kx\APP.

" Edwin Locke.

" Charles Mc Donald.

*^ Bethuel Munn.

*' William S. Van Duzee.

" Abner Wilcox.

Mrs Emily C. Bliss.

** Andelucia L. Coxde.

*' Mary B. Ives. .

** Sophia L. Lafon.

** Parnelly p. Andrews.

*^ Angeline T. Castle.

" Caroline H. Bailey,

" Juliette M. Cooke.

*' Lois S. H. Johnson.

. " Charlotte C. Knapp.

*' Martha L. R. I^cke.

*^ Harriet T. Mc Donald,

*' LovisA C. Munn.

** Oral H. Van Duzee.

^* Lucy E. H. Wilcox.

Miss Marcia M. Smith.

** Lucia G. Smith.

* Deceasec

PB-0002975-SB
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iSPSz" 256 422

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Full text of "Instructions of the Prudential Committee of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions to the Sandwich Island Mission"

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