A895    Beagle Library:     Whateley, Richard. 1829. A view of the Scripture revelations concerning a future state. London: B. Fellowes.   Text

Christians with their Lord, and with each other, will never come to an end, but on the contrary will be improved and perfected in a better world. Your christian path will thus become smoother, and brighter, and more cheering, the further you advance in it; and when your course on earth is finished, you may trust confidently that it will be continued in a better state, to all eternity; you may trust that God will have laid up for you (as Paul says) a crown of glory, which is promised also to all those

A895    Beagle Library:     Whateley, Richard. 1829. A view of the Scripture revelations concerning a future state. London: B. Fellowes.   Text

sufferings might have gone some way at least towards expiating his sins, and making atonement for him, and might have contributed to exempt him from suffering in the other world. But to be relieved from suffering just at the last, and to die easily, is regarded either as a mark of acceptance with God, or for some either reason, as far more important than any other exemption from suffering through life. VII. Lastly, it is considered as of great importance that a man's remains should have been

A895    Beagle Library:     Whateley, Richard. 1829. A view of the Scripture revelations concerning a future state. London: B. Fellowes.   Text

working out our salvation, the duties fulfilled or omitted, the temptations we shall have yielded to or withstood. Again, I need hardly to point out to you a that there is no reason to suppose that any sufferings from disease, poverty, or other worldly affliction, can be in themselves meritorious, and likely to entiltle any one to acceptance with God. If indeed any person supports such trials with christian patience and fortitude, that will doubtless make him an object of God's favour: but the

A895    Beagle Library:     Whateley, Richard. 1829. A view of the Scripture revelations concerning a future state. London: B. Fellowes.   Text

measure, to his prayers to saints, who, he fancies, are his intercessors with God, to various superstitious ceremonies to sacred relics, as they are called, hung about his body, such as pieces of wood, supposed to be of the cross on which Christ suffered; bones, or locks of hair of dead men, and the like; to masses sung for him by the priests; and perhaps he trusts to have earned God's highest favour by persecuting and burning other Christians, whom he calls heretics. What multitudes have died

A895    Beagle Library:     Whateley, Richard. 1829. A view of the Scripture revelations concerning a future state. London: B. Fellowes.   Text

going to heaven, will actually be received there. A man's own expectations, in short, whether favourable or unfavourable, afford us grounds for judging of his future condition, as far, and only as far, as we have good reason for believing that those expectations are well-founded. I have said that it is unreasonable for any one who has been sincerely endeavouring to lead a christian life, to suppose himself rejected of God, from his not feeling, on the approach of death, that exalting

A895    Beagle Library:     Whateley, Richard. 1829. A view of the Scripture revelations concerning a future state. London: B. Fellowes.   Text

to take the will for the deed, and to pay them a whole day's wages, because it was not through any fault of their's that they had not done the whole day's work. The case of these labourers evidently is designed to represent that of the Gentiles to whom the knowledge of the true God was then about to be revealed, many ages later than it had been taught to the Jews. It is of these our Lord was speaking when he said, They shall come from the east, and from the west, and shall sit down with

A895    Beagle Library:     Whateley, Richard. 1829. A view of the Scripture revelations concerning a future state. London: B. Fellowes.   Text

words, the only ones recorded, in which he addresses our Lord on the cross, are such as no one would ever have used in addressing for the first time one to whom he was personally a stranger. Lord, remember me! You observe he does not even confess his sins, and implore forgiveness; he does not say, like the publican in the parable, God be merciful to me a sinner. The only allusion he makes to his sins is in a sharp rebuke to his fellow-sufferer, we receive the due reward of our deeds; but to

A895    Beagle Library:     Whateley, Richard. 1829. A view of the Scripture revelations concerning a future state. London: B. Fellowes.   Text

