John Hunt: To the Cannibal Isles

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[00:00:30] Martyrs and Missionaries is a production of revived studios

[00:00:36] You're listening to Martyrs and Missionaries. I'm Elise and in every episode

[00:00:40] I'll bring you a new Martyr and or missionary the called in the brave in this episode recovering the life of John Hunt

[00:00:46] missionary to the cannibals of Fiji

[00:01:00] So

[00:01:03] I want to give you a little bit of background on Fiji just to give you an idea of what it's like where it is that sort of thing

[00:01:18] so it it it is an island country in the South Pacific about

[00:01:22] 1700 miles north of New Zealand

[00:01:24] It has over 300 islands, but only about a hundred of those are inhabited

[00:01:29] And now most people live on the two major islands

[00:01:32] Vanua Lavi and V2 Lavi Fiji became a British colony in 1874 after a chief seated it in order to pay off his debts

[00:01:40] And it remained a British colony until

[00:01:42] 1970 and is now a parliamentary democracy with close ties to Britain

[00:01:47] In fact so close that some figions actually still choose to serve in the British military

[00:01:52] The main religion in Fiji is Christianity at 64%

[00:01:57] 28% are Hindu and 6% are Muslim

[00:02:01] These last two groups are not necessarily indigenous

[00:02:04] Fiji but those who were actually brought over from other places during the slave trade

[00:02:09] And it is known today as a tropical paradise and the Bobbler's of very expensive water

[00:02:14] But less than 200 years ago they were known as the cannibal Isles

[00:02:18] So what changed?

[00:02:20] And as you know

[00:02:21] Missionaries and namely one man in particular John Hunt whom we are covering today

[00:02:27] If you look at the life of John Hunt it's a very short one he only lives for 36 years

[00:02:33] But in his short life he learned multiple languages

[00:02:36] And he worked to translate the New Testament into the Fiji language directly from the Greek and then

[00:02:42] Interspersed with Fiji and idioms to maximize understanding

[00:02:46] But what may surprise you is that he was born in England to a literate parents

[00:02:52] So for much of his youth he had almost none of the qualities that he would come to be known for

[00:02:56] He wasn't thought of as particularly bright

[00:02:58] He was only mildly interested in religion and he spent most of his time working on the farm

[00:03:04] Not even his own farm. He was working for someone else

[00:03:07] Although he did go to a local school where he learned how to read and write

[00:03:11] It wasn't until he was 16 years old and feared he was dying from a brain fever

[00:03:15] Whereas life trajectory was changed

[00:03:18] He barely survived and so he decided to go to the Methodist Chapel

[00:03:23] And he felt convicted but he still wasn't quite ready to make a decision

[00:03:26] He attended a meeting and then he asked for the fellow attendees there to pray for him to have wisdom and guidance

[00:03:32] And then later on he went to a sermon with some of those same people to hear a well-known preacher in his day

[00:03:38] Someone whose name we've forgotten now

[00:03:39] But I'll read his conversion from his biography here

[00:03:43] The sermon he says was plain pointed and powerful and some parts of it were awful

[00:03:48] But the main effect on my mind was rather hardening than otherwise

[00:03:52] He stayed to the prayer meeting but still seemed unmoved

[00:03:55] His party of friends had set out home words but hunt proposed to return again to the chapel

[00:04:00] The preacher was praying by the side of a poor woman

[00:04:02] Send us more power

[00:04:04] John was moved to say amen

[00:04:05] And in a moment he himself was broken down and prayed in an agony

[00:04:10] Before he had left the place he had found conscious salvation

[00:04:14] And it was from that moment forward that he was interested in spiritual and intellectual improvement

[00:04:19] Because he'd had a very basic education but it honestly wasn't wasn't much of one at all

[00:04:24] And so he was actually able to utilize his employer's librarian order to read all sorts of books

[00:04:29] In the spare moments he wasn't working or spending in prayer

[00:04:33] And he also started going to night school

[00:04:35] And he prayed that the Lord would direct him to be a minister

[00:04:38] That's what he wanted to do

[00:04:40] And God answered his prayer rather quickly because one evening while in church

