Titu_s Coan: 
 
 olin.anx 
 
 3 1924 031 767 845 
 
Cornell University 
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TITUS gOAN 
 
 A MEMOEIAL, 
 
 Mrs. LYDIA BINGHAM COAN. 
 
 INTRODUCTION B"Y 
 
 REV. S. J. HUMPHREY, D. D., 
 Diat. Sec, A. B. C. F. M. 
 
 CHICAGO: 
 
 Fleming H. EevbiiL, 148 & 150 Madison St., 
 Publisher of Evangelical Literature. 
 
 ® 
 
Qg to Act of GongresB, in the year 1884, by 
 
 Entered according i 
 
 LTDIA BINGHAM COAN. 
 in the Oflfice of the librarian of Congress at Washington, D. C. 
 
INTEODUCTION 
 
 ^HE heritage of the Church in her Missionaries grows 
 richer with each new generation. The gains are not 
 only in the roll of distinguished names and the record of 
 grand achievements, but also in a wide diversity of pecu- 
 liar gifts. Some have wrought at foundations, out of the 
 sight of men. Some have left monuments of long suffering 
 toil in languages reduced to writing and in translations of 
 the word of God. To others it has been given to illustrate, 
 in some heroic way, the "patience of hope." It is said that 
 at the opening of the American Board's work in India 
 more missionaries died in the first twenty years, than there 
 were converts made. The men sent by the London Mis- 
 sionary Society to the South Seas spent fourteen years of 
 self denying service before a single native's voice was heard 
 in prayer, and it was only after twenty-two years of toil 
 that they were made glad by the baptism of the first con- 
 vert. 
 
 The subject of this Memorial was permitted, through 
 the abounding grace of God, to enjoy a wholly different 
 experience. He entered upon his mission to the Sandwich 
 
Introduction. 
 
 Islands, on the eve of a mighty outpouring of the Spirit; 
 and he seems to have been divinely fitted for this crisis of 
 the work by a large endowment of evangelistic gifts. In 
 three months from the time he first set foot on the shores 
 of Hawaii he began to preach in the native tongue. Be- 
 fore his first year closedj the audiences, drawn to hear the 
 Word by his pe'culiar power, reached many hundreds. And 
 in six years from his arrival three-fourths of the adult pop- 
 ulation of his parish, to the number of more than seven 
 thousand, were gathered into the bonds of Christian fel- 
 lowship. There have been few thus honored of the Spirit 
 in any age. It certainly is a success almost unparalleled in 
 the annals of modern missions. A rare privilege then is 
 given us in being permitted to look into the more private 
 workings of a life so eminently blessed. This volume 
 composed chiefly of unstudied utterances of the heart in 
 familiar letters to kindred and missionary associates, will 
 form a fitting companion, and will be, in some sort, a com- 
 plement to Mr. Coan's own two volumes. Adventures in 
 Patagonia, and Life in Hawaii. The labor of collecting 
 and arranging the material is an offering of tender affec- 
 tion by the wife of his later years, herself born on mission- 
 ary soil, and bearing an honored missionary name. The 
 entire proceeds of the work are consecrated to the cause 
 to which Mr. Coan and his noble associates gave their 
 Hves. 
 
 This Memorial will be read with special interest by 
 those who have long been famihar with the bright particu- 
 
Introduction. 
 
 lai- spot which the Sandwich Islands furnish in the history 
 of modern missions. It can scarcely fail to be a source of 
 rich spiritual profit and encouragement to the growing 
 number who pray in the secret place for the speedy com- 
 ing of the Kingdom, and whose faith finds its assurance in 
 the. divine promise, "All the ends of the world shall re- 
 member and turn unto the Lord : and all the kindreds of 
 the nations shall worship before thee." s. j. h. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 I. 
 
 Parentage — Youthful experiences — In the militia — 
 Teaching — Conversion — At Auburn Theological Semi- 
 nary — Tribute of Rev. Newton Reed — Letters to Miss 
 Church — To his brother — His inner life i 
 
 11. 
 
 Ordination — Commission to Patagonia — A struggle and 
 victory — -Farewell letters — The voyage to and return from 
 Patagonia lo 
 
 III. 
 
 Appointed to the Hawaiian Mission — Marriage — Fare- 
 well letter from Boston to his parents — Letters from on 
 shipboard to his brother — To his father — At Valparaiso — 
 A horseback journey to Santiago — Arrival at Honolulu 
 
 IV. 
 
 First experienfces on missionary ground — The people's 
 welcome — A royal banquet — From Honolulu to Hilo — 
 Distressing experiences — A picture of loveliness — The 
 new home — Work for sailors — The first sermon in 
 Hawaiian 34 
 
 V. 
 
 Division of labor — A vast parish — Increasing interest — 
 Protracted meetings — A visitation from God — "Four mem- 
 
ii Contents. 
 
 orable years at Hilo" — Letters to Rev. Lorenzo Lyons — 
 A continued manifestations of the Spirit's presence — 
 Doubts and fears — Continuous labors — A tour through Puna 
 — System of examination of candid,ates-^A place of 
 weeping — Tidings of revival in Honolulu — Sanitary pre- 
 cautions — The great ingathering — ^The Fall communion — 
 The noise of battle — The general meeting of 1839 40 
 
 VI. 
 
 An extensive correspondence — To private friends — 
 To benevolent and missionary societies — Home life at 
 Hilo — A glorious revival — Adverse influences — Romanism 
 — Visits from foreigners — A Seaman's chapel — Volcanic 
 phenomena 51 
 
 VII. 
 
 Among the Children — The Morning Star first planned 
 — Hawaiian Missions in Polynesia — The arrival of the 
 missionary ship — A call for a steamship — The great erup- 
 tion of 1855 — Awful experiences— Exploring the active 
 volcano — Hilo in danger — A mighty deliverance — Mis- 
 cellaneous letters — On the Civil War — On Abraham 
 Lincoln's death — Alone at home — A visit to North Hawaii 
 70 
 
 VIII.' 
 
 Voyage to Micronesia — Extracts from journal — King 
 George's Isles — A desolated Island — Re suits of French rule 
 — Abandoned fortifications — Organizing a Church — A war 
 just closed — A volcanic island — Landing through the surf 
 — General meeting of the Micronesian Mission — Return 
 to Hawaii 103 
 
Contents. iii 
 
 IX. 
 
 Proposed visit to the United States postponed— Imma- 
 ture Christians — Dreadful experiences with earthquakes — 
 Great destruction in Kau, Hilo, and Puna — A tidal wave — 
 Letter to the "Friends"— r/^£ Herald of Peace— ^zXwe. 
 pastorates — Death of Rev. Hiram Bingham — Letter of con- 
 dolence — Native benevolence 115 
 
 X. 
 
 Return to the United Statesin 1870 — Great activity — At 
 Oberlin — At Plymouth Church, Brooklyn — In New England 
 — At Washington — Busy times — Return to Hawaii — A 
 beautiful tribute 127 
 
 XI. 
 
 A cordial welcome — Death of Mrs. Fidelia Coan — A 
 blessed departure — Letter to his son — To Prof. J. D. 
 Dana — Second marriage — Advice to his son — The transit 
 of Venus — A night on Haleakala — A glorious view — A 
 tour in Puna — A dangerous incident — Bad weather — A 
 happy occasion — Touring in Hilo — Letters to his wife — 
 Christmas in Hilo — Contentment — On the revival of 1876 
 in the United States — Avarice in the Islands — Resting on 
 the rock — Letters to Rev. G. W. Coan— Yearning to work 
 for other races — Ignorance on the subject of Missions — 
 "Distance lends enchantment" — Memories of the past 
 134 
 
 XII. 
 
 Pubhcation of "Adventures in Patagonia" — -Preparing 
 the autobiography, "Life in Hawaii" — The eruption of 
 i88o-'8i — Letter to Rev. H. Halsey — Old-time reminis- 
 cences — Deaths among friends — To his children on his 
 
iv Contents. 
 
 eightieth birthday — Exhortation to faith — Description of 
 the eruption — To Rev. Jas. Boyd, D. D. — Divine deUver- 
 ance from the volcano — Mr. Hallenbeck's visit — Results 
 — A steady work — On Gariield's assassination — To F. W. 
 Damon — On Missions in China — To Dr. Boyd — On the 
 Revised Testament— To Rev. H. Halsey— "The True 
 Church, which is it?" i68 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Small-pox at Honolulu — The general meeting at Hono- 
 lulu of 1882 — The voyage — A railroad on Hawaii — Ad- 
 dress to the children of the Foreign Church — To the 
 students of Oahu College — Return to Emerald Bower — 
 Letter to Rev. N. G. Clark D. D. — Joyful and sad news 
 from the Micronesia Mission — Great changes at Honolulu 
 in fifty years — Chinamen in the Islands — Labors of Mr. 
 Damon among them — The letting in of alchohol — Sorrow 
 for the danger — Letter to Rev. E. P. Goodwin D. D. — 
 Impressions on interest in Missions — Women's work — Gen- 
 eral apathy deplored — Generosity of the Hawaiians favor- 
 ably contrasted with that of the American Christians — 
 Renewed blessings among his people — Meeting of East 
 Hawaii Association in Hilo — The last day of health — Last 
 letters to his nephews — The summons from the Master — A 
 glorified death-bed — Tarrying of the messenger — The Land 
 of Beulah — Accounts of the Meeting of the American Board 
 — Examinations of candidates for admission to the Church — 
 A blessed benediction — The departure — Funeral services 
 184 
 
 XIV. 
 
 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 The memorial service in Haili Church — Letters of 
 condolence and appreciation — From Wm. T. Brigham — 
 
Contents. v 
 
 His widespread labors — From Rev. Jas. R. Boyd — From 
 Rev. N. G. Clark D. D.— From his daughter, Mrs. E. E. 
 Waters— From Rev. S. J. Humphrey D. D.— Rev. E. P. 
 Goodwin D. D.— Rev. E. K. Alden D. D.— Pres. C. M. 
 Hyde — Rev. Hiram Bingham — Rev. S. C. Damon D. D. — 
 Prof. Alexander — His devotion to science — From Hon. S. 
 N. Castle — From Rev. S. E. Bishop — His power over 
 children — An enclosed letter — From Rev. L. Lyons — 
 Unremitting trials — Journeys on foot — From Paakala, a 
 native parishioner — From Ili, another parishioner — From 
 Dr. C. H. Wetmore — Tribute by Mrs. H. Bingham — Mem- 
 orial Poem by Mrs. M. C. Kittredge — Letter from Rev. E. 
 Bond — From Joel Bean — Paper read by Rev. E. P. Baker, 
 at the monthly concert at Hawaii — Epitaph 206 
 
" Serve Him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind." 
 
 IN his autobiography,* Mr. Coan tells in brief 
 words the story of his first three decades. Giv- 
 ing'his parentage — Gaylord Coan, of Killing- 
 worth, Conn., and Tamza Nettleton, an aunt of the 
 Evangelist, Asahel Nettleton — he states his birthday, 
 1st of February, 1801, and then in rapid survey 
 gives the reader glimpses of his early childhood, of 
 work and study, of leaving home and of settlement 
 in Western New York. He introduces one, after- 
 ward to be most intimately associated with him; 
 tells of his choice of a profession, of preparation for 
 the ministry, of ordination at Boston, and of em- 
 barkation for Patagonia. 
 
 Through all this history the reader is hurried for- 
 ward over sixteen short pages, as if the narrator were 
 eager to enter upon the main business of his life, his 
 earnest work on a mid-ocean isle. 
 
 But the experiences of those earlier years were of 
 untold value to the future. He was never to lose 
 through life the influence of his childhood, which 
 passed in a home so beautifully ordered by pious 
 parents that obedience, truthfulness, and filial and 
 fraternal affection were the characteristics of the 
 eight children reared there. 
 
 His vigorous youthful sports, and the severer toils 
 upon his father's farm, developed and strengthened 
 his sturdy frame. Military drill in the militia ranks 
 
 *" Life in Hawaii." A. D. F. Bandolph & Co., New York. 
 
Memorial of Rev, Titus Cofin. 
 
 of the state confirmed his natural promptness and 
 precision, while self-reliance and quiet dignity were 
 the outgrowth of responsibilities early assumed at 
 the teacher's desk of the village school. Seven win- 
 ters were passed in teaching, his success as an in- 
 structor securing for him the best schools and the 
 highest salaries in the neighboring towns. Both 
 teacher and pupils carried in the years that followed 
 happiest memories of those days. 
 
 Four of Mr. Coan's brothets removed from the 
 sequestered New England home to the broader fields 
 of what was then the West. To the eldest. Rev. 
 George Coan, he wrote: "When I reflect on the 
 many happy hours I have spent in your society, the 
 lessons of moral and literary improvement received 
 from your lips, and, in a word, the numberless acts 
 of kindness, benevolence and attention, of which I 
 have been made the recipient, I must acknowledge 
 that to your care, under God, I owe much, very 
 much. May my heart never fail to swell with grat- 
 itude at the recollection. " 
 
 His attachment to this brother led him gladly to 
 accept an opportunity to teach in Riga, N. Y., where 
 George was then settled as pastor. Thus, providen- 
 tially, he was led to the companionship of excellent 
 ministers, by whose example and conversation his 
 own soul was quickened in all its higher impulses. 
 Here, too, he met her who was yet to be his "peer- 
 less helper. " 
 
 Thoughtful and sober as he had been for years, 
 he had as yet come to no fixed determination to 
 enlist on the Lord's side. When at last this resolve 
 was made, it was one, he says, in which he was 
 greatly helped, comforted and established, so that 
 duty done for Christ was a sweet and joyous pleas- 
 ure. 
 
 But how could he best serve the Master? Of the 
 professions, only that of the ministry attracted him; 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 for this he felt entirely unfit and unworthy, His 
 choice was, therefore, for a business career, follow- 
 ing which he meant to be an active and devoted lay- 
 man. And for such a careeu", doubtless, his talents 
 fitted him. His perfect integrity, his abhorrence of 
 debt, which led to an early formed and conscien- 
 tiously practiced rule of his life, never to owe a far- 
 thing which he had not means to pay, his sound 
 judgment, unflagging energy and uniform urbanity 
 of manner, would have secured for him a leading 
 place in business circles, and guaranteed pecuniary 
 success. But when he had planned for this, the 
 Lord revealed another way. God's providences, the 
 advice of thoughtful friends and the convictions 
 which sprang from his own religious vitality, led him 
 to reconsider his decision and to fix upon the minis- 
 try. In June, 1831, he entered the middle class 
 of Auburn Theological Seminary. He is remem- 
 bered by those who knew him there as " unos- 
 tentatious, devotedly pious, and possessed of a 
 very sweet spirit. " Rev. Newton Reed, one of 
 his fellow-students at Auburn, gives the following 
 tribute: 
 
 "My memory is full of pleasant recollections of 
 Mr. Coan. When I returned to the Seminary in 
 1832, I found him the superintendent of the Prison 
 Sunday School, a position that must have been con- 
 ceded to him spontaneously. I immediately became 
 acquainted with him, and had many occasions to 
 know the value of his wise counsel and his tender 
 sympathy. There was a revival in the First Church 
 that winter, under the ministry of the Evangelist, 
 Burchard, attended with great extravagance, and 
 some of the students as well as the citizens lost their 
 discretion. Mr. Coan attended the meetings with 
 the others, but without being critical or captious, or 
 in opposition to a work which seemed to some a 
 marvel of grace, he was very useful to many. Dr. 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 Richards himself could hardly have taken a wiser 
 course. 
 
 " In the prison school he became acquainted, through 
 the teachers and by his own personal enquiries, with 
 the religious condition of the prisoners. Those 
 whose time was about to expire were invited to come 
 to his room, when released, and he would give them 
 advice and encouragement which was suited to their 
 case. He was very discerning of their true charac- 
 ter, and was led to a reasonable hope in the conver- 
 sion of some.* 
 
 "In the prayer-meeting Brother Coan was distin- 
 tinguished by no special fervency in his voice or 
 manner, but by expressions of confidence and the 
 reality of expectation. It was a steady fire, not a 
 flashing blaze. 
 
 " He almost rebuked the candidates for the foreign 
 mission field for speaking of their going as a sacri- 
 fice. He evidently had a steady delight in the an- 
 ticipation of going, and for the true reason — love of 
 the Master. The only thing for which I ever heard 
 him criticised was a sharp expression against the 
 unbecoming rivalry of ministers of different names 
 crowding each other in a little village, while the 
 great field of the world is calling for laborers. 
 
 "The great beauty of Mr. Coan's character was in 
 its symmetry. He was all over alike, not greatly 
 above his fellows in any one thing, but in the com- 
 binationj physical, intellectual and emotional, and 
 even in the imagination, he was head and shoulders 
 above them. 
 
 "The first constituent of his character was remark- 
 able common sense, and the completeness of it was 
 his intelligent piety, his faith. In all the men I 
 
 *A discharged prisoner, wlio professed to be converted, came 
 to liis room, and tiiey had a prayer together. When the prisoner 
 prayed, he said "J" instead of "TTe." "That is an evidence," 
 said Coan, "that he has been accustomed to pray in his cell." 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 have ever met I don't think I have known one so 
 well proportioned. " 
 
 With characteristic ardor and fidelity, Mr. Coan 
 devoted himself to every duty of the class-room, 
 while he improved each opportunity that offered for 
 direct work for the Lord. Time he had none for 
 keeping a private diary; nor in those days of slow 
 mails and expensive postage, was his correspondence 
 large. But to his nearest kin, and to her whom he 
 had chosen, his heart must speak.* Extracts from 
 these letters will reveal the lovely spirit that irradi- 
 ated his whole life. 
 
 TO MISS CHTJECH. 
 
 Auburn, July , 1831. — "From this consecrated 
 spot I sometimes attempt to survey the vast whiten- 
 ing harvest field as it spteads around me to the east 
 and west, to the north and south. My eye affects 
 my heart and I exclaim. Lord, send me where thou 
 wilt, only go with me, lay on me what thou wilt, 
 only sustain me. Cut any cord but the one which 
 binds me to thy cause, to thy heart. " 
 
 January, 1832. — "My good works need covering, 
 my prayers need praying for, my repentance needs 
 repenting of. I ask not to be pardoned in my sin, 
 but to be delivered from it. 
 
 "I have now another class in the Prison. Most 
 of them I hope are converted. 'Tis truly affecting 
 to hear some of them confess their former sins and 
 
 * "During the summer of 1826, I often rode by a school-house 
 in a western district of Riga, and through the windows I saw a 
 face that beamed on me like that of an angel. The image was 
 deeply impressed, and is still ineffaceable. On inquiry, the young 
 lady proved to be Miss Fidelia Church, of ChurchvUle." — Lift in 
 Hawaii, p. 9. 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 with bursting hearts tell of the love of Jesus. I love 
 to go into that prison because Jesus loves to go 
 there. I often feel as if I wanted to wash the feet 
 of those who are Christ's free men there, for it seems 
 as if my Master would do it. Jesus visits their 
 dungeon, lights up their dark cells, communes with 
 them at midnight and converts their dreary mansion 
 into a sanctuary of their souls." 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER. 
 
 March, 1832. — "I am pent up here amid the 
 venerable lore of ages, and hurried from field to field 
 of metaphysical, ethical, and theological research. 
 After examining the various and contending theories, 
 the magisterial dogmas, the abstruse and subtle 
 disquisitions, the vain and unsatisfying speculations, 
 the grave and confident conclusions of numerous 
 theological disputants, I gain relief from their per- 
 plexing speculations by taking my precious Bible, 
 and stealing away close to the feet of Jesus. He 
 has told me, when I want anything, to ask him, and 
 his promise never fails, he never upbraids. He does 
 not, indeed, answer all my irreverent inquiries, but 
 he teaches me not to dive beyond my depth, nor 
 soar amid brightness too dazzling. Here I learn 
 that I cannot trace the mysterious phenomena of my 
 own mind, then why should I think to find out the 
 Almighty to perfection? Thus I can run to my 
 Bible, and when the billows begin to beat around 
 me, I can lay my hand upon that and find it 'Rock,' 
 and thus with Jesus for my teacher, I can sit and 
 quiet myself as a weaned child.'' 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 TO MIS8 CHURCH. 
 
 July, 1832. — "The Lord my Savior is still good, 
 supremely good, to me. I know I love him, and I 
 can as confidently say, I know- 1 abuse him and am 
 unworthy of his love, yet he still smiles. Oh, he 
 sometimes shines upon my ravished soul. I can't 
 sacrifice, I can't suffer anything in his service. I 
 can never make myself poor nor sorrowful while 
 laboring for him. ... I think that I am willing 
 to go anywhere at the call of my Lord. But I will 
 not forget what Peter said. I pray God to show me 
 the path of duty, to make me holy, and nerve me 
 for toil. He only knows where our lot will be cast, 
 and where our flesh will rest in hope. I wrote you 
 that I had established a little Sabbath school and 
 Bible class at 5 P- M. on the Sabbath. This is in a 
 very wicked neighborhood, half a mile from Auburn. 
 The school was small at its commencement, but it 
 now numbers nearly a hundred, and is constantly 
 increasing. There is much tenderness and solemnity 
 in the school." 
 
 November, 1832. — "When meditating on the 
 subject of missions, I often feel T cannot rest.' 
 Keep your heart much on the subject. Examine it, 
 pray over it, count the cost. Pray for nie. Don't 
 faint; remember the promise; think of 'the eye that 
 kindly watches over all our paths,' the 'arm unseen 
 that holds us up,' the hand that crowns us when 
 the battle's fought. " 
 
 Deceinber, 1832. — "It is but a little time since I 
 found my sins an oppressive load. My Savior hid 
 
8 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 his face for a moment. I sought him at twilight, at 
 midnight. I inquired of the watchmen. I wandered 
 over the field of truth. I looked, I Hstened, I fainted. 
 My Beloved spake — my soul melted — I bathed his 
 feet with my tears. I would not let him go till 
 he pardoned and smiled. Do you ask where I found 
 him? In Jer. iii, 19. At first his voice was indis- 
 tinct, but it arrested my attention. I listened and 
 he spake again. Is this, said I, the voice of my 
 Father? Again the notes became more distinct and 
 tender and earnest. He was inquiring how he should 
 put me among his children. He stated the condi- 
 tion. 'Thou shalt call me my Father, and thou 
 shalt not turn away from me. ' My heart responded, 
 ' My Father, my Father, thou art the guide of my 
 youth.' I had read these words before, but I never 
 found and ate them with such relish as now. The 
 condition, ' Thou shalt not turn away from me,' 
 seemed equally precious as the privilege of adoption. 
 I thought I made or renewed an unreserved, an 
 unconditional, cheef^ful, eternal, surrender of myself 
 
 to God I have not only been willing 
 
 for years to go on a mission, but more than willing, 
 I have been anxious. The Lord may not count me 
 •mox^y oi' "Cci^ privilege. Let God xca^'o.. . 
 
 January, 1833. — "God blesses me abundantly. 
 My soul is calm and serene. My cup runs over. I 
 sometimes seem to bathe in an ocean of tenderness 
 and love and bliss. I have not yet offered myself 
 formally to the Board. Dr. Richards says he can 
 cheerfully recommend me to them. The Lord will 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 direct. Oh, I know he will. I don't feel the least 
 anxiety about my future path. Only to be holy. " 
 
 March, 1833. — "Did you read the 1st chapter of 
 Matthew with me to-night? Did it interest you? 
 In tracing the genealogy of Christ, I found him of 
 whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write. 
 I discovered the Root and the Offspring of David, 
 the Bright and Morning Star. I saw the stars in the 
 right hand of Bethlehem's Babe, and the pillars of 
 the universe resting on his shoulders. I could not 
 but cry out, 'My Lord and my God!' What a 
 blessed name was given to this Babe. Who can 
 speak the import of Jesus! Oh, how significant. He 
 shall save his people from their sins. Surely God 
 has given him a name above every name. None 
 other makes such melting melody, such notes of 
 ecstacy, such swelling thunders on the plains of im- 
 mortality You must pray till you feel 
 
 the power of the Holy Ghost in your soul. Don't 
 let covetousness of time lead you to rob God. If 
 you do you will rob yourself, you will rob the church 
 and a perishing world. I find it so with me. If I 
 do not wrestle at the throne of grace until I receive 
 a blessing, my soul famishes! Oh, I cannot live 
 without God. All earthly joys are bitterness with- 
 out his smiles." 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 II. 
 
 " Fadth is mind at its best, its bravest, and its fieriest — 
 absorbing into itself the soul's great passions. The power of 
 grand living and superb doing is all in it." — Rem. Dr. PourV,- 
 hurat. 
 
 On the 17th of April, 1833, the Presbytery of 
 Cayuga County, meeting in Auburn, licensed Mr. 
 Coan to preach, and he spent his next vacation at 
 Rochester, where he supplied a vacant pulpit while 
 the pastor was absent at the General Assembly in 
 Philadelphia. Here the face which had beamed on 
 him from the village school-house was one among 
 the listening audience. Miss Church was then 
 teaching in Rochester. 
 
 From this place he writes: 
 
 May 18, 1833. — "Beloved Father, — I joyfully 
 embrace the opportunity to send you a line by 
 Heman, who has cal-led on me to-day on his way to 
 Conn. Hitherto the Lord has blessed me beyond 
 my fondest hopes. I have had health, and have 
 succeeded in my studies, and have been brought 
 into the holy ministry under circumstances and 
 prospects which impose peculiar obligations, and 
 call for peculiar gratitude and undivided consecra- 
 tion to the work of the Lord. Ever since I tasted 
 the love of God, my heart has been turned toward 
 the benighted heathen, although I once did not 
 
Memorial of Rev. TAtus Caan. 
 
 suffer myself to indulge a distant hope of laboring 
 among them. I feel poorly' qualified and very un- 
 worthy to become a missionary of the Cross, but the 
 heathen are perishing by millions every year; and 
 the command of Christ, ' Go ye into all the world,' 
 has been rolling down through eighteen hundred 
 years upon the dull ears of a worldly, unbelieving 
 Church, and somebody must go; therefore, if those 
 who are best qualified will not break away from the 
 endearments of home and obey this command, 
 others who are willing must take the field against 
 the dark empire of Satan in heathen lands. To me 
 it appears an unspeakable privilege to spend my 
 days in leading the wandering and benighted pagan 
 to the Lamb of God, in pointing him to that bright 
 morning star which gilds the sacred page with such 
 glory, and sheds such effulgence on the grave and 
 on the land beyond the flood. Will my dear father 
 pray for me that I may have humility and faith, and 
 be an instrument of honoring my Master in the con- 
 version of souls. " 
 
 On his return to Auburn he wrote : 
 
 TO MISS CHUECH. 
 
 June, 1833. — "The Lord has mercifully brought 
 me to my old study again, and I bless him for his 
 continued and abundant kindness. I feel that this 
 is the place where duty calls me, so I summon 
 resolution to be contented and happy, but still a 
 longing, lingering look of love wanders back. 
 Ah! we are separated; well, let it be so, it is all 
 right. We need the discipline now, perhaps, to 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 prepare us for the future. Our Father deals very 
 tenderly with us, and we owe him the warmest 
 passions of our hearts, the mightiest labor of our 
 hands. I arrived here between four and five o'clock, 
 after the most painful day's journey I ever ex- 
 perienced. I had the distressing honor of being 
 sole lord of the coach I occupied; but notwithstand- 
 ing my dignity, I was made the sport of every 
 gutter and way-log and' mound. I was truly treated 
 like a thing of naught, or a naughty thing. I really 
 felt lighter than vanity — something like a feather 
 riding on a thunderbolt. I leaped, danced, smiled, 
 grinned, held on, let go, went up light, came down 
 heavy, groaned, gnashed, passed fore and kft, 
 changed sides, and performed as many evolutions 
 as a cotillion dancer. You may think there is ex- 
 travagant hyperbole in all this, but every bone and 
 muscle of my frame at this moment respond that 
 there is sober truth in what I write. My coachmen 
 were young Jehus." 
 
