Father of all his creatures. I spoke of his power and his goodness, and
told them that though invisible to our eyes, as the wind which stirred
the tops of the palm-trees above them, he was ever near each one of us,
hearing our words, seeing our actions, reading our thoughts, and caring
for us continually.

"I endeavoured to illustrate these attributes of God, by references and
allusions to the daily aspects of nature around them, and to ideas and
notions with which their mode of life, and the system of superstition in
which they had been trained, rendered them familiar. My especial aim
was to lead them, unconsciously, as it were, and without making any
direct attack upon their religion, to contrast the benignant character
of Him who has permitted us to call Him `Our Father in Heaven,' with
that of the malignant beings they had been taught to worship.

"I next spoke of death, and of a future life, and assured them that the
friends whom they had buried, and they themselves, and all who had ever
lived, should awake as from a brief sleep, and live again for ever. But
when I proceeded to declare that most awful and mysterious doctrine of
our religion, and spoke of the worm that dieth not and the fire that is
not quenched, of eternal happiness, and unending woe, I could see by the
earnestness of their attention, and the expression of their
countenances, how powerfully they were impressed.

"I cannot remember all that I said, or the language I used, but I
endeavoured to set before them in a shape adapted to their
comprehension, the simple elements of the Christian scheme--the great
doctrines of God and immortality, of human sinfulness and
accountability, and of salvation through Jesus Christ. But encouraged
by the attention and apparent interest of the silent and listening
circle, in the glow of the moment, I went beyond this prescribed limit,
and from these vast general truths, I began at last to speak of
particular acts and practices. As I thought once more of the marae in
the forest, and of the unhappy Malola, I told the people that our Father
beyond the sky could alone hear their prayers, and should alone be
worshipped; that he desired no sacrifices of living things; that he was
offended and displeased with all cruelty and bloodshed; and that the
offering of human sacrifices, and the killing of aged persons, were
crimes which he detested, and would be sure to punish; that he had
expressly commanded children to love