[00:04:44] It turned out that there was no preacher

[00:04:46] That was going to be coming that night and so John was asked to give an address

[00:04:50] And words spread that many felt the Lord had blessed him with the gift of preaching

[00:04:54] And before long he was in high demand as a circuit preacher

[00:04:58] And so people from everywhere in his local area of Lincolnshire loved his preaching

[00:05:02] The straightforwardness of it and his passionate earnestness for souls

[00:05:06] And John later wrote the reason for his success

[00:05:09] I see to be useful as a public speaker

[00:05:11] I must be imminent as a private Christian

[00:05:14] Reverend William Smith who was the head of his circuit

[00:05:18] wanted to give John a larger reach and recommended him for ministry at a quarterly meeting in 1835

[00:05:24] And he was accepted unanimously

[00:05:26] And was approved to begin his studies at a seminary in London

[00:05:30] Now there was a missionary who was on furlough from South Africa

[00:05:32] And then he had been on redeputation because he had been off the field for a number of years

[00:05:36] He needed to come back

[00:05:38] And he was able to hear John speak

[00:05:40] And then they struck up kind of a conversation

[00:05:43] And John had this new ambition that he wanted to return with this missionary

[00:05:48] To South Africa as his servant to do some gardening and some farm work

[00:05:52] To teach in the Sunday school and to preach to the English settlers

[00:05:56] So then he shifts the focus of his studies

[00:05:58] Towards what would be profitable for foreign ministry in South Africa

[00:06:02] And he felt blessed to have so many wonderful professors to learn from at the seminary

[00:06:06] And he worked just as hard to learn everything as he could from them

[00:06:09] And it's time he felt overwhelmed and said

[00:06:12] I may not be able to do much but I can applaud

[00:06:15] So while his seminary he determined to keep a diary

[00:06:18] And he wrote his first entry November 14th 1836

[00:06:22] I now in the fear of God commence keeping a diary

[00:06:25] I think it will be of use to me

[00:06:27] As this is a very important period of my life

[00:06:30] I have no doubt that what I may write will be useful to me in future days

[00:06:34] And it wasn't only useful to him

[00:06:36] But also to his future biographies

[00:06:38] One of those biographies writes

[00:06:40] The true life of a man will be found in his letters and diaries

[00:06:44] Like a flower preserved in its color and freshness and fragrance

[00:06:47] They show us the true inwardness of things

[00:06:51] A few years later in February of 1838

[00:06:53] Two missionaries from Fiji came back to England

[00:06:56] And they told these horrific tales

[00:06:58] Of the cannibalism and wife strangling that was going on over there

[00:07:02] And so in response the Wesleyan mission house asked a John to join their Fiji mission

[00:07:07] Alongside a few other men

[00:07:09] So John went home to think about it and pray about it

[00:07:12] But he was also worried that his long time

[00:07:14] A sweetheart and a summer's would say no

[00:07:17] Because she was prepared to go with him to South Africa

[00:07:20] But would she feel the same way about a bunch of cannibal islands

[00:07:24] In the far-flung south Pacific

[00:07:26] So we don't have her exact response to that

[00:07:28] But we do have the ultimate answer

[00:07:30] Which was yes

[00:07:32] They get married less than a month later

[00:07:34] And then they and their team set out for Fiji in April

[00:07:37] Arriving in Australia in August

[00:07:39] And they spent two months there before heading out in October

[00:07:43] Alongside John Williams who was headed to what is now Vaughan Awatu

[00:07:47] And his name may sound familiar to you because he's actually cropped up

[00:07:50] More than a few times in previous episodes

[00:07:52] Most prominently in the story of John G. Peyton

[00:07:55] Because he will be killed and cannibalized almost one year

[00:07:58] Later to the date

[00:08:00] But John Hunt and the rest of the Fiji mission arrived in the Rewa province