 A few days later, while Dr. Anderson's letter 
 concerning an " Exploring expedition to Patagonia 
 resolved upon," was on its way from Boston to the 
 Auburn student, whom the Prudential Committee 
 had unanimously appointed a missionary of the 
 board, he is writing: 
 
 "No matter, lo^4e, whether storm or sunshine 
 await us, whether our cup be sweet or bitter, we 
 have a work to do, and, by the grace of God, we 
 will do it. And though our way may be dark and 
 stormy, though our path be strewed with thorns, 
 yet we shall soon, very soon, reach the end of our 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan, 13 
 
 pilgrimage, aad our weary feet will tread the land 
 of immortal song. Sooner than we could hope or 
 ask, and infinitely sooner than we deserve, our flesh 
 will slumber peacefully — God grant closely together 
 — in hope, and our purified and enraptured spirits 
 will mount with melody amidst the beaming glories 
 of the Godhead. You think brother George will 
 try to dissuade me from going on a mission, but you 
 did not tell me one of the reasons why he thought I 
 ought not to go. I would like to hear them, for 
 though he may think me immovable when my mind 
 is set, yet I can listen to sound and impartial argu- 
 ment, and I still hold myself open to counsel and 
 conviction. But I have had sad evidence that there 
 are very few enlightened, disinterested and Godlike 
 advisers on this point. I do not mean to be stub- 
 born, nor do I mean to be fickle, veering and ca- 
 pricious. I know my mind is not easily changed 
 after it becomes settled, and I pray God that I may 
 never lose that trait so essential to the accomplish- 
 ment of anything worthy of a Christian or a man. 
 Stubbornness I deprecate." 
 
 Then came the call to embark on the hazardous 
 Patagonian enterprise. He sought the advice of 
 his preceptors, and the venerable Dr. Richards, 
 speaking for the faculty, assured Mr. Coan of their 
 approval of the proposed mission; that he should be 
 honorably released from the further duties of the 
 Seminary; and that their prayers should go with 
 him. He hastened to Rochester that he might 
 confer with his espoused. They had parted but a 
 little while before in hope of an early reunion and a 
 nuptial day that should consummate their long 
 
14 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 pledged vows. But this return' was unexpected. 
 The letter of the secretary was put into Miss 
 Church's hand in silence. "As she read, her emotion 
 deepened, her tears flowed. What a change of 
 situation; what an uprooting of long cherished 
 hopes! . . . The struggle was intense. Soon, 
 however, faith gained the victory. " And the 
 memorable answer was given: " My dear, you 
 must go. " 
 
 This was in accordance with his own decision, 
 and there was no longer a doubt to deter him. 
 Brief visits were made in Western New York to bid 
 brothers and friends farewell, and then his face is 
 turned eastward for ordination and embarkation. At 
 Auburn he stopped for a few days, and on July loth 
 writes to his father: 
 
 "I need not tell you that this question was a 
 solemn one for me to settle, but I committed it to 
 God in earnest prayer, and with a determination to 
 yield to the convictions of duty. Although it cut 
 up all my plans by the roots, yet the voice of Prov- 
 idence seemed so distinct in the thing that I soon 
 resolved to go. Do pray for your unworthy son ; 
 he has duties and trials before him which need 
 peculiar grace, but the Lord is faithful, and the 
 cause is His own. " 
 
 TO MISS CHTJECH. 
 
 July II. — "Dearly beloved of my soul, the 
 thought that I am seated at my desk, where I have 
 spent many sweet seasons of communion with you, 
 to address you for the last time from these conse- 
 crated walls, causes some tender struggles and 
 gushings of nature; but my heart does not faint, it 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 1 5 
 
 is still fixed. The cords which twine around 
 kindred and country, and friends twinge and com- 
 plain a little. But I must not indulge. The Lord 
 is good, immeasurably good, and I am happy. I 
 contemplate the arduous enterprise before me with 
 pleasure rather than otherwise." 
 
 Albany, July 14. — " This is the Sabbath — the 
 sweet Sabbath of rest. Recollections sweet and 
 tender are finding avenues to my heart, and making 
 deep traces there. Associations solemn and moving 
 are thickening around my soul and making strong 
 impressions there. Less tha,n a year'ago I was here 
 under circumstances and prospects very different 
 from those which now arrest my attention. Then I 
 was with my loved one, traveling with her to a 
 peaceful home — to the bosom of friends and the 
 blessings of the sanctuary. Now I am journeying 
 without her toWard a land of strangers whose tender 
 mercies are cruel — to a region where the daylight of 
 life never dawned. " 
 
 Boston, July 18. — "I took the stage last even- 
 ing and went out to Dorchester, and spent the night 
 with Dr. A.'s family. It was a delightful season to 
 me. Mr. Anderson is one of the most amiable men 
 I ever saw — kind, affectionate, with a piety sweet 
 and clear, consistent and winning. He is also 
 equally yoked to a lovely, affectionate and constant 
 companion, another self. The family is truly a 
 scene of domestic piety and peace. So, by the 
 grace of God, we will live, dearest F. I still feel 
 happy in the contemplation of my mission, and 
 
1 6 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 nothing but a solemn sense of duty could induce me 
 to turn back. I thank God for the privilege of 
 endeavoring at least to seek out some of the lost 
 tribes of Adam, and carry to them, the peaceful 
 news which angels announced to the shepherds of 
 Bethlehem. And whether I succeed or not, I have 
 the strong consolation that I am acting under a clear 
 conviction of duty. My heart pants to give you 
 some assistance or counsel or consolation before I 
 go. But I can only throw you on the bosom of our 
 best beloved, and pray him to keep you in perfect 
 peace. Though we never meet on earth our feet 
 will soon stand upon Mount Zion, whence we shall 
 look down upon a world regenerated and filled with 
 the glory of God. So fare-you-well. The Lord 
 Jehovah sTiield you — the everlasting arms sustain 
 you. 
 
 New York, August 14. — "I am still in excellent 
 health and good spirits. The path before me looks 
 pleasant and cheering. It brightens every day. It 
 is straight and narrow, but it is clear and peaceful.- 
 No lion ever crowded into it; no ravenous beast 
 ever beset it. It is trodden only by the redeemed; 
 and you know what is predicted for the ransomed 
 of the Lord. At the invitation of Mr. Peet, Princi- 
 pal of the Asylum for Deaf and Durtib, I have spent 
 a day in the institution, for the purpose of learning 
 natural signs, or to converse by gestures. I was 
 exceedingly interested, and succeeded in telling the 
 mutes the object of my mission, the character and 
 condition of the inhabitants of Patagonia, together 
 with other stories, which they wrote down accu- 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 1 7 
 
 rately. Rarely have I been morfe deeply affected or 
 more highly gratified than in that visit. " 
 
 TO HIS FATHER. 
 
 August 15. — "Last Sabbath I preached in the 
 city three times. We find many kind friends in 
 New York. Captain C, with whom we sail, is- 
 amiable and moral, though not a professed Christian. 
 He is a member of the Temperance Society, and 
 takes no ardent spirits on board his vessel. He has 
 learned by experience that his men will endure cold 
 and rain, sleet and snow, hunger and fatigue, on 
 the dreary rocks of Patagonia better without rum 
 than with it. Our outfit is nearly complete, and is 
 a very singular one. We endeavor to blend in it 
 the wants of the sailor, the hunter, the cook, the 
 the physician, the forest traveler, the student of 
 nature and the missionary of the cross. So you 
 will imagine what a curious and complex little bundle 
 we take. I wish you, dear father, to give yourself 
 no anxiety about me, only to pray in strong faith 
 that your unworthy son may be humble and meek, 
 and patient and holy. If these things abound in 
 me, I shall be happy and safe anywhere. Without 
 these graces I should be wretched even in Paradise. 
 The Lord reward you for all your care of me. The 
 eternal God be your refuge. Lean upon him in. 
 old age. He has promised to be with those who 
 love him, ' even to hoary hairs.' This world is 
 passing. We shall all soon be in eternity. And if 
 we are found in Christ, no matter where our ashes 
 rest, whether among the tombs of our fathers or ia 
 
1 8 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 a land of strangers, whether mingled in the same 
 urn or with an ocean rolling between; we shall rise 
 in glory — we shall meet in Heaven. 
 
 " Your affectionate and obedient son, 
 
 "Titus." 
 
 , One more letter remained to be written before he 
 should sail for the "ends of the earth," when "no 
 answer to anxious inquiries, no echoes to calls of 
 love," could be wafted over a continent or a stormy 
 sea. On the day of embarkation, August i6, he 
 writes : 
 
 "I have risen this morning to cast a farewell look 
 upon the dear objects around. Yesterday was a 
 busy time with us. We carried our little all on 
 board the Mary Jane, and saw it stowed snugly 
 away. And now the morning breaks upon the 
 eastern hills, but the light of my eyes is far to the 
 west, and thither my spirit flies with fond and rapid 
 flight. ... Be comforted, dearest, be com- 
 forted, for he who loves you above all others is in 
 good health and is happy. I go with cheerful heart 
 and bounding step, the Lord before me and the God 
 of Jacob my rearward. Now I can sing a parting 
 note to my country in the true spirit of the lines: 
 
 ' Yes, I hasten from you gladly, 
 From the scenes I love so well.' 
 
 The Lord of Hosts bless and protect, guide and 
 sanctify my dear, dear Fidelia. ... I went 
 with this open to the P. O. on the moment of my 
 departure, hoping to find yours, and it has come. 
 I have not time to read it before I go. Thanks, 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 19 
 
 dear, thanks for your kindness. Farewell — :I go — I 
 go^farewell !" 
 
 Thus we have followed Mr. Coan from his early- 
 cry, "Lord, send me where thou wilt," to his glad 
 acceptance of the commission which sent him on a 
 dangerous embassy. The crowded sheets in which 
 his soul is mirrored contain no word of fear or 
 wavering. Acknowledging a gracious Leader, he 
 went forth with bounding step and joyful mien, 
 because he believed his paths were directed. How 
 bravely he passed through the perils of the wild 
 Patagonianlife, discharging, with his fellow-explorer, 
 the duties of the mission assigned them, appears in 
 the published "Adventures."* 
 
 ' On their return, after an absence of nine months, 
 they submitted to the Prudential Committee of the 
 A. B. C. F. M. the result of their investigations. 
 This report sets forth their careful observations of 
 the physical condition of the country, and of its 
 degraded inhabitants, and, in conclusion, presents a 
 few suggestions both for and against the immediate 
 establishment of a mission there: 
 
 "As to the nature of the mission, should one be 
 established," writes Mr. Coan, "it must be of a 
 peculiar character, and conducted by men of a par- 
 ticular stamp. If two men should go among them, 
 having a covered wagon for a habitation, who could 
 live as they live, until they could acquire their lan- 
 guage, they would then be prepared to commence 
 a local establishment somewhere in the vicinity of 
 Gregory's Bay. Then their families might be taken, 
 carrying the materials for a house from the United 
 States. One might remain at the post, having 
 
 "Adventures in Patagonia." Dodd & Mead, N. Y. 
 
20 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 charge of the school and domestic concerns, while 
 the other spent most of his time in itinerating among 
 the adults at their camps. Fuel could be procured 
 at Port Famine, and provision be Sent out annually 
 from the States. Vegetables might be cultivated 
 by the boys, when out of school, under the direction 
 of their teachers, should it be found that they could 
 be raised there. 
 
 "Should this plan succeed the expense of the 
 establishment would not be great, and the self- 
 denial not greater than missionaries should be will- 
 ing to make." 
 
 Who can doubt that he himself would have made 
 the self-denial, had the guiding Hand led him to 
 retrace his steps to -that field ? 
 
 There were other paths for him to follow. 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 III. 
 
 " I hold by nothing here below, 
 Appoint my journey and I go; 
 For with a God to guide my way, 
 'Tis equal joy to go or stay." 
 
 — MaAaine, Quyon. 
 
 "Te shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace." 
 
 Like Jacob of old, Mr. Coan's aged father had 
 mourned for the son during his absence. He had 
 received no tidings of him since the hour of embarka- 
 tion. No wires had announced to him his return. 
 In sorrow of heart he had one day said to his neigh- 
 bors, "I shall see my Joseph no more." The next' 
 day he had the glad surprise of beholding his face. 
 Other hearts, too, were comforted. 
 
 But it was not for family retinions or the joys of 
 home life that he had put on the armor of light. 
 Again he waited to be sent, and while waiting spent 
 the summer of 1834 preaching in Western New 
 York. In July he was informed of his appointment 
 to the Hawaiian Mission. 
 
 " I received this announcement," he writes, "with 
 great joy, for, although I was willing to go to any 
 missionary field on the face of the earth, yet the 
 Sandwich Islands had ever been a field of peculiar 
 and special interest to me. " 
 
 Once more he journeys eastward, but not alone. 
 With him is his chosen helpmeet, to' whom he had 
 
Memorial of Rev.. Titus Coan. 
 
 been united in marriage on the evening of November 
 3, 1834, at the Monthly Concert of Prayer for 
 Foreign Missions. 
 
 From Boston he wrote to his parents: 
 
 December 3, 1834. — "We have now been here 
 nearly two weeks, waiting for the ship to be ready. 
 We hope to go to-morrow. Twelve missionaries 
 sailed to-day for Southeastern Africa. There are 
 eight of our number, making twenty in all, who met 
 in this city at the same time. We received our in- 
 structions together on Sunday evening, the 23d of 
 November, in Park Street Church. The meeting 
 was crowded, solemn and impressive. The people 
 of Boston take a deep interest in the cause of mis- 
 sions, and are very hospitable to missionaries. We 
 have been kindly entertained since our arrival here. 
 , Our ship, the Hellespont, is a very good one, of 340 
 tons burden, but she is deeply laden. We shall be 
 pent up in small rooms, but they will be large 
 enough to hold our Bibles and our God, if our 
 spirits are contrite, O yes ! and they will often 
 seem to hold our dear parents and brethren and 
 sisters and all our Christian friends left behind. 
 And I trust the perishing heathen will often be 
 brought there and presented before our common 
 Saviour. . You will forgive me all the pain 
 
 an unworthy son has ever caused you, and you will 
 not cease to remember me at the throne of grace. 
 I shall never cease to bear you on my heart, though 
 in distant realms, until we meet in a better country. 
 If I know my own heart, the love of Christ and of 
 man and a solemn conviction of duty have led me 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 23 
 
 to leave the country, the altars and the ashes of my 
 fathers, with the prospect of returning to them no 
 more. 
 
 And now, dearest parents, farewell. The Lord 
 bless and cheer and guide you all the way up to his 
 ' holy hill,' where I hope to meet you through the 
 blood of the Cross; and I pray God that some blood- 
 washed islander may also meet you there through 
 my instrumentality. Then you will not regret my 
 leaving my father's house, will you?" 
 
 TO HIS BEOTHEE, EZEA COAN. 
 
 Ship Hellespont, at Sea, January 27, 1835. — 
 "We have been almost two months on 'the great 
 and wide sea,' on which are things innumerable, and 
 yet we have hardly seen a living thing beneath, 
 around, or above us since our embarkation. We 
 have now a fair summer sky, with a clear melting 
 sun, while you are shivering amidst the howling 
 storms and the pale and feeble rays of winter. We 
 are off the coast of Buenos Ayres. We are also 
 south of the sun, and our distance from him, as well 
 as from you, is widening, as he is on his annual tour 
 towards our native land, to cheer and bless those 
 dear shores we have left forever and those beloved 
 friends whom we expect to see no more till we 
 meet them in a land that has ' no need of the light 
 of sun or moon.' You have learned that; we left 
 Boston on the Jth of December. It was a day of 
 deep interest. A large company of friends collected 
 on the wharf to witness our embarkation, and to 
 unite in one last prayer and one final song of praise 
 
24 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 with us, until we bow around the throne of our-Com- 
 mon Father, and mingle our voices with the ' great 
 multitude,' whose notes are like ' many waters and 
 like mighty thunderings.' As the sails of our gallant 
 ship were unfurled to the breeze, and we glided 
 down the smooth bay, and as we exchanged the last 
 signals of adieu with weeping friends, and gazed 
 upon the city, the temples and hills of the pilgrims, 
 as they faded in the distance, we thought and felt 
 and wept. But we were not sad. Oh, no! though 
 our emotions were tender and strong — they were 
 joyful. Our Master left a better country for our 
 sake, and his example and the pledges of his pres- 
 ence and fellowship were enough to cheer us. 
 
 " Our ship is one hundred and eight feet long, 
 twenty-eight feet wide, and eighteen feet deep. 
 The lower hold extends the whole length of the 
 ship, and is twelve feet deep. This is filled with 
 freight. Over this is a floor, making a space 
 between the lower hold and the deck six feet deep. 
 On this floor a little room is built in the bows for 
 the sailors — the forecastle. In the stern is the 
 officers' cabin, twelve feet by six feet, and at each 
 end of it, opening to the sides of the ship, is a state- 
 room, six feet square, for sleeping. Forward of the 
 cabin, about five feet, a partition is thrown across 
 from side to side of the ship, forming a space for the 
 stairway, pantry, and a baggage-room. Between 
 this and the forecastle, a space nearly ninety feet 
 long, and embracing the whole width of the ship, is 
 the upper hold, which is usually occupied with the 
 cargo, and as we missionaries are sometimes 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 25 
 
 esteemed a sort of ' merchandise ' or burden to be 
 borne, we are put in the place where cargo is usually 
 stored. We have four temporary rooms, six feet by 
 five feet, built directly in front of the steerage, and 
 into these rooms we entered 'two and two.' Our 
 rooms are lighted only by one solid piece of glass, 
 six inches by two inches, set in the deck over our 
 heads. In our room we stowed all that we can have 
 access to on the voyage. We have two chests, four 
 trunks, a medicine chest and writing desk, several 
 bags, bundles, boxes, etc.; a looking-glass, some 
 book shelves, a chair, a lamp, a pitcher suspended 
 in a cot like a swallow's nest, a berth, garments 
 hung around the walls, etc., etc. What a little 
 creature man is! -and what an insignificant space in 
 God's universe he needs to put himself in. I had 
 forgotten to tell you that our little room contained 
 as happy a husband and wife as ever shone in a 
 palace, and besides we often get parents and brothers 
 and sisters, and multitudes of dear ones with us, 
 and there is room enough for them all; and some- 
 times our hearts grow warm and enlarge, and we 
 feel that we could entertain all the Church militant 
 and the Church triumphant, with our Elder Brother, 
 in this little apartment. As our rooms are built two 
 on each side of the ship, opposite each other, there 
 is a little space in the middle between them which 
 is our common sitting room. This is walled up on 
 one side with pipes of water, barrels of beef, pork, 
 and potatoes, boxes and bales of goods, etc. — a for- 
 midable bulwark! In this space you would see a 
 few chests, boxes, trunks, and chairs lashed for seats. 
 
26 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 a washstand or board, a pail, an old lantern sus- 
 pended overhead to render darkness visible, and 
 multitudes of loose garments dangling from rusty 
 nails, and waving in graceful ineasure with the 
 motion of the ship. The light of heaven can enter 
 this room in no way but by opening the door or 
 removing the hatch overhead. Now, I do not give 
 you this description to show you how hard we fare, 
 but to gratify you with the picture of facts which I 
 know you want. We are all well off, and our ac- 
 commodations are as good as they could conveniently 
 be made. Captain Henry is very kind, and does 
 all he can to make us comfortable. She is a tem- 
 perance ship. The captain allows preaching on the 
 Sabbath and the distribution of tracts, but no per- 
 sonal conversation' with the sailors. In the mission 
 family we have prayers morning and evening, and a 
 Bible-class exercise twice a week. . . . The 
 first two or three weeks of our voyage were dread- 
 fully boisterous — a violent storm raged almost with- 
 out intermission. The wind howled, and the sea 
 roared and foamed, and rolled its angry billows to 
 the clouds. Our ship is heavily laden, and every 
 wave seemed to sweep over her like a log. She 
 labored and creaked and groaned as if in the agonies 
 of dissolution. But what was worse than this, we 
 found that . her decks leaked, and during the whole 
 storm the cabin and all our rooms were constantly 
 drenched — even our beds were insecure; but we 
 were obliged to sleep in them wet, with the water 
 dripping in our faces. There was no remedy; to 
 calk was impossible, and every seaman was at his 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 2 7 
 
 wits' end to manage the ship and keep her above 
 water. For two or three days our company were 
 all seasick, and unable to rise or to help one 
 another. But out of all these troubles the Lord 
 delivered us, and we are now in good health and 
 pursuing our voyage prosperously. . . . How 
 do you all do? I should love to peep in upon your 
 dear circle, but I suppose your little prattlers will 
 never more skip about the room with beaming eyes 
 and beating hearts and cry: 'Mother! Mother! 
 Uncle Titus is coming.' Ask them for me if, after 
 the uncle who loves them shall have ended his pil- 
 grimage and gone home, as he hopes to, to rest in 
 his Father's house in Heaven,. he shall ever look out 
 from the mansions of bliss and say: 'George Whit- 
 field is coming;' ' Charlotte is coming;' ' Henry 
 Martin is coming;' ' Fanny Woodbury is coming;' 
 ' Ezra Titus is coming;' ' Edward Payson is coming.' 
 " How do you all do? I ask again. Do your 
 souls live, or are you buried up in the world? How 
 is the church, the dear church in Byron? Is the 
 candle of the Lord shining upon her, or is she walk- 
 ing in darkness? Please ask Brother Gray to tender 
 the assurance of my undying love to the whole 
 church, with the request that they will not cease to 
 pray fervently for me, that I may be holy and 
 useful. " 
 
 TO HIS FATHEE. 
 
 Ai Sea, May S, 1835. — "Nearly six months 
 have now elapsed since I paid my farewell visit to 
 my paternal home and to the scenes of my earliest 
 
28 Memorial of Rev, Titus Coan. 
 
 remembrance, and with these mortal eyes gazed for 
 the last time on the dear parent whose anxious toils 
 sustained my helpless years, and whose kind hand, 
 under God, led my wayward feet from infancy up to 
 manhood. A thousand co-mingling recollections — 
 joyful, tender, sad — rush upon my mind and unlock 
 the fountains of my soul while I write. The seques- 
 tered habitation, the fields, the forests, diversions, 
 occupations of childhood, the domestic circle, broken 
 and dissolved like a charm of night; a mother long 
 since silent in the grave, companions scattered wide 
 over the earth, or sleeping beneath its surface; 
 strong men bowed under the ' last enemy,' and 
 their houses and fields given to others; aged sires 
 gone the way of all the earth; everything changed 
 or changing — all are marks of mutation, everywhere 
 corroborating the solemn truth that ' the fashion of 
 the world passeth away,' and that ' we spend our 
 years as a tale that is told.' 
 
 " The thought how much needless sorrow I gave 
 my parents, how much precious time I more than 
 wasted, how much injury I did to my own soul, 
 and, above all, how much I abused the long suffer- , 
 ing of a gracious God, sometimes comes over me 
 with melting power. 
 
 " Our voyage, thus far, has been for the most part 
 pleasing, with the exception of a terrible storm of 
 two or three weeks at the commencement. Our 
 ship stopped three weeks at Valparaiso, in Chili, 
 and about as long at Lima, the capital of Peru, in 
 order to sell some of the cargo. While at Val- 
 paraiso I made a tour of one hundred miles inland 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 29 
 
 to the city of Santiago. A little sketch of the tour 
 may not be uninteresting to you. My only com- 
 panion was Mr. Dimond, one of our mission family. 
 There are no stage coaches in Chili, and the only 
 carriages for public conveyance are gigs or chaises 
 (imported), which only accommodate two passen- 
 gers, and are drawn in the following manner: One 
 horse is harnessed within the shafts, and another, 
 with saddle and bridle, is attached to the carriage 
 on the left side by a leather thong from the shafts 
 to the saddle girth. On this horse the driver is 
 mounted, with massive bludgeon and spurs to urge 
 on the team. Behind the carriage two armed men 
 follow as guards and assistants, driving before them 
 six or eight horses to serve as changes on the way. 
 The whole troop of three men and ten or twelve 
 horses goes through the whole distance, and when 
 a change of horses is wanted, instead of taking them 
 fresh from the stall, they are caught from this drove 
 with the lasso, and the change is made in the middle 
 of the road. 
 
 "Although there is such an array of men and 
 horses, yet our fare through was only six and a half 
 dollars each. The road is good and the driving rapid. 
 Travelers can go through the whole distance, one 
 hundred miles, in a day, if they choose. In ascend- 
 ing hills, one of the horsemen with the drove rides 
 up and hooks his horse to the right shaft, and thus 
 the carriage is drawn to the summit by three horses 
 abreast. In descending dangerous steeps a horse is 
 attached to the hinder part of the gig, and made to 
 hold back. 
 
30 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 "On leaving Valparaiso we first passed a lofty 
 range of naked hills, which line the whole coast, and 
 which have been rent everywhere by the earth- 
 quakes and torrents of Him who ' overturneth the 
 mountains in his anger,' and ' shaketh the earth out 
 of its place.' The fissures and ravines, along which 
 we often rode, were of awful depth, and we ascended 
 the giddy heights of the mountain by innumerable 
 windings and zigzags, cut into its steep and rugged 
 sides from the base to the top. After passing these 
 hills we crossed an extended plain of twenty-five 
 miles in diameter, surrounded by lofty, barren hills. 
 We passed one little mud village on the plain, but, 
 with this exception, we saw little of animal or vege- 
 table life. Most of the ground is uncultivated for 
 want of water, as it never rains here in the summer. 
 Gardens and fields are watered by artificial means. 
 When we had crossed the plain, we came to a second 
 range of hills, more bold and lofty than the first, 
 and seeming on the approach to oppose an impass- 
 able barrier. We were, however, carried directly 
 over this stupendous wall by a broad road cut in 
 innumerable zigzags up and down its almost perpen- 
 dicular sides. From the top of this hill we had a 
 most magnificent view of the Andes rising in hoary 
 majesty like an eternal rampart against the heavens, 
 and stretching their everlasting arms as if to span 
 the world. From the mountain we descended into 
 another vast plain exhibiting the same general 
 features of nakedness and drouth as the one we had 
 crossed. On this level we passed one village, 
 besides many huts scattered along by the wayside. 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coati. 3 1 
 
 Most of the dwellings are built of stakes, brush, 
 reeds and mud, without floor or chimney, and in 
 our country they would be esteemed too contempt- 
 ible even for sheep hovels. They have but one 
 room, without chair, bed, or table, and are often 
 only eight or ten feet square; and yet they frequently 
 furnish the only shelter for more than that number 
 of souls. I am speaking now of the houses of 
 the poorer class of people. In the cities the 
 wealthy and the thrifty have comfortable dwell- 
 ings of brick, made after the Egyptian manner by 
 mixing cut straw with clay or mud, forming it into 
 moulds, and drying it in the sun. 
 
 "Crossing this second plain, we came to the third 
 range of mountains, still more lofty and imposing 
 than those we had passed. These mountains are 
 several thousand feet high, and are ascended in the 
 same manner as the others. I think few spectacles 
 are more grand and imposing than to stand at the 
 foot of this hill and see the multitudes of clumsy ox 
 carts (15 or 20 feet long), carriages of passengers, 
 troops of horsemen, scattered footmen, droves of 
 mules and asses, often fifty or a hundred together, 
 and each one carrying a burden as large as Jiimself, 
 all moving up and down the steep, some turning to 
 the right, some to the left, and seeming to hang from 
 beetling heights, as they move along the different 
 terraces, one above the other, from the base to the 
 top of the mountain. When two-thirds the way up 
 this hill, we suddenly emerged from a thick cloud, 
 which filled all the valley below, and the sun broke 
 upon us with all his splendor, opening a world of 
 
32 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 grand, sublime, and romantic scenery upon our view. 
 We could look down upon the vast sea of clouds 
 beneath us, as upon a map. It had the appearance 
 of an immense and unruffled lake, begirt with an 
 adamantine wall of amphitheatral mountains, with 
 here and there a hilltop rising above the surface like 
 a solitary island. 
 
