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much of kind providences of God in times of danger, &
trouble. Had I known the warfare I should have had to
maintain in the beginning of the Christian life, I should
have chosen strangling & death rather than enter upon it.
However one contest gets over & another comes, but by & by
they will all have an end. I know the place I fill in
society is my own. I am [indecipherable] out of my station, & therefore I may
expect to meet with all needful support, & comfort. I have writ=
=ten often to you & yours, but my letters may have been lost at
sea as several vessels have from our [indecipherable]. If you do not
hear from us you must not conclude that you are not kindly
remembered by us all. We bear an affectionate regard for
our pious friends in England, & talk & think of them
with much satisfaction. I have lately visited New Zealand &
spent a little time with the inhabitants. It has long been an
ardent wish to form a little settlement amongst that noble
race of people, and at length I have accomplished that
object & hope the first foundation there is now laid for

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a Christian church to be built upon, & that the gates
of hell shall never prevail against it. These poor hea=
thens are literally without hope & without God in the world
You will perhaps hear some account of these people & their
island, as I have transmitted my account to the Church
Missionary Society, who may probably make some part of
it public. I sat down & conversed with these people as
a man with his friend, & then laid down amongst
them and slept in safety. When I viewed the men who
I knew had massacred & afterwards ate our people;
particularly in the case of the 'Boyd', I cannot express
what my feelings were. How dreadfully has sin debased
the human mind! These men were intelligent, [indecipherable]
& friendly, & shewed a readiness to do everything that
[indecipherable] was proper & yet could be guilty of a crime so repug
=nant to the feelings of nature. Amongst the heathen nations
we may see more into the dreadful nature of sin, than in civilized na
=tions. But are we better than they? [indecipherable] wise. Tho' we may not be