Slander may be associated with falsehood, and it may have an independent existence. When circumstances require the truth to be told, that it may wound, that it may injure, will furnish no reason for its suppression; but where its publication was not required, where the intention was so to wound and injure, then is the guilt of slander incurred, even though the guilt of lying should have been avoided. In what light would the man who should collect and publish all the unwise or harsh sayings of Mr. Drew be regarded by the surviving members of his family? Their minds would be painfully wounded by such iniquitous conduct, and they might justly complain of it. And is no regard due to the feelings of others? Are there no other children whose minds may be wounded by such attacks on the character of a father, dear to them, honoured by all who know him, and vituperated only by those who know him not? Even were the incidents correctly stated, yet is their present pubiication a breach of the honourable confidence of private life, and an act of meanness, treachery, and slander. All that we have hitherto said is without reference to the correctness or incorrectness of the statement. On that point, as the anecdote stands in the book, it is impossible for us to form an opinion. It may be true, and it may not. But, as it has been, in print, applied to an individual, (to say nothing of conversational remark,) we take the opportunity of denying, unequivocally and distinctly, so far as that individual is concerned, the correctness of the anecdote itself, and of that description of character with which it is introduced. We say not that the conversation never occurred; but we deny that it occurred with the respected individual whose name has been connected with it. And as to the phrase "strenuous defender of ecclesiastical domination," we tell Mr. Jacob Drew, that it is utterly inapplicable, as he would have known, had he known that individual as well as we do; we tell him, that if he really intended the phrase to bear the application which has

since been given to it, a more calumnious falsehood was never published.

We again say, that we regret thus to have been compelled to animadvert on a book which we should have been glad to praise and recommend. It might have been equally instructive and interesting. There was much in Mr. Drew's personal history to commend; no attack was made upon his character, and no defensive recrimination, therefore, was necessary. His talents and excellencies might have been described, without denying the talents or shadowing the excellencies of others. The aspersions upon other men, and the attempts to throw discredit upon the doctrine and discipline which the Wesleyan body have received from their venerated Founder, are perfectly gratuitous and uncalled for. Should the author be offended with the freedom of our remarks, he will remember they have been occasioned by the latitude he has given to his own. We have engaged reluctantly in the task of animadversion. Had it been a pleasant one, we should have found no difficulty in prolonging it by bringing forward a number of delinquencies on which we have offered no remark at all, but on which we might have remarked severely. The author may rely upon it, that though a work, presented at the shrine of favouritism and faction, may secure a limited and temporary popularity, it is one, to have gained which will afford no satisfaction on a death-bed; which, sooner or later, must utterly fade before the combined influences of Truth and Charity. To Methodism Mr. Drew was indebted, under God, for his religious impressions, for the field of useful labour in which he toiled as a Christian Preacher, and for the principal encouragement which he experienced in the cultivation of his talents; and that his son should have made the biography of such a man a medium of unprovoked attack upon the tenets and order of the Wesleyan body, and upon the character of some of its most pious, gifted, and useful Ministers, the best friends of Mr. Drew cannot but sincerely lament.

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January 21st, 1833.-I was blessed in my endeavours to preach Jesus yesterday. The congregations are very large here, much more than at Haabai or Tonga, as the island is large, and the people mostly dwell on this island. It is impossible to be heard correctly by all: many have to return home from worship without hearing words by which they may be saved. We very much want another chapel and another Missionary. O for help in this important field of labour, where the soil is fully prepared, softened, broken up by the Holy Spirit! Praise God! he has assisted my feeble endeavours to speak in his name. When we came with brother Cross from Haabai, we found fifty in class; when brother Cross left for Tonga, which was three months after, the Lord had added more than seven hundred to our classes. From November, in which month he left, to January, 1833, a space of three months, nearly twelve hundred have united in class; so that we have now an almost incredible number in so short a time. In our classes we have more than two thousand; twenty-two Leaders; seven Exhorters; six places in which we hold service. Three hundred have been baptized, and two hundred married; and in our schools we have one thousand five hundred.

I must not omit to mention the storm with which we have been visited: very few are living who can tell of one that was half so destructive. It took place on Sunday, January 24th, 1833, about twelve o'clock at night. It was with difficulty we could hold our services on the Sabbath, for rain, wind, &c. We returned from chapel, and the wind still increased until midnight, when it became tremendous. We had retired to rest, but