 "Here we saw the heads and hands of two men 
 who were lately shot for crimes (the details of which 
 are most horrible), committed on the spot. This 
 shocking, though salutary example, is made of them 
 as a beacon to others. 
 
 " From the top of this hill the city of Santiago first 
 breaks upon the view at a distance of twenty-five 
 miles across an extended plain. In rear of the city 
 the gigantic Andes lift their snow-crowned summits 
 above the clouds, and seem to hang in massive piles 
 over the very town; but, on approaching, they are 
 found to be several miles distant. The population 
 of Santiago is supposed to be 80,000. Though this 
 is one of the very best cities in all South America, 
 yet there is little here to compare with the blessings 
 of our own native land. The inhabitants are sunk 
 in ignorance, superstition and sin. There are mul- 
 titudes of priests and churches, but the former are 
 oftener seen at the cock-fight or the bull-bait than 
 at the churches. They seldom preach, and after 
 saying Mass on Sunday morning, they often spend 
 the day in gambling. No religion but the Romish 
 is tolerated here. A Protestant clergyman, as such, 
 cannot live in the country. Treachery, murder, 
 assassinations, are common. It is said that in 1827 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 33 
 
 there were eight hundred assassinations in the 
 capital. 
 
 "It is an acknowledged fact that this republic is 
 further advanced in improvement than any of the 
 other South American States. But yet ' the people 
 perish for lack of vision.' The Romish superstitions 
 bind them down in ignorance, in vice, and in death. " 
 
34 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 IV. 
 
 " Let the lowliest task be mine, 
 Grateful so the work be Thine ; 
 Make my mortal dream come true 
 With the work I fain would do." 
 
 — Whittie.r. 
 
 Honolulu, June 26, 1835. — " My eyes at last 
 behold these ' isles afar off,' and my feet tread on 
 these long desired shores. And I would here first 
 record the goodness of God in guiding us through 
 all the perils of the deep and in bringing us to the 
 field ofour labors. On the morning of the Sth inst. , 
 just six months from the time we lost sight of our 
 native land, we first descried the island of Hawaii, 
 at the distance of sixty or seventy miles. On the ' 
 morning of the 6th we made this island (Oahu), and 
 at 10 A. M. dropped anchor in the harbor. All the 
 missionaries of the islands, except two, with their 
 wives and little ones, were assembled in general 
 meeting at this place, according to their annual cus- 
 tom. On hearing of our arrival, Messrs. Bingham, 
 Chamberlain and .Armstrong came off to the ship 
 in a boat, to welcome and to take us on shore. 
 When we landed, we found the band of brethren and 
 sisters at the seaside awaiting our arrival and ready 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 35 
 
 to embrace us. Every heart seemed to feel more 
 than it could utter. What first struck me with 
 peculiar force was the plain attire and simple man- 
 ners of the missionaries, but, above all, the wasting 
 inroads which climate and toil had evidently made 
 on the constitutions of this beloved band of disci- 
 ples. From the shore we walked up through the 
 town one mile to the mission-houses, where all 
 joined in a song of praise and thanksgiving to God, 
 and then united in prayer. ... At half-past 
 four P. M. I went with Brother Bingham to the 
 chapel. After services Mr. B. introduced me to the 
 governess and some of the high chiefs, who ex- 
 pressed much joy at the arrival of more teachers on 
 their shores. When we turned from our interview 
 with the chiefs, the common people pressed around 
 me in crowds, each one striving to grasp my hand 
 and express his warm welcome. For a long time I 
 stood and received the hands of individuals in rapid 
 succession, each one expressing his ' aloha' (love to 
 you) and retiring before the crowd that were press- 
 ing for the same privilege. As a great many were 
 unable to 'get near me in the chapel, they arranged 
 themselves by the wayside the whole distance from 
 the church to Mr. B.'s house, and held out their 
 hands as I passed. It was an affecting scene, and 
 never have I seen before a people who expressed so 
 much gratitude and affection. On the Sabbath we 
 attended worship with a company of some fifteen 
 hundred. The chapel is one hundred and eighty 
 feet long and sixty feet wide. Its framework is of 
 posts and poles, and it is thatched all over with long 
 
36 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coon. 
 
 grass. The chiefs and people are poorly clad, and 
 sit upon mats spread on the ground. By invitation 
 of the king and chiefs we had an early and pleasant 
 interview with them. They are an enormous race 
 of men. Some of them weigh two hundred and 
 sixty pounds. They were well dressed, in English 
 style, and we were received by them with as much 
 ease and courtesy as by the refined in our own 
 country. Conversation turned on the readiness with 
 which they now received missionaries, compared 
 with the reluctance with which they first permitted 
 them to land, and it afforded no little amusement to 
 themselves, as well as to us, when they told us they 
 once thought the missionaries dug their cellars as a 
 place of deposit for powder and balls. But these 
 jealousies, they say, were in the days of dark hearts. 
 The governess of Oahu, Kinau, made a fine supper, 
 a few evenings since, for all the missionaries and 
 their families, to which she also invited the king and 
 head men of the nation. The whole company num- 
 bered more than one hundred. We were received 
 into a spacious apartment, furnished with elegant arm 
 chairs, sofas, center tables, etc., and lighted with 
 large astral lamps. The floor was spread with one 
 entire mat, of native workmanship. At the close 
 of the interview hymns were sung and a prayer 
 offered. ... I long to go into the work. I 
 think this is my proper field of labor, and I would 
 not go back for the world, unless I knew it to be 
 the will of God. There is pressing need of laborers 
 here. Thousands who are anxious for instruction 
 must die without it unless help can be obtained. 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 37 
 
 Our location for the present year will be at Hilo, on 
 the island of Hawaii. Our associate is to be Rev. 
 Mr. Lyman. We shall probably be two hundred 
 and fifty miles from medical aid, and can expect 
 none. We have only to trust in God. Dear brother, 
 live near to God and labor for souls. If we are 
 faithful to our Master we shall soon meet in joy." 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Coan remained a month in Hono- 
 lulu. Then, their location haying been assigned by 
 the mission, and an opportunity of reaching it pre- 
 senting, they went forth to their appointed station. 
 Of the passage thither, he writes: 
 
 " What rendered the voyage so distressing was 
 the crowd, the heat and seasickness. We were in a 
 'small vessel, probably about one hundred souls. 
 Every nook and corner was stowed with living 
 beings, half alive, prone, prostrate, lengthwise, cross- 
 wise, piled up or scattered in wild confusion, while 
 horses, goats, hogs, fowls, calabashes of poi inter- 
 mingled to fill up the ludicrous picture. Almost 
 every soul was seasick in good earnest. The deck 
 was covered with sad, pale faces, and echoed with 
 dismal sounds. Nearly every one kept the deck 
 day and night, as the heat and air of the cabin were 
 intolerable. On "the third day we found ourselves 
 driven back to Honolulu. Up to this time my Dear 
 and I had not tasted a morsel of food or a drop of 
 water; and the thought of another attempt to beat 
 against the trade wind was almost enough to sink 
 one's soul. However, we braced our minds up to 
 the necessity, and the Lord helped us, and brought 
 us safely through." 
 
38 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 Hilo was to them at the first, "a picture of loveli- 
 ness," and forty years later Mr. Coan could write: 
 
 " The ecstatic romance with which I first saw these 
 emerald isles has not abated by familiarity or by 
 age. The picture is photographed in unfading tints 
 upon my heart, and it has become to me the romance 
 of reality. Where can you find within so small a 
 space such a collecting, such massing, such blending 
 of the bland, the beautiful, the exquisite, the gor- 
 geous, the grand and the terrific as on Hawaii ? 
 Along the summits of our lofty mountains the God 
 of glory thundereth, while the overhanging clouds 
 send down the rattling hail and drop the fleecy 
 snow. There telluric fires find vent and send up 
 columns of melted rocks to the heavens, spreading " 
 out in baleful glare like a burning firmament. The 
 crashing thunder, the vivid lightning, the rending 
 earthquake and the bursting volcano we have in the 
 near proximity of the peaceful village, the grassy 
 landscape, the sweet flower garden, the cultivated 
 field, the babbling brook, the tropical fruits and 
 ferns, the waving palm, the golden sunshine, the 
 stellar vault above and the surrounding ocean whose 
 swelling bosom moves with the zephyr and the tem- 
 pest, while her white foam girdles with glory our 
 rock-bound shores." 
 
 Amid such surroundings the earthly home was 
 established. In his journal he wrote, July 30, 1835 : 
 
 " Having prepared a room in Brother Lyman's 
 house, we have this day commenced housekeeping 
 and established ourselves as a distinct family. The 
 Lord be gracious to us." 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 39 
 
 And writing to his brother George he thus de- 
 scribes the new home : 
 
 " We Hve in one end of a long, narrow house of 
 rough walls of stone laid up in mud, with thatched 
 roof. We occupy but one room separate from the 
 rest by a mat partition. Our home is rather open. 
 Hens come in, now and then, to find their nest with 
 us, and rats, mice and lizards frequently play their 
 merry gambols on our floor, walls and roof. None 
 of the tenants of our rude habitation are as happy as 
 we. We are happy in our union, happy in our work 
 and happy in our Redeemer." 
 
 So the key-note is struck, and through the long, 
 years following, earthly love, and work, and fellow- 
 ship with Christ were the chords of an endless song. 
 He found work at once, and with him, as with Fen- 
 elon, it was ever: " Do the duty that lies nearest 
 thee." While, for a time, his lips were held by an 
 unknown tongue, from direct efforts for the natives, 
 he had, as his own words record, " close, personal 
 conversation with captains and sailors," of ships 
 stopping at the port of Hilo. There were calls 
 every day from sailors enquiring the way of life, and 
 solemn meetings when he preached to them. But 
 when the new language had been to some degree 
 acquired, and three months after landing, he had 
 preached his first Hawaiian sermon, he began the 
 touring which was to be a marked feature of his after 
 life. 
 
40 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 V. 
 
 " ' Souls ! souls for the kingdom ! ' the battle cry 
 Be this through the hottest strife. 
 Win glowing stars for thy lustrous crown, 
 
 It were worth aU toil and pain ; 
 There is other labor for other worlds, 
 But never a soul to gain." 
 
 — Mrs. Herrick Johnson. 
 
 The distinctive department of labor at first assigned 
 Mr. Coan was the charge of the school at the sta- 
 tion and a general oversight of one hundred out 
 schools scattered up and down the coast. To the 
 people also he must distribute books and administer 
 medicines. Afterwards by mutual agreement with 
 his associate, Rev. D. B. Lyman, he took the whole 
 pastoral charge of the field, while on Mr. Lyman 
 devolved the care of the Boys' Boarding School. 
 To Mrs. Coan and the new teacher, Mr. Wilcox, 
 was given the burden of the station and common 
 schools. 
 
 Mr. Coan's parish extended by coast line on the 
 eastern and northeastern shore of Hawaii, one hun- 
 dred miles, and' included Hilo and Puna. Fifteen 
 thousand natives inhabited these districts, and of 
 this multitude only twenty-three were members of 
 the church in 1836. Looking out upon his flock, he 
 exclaimed, "These souls, — these perishing souls! 
 What I have, mind, bpdy and heart, I am ready to 
 devote to them." 
 
 As he gained more knowledge of the language 
 he dispensed with written sermons, and preached 
 ex tempore. The people were impressed, and con- 
 gregations soon increased. Even in the first year 
 there were many inquirers and marked manifesta- 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 41 
 
 tions of the Holy Spirit's presence. In November, 
 1837, a protracted meeting of eight days was held 
 at the station. Of that time Mr. Coan wrote: 
 
 "God wrought for us. I opened the meeting with 
 a sermon from the text, ' Prepare ye the way of the 
 Lord.' Great effect was produced. On the second 
 day of the meeting God came in terror. The sea 
 rose suddenly to the perpendicular height of fifteen 
 or twenty feet, and fell in one mountain wave upon 
 the shore, sweeping away nearly one hundred houses 
 with all their. tenants. All was sudden as a peal of 
 thunder. No premonitions were given. None had 
 time to flee. The scene was awful. Hundreds 
 were engulfed in a moment. Cries of distress were 
 heartrending, and the roar of the raging sea was 
 deafening. To the people the event was as the voice 
 of God speaking to them out of Heaven, ' Be ye also 
 ready. ' 
 
 "Time swept on; the work deepened and widened. 
 Thousands on thousands thronged the courts of the 
 Lord. Everywhere the trumpet of jubilee sounded 
 loud and long, and as clouds and- as doves to their 
 windows, so ransomed sinners flocked to Christ. " 
 
 A review of Mr. Coan's labors during the earlier 
 years of his settlement at Hilo, together with a vivid 
 description of his field, is given in a narrative of 
 thrilling interest by Rev. S. J. Humphrey, D. D., 
 District Secretary of the American Board at Chicago, 
 111. ;* while the Missionary Heralds of that period 
 
 *Under the title of 'Tour Memorable Years at Hilo," it was 
 first printed in the Admance and in Missionary Papers No. 16, 
 and was then reproduced in the New York Independent. Tears 
 afterward it was issued in tract form by the "Friends' Tract 
 Association, '' WUmington, Del. 
 
42 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 and "Life in Hawaii" also contain records of the 
 great awakening. But once more let the marvel- 
 lous story be repeated through his own pen, as in 
 the midst of incessant toils he dashed off despatches 
 to a comrade soldier. 
 
 Fellow-students at Auburn during 1831, Lorenzo 
 Lyons and Titus Coan had often conversed together 
 concerning the kingdom of Christ, and together 
 prayed for its advancement. Afterwards they were 
 co-laborers in the same mission, dwelling upon the 
 same island for almost fifty years. 
 
 Rev. Mr. Lyons' station, seventy miles from Hilo 
 on the east, was at Waimea, on the west, with the 
 flaming volcano between. A wearisome road, cross- 
 ing rough channels of rushing mountain streams, 
 ascending through thickets and deep forests to "an 
 open undulating country, sprinkled all over with 
 trees, and everywhere traversed with paths of wild 
 cattle," separated the two friends, and made visits 
 rare; but letters were frequent, and were as glowing 
 coals from their consecrated hearts. 
 
 "In reviewing these letters," Mr. Lyons writes, 
 "the tears have flowed, and I could not refrain from 
 crying aloud. I stood before the picture of my 
 sainted brother, and it seemed as if I could almost 
 hear him speaking in his soul-inspiring strains. We 
 were in deep sympathy, and unbosomed our hearts, 
 our joys, our longings to each other." 
 
 Under date of November 24, 1837, Mr. Coan 
 reports to Mr. Lyons: 
 
 "We have a glorious work of grace here. Hun- 
 dreds think they are converted. How many will 
 bring forth fruits meet for repentance remains to be 
 seen. That very many are born of God is to my 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 43; 
 
 mind as sure as that the Gospel is the power of God 
 unto salvation. If I can judge of my own feelings^ 
 I never took hold of the work of pulling sinners out 
 of the fire with more faith, and more unshaken con- 
 fidence of success, than at this time, and I never 
 saw God's work more manifest. Only let us preach 
 the Gospel in living iix'Ca., and under the awful press- 
 ure of the powers of the world to come, and I defy 
 the people, stupid as they are, to sleep. Why,, 
 they might as well sleep under a cataract of fire. 
 . Write me often, and we will not fail to pray 
 for each other. " 
 
 December 25. — "The Captain of our salvation 
 is still riding through the field. He must conquer,, 
 for all power is his. Why should we ever doubt 
 his power or his love ? Why lose his presence 
 and his help ? Unbelief is God-dishonoring. Why 
 cherish that child of Hell — that soul-murderer? Five 
 hundred conversions in your field! I hope there are 
 as many in ours. But what are they among the 
 thousands left? Some may call this a great work, 
 and it surely is glorious. It wakes up sweet and 
 loud songs in Heaven. But this work is yet small 
 compared to what God wishes to do, and to what 
 he will do if our faith fail not. I am sometimes, 
 s'orely tempted of Satan to doubt and fear, and say 
 this may be all smoke. God forbid that I should 
 yield to such soul-killing suggestions. This is God's, 
 work, and it will go on. Our meetings are more 
 and more crowded. I preach and talk to multitudes 
 every day. One hundred will probably be added ta 
 
44 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 this church on the first Sabbath in January. Let 
 1838 be a year of Jubilee to these islands. God 
 help you, my brother. Be strong, go on, do 
 valiantly. Fear nothing but sin. Look up; listen 
 .to the voice that says, 'Lo! /am with you always.' 
 Preach boldly, plainly, in living faith, in burning 
 love, and in high and holy expectation of success. 
 If thousands are not converted we shall be red with 
 the blood of souls. If these things are so, how can 
 we sleep?" 
 
 Early in 1838 Mr. Coan went through Puna, 
 holding protracted 'meetings at different points, and 
 under almost every sermon fearfulness took hold on 
 sinners. Again he writes: 
 
 January 29. — "At the first village the Holy 
 Ghost fell on many that heard the word, and they 
 left all and followed from place to place, weep- 
 ing as they went. I should hardly dare tell my 
 brethren generally what I saw in Puna. Some 
 would call it Methodism, some fanaticism, wild- 
 fire, etc. I call it the power, of God unto salva- 
 tion, for I felt it in my soul before it fell upon my 
 congregation. And it fell upon them under the 
 most bold and searching and simple truth which I 
 could present to their minds, and as the most 
 unequivocal answer to prayer. . . . On the 
 subject of receiving converts soon into the church, 
 you and I probably agree. There is neither Scripture 
 .nor philosophy, nor prudence, in the opposite 
 practice. I mean when we get good evidence of 
 conversion. I avail myself of every help to learn 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 45 
 
 the life of every one of the candidates, inquiring into, 
 the private and domestic habits of each individual,, 
 receiving no man simply on his own profession 
 of love to Christ. I show the lists to Brother 
 Lyman. If he knows anything good or bad of any 
 one, he tells it. After this I call all these candidates 
 together and examine them individually in my own 
 house. If they appear well I invite them to the 
 church meeting, and there they are again examined 
 before the whole church. " 
 
 February 6. — "I thank you for your blessed soul- 
 stirring letter. ' Said I not unto thee that if thou 
 wouldst believe thou shouldst see the glory of 
 God?' A flood of people here at this time. Crowded^ 
 crowded, pressed. Hundreds who were alarmed in 
 Puna have come on here to hear more of the Gospel. 
 I have just closed the children's meeting. The 
 house was a Bochim, and before my address was 
 closed my voice was nearly drowned with crying out. 
 
 "Some may be afraid of this, but it is better than 
 a house full of sinners asleep. " 
 
 February 13. — "Blessed news! More than twelve 
 hundred converts in Honolulu. Blessed work. 
 Blessed Savior. Blessed reward. I predict that 
 this whole nation is about to be shaken. 
 
 "It is late and I have just dismissed one hundred 
 natives from my house whom I have been pointing 
 to the Lamb of God. My body is all weak and 
 trembling with weariness, but my heart is full of love, 
 
 joyful in God our Savior What tidings from 
 
 Kohala? Do the banners of salvation wave in glory 
 
.46 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coatt. 
 
 there? Are the devil's towers down? Are his 
 bulwarks fallen? Tell me, Brother Watchman, tell 
 me, for my soul is in expectation. " 
 
 March 15. — "Probably you have heard ere this 
 of the arrival of the ship from Boston. She brought 
 the General Letter which tells its own story. God 
 is blowing upon the wealth of the American churches, 
 and no wonder. They have brought the lame and 
 sick and torn to his altar. They have proposed to 
 accomplish the glorious plan for which the earth rolls 
 and for which Jesus died with that which costs them 
 nothing. " 
 
 May 7. — "Take care of your health. You have 
 no right to break your earthen vessel too soon. Let 
 it wear out, but don't use violence to break it. You 
 say that you are about broken down. Then turn 
 aside and rest awhile as the disciples did when 
 exhausted with toil. Christ allows it. He requires 
 it." 
 
 July 3. . . . "Sabbath was a glorious day here. 
 I baptized and received seventeen hundred and five 
 to this church. Yesterday I spent the afternoon in 
 baptizing the children of the church, several hundreds 
 in number. Sinners are coming in from Kau and 
 all parts of Hilo and Puna, and hardened rebels are 
 ■constantly breaking down. Some fall, but God's 
 work does not fall to the ground. " 
 
 August 28. . . . "I should have written sooner 
 but have been absent touring two weeks. Have 
 . returned with arms full of sheaves. Heaven shouts 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 47 
 
 it home. The Gospel was all triumphant. The 
 prayers of some were wonderful — heaven-moving, 
 heaven - opening. Jesus rode all glorious, all 
 mighty to save. God girded a worm for the fight 
 and the slain of the Lord were many. 
 
 "Blrother Gulick is with us and will stay till after 
 the communion; a beloved brother." 
 
 September 9. — "Comparatively few fall here as 
 yet, but O, the tug of battle; the watchings, the 
 fightings, the toils necessary to keep such a church 
 awake and at the post of duty. But I love the 
 struggle and God helps me wonderfully. I want to 
 fight on till I die. I wish to die in the field with 
 armor on, with weapons bright. " 
 
 October 15. — "O for meekness, patience, faith; 
 for a single eye that looks right on, and for a soul 
 HazX. presses toward the mark. I pray for that meek- 
 ness which commits one's self, motives, measures, 
 actions, all to him who judges righteously." 
 
 November 6. . . . "I remember our meeting 
 with much joy. How did you get home? How 
 find your dear wife and child? Great rains after we 
 separated. Drenched continually in my travels. 
 Rivers swollen, mad, perilous, and finally impassable. 
 Hindered on my way and took a canoe. 
 
 "The voice of agonizing prayer breaks the stillness 
 of the evening on every hand. Let envy and malice 
 sneer, let skepticism cavil, let cold prudence caution, 
 and let timidity tremble. Still the work goes on. 
 To God only wise be the glory. My lips shall 
 praise him, my soul shall bless him. 
 
48 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 "Last Sabbath was our communion. Multitudes, 
 multitudes assembled. The number of communi- 
 cants was so large that I was obliged to divide them 
 for want of room in the meeting house. In the 
 morning broke bread to the Puna division, in the 
 afternoon to the Hilo. Yesterday was monthly- 
 concert. Probably three or four thousand people 
 contributed in labor and other ways on the occasion. 
 Were their labor available as in the United States 
 the contribution of yesterday would not fall much 
 short of one thousand dollars, but as it is, alas! it 
 may not amount to ten. May we be agents under 
 God in bringing about better days. . . . Brother 
 
 writes me strong reproofs and remonstrances 
 
 about measures, etc. I know that I am ignorant 
 and foolish. Oh, that some of these kind and 
 anxious brethren would show me ' a more excellent 
 way.' " 
 
 December 23. — "I have been absent on a tour of 
 eighteen days in Puna. I have returned weary, 
 lame and sore, but rejoicing. I was much cheered 
 by the steadfastness of the church; nearly all appear 
 well. Out of two thousand church members in that 
 district only ten are wandering. May the Good 
 Shepherd preserve them into his heavenly king- 
 dom. This field, my dear brother, is all battle 
 ground. It belongs to Jesus. Satan disputes the 
 title, contends for every inch of the ground, and 
 fights hard on the retreat. If you find any of my 
 sheep scattered and wandering in your field, you 
 will do me a great favor to look after them. I shall 
 ever esteem it a privilege to do the same by the sheep 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 49 
 
 and lambs of your fold who may chance to wander, 
 or to feed in this field. ... I have many joyful 
 feelings, and many which are solemn and almost 
 overpowering. For some of my little children I 
 travail in birth again and again until Christ be formed 
 in them. So it is with you. Let us hold on, my 
 brother, for we shall reap if we faint not. There is 
 glory in the prospect. The crown of life! O! I see 
 it, all glittering, all glorious." 
 
 February 25, 1839. — "You say there will be 
 noise where there is fighting and conquering. This 
 is true, and there will be much noise before the 
 world is converted to God. But I have little fear of 
 the noise of praying Christians and wailing sinners, 
 if so be the wailing is confined to time. In eternity 
 it will roll up fearful and augmenting notes forever 
 and ever. The most dangerous noise in a revival 
 springs up, not, perhaps, from the devil, nor from 
 scoffers and open opposers, but from false or timid, 
 or dictatorial friends. I feel sure of this fact, and 
 the whole history of the church presents an array of 
 proof to this position. " 
 
 March 10. — "It is Sabbath evening and I am 
 weary. What I mfist fear is that the devil is not 
 effectually dislodged from my own heart. There he 
 effects ah entrance, sometimes by open assault, 
 sometimes in disguise. I shall conquer, for Jesus has 
 bought me with a price. We do not run uncertainly; 
 we do not fight as one that beateth the air. ' Lo ! I 
 am with you,' there my heart rests. On that rock I 
 stand and bid the ocean rage and dash beneath; 
 
so Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 clasping that pillar of the eternal throne, I bid earth 
 roll and tempests howl. ... I think I shall go to 
 the General Meeting, though I feel deeply pained at 
 the thought of leaving my people; I fear they will 
 wander. But I want to see my Brethren, I want to 
 engage in tHe deliberations of the Mission, as there 
 will be important questions before us. I wish to 
 represent this part of the field in person, and I need 
 relaxation, as I have not rested one day for two years. 
 Still I will not leave unless I hear the voice of my be- 
 loved Captain saying, 'Turn aside and rest awhile.' " 
 
 August 2. — (After a tour through Hilo.) "The 
 whole mass of the people was moved as by one 
 mighty impulse, and the wave of salvation seemed 
 to roll broader and deeper through all the course till 
 I reached the station. Scarcely a careless sinner 
 was left unarrested. Crowds followed me from place 
 to place, weeping and inquiring the way to Zion. I 
 worked incessantly from morning to night and some- 
 times until midnight. I reached home rather way- 
 worn and exhausted in body, but my heart is 
 exceedingly strengthened in the Lord, my soul is 
 lifted up, and my spirit triumphs in my Redeemer." 
 
 Mr. Coan's frequent correspondence with Mr. 
 Lyons continued through his life, but other letters 
 than those from which extracts have been given 
 were not preserved. The notable characteristic of 
 steadfastness in Mr. Coan was strongly marked in 
 his friendships. Names that occur on the first 
 pages of his Synopses of Letters are found on the last. 
 It was only as friend after friend crossed the flood 
 and passed beyond the reach of voice, or pen, that his 
 name dropped out of the list of correspondents. 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 5 i 
 
 VI. 
 
 "Kind messages, that pass from land to land; 
 Kind letters, that betray the heart's deep mystery." 
 
 — Longfellow. 
 
 "0 what am I, that I should hve myself in the constant relish 
 of thy sweet and sacred truth, and with such encouraging suc- 
 cess communicate it to others?" 
 
 — Baxter. 
 
 While from month to month, Mr. Coan wrote his 
 island neighbor, the friends abroad were not for- 
 gotten. Already had he begun a correspondence 
 that became extensive, embracing between the years 
 1836 and 1882 four hundred and fifty names of 
 individuals to whom he addressed about three thou- 
 sand letters, not including the even larger number 
 to island residents. Of the former he made synopses. 
 
 The amount seems remarkable, but he wielded a 
 ready pen, and through his busy life, caring for the 
 moments was the secret of his accomplishing so much. 
 
