Vihala received us
with joy unfeigned, and it was some little time before we could proceed,
from the number of people who crowded round us to express their
satisfaction at our arrival. Great also was ours when, at length moving
on, we saw before us a handsome structure, a church erected entirely by
the natives, under Vihala's superintendence, capable of holding seven or
eight hundred persons, and near it a school-house and two neat
residences for teachers.

"Your church is indeed large," observed Mr Bent, after expressing his
admiration of it to Vihala.

"Yes," was the quiet answer; "but all desire to hear the word, and why
should any be excluded? The kingdom of heaven is wide enough for all."

Alas! that any should so mistake the gospel message as to think
differently, and to act as if all should be thrust out who do not
conform to certain rules and regulations of man's invention, although
they with deep repentance trust in the blood of Christ alone for
salvation. Many a once heathen savage will rise up in the day of
judgment to condemn those men. Would that, for their own sakes, they
could even now voyage amid the isles of the Pacific, and behold the
glorious work wrought by the instrumentality of true Christian men of
various branches of the one Church, and I believe that they would be
compelled to acknowledge that an unction from on high is of more avail
in saving souls alive than any mere official and external qualification,
such as the Romish priesthood with its pretended apostolic succession
claims. The means are best judged of by the result, and that can be
known of all men. "By their works ye shall know them." It was
remarkable that, except for the few days Mr Bent had preached on the
islands, none of the inhabitants had heard the truth from a white
missionary, and yet the majority of them had cast away their idols, and
become nominal Christians,--while many of them were really converted.

We had a most delightful time on the island. The two new teachers we
brought somewhat reconciled the people to the loss of Vihala, though
their grief was most unmistakable when they were told that he must leave
them for a time at all events.

Again we were on the ocean, and approaching the island where Vihala
expected to meet his promised bride. He had long been separated from
her. He acknowledged that it had been for his good, and he hoped that,
with the spiritual benefits he had received while engaged as a te