firmer hold on their confidence, and won now and then one to their side. In May, 1840, a chief of rank publicly, in spite of the opposition of many, avowed himself a believer in Christianity, and discontinued his offerings to his priest and god. The king himself attended one service, and declared that what he heard was true, and pronounced his own worship false. At a visit of the missionary at Suva, eighteen miles west of Rewa, a chief invited him to preach in his house, and soon after, with his wife, became a believer, and a group of converts was ere long gathered in that place.

Scenes of danger and horror, however, awaited the missionaries. A long and passionate war was waged between Rewa and Mbau, in which several of the Rewan chiefs and many of the people were slain and eaten by their enemies. The missionaries being exposed to great danger withdrew with their property to Viwa, but two teachers remained to watch over the small band of converts that remained there. In 1844 Rewa was entered by the enemy and burned; and again in 1847. It was soon after rebuilt, and in 1854 the mission there was resumed, and has since been continued, at times amidst great difficulties and dangers, but nevertheless with much success.

Mbau, the seat of the most powerful chief in Fiji, being situated between Rewa and Viwa, was frequently visited by the missionaries, who having free access to the chiefs, made known to them the great doctrines of the gospel, pointed out to them the guilt of their evil lives, and especially of the horrid crimes of polygamy, oppression, revenge, murder, and cannibalism, and urged them to allow a mission to be established there, and to embrace Christianity themselves and encourage their people to renounce their vices and their irreligion and become the worshippers of Jehovah. But these appeals and persuasions, though producing a great impression, and gradually modifying the views of the chiefs, and checking them in their most offensive practices, were not successful till 1854, when the leading chief made an open renunciation of heathenism and profession of Christianity.

On the 30th of April the religious service took place at which he avowed his new faith. At nine o'clock the death drum was beat as a summons to the service. Ten VOL. XIII.-NO. II.

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days before it had called the people together to a cannibal feast. About three hundred persons assembled in the great Strangers' House for the worship of the true God. Before them stood the king with his children and many wives, and other relatives. In front of him was his aged priest. All had assumed the Christian dress, and were well-behaved and serious. Mr. Calvert, who had so long watched and toiled for this event, conducted the service. It was a day ever to be remembered in the annals of Fiji. After worship, the people crowded about the missionaries to ask for the alphabet, and gathered in groups to learn to read. In the afternoon Mr. Waterhouse preached, and the attendance was again large. The king was evidently relieved that he had thrown off the yoke of heathenism. He caused the Sabbath to be strictly observed; and summoned his household daily to prayer. His attendance at the preaching and prayer-meetings was regular and serious, and he and his favorite wife began to learn to read. His example in joining the Christian party was followed by many others, and among them the high priest at Mbau; some in sincerity, some doubtless from motives of policy.

The war between Rewa and Mbau still continued, and exposed the missionaries and their friends in each place to great dangers, but at length, in 1855, the death of the king of Rewa led to peace, and the obstacles to a free profession of the Christian faith in both places, soon, in a great degree, disappeared.

The work of the missionaries at Mbau thus after years of toil and danger was crowned with success. The great Strangers' House there was set apart for the public worship of God, and about a thousand persons generally met in it, a large proportion of whom were undoubtedly sincere worshippers, giving proof of deep repentance for sin, and bringing forth the fruits of righteousness in their lives. The great centre being thus gained, the work went on in other places. Chapels were built and houses opened for religious services in every direction. By the help of native agents from Lakemba, and of the converts who could read and pray, most of the places were supplied with one service on the Sabbath, and the truth made rapid progress.

The gospel was introduced also in Vanua Levu, the other

chief island, at Mbua and Nandi, and churches established.

In the beginning of 1859, "the work of God," the missionaries reported, "is great, and spreads with a rapidity that outstrips our efforts to meet its calls. There are thousands just emerging from the valley of the shadow of death, having renounced heathenism and professed Christianity, who greatly need further instruction. There are multitudes of children, not unwilling to be taught, for whose education. no provision is yet made." And in July of that year, they stated at the district meeting that nearly 15,000 converts had been added to the churches in Fiji during the preceding year, that 2677 were on trial for church membership, that the total number of attendants on public worship was 54,281 -more than one-third of the whole population-and that the number under instruction in the schools was over 20,000.

The power of heathenism thus seems essentially broken in Fiji. The way is open for the introduction of the gospel into every principal town and village, and with due efforts and the continued blessing of God, the great body of the population may soon be brought under its power.

The mission has been conducted with eminent skill. A nobler band of missionaries has nowhere proclaimed the gospel, than those who have labored in this field. Their strong practical sense, their indomitable resolution, their diligence, their judgment, the wisdom and fidelity with which they have taught the simple gospel, the courage with which they have uttered its testimony against the crimes of the chiefs and people, their patience, their faith, the tenderness with which they have watched over their converts, the care with which they early taught those whom they could, to read and write, and prepared translations of the Scriptures, and other books for their use, have not been surpassed in modern missions. They have had the co-operation also of an extraordinary band of native teachers. They have experienced likewise many remarkable interpositions of providence for their protection, support, and success, and above all, have enjoyed, in signal degrees, the presence and power of the Spirit, removing the blindness, awakening the interest, and conquering the enmity of their hearers, and making the word a message of life to them.

May God long continue them and those who shall join them, in their labors, and give them the joy at length of seeing that whole people turn from the darkness of heathenism to the light of the glorious gospel of God.

ART. V. THE REVELATION, DANIEL II., RESPECTING THE FOUR GREAT EMPIRES.

To understand the office this great prophecy was designed to fill to the Hebrew nation, a glance is requisite at the revelations that had already been made of God's purposes in reference to that people and the other nations of the earth.

1. God had made known to our first parents, to Abraham, to Moses, and to the prophets that followed, in the most explicit and emphatic manner, that he would give a Redeemer who should make expiation for sin, deliver from its dominion and penalty, and bestow eternal life.

2. He had foretold to Abraham, Moses, and the prophets, that that Redeemer should be of Abraham's seed; and to David that he should be of his family, and should be both divine and human, and at once the monarch of Israel and the king of the earth. The advent of that Messiah had accordingly come to be looked forward to with a measure of eagerness by the nation generally, and especially by the pious.

3. God had by the lips of Moses announced to the nation, in the most explicit and impressive manner, his purpose, should they rebel and persist in revolt from his sway, to deliver them into the hand of enemies who should waste them with slaughter and oppression, make their land a desolation, and carry such of them as survived into captivity. "It shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day, that all these curses shall come upon thee. Thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall help thee... Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given to

another people, and thine eyes shall look and fail with longing for them all the day long: and there shall be no might in thine hand. The fruit of thy land and all thy labors shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up; and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed always The Lord shall bring thee and thy king, which thou shalt set over thee, anto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known; and there shalt thou serve other gods-wood and stone. And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations whither the Lord shall lead thee...

"All these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed; because thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded; and they shall be upon thee for a sign, and for a wonder, and upon thy seed for ever; because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness and with gladness of heart. Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the Lord shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all; and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee. The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand; a nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor show favor to the young; and he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle and the fruit of thy land, until thou be destroyed; which also shall not leave thee corn, wine, or oil; the increase of thy kine, or flocks of thy sheep, till he have destroyed thee. And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout all thy land: and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land which the Lord thy God hath given thee . . .

"If thou wilt not [after all these judgments] observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, THE LORD THY GOD; then the Lord will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed-great plagues and of long continuance, and sore sickness and of long continuance...