 Early writing to beloved kindred he said of letters: 
 
 "There is no earthly luxury more sweet to us 
 than a good liberal bundle of them. Could 1 
 increase my time and my power of writing as much 
 as I can expand my heart with love, you would all 
 have speedy and full answers. But .you have no 
 idea how little my time is at my command. Let me 
 say, in a word, that quack as I am, I am the only 
 physician for a thousand bodily maladies, and am 
 liable to be called at any moment by the cry of dis- 
 
5 2 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 tress. Then I am the pastor for thousands of church 
 members with their children. I must be arbiter or 
 judge to settle their' little difficulties which come up, 
 as they did before Moses, from morning till night. 
 Then funerals, sometimes two or three daily, besides 
 almost daily preaching, with frequent tours and 
 nameless cares. I have written this letter inch by 
 inch; it is more than a week since I commenced it. 
 Am often called from my study before I have written 
 half a sentence, and as often kept out of it for days 
 together. . . . Tell. us of those events which would 
 form the subject of inquiry and conversation were we 
 to meet. This brings Home right before us, with 
 its bright fireside, its endearing circle and all its 
 cherished scenes. All the precious things about 
 which the memory loves to linger, will be sealed up 
 in everlasting oblivion to the distant missionary 
 unless his private friends will, by their letters, fill 
 this aching void, unless they will satisfy these 
 natural and longing desires. My heart swells while 
 I write, and melts while I think of you. But 
 stronger cords, yes, stronger than death, bind me to 
 the Savior and to the brethren for whom he died. " 
 
 These cords bound him to the blessed cause of 
 that Savior's kingdom, drawing him into warm fel- 
 lowship and large correspondence with those 
 engaged in organizations of benevolence and evan- 
 gelization. He wrote many letters to the Secretaries 
 of the Bible, the Peace, the Temperance, the Sea- 
 man's Friend, the American Missionary Societies, 
 and to- the officers of the A. B. C. F. M. These 
 were often published and "were ever found," as Dr. 
 Beckwith, Secretary of the Peace Society writes. 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 53 
 
 "very acceptable to the readers. The thoughts 
 themselves are invariably good, but it is the spirit 
 pervading and impregnating them that makes our 
 friends like them so much. " 
 
 To Societies of Missionary Inquiry and of Natural 
 History, connected with colleges and theological 
 seminaries, he wrote full answers to questions asked 
 by them. His letters on volcanic phenomena have 
 been widely circulated in scientific works. 
 
 But it was in letters to kindred and to friends, 
 circles ever narrowing, ever widening, that h^penned 
 those gems of thought, those heart sentiments that 
 made every word precious to those addressed. To 
 these we turn, not so much to follow the events of 
 the remaining forty years of his pilgrimage, as to 
 linger in the atmosphere of his loving personality, 
 and to be helped by his notes of faith and joy to an 
 attainment of that calm, devout spirit which bears 
 witness to the presence and Fatherhood of God. 
 
 TO ITIS 8ISTEE. 
 
 October 16, 1837. . . "Your two kind letters of 
 August and September, 1836, reached us the 21st of 
 April, 1837. If you could see and know how much 
 letters cheer and refresh us, you would never regret 
 the labor in costs to write. I was happy that you 
 wrote so many facts. Don't think that I shall not 
 be interested to hear how many cows and sheep 
 father keeps, how much hay he makes, and how 
 much' corn and rye he raises. All things which 
 relate to the temporal as well as the eternal happi- 
 ness of my beloved parents are none the less 
 interesting to me because eighteen thousand miles 
 of ocean roll between us. I care not how little cider 
 is made from father's orchard; the less the better, to 
 
54 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 my mind, because I am very sure that cider clouds 
 the mind, sours the temper and injures the health. 
 I feel very certain that it has done much evil among 
 the farmers of New England. I drink nothing but 
 water. It is the pure nectar of heaven. It comes 
 to us limpid and fresh and free from the hand of our 
 heavenly Father. Those who are fond of stimulating 
 drink may say that cold water will do for me as they 
 suppose that my labor is light. But this is a great 
 mistake* In preaching the Gospel to this poor, 
 dying people, I climb mountains and precipices' cross 
 deep and dangerous ravines, ford or swim rapid 
 rivers, travel from morning till night in drenching 
 rain, endure the melting power of a tropical sun, 
 endure weariness and painfulness. Thus I often 
 travel from week to week preaching four and five, 
 and even eight times a day, and at night I lie down 
 to sleep on the ground more weary than the mower 
 and the reaper return at night from the sultry 
 harvest field. But my sleep is sweet, my heart is 
 peaceful and my meditations are joyous. In the 
 morning I rise refreshed and pursue my way among 
 the poor, fainting people, who are as sheep without a 
 shepherd. With a simple diet and with nothing but 
 cold water for drink, I have not enjoyed better 
 
 health for ten years than at present 
 
 "We now live in a good frame house built by Mr. 
 Goodrich; and the fruits of the land are abundant. 
 The natural scenery of Hilo is the most beautiful I 
 ever saw. The interior of this and of all these islands 
 is little less than a vast pile, of mountains; where 
 they are not too high they are covered with vegeta- 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 55 
 
 tion to their summits. Great quantities of snow fall 
 on the mountains of Hawaii. Their base is encircled 
 by a deep, heavy forest. The shores and valleys are 
 usually the most fertile, and very few of the natives 
 live more than a mile from the sea. The island on 
 which we live is much the largest df the group. 
 Hilo and Puna extend a hundred miles along the 
 eastern and southern shores and contain a population 
 of fifteen thousand souls. All that is done for this 
 multitude, as to schools and their eternal welfare 
 must be done by us and our associates at this station. 
 This whole extended coast can be traversed only on 
 foot and that with incredible fatigue. In passing 
 through the district north of us, we are obliged to 
 cross more than sixty deep ravines and as many 
 rapid streams that come roaring and leaping from 
 the mountains, and urging their noisy way to the 
 ocean. Sometimes we let ourselves down precipices 
 by our hands; sometimes our narrow path winds 
 along the brow or the side of the precipice where 
 the deviation of half a foot from the track would 
 plunge us hundreds of feet below. In Puna, on the 
 south of us, the shores are little jess than one ex- 
 tended field of lava, covered in some places with a 
 shallow soil, and in others stretching off like a naked 
 rock for the distance of ten or twenty miles, showing 
 beyond all question that it was once one vast molten 
 sea whose waves of liquid fire rolled and raged like 
 old ocean in a storm. Thus the fiery flood cooled, 
 leaving all the inequalities of a lake when agitated 
 by a tempest. There .are no streams of water in 
 this district. The' water runs under the lava, at great 
 
56 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coafi 
 
 depths until it finds the. level of the ocean. . . . ■ 
 I have many more things to say, nor can I tell 
 all without writing a dozen sheets, and this sterner 
 duties forbids. Write me often, dear sister, let me 
 hear that you love the Lord with all your heart. 
 Tell me what God has done for your soul, what you 
 have done for God, what you are doing and what 
 you intend to do for him. My heart has been full 
 of anxiety for your spiritual welfare. 
 
 "I rejoice that dear father and mother were 
 so well when y9U wrote. Do all you can, Mary, 
 to make them happy. It would give me great 
 pleasure to be near them and to cheer them in 
 old age, did I not feel a most solemn assurance that 
 God has called me to preach the Gospel to the 
 heathen. Could the dearest friend I have on earth 
 see the wretched and forlorn condition of the dying 
 thousands around me, he could never wish to call 
 me from my work of leading them to the Lamb of 
 God, while one particle of the love of Jesus burnt in 
 his bosom. I have never had any misgivings as to 
 my duty to labor and die for this people. I could 
 not leave them without violating the most solemn 
 convictions of conscience. I would not exchange 
 my humble toil among them for the throne of 
 England." 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER, GEORGE. 
 
 April 2, 1882. — "I have glorious things to say of 
 Hilo and Puna. For more than a year past I have 
 been able- to preach in the native tongue with a good 
 degree of clearness and fluency, and I have seen 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 57 
 
 such power and glory attend the Word as I have 
 never seen in any other land. Sometimes almost 
 the whole congregation broke out in wailings of 
 anguish. A quaking took hold on them, and they 
 cried 'What shall we do to be saved.' Native con- 
 verts prayed with such fervency as would seem to 
 break the bars of heaven. God heard and answered 
 speedily; and he answered in the very thing asked 
 for. He rent the heavens and came down. 
 
 "At one place where I preached, there was an 
 old and hardened chief who neither feared God, nor 
 regarded man. I preached to him fearlessly, 
 personally, pointedly; calling him by name and in 
 the presence of his people, I charged home his guilt 
 upon him, and in the name of the Lord, urged him 
 to immediate repentance. He was much moved 
 and promised repentance the first day, but I was not 
 satisfied that his proud heart was broken. 
 
 "On the second day I renewed the charge. He 
 stood the siege for awhile, but at length his feelings 
 became insuppressible, and all on a sudden he broke 
 forth in a cry which almost rent the heavens. The 
 sword of the Spirit was in his veins. He submitted 
 on the spot and appears like a new born-babe. 
 The effect of this scene on the congregation was 
 overwhelming. The place was shaken. Multitudes 
 cried out for mercy and multitudes turned to the 
 Lord. I could tell you many similar facts. ... If 
 you could see how we are thronged day and night! 
 For six months it has been like one protracted 
 meeting. God has done great things for us. I feel 
 like lying in the dust and adoring his grace. Let 
 
58 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 heaven and earth praise him! Have the prayers of 
 those American church members who forsake the 
 monthly concert called down these blessings on the 
 Sandwich Islands? 
 
 TO HIS SISTEE. 
 
 September 11, 1839. — "We are well and happy, 
 thrice happy in our work. Our temporal circum- 
 stances are much more pleasant than we had ever 
 expected on heathen ground — a strong contrast to 
 my solitary pilgrimage in Patagonia. The climate 
 is salubrious and vegetation luxuriant. Byron's Bay 
 is a fine and safe harbor, a beautiful, broad sheet of 
 water, defined by a crescent sand-beach, and fringed 
 with perennial green. Ships and small vessels visit 
 us often, and it is not long since we were visited" by 
 two English ships of war. Intelligent and scientific 
 travelers from the different countries of Europe and 
 from America come to Hilo for the sake of ascending 
 the snow-capped mountains and descending into the 
 burning volcano in our vicinity. A saw-mill is in 
 operation near us, and two merchants are established 
 but a short distance from our door. Americans, 
 Englishmen, etc. , are settling around us, and civiliza- 
 tion is fast going on here. Some of the foreigners, 
 however, are so wicked as to uncivilize and unhinge 
 everything were it in their power. It cannot be long 
 before Hilo becomes a place of much business, and 
 the residence of many foreigners. Its natural 
 advantages are great and need only to be known 
 to be seized upon by a money-making and soul- 
 neglecting world. During the month of May and a 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 5 9 
 
 part of June of the present year, I was at Honolulu, 
 on the Island of Oahu, attending the annual general 
 meeting of the mission.* Your sister F. did not go 
 with me this year, but remained at Hilo to teach her 
 school and to look after the people. She has now a 
 boarding-school of twenty little girls under her care, 
 all of whom are fed, clothed, lodged, governed and 
 taught daily by her. The girls are from six to ten 
 years old and they live happily and peacefully 
 together. Most of them are hopefully converted. 
 The house they occupy was built by the voluntary 
 labors of the people, and their food is supplied from 
 
 week to week by contribution Oh Mary, 
 
 take care of your heart. Don't let the world ensnare 
 you. Remember you have a soul to provide for and 
 an eternity of bliss or woe before you. Read the 
 Bible miLch. Read good books. Read with a 
 dictionary and with thought. Draw books from the 
 library; borrow, buy. Be more anxious to get a good 
 library and a good store of knowledge than to get 
 raiment and money. I remember my old 
 
 neighbors and school-fellows with much affection and 
 many prayers. Time and distance have not obliter- 
 ated the memory of country, kindred and friends, 
 nor quenched my love to the scenes of my childhood. 
 
 *It was during a previous visit to tlie metropolis that Mr. Coan 
 wrote, "We are at Brother Bingham's, and have found in him 
 and Mrs. B. the most warm-hearted and sincere friends. They 
 call us their children, and tell us when we come to Honolulu to 
 'come straight home.' Sister Bingham is surely one of the most 
 affectionate, meek, selt-denylng and childlike Christians I ever 
 saw. But her toils are probably nearly over. She has been 
 brought very low, and though still moving about, and full of care 
 for others and for the kingdom of Christ, yet I hardly expect 
 to see her after this separation, tQl I see her robed in white before 
 the Throne. " 
 
6o Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 But these things are changing, passing. We are 
 strangers and pilgrims. Brighter scenes are before 
 us. Let us press forward, looking upward and 
 hasting to reach heaven. " 
 
 TO HIS BEOTHl^R, EZRA. 
 
 October 15, 1839. — "I have from time to time 
 written to my friends of the progress of the work of 
 grace among this poor people. The work has been 
 excellent and glorious. In its awakening and over- 
 ruling power it has far exceeded anything of the 
 kind I ever witnessed in America. I look to the 
 life, to the conversation, to the actions for proof of 
 the regenerating work of the spirit, and such evidence 
 I find in the peace, gentleness, goodness, faith, of 
 thousands who were once hateful and hating one 
 another. The mass of the people, old and young, 
 in myparish profess to have been converted. About 
 seven thousand have been baptized and receivecj to 
 the church. I am pressed above measure with 
 watchings and preaching, and with cares and toils 
 which cannot be told. But the grace of God is 
 sufficient and he sustains me wonderfully. I am 
 preaching almost incessantly, and in my narrow 
 sphere I am determined, through the grace of God, 
 fully to preach the Gospel of Christ. Much of the 
 time I am absent on tours, traveling over burning 
 lava, fording and swimming rapid and dangerous 
 rivers, climbing rugged and slippery precipices, and 
 preaching in doors and out of doors, in wind and 
 rain, sunshine and shade, as the circumstances may 
 be. I am often unavoidably exposed by rains, wet 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 6i 
 
 garments, etc. But I am sure that labor, and some- 
 times hardship even, is the best physic for man. I 
 need not tell you that I am exceeding joyful in all 
 these labors. This fruit from among the Gentiles, 
 these children, these sheaves, these crowns of rejoic- 
 ing, while they cause cares and anxieties, they swell 
 the heart with gratitude and hope and joy. And 
 now to fit my people for the church triumphant, and 
 to meet them there. This is my solemn work. " 
 
 Hardly had the four memorable years passed by, 
 when there were those trials of faith and fans to win- 
 now the church that led him to write: 
 
 "I see much that might frighten and chase a 
 faint-hearted soldier. Powerful causes have been 
 operating to quench the spirit and to turn off the 
 attention of the people from the great concerns of 
 eternity. But still, "he adds, "my soul exults in hope. 
 Can God give his heritage to reproach? Shame on 
 us if we despond. Confusion on us if we flee or fear." 
 
 Some of. the adverse influences are mentioned in 
 the following letter to a brother: 
 
 January 20, 1841. — "Romanism is using all the 
 efi"orts which flattery, subtlety, malice, bigotry and 
 terror can command to overthrow the faith of the 
 people and to supplant the religion of the Bible on 
 these shores. Eight or ten Popish priests are said to 
 be already here, and fifteen more are expected soon. 
 They will soon plant themselves at all our important 
 posts. As yet they have not gained a large number 
 of proselytes, but their old leaven is diffusing and 
 poisoning the minds of many. But one of our 
 
62 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 greatest evils is that the government has signed a 
 treaty to admit ardent spirits into the land, and this 
 has rolled back the flood of intemperance upon the 
 nation from which they had but just escaped, and 
 now the chiefs can make no laws to protect their 
 people from the burning scourge without being 
 branded by the French consul, and others of his 
 stamp, with a breach of treaty and threatened with a 
 war of swift retribution. So drunkenness has 
 returned with bloated visage and fiery eyeballs, and 
 seating himself on his magazines of death, deals out 
 his vials of burning wrath. . . . The Vincennes, 
 with the commander of the squadron, is now here, 
 and has been lying at anchor for fifty days directly 
 in front of our house. I suppose the expenses of this 
 single ship, in full view from my study window, have 
 been more during her stay at these islands, than 
 those of this mission with all its operations for a 
 year, and I have no doubt that more is annually 
 expended by this little exploring squadron, than by 
 the whole American church in the propagation of the 
 Gospel among the heathen. When will as much 
 zeal be displayed in exploring and subduing the 
 world to Jesus, as in subduing and subjugating its 
 resources and its glories to earthly princes?" 
 
 The influences of this expedition were such upon 
 the natives, that for years; as Mr. Coan says in his 
 book, "the moral tone of the church and community 
 could not be fully restored to its cheerful and normal 
 state." 
 
 TO CAPT. S. F. DU PONT, U. S. N. 
 
 June 7, 1850. — "Your highly esteemed favor of 
 Sept. '49 was received on the 1st inst. I need not 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 63 
 
 say that in common with all its predecessors, it met 
 with a cordial and warm welcome. The box also 
 came in perfect order and is received with great 
 gratitude. Like all tokens of true love it is priceless. 
 The books, especially Nineveh, are what we longed 
 to get hold of Nothing could have been more 
 opportune or acceptable. A short time ago I 
 lectured to my people on the ancient history, the fall 
 and the recent disentombing of that vast Assyrian 
 tity. The facts stated were fresh in the recollection 
 of many when your books came. The volumes 
 were taken into our monthly lectures and the plates 
 exhibited, as illustrating and corroborating what the 
 natives had before heard. I need not say that they 
 excited enthusiastic interest. We anticipate a treat 
 in reading the works you sent. How surely dis- 
 coveries and all true science go to confirm and eluci- 
 date the truths of our precious Bible! 
 
 "We are happy to learn that you arrived safely at 
 home and that you are now with your dear family. 
 Perhaps, however, you are, ere this, away again upon 
 the deep or in the port of some distant land. But 
 wherever you are, our prayers, our blessings, our 
 warmest desires for your present and eternal welfare 
 shall be with you. Wherever you roam and wher- 
 ever you rest, may you hold communion with the 
 Savior, and find that God is ever present and ever 
 
 felt And here, my beloved brother, let 
 
 me from my very soul reciprocate the catholic, the 
 truly Christian sentiment expressed in your letter 
 ' without a shadow of sectarian feeling. ' I love the 
 image, the spirit of Christ wherever seen, and as to 
 
64 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 names and forms and organizations let these be left 
 to the tastes, convictions and circumstances of the 
 different members of the household of faith. I love 
 the Episcopal church ardently, and I highly esteem 
 and warmly love many of her clergy and her laity. 
 I also love other evangelical denominations who hold 
 the Head and feel the Love which unites all the 
 saints on earth and in heaven in one body, in one 
 holy brotherhood. 
 
 "We remember your visit to our rural home with 
 true interest, and hope that it may be repeated. 
 How delighted we should be to see you and your 
 dear wife in our happy circle. My beloved has 
 written Mrs. Du Pont, inviting her and yourself to 
 make us a visit. Science and art have leveled 
 mountains, raised valleys, dried up rivers and anni- 
 hilated space. Probably the time will come when 
 our material corporeities may pass from these islands 
 to New York in twenty-five days, and our winged 
 spirits in twelve. How long will it be ere a train of 
 fiery chariots will be seen crossing your western 
 mountains and a line of smoky leviathians be 
 descried lashing our deep waters and tracing a rapid 
 wake from the shores of western America to these 
 sea-girt isles. How' long will it be ere aerial horse- 
 men, outstripping lightning, will announce upon the 
 shores of the Pacific the thoughts, the emotions, the 
 rush, the wonders of the Orient shores? And is not 
 the hand of the Lord in all this? Is He not preparing 
 the way for the rapid and universal spread of the 
 gospel of Peace? Does he not design to consecrate 
 and employ all these rapid and mighty agencies in 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 65 
 
 fulfilling his great purposes of love and in flooding 
 this dark world with his glory? Do we not see in 
 the discoveries and inventions of the age a fore- 
 shadowing of the wings of that mighty angel who is 
 flying through the midst of heaven having the ever- 
 lasting Gospel to preach to all nations? But I was 
 inviting our dear friends, Capt. and Mrs. Du Pont, 
 to visit us, and I had already brought you here on 
 a current of electricity. 'How fleet is the glance of 
 the mind. ' Still the forests wave, the prairies spread, 
 the granite mountains rise and old ocean rolls 
 between us! How much less friction in theory 
 than in experiment. 
 
 "Our little Bethel or seaman's chapel is completed, 
 and it is very useful. It is worth four tirries what it 
 cost. We have English services in it most of the' 
 year. I have already obtained about two hundred 
 volumes of good books for it, besides periodicals. 
 Dr. Jewett's plates of the human stomach and some 
 other paintings. We shall never forget the lift which 
 the Cyane gave to the enterprise. Since you left 
 we have received $30.50 from the officers of the 
 Preble, $104 from the Independence, and $119 
 from the Ohio. Forty or fifty of the Preble's men 
 subscribed cheerfully but Commander G. would not 
 authorize the purser to pay 
 
 "In the spring of 1839, we had a beautiful eruption 
 in the old crater on the summit of Mauna Loa at the 
 very spot where Wilkes encamped. The crater is 
 deep and ample, and the fusion exhausted itself 
 without overflowing the rim. At the distance of 
 Hilo it was a pretty, not a terrific sight. A beauti- 
 
66 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 ful cloud pillar stood on the mountain summit by 
 day, and this was converted into a pillar of fire by 
 night. It was a beacon light. It was heaven's high 
 monument, whose apex pierced the clouds, and 
 whose pedestal was the everlasting hills. Thus it 
 stood a lofty column shining in its solitary height for 
 about two months, when the breath that kindled, 
 extinguished it. I longed to visit it but could not. 
 To have stood upon the verge of the deep caldron 
 and looked down upon the fiery billows raging in 
 the abyss below must have filled one with awe. Old 
 Kilauea has had no freaks of horrid sport since you 
 were here. The great boiling lake which you saw 
 is now dammed over with a solid roof of hot lava, the 
 apex of which is some seven hundred or eight hun- 
 *dred feet higher than was the surface of the fire lake 
 in 1840. Steam and gases are constantly issuing 
 from a thousand holes and fissures over the crater, 
 but scarcely a spark of fire is to be seen by day or 
 night. In fact Mother Pele has buried her fires, 
 stopped her forges, extinguished her lamps and 
 retired within the deep recesses of her infernal 
 caverns. Is she dead? Does she sleep? or has she 
 only closed her adamantine doors, and with Pluto 
 and Vulcan descended to the fiery bowels of the 
 earth to prepare with deeper secrecy her magazines 
 of wrath which shall one day burst forth with more 
 desolating terror? To us it is a lonely idea that the 
 volcano should become extinct; for we confess that 
 her mutterings, her thunderings, her flashings, the 
 smoke of her nostrils and the shaking of her rocky 
 ribs are music, beauty, sublimity and grandeur to 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titm Coan. 67 
 
 us. They seem so like the voice of Almighty God, 
 so like the footsteps of Deity. 
 
 "You allude to the subject of war and you say that 
 all war is wrong. That is, I think, a true proposi- 
 tion. On the question whether it be lawful for a 
 disciple of Christ to engage in it, much may be said 
 on both sides. I prefer what I esteem the safer 
 side, still there are many sincere Christians and men 
 whom I ardently love who have been trained to the 
 profession of arms. It is my opinion that if all 
 professed Christians of every name would, both in 
 doctrine and practice, decidedly discountenance war, 
 the evil would soon cease in Christendom by a moral 
 necessity. But the world is not yet prepared for 
 such a new and strange doctrine. Nor has the 
 church faith enough to try the experiment. But the 
 good Lord will accomplish it in his time. It is a 
 consummation of love such as I know your heart as 
 well as mine devoutly desires. We will then pray 
 that the 'Prince of Peace' may reign from east to 
 west and from pole to pole, and that there may be 
 truly and universally 'peace on earth and good will 
 among men.' " 
 
 TO HIS FATHER. 
 
 December, 1852. — "God has prolonged your life 
 wonderfully. When I received my last letter from 
 Mrs. Lord, I rejoiced and wept to hear that you 
 were still on earth. She tells me your head is snowy 
 white. I think I can see it now. And I can see 
 your aged and enfeebled frame as it draws near that 
 bourne from which it will never return. You have 
 
68 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 witnessed the events of almost a century; the friends, 
 the companions of your youth are nearly all gone, 
 and you stand like one of a few scattered trees of a 
 forest which has been prostrated by the winds of 
 heaven. To you this world must now look solitary. 
 My heart saddens when I think of your solitude, but 
 I look upward to a world where all is light and joy 
 and life; to a land where there are no shadows, no 
 mourners, no solitary hearts. There may you rest, 
 and there may you meet all your children. I do 
 pray that your mind may be calm and peaceful, that 
 your love may be great, your faith strong, your 
 hope lively. It would be gratifying to us to meet 
 again on earth; but this cannot be expected- 
 Should I leave the islands this year, I could hardly 
 expect to find you in your eartl;ly house. Our 
 great desire should be to do and to suffer all the will 
 of God, and to be prepared to enter into the rest 
 which remaineth for his people. My friends must 
 not grieve too much if I say to them as Paul did to 
 his friends, that they shall see my face no more. I 
 have a great work to do, a high commission to fulfill, 
 and no money, no attachment to country, no recol- 
 lections of childhood and youth, no fond longings to 
 revisit home scenes, no tender ties of kindred, and 
 no earthly motive can persuade me to leave this 
 blessed calling. Not that I love parents and 
 brothers less, but that I love Christ and his work 
 more. Since my first enlistment in the warfare, I 
 have never doubted, never regretted, never looked 
 back, never sighed for objects left behind, never 
 wished a discharge. And God has granted signal 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 69 
 
 success to our weak and worthless labor-s. Through 
 his grace I have been permitted to baptize and 
 receive to his table more than ten thousand souls 
 from among this heathen people. Of these spiritual 
 children I have buried more than four thousand 
 three hundred, and they have gone before their final 
 judge. For these my cares and toils have ended. 
 But nearly six thousand remain, and these call for 
 more love and faith and patience than man can 
 obtain from himself Nothing but the grace of 
 Christ in them and in their pastor, will ever secure 
 their perseverance in the truth and their final victory 
 over the world. There are yet those out of the ark, 
 blinded, besotted, hardened in sin. These call for 
 constant prayer and teaching, and from among these 
 the Lord is adding to the church. . . . Should 
 your Titus, the boy who often grieved your heart, 
 be permitted through divine grace to meet you in 
 heaven with a few thousands of blood-washed 
 Hawaiians, you will not, surely, regret our short 
 separation, or feel that a want of filial love led me to 
 forsake my father's house to toil and die in this land 
 of strangers and among the tawny sons of the Pacific. 
 We believe the Lord led us here, and to Him we 
 yield our all. " 
 
7o Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 VII. 
 
 "Thy power, Thy love, Thy faithfulness. 
 
 With lip and life I long to bless. 
 ■ Thy faithfulness shall be my tower, 
 
 My sun Thy love, my shield Thy power. " 
 
 There was in Mr. Coan's nature a remarkable 
 adaptability to minister to the little ones. This 
 endeared him to them. Throughout his missionary- 
 life his almost yearly attendance at the general 
 meeting was hailed both by parents and children as 
 a special blessing to the young, many of whom will 
 never forgjet his tender earnestness to lead them to 
 Jesus. 
 
 The children of his own flock received him with 
 joyous acclamations as he came among them on 
 his tours, and in Hilo and Puna there were frequent 
 duplicates of the scene so pleasantly described on 
 page 170 of " Life in Hawaii." 
 
 Writing to the widow of his brother George, in 
 February of 1855, he speaks of having just held ten 
 grand juvenile temperance anniversaries in different 
 parts of his great parish. 
 
 "These," he adds, "are truly gala days with the 
 .boys and girls of Hawaii, and not less so with many 
 of their parents. You would be charmed with their 
 picturesque appearance, as they march and counter- 
 march with flags and gay decorations, and with the 
 sweet notes of the flute and the harmony of vocal 
 music. In one procession they exhibited two 
 hundred and forty-five horses, caparisoned and 
 mounted. " 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 7 1 
 
 It was not strange that with this children's friend 
 should originate the plan of enlisting them to build 
 "a little ship" to wait upon the Master. While in 
 Honolulu in the spring of 1855, he thus wrote on 
 behalf of the Hawaiian Evangelical Association to 
 the Secretaries of the A. B. C. F. M. : 
 
 "Recent indications of Providence, lead us to 
 believe that a wide door is being opened for the 
 enlargement of our operations in Micronesia. Other 
 communications will inform you of the departure of 
 our dear Brother and Sister Pierson, with two prom- 
 ising native helpers, on board the bark Belle, 
 Captain Handy, to cruise some three or four months 
 among the Radack and Ralick chains and the 
 Kingsmill groups, and then to proceed to Strong's 
 Island. 
 
