restless activity and eagerness of the man to do all that could be done in the little space of time it was probable his life might occupy, and there was something grand in the bravery with which he faced dangers, subdued fears, and endured hardships while in a state of health which made him feel them a thousandfold more than others would who were more robust; for, as Joanna Baillie has well said

"The brave man is not he who feels no fear,

For that were stupid and unnatural;

But he whose noble soul its fear subdues,

And bravely dares the danger nature shrinks from.
As for your youths whom blood and blows delight,
Away with them! There is not in their crew
One valiant spirit."

A brave, noble fellow, from whose lips no one ever knew an unkind word to pass, a manly Christian gentleman, and a hero in his devotion to science, Charles Tyrwhitt Drake rests in the English burying-ground on Mount Zion, his memory cherished not only by a wide circle of European friends, but by multitudes of the Syrian and Arab peasantry.

The Ironmonger's Apprentice-John Williams-In the South Sea Islands-Among the Raiateans-The Messenger of Peace-Visits Erromanga-Murdered by the Natives-Contrasts-Henry Martyn Sails for India-A Sad Love-Story -Failures and Successes-Sabat the Apostate-A Fearful Journey-A Lonely Death-Allen Gardiner-Adventures in Zululand-Among the Indian Tribes-Fuegians and Patagonians-The Pioneer and Speedwell-Wreck, Accident, and Disaster-Hope Deferred-Starvation-Desertion-Discovery-A Tale with Two Morals-John Coleridge Patteson His Character-Commodore Goodenough-His Noble Life-Treachery of Natives-Poisoned Arrows-Death The Universities Mission to Central Africa-Bishop Mackenzie-Liberation of Slaves A Painful Position-A Fatal Journey.

T. PAUL speaks with admiration of "men who have hazarded their lives for the name of the Lord Jesus," and Church History tells the painful yet glorious story of martyrdom, establishing the truth of the saying that the "blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church." Not, however, to the far-off days when persecution was rife and the catacombs sheltered fugitive worshippers are we alone to look for that spirit which St. Paul commended, or to those martyr-deaths which sealed the zealous labours of the faithful. In our own day and by our own countrymen daring lives have ended in martyr-deaths for the sake of the Gospel, and these Heroes of the Church are no less worthy of our reverent regard than those who perished in Apostolic times.

One Sunday evening in 1814 a group of young men were entering a tea garden, intending to spend some idle and unprofitable hours together, when one of them, a strong young man of eighteen, an ironmonger's apprentice, was stopped by the wife of his employer, who begged him not to waste his Sunday hours in that fashion, but to come with her. The young man consented, accompanied her to the Moorfield's Tabernacle, heard a stirring sermon which touched in his heart chords that had never responded before to any appeal; and from that time forth he renounced the habits of his past life, joined a religious community assembling at the

Tabernacle, formed a Young Men's Society for Mutual Improvement, and while still continuing his work at the ironmonger's-where he preferred the workshop to the counter, and the hard practical work of the forge to the easier employments in the shop-gave marked indications that there was more in him than the mere apprentice or the mere "religiouslydisposed" young man.

He became interested in missionary work; and before he was out of his apprenticeship, with the consent of his employer, he offered his services to the London Missionary Society. They were accepted, and it was decided to send him out as soon as possible to the South Sea Islands, great interest being taken at that time in the inhabitants through the publication of Captain Cook's voyages. In the meantime he devoted himself to the improvement of his education, especially in those subjects which would be most useful to him as a missionary; married Mary Channer, a fellow-worshipper at the Tabernacle; and soon after, when only twenty years of age, John Williams was publicly dedicated to his great work. At that meeting there were nine labourers going forth into the great harvest-field of heathendom, five to South Africa and four to Polynesia. Publicly they were questioned as to

their faith, their notions, their intentions, and clear and emphatic were the answers given by John Williams, who was by far the youngest of the nine, and by Robert Moffat, of whose labours we have already written.

JOHN WILLIAMS AMONG THE SOUTH SEA ISLANDERS.

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Although John Williams lacked a thorough education, he possessed abilities which stood him in better stead than learning. He had his own ideas upon things in general, was full of enterprise and ingenuity, and was thoroughly robust in mind and body: a quick-witted man, ready to adapt himself to any circumstances and make the best of them; a hearty, goodnatured and sympathetic man, who made friends wherever he went; and a man so firm, honest, and true that people, civilised or savage, believed in him whether. they agreed with him or not; in short, John Williams possessed just those qualifications which are required in a pioneer missionary.