were

had to rise; our fences were all blown down; the kitchen and my study were almost down. In a short time the house began to give way; one of the main posts broke close to the ground, another at the top. It was with much difficulty we got out with our lives. I seized Mrs. Turner, and hastened her out just as the house was falling. We expected to be exposed to the rain all night, not knowing but some falling tree, or part of the house, might hurry us into eternity. We made our way to a small house, where we found a partial shelter. It was made only of the leaves of the cocoa-nut tree many of them carried away, and the rain poured upon us in torrents. Several Leaders came to assist us, who, by holding the house all night, saved us from great peril. In the morning we ventured to come out, though the storm still raged: the house was completely demolished, beyond restoration ; many of our goods were destroyed, many spoiled, and I have also lost some of my books; not one fence was standing, every house was down, or nearly so, and our fine bread-fruit trees, cocoa-nut trees, bananas, &c. All the leaves of those trees which stood seemed as though they had been scorched with fire. One half of the houses on the island were blown down, some lifted entirely out of their place. The effects of this storm will be felt for many months, perhaps years. The people have scarcely any thing to eat. have got my study put up, a house for the boys, a kitchen, and a house to meet classes in; but we cannot expect to have a suitable house for many months, as the Chief is near death, and the people busy in planting, clearing their grounds, &c.

I

OCTOBER 25th, 1832.-Among my other engagements, I have been employed for a few days past in writing short expositions of some important passages, to serve as a sort of circulating library; for although the people have five printed books, yet their applications are so frequent and pressing, that I am constrained to do what I can to gratify their thirst for information. This is a pleasing circumstance, though it involves considerable labour. I purpose translating short memoirs, &c. In my walk this evening to see the sick, I was led to turn aside from the path and visit a place of interment; it has been, too, a place rendered sacred by superstition: it must have been raised at an immense expense of time and labour, and displays consi

derable art on the part of its uninstructed architects. It is a parallelogram, composed of stones of considerable magnitude. It stands in a venerable grove of trees; and we shudder when we recollect the purposes to which this sepulchral spot has been sacred. Scenes very similar to those transacted in the sylvan temples of our druidical ancestors have been witnessed here: the cries of the human victim have resounded through this shady spot, his blood has stained its earth during the "reign of terror," and here the "high praises" of him who "a murderer from the beginning" have been vociferated. But that Gospel which brings peace and good-will to man has been preached here also; and its

was

legitimate effects appear. The people here look with horror on the past; and their minds being now freed from a cruel superstition, they rejoice in the knowledge of the true God. This sacred spot is now abandoned; no pilgrimages are made to it, no offerings are paid at it, grass and brushwood have overrun it, and no superstitious hand lends itself to clear away the weeds; no worshipper is now seen to bend there to pray, or stand to praise, and the sounds now heard are the hoot of the owl and chatter of the jikota.

27th. This evening I visited a young man whose life is fast ebbing out in a consumption: his circumstances to the outward eye appeared wretched, but there was peace within. He was lying on the ground with only a mat, and his head rested on a block of wood. He was almost worn to a skeleton. I addressed him in the usual style, "My love to you, Isaiah!" to which he responded with all the emphasis of which his now tremulous voice was capable. I asked him the state of his body: "O," said he, "that is very weak." I then inquired into the state of his mind; and he replied, "I love Jesus: my mind is pained with love to him." (This is a mode of speaking, denoting the intensity of the affection.) I said, "Then you think about Him, Isaiah ?" "O yes," said he, "I think much about him, and pray much to him." "And you are not afraid to die?" "O no! I desire to die and go to Jesus," was his reply. And I was assured by those about him that he often says he has no fear of death, but desires it, that he may be at rest with Jesus, whom he

loves.

November 1st.-I held our monthly Missionary prayer-meeting. I delivered a short address on the excellence of Christianity; and we had some delightful prayers for all Christian people, and all Ministers and Missionaries, and for "the world that lieth in wickedness." The individuals who engaged, were Hezekiah, Joseph, Isaac, Aaron, Joshua, and Peter. There are one thousand five hundred, at least, praying for this blessed consummation, on this station alone, who were three years ago rank idolaters. This evening I visited a number of the sick, and among them poor Isaiah, The sand of his life is nearly run out, yet he fears not the pang of dissolution. I commended him to God, and hardly hope to see him again in this world. I spent a little time in recommending to two youths, who have been inattentive to their parents, the duty of honouring and obeying them: and they engage to fulfil the

"first commandment with promise." My present life is a very busy one, and my duties various, but I trust not useless.

Dec. 1st. On Wednesday, instead of a sermon, I read a short catechism which I had previously written, and which describes, in a novel manner, some of the evils formerly practised and now existing among some of them, with their consequences. It excited great interest, and I hope will be productive of good. The following is a sample of its style and subjects: "Who are they that love war? The true sons of the devil.-What are they that seek war? Wild beasts thirsting for blood.-Who are they that have more wives than one? Thieves who rob other men, sinners against God, and in the highway to destruction."

6th. I have held our Missionary prayer-meeting, and read a short account of the attempts to introduce Christianity into Tonga, with the successful issue of the last one. It excited considerable interest. I took occasion to remind them of the many and great advantages accruing to them from Christianity. An opposer of "this way" a short time ago, stated to me as his conviction, that, if Christianity had not been introduced, the whole race would have been almost extinct through war and its concomitant evils. Surely we may believe an enemy when he speaks well of what he opposes.