 "From Captain H., who has cruised much of his 
 time for the last seventeen years among these 
 numerous islands, we have gathered many important 
 and encouraging facts in relation to regions hitherto 
 unexplored by scientific expeditions, and nearly 
 
 unknown to the scientific world So 
 
 deeply impressed are we that the Lord has called 
 u^iio preach the Gospel there, and so confidently do 
 we expect a favorable report from our Brother 
 Pierson, that we feel constrained to ask your imme- 
 diate and earnest consideration on the subject of a 
 prompt enlargement of your operations among the 
 lost families of Micronesia. " 
 
 Stating the number of American missionaries for 
 which it was thought best to ask, and expressing 
 the hope that a native agency might be chiefly 
 
72 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 employed for many years in introducing the rudi- 
 ments of Christianity among the savage tribes, he 
 goes on to present "another request, made after 
 much reflection and deliberation:" 
 
 "We desire that you will purchase, or procure 
 built, a clipper schooner of 150 or 200 tons, of sub- 
 stantial materials and faithful workmanship, well 
 coppered high above water, and thoroughly protected 
 from the insects which so abound in these seas, and 
 which are so destructive to all wood exposed to their 
 ravages." 
 
 The details of construction and equipment are 
 then entered into, and then he says: 
 
 "Two reasons lead us to urge this matter 
 earnestly, viz. : 
 
 " I . We desire to furnish our brethren and sisters 
 now in Micronesia an opportunity for a general 
 meeting of consultation and social and spiritual 
 intercourse. For this they long with intense desires 
 such as no one can fully appreciate but those in 
 like circumstances, and without a vessel under our 
 control there is little hope that these natural and 
 reasonable desires can be gratified. 
 
 "2. Every indication of divine Providence urges 
 to immediate preparation for enlargement. Many 
 voices speak to us. The cloud is being lifted up, 
 and a sound from the fiery pillar commands us to 
 ^ go forward.' ' Spare not,' cries the note of in- 
 spiration, ' lengthen thy cords and strengthen thy 
 stakes.' We must go up and possess the land, and 
 under Christ we will do it. . . . 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 73 
 
 "As to the means and agencies, they are ample, 
 exhaustless, infinite. . . . Do we want the 
 sympathy and co-operation of the good? God is in 
 the midst of Zion, and he can make the great heart 
 of the church miHtant and the church triumphant 
 beat in holy and harmonious love with ours. As to 
 funds, we have no fear on that score. Men will act 
 when under the influence of a controlling motive. 
 Even the Sabbath schools, the precious sons and 
 daughters of our Zion, will, if properly led, purchase 
 the vessel we need, and perhaps furnish funds to 
 bring her to our shores. And why shall they not be 
 allowed the joyous privilege? How many young 
 eyes would glow, how many bright faces brighten, 
 and how many youthful hearts beat with sacred 
 pleasure to behold their own Day Star unfurling 
 her signals and spreading her white wings to the 
 winds of heaven, freighted with the priceless 
 treasures of salvation ! " 
 
 How heartily successive bands of children have 
 entered once, twice, thrice into this joyous privilege 
 has been told in the revised " Stories of the Morning 
 Star," pubHshed by the A. B. C. F. M. at Boston. 
 
 How heartily the little brig was hailed at Hilo on 
 her return from her first missionary cruise let Mr. 
 Coan's pen relate: 
 
 "The morning of the 7th of July, 1857, dawned 
 gloriously on Hawaii. The mountains were throw- 
 ing off their night robes, and adorning themselves 
 in the light drapery of the dawn; the fields were 
 slowly unveiling their peerless beauty; the ocean 
 began to reflect the first tinges of morning light. 
 
74 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 when suddenly the sound, 'Hokuao!' {^Morning Star) 
 'Hokuao!' broke our slumbers. 'Hokuao! Hokuao!' 
 echoed and re-echoed from every headland and hill, 
 and rolled back from every valley along our coast; 
 and multitudes of children waked, and ran, and 
 shouted, and caught the 'flying joy.' All Hilo was 
 awake. Away in the eastern horizon floated that 
 beauteous star of Hope, while Venus, like an angel's 
 eye, looked down upon her from the vault of heaven. 
 Then we felt that our prayers had been heard, and 
 realized that the sleepless eye of Him who proclaims 
 himself 'the Bright and Morning Star,' was also 
 looking down upon that consecrated bark. And 
 while our spiritual organs seem to catch the notes of 
 the celestial anthem, as 'the morning stars sang 
 together,' our bodily ears did hear many voices of 
 the 'sons of God' as they 'shouted for joy.'" 
 
 Impressed in later years with the increasing 
 demands to push /forward the work more rapidly in 
 the Micronesian Archipelagoes, he exclaims: 
 
 "Why should the angel that flies through the 
 midst of heaven with the Gospel message move with 
 clipped wings? The artillery of war moves on swift 
 wheels to shake the nations and pour out human 
 blood, while the old sails flap, and the lazy boom 
 squeaks mournfully in the doldrums, as our vessels 
 are driven hither and thither by the squalls and 
 storms of capes that obstruct their way to the lost 
 tribes of men. If the Lord will, I hope to hear the 
 whistle of a missionary steamer in our waters before 
 I go hence." 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 75 
 
 ' Portions of the following letter, addressed to 
 Professor James D. Dana, were published many- 
 years ago in the American Journal of Science. We 
 are kindly allowed to make the present use of it. 
 
 TO PKOF. J. D. DANA. 
 
 October 15, 1855. — "In a few days we may be 
 called to announce the painful fact that our beauteous 
 Hilo is no more — that our lovely, our inimitable 
 landscape, our emerald bowers, our crescent strand 
 and our silver bay are blotted out. A fiery sword 
 hangs over us. A flood of burning ruin approaches 
 us. Devouring fires are near us. With sure and 
 solemn progress the glowing fusion advances through 
 the dark forest and the dense jungle in our rear, 
 cutting down ancient ;:trees of enormous growth and 
 sweeping away all" Vegetable life. For sixty-five 
 days the great summit furnace on Mauna Loa has 
 been in awful blast. Floods of burning, destruction 
 have swept wildly and widely over the top and down 
 the sides ot the mountain. The wrathful stream has 
 overcome every obstacle, winding its fiery way from 
 its high source to the bases of the everlasting hills, 
 spreading in a molten sea over the plains, penetra- 
 ting the ancient forests, driving the bellowing herds, 
 the wild goats and the affrighted birds before its 
 lurid glare, leaving nothing but ebon blackness and 
 ' smoldering ruin in its track. 
 
 "On the 1 2th of July, I wrote you on the state of 
 old Kilauea, and on the 27th of September I 
 announced to our mutual friend. Prof Lyman, the 
 fact and the state of our present eruption. Having 
 made my quarterly pastoral tours, I started, on the 
 
76 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 2nd inst., for the scene and the source of the flow. 
 Our party consisted of Lawrence McCully, Esq. , a 
 graduate of Yale, and our police magistrate,* four 
 natives and myself. Taking the channel of the 
 Wailuku (the river which enters Hilo Bay) as our 
 track, we advanced, with much toil through the 
 thicket along its banks, about twelve miles the first 
 day. Here we rested at the roots of a large tree 
 during the night. The next day we proceeded 
 about twelve miles farther, for the most part along 
 the bed of the stream, the water being low. During 
 both of these days volcanic smoke had filled the 
 forest and given the rays of the sun a yellow and 
 baleful hue. At night when the shades gathered 
 over those deep solitudes, unbroken except by the 
 bellowing of the untamed bull, the barking of the 
 wild dog, the grunt of the forest boar, the wing and 
 the note of the restless bird, the falling of a time- 
 worn tree, the gurgling of the rill and the roar of 
 the cataract, we made our little bed of ferns under 
 the trunk of a prostrate tree, and here, for the first 
 time, we found that the molten stream had passed 
 us, by many miles, on its way towards Hilo. 
 
 "But as its track was several miles to the left of us, 
 and as the jungle here was nearly impenetrable, we 
 proceeded the next day up the stream, and at half- 
 past one, P. M., found ourselves fairly out of the ' 
 forest, having been a little more than two and a half 
 days in accomplishing this part of the tour. 
 
 *Sinoe, one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of the 
 Hawaiian Kingdom. 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 77 
 
 "I cannot stop to describe the beautiful and 
 romantic scenery along our winding, rocky gorge; 
 the cascades, basins, caves and natural bridges of this 
 wild and solitary stream. Nor can I speak of the 
 velvet masses, luxuriant creepers, hanging in 
 festoons, the forest trees and other tropical glories 
 which were mirrored in its limpid waters. We 
 needed an artist and a naturalist to fix the glowing 
 panorama, and to describe its flora and fauna. 
 
 "When we emerged from the upper skirts of the 
 woods on the third day, a dense fog obstructed 
 our view of distant objects. We encamped early in 
 a cave, but during the night the stars came out, and 
 we could see the play of the volcanic fires from the 
 summit to the base of the mountain, and far down 
 in the forest toward Hilo. The next morning, 
 Friday, we left our cavern, and at half-past seven, 
 A. M. , came to the smouldering lava-stream; from this 
 time until ten, we walked on its right border, when 
 we crossed over to the opposite side. This occupied 
 us an hour and a quarter, and we judged the stream 
 to be three miles wide at this point, which, however, 
 was one of its 'narrows.' In some places it spread 
 out into wide lakes, apparently from five to eight 
 miles broad, enclosing, as is usually the case, little 
 islands, not flooded by the fusion. Passing up the 
 southern verge of the stream we found many trees 
 felled by the lava, and lying crisped and half charred 
 upon its stiffened and smoky surface. At night we 
 slept upon the lava above the Hue of vegetation, 
 with the heavens for our canopy and the stars for our 
 lamps. From this high watch tower we could see 
 
78 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 the brilliant fire-works far above and far below us, 
 as the dazzling fusion rushed down its burning duct, 
 revealed here and there by an opening through its 
 rocky-roof, serving as a vent for the gases. 
 
 "Early on Saturday, the 6th, we were ascending 
 our rugged pathway amidst steam and smoke and 
 heat which almost blinded and scathed us. At ten 
 we came to open orifices down which we looked into 
 the fiery river which rushed madly under our feet. 
 Up to this we had come to no open lake or stream 
 of active fusion. We had seen in the night many 
 lights like street lamps, glowing along the slope of 
 the mountains at considerable distances from each 
 other, while the stream made its way in a subter- 
 ranean channel traced only by these vents. From 
 ten A. M., and onward, these fiery vents were fre- 
 quent, some of them measuring ten, twenty, fifty or 
 one hundred feet in diameter. In one place only we 
 saw the river uncovered for thirty rods and rushing 
 down a declivity of from ten to twenty-five degrees. 
 The scene was awful, the momentum incredible, the 
 fusion perfect (a white heat), and the velocity forty 
 miles an hour. The banks on each side of the 
 stream were red-hot, jagged and overhanging, 
 adorned with burning stalactites and festooned with 
 immense quantities of filamentose, capillary glass, 
 called 'Pele's hair.' From this point to the summit 
 crater all was inexpressibly interesting. Valve after 
 valve opened as we went up, out of which issued 
 'fire and smoke and brimstone,' and down which we 
 looked as into the caverns of Pluto. The gases 
 were so pungent that we had to use the greatest 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 79 
 
 caution, approaching an orifice on the windward 
 side, and watching every change or gyration of the 
 breeze. Sometimes whirlwinds would sweep along, 
 loaded with deadly gases and threatening the unwary 
 traveler. After a hot and weary struggle over 
 smoking masses of jagged scoria and slag thrown in 
 wild confusion into hills, cones and ridges, and 
 spread out over vast fields, we came at one P. M., to 
 the terminal or summit crater. This we found to 
 be a low elongated cone, or rather a series of cones, 
 standing over a great fissure in the mountain. 
 Mounting to the crest of the highest cone, about one 
 hundred feet, so toppling was it, so great the heat 
 and so excoriating the gases, we could find no posi- 
 tion where we could look down the orifice. 
 The molten stream first appears some two miles 
 below the fountain crater, and as we viewed it rush- 
 ing out from under its ebon counterpane, auvd in the 
 twinkling of eye diving again into its fiery den, it 
 seemed to say, 'Stand off"; scan me not! I am God's 
 messenger. A work to do! Away!' 
 
 "This summit crater I estimate at twelve thousand 
 feet elevation, the principal stream (there are many 
 lateral ones) including all its windings,, sixty miles 
 long, averaging breadth three miles, depth from 
 three to three hundred feet, according to the surface 
 over which it flows. 
 
 "Late on Saturday afternoon we came a short dis- 
 tance down the mountain where we encamped on the 
 naked rocks until Monday.* 
 
 *"In itself we would not have deemed it wrong to go down the 
 mountain on the Sabbath, but as our natives are slow to discrim- 
 
8o Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 "Unwittingly we passed the last watering place 
 in our ascent on Friday morning, and having only 
 one quart in our canteen, this was our whole supply 
 until 9 A. M. on Monday. We were soon reduced 
 to a single spoonful each, and this only at our meals. 
 Our food being dry and hard, we suffered not a 
 little. The dew which fell upon our garments, our 
 food buckets and the rocks around us, congealed 
 and became frost or thin scales of ice, and from an 
 oilcloth spread for the purpose we collected a few 
 spoonfuls, while our parched lips readily kissed the 
 rocks to obtain a little moisture. There was snow 
 on another part of the mountain far below us. The 
 fires had melted all in this region. . . . At one 
 P. M. a dense fog obscured our track, our guide lost 
 his way, and we were obliged to encamp. 
 
 "Early on Tuesday we were astir, wandering 
 through jungle and over rough fields of scoria, 
 when, fortunately, at half-past nine, we found the 
 only track which could lead us out of this cruel 
 labyrinth. On the nth we reached home, having 
 been absent ten days. The great summit fountain 
 is still playing with fearful energy, and the devour- 
 ing stream rushes madly down toward us. It is 
 now about ten miles distant, and heading directly 
 for our bay. Some are planning, some packing, 
 many running to and fro, and all talking and con- 
 jecturing. Never was Hilo in such a state before; 
 
 inate and reason on points of religion, and as multitudes in all 
 parts of the islands would be sure to hear that the teacher who 
 had so often dissuaded them from unnecessary labor on the Lord's 
 day had himself been traveling on that day, it was prudent to give 
 them no occasion to Situmble on this point. I have never regretted 
 the self-denial." — lAfe in Hawaii, page 296. 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 and yet all is hushed and solemn. Nothing but the 
 hand of Omnipotence can arrest the fearful progress 
 of the fire and save our beautiful town from utter 
 desolation. " 
 
 And God's hand did deliver Hilo from its danger, 
 but not until the faith of those who trusted in Him 
 had been tried for six long months, as they watched 
 the approaching flood. The molten lava was 
 within seven miles of the sea. No natural obstacles 
 intervened to stop its progress. Science could give 
 no reason why the "billions of cubic feet of molten 
 rock" that for nine months continued to descend 
 from the crater in the same direction as at the first 
 did not push forward and destroy the town. Mr. 
 Coan and other Christians believed it was in answer 
 to prayers. 
 
 TO EEV. J. SESSIONS, D. D. 
 
 August 25, 1857. . . . "You are charmed 
 with the physical and the spiritual works of God. 
 You gaze, you wonder, you adore. And these are 
 my feelings, deepened and intensified by a residence 
 of more than twenty-two years. Should man with- 
 hold his praise for the grace here displayed, these 
 mountains and these rocks would cry out. If we 
 admire and adore with enthusiasm it is not without 
 cause. Your estimate of the character of this people 
 is, I think, correct. Like other parts of Christen- 
 dom, we have first a class of humble, spiritual 
 and steadfast disciples; these are numerous, and 
 they are ' our joy and our crown.' Second, an 
 impulsive class, now blazing like a comet, and anon 
 lost like a comet in the distance — seesaw Christians. 
 
82 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 A third class are never cold or hot — mere negatives, 
 lead. Another class are disturbing forces, calling 
 for constant watching; under discipline most of the 
 time — sinning, confessing, promising, relapsing. A 
 fifth class run with us a short way, and apostatize — 
 wandering stars to whom is reserved the blackness 
 of darkness forever. Another class have made no 
 essay on the subject of Christianity from the begin- 
 ning. They are entrenched in the blindness and 
 hardness of heathenism. . . . You need not 
 ask if I love the natives. To me they seem like 
 brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, friends. Twenty 
 times, perhaps, since we have sojourned here I have 
 dreamed of being in America, looking and longing 
 for a vessel to take me back to my dear islet and 
 my loved flock, and on wakening from such anxious 
 dreams my soul was filled with joy and thankful 
 praise to find myself here in my Eden and with my 
 people. We feel humbled in reading your commend- 
 ations of our toils and successes. God knows our 
 manifold sins and our utter demerits. Alas! our 
 leanness. I tremble in view of unfaithfulness, and 
 I do think I abhor my own righteousness. Mercy, 
 grace — for these I plead. All my labors and prayers 
 seem so defiled with sin that they stare on me 
 appallingly. I dare not mention them before God. 
 I dare not meet them at his tribunal. I want a 
 better righteousness." 
 
 TO REV. H. BINGHAM, JK. 
 
 November 3, 1857. — "We now await the return of 
 the Morning Star with deep interest. By her we 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 83 
 
 expect to hear good tidings from you and your dear 
 companion, and, from the precious cause in which 
 you have embarked. Long ago we trust you have 
 met your fellow-laborers in the Micronesian field. 
 I can imagine the bounding joy with which your 
 arrival was hailed in those lonely isles. How my 
 soul would have rejoiced to have been one of your 
 number, and to have mingled its sympathies in the 
 scenes through which you have passed. Do we not 
 in the service of our Lord often ' drink of the broek 
 in the way,' and ' with joy draw water from the 
 wells of salvation'? Is there not sometimes an un- 
 uttered pleasure, a holy triumph of soul, in denying 
 ourselves, in taking the cross and in following our 
 Redeemer in his works of mercy on earth? Do we 
 not find purer and more purifying pleasure in 
 forsaking all for Christ than in grasping all for our- 
 selves? Beloved Brother and Sister, only see that 
 your consecration to your work is entire and irre- 
 versible, and you will realize in your own souls the 
 fulfillment of tiie promise of an hundred fold more in 
 this present time. " 
 
 TO EEV. J. SESSIONS, D. D. 
 
 March 23, 1858. . . . "Writing is a simple 
 mode of communicating and receiving happiness, a 
 quiet and efficient way of doing good. It is a 'talent,' 
 for whose use or neglect we are responsible. Its 
 neglect often produces coldness, and even alienation 
 among kindred and friends. The genial and 
 precious sympathies of our hearts wither and die 
 under its neglect. . . . Some fifteen ships are 
 
84 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 at anchor before our door. One captain (with his 
 wile and three children) is in our family. Sailors are 
 on every hand and much of our time is devoted to- 
 them. Our meetings are full and attentive; some 
 are tender and tearful, some solemn. But how can 
 a Sabbath' whaler be saved? That almost universal 
 sin of whalemen darkens their prospects of heaven, 
 and, until they will abandon it, shuts the door of 
 salvation against them. . . . Your definition 
 of a miracle with the argument following, I consider 
 sound. I never dipped pen to reply to the strictures 
 on my volcanic essay in The Friend iox May, 1857. 
 Several criticisms were made on it, but the objections 
 of the writers were of little force against the Word 
 of God. The press gives you the great reports, so 
 you will allow me to confine myself to little matters. 
 Hilo is a small place, but through the mercy of God 
 it is one of the most quiet and peaceful towns in the 
 world. Masters and sailors fill the streets without 
 reeling, riot or noise; we go out and come in with a 
 perfect sense of security. Not 'that there is not 
 much sin here, but grace reigns — righteousness is in 
 the ascendant. " 
 
 TO BEV. H. HALSEY. 
 
 February, 1859. — "You ask if I will be at the 
 meeting of the American Board in i860. Probably 
 not. Many thanks for your kind offer to be my 
 supply. Bring a strong rope to cross the rivers, and 
 firm shoes to climb the mountains. . . Whether 
 we shall ever again see our children on earth is 
 uncertain. Sure confidence in the wisdom and love 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 85 
 
 of God, and the hopes of a better state hereafter 
 alone reconcile us to such parting struggles and to 
 the other trials of life. . . . Just now we are 
 having a grand pyrotechnic display. On the 22d ult. 
 the summit of Mauna Loa was rent with volcanic 
 fires, and a deluge of igneous fusion rushed forth and 
 poured down the mountain. Such was the energy 
 of the flood that in an hour or two it had reached 
 some twenty miles, filling the heavens with light 
 and rolling in vivid and burning waves over the 
 plains below. At first we thought the stream was 
 coming towards Hilo, but at length it turned and 
 rolled over towards the western coast, and entered 
 the sea on the eighth day after the eruption. The 
 distance may be fifty miles. It is still flowing with 
 great power. These successive eruptions show that 
 our island habitation is not finished. Mauna Loa is 
 rising; its sides and base are enlarging by successive 
 strata of lava; high hills, pits and fissures are being 
 formed in the interior; streams of water are oblit- 
 erated, forests are consumed, villages are over- 
 whelmed, arable lands are covered with a mural 
 deposit scores or hundreds of feet deep, and coasts 
 and capes are extended into the sea. So God works, 
 and so man stands aside, as his fiery chariot rolls by, 
 gazing, trembling, murmuring or adoring. What- 
 ever the scoffer may say, we feel sure that there is a 
 God, and that he has not forsaken the earth. " 
 
 TO EEV. H. BINCJHAM. 
 
 March 14, i860. . "You are still pained 
 
 at the indifference of your people to the Gospel 
 
86 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 messages. So it will be for a time. They know 
 not the import and cannot appreciate the treasures 
 of the Gospel. But you will reap in due season if 
 you faint not. Passion and animal instincts sway 
 the heathen; and the missionary is to meet and 
 measure a hundred ebbings and fluxes of animal 
 passion before enlightened piety and settled princi- 
 ples gain a full ascendency, before the great deep of 
 human depravity ceases to rise and fall and surge 
 like the ocean under temperature and tempest, and 
 all becomes so placid and reliable that you can say, 
 'There is no' more sea.' Christ has determined to 
 convert all nations, and he will not fail or be dis- 
 couraged in the work. The isles and peoples shall 
 wait for his law and welcome it; and he is with his 
 believing laborers always, not occasionally, not in 
 peace and sunshine only, but in war and tempest. " 
 
 July 6, i860. . . "As you took me up the 
 
 road of the ransomed to view the heavenly hills and 
 to see the 'fields in living green,' tears flowed fast, for 
 I said, 'O! that I had wings like a dove.' O! for 
 the land of pure delight, where the grave has no 
 power, and death no sting; where darkness and sin, 
 where guilt and fear are unfelt; where the bitter 
 fruits of transgression are untasted, and where the 
 rapt soul awakes, satisfied in the likeness of its 
 Savior. I have never, like you, been brought to 
 look death in the face, as a messenger already at 
 the door. . And a sense of, sin is usually so distinct 
 to my mind that I could hardly hope to feel that 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 87 
 
 calm joy which you felt in prospect of near departure. 
 I need more faith. But you were brought back to 
 the world, and the Lord is preparing more for you 
 to do, and you to do it. We do well to watch his 
 providences, for they are wise as wonderful. 
 Much of what men call progress and improvement 
 in civilization is improvement inartful blandishments, 
 in enervating follies, in fictitious sentiments, in 
 duplicity and hypocrisy, and not in purity of heart, in 
 truth and righteousness, in simple, unostentatious 
 manners, in good sense and sound piety. A scath- 
 ing and killing civilization is coming to these Islands, 
 and simple faith and honest truth are threatened to 
 be borne down by it. A false glitter dazzles many, 
 and the stream of pleasure is covered with a gay and 
 giddy throng. Give me rather the calabash, the 
 poi-pestle, the quiet hut, with the old Bible, the 
 simple hymns and the confiding prayer of the old 
 Hawaiian convert. I do not mean to say that there 
 is not on the whole much real and desirable progress 
 here, nor that we do not see and appreciate it; but 
 we do see with this progress a flood of that which is 
 spurious and dangerous, and it requires great dis- 
 cernment, great faith and great boldness to refuse 
 the evil and choose the good. Principle, profession, 
 early teachings and resolutions often bend and sway, 
 stagger and fall under the temptations of lucre or 
 fame, or the fear of man. . . Government 
 
 patronage goes to overthrow government and to dig 
 the grave of the nation, and nothing but omnipotent 
 grace will save the state from ruin. ... I was 
 greatly interested in my visit to the Marquesas, one 
 
88 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 of the darkest realms of earth. The natural scenery 
 is bold, rugged and sublime. Geologically the 
 group is purely of igneous origin. In the floral 
 kingdom there is much to interest the naturalist. 
 I was delighted with many of the trees; they are 
 magnificent. The fauna of the islands is hardly yet 
 created. But there is one object of deep interest 
 there, and that is man — man in ruins, in the lowest 
 depths of depravity, and without a lineament of the 
 Creator in his soul. Savageism in the Marquesas 
 is dark and diabolical. Paul's enumeration of the 
 characteristics of heathen is fully illustrated there. 
 They are impure beyond description. They are 
 selfish, deceitful, cruel, revengeful and implacable. 
 They never forgive. Blood for blood is their creed, 
 and until a sacrifice is obtained, they watch for the 
 infliction of vengeance on a foe during life, and in 
 death commit the trust to their children as a per- 
 petual legacy, until the thirst is satiated in the blood 
 of the offender, of his descendant or of his tribe. 
 But through the grace of God which brings salvation, 
 light has dawned on those dark realms. After 
 sixty-three years of unsuccessful effort on the part of 
 more than twenty English, French, American and 
 Tahitian missionaries, God has chosen a little band 
 of imknown and despised Hawaiians to proclaim 
 salvation to those abandoned tribes, and he has 
 crowned their labors with marvelous success. The 
 power of tabu, of superstition, of war and canni- 
 baUsm, of human sacrifices, and of all the polluting 
 orgies and horrid rites of heathenism is greatly 
 weakened in that land. And through God, the 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 89 
 
 whole system will ere long fall. I was delighted 
 with the skill and interest displayed by some of the 
 scholars at examinations. These islands must be 
 given to Christ. He has died for them. Will you 
 not pray, and enlist a thousand hearts to pray that 
 the poor, lost Marquesans may come to the Savior 
 and live? Hilo church prays for them, and last year 
 we gave five hundred dollars to sustain that mission. 
 I am comforted at the easy way in which 
 you get along with my thorny writing. The bee 
 gets honey from the thistle, and you draw something 
 frojn my crotchety scrawls. I think you learn 
 patience, and surely that is a valuable lesson. Per- 
 haps, also, you learn some new angles which you 
 never found in geometry." 
 
 TO HIS BEOTHEK. 
 
 September 21, 1861. — "How we rejoice to get 
 these precious tokens of love and these testimonials 
 of the mercy of our God. The natives of Micronesia 
 devoured the letters and papers of our missionaries. 
 They soaked them in water, and then literally ate 
 and drank them. We devour ours spiritually. We 
 rejoice that you all live. Had you gone to heaven 
 last year would you have heard the thunder notes of 
 war, or wept for a darling boy laid on the altar of 
 his country? Who can tell? It is, however, proba- 
 ble that celestial beings survey this wicked world of 
 ours and sympathize in all the sorrows of the just. 
 One thing is certain. Our great High Priest sym- ' 
 pathizes with his people, and in all their afflictions 
 he is afflicted. I hate war. It is not from above. 
 
