It was a sultry day in August, 1796. The banks of the River Thames were lined with thousands of men and women, of all classes, drawn from the busy streets of London, and many from more distant parts. Presently a vessel is seen weighing her anchor, and with her flag unfurled, on which are three doves bearing olive branches in their bills, she slowly glides into the current, while the voices of over a hundred men on board, sing out loud and clear—
“Jesus, at Thy command,
We launch into the deep.”
Then the crowd on the river’s bank catch up and join in singing with great enthusiasm. The vessel is the good ship Duff, with thirty missionaries on board, the first Gospel ship specially fitted up to carry the messengers of God’s glad tidings to heathen lands. She is bound for Otaheite, or as it is now called, Tahiti, the chief island of the South Sea group known as the Society Islands. That was a memorable day, indeed, in the history of the Gospel’s progress among the benighted nations of heathendom, and has a wonderful story to tell.
The account of Captain Cook’s voyages and discoveries had just been issued in England, and read with great interest by Christians, whose hearts were aglow with love to Christ, and zeal for the spread of His Gospel among the heathen. The intrepid discoverer told of numberless groups of inhabited islands lying in the midst of the South Seas, whose dwellers basked in summer sunshine all the year, whose shores were covered with an evergreen vegetation, watered by sea spray that dashed itself from coral reefs along the shore. Sunk in every form of vice and barbarity, their ferocious dwellers were cannibals who had no respect for human life, and had never heard of the true God, or of His Son Jesus Christ the Saviour.
The aged and devoted Selina, Countess of Huntingdon, who, being converted in early married life, had consecrated her talents and her wealth to God, and had been a devoted helper of Welsey and Whitefield, in their Gospel labors, lay dying. The news of Cook’s discoveries reached her as she waited for the home-call to heaven, and with her latest breath she pleaded that Gospel preachers might be sent out to the South Sea islanders with the message of salvation. A sum of ten thousand pounds, gathered by earnest Christians in all parts of the British Isles was part of the answer to that dying appeal, and the Dug was purchased and fitted to carry the pioneer party of earnest Gospellers to the shores of Cannibal Land.
Captain James Wilson, who commanded the vessel, anchored after a six months’ voyage, in the Bay of Matavae, off the Tahiti coast, while the wondering natives dashed through the sea, and, drawing the boats in which the mission party were making for the shore through the surf, carried the strangers on their shoulders to land.
Pomare, the king, was made aware of their arrival, and by means of an interpreter was told the object of their mission to his country, and asked for a piece of land upon which they might erect their dwellings. To this he gave a willing consent, and that same day the king and his chiefs attended the first Gospel preaching ever held in Tahiti. The subject of that first discourse was the grand old Gospel text, John 3:16-“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” The Tahitians listened in silence, while a Swede interpreted the message, and at its close, Pomare, grasping the speaker’s hand, said, “My ty, My ty,” which was the Tahitian word of approbation, remarking in his own language, “There was no such thing ever heard of before in Otaheite,” but his aged high priest, Manne-Manne, was less pleased, and was heard to say, “The missionaries speak much of God, but they do not give many gifts of axes, knives, or scissors.” This man, who had often officiated at human sacrifices and other horrible rites, professed himself willing to give them all up for a return in money or goods but the messengers of God did not listen to his offer. They knew a “convert” gained on such terms would be only a hypocrite, and eventually do more harm than good to the object they had in view. Cannibals and idolaters, like everybody else, need to be convicted of their sin and truly converted to God, before their profession of Christianity is of any value.
What a congregation stood listening that day on the shores of Otaheite to the message of Divine love—the love of God to sinners! Half their number had been guilty of infanticide, and amongst them was a tribe or circle known as the “Arreoies,” who were under a vow to murder every newborn infant they could find. Yet there they were, listening to God’s Gospel, which is His power unto salvation to every sinner who believes it. Eighteen of the missionaries remained on Tahiti, and the remainder proceeded to the Friendly and Marquesas Islands where they were disembarked, the Duff returning to England with the good news of the Gospel’s first entrance to the South Sea Islands.