at was in man,
`that many are called but few chosen,' and that this is true in Samoa as
elsewhere. Of the many thousands who have become nominal Christians, we
have every reason to hope that some--I might dare to say many--have
accepted Christ to their eternal salvation. And Samoa forms but one
group out of the many thousand isles of this ocean.

"Let us take a glance at Tonga, at which Williams called, as I told you,
on that first voyage, so peculiarly blessed to Samoa. You have heard
how a body of missionaries so far back as 1797 were landed at Tongatabu,
from the ship _Duffy_ by Captain Wilson. They were all ultimately
compelled to leave the island, very much in consequence of the conduct
of some white runaway seamen or convicts, who set the natives against
them. Several were ultimately murdered, the rest escaped to New South
Wales with the exception of one, who, sad to say, apostatised, and lived
as a savage among the savages for some years. More than twenty years
passed by, and the savage character of the wrongly named Friendly
Islanders prevented any further attempt being made to offer them the
gospel of peace; when God put it into the heart of the Reverend W Laury,
a Wesleyan minister residing in New South Wales, who had been interested
in the people by a widow of one of the early missionaries, to attempt
their conversion. He sailed from Sydney in June, 1822, on board the
_Saint Michael_, a merchant vessel, with his family, accompanied by a
carpenter and blacksmith, both pious young men. He reached Tonga in
safety, and remained for upwards of a year, gaining the language of the
people, and protected by the chiefs, but without making any converts.
On his return to Sydney he left the two young mechanics, and they were
afterwards joined by the Reverend John Thomas, a young ardent missionary
from England. They had indeed need of faith and patience. The chiefs
who at first protected them proved themselves fickle and treacherous,
robbing them of all they possessed, and it was evident that they valued
their presence among them on account of the property they brought, not
for the sake of the religious instruction they would afford. Just
before Mr Thomas's arrival at Hihifo, on the west side of Tonga, two
native teachers from Tahiti, on their way to Fiji, had landed at
Nukualofa on the north coast. The preaching of these devoted men had
awakened such a spirit of inquiry, that when Mr Thomas preached at
Hihifo,