[00:08:03] Where they will be stationed in December of 1838

[00:08:06] And it's kind of crazy to think that all of this happened

[00:08:09] In less than a year's time

[00:08:10] Which is so different from missions today

[00:08:12] Where it often takes just years and years

[00:08:14] To get missionaries to the field

[00:08:17] They had two veteran missionaries who were already working there

[00:08:20] In Rewa for about three years

[00:08:22] These were reverends

[00:08:23] Javid Cargill and William Cross

[00:08:26] And a few months before they landed in Fiji

[00:08:28] An interesting thing occurred

[00:08:30] Where you could say a thing of providence

[00:08:32] That would work to keep all future missionaries safe from cannibalism

[00:08:37] So an English ship had gone too close to the island

[00:08:39] And then was overwhelmed and burned by natives

[00:08:42] And its crew included two missionaries who were dressed up

[00:08:45] In religious garb

[00:08:47] When they were all cooked and eaten

[00:08:49] And everyone who took part in that particular feast

[00:08:52] Died and then many others contracted the black plague

[00:08:54] Which spread far and wide

[00:08:56] The priests gathered the people together and explained to them

[00:08:59] That they had killed the priests of the white man's god

[00:09:01] And he was angry with him

[00:09:03] So they could still kill and eat white men

[00:09:05] But they weren't allowed to touch the priests

[00:09:08] Now of course Cargill and Cross

[00:09:10] Left for Fiji and they had no idea about any of this

[00:09:13] So later when they asked if they were afraid of being killed

[00:09:16] Cargill said

[00:09:17] No because we died before we went

[00:09:19] Which you have to of

[00:09:21] Because you had no idea that you would actually

[00:09:23] Be totally safe from cannibalism

[00:09:26] So that's a pretty cool story

[00:09:27] That's a really providential story

[00:09:31] So to paint another picture of Fiji for you

[00:09:34] It is home to the largest soft coral reef in the world

[00:09:37] And the missionaries who were sailing

[00:09:40] Into the islands were in awe of its beauty as they sailed into harbor

[00:09:43] And one of the wives wrote

[00:09:45] When the tide is low and the sea without a ripple

[00:09:47] You float idly over the coral beds

[00:09:50] Suffering your boat to lie at rest

[00:09:52] As a stroke of the ores will disturb the clear surface of the water beneath which lay

[00:09:58] Such inexhaustible stores of loveliness

[00:10:00] Every sort and kind of coral grow there together

[00:10:03] And from the outstretched branches which looked like golden shrubs to the great tables

[00:10:08] Of solid coral

[00:10:09] On which lie strewn shells and sponges

[00:10:12] And heaps of brain and mushroom corals

[00:10:14] These living shrubs assume every shade of color

[00:10:17] Some are delicate pink or blue

[00:10:19] Others of a brilliant mauve

[00:10:21] Some pale primrose

[00:10:23] So I say this to paint a picture of what it looks like at the sea

[00:10:27] And then what it looks like on the actual islands themselves

[00:10:31] So Fijiens lived in comfortable houses and towns

[00:10:34] And their society was divided up into guilds

[00:10:36] They were divided into potters

[00:10:38] And farmers and fishermen and carpenters

[00:10:40] And priest

[00:10:41] And they had no written language

[00:10:43] But their history was recorded in songs and chants

[00:10:46] So mythology's legends and proverbs could all be recited at great length

[00:10:50] By any one of the priests when the need arose

[00:10:53] And as John was studying their language

[00:10:55] He found that the cause of their obscene amounts of cannibalism

[00:10:58] Was inherently religious

[00:11:00] So the bodies of their fallen enemies were brought up to the temple

[00:11:03] And then offered as a sacrifice to the gods

[00:11:06] They were not cooked in normal pots

[00:11:07] But actually in special ovens designed specifically for

[00:11:11] The purpose of ritualistic cannibalism

[00:11:13] And they kept a record of how many bodies had been sacrificed

[00:11:16] In the temples and later consumed

[00:11:19] And the greatest insult or revenge you could give to an enemy

[00:11:22] Was to kill him, cook him, and then leave him

[00:11:24] To bake away in the oven without consuming him

[00:11:28] Cannibalism was never practiced out of lack of food

[00:11:31] But the routine consumption of human flesh

[00:11:34] Created a kind of humoring for it

[00:11:36] Warriors were said to be hungering to eat their foes

[00:11:39] And like other similar cultures

[00:11:41] They believed that eating their victims

[00:11:43] Would grant them their bravery and strength etc

[00:11:46] King Takumbau, whose name you will hear again, said that by the time he was 50