A twelvemonth after leaving England, Williams was at Eimeo, one of the Society Islands, working hard, making great progress in the Tahitian language, and assisting in building a ship to enable Pomare, the King of Tahiti, who had accepted Christianity, to open up trading relations with New South Wales. But he was not to remain here long; the fame of the missionaries having spread throughout the islands, Tamatoa, King of Raiatea, earnestly solicited that they might be sent to his island, the largest and most beautiful of the Society Group. Two years before this the Gospel had been preached on the island by the Rev. Mr. Wilson, who with King Pomare and nineteen of his subjects had been driven there by stress of weather. Tamatoa had been so impressed with the truths of Christianity that he was prepared to accept it as the national religion, and had built a place of worship, in the hope that some day a missionary might come to them, and where in the meantime they rehearsed together all they could remember of the teaching of Mr. Wilson.

CREEK IN ONE OF THE ISLES OF THE LOUISIADE ARCHIPELAGO.

Great was the rejoicing of Tamatoa when John Williams with his wife and child came to settle amongst them, and soon the missionary was at active work. He found the people inveterately idle, and he knew that idleness was the parent of all mischief; his first efforts

therefore were directed to their employment, and as he had no notion of a religion which consisted mainly in shouting "Hallelujah," he set them to work, teaching them to dig and to build. Believing too that example was better than precept, Williams constructed for himself a pleasant eight-roomed house with sash windows and Venetian blinds; he laid out and planted an exquisite garden, and he furnished his house with polished furniture, the work of his own hands. Soon the king had a house built for himself like the missionary's, then others followed. Science and art in crude forms became popular, one by one the old mud hovels were abandoned, and in two years' time there stood a well-built chapel and schools in the midst of pleasant and healthy cottages and houses. Improvements were made in the clothing and domestic habits of the people, and at the same time the primary object of the mission was not forgotten; faithfully and earnestly the good missionary preached the Gospel to the people, turning their hearts gradually away from that horrible system of idolatry which once had had its home and centre in that island. As time went on further improvements were introduced; the social condition of the people was improved by the establishment of legal marriage, and a complete code of laws, based on the Ten Commandments, was adopted by the votes of the people and the hearty assent of the king and the chiefs. The new system comprehended also trial by jury.

When John Williams had put the Raiateans in a fair way to help themselves, he became anxious to establish in other islands similar institutions; moreover, he was anxious to find a market for the produce of the Society Isles. He therefore visited Sydney, where he had parts of the Holy Scriptures, catechisms, and spelling books printed, and where he purchased a schooner of 80 to 90 tons, in which he proposed to visit various islands, and plant the seeds of civilisation and Christianity.

From this time forward the work of Williams was incessant, and although his plan of action was disapproved by the London Missionary Society, under whose auspices he laboured, he persevered to the end. He was obliged to relinquish the schooner, but not until he had discovered the island of Rarotonga, the finest and most populous of the Hervey Group, where he left a native teacher and promised to send further aid.

In the course of a few years Williams again visited Rarotonga, conquered the difficulties of the language, which he reduced into a written form and grammatical system, and instituted reforms similar to those established at Raiatea. When the time he intended to stay at Rarotonga had expired, he waited for months in the hope of some vessel passing within sight to take him back to Raiatea; but none appearing, he set to work to build a ship for himself, and nothing daunted by the fact that he had but few tools and no competent assistance, he laboured on, and at the end of fifteen weeks his ship, the Messenger of Peace, was completed. With a native crew he sailed on a trial trip of 170 miles to Aitutaki, and returned with a valuable cargo of pigs, cats, and cocoa-nuts: after that he sailed to Raiatea, prior to commencing a long missionary tour. Of that tour we cannot enter into particulars further than to say that he visited Savage Island, Tongataboo, Savaii, and many other islands of the Hapai and Samoan or Navigator's Groups, and that everywhere the fearless soldier of the Cross told his message of peace, and uttered the glad tidings of great joy, and found the people in almost every instance ready to welcome teachers among them.

In 1834, after eighteen years' unceasing labour, John Williams returned to England, not to rest, but to enter into a new sphere of labour. To carry out the important interests he had