11th. Yesterday was a glad day to the people and myself, from the fact of the Tamaha first attending the chapel, which is here the evidence of having renounced idolatry. She is a female Chief of the highest grade, most noble among the great of these islands. She has been treated like a goddess, and was one of the chief pillars of the system of lies that obtained in these islands. Numbers who had been waiting for her decision accompanied her; perhaps not fewer than one hundred: they came from their own island in thirteen canoes. This event will, I trust, have its influence on many, who, if they do not resist the truth, yet are indisposed to the reception of Christianity.

25th. I commemorated the advent of our Lord; and in the afternoon held a love-feast, at which not fewer than nine

hundred were present. The speaking was appropriate, animated, and interesting. It has been a delightful day, and will be long remembered.

Jan. 19th, 1833.—On the 15th instant I went to Foa, accompanied by bro ther Thomas, to admit a number of candidates into the church of Christ by baptism fifty-two candidates were baptized

in the name of the Holy Trinity, besides twenty-three children; and twenty-two couples were married. It was a fine day, and the services were interesting. It was the first occasion of the kind in that island, and among the baptized were the Chief and his wife. Our Teacher there is a very steady, and, I believe, a holy man: he is named Stephen. It is a fine island, but has to mourn a diminished population, from the evils connected with idolatry, which have been in active operation there, as in all the other islands of this group. Some are entirely depopulated, others nearly so.

Feb. 11th. Yesterday morning I commenced the plan of reading Lessons from the Old and New Testaments, in imitation of the plan pursued at home; knowing that the word of God is profitable "for doctrine, for reproof," &c. I am anxious that my congregations should hear as much of it as possible. My desire is to honour God by making known his will, in the words the Holy Ghost teacheth.

March 10th. On the evening of the 8th instant a storm commenced at this place, more violent by far than that in January. It carried away part of the thatch of our house near midnight; but I was happy enough to get it repaired, so as to prevent the rain from entering in any considerable quantity: it raged furiously during the whole night. To sleep was impossible, the wind came in such fearful gusts, the sound of it resembling the roar of artillery, or being perhaps more like the angry dash of waves against rocks in a storm. We anxiously looked for morning; but it brought no intermission of its violence. Nay, it seemed to increase in fury. We did what we could to preserve the house, for the safety of which we began to entertain some fears. We were at length obliged to quit it, from the alarming shakes occasioned by the wind. We retreated into an outhouse, which was secured as well as circumstances would allow. There we remained the whole day, fearing to hear, at every recurring blast, the crash of our falling house. But, through mercy, we were not called to endure that trial. Towards the evening of the 9th, the wind shifted and slackened; but we did not venture to sleep in the house that night. In these circumstances, heightened by the extreme indisposition of my wife, as well as her exposure to the wind with our little ones, I was kept in peace, though I could not but feel, and acutely too, for those who are so dear to me. I ascribe the praise to God for this deliverance. He is our refuge from the storm, a very

who have described the climate of these islands to be that of paradise, knew as much about it as they knew about the climate of the moon. These are stormy latitudes, and the atmosphere is subject to the most sudden and extreme changes.

18th. On the 16th instant we were agreeably surprised by the arrival of several canoes from Vavou, bringing a good report from our brethren there. I was pleased to see so many of our people who had been absent several weeks, as well as many of our Chief's new subjects from Vavou. He is now in possession of the united kingdoms of Haabai and Vavou. May he make a good use of this accession to his political importance and strength!

21st. Yesterday I expounded Psalm XV. Most of the men were at a distance, some in Vavou, and others at Uiha, the hostile island of which frequent mention has been made. Our Chief has obtained possession, without any effusion of blood, degraded the opposing Chiefs, and destroyed the fortress which they had erected to provoke him to a war, arising from their hatred to Christianity. None of them have been put to death; for which they have to thank Christianity. Formerly a most cruel death would have been inflicted for one-tenth of the provocation given. They would have had their arms tied, and stones attached to some part of their bodies, and then have been cast into the sea. Or, after having their bodies mangled and hacked with hatchets, they would have been fast bound, then put on board a rotten canoe, and committed to the mercy of the winds and waves, without having it in their power to help themselves. And yet there are those who affirm that Christianity is no blessing to the islanders of these seas!

26th. On the 24th instant I had a congregation of not less than three thousand souls, as nearly as I can guess; about twenty canoes having arrived from Vavou. Yesterday I was visited by Sanlala, one of the Chiefs of the island so long hostile. He came, he said, to seek instruction; and I set before him the principal truths of Christianity, which he now pronounces to be a very good thing: I believe him to be sincere. I have had a similar visit this morning from Havenbana, his brother, who is of the same mind now with him. It was he who occasioned the cutting off of the Snapper some time ago at Uiha.

April 1st.-Idolatry may be pronounced to be defunct in the group of islands which