[00:11:50] He had probably consumed portions of at least 1,000 sacrifices

[00:11:56] So it's this mission field

[00:11:58] A 26 year old John Hunt and his new wife found themselves in

[00:12:03] About a month after he'd arrived in Rewa

[00:12:05] He got his first chance to preach

[00:12:06] And everyone was listening plightly

[00:12:08] Because culturally it was considered extremely rude

[00:12:11] To smile or point out her grammatical

[00:12:13] Or pronunciation error

[00:12:14] So he had absolutely no idea

[00:12:16] How well he actually did or if anything was even understood

[00:12:20] But as he continued studying and talking with people

[00:12:23] And he ended up progressing quite nicely

[00:12:25] And he enjoyed speaking and writing the idioms of the Feejin language

[00:12:28] And as a result was granted the position of chief editor

[00:12:32] For their biblical translation work

[00:12:34] So they were working on the New Testament first

[00:12:36] And then he was actually translating it directly from the Greek

[00:12:39] Instead of an English translation

[00:12:41] And then when he finished a section

[00:12:42] He was send it off to a native editor

[00:12:44] Who would then make sure that it flowed well

[00:12:47] But the translation was slow going

[00:12:49] Because there are just so many words

[00:12:50] For which the Feejin's had zero context

[00:12:53] For example, I mean what are justification and faith

[00:12:57] Into a cannibal

[00:12:58] They don't exist

[00:12:59] There's no context for that

[00:13:01] Hunt's biographer writes

[00:13:02] The Bible from the beginning

[00:13:03] Was the lever which Hunt bleeds

[00:13:05] Would be honored of God as a means of conversion

[00:13:07] And the moral uplifting of the people

[00:13:10] The Feejin's needed the Bible as an authoritative standard of appeal

[00:13:13] And all questions of conduct and character

[00:13:15] Conscience was perverted

[00:13:17] And called evil good and good evil

[00:13:19] The moral sense needed to be corrected by a sure standard

[00:13:22] To appeal to the conscience of a Feejin

[00:13:24] Was like appealing for the correct time to a watch

[00:13:27] With the main spring broken

[00:13:30] So the Ten Commandments became the guidepost through which to teach them

[00:13:33] What did it say about a specific conduct

[00:13:36] Parables were translated and added to music

[00:13:38] As was the Feejin way of remembering a story

[00:13:41] The Good Samaritan was one of the first and most successful

[00:13:44] Later many Feejans credited the early steps of their salvation

[00:13:47] With using the New Testament to learn to read and write

[00:13:50] And as they spelled out the letters

[00:13:52] The Lord spelled out conviction on their souls

[00:13:55] Hunt's finished translation product

[00:13:57] Was a paraphrased and idiomatic format

[00:14:00] And it was this first work which allowed Feejans

[00:14:02] To have a more complete understanding

[00:14:04] Of the more literal translations

[00:14:06] Which would come later

[00:14:08] Feejin's first work

[00:14:10] Was a great time to learn to read and write

[00:14:12] And as was the Feejin

[00:14:14] Was a great time to learn to read

[00:14:16] And as was the Feejin

[00:14:18] Feejin

[00:14:20] Swimsuit, check, sunscreen, check

[00:14:22] Phone charger, check

[00:14:24] Don't forget to pack the 5-hour energy

[00:14:26] It fits great in a pocket or carryout

[00:14:28] And the alert feeling will help you arrive ready for anything

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[00:14:49] We all have that friend who wakes up early

