practical work of the forge far more than in the easier and more popular
employments of the shop, and he was always eager to be sent out to
execute repairs, a task that was rather despised by his companions. He
was not regarded as a religious youth till he was about eighteen; he
considered that a serious direction had been given to his mind one Sunday
evening, when his master's wife, finding him just about to enter a tea-
garden with some idle companions, persuaded him to come with her to
chapel, where he heard an impressive sermon that gave a colour to his
life.

After this, distinct habits of piety were formed, Williams was admitted
to full membership at the chapel called the Tabernacle, and, together
with others of the more earnest young men of the congregation, formed a
society called "The Youths' Class," one of those associations which,
under whatever form, have, in all ages of Christianity, been found a most
powerful and salutary means of quickening, uniting, and strengthening the
young by the sense of fellowship. The lads met every Monday evening for
discussion, and every eighteenth Monday was devoted to special prayer.
The minister of the chapel did not naturally preside, but would often
look in, say a few words on the subject in hand, and thus keep watch that
the debates were properly conducted.

It was through this pastor, Mr. Wilks, that John Williams first imbibed
his interest in the missionary cause,--an interest that gradually grew
upon him so much, that in his twentieth year he decided upon devoting
himself to the task. Good Mr. Wilks freely gave the young ironmonger
assistance in supplying the deficiencies of his education, and in July
1816 he was presented to the directors of the London Missionary Society,
and passed an examination, after which he was accepted, before he was out
of his apprenticeship. According to rule, so young and so insufficiently
instructed a man would ordinarily have had some years of training before
actually undertaking to labour among the heathen, but there was at the
moment an urgent call for aid from various branches, and it was decided,
by a special vote of the committee, to send him out as soon as possible
to the South Sea Islands. His master willingly released him from the
seven months that remained of his term; nor had his time of
apprenticeship been by any means wasted, for the mechanical skill he had
acquired was of great importance to his success as a civilizer.