, both would have obtained favour; and that if both had acted like the other, neither would have obtained it. What is there in the rejection of a hardened unbeliever, to check the hopes, nay, the confident trust, of those who with hearty repentance, and true faith, turn to God? What is there, in the acceptance of such a penitent, to encourage hope, in hardened sinners, or in any whose repentance is not hearty, or whose faith is not sincere? It seems to me that one might as well speak in the same

A895    Beagle Library:     Whateley, Richard. 1829. A view of the Scripture revelations concerning a future state. London: B. Fellowes.   Text

one of them be cut off by a sudden accident, it should be imputed to him as a fault, that he should not have been particularly occupied with the thought of death an hour before it happened, or that he should fare worse at the day of judgment than the other, supposing that other to have warning given him, by a long illness, of his approaching end. The death of each was such as God appointed, and did not depend on themselves; and it is to be concluded that if they had changed places, each would

A895    Beagle Library:     Whateley, Richard. 1829. A view of the Scripture revelations concerning a future state. London: B. Fellowes.   Text

. Suppose now the case of a man in full health and security, who has been leading hitherto an unchristian life, coming to a sense of his sin, and resolving at once to turn to God with all his heart from this time, and beginning immediately to reform whatever is amiss, and setting about to strive to enter the strait gate; and suppose him the day after this cut off suddenly by some accident; and suppose again another man who has lived in the same irreligious state, up to the moment when he was

A895    Beagle Library:     Whateley, Richard. 1829. A view of the Scripture revelations concerning a future state. London: B. Fellowes.   Text

our speaking and reading to them, and praying over them, and interceding for them on their death-bed: give us of your oil (they seem to say) for our lamps are going out. And one circumstance which often makes the attendance of a minister in a sick room the more distressing to him, is, that he is sometimes even blamed as hard-hearted and unfeeling, if he refuse to hold out a confident hope of the dying man's acceptance with God, in a case where he perhaps can find nothing in Scripture to warrant

A895    Beagle Library:     Whateley, Richard. 1829. A view of the Scripture revelations concerning a future state. London: B. Fellowes.   Text

pain, and lets the disease gain ground unresisted. But honest Ministers (be assured) who watch over your souk, as they that must give an account, and who are sensible what a fearful account it will be, for those who shall have loved the praise of men more than the praise of God, will always be more afraid of displeasing their Master, than of displeasing you; more anxious for your eternal welfare, than for your present ease; and more ready to warn those in health and security, according to what

A549.1    Beagle Library:     Ellis, William. 1829. Polynesian researches, during a residence of nearly six years on the South Sea Islands, including descriptions of the natural history and scenery of the islands-with remarks on the history, mythology, traditions, government, arts, manners, and customs of the inhabitants. 2 vols. London: Fisher, Son & Jackson. vol. 1   Text   Image

island to island in the Pacific, and have gazed in fancy on the romantic hills and valleys, together with their strange but interesting inhabitants, that I should ever visit any of these scenes, the description of which afforded me so much satisfaction. Yet this, in the providence of God, has since taken place; and I have been led, not indeed on a voyage of discovery, commercial adventure, or naval enterprise, but, as a Christian Missionary, on an errand of instruction; not only to visit, but to

A549.1    Beagle Library:     Ellis, William. 1829. Polynesian researches, during a residence of nearly six years on the South Sea Islands, including descriptions of the natural history and scenery of the islands-with remarks on the history, mythology, traditions, government, arts, manners, and customs of the inhabitants. 2 vols. London: Fisher, Son & Jackson. vol. 1   Text   Image

, where Mrs. Ellis and the nurse had been sitting ever since their first approach to the ship; and when I saw our little daughter, only four months old, sleeping securely in her birth, I was deeply impressed with the merciful providence of God, in the preservation of the child. During the forenoon, the infant had been playing unconsciously in her nurse's lap upon the quarter-deck, under the awning, which was usually spread in fine weather, and she had but recently taken her to the cabin, when the