[00:14:51] To go get everyone

[00:14:52] McDonald's breakfast for the rest of us

[00:14:54] Sleep in

[00:14:56] This is your sign to thank them

[00:14:58] And if you're that friend

[00:15:00] This is us saying

[00:15:02] Thank you

[00:15:03] Just a friendly reminder that right now

[00:15:05] Get any size iced coffee before 11am for just 99 cents

[00:15:09] And to satisfy in sausage McMuffin with egg is just $279

[00:15:14] Price and participation may vary

[00:15:15] Cannot be combined with any other offer or combo meal

[00:15:29] About six or seven months after he had arrived in Rewa

[00:15:32] John was told that he was to be reassigned

[00:15:33] With another missionary to a different island

[00:15:36] To the city of Somosomo

[00:15:37] Which is about a one hour flight north of Rewa

[00:15:40] But in those days it was a lot longer than that

[00:15:42] So not a particularly close island

[00:15:45] The chief there had requested missionaries

[00:15:47] So they were obligated to go

[00:15:49] And while John was very sad to leave the infant church there on Rewa

[00:15:52] He writes

[00:15:53] But the difficulty of leaving Rewa

[00:15:55] And going to Somosomo affected us only as mortals

[00:15:58] As missionaries we thought nothing of the provisions

[00:16:00] Or trials we might have to endure

[00:16:02] We expect to sow in tears as confidently as we hope to reap enjoy

[00:16:06] And therefore trials and provisions are words seldom used by us

[00:16:10] And things that are thought of much more by our friends at home than by us

[00:16:15] When they arrived in Somosomo the people were indifferent to their arrival

[00:16:18] But the chief was really pleased to see them

[00:16:20] And set them up in a temporary home while the mission house was being built

[00:16:25] The next day their wives and all the rest of their belongings arrived by boats

[00:16:28] Piloted by English sailors armed to the teeth and bristling with nerves

[00:16:32] Because while the missionaries may have been safe from being snacked on

[00:16:35] The sailors were not

[00:16:37] So they didn't go ashore

[00:16:38] Nor did they get too close to the canoes

[00:16:40] Which the natives were using to ferry the missionaries goods to land

[00:16:44] The beginning of the missionaries time in Somosomo starts off rather traumatic

[00:16:49] So heaven for the fusions was described as a little island to the west of them

[00:16:53] And you could see it as the sunset

[00:16:55] It was really beautiful

[00:16:57] Fujin religion held that agatus lived there

[00:16:59] Whose job it was to club every bachelor who arrived at the island

[00:17:02] So only a married man was permitted to enter

[00:17:05] And when a chief died his widows were strangled to accompany him

[00:17:09] And the minimum needed was five

[00:17:10] But often polygamist chiefs had many more than five

[00:17:14] And so all of them were strangled

[00:17:16] Because it was considered disgraceful for a living widow to be around after the chief

[00:17:22] Had died

[00:17:23] So the bodies of the widows served as carpets and cushions for the dead chief

[00:17:27] The missionaries had not been in Somosomo for long before the news of a shipwrecked reach them

[00:17:31] The king's son and many others have been drowned in an accident

[00:17:34] And it was decided that 16 women will be chosen to accompany him in death

[00:17:39] Hunt records the following scene in his journal

[00:17:41] On the morning of the 8th we heard the cries of the poor women and their friends

[00:17:45] And soon they were mercilessly strangled

[00:17:47] We were obliged to be in the midst of it

[00:17:49] And truly their cries and whalings were awful

[00:17:52] Soon after they were murdered

[00:17:53] They were brought to be buried about 20 yards from our house

[00:17:56] Our minds were kept in peace during these scenes

[00:17:58] Our hearts were affected of course

[00:18:00] But God preserved us from fear

[00:18:02] The wild wailing was the preliminary of the strangling

[00:18:05] It was the farewell of the relatives and friends of those who were leaving

[00:18:08] The actual strangling was done in solemn silence

[00:18:11] With a sheet of native cloth thrown over the victim

[00:18:15] John's wife Hannah could not take the stress of the event and came near to death

[00:18:19] A John was contemplating what life on the field would be like without her

[00:18:22] And many others gathered around her to pray that she might be spared

[00:18:25] And these prayers were answered and she recovered from the brink of death

[00:18:28] And her recovery was considered to be a miracle by everyone there who witnessed it