90 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 but is earthly, devilish. On the part of the Federal 
 Government, I consider this the most just war I ever 
 knew. On the part of the rebels it is diabolical. 
 But I look upon this as upon all war, as the ripened 
 fruit of sin. I have long expected and feared it. 
 For long years the nation has been treasuring up 
 wrath against this day of wrath. Should peace ever 
 return to our distracted nation, I hope this solemn 
 lesson will teach all ministers and professors of the 
 Gospel to pray and labor and give for the establish- 
 ment of those principles of truth, forbearance and 
 love which will render war in our country impossible. 
 Had the Church done her duty in living and testify- 
 ing for Christ, this awful conflict would never have 
 come as a bloody Moloch to devour her sons and 
 consume her treasury. A tithe of this war expense, 
 wisely and prayerfully expended during the last fifty 
 years would have driven the war demon from all 
 Christendom. So I believe. I honor and pity our 
 good president, Lincoln. What mortal ever entered 
 upon office under such crushing responsibilities, and 
 so surrounded by complications, darkness and 
 danger? Heaven help him." • 
 
 TO FLAG OFFICEE S. F. DU PONT, U. S. N. 
 
 September 20, 1862. — "With your pressing and 
 overwhelming cares it may seem intrusive for me to 
 write you. But I cannot forbear to assure you of the 
 deep and full-souled sympathy your old Hilo friends 
 ■feel in the great cause in which you are engaged. 
 Though we should prize a line from you more than 
 gold, yet we will not ask or expect such a favor just 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 91 
 
 now. Your head and hands and heart are too full 
 of a nation's weal to turn aside to private friends. 
 
 "The reading of your wife's last letter to us so 
 stirred up our social, patriotic and Christian hearts 
 that we cannot forbear sending a small memento of 
 love and gratitude and veneration to our honored 
 DuPont. . . And now, my dear Admiral,, 
 
 allow me to say, that I look upon this fraternal 
 strife with awe and with anguish. How great must 
 be our national wickedness which calls down such 
 bolts of wrath and which scatters such a tempest of 
 sulphur and fire and blood over the land. Did ever 
 cloud darken and thicken and thunder with more 
 fearful portent over a people? Did ever the baleful 
 fires of civil strife burn more fiercely? Was ever a 
 conquest more sanguinary or more desperate? The 
 proportion, the magnitude of this rebellion are, per- 
 haps, unparalleled in man's history. Will not the 
 result be correspondent in magnitude? You know 
 my views on war in the abstract: I preach and pray 
 and labor against it, as against all other sins: theft, 
 robbery, murder, etc. Its origin is in the lusts and 
 wickedness of the human heart, and as I desire the 
 removal of idolatry so I pray that this gigantic 
 evil may cease. I do, nevertheless, accept war as- 
 a fact, and we must meet it when it comes, in the 
 wisest and best manner possible to our present state 
 and to the state of our fallen world. Powers, govern- 
 ments, laws are of God — ordained and sustained by 
 him. He has put the sword into the hand of rulers, 
 and they are bound to use it in protecting the right 
 and in terror to evil-doers. I look upon the present 
 
•92 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 rebellion as a premeditated, a haughty, wanton, 
 •diabolical treason against law and constitutional 
 right. Our Southern brethren do not see it in this 
 light, and I would feel a sad pity for them and pray 
 that their eyes may be opened; as a man and a 
 Christian I would feel for them and treat them with 
 all proper kindness, but as a loyal and law-loving 
 ■citizen I must sustain my government with my 
 prayers and sympathies, my treasure and my life if 
 need be. . . . We have read, dear sir, with 
 great interest of your toils and cares, your sacrifices 
 and your heroic deeds in this day of darkness and of 
 peril. And we bless God who has given you wis- 
 <iom and strength and an upright heart in this war. 
 In your unwearied efforts in the Philadelphia navy- 
 yard, in Annapolis, in Washington, in your admira- 
 ble conduct of the great Southern fleet, your tactics 
 and success at Hilton Head and other places, we 
 rejoiced deeply. And we do follow you in our 
 prayers constantly. It is a matter of great joy to us 
 that so many of our best naval and military com- 
 manders are men who fear God and who look to him 
 for help. My heart is full and I know not how to 
 stop." 
 
 TO EEV. 11. BINGHAM. 
 
 April T , 1863. — "I take the earliest opportunity 
 to express our full sympathy with you and your 
 •excellent wife in the departure of her venerable 
 father, Brewster. How impressive and prophetical 
 his last words to you. 'Gladly we would hail the 
 •dawn of a brighter day. ' That day has dawned upon 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 93 
 
 him. Beams of ineffable light flood his vision. He- 
 has gone beyond the sound of the war-trumpet and 
 the sanguinary scenes of human strife. The baleful 
 clouds of woe which encircle the American horizon 
 and roll and flash and thunder over the land are all 
 far, far below him, and the last cry of anguish has- 
 died on his ear. How well I remember once stand- 
 ing on the heaven-powdered mountains of Hawaii 
 with all the celestial orbs shining above me, while a. 
 dark sea of clouds was being rent and shaken by 
 lightning and thunder and hail-stprm below. Thus, 
 thought I, is it with the saint who is sheltered in_ 
 heaven. 
 
 ' 'All is tranquil and serene, 
 Calm and undisturbed repose.' 
 
 "Your Fourth of July friend* is still here, though 
 out of ofifice. He has become a devout papist, and 
 I am told that he declares he would be willing to sell 
 his life if he might be employed to go to America^ 
 and burn all the Northern cities. This, he says, 
 would bring the Yankees under, and put an end to- 
 the war by cutting its sinews. What darkness and 
 madness reign in the human heaf-t. Baptism, con- 
 firmation, masses, confessionals, pictures of the Holy 
 Virgin and all the saints, with all other outward 
 forms of piety, do not cure depravity. . . . We- 
 
 *Mr. and Mrs. B. were guests at a picnic gathering in 1857, at 
 which the American residents of Hilo sought to give expression 
 to their patriotism on this anniversary. Mr. B. was one of the 
 speakers, and alluded to the stain which slavery had left upon his 
 country's flag. For this, a Southerner present afterwards laid 
 his clinched fist upon Mr. Bingham's shoulder, and pouring out a 
 torrent of violent and offensive language, threatened to flog him. 
 within an Inch of his life should he ever venture into his offioe. 
 
94 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 have felt a constant desire that your lives, health 
 and happiness might be preserved to labor in the 
 vineyard of our Lord. But we apprehend that you 
 suffer from climate and from monotony of life. To 
 keep the heart happy, the mind buoyant and the 
 spirits elastic, physical health must be secured; and 
 a wise care of our earthly tabernacles is important to 
 a vigorous, cheerful and successful prosecution of 
 our spiritual labors. " 
 
 TO MISS E. BINGHAM. 
 
 August 2, 1864. . . . "Trials are the saints' 
 crucibles. They are melters, consumers of gross 
 matter, and purifiers. What more precious than 
 refined gold? One thing — tried faith. But the 
 potter sometimes sets aside a vessel and leaves it on 
 the shelf in an obscure and apparently useless place. 
 Let the vessel be quiet; murmuring does not become 
 it. Let it be silent; it may yet be honored. So let 
 the afflicted saint be calm, peaceful, unquestioning, 
 and let him sing, 
 
 " 'Sweet in the confidence of love 
 To trust his firm decrees.' 
 
 "How I long to see your dear, venerable sire. I 
 have loved him from the day he took us to his home 
 and his heart, and I feel a tender desire for his wel- 
 fare in old age. Your peerless mother is safe. She 
 is beyond the reach of solicitude and sorrow. How 
 fragrant, how precious her memory. My heart 
 melts as I think of her offices of personal kindness, 
 and especially of her full consecration to the cause 
 of her Savior. My soul often sees her a way-worn 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 95 
 
 pilgrim, weary in toil, bent with care, ai)d yet strong 
 in faith, cheerful in hope, constant in love, with the 
 words of kindness on her lips, and the smile of 
 heaven on her cheek. 
 
 " 'Happy souL, thy days are ended, 
 All thy toiling days below.' 
 
 "Let us be meek and faithful, doing and enduring 
 all God's will concerning us, and in a little we also 
 shall be beyond the confines of sin and fear and pain. " 
 
 TO JOEL AND HANNAH BEAN (widely knoivii and es- 
 teemed members of the Society of Friends). 
 
 August 22, 1865. — "My very pen seems to rejoice 
 in dropping thoughts of love to Christian friends so 
 congenial and so dear to us as our precious brother 
 and sister, Joel and Hannah. Your united letters 
 came loaded with fragrant odors from the hills of 
 Zion. There is not in them a sentiment or a word 
 which does not meet a cordial welcome and a warm 
 response. And so deep is our respect, so tender 
 and true our love for you, and for all the consistent 
 members of your Society, that you might ever ex- 
 press any sentiment in which we may accidentally 
 and honestly differ without the least fear that our 
 Christian fellowship would be interrupted. 'How 
 good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell 
 together,' not in uniformity , but 'in unity.' 
 
 "Your reference to your visit to our tropical shores 
 kindles our love and awakens our kindest reminis- 
 cences; and the elevation of your spiritual telescope 
 to the heavenly hills where faith and hope shall in- 
 herit a fruition of love and joy stimulates us to 
 
96 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 plume our wings for upward flight. . . . The 
 news of peace rolled a wave of joy over our islets. 
 Our hearts swelled in gratitude, and our lips burst 
 in thanksgiving to God. The old Pacific seemed 
 more peaceful, and her broad bosom swelled with 
 joy, and her radiant face was kissed by the soft 
 breezes and lighted by the smiles of heaven. ' The 
 trees of the woods sang out, the floods clapped their 
 hands and the hills were joyful' at the glad nfews. 
 But suddenly all was changed. The sea, the sky 
 and the fields darkened — a sigh of sorrow, a wave of 
 woe swept over us. Our sunny islands were draped 
 in mourning. Abraham Lincoln is </^(7iar./ 'A prince 
 and a great man is fallen! ' Treason has murdered 
 Mercy. Thus we wept. But still we looked up to 
 the High Throne of Heaven and saw our Father 
 there. 
 
 "We rejoice that God has put it into the hearts 
 of the Friends to do so much and to act so wisely 
 and promptly in the good work of renovating our 
 land. Oh, how many wounds need the kind hand 
 of the Binder, how many bleeding hearts the balm 
 of Gilead and her Great Physician. When, in all 
 time, was the church called to a greater, a tenderer 
 or a more earnest work? What eye can survey it? 
 What mind can measure it! God only gauges and 
 comprehends the darkness, the sins and the woes to 
 be removed through the agency of Christian love. " 
 
 TO HIS SISTER. 
 
 March 7, 1866. — "How I would like to see you 
 and the good deacon, and talk a week or two on the 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 97 
 
 experiences of life. And how I long to see the old 
 home, the meadow, the orchard, the pond, the mill, 
 and the thousand little things that gave life and joy- 
 to childhood. I wonder if the Lord will suffer me 
 to look down from heaven and see that dear old 
 rural landscape again. I do not expect to see it 
 with mortal eyes. I see in the New York Evangel- 
 ist that there has been a reviving in Killingworth — 
 a refreshing from the presence (jf the Lord. These 
 are joyful tidings, and I trust that you and Brother 
 A. have tasted of the heavenly gift. You are both 
 drawing near the time of your departure, and I 
 hope you are ripe for the garner of the Lord. I 
 only reason that you are old by counting years, and 
 by looking at my own head in the glass. I seem to 
 myself only as a young and foolish boy who has 
 everything to learn, and yet my days on earth are 
 being numbered. Less than five years more will 
 bring me to the line beyond which few pass. How 
 little I have done for God — how much which should 
 not have been done. 
 
 "Fidelia and Titus are now the 'old folks at 
 home.' All the young birds have flown and left the 
 parent birds. But the hght-winged messengers — 
 letters — often come back to the nest and give us 
 great pleasure. We are not lonely. Our house is 
 surrounded, and filled most of the time, with native 
 and foreign neighbors and visitors. Multitudes of 
 strangers visit Hilo from nearly all the nations of 
 earth. We are just in the center of the world as to 
 seeing different nationahties. Our work is constant 
 and the Lord is gracious. Some are being gathered 
 
98 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 into the church from month to month. We are or- 
 ganizing churches, ordaining pastors, and building 
 and dedicating meeting houses. Our people con- 
 tribute well of their poverty. Please give my sin- 
 cere love to all old friends. I can not begin to give 
 names lest I never get through. " 
 
 TO PEOF. J. D. DANA. 
 
 August ^^x, 1866.. .. . . "This is an age when 
 
 enlightened skepticism makes gigantic strides, and 
 with the weapons of false philosophy and perverted 
 science strikes hard blows at simple faith and evan- 
 gelical" truth. It is, therefore, a great blessing to 
 Zion that Christian savans are stationed over all the 
 earth, able and willing to defend moral truth. The 
 Lord spare your precious life. I beg that you will 
 not press too hard in your labors, but be contented 
 and thankful if you may labor but two hours per 
 day. . . . Mr. Brigham has just written me 
 
 from Boston, giving a- running sketch of his tour 
 around our planet. He mentioned that he was about 
 to visit New Haven to see you. I trust that you have 
 met him, and hope that he has given you some spec- 
 imens of our Hawaiian rocks. How our hearts 
 would leap for joy could you come again to our 
 shores, and spend a few months in our family, and 
 roam over our hills and through our forests, and 
 bathe in our laughing streams. Who can tell that 
 you will not see Hawaii again and renew your ac- 
 quaintance with Mother Pele and her numerous 
 daughters? When the Pacific railroad shall have 
 been completed, it will be but a step from the Elm 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titws Coan. 99 
 
 City to the Emerald Bower of Hilo. That step will 
 be over the eastern Pacific. Would not such a vaca- 
 tion and visit rejuvenate you? There has been a 
 vast filling up and an upraising in Kilauea since 
 1840. Should you now visit it you would recognize 
 nothing except the outer walls and the surrounding 
 regions. Internally all is changed and all is new. 
 In May, June and July the action in the crater was 
 often vehement. The old South la:ke overflowed 
 several times, and a chain of lakes, three, four and 
 sometimes five or six, opened on a curved line from 
 northwest to north and northeast from the old lake. 
 The action in these was often intense. Jets of 
 fusion were thrown fifty to two hundred feet high; 
 the lakes overflowed, and fiery rivers seethed along 
 the northern and eastern walls of the crater, the 
 stream in some places half a mile wide. Cones and 
 domes of lava were also raised, and yawning fissures 
 opened, interrupting the traveler in crossing the 
 bottom of the crater. At different times, and some- 
 times for many days, the fiery flood swept up to the 
 path by which visitors go into the crater and cut off 
 all ingress by the usual route, and many parties were 
 obliged to view the surging waves from above. Oc- 
 casional earthquakes shook down avalanches of 
 rocks from the walls of the crater and frightened the 
 spectators. For a few weeks past the action in Ki- 
 lauea has been feebler, but we have no assurance that 
 it will not increase at any time." 
 
 TO EEV. J. SESSIONS, D. D. 
 
 September 20, 1866. — " Your welcome letter of 
 Aug. 6 comes to us like a dove over the waters, as- 
 
loo Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 suring us that 'love cannot die.' Like imponderable 
 substances, it may be locked up in retaining bodies 
 until a material communication is established, and 
 then this spiritual element rushes more rapidly than 
 booming worlds or morning light. Sub-marine and 
 sub-aerial telegraphs do more than to flash electric- 
 ity around the globe — they carry mind and heart as 
 well, and I believe that our all-gracious and glorious 
 Lord will yet establish a perfect web-work of spirit- 
 ual telegraphs over all the vast realms of the uni- 
 verse. I doubt not that every aged saint does, like 
 you, look back with amazement, ' with wonder, love 
 and praise' upon all the way in which the Lord has 
 led him, and when his pilgrim feet reach the Eternal 
 Hills, how will his rapt soul look down from those 
 realms of peace and survey the devious paths, the 
 dark valleys and the hidden dangers through which 
 an Unseen Hand has guided him, and with adoring 
 love ascribe thanksgiving and honor to his faithful 
 Guide. If you and I are God's children we shall 
 soon know and feel what it is to be there. " 
 
 TO MES. E. COAN. 
 
 March 8, 1867. — "I have just reached home in the 
 dear old Emerald Bower. I went about fifty miles 
 north to meet Bro. Bond, of Kohala, and the native 
 . pastors and delegates of N'. Hawaii at the meeting 
 of an ecclesiastical association. Thence I went to 
 Waimea, seventy miles from Hilo, to see our dear 
 Brother Lyons, who has not been able to leave his 
 station for more than three years on account of ill 
 health. I went to help and comfort him and his 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 companion. But God's thoughts are not our 
 thoughts. I was prostrated with fever the day after 
 my arrival, and for two weeks confined to the house. 
 So the invalid Lyons turned nurse and physician, 
 and, by God's blessing on his tender and patient 
 care, I recovered and was welcomed home again by 
 my anxious wife. On my return I found letters 
 awaiting me. I do thank you for your patience and 
 care in writing me fully. You gave me the first 
 intelligence of the sudden death of our dear sister. 
 And she, too, has gone! How the autumnal leaves 
 fall! How sere the forests! How the winds sigh! 
 Only Heman and myself remain out of eight chil- 
 dren. Parents, uncles and aunts all gone. But I 
 have no breath of murmur, no heart to complain. 
 God has been good to our family, and I trust he has 
 gathered most of them into a ' better country ' be- 
 yond the confines of sin and sorrow. Let us gird 
 up the loins of our minds, and our steps will be 
 strong, our hopes bright and our hearts peaceful 
 just in proportion to the purity and strength of our 
 faith. ' This also is the victory which overcomes the 
 world, even our faith.' I have no trust in modern 
 prophets, visionary speculators and spiritual enthu- 
 siasts. But I have all confidence in that good old 
 book, the Bible. 'It is a light to my feet and a 
 lamp to my path.' It is my joy by day and my 
 song in the night — rhore precious than gold and 
 sweeter than honey. The dear ring of the voice of 
 the prophets, the evangelists, and especially of 'The 
 Christ,' sounds into my heart, and I have no doubts 
 as to the truth, the inspiration, the adaptation and 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 the unexplored wealth of the Bible. We all fail to 
 understand much of the mysteries of the Scriptures 
 and of godliness, just as a little child cannot under- 
 stand the higher mathematics or soar into the realms 
 of abstract science. But the child can be led onward 
 and upward, and so can we when we are docile like 
 little children. As to the modified style of preach- 
 ing, I would say, judge by its fruits. If it multiplies 
 true converts, if it reforms sinners and causes saints 
 to grow in humility, in purity, in love and in all good 
 works, then bless God and accept the preaching- 
 There is much of what is called ' liberal preaching, 
 but the term does not define itself, and we must hear 
 for ourselves and judge by the fruits. A vast 
 change has taken place in public sentiment in the 
 United States. Pride, scorn of right, the loye of irre- 
 sponsible power, rioting and the lust of wealth are 
 still rampant in the land. But against all these waves 
 of wickedness, God is raising a mural barrier against 
 which the surges dash in vain. Poor President 
 Johnson admires his own policy. He and his party 
 have more sympathy with rebels and traitors, than 
 with the faithful and true who have sacrificed blood 
 and treasure to save the country from the jaws of 
 the destroyer. He must run his race and have his 
 day, and the country may yet suffer much. But 
 God is merciful, and I have strong hopes that right 
 will prevail, and that after a season of patient toil and 
 conflict on the part of those who love righteousness, 
 the nation will become quiet, and prosperity return." 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 103 
 
 VIII. 
 
 VOYAGE TO THE MARQUESAS. 
 
 Reminiscences of the two visits made by Mr. 
 Coan to the Marquesans, as delegate of the Hawaiian 
 Board, are given in his Life in Hawaii. Extracts 
 from the journal of his second voyage to that mission 
 present vivid pictures of the scenes as witnessed. 
 
 Morning Star, April 3, 1867. — "We left Hilo 
 
 this day on a missionary voyage to the Marquesas. 
 
 On board, Rev. H. Bingham, Jr., master, and wife. 
 
 Rev. B. W. Parker and T. Coan, delegates 
 
 of Hawaiian Board. . . Twenty-six all told." 
 
 April, 21. — " 'Land ho!' rang from our decks at 
 dawn this morning. Light winds, calms and a three- 
 knot current have set us far west of our course, and 
 we are among the Paumotu group, named by Bou- 
 gainville, Dangerous Archipelago. Two beautiful 
 islands are within two miles of us, called King 
 George's Isles. . The sight of these on this 
 
 bright Sabbath morning was truly charming. The 
 shores are one continuous belt of white coral sand, 
 kissed by the blue rippling wavelets. Within this 
 encircling zone is a garland of evergreens, composed 
 of the cocoanut, pandanus, kou, and various shrubs 
 
I04 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 and grasses, so intertwined as to form a beautiful 
 coronal of tropical green on the brow of Neptune. 
 Enclosed by this fadeless wreath is the quiet lagoon, 
 bathed in silver sunbeams and rippling upon its 
 shores. After an enchanting view of this gem of 
 the Pacific, the Star went about and stood off from 
 the land. We looked with a sigh for the dark 
 dwellers on these bright islets. " 
 
 Hakahekau, April 29. . . . "This valley is 
 rich with luxuriant vegetation. The ridges and hills 
 which enclose it are grand and magnificent. Near 
 the head of the valley, and on its right bank, from 
 two to three miles inland, is some of the sublimest 
 scenery in nature. ... It was mournful, as we 
 strolled up this beautiful and rich vale, to mark the 
 silence and desolation that reigned there.* After 
 leaving the little cluster of huts near the shore, not 
 a living soul was seen, not a voice of man heard 
 throughout all the central and upper portions of the 
 valley. The trees were burdened with breadfruit, 
 cocoanut, guava, papaia, etc., but there were not 
 hands enough 'to pluck the wanton growth.' Un- 
 tenanted houses were in a state of rapid decay, and 
 solitude and silence reigned in the old heiaus and 
 dancing grounds. " 
 
 April 30. . . . " At 4 P. M., we were at the 
 entrance of Taiohae, the principal harbor of Nuuhiva. 
 A French pilot brought us to anchor at 5 P. M. Two 
 English gentlemen came on board and spent the 
 
 * In 1863 about seven-tenths of the population died of small- 
 pox. 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 105 
 
 evening. A French bark, the Tampico, had come 
 in the day before. The captain set his flag and fired 
 us a salute of one gun. The latter compliment we 
 were unable to return, as we have not seen fire-arms 
 or smelt powder on board the Morning Star. This 
 safe harbor is surrounded on all sides, except the 
 narrow entrance at the south, with a grand panorama 
 of hills, diversified with lateral ridges, spurs, cones, 
 dells, glens, valleys and mounds, all clothed in living 
 green. The highest peaks rise three thousand eight 
 hundred and sixty feet. Even on the perpendicular 
 walls of precipices, shrubs and patches of verdure, 
 like green velvet, are seen to cling. The tenacious 
 and plume-like ironwood covers and fringes the 
 lofty cones and pointed rocks; and down from the 
 dizzy heights dash the merry cascades, in lines of 
 molten silver from their rock-ribbed fountains three 
 thousand feet above the sea. Along these lofty 
 pinnacles the cloudy pavilion of Jehovah moves upon 
 the winged wind, or hangs in soft dVapery when the 
 aerial chariot stands still. , . . The valleys 
 were once full of inhabitants and echoing with wild 
 and savage revelry. They are now nearly depopu- 
 lated and a sleepy silence broods over them. The 
 French authorities have recently sold them to a 
 company of English, French and others, who, it is 
 said, are about to commence plantations of cotton 
 and coffee, articles which grow luxuriantly there. 
 Taiohae has a small population, a few foreigners with 
 a reduced number of aborigines. The French forts 
 and arsenals are abandoned; two gens d'armes alone 
 are quartered in the barracks, and these act as a 
 
io6 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 town police. The jetty, the fort, the magazine, the 
 mihtary road, sweeping in a graceful curvature 
 around the head of the bay, and shaded by two rows 
 of large hibiscus trees, the bridges, and in fact all 
 the former works and improvements of the French 
 are fast going to decay. Ornamental and fruit trees, 
 both indigenous and and exotic, flourish in luxuri- 
 ance. I measured a banyan and found its circum- 
 ference to be eighty-five feet, while its umbrageous 
 boughs covered a circle of some six hundred feet. " 
 
 Hakatu, May 3. — "There is no harbor here, 
 though vessels may anchor in good weather. The 
 landing is marked by a remarkable laminated lava 
 cone some three hundred feet high and about two 
 hundred feet in diameter, rising like a greaj; pyramid 
 from the deep blue waves, and standing like a marble 
 monument to commemorate the Plutonic fires of past 
 ages. . . . Laioha (the Hawaiian missionary) 
 has a school cjf thirty-two pupils; they were 
 examined in reading, writing and in lessons com- 
 mitted to memory. After examination we held a 
 meeting with the people, when many addresses were 
 made and Captain and Mrs. Bingham sang 'Happy 
 Land,' in the Gilbert Island language. This pleased 
 the natives greatly. " 
 
 Hanamenn , Hivaoa, May 6. — "We left Hakatu on 
 the 3d, and although the distance is only fifty miles, 
 yet head winds, light winds, calms and currents have 
 held us back, so that we only reached Hanamenu 
 to-day. The island of Hivaoa is thirty miles long, 
 and in shape it is like the letter S. Its population 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 107 
 
 is supposed to be five thousand, or more than that 
 of all the other islands of the group. It has some 
 fifteen to twenty valleys of great richness and beauty, 
 and its arable lands might be made to yield half a 
 million in cotton, coffee and other productions for 
 commerce. 
 
 "On landing with six Marquesans (returned from 
 Oahu), the whole valley was alive and the beach 
 thronged with people. Fathers, mothers, grand- 
 parents, brothers, sisters, all the kith and kin of the 
 exiles came down to the shore, and the weeping, 
 wailing, rubbing of noses, kissing and embracing 
 were affecting. Soon the breadfruit began to fall, 
 the pigs to squeal, and the ovens to smoke. A feast 
 was prepared with surprising rapidity, and it seemed 
 joyful as at the return of the lost and dead prodigal. 
 Here the ship Twilight was wrecked, and 
 here is the place where lived the famous Mills, who 
 went to England and the United States in 1855 to 
 obtain a missionary. We saw one of his forsaken, 
 children, a poor, blind heathen!" 
 
 May 7. — "This morning we organized a Christian 
 church at Hanamenu, consisting of ten members. 
 After this the Lord's Supper was administered for the 
 first time in this place. At 1 1 A. M. we bade our 
 six fellow-passengers from Hawaii, our ten Chris- 
 tian brethren and sisters in Christ and the mixed 
 multitude which gathered around, an affectionate 
 and sincere farewell, and returned to the packet. 
 How faithfully this dear vessel waits on our minis- 
 trations and administers to our wants. From Nuu- 
 
io8 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 hiva to this place we have heard rumors of a savage 
 war at Puamau, and of a plot at Omoa to destroy 
 and rob our vessel, on account of the death of 
 nearly all who left Fatuiva for Honolulu, in 1865. 
 Our trust is in God. " 
 
 Puamau, May 8. — "Early this morning we were 
 near this large and romantic valley. We all felt 
 solicitude. . . . Kekela told us that the war had 
 just closed. This was glad news, and it seemed as 
 Providential as joyful. The door was open for us 
 among the heathen, and we were invited to enter. 
 Landing near the French Mission, we called on the 
 priest who now occupies the station. He was very 
 urbane and social, and he received us with much 
 cordiality. In answer to the question how he 
 enjoyed life among these savages, he replied, "It is 
 not very agreeable." We walked one-fourth of a 
 mile on the beach, amidst a crowd of rude and gar- 
 rulous people. Many of them had just come out of 
 war, and there was a savage wildness, an imperti- 
 nent impudence, and a ferocious license about them 
 which we had seen nowhere else. How surely war 
 develops the direst and most diabolical passions of 
 human nature. . . . On the ist of May, just 
 one week before our arrival, the famous Mato, the 
 chief who seized and designed to eat Mr. Whalon, 
 was killed by a bullet. Thus his judgment did not 
 slumber. We saw the place where the poor trem- 
 bling mate was seized and bound, and those whose 
 interposition, under God, saved the agonizing cap- 
 tive. " 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 109- 
 
 Atuona, Hivaoa, May 9. — "The scenery of this 
 broad, deep valley is more grand and diversified, if 
 possible, than any we have before seen. The great 
 rampart of rocks in the rear is the highest point of 
 all the islands, and it is usually hung with a cloudy 
 drapery. Like other places, the lofty spiral center, 
 the sharp lateral ribs, the broken hills, the columns, 
 spurs and pinnacles — some stratified, some lami- 
 nated, some round, some angular, some truncated, 
 some perpendicular, some leaning, some compact 
 rock, sortie vesicular, amorphous, crystalline — in all 
 shapes and positions — with heaps of scoria from the 
 great Plutonic furnace, all bear the marks of fire, 
 and all reveal their igneous origin. I cannot cease 
 to gaze, and admire, and wonder, and adore, as I 
 look upon the massive piles of rock, piled up, hill 
 upon hill, ridge upon ridge, mountain upon moun- 
 tain, serried, castellated, turreted, lifting their lofty 
 points among the clouds, and holding the drapery 
 of heaven upon their pinnacles. How did they rise 
 out of the deep sea? And what power gave them 
 these fantastic forrhs? They are masses of confused 
 harmony, defying all the art of the limner, the pen 
 and ink painter, and the descriptive powers of man. 
 
