The year before the bells of London pealed forth the victory of the British at Waterloo, there was working in a forge in the City Road, an apprentice lad named John Williams, a bright young fellow of eighteen, just on the verge of being led into a life of sin by ungodly companions.
On a Sunday evening he was sauntering along the streets, in the midst of a circle of young men, to spend the night in the amusements of a tea garden. As they were entering the gate, a Christian woman who watched for the souls of young men, laid her hand upon his shoulder, and asked him to accompany her to Moorfield’s Tabernacle close by, to hear the Gospel. Somewhat reluctantly, Williams severed himself from the rest, though it caused a sneer which was hard to bear, and that night he was converted to God, and at once nobly confessed Christ as his Saviour.
At the age of twenty-one, he went out as a missionary to the South Sea Islands. Along with Robert Moffat, who was going out to Bechuanaland, and other seven, he was commended to the Lord by the aged Dr. Waugh, who said, “Go, my dear young brother, and if your tongue cleave to the roof of your mouth, let it be with telling poor sinners the love of Jesus Christ; and if your arms drop from your shoulders, let it be with knocking at men’s hearts to gain admission to Him there.” Twelve months later, he arrived in the Society Islands.
The island of Raiatea is the chief, as it is the center, of the group known as the Society Islands. Its king had for a long time previous to the entrance of the Gospel there exercised sovereignty over the lesser chiefs of the neighboring islands. It was also the religious capital of these islands, and the temple of their god. Its population was about 1300, and all idolaters. In the center of the island is a great mountain, rising in some parts to the height of two thousand feet, with a belt of land around the water’s edge, on which good crops are raised. Tomatoa, the chief or king, had already heard and professed to receive the Gospel. The glad tidings had reached Raiatea in the following remarkable way:—
Several of the smaller chiefs of the islands had some years before gone to assist Pomare, the chief of Tahiti, to recover the territory which some of the other rulers had taken from him. While they were on this expedition, they were brought into contact with a missionary from whom they gained some knowledge of the true God and the Gospel of His Son. When they returned to their native islands, they told to their friends what they had heard, and a general desire was expressed that the “teachers” should be invited to Raiatea. But the difficulty was, where to find them. A vessel driven by a storm from its moorings, came to Raiatea, and it was found that it had missionaries on board. They were willing to stay, and the chief, being favorably disposed toward them, built a place for meetings. A printing press had been set up in the island of Huabine, and from there books were sent to Raiatea, and the Lord began to bless His Word. Tamatoa, the king, was from the first an attentive hearer, and soon confessed his faith in Christ. This aroused the anger of the heathen chiefs, and while on a tour through his kingdom they waged war against Tamatoa, but notwithstanding their superiority in numbers, they were overpowered and the king and his bodyguard gained an easy victory. These heathen warriors had threatened all sorts of cruelties upon the Christians once they had them in their power, and when they found themselves prisoners in their hands they naturally feared that the same would be meted out to them. But Tamatoa and his men treated them with great consideration and kindness, which disposed them to regard the Gospel with much favor, and to give the missionaries a cordial reception. Williams threw his energies into the work, and was much used in preaching the Gospel among the natives. He made all other efforts subsidiary to this; he was first a Gospeller, and kept the preaching of Christ and the conversion of sinners always to the front. Writing to a friend at this time, he says, “I think and hope, that I have no other desire than the winning of sinners for Christ. My anxiety is, that my tongue may be engaged in proclaiming this salvation and that my words and actions may be always pointing to Christ.” Some idea of the extent of the work done may be gathered, from the fact that at the end of twelve months, a sum equal to £500, had been contributed by the converted Raiateans for the purpose of “causing the Word of God to grow,” as they well expressed it. Arrowroot and other native products were grown and prepared by those who had believed the Gospel, as a thank-offering, the king and his wife sharing in the gift, and themselves preparing their portion of it with their own hands. Tamatoa in bringing the royal bounty, said, “We would not give to God that upon which we bestowed no labor, but would rather prepare it with our own hands.”
Such was the Gospel’s first entrance and its victories in Raiatea. Truly it is a message of power, and works its wonders in men’s lives wherever it is received, in dark benighted heathendom where idolatry has held sway, and in the enlightened but guilty lands of civilization and science, where sin is clad in richer garments and hid beneath a religious profession.