[00:18:33] In other aspects of the ministry at little progress was being made

[00:18:36] The chief was given to fits of rage

[00:18:38] He refused to settle on a site for the mission house

[00:18:41] They were forced to live right by the temple and here

[00:18:43] And I imagine smell all the terrible things that were happening there

[00:18:47] They were refused even to put a screen door up to shield their eyes from it

[00:18:52] And then further trials came when John and Hannah's first born child came along

[00:18:56] But only lived for 12 days and had to be buried among cannibals

[00:19:00] Tribal warring and cannibal feasts became a more and more regular occurrence

[00:19:04] John writes, in our work we seem to labor in vain

[00:19:08] But faith can never come to such a conclusion

[00:19:10] I would not believe such a thing if all the philosophers in the role were to tell me so

[00:19:15] If we preach Christ's truth he is with us

[00:19:17] And his presence is not in vain

[00:19:19] I love these poor wretches obstinate as they are

[00:19:23] Even more disappointment awaited them when they realized that even the few friends they had and potential converts

[00:19:29] They had would have killed them in a moment's notice

[00:19:32] So they were coming back to the island from a local voyage

[00:19:35] And they were almost shipwrapped wrecked upon the reefs

[00:19:38] And the locals were hooping and wailing for joy at the potential feast

[00:19:41] Because their religion decreed that anyone who had water in their eyes

[00:19:45] Or was a survivor of a shipwrecked had to die

[00:19:48] Some of the most jubilant shouts came from those who were diligently attending the mission meetings

[00:19:54] So three years go by much like this with little success

[00:19:57] However, they had one nugget of success and this gives you an idea of exactly what they were dealing with

[00:20:04] So newly amended war canus were baptized into the sea using human rollers

[00:20:09] These were prisoners of war which the ship would be rolled over

[00:20:12] A crushing into death on its way to the sea

[00:20:15] And then these bodies would be cooked and eaten as a symbol of thanks to the gods

[00:20:19] And I hope that they would be granted fair winds and safe voyages

[00:20:23] The missionaries were able to plea with the lives of these prisoners

[00:20:26] And these chiefs allowed the boat to be rolled into the water

[00:20:28] Without the prisoners and nothing ill

[00:20:31] Beveled the boats or the citizenry

[00:20:34] Despite all these things going on around them

[00:20:36] John forced himself to find the positives of a society such as the Feejins

[00:20:40] He discovered their work ethic, irrigation systems, knowledge of construction, paper making, gardens

[00:20:46] And their depth of knowledge regarding the human world to be a positive light in such a bleat place

[00:20:52] So finding the positives was an essential practice that allowed him not to become

[00:20:56] overwhelmed by everything around him and also not to become bitter

[00:20:59] Which would have destroyed any fruit no matter how small

[00:21:02] And then with this knowledge he also gained a better insight into how he could continue the translation work

[00:21:07] with even more accuracy, capturing and translating key elements for better understanding

[00:21:13] About this time Reverend Cross who was one of the first missionaries there in Feejee becomes sick

[00:21:18] And he needs the medical care that only John's partner is someone someone can provide

[00:21:23] And John goes to Viva Island which is about two miles from Bau which is the capital of Feejee at the time

[00:21:29] And the very first stone house in Feejee was built to house the printing press

[00:21:33] Which John would use and his house was generously constructed by other foreigners on the island from

[00:21:38] The lumber of two wrecked ships and apparently it's still creaked with every gust of wind just as it would

[00:21:44] As see giving John and his wife the impression that they might just be a sea actually

[00:21:49] Which sounds kind of cool but also a little annoying

[00:21:51] And it is possible about this time that they had at least one child

[00:21:55] But I couldn't find any dates on birth or actually gender even

[00:21:59] But they will eventually have four children only two of whom would survive infancy

[00:22:05] Reverend Cross had been at Viva Island for three years and it had experienced quite a fruitful ministry

[00:22:10] So he left John with a flourishing church and many of them were young men whose powerful testimonies

[00:22:15] And continued growth proved their conversions

[00:22:17] The growth rate was so rapid that John realized they would actually need to raise up these young men

[00:22:22] To be Bible teachers and send them out

[00:22:24] So he started a small theology school of sorts using notes

[00:22:27] He compiled from his years in the seminary alongside the Bible and then prepared these young men for ministry