 "As no one appeared on the shore at Atuona, we 
 went into the bay in our boat ; but the surf being 
 too strong to land, David, our good Peruvian, 
 leaped into- the sea and swam ashore. Passing 
 through a dense jungle of hibiscus he found Hapuku 
 and sent him down to the beach. Hapuku dove 
 into the raging surf like a porpoise, and soon came 
 dripping into our boat. Not being able to land in 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 this bay, he took us into a lateral bay, one quarter 
 of a mile wide, and three-quarters of a mile deep, 
 where we run our boat upon a beautiful sand beach 
 at the foot of a sweet valley, three miles long and 
 full of people. Here we landed, and scrambling 
 "on all fours" up a precipitous cliff, and up, up a 
 weary hill, we walked in a burning sun one mile to 
 the valley of Atuona. This is, perhaps, the richest 
 valley we have seen. It is broad and deep, watered 
 by an ample and limpid stream that runs babbling 
 through the dale. It would seem as if all the sur- 
 rounding hills had been laid under tribute to enrich 
 and adorn this valley, and as if Providence had 
 shaken the lap of nature into it. The trees are 
 magnificent, and the shrubbery, plants and vines 
 run riot in luxuriance. Our pathway from the 
 beach to Hapuku's house was an avenue cut through 
 the hibiscus, the cotton and other plants, and im- 
 pervious to the sun. Seventeen scholars and about 
 fifty people came out on short notice, and we exam- 
 ined the school.. It was perfectly quiet and atten- 
 tive, and appeared well. Several of the scholars 
 sang hymns sweetly. We preached, then baptized 
 three adults and three children, organized a church 
 of five, and returned to the ship after three hours at 
 the station. " 
 
 Omoa, Fatuiva, May 13. — "The general meeting 
 of the mission was organized on the nth, and to- 
 day the business of the meeting was taken up in 
 earnest. All the brethren read written and full 
 accounts of their stations and labors for the last two 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 years. Some of these reports were deeply interest- 
 ing. The subject of Boarding Schools engrossed 
 much attention, and it was resolved to establish at 
 once a school for girls at Puamau, and one for boys 
 at Hakanahi. For the purpose the delegates placed 
 two hundred dollars in the hands of the appointed 
 teachers. It is hoped the schools will be in a great 
 measure self-supporting. . . . We feel sure that 
 the benevolent ladies and gentlemen of the Hawaiian 
 Islands will rejoice to contribute enough to clothe 
 these sons and daughters of the Marquesas, and to 
 rescue them from the fearful darkness of heathen 
 cannibalism. I have rarely seen more perfect speci- 
 mens of physical organization, or brighter faces and 
 more active minds, than among these children. 
 Many of them are beautiful, in spite of their olive 
 complexion and sad surroundings, and it is painful 
 to leave them, bright and blithesome as they are, to 
 the horrors that await them if they are not soon 
 redeemed from the deep darkness which covers 
 them." 
 
 May 1 6. — "As the missionary who occupies Hana- 
 vave is to return to Hawaii in the Morning Star, 
 Capt. Bingham and myself went in our boats to see 
 the station, and to bring up his goods. The dis- 
 tance is abbut four miles, and the coast along which 
 we rowed presented rocky cliffs, towering domes 
 and lofty precipices, rent, grooved and fluted. 
 From these bold heights, of hundreds to two thou- 
 sand feet, rills of pure water came gliding in silvery 
 lines, and leaping in feathery cascades into the sea. 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 Small valleys filled with trees and murmuring with 
 limpid waters, appeared like enchantment. But 
 these are all desolate. Fierce, bloody war has 
 slaughtered the tenants, or driven them from these 
 Edens of beauty. The spurs and headlands of the 
 coast plunge abruptly into the sea, and the interior 
 terminates in the castellated dividing ridge of the 
 island, which seems to rest against the sky. . . . 
 We landed on a beach of sand and shingle, amidst 
 a mixed throng, as noisy as loons. Captain B. 
 assisted me in speaking to the people, and in exhort- 
 ing them to forsake their false gods and come to the 
 Savior. Hapuku also spoke to the people, who 
 listened respectfully. After this I baptized a man 
 and his wife — the first fruits of Hanavave unto God. 
 "This day opened with the flash and rattle of mus- 
 ketry. The whole valley was astir, and the sur- 
 rounding cliffs and lofty hills echoed with shouts 
 and reverberated with the sound of arms. One 
 discharge followed another from dawn till noon. 
 We were a little startled at first at the thought that 
 war might be at the door; but, on inquiry, we were 
 informed that the firing was in honor of a celebrated 
 prophetess, who had recently died. The heathen 
 party had built a house for the goddess forty-eight 
 feet high, and on the top of this house they had 
 placed a target, made of kapa, in the form of a 
 moon. At this target the men were firing, and 
 when one hit it the valley rang again with their 
 triumphant shouts. " 
 
 Puamau, May 19. — "We are again at this place, 
 having returned here to land Kekela and family. 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 113 
 
 Brother Parker, the native missionaries and myself 
 came on shore to hold service. More than a hun- 
 dred people collected under the trees, to whom we 
 preached the Gospel of the Kingdom. Many came 
 with spears, war-clubs and harpoons, axes, muskets 
 and knives; and during service, little circles of three 
 or five would light their pipes, have a delicious 
 smoke, and then listen again to the speaker. Some 
 had the head shaven all over; some in zones and 
 belts; some left a tuft of hair on the crown or over 
 the ear. The wildest taste and the most fantastic 
 and capricious figures in tattooing were displayed 
 upon the face and over the whole body. This tat- 
 tooing makes the males look dark and fearful. 
 Children are not tattooed; females but little. Con- 
 sequently they often look like another and a milder 
 race of beings. " 
 
 May 20. — "We hear that a savage gang from the 
 eastern side of Puamau, came down to our boat 
 while she was for a short time on the beach yester- 
 day, and proposed to seize her. Numbers of 
 friendly natives and the boat's crew being near they 
 refrained from violence. These ruffians are of the 
 tribe who seized Mr. Whalon." 
 
 May 21. — "Having landed Kauwealoha at Ha- 
 katu, Capt. Bingham called all hands off, spoke of 
 the mercy of God in thus bringing our work at the 
 islands to a happy close, and proposed prayer and 
 thanksgiving. This offered, we sung the stanza, 
 'Waft, waft, ye winds, his story,' etc., followed by 
 three hearty cheers; when our sails were trimmed 
 
114 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 and the noble Morning Star turned her prow toward 
 the Hawaiian Islands. Our vessel seems to feel the 
 inspiration of heaven, and, like a fleet steed home- 
 ward bound, she makes through the water at the 
 rate of ten knots, dashing the white foam from her 
 head and sides. . . . The Morning Star is a 
 noble vessel, well modeled, well built, well furnished 
 and well appointed. Altogether she is the neatest 
 and most comfortable vessel of her size in which I 
 have ever sailed. . . . The officers and crew 
 have treated us with uniform kindness, and in all 
 things we have been blessed, greatly blessed of our 
 Divine Lord and Master, and to Him be all glory 
 and praise forever." 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 115 
 
 IX. 
 
 "This world is the place for labor and not lor rest and enjoy- 
 ment except that which may be found in serving God." 
 
 — Payaon. 
 
 TO MES. E. OOAN. 
 
 November 30, 1867. — "I see that you and other 
 friends are indulging strong expectations of seeing 
 us again in the land of our birth. We do not yet 
 feel confident on the subject. Cares seem to thicken 
 and labors to multiply as life advances. To divide 
 up my great parish, to organize churches and see 
 that the pastors provided for them are supported; 
 to build church edifices along a coast of one hundred 
 miles; to raise funds to support our missionaries 
 among the heathen; to strive to supply our people 
 with books and papers; to attend to the constant 
 cases of church discipline; to be the only pastor for 
 foreign residents and chaplain for seamen, together 
 with the numberless and nameless other cares of a 
 missionary life are labors which seem to hold us to 
 our post. We were invited by the Board to visit 
 the States in 1867. It now looks as though we could 
 not go before 1869, and before that time who can 
 tell what will be? So we leave it all with the Lord 
 and only watch his hand with a desire to do his will. 
 
 " ' I'll go and come, nor fear to die, 
 
 TUl from on high Thou call me home.' " 
 
ii6 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 TO MES. G. COAN. 
 
 December i8, 1867. . . . "Candidates for 
 the ministry must be first selected, then taught 
 theology, then tried for some time in the field, and 
 when accepted, ordained and installed. Some of 
 hem die, some prove incompetent or unworthy, some 
 forsake for other work, and some are not acceptable 
 to the people. It often seems as if our earthly 
 pilgrimage would close ere this work of reconstruc- 
 tion and re-organization is done. I have just given a 
 vacation to a class of fifteen in theology, which I 
 taught five days in a week besides spending two 
 hours daily in revising and correcting a commentary 
 on Matthew in the Hawaiian language. And now 
 our anniversaries are coming on; a great Sabbath 
 School celebration on the first of January, then the 
 week of prayer and then touring. . . . Our 
 work never seemed heavier or more responsible and 
 absorbing than now. Do not think that our 
 Hawaiian Christians are full grown and mature. 
 They are all children and need parental care. I 
 doubt whether our American friends realize this fact. 
 If it is hard for parents to leave a family of five or 
 ten small children how much more so for us to leave 
 our five thousand?" 
 
 TO EEV. J. D. PARIS. 
 
 April II, 1868. — "Yours of the 31st ult. found 
 us as it left you, in fear and trembling. Your 
 experiences and ours were alike. 'The whole land 
 trembled, the earth reeled to and fro.' I would 
 have answered your letter in an hour had it been 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 117 
 
 possible, but I have been obliged to wait the tardy- 
 heels of our post-boy. Of the horrors of Kau I 
 need not write, for you must have heard all. The 
 scenes and the sufferings there were awful. Nearly 
 all the foreigners of Eastern Kau fled this way after the 
 terrific shock and eruption of Thursday the 2d inst. 
 That shock filled all Kau, Hilo and Puna with awe 
 and consternation. It seemed as if the very pillars 
 and frame work of creation would break. For three 
 minutes while it continued, I had scarcely a hope for 
 our house or for our town. . . . One woman 
 was killed near us by a falling bank that buried her, 
 and her husband received, as we suppose, a mortal 
 wound. Scores of people escaped as by a miracle 
 while the rocks were falling around them. The sea 
 came in up to Front street, and threatened to over- 
 whelm all along the shore. That was a fearful night; 
 people left their houses and walked the streets, or 
 clustered under trees or camped in the fields, watch- 
 ing for the morning. But God was merciful and our 
 losses are not to be mentioned. 
 
 "For eight days we have held daily prayer meet- 
 ing, and the people flock in in crowds. Fear 
 arouses men, but faith and love alone secure 
 obedience and life. O! that all would flee to the 
 stronghold. Earthquakes are. to me more terrific 
 than volcanic eruptions, because they come so 
 suddenly, giving no warning and no time to escape, 
 while men may usually walk deliberately away from 
 a lava stream, taking many of their precious things 
 with them. How blessed to feel that 'God is a 
 Refuge and Strength.'" 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 TO EEV. J. SESSIONS, D. D. 
 
 July 2, 1868. — "I venture another expression of 
 my kind memories of our Christian fellowship com- 
 menced more than twelve years ago in the dear 
 Emerald Bower, and which will, I trust, run par- 
 allel with eternal ages. The infirmities of advanc- 
 ing life make it hard for you to drive your facile 
 pen, and I ought not, perhaps, to inflict my scrawls 
 upon you any more; but if you cannot write with- 
 out painful effort, just feel yourself absolved, and if 
 you feel unable to answer this note I will not feel 
 neglected. . . The whole number who 
 
 have died in my church is 7,373, and the congrega- 
 tion of the dead is much greater than that of the 
 living. In surveying the past and present, and in 
 looking forward to the future, solemn thoughts 
 come over me. To think that I have been a savor 
 of life or of death to so many thousands is over- 
 powering. How many of the departed members of 
 this church are now before the throne of God? 
 How many are fed by the Lamb who is in the midst 
 of the throne, and led by him to Living fountains 
 of water? And how many have been cast out for 
 want of the wedding garment? And what of the 
 unworthy pastor? 
 
 " 'When thou, my righteous Judge, shalt come, 
 To call thy ransomed people home, 
 Shall I among them stand?' 
 
 "I have no confidence in self, but I hope in the 
 Lord. . . . You have read the startling reports 
 of our earthquakes, of earthy and fiery eruptions, 
 and of the inrolling sea. This island has been 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 119 
 
 awfully shaken and rent like a potter's vessel. For 
 two and a half months we had uncounted shakings 
 of the earth. But the 2d of April was a day never 
 to be forgotten. The mountains and hills trembled, 
 the rocks rent, thousands of fissures opened in our 
 streets and fields, and over all the southern portion 
 of the island. By the rocking of the earth the sea 
 rose and rushed with thundering power upon the 
 land, and men and animals were in consternation. 
 Nothing was stable, and we could only look up. 
 The rocky ribs, the pillars and walls of earth trem- 
 bled and rent, and nature shuddered. Up to this 
 dav the scars and the debris lie thick around us, 
 but the earth rests and is quiet. " 
 
 TO ME. MAETiN LOED. (A fellow townsman.)/ 
 
 November 5, 1868. . . "Your mother was a 
 
 most faithful and patient correspondent. Her letters 
 were so full and particular, that reading them 
 seemed almost like seeing my old haunts and my 
 old friends. I mourn for her, but I would not call 
 her back. I believe she is in a world of life, in that 
 'Happy land,' not 'faraway.' . . 
 
 "I am glad to hear that you have no death arsenal 
 in your town. May such a fiery fountain never 
 open again in Killingworth. We have earthquakes 
 and burning mountains, and rivers of fire on our 
 island, but one breathing hole of hell — a Hquor 
 store — in Hilo would give me more anxiety and 
 fear than all the tremblings of our hills, the rending 
 of our rocks, and the roar of our volcanoes. Hith- 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 erto God has heard our prayers, and saved us from 
 the scorching of that infernal fire — a grog-shop. 
 
 "We still have repeated shocks of earthquake. 
 These have continued for more than seven months, 
 and they are counted by thousands. Our sea has, 
 also, been often disturbed, and in many places our 
 shores have sunk three to six feet. In August, I 
 traveled a hundred miles through the districts where 
 the earthquakes, the eruptions, and the sea waves 
 had been most awful. I measured the great land- 
 slide, the height of the tidal waves, the subsidence 
 of the shores, etc. Over two hundred houses and 
 about eighty lives were destroyed in these convul- 
 sions. 
 
 "We have great peace in Hilo. Our town Sabbath 
 Schools number nearly five hundred scholars. Our 
 congregations are large, and our monthly concert 
 contributions are most liberal. Our people give 
 cheerfully and with a will. " 
 
 TO JOEL AND HANNAH Bj!AN. 
 
 y^/j/ IS, 1868. . . "I hail with delight the 
 
 news that ' Friends ' are publishing in Chicago 
 The Herald of Peace. Such papers should be 
 greatly multiplied, or, better still, all moral and 
 Christian periodicals should, in my humble judg- 
 ment, hang out the flag of peace, that on all proper 
 occasions they should be known as opposed to war 
 and strife, and bear their testimony on the side of 
 peace and good-will. The pulpit should especially 
 speak out in no indistinct notes, and the gospel 
 trumpet should give no uncertain sound. Your 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 paper has a good title — Herald of Peace. Let it 
 go forth on the wings of all winds ; let its notes 
 be the echo of angel voices ; let it proclaim the 
 advent of the Prince of Peace; let it show the real 
 fruits of the Spirit of Peace; and let it paint, in the 
 pure light of heaven, the glorious future as flashed 
 upon us in the rapt glow of prophets, ' when 
 nothing shall hurt or destroy,' when 'nation shall 
 no more lift up sword against nation,' when 'the 
 Tabernacle of God shall be with men,' and John's 
 vision of a new heaven and a new earth shall be 
 realized. All this must come to pass, and its com- 
 ing will be hastened just in proportion as Christians 
 one by one come out of cruel and bloody Babylon, 
 and by word and deed, and by patient suffering, if 
 called to it, bear witness against the heathenish and 
 the brutal customs of war. War will never be 
 abolished by the timid, the conservative and the 
 wise men of this world, who call peace men and 
 Peace Societies foolish and fanatical; who say 'you 
 must take the world as you find it;' ' you cannot 
 stop war, and all your theories on the subject of 
 peace are Utopian, because impracticable, and you 
 may as well let the matter take care of itself.' But 
 war will cease in spite of these reasons, and it would 
 cease at once over all Christendom if every professor 
 of the Christian religion would arise and shake him- 
 self from the blinding dust of the war system, and 
 resolve to have no more to do with the bloody code, 
 but to obey the Royal Law, 'Thou shalt love thy 
 neighbor as thyself Such a united and decided 
 testimony from the Church, headed by her cloven- 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 tongued ministers and her thunder-toned presses, 
 would silence all the batteries of our enemies, and 
 staunch the red blood that flows in broad waves over 
 the world. 
 
 "Sister H. asks our opinion as to the condition 
 of the soul between death and the general judgment. 
 We believe in no intermediate state, such as purga- 
 tory or insensibility, but that spirits go to their final 
 award. Judas went to his own place, and the peni- 
 tent thief to Paradise. Paul believed that for him 
 to be absent from the body was to be present with 
 the Lord." 
 
 TO EEV. J. D. PAEIS. 
 
 December 2%, 1869. — "You are indeed full of work, 
 and I was never more so. From dawn to bed time 
 there is no rest; and it is well that we have enough to 
 do. You are still Pastor Paris, though some of our 
 brethren thought you had left that work. I do not 
 disagree with you in the general doctrine of native 
 pastorates. The principle is. sound and rational 
 when not pressed to sweeping extremes.- There are 
 exceptions, not a few; and candid, experienced 
 missionaries, of all others, ought to be the men to 
 decide every local question of this kind on its own 
 merits. I do not believe that a missionary in the 
 Fijiis, in Micronesia, the Marquesas, or in Patagonia 
 should at once refuse to act as pastor, or shepherd of 
 a little flock of hopeful converts and leave them to 
 be fed and guided by one of their own number. All 
 countries are not like China, India, Turkey, Persia. 
 You know all this and much more, so why need I 
 tell you? 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 123. 
 
 "The Rev. Lord Charles Hervey and a scientific 
 German traveler are here. Lord Hervey preached 
 on Sabbath evening in the foreign church. His 
 sei'mon was simple, earnest,'evangelical. He cannot 
 live with Bishop Staley, and he will leave the 
 islands. . . . O ! this going to the United 
 States! It is a constant trouble to me. It seems 
 like breaking up life. How to leave my people, and 
 what to say and do if we go, are great questions for 
 a small man. Others rush on even to Europe, but 
 I cannot get on such light wings. Pray for us, tha; 
 our dear Lord will direct in this matter;-and we do 
 pray that 'If the Lord go not with us. He will not 
 suffer us to go.' " 
 
 TO EBV. H.BINGHAM, WIFE AND SISTEE8. (After the death 
 .of their father.) 
 
 January 5, 1870. — "How can I speak of this 
 great sorrow and abundant consolation which have 
 come upon you? You mourn; so do I. Can you 
 mourn more than we? I suppose you do, yet it 
 hardly seems possible. In him and in our common 
 Father we are all one family. When your blessed 
 sire went up and dropped his earth-mantle, my 
 spirit cried out, 'My father! my father! The chariot 
 of Israel and the horsemen thereof.' When I heard 
 of his illness and that he was not at Pittsburgh (at 
 the meeting of the A. B. C. F. M.), I waited 
 anxiously and with a presentiment that the Master 
 had come and called for him. Dear, precious, 
 honored father! Pioneer and Patriarch of this mis- 
 sion. O, how we remember the first warm greeting 
 
124 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 of your parents; and ever since that precious hour of 
 meeting in the dear cottage at Honolulu, June 6, 
 1835, our hearts have clung to them as to a first 
 love. We must weep with you all; my tears flow 
 while I write, and they will not cease. And yet we 
 do rejoice. We rejoice in his faith, his love, his 
 zeal, his patience, his life-work, his ripe Christian 
 character, his ingathering into the heavenly garner. 
 He is not dead, but sleepeth. He does not sleep, 
 but waketh. He rests and yet is all activity. Do 
 you not rejoice that he is with your precious mother 
 and your more precious Savior? 
 
 " ' Lead thou me on 
 Till I have passed in peace t±ie shadowy land, 
 And on the heaven-lit hills my feet shsJl stand, 
 So long thy power has blest me, sure it stall 
 
 WiU lead me on 
 O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till 
 
 The night Is gone.' 
 
 "And now precious children of our Common 
 Father, be comforted and may the God of eternal 
 love give you a sure hope, and everlasting consola- 
 tion." 
 
 TO KEV. J. D. PARIS. 
 
 February 17, 1870. — "I am in full sympathy with 
 you in your cares, desires, fears, hopes and toils. 
 Many of our experiences are in common. Your 
 dear children touch the tenderest chords of your 
 heart and call up anxious solicitude for their present 
 and future, their temporal and eternal good. Then 
 comes the care of all the churches around you. How 
 shall they stand and grow and bear fruit? And 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 125 
 
 what will become of them when you depart? Next 
 the general interests of our Master's kingdom in the 
 land press upon your heart. All this I feel, and the 
 feeling deepens and deepens, almost to sadness at 
 times. . . . And in the midst of these cares 
 and anxieties crash goes the dear Morning Star 
 upon the rocks of Kusaie. Is this our jubilee? and 
 can we feel jubilant? Now, let us feel the rock 
 under us, and look up. No unusual trial or tempta- 
 tion has come upon us, and the old promise of a 
 'way to escape' stands firmer than the eternal hills. 
 Why fear or be sad? Let us trust and sing 'Nearer, 
 my God, to Thee,' and when the morning breaketh. 
 we will say, 
 
 " ' 'Tis gone — the dreadful, stormy night 
 Is gone with all Its fears.' 
 
 I thank you, beloved armor-bearer of our Great Cap- 
 tain, for the kind things you are pleased to say of an 
 unworthy fellow-laborer, and I feel your plea that we 
 remain at our post this year. But we had accepted 
 the second invitation of the Board, and the numerous 
 and urgent calls of personal friends to visit the States. 
 Our hearts and treasures are here, and our minds 
 swung heavily over to assent to go. At our time of 
 life, it appears to us, that, not to go this year is not 
 to go at all. And as a new factor in our plans for 
 going Mrs. C. needs medical advice." 
 
 TO ME. M. LOED. 
 
 February, 1870. . . . "When we came here, 
 in 183s, money was unknown to almost every native 
 of the district, and we might as well have searched 
 
126 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 for an Egyptian mummy or a Cyclops as for a silver 
 dollar. The benevolent contributions of the people 
 commenced in giving little leaf-mats, tapas, arrow- 
 root and fish, amounting to a few dollars' value in a 
 year. But like Ezekiel's waters that issued from 
 the sanctuary, the stream of beneficence widened and 
 deepened in its flow, so that our cash contributions 
 have sometimes gone as high as $5,000 in a 
 year; and the whole amount for the past thirty years 
 would be $70,000 to $80,000. The change has 
 been that of growth, and it is wonderful; while it is 
 all of grace. The bishop, about whom you wrote 
 and who came here to supplant our churches and 
 schools, has met with a great overthrow. He went 
 to England, United States and South America to 
 collect funds for a great cathedral. Not long since 
 he returned with a small part of the money he ex- 
 pected; but what confounded him was^that his own 
 flock at the islands rejected him and sent to England 
 for a Low Church Evangelical pastor. So the whole 
 scheme for ignoring the missionary work here, and 
 supplanting us, seems now to be broken up, and the 
 counsel of the froward carried headlong. 
 Please be so kind as to give my great love to all 
 friends in Killingworth, and also to the rocks and 
 the rills, to the vales and the hills of my still 
 cherished native town. Shall I recognize one face 
 there? How changed all will appear. Changed for 
 the better I trust, and many are changed from 'the 
 corruptible to the incorruptible, from the mortal to 
 the immortal, and from glory to glory.' " 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 127 
 
 X. 
 
 "And I am His— O! heart be faithful stiU! 
 StUl let Him lead me as it seems Him best! 
 With Him to combat, or with Him to rest, 
 March or encamp according to His wiU." 
 
 It was after an absence of more than thirty-five 
 years, that Mr. and Mrs. Coan revisited their native 
 shores. An almost playful prophecy on the part of 
 Mrs. Coan when about to leave the United States in 
 1834, that they would return when a railroad 
 across the continent should be completed, had 
 its fulfilment in the spring of 1870. The Rev. Dr. 
 Field, in his introduction to "Adventures in Pata- 
 gonia," thus writes of their return: 
 
 "When they came back they found another world 
 than that which they had left. All things had 
 become new. They had made their outward voyage 
 in a small sailing vessel. They returned in a steam- 
 ship. When they landed in San Francisco they had 
 scarcely seen a railroad. Now they were whirled in 
 fire-drawn cars up the mountains and over the plains, 
 across the whole breadth of the continent. The 
 fame of the missionary had gone before him, and 
 wherever he came among the churches he was 
 welcomed with an enthusiasm such as had not been 
 manifested since the heroic Judson came back from 
 Burmah years before." 
 
128 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 During the eleven months of their absence from 
 Hawaii they visited twenty States and Territories, 
 and Mr. Coan's "talks in large and smaller assemblies 
 numbered two hundred and thirty-nine." Of his 
 opportunities to meet Christian gatherings he says: 
 
 "They are exhilarating, and one thing which 
 charmed me, if possible more than any other, was 
 the fact that partition walls were gradually giving 
 way between different evangelical denominations." 
 
 TO HIS SON. 
 
 Niles, Mich., July, 1870. — " I left this place 
 after one night's rest and went by call to Oberlin to 
 attend the meeting of the General Congregational 
 Conference of the State. I had a most interesting 
 season and saw about two hundred ministers and 
 delegates of the first order of intelligence and piety. 
 I was the guest of Presidents Fairchild and Finney, 
 of Professors Cowles and Morgan. On the Sabbath 
 I spoke four times. The last time, in the evening, 
 was before an assembly of some two thousand five 
 hundred. I have never met a more enlightened, 
 attentive and appreciative audience than in Oberlin. 
 The college is a great success, and Oberlin is a place 
 of marked intelligence and goodness. Our three 
 weeks in Niles have been one continued ovation. 
 You know the friends here. We were received with 
 open doors and arms, and with such enthusiastic 
 love as no one ever feigns. Since I have been here, 
 I have been called to speak in public eight times. 
 I pray the Lord that goo^ may follow in the name 
 of Jesus." 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 129 
 
 TO MISS BINGHAM. 
 