A549.1    Beagle Library:     Ellis, William. 1829. Polynesian researches, during a residence of nearly six years on the South Sea Islands, including descriptions of the natural history and scenery of the islands-with remarks on the history, mythology, traditions, government, arts, manners, and customs of the inhabitants. 2 vols. London: Fisher, Son & Jackson. vol. 1   Text   Image

meats of war, and, rushing into each other's arms, presented a scene of gratulation and joy very different from the murderous conflict in which they expected to have been engaged. They repaired in company to the residence of the principal chief, where an entertainment was provided. Here the Missionaries had a second interview with the chiefs, who welcomed them to the island, and expressed their desires to be instructed concerning the true God, and the new religion, as they usually denominated

A549.1    Beagle Library:     Ellis, William. 1829. Polynesian researches, during a residence of nearly six years on the South Sea Islands, including descriptions of the natural history and scenery of the islands-with remarks on the history, mythology, traditions, government, arts, manners, and customs of the inhabitants. 2 vols. London: Fisher, Son & Jackson. vol. 1   Text   Image

, and, after several disappointments, held a. public interview with Pomare, Otu, and other principal chiefs, in which they stated, as distinctly as possible, through the medium of Peter Hagerstien, as interpreter, their design in coming to reside amongst them; viz. to instruct them in useful arts, teach them reading and writing, and make known to them the only true God, and the way to happiness in a future state; urging the discontinuance of human sacrifices, and the abolition of infanticide. As

A549.1    Beagle Library:     Ellis, William. 1829. Polynesian researches, during a residence of nearly six years on the South Sea Islands, including descriptions of the natural history and scenery of the islands-with remarks on the history, mythology, traditions, government, arts, manners, and customs of the inhabitants. 2 vols. London: Fisher, Son & Jackson. vol. 1   Text   Image

leave, he directed them to take their property with them; hereby evincing the most disinterested friendship, and a desire to alleviate, rather than profit by, their distresses. Their situation was critical, but in a letter which they forwarded on this occasion to the Society, they express firm confidence in God, unabated attachment to their work, and contentment with such means of support as the country afforded. Not long after the departure of the Nautilus, it was reported, that in order to

A549.1    Beagle Library:     Ellis, William. 1829. Polynesian researches, during a residence of nearly six years on the South Sea Islands, including descriptions of the natural history and scenery of the islands-with remarks on the history, mythology, traditions, government, arts, manners, and customs of the inhabitants. 2 vols. London: Fisher, Son & Jackson. vol. 1   Text   Image

. Bicknell, bore his remains to the grave, where Mr. Harris read the xcth Psalm, and offered up an appropriate prayer to Almighty God. The circumstances of his death were truly affecting, and the feelings of the Missionaries such as it would be in vain to attempt to [page] 9

A549.1    Beagle Library:     Ellis, William. 1829. Polynesian researches, during a residence of nearly six years on the South Sea Islands, including descriptions of the natural history and scenery of the islands-with remarks on the history, mythology, traditions, government, arts, manners, and customs of the inhabitants. 2 vols. London: Fisher, Son & Jackson. vol. 1   Text   Image

the account of the creation, and deeply affected with the exhibition of Jesus Christ, as the true atonement for sin; instead of pearls, or pigs, or other offerings, which they had been accustomed to consider as the best means of propitiation their deities. Some said they desired to pray to the true God, but were afraid the gods of Tahiti would destroy them if they did: others remarked, that the duff came last among the ships, and that, if the gospel had been conveyed by the first ship, the gods

A549.1    Beagle Library:     Ellis, William. 1829. Polynesian researches, during a residence of nearly six years on the South Sea Islands, including descriptions of the natural history and scenery of the islands-with remarks on the history, mythology, traditions, government, arts, manners, and customs of the inhabitants. 2 vols. London: Fisher, Son & Jackson. vol. 1   Text   Image

to their fury. Flushed wish suecess, and animated with the belief that the god fought with them, the rebels, having affered in sacrifice the bodies of the slain, and united in their confederacy the districts of Papara, and the whole of the south-west side of the larger peninsula, crossed the marched at once to Tautira, and attacked the king and Pomare; who, ever since their arrived with the idol they had seized in Atehuru, had been engaged in offering human sacrifiees, and by other acts of