[00:22:33] And eventually some of them would go far beyond Feejee to New Zealand, Samoa and Tonga

[00:22:40] Church services often became the sources of great spiritual expression

[00:22:43] People would come to church eagerly and would be singing and shouting often a fainting and being dragged out of the chapel

[00:22:49] So that they were not a distraction

[00:22:50] And when they came to they would exhort the other believers and join them in prayer

[00:22:55] John writes,

[00:22:56] It is not wonderful to us that such people should be affected in such a manner

[00:23:00] When we consider what dreadful cannibals, murderers, polygamous many of them were only a few months since

[00:23:06] Who can be surprised that a proper view of themselves should produce such an effect on their minds

[00:23:11] When we saw their agonies and heard their whalings it frequently appeared to us as the most consistent thing we had ever seen

[00:23:17] Suppose 20 men should murder a hundred of their neighbors and eat them or to vine them among their friends to be eaten

[00:23:22] Suppose they afterwards attend the ministry of the gospel and are convinced of the desperate need of wickedness of the kind of deed

[00:23:29] They had committed

[00:23:30] Who would believe they were truly convinced of the awful nature and consequences of such a sin

[00:23:34] If they merely shed tears or manifested their contrition in an ordinary way

[00:23:39] We should say,

[00:23:40] Nay these men cannot be truly penitent

[00:23:42] For true repentance consists in having a proper knowledge of our sins and corresponding feelings

[00:23:48] On another island where a church service was underway, a band of 30 young chiefs came together to put a stop to it

[00:23:53] Some of their future wives were in the meetings and they just couldn't have that

[00:23:56] So they marched around the church with clubs shouting death the participants to tell them to come out

[00:24:01] Eventually this aid decided to break into the church

[00:24:04] And fell down one by one into convulsions saying they could fuel the hellfire burning in their veins

[00:24:09] The Christians gathered around to pray for them all through the night

[00:24:12] Until every single one of the men who had entered the church came out as believers

[00:24:17] In addition to discipleship preaching and teaching,

[00:24:20] Dom was hard at work on translating the rest of the scriptures

[00:24:22] They had just finished the New Testament

[00:24:24] It was being printed and delivered

[00:24:26] And they had hoped to finish the Old Testament in the next five to six years

[00:24:31] And about this work he writes

[00:24:33] These things are a little thought of by our friends at home

[00:24:35] They know something of that part of our work which consists in visiting various places

[00:24:39] Preaching the gospel, teaching schools

[00:24:42] But they know very little of what is done in this study

[00:24:44] What hours of anxious thoughts spent in deciding the meaning of words and phrases

[00:24:49] And how the word of God is to be put into the language of the people without altering its meaning

[00:24:53] Or making it difficult for them to understand

[00:24:55] A pale face, a feverish state of the body

[00:24:58] A mind almost distracted

[00:24:59] And an appetite perhaps impaired indicate that something severe has been going on behind the scenes

[00:25:06] Later on John became regional director and he had to make many tramps far from base

[00:25:10] And visit the work going on there

[00:25:11] And these were sometimes hundred mile journeys

[00:25:13] That were taken on these frail canoes where you couldn't sleep

[00:25:16] Because if you slept, then the captain would lash himself to the steering

[00:25:20] And he'd go to sleep too

[00:25:22] And many canoes were crashed doing this

[00:25:25] These visits involved a lot more than just preaching

[00:25:27] So he had to provide an educational analysis of all the day schools for the children

[00:25:31] Interview those who were eligible for baptism

[00:25:34] And a null polygamist marriage is

[00:25:36] And I'll actually explain this a little bit further because

[00:25:39] A nulling polygamist marriage is how that kind of works in a society

[00:25:44] Has been something that you hear actually quite frequently in Christian circles

[00:25:48] How would you deal with this?

[00:25:50] So this is how they dealt with it

[00:25:51] So only the first wife of a polygamist convert was kept

[00:25:55] And the wives were able to remarry many quickly finding a suitable match

[00:25:58] Female and phantasy was high

[00:26:00] And so many of the men had no women to marry

[00:26:02] When they came of age because the polygamist system

[00:26:05] Dwindled the already smaller dating pool

[00:26:08] So the chief who was now a Christian

[00:26:09] And all of his previous marriages had been unknowled

[00:26:12] He was actually given the option of vetoing

[00:26:15] A marriage of one of his previous spouses

[00:26:19] If he thought that they couldn't provide for his wife or his children

[00:26:22] And he also had the option of taking his children into his home to provide for them

[00:26:27] himself

[00:26:28] And also marriages where the wife had been taken by force as a child

[00:26:31] Were not recognized

[00:26:32] So that was their way of dealing with it

[00:26:35] In June of 1848

[00:26:36] John was requested to serve as an interpreter for a British captain visiting several islands

[00:26:41] And while journeying with the captain he contracted dysentery

[00:26:44] And he had moments of improvement followed by moments of sharp decline

[00:26:48] When he was feeling better he visited the day schools

[00:26:50] And as he neared the end he preached his very last sermon at the mission house

[00:26:55] And from his deathbed he prayed continuously for the fusions

[00:26:58] And specifically for this salvation of chief talkumbau

[00:27:00] The man who thought that he had consumed portions of a thousand people in his lifetime

[00:27:05] In his last moments he turned to his wife Hannah and said

[00:27:08] I have had a fresh manifestation of the love of God

[00:27:11] I blessed the Lord, I see nothing but Jesus

[00:27:14] He is my joy

[00:27:15] I thought I should have entered heaven singing Jesus and salvation

[00:27:18] Now I shall enter singing Jesus, salvation and glory

[00:27:21] Eternal glory

[00:27:23] Hallelujah

[00:27:24] He repeated 20 or 30 times every time feinture till his voice was hushed

[00:27:30] And with that he died on October 4th 1838 at the age of 36

[00:27:34] After 10 years of work in Fiji

[00:27:37] His biographer notes that he had crowded the work of a long life into 10 short years

[00:27:42] His wife Hannah left Fiji with her two children

[00:27:45] The following year broken down in health and seemingly in spirit

[00:27:48] She came back to England but both of her parents had since died

[00:27:51] She proved the translation work of her husband

[00:27:54] and provided a finished copy to the British and foreign Bible societies

[00:27:58] She never regained her full health and continued to live a quiet life until she died about 40 years later

[00:28:04] Chief talkumbau reflected on his last visit with John

[00:28:07] I was first favorably impressed towards the Christian religion

[00:28:10] When I saw it made dying not only easy but triumphant

[00:28:15] John had also written a private letter to the chief expressing his love for him and a prayer

[00:28:19] Talkumbau came to Christ shortly thereafter

[00:28:22] and the crowded as baptism included the widows of husbands he had killed

[00:28:26] relatives of men he had eaten

[00:28:28] an adult children who had formerly vowed vengeance

[00:28:30] against talkumbau for the deaths of their fathers

[00:28:34] Since then they had all become Christians

[00:28:37] Reverend John Wattsford who was the lone survivor of that early pioneer mission to Fiji

[00:28:41] In 1881 he gave an address at a conference in Australia

[00:28:45] and it gives a moving tribute to John and I'll read just a section of it

[00:28:49] When he was ill and it was feared he would die the distress of everyone was very great

[00:28:53] I was with a special prayer meeting held in Viva to pray for his recovery

[00:28:57] And I heard that wonderful prayer by Verani one of the earliest Christian chiefs

[00:29:02] telling the Lord what his servant had done he cried

[00:29:04] if someone must go Lord take me but spare thy servant

[00:29:08] If one will not do take ten

[00:29:10] If ten or not enough take twenty only spare thy servant to do thy work in Fiji

[00:29:15] Verani's prayer was not answered Mr. Hunt died

[00:29:18] died most triumphantly

[00:29:20] died praying for Fiji and his prayer has been answered

[00:29:23] For today he evenism and Fiji is a thing of the past

[00:29:28] As always thank you for listening to our submissionaries

[00:29:30] I'm Elise

[00:29:45] you

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