A549.1    Beagle Library:     Ellis, William. 1829. Polynesian researches, during a residence of nearly six years on the South Sea Islands, including descriptions of the natural history and scenery of the islands-with remarks on the history, mythology, traditions, government, arts, manners, and customs of the inhabitants. 2 vols. London: Fisher, Son & Jackson. vol. 1   Text   Image

the aggrandisement of his person and family; and if the Missionaries would have allowed the claims of Oro or Tane to have received an equal degree of attention to that which they required for Jehovah, or Jesus Christ, Pomare would readily have admitted them; but when required to renounce his dependence upon the idols of his ancestors, and to acknowledge Jehovah alone as the true God, he at once rejected their message. He was justly considered as the principal support of the idolatry of his

A549.1    Beagle Library:     Ellis, William. 1829. Polynesian researches, during a residence of nearly six years on the South Sea Islands, including descriptions of the natural history and scenery of the islands-with remarks on the history, mythology, traditions, government, arts, manners, and customs of the inhabitants. 2 vols. London: Fisher, Son & Jackson. vol. 1   Text   Image

rebels, being reinforced from the districts to the eastward, refused to meet Pomare, or negociate with him; and war appeared inevitable. The king, expecting that his camp, which was at Matavai, would be immediately attacked, recommended that the wives and children of the Missionaries should take shelter in the vessel. They embarked on the 7th amid much confusion, but with the sincerest gratitude to God for the refuge so seasonably provided. The night passed without any attack; several leading

A549.1    Beagle Library:     Ellis, William. 1829. Polynesian researches, during a residence of nearly six years on the South Sea Islands, including descriptions of the natural history and scenery of the islands-with remarks on the history, mythology, traditions, government, arts, manners, and customs of the inhabitants. 2 vols. London: Fisher, Son & Jackson. vol. 1   Text   Image

object than now prevails; but the appeals and addresses, delivered at that period, manifest a deep conviction of human insufficiency, and breathe a spirit of entire dependence upon the blessing of God. But although Tahiti was, by the departure of the Missionaries, surrendered, for a season, as a prey to the spoiler, and subjected to the rule of ignorance, barbarism, and idolatry, it was not abandoned by Him, in obedience to whose command to go and teach all nations, the Mission had been

A549.1    Beagle Library:     Ellis, William. 1829. Polynesian researches, during a residence of nearly six years on the South Sea Islands, including descriptions of the natural history and scenery of the islands-with remarks on the history, mythology, traditions, government, arts, manners, and customs of the inhabitants. 2 vols. London: Fisher, Son & Jackson. vol. 1   Text   Image

the mouth of a man, formerly a priest of an akua mao, shark god; but it is too absurd to be recorded. The principal motives, however, by Which the people appear to have been influenced in their homage to these creatures, was the same that operated on their minds in reference to other acts of idolatry; it was the principle of fear, and a desire to avoid destruction, in the event of being exposed to their anger at sea. The superstitious fears of the people have now entirely ceased. I was once in

A549.1    Beagle Library:     Ellis, William. 1829. Polynesian researches, during a residence of nearly six years on the South Sea Islands, including descriptions of the natural history and scenery of the islands-with remarks on the history, mythology, traditions, government, arts, manners, and customs of the inhabitants. 2 vols. London: Fisher, Son & Jackson. vol. 1   Text   Image

sorrows, and privations of their remote and isolated station, and to pursue in solitary pilgrimage the arduous and rugged track in which the providence of God had called them to walk, far from the sympathy of the kindred and friends of the departed. They were equally remote from all the kind attentions of tenderest friendship, the rich consolations of Christian intercourse, and the public ordinances of that religion, which is alone adapted to impart effectual consolation. Cut off also from the