 Brooklyn, October 13, 1870. . . . "O! the 
 busy, racing life we are leading, we sigh for repose 
 and a quiet evening with loved friends. But we are 
 in a whirl all the time. I can't think because we 
 have so much to think of, and we can't talk because 
 we have so many things to say, nor can we see any- 
 body because there are so many bodies in the way. 
 We are a little weary and we long to get back to 
 our nest in the Bower. Our friends here are legion 
 and they almost kill us with kindness. We had a 
 blessed season in Rochester, in dear old Auburn, in 
 New Haven and in the place of my birth. In New 
 Haven I saw the grave of your beloved and honored 
 father's dust. I collected a few leaves and a little 
 grass from the peaceful sleeper's grave, and enclose 
 the simple memorials to his beloved children. 
 
 "I am to lecture in Plymouth Church this evening, 
 to-morrow evening speak in Dr. Eddy's church, and 
 on the 15th go to Hartford to spend a Sabbath, 
 then to Springfield and on to Worcester to meet Dr. 
 Treat and with him to move here and there. Not 
 much rest in prospect, but there remaineth a rest." 
 
 TO MEB. E. COAN. 
 
 New Bedford, November 4, 1870. — "On and on 
 we go, leaving the past behind, and yet we do not, 
 we cannot, leave it. On it comes after us, surround- 
 ing and flooding us with its deep-traced memories. 
 Our visit to KiUingworth, O! how short! The 
 house you lived in, the rock whence I was hewn, 
 the churchyard, the departed, the living, the 
 
13° Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 changes, the unchanged and changeless. Dear 
 childhood's memories came crowding in flocks to the 
 soul — the scenes and friends of youth — love, joy, 
 sorrows, sins, how they came back on wings. Our 
 reception in New Haven was wonderfully warm, and 
 we spent a most wakeful and happy week there. 
 How unworthy we are to receive such favors. 
 Surely God is good, even to the unthankful. I hope 
 the papers have told you of many things done and 
 said in Brooklyn. It was a great and good meeting. 
 But there was too much at a time. It surfeits and 
 overwhelms one. I love detail, to eat slowly, to 
 see distinctly, to do and think deliberately, to enjoy 
 calmly, to hear and feel intelligently. But 'there is 
 a time for all things,' even for crowds and rushings 
 and mass-meetings. So Brooklyn has its time and 
 place and memories. . . . The calls from Fall 
 River, Boston, Providence, Springfield and very 
 many other places look formidable. Meanwhile 
 winter comes on apace and we begin to shiver. We 
 love our country and our hearts yearn over our 
 precious friends, and yet we often long for the balmy 
 air and the dear home in the Emerald Bower. Our 
 hearts cling to the Hawaiians as our dear children in 
 the Lord, and should the blessed Master say to us, 
 'Go, return to the land of your adoption,' we will 
 hail the day with delight." 
 
 TO JOEL AND HANNAH BEAN. 
 
 Philadelphia, February i8, 1871. . . "Noth- 
 ing short of the full orbed glory of Jesus and the 
 completed fruition of heaven affords so much joy and 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 131 
 
 satisfaction as the true communion of saints on earth. 
 Why is it that all the professed disciples of the God 
 of peace and love do not more freely exercise and 
 more fully enjoy this heavenly gift. To dwell in 
 God is to dwell in love, for 'God is love.' I am 
 prompted to write thus to-day by a precious visit 
 last evening at the house of your and our dear 
 brother and sister, Samuel R. and Anna Shipley. 
 Your mother and sister were present with other dear 
 friends, among whom was Sarah F. Smiley, just 
 returned from her mission in the Orkney and Shetland 
 Islands. We conversed and prayed together; and 
 I am sure that our souls sung out, and we made 
 melody in our hearts to the Lord. How often we 
 spake of you and wished that if it were the will of 
 God, we might have you with us. We recounted 
 the pleasure we enjoyed in those hours and days in 
 Hilo and in Iowa. West Branch bloomed and 
 fruited again as the 'garden of the Lord.' Ho^v we 
 love to live over these joys and to revive their fresh 
 fragrance as we pass along our pilgrim path to the 
 'land of pure delight.' Shall we not meet there 
 soon? I am sure that our earthly journey is nearly 
 ended, and we desire to return to the dear people 
 God has given us, not to live there always, but to 
 finish our course, to set our house in order, and to 
 await the call of our dear Lord to give account of 
 our stewardship. Will he not be 'gracious to our 
 unrighteousness,' and not enter into judgment with 
 us?" 
 
132 Memorial of Rm. Titus Coan. 
 
 TO HIS SON. 
 
 March 10, 187 1. . . . "We had a most in- 
 teresting week in Washington and received many- 
 kind attentions. We met the President twice and 
 also many of the Senators and Representatives. We 
 were greatly interested in Gen. Howard and his 
 grand University for the Freedmen. We visited 
 the Capitol, the Patent Office, the Soldiers' Rest and 
 the Soldiers' Cemetery. We also went over to 
 Arlington Heights, into the desolate house of the 
 rebel. Gen. Lee, over his estate, and through the 
 cemetery where some fifteen thousand soldiers lie 
 buried in ranks. One day we spent in visiting Mt. 
 Vernon. 
 
 "From the time we reached Iowa until now we 
 have been most hospitably received, and our friends 
 in all towns and cities have vied with each other in 
 showing us kind attentions. We are everywhere 
 loaded with blessing. We have more invitations to 
 visit and speak than we can accept. It is a little 
 hard for us to keep warm in this climate. One 
 difficulty is, that in "some places we find very warm 
 rooms and in others very cold ones. Cold weather 
 and bleak winds are too rude and rough for your 
 precious mother. But we trust the Lord will carry 
 us through. " 
 
 The rapid decline of Mrs. Coan's health became 
 alarming, and they hastened their return to the 
 quiet home in the tropics, leaving much unseen and 
 unsaid, but followed by many prayers and remem- 
 bered in loving appreciation. One of the public 
 papers of the day contained this beautiful tribute: 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 133 
 
 "We do not believe there are many men in this 
 world, going down into the vale of years, to whom 
 there are more precious memories of the past, or to 
 whom a review of life can be more agreeable than to 
 that honored servant of God, Rev. Titus Coan. 
 For nearly a year he has been a most wel- 
 come guest among the friends of missions all over 
 the country, and tens of thousands of people have 
 listened to the simple story of the triumphs of God's 
 Word. For thirty-six years, and with never-falter- 
 ing vigor, he sowed the precious seed of divine truth. 
 . . . Having given to his countrymen the most 
 striking of all possible testimony to the value of the 
 missionary work — having given an inspiration to the 
 cause in this land scarcely any other man has ever 
 done— having lifted up that great work to a noble 
 pre-eminence by showing the moral grandeur of its 
 results in the isles of the sea, having given the most 
 delightful and animating view of the joy of the mis- 
 sionary work proved by his own personal and most 
 happy experience, aiid having taken leave of his 
 countrymen with his most fervent benedictions upon 
 them, he is now on his way of return to the Sand- 
 wich Islands to finish up what is left of his work, and 
 find his grave among those whose fitness for heaven 
 has been the labor of his life. A blessed welcome 
 on his return awaits him there, and a more blessed 
 one to the realms of light, when a long life of eminent 
 usefulness is closed. " 
 
134 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 XI 
 
 "And so the years flowed on, and only oast 
 Light and more light upon the shining way. 
 That more and more shone to the perfect day; 
 Always intenser, clearer than the past; 
 Because they only bore him, on glad wing, 
 Nearer the Light of Light, the Presence of the King." 
 
 — Miaa Ha/rvergal. 
 
 "On our return to Hilo," Mr. Coan writes in his 
 autobiography, ''we met a cordial welcome from all, 
 and the church and people were in a prosperous 
 state. But a heavy shadow darkened over our home. 
 The dear one who has been its light and joy for thirty- 
 six years, was growing feebler day by day, and the 
 signs of her departure could not be mistaken. 
 Calmly she began to set her house in order, to be 
 ready to welcome the coming messenger. She 
 assured us of her unshaken faith in Christ, and pre- 
 pared farewell suggestions for the dear ones she was 
 soon to leave." 
 
 On the Sabbath, Sept. 29, 1872, he wrote: 
 
 "The solemn hour has struck — a great wave of 
 sorrow has rolled over me. My precious Fidelia, 
 my companion, counselor, friend, my loving and 
 faithful wife, ascended at half-past one to-day, with 
 the celestial escort and a shout of victory, to the 
 heavenly hills. She was fully prepared, and God's 
 grace was sufficient unto the end. Thanks be to 
 God who gave her the victory through our Lord 
 Jesus Christ. Pain and long disease had wasted her 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 135 
 
 dear frame to a skeleton, but her pure spirit 
 triumphed over all. Her faith was calm, clear and 
 firm; not a doubt, not a shadow came over her soul. 
 She rested on Jesus, and in Jesus with entire trust 
 and perfect peace. She was at his feet always. 
 Now she wears a starry crown. 
 
 " 'No shadows yonder! 
 ^ AH light and song. 
 
 No weeping yonder! 
 All fled away.' " 
 
 TO EEV. J.*D. PAEIS. 
 
 Mayg, 1873. — "Where art thou, beloved disciple, 
 my brother and companion in tribulation and in the 
 kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ? For long 
 months I have not heard that voice which used to 
 cheer me, or seen a note from that pen which used 
 so often to greet me. I do not chide thee, but I 
 wish to inquire after thy welfare and to remind thee 
 of olden times when we worked and prayed and 
 rejoiced and wept together. You are busy, and 
 things around and near you occupy your time and 
 thought. But you do, I doubt not, sometimes 
 think of your brother in the solitary Bower, and of 
 the precious dust, thine and mine, so calmly sleeping 
 near each other in their rural beds, /am permitted 
 the mournful pleasure to go often to the place where 
 all that is mortal of my precious companion sleeps 
 its last, long sleep. This is a comfort, and 
 
 " ' It gives me solace in my heavy grief. 
 The dear lone spot where her loved form doth lie 
 Yields to my stricken, aching heart relief, 
 Chastens my sorrow, while it wakes a sigh. 
 Tells me she has gone, yet speaks her presence nigh.' 
 
136 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 "I rarely think of the calm trust and the perfect 
 triumph of my shining angel without thinking of the 
 very similiar triumph of your precious one: The 
 two have met and reviewed the way in which they 
 were led till they left the same tabernacle, mounting 
 on like wings, and pursuing the same shining track 
 to the realms of 'pure and perfect day.' " 
 
 TO HIS SON. (On his birthday.) 
 
 January 23, 1874. — "I would make a feast for 
 you, could I only bring you here to the old Bower 
 again. What changes have come and gone over 
 our whole family during the fleeting years. One 
 member has gone before, another is sure to follow 
 soon, while the rest will all be gathered one by one, 
 within the short period of fifty years. It was your 
 blessed mother's fondest hope, and is your father's 
 deepest desire that we may all meet in joy and glory 
 upon the eternal hills. To her and to me the way 
 seemed plain and the distance short. Her hopes 
 are realized — she is now where she longed to be. I 
 hope that we who a little longer wait, will not miss 
 the way, nor fail to find the door. Jesus says, 'I 
 am the Way, I am the Door.' A child-like confi- 
 dence in Jesus, a little leaning on his arm will 
 secure our safe passport through this life of trials to 
 a land where sorrow never enters. True religion is 
 rational and true philosophy. It will not change one's 
 physical constitution, nor ward off all the wounds of 
 life, but it will help us to endure and to overcome 
 the trials of our earthly state. Joy and peace come 
 of believing, and faith gives a foretaste of rest even 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 137 
 
 now. It has a wonderful power to hush the tempest 
 of human passion and to calm the conflicting ele- 
 ments in the heart of man. It fortifies against 
 temptation; it secures against despondency, and it 
 nerves the soul with energy to meet the responsi- 
 bilities, and to discharge the duties of life. I think 
 of you often and with all the tenderness of a fond 
 father's love. Write me freely about all your inter- 
 ests; I feel as deep an interest in them as in my own." 
 
 TO PKOF. J. D. DANA. ^ 
 
 October 6, 1874. — "I was much cheered by your 
 kind letter. I do bless the Lord that your precious 
 life is spared and that so much strength is given you 
 to attend to the important duties of your profession, 
 the illustration and defence of Christian science. I 
 regard all Scripture as divine, and all true science 
 none the less so; and the student and teacher of the 
 one should ever be the student and teacher of the 
 other. Both are filled with lofty and profound 
 mysteries, and both proclaim the Infinite, Eternal and 
 All-wise God. Both are and must be reconcilable, 
 and it has always been a joy to me that, in all your 
 multiplied and varied labors in the department of 
 Natural Science, you have recognized the Divine 
 hand. It gives me great pleasure to hear that your 
 beloved partner and children are well. Thus the 
 good Lord smiles upon your tabernacle. Is it not 
 a great blessing that you have a son to take your 
 place in dear old Yale when you shall have gone up 
 to the high school of heaven to explore and expatiate 
 in the boundless realms of glory? I notice with 
 
1 38 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 interest 'Meeting of the American Association' at 
 Hartford, and that your son, as I suppose, took an 
 active part in the exercises, and that our honored 
 friend, C. S. Lyman, was vice-president. 
 
 "Cordial thanks for your very kind and apprecia- 
 tive congratulations on my new social relations.* To 
 me it seems a boon of mercy from God to cheer 
 and help during the balance of my mortal state, 
 otherwise desolate and sad. My health is remark- 
 ably good, and I am able to do as much work on 
 the Sabbath as in former years, besides continuous 
 labor during the week. Mrs. Coan and I purpose to 
 make the tour of Puna next week, and, perhaps, 
 visit the volcano. 
 
 "You ask if there is any elevated coral reef-rock 
 around the shores of Hawaii. I think not. I have 
 traveled the whole circuit of this island by land, and 
 in boats, canoes, and larger vessels, and there is 
 hardly a point along the shores which I have not 
 noticed carefully. Honolulu is built, much of it, 
 upon elevated coral, and there are large areas of it 
 in other portions of the Oahu shores. But I find 
 nothing like it on Hawaii nei. You are aware that 
 corals, even under the water, are not abundant on 
 the 'weather side' of our islands, and all the good 
 specimens we have are obtained by diving. Should 
 I hereafter find that I am mistaken in these state- 
 ments, I will with great pleasure inform you. 
 
 "I know that you give as much attention to our 
 peanut group as their relative importance demands; 
 
 * Mr. Coan's second marriage was to a daughter of the Bev. 
 Hiram Bingham. 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 139 
 
 and, probably, you are posted on our little political 
 questions. There is now a probability that you will 
 see his majesty, David Kalakaua, our king, in the 
 States before long. Should he visit our country it 
 is hoped he will fall into good company and behave 
 well. We think he lacks 'one thing,' and that the 
 most important ofall." 
 
 TO HIS SON. 
 
 "You are right in regarding health as the greatest 
 temporal boon, and in wisely preserving it. Good 
 lodgings, generous diet, active (not crowding) 
 business, proper relaxation, pleasant social relations, 
 and a good conscience are the great preservatives of 
 health. What all men need more than long vaca- 
 tions, is regular, daily alternation of business and 
 relaxation. I do not like to see a horse worn down 
 to skin and bones by excessive and continuous labor, 
 and then sent out to graze for six months. With 
 good food and considerate care the animal may 
 perform a reasonable amount of labor daily and keep 
 in good flesh and spirits. And the same law applies 
 to man. But the world is greatly in the wrong in 
 its 'inhumanity to man' and its cruelty to beasts. 
 With proper regard to the laws of life a man may 
 live eighty years, and perform an immense amount 
 of labor, without sickness or mental gloom. But we 
 must all learn by experience. This is an expensive 
 school, and it often costs money and health, and 
 life, even, before the lesson is learned, but there 
 seems to be no other teacher that is heeded by most 
 men. . . . You will rest assured, for I speak 
 
140 Memorial of Rev, Titus Coan. 
 
 from experience, that you may find comfort and 
 strength by cultivating the religious sentiments 
 socially. This is one great reason for the organiza- 
 tion of churches and religious associations; and, 
 although thousands fail to comprehend, or abuse 
 these blessings, yet very many find their purest 
 pleasures, and their most healthy development and 
 growth in the cultivation of the social Christian 
 relations. 
 
 TO EEV. LOWELL SMITH, D. D. 
 
 December 15, 1874. — "Did we, as in olden times, 
 get our pens from the geese, we might say that we 
 keep our quills flying. We now change the phrase 
 and say we keep our metal warm. Well, I am gladof 
 it, for we love to talk, and if we cannot do it face to 
 face with our lips, let us do it apart with our metallic 
 pens. Thanks for yours of the 8th. That was 
 transit day, and to-morrow we expect to hear of 
 successful observations on Hawaii, Oahu, and Kauai. 
 We had a grand view of our little sister planet; and 
 with the aid of field and smoked glasses we saw 
 that beautiful orb sailing across the disk of the sun 
 for more than half an hour. Then the sun was 
 veiled with heavy clouds, and the vision of ages 
 •disappeared. I hope you saw it, brother, for it was 
 our first opportunity during a long life. Shall we 
 see the transit of 1882? Or shall we have been 
 translated to higher realms, 
 
 " 'Where on the heavenly hills 
 A brighter sun shall rise, 
 And vrith His radiance fill 
 Those fairer, purer skies?' 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 141 
 
 "I am not tired of this world, nor weary of its. 
 work, and yet I do desire 'a better country' if the 
 amazing grace of our Savior shall bring me there. " 
 
 TO EEV. J. D. PARIS. 
 
 1874. — "What times have passed over us. 
 
 since the early years of missionary life. I look back 
 upon them as a romantic dream or as a bright and 
 vanished vision. We are both older now, and, 
 through grace, I believe we are wiser and better. 
 And surely, if we are saved by grace we are much 
 nearer our HOME than we then were. Our work on 
 mortal shores will soon close. Our sun is already 
 on the western side of the mountains, and mine will 
 soon dip its disk into the shoreless ocean just at our 
 feet. How deeply I wish that I had never sinned 
 — and yet, had I never transgressed how could I feel 
 the joys of pardon, and the purifying power of 
 atoning blood? How could I sing with the re- 
 deemed that 'new song' whose silver notes burst 
 forth over all the shining hills of heaven? What joy 
 can exceed that of a sinner saved by grace? That 
 life which was rescued from the wreck, lifted from 
 the pit or plucked from devouring fire, is doubly 
 dear, and its captures doubly ecstatic. " 
 
 TO EEV. H. BINGHAM. (On hearing of the death of 
 Mrs. Taylor, an associate missionary.) 
 February 17, 1875. — "The return of the Morning- 
 Star z.wzken5 complex emotions. Sorrow and joy 
 are mixed in our cup. We were, of course, dis- 
 appointed, not to say a little saddened, not to see 
 our dear and longed for brother and sister, and yet 
 
142 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 our joy was great on hearing of the good hand of 
 our God upon you, in giving you to hear a noise 
 and see a shaking among the dry bones of Apaiang, 
 and in granting you so much of physical strength 
 and of moral courage as led you to venture to remain 
 on your distant and sea-girt watch tower another 
 year. 
 
 "We had been exceeding joyful to think of your 
 solitude as having been broken, and your strength 
 increased by Christian associates in your toils and 
 cares; but the sad tidings that one had so soon 
 and so unexpectedly left on pinions plumed for 
 heaven, thrilled us with painful sympathy and 
 caused our tears to flow. Not on her account 
 who was shining in realms of light, but on account 
 of the bleeding heart of a desolated husband, a 
 motherless babe, a disappointed brother and sister, 
 and 'to our slow hearts' the loss of a 'light' amidst 
 those gloomy shades of death. But all is of the 
 Lord and all is well. Come disappointment or 
 gratification, sorrow or joy, weakness or strength, 
 all are of God, and pain or pleasure are sister spirits 
 sent from heaven to lead us forward in the path of 
 duty and upward to the bosom of our God where 
 'Oceans of endless pleasure roll.' 
 
 "But let me, dear ones, comfort and congratulate 
 you, while my melting heart magnifies the grace of 
 God, that your prayers are heard; that your tear- 
 urns are in heaven; and that after a dreary night of 
 storm and gloom, the heavens shine upon you from 
 above. I am more joyful than I can express for the 
 news of God's grace in Apaiang. Take courage, for 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 143 
 
 you shall see still greater things; 'For as much as ye 
 know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.'" 
 
 TO KEY. J. MOOEE, President of Earlham College. 
 
 if"«j/8, 1875. . . . "We thank the Lord for 
 adding your name to our list of Christian friends 
 whom we hope to meet again upon the heavenly 
 hills, at the close of our mortal pilgrimage. We 
 doubt not that to you, as to us, life in its past, its 
 present, and its future has more of brightness and 
 joy than of shadow and pain; while the vast and 
 measureless coming cycles open before iis scenes of 
 unwearied activity and of ineffable delight. 
 You appreciate Haleakala. It is an ample mural 
 bowl, and shows the mighty hand of the 'Potter.' 
 Surely, 'He lifteth up the islands as a very little 
 thing,' and the casts of his great furnaces are many 
 and marvelous. We are glad to hear of your 
 success in the line of Natural History, and we trust 
 that you will never feel that your tour to our group 
 has been in vain, either in a physical or spiritual 
 sense. I trust we shall not lose sight of one another 
 during the balance of our mortal pilgrimage, nor 
 fail to meet beyond 'The River.' 
 
 TO JOEL BEAN. 
 
 Makawao, June 26, 1875. — "Thy very precious 
 letter is before me. I believe in all its sentiments 
 most fully. My heart is in eternal sympathy and 
 full accord with the doctrine and the fact of the 
 essential, vital unity of all believers, as also in the 
 broad and boundless and eternal variety, in form 
 
144 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 and expression, of spiritual life, in its inception, 
 development, continuous growth, and everlasting 
 range, and all in sweet and beauteous harmony. 
 Ah, how glorious the visions, when the material 
 and mortal mirrors which now reflect the light of 
 eternal love in shadows shall be removed, and all the 
 redeemed shall see with 'open face, the glory of 
 God,' and reflect that image without the shadow of 
 a cloud. This vision, though it now tarry, will 
 come, nor will it tarry long. . . . And now 
 do you inquire about our new place of date? Well, 
 we have just finished our anniversaries in Honolulu. 
 You know something of their number, variety and 
 character. All have been full of interest. Wishing 
 to see friends, churches, and schools on East Maui 
 once more, my precious L. and I came from Hono- 
 lulu to Wailuku and thence to this mountain, where 
 we spend a week in the seminary, attending a most 
 admirable examination of the girls, visiting among 
 the residents, and purposing, D. V., to ascend to the 
 great crater Haleakala." 
 
 TO PRESIDENT J. MOOEE. 
 
 "We, with nine others spent a night on 
 the summit of Haleakala. The day was warm — 
 mercury at 70° — the night stinging cold, mercury at 
 30° The sky was clear, the stars brilliant, and the 
 great vault above glorious. The scenery around 
 was grand and magnificent. As the sun went low 
 in the west, the fleecy clouds, moving up from the 
 sea, came like heaven's light cohorts, gathering 
 around the bases of the mountains, spreading like 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 145 
 
 eider-down over the isthmus which divides East and 
 West Maui, resting on hill and dale, hamlet and 
 plantation, and reposing like a soft gossamer mantle 
 on all objects below us. In this fleecy sea of 
 exquisite beauty, the great orb of heaven dipped 
 and bathed, shedding forth such a flood of golden 
 glory — such flashing rays, such brilliants, such 
 sparkling tints of beauty as I had never seen sur- 
 passed. In the morning this inimitable picture was 
 repeated on the other side of the island, with ravish- 
 ing beauty. The sun rose from the ocean depths, 
 pierced the white canopy of drapery, shook his 
 golden locks, and sent out such flashes of quivering 
 radiance as to dazzle mortal vision, and to awaken 
 unutterable admiration, calling for the adoration of 
 devout souls, and lifting the spirit to those higher 
 realms of glory where the 'Sun of Righteousness' 
 forever shines, and where life and immortality reign 
 without night, or sorrow, or end. We descended 
 from the mount, like Moses, feeling that we had 
 been dazzled by the glory of God. " 
 
 TO KEV. H. BINGHAM. 
 
 August 30, 1875. — "My L. is telling you how 
 our anxious hearts melted as we read the tale of 
 your trials, from the pen of dear Clara. How we 
 longed, for the wings of a dove and the guidance of 
 an angel over the pathless waste of waters to your 
 pilgrim home in Samoa. But we read the letters 
 and the curtain dropped. The scene closed sud- 
 denly and communication ceased. We are now left 
 to conjecture, to hope and fear, to doubt and trust. 
 
146 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 to longing and waiting, to the exercise of patience, 
 supplication and faith. Precious ones, how the 
 broad ocean surface shimmers in the sunlight, and 
 during the long night-watches rolls its dark and 
 voiceless waves between us, so that all terrestrial 
 communication is cut off, and we can only send our 
 sympathies, our desires, our prayers along celestial 
 nerves over the 'sea of glass' and up to the heavenly 
 hills. Our hope in God is strong that he will ere 
 long bring you to these shores, to our arms and our 
 longing hearts. With this comforting hope, and 
 with the full assurance that you are in the hands and 
 under the special care of an all-wise and faithful 
 Friend, we can ever say 'the will of the Lord be 
 done.'" 
 
 TO HIS WIFE (during a tour through Puna). 
 
 Puula, September 13, 1875. ... "I had a 
 cheerful ride through woods and open spaces. 
 There was no rain to disturb us, but a great screen 
 of clouds all the way. I was weary of the saddle, 
 and could hardly walk or stand when I dismounted. 
 The pain in the hip joint was keen and piercing, but 
 rest and lomiing have abated it. I am in a native 
 house writing by a dim taper, but more or less light 
 makes little difference with my pen, and whether it 
 be gold or steel or goose-quill, the penmanship is 
 much the same, rough and illegible. I had many 
 musings on horseback which I longed to pen, but 
 thoughts are so fugitive, I may not catch the same 
 again ; no matter, they were better to me than to any 
 one else, perhaps, as one's own children are usually 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 147 
 
 the sweetest under the sun. I had some sober and 
 tender thoughts of the past. I thought of my first 
 tour over these rocks and through the jungle where 
 no horse then traveled. I thought of the thousands of 
 naked people I met everywhere, and of the thou- 
 sands of gospel messages brought to them. I 
 thought of the field over which I had fought for forty 
 years for Jesus, with great wrestlings, strong 
 cryings, and many tears, and of the many spoils 
 given me by the great Captain of Salvation." 
 
 Kalapana, September 14. — "We left Puula this 
 morning, and in alternate showers and lulls we 
 reached Opihikao, where we rested and dined; then 
 rode in a driving rain for most of the way till four. 
 Reached this place weary and wet. In crossing the 
 arm of the sea to enter Kalapana, the horses went 
 deep, and I took in a little brine, but I am now 
 sheltered and comfortable. The house is as neat as 
 ever was bandbox, and Timothy and his good wife 
 are at my service. I am weary but thankful and 
 happy. The surf drives in foaming fury upon the 
 shore, dashes up fifty to seventy feet into the air 
 while the spray drifts inland for half a mile. " 
 
 September \^. . . . "The journey with all its 
 jostle and jar has done me good. So bitter herbs 
 act as tonics. All things have their compensations. 
 How precious is undying memory to the faithful and 
 the true, and how graphically it pictures the image 
 of loved objects. The long and the near past rush 
 into my soul with inexpressible power. I go now 
 
148 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 to the blessed Master's work, with a thankful heart 
 and a song of praise. " 
 
 September 16. — "Work presses, for we are now in 
 the thickest of it. But, O ! the weather. The winds 
 screeched and raved last night, and all day to-day 
 the storm-god has screamed and howled upon his 
 windy car, and now the thunder rolls in grand 
 chorus. This has been and still is one of the 
 severest days I have experienced at the Islands. 
 Kalapana is all afloat; 'water, water everywhere, 
 and not a drop' — but a flood — 'to drink.' I cannot 
 go to or from the church without a foot and leg 
 bath. But our work goes on fast and well in spite 
 of the roar of ocean and the moan of winds. " 
 
 September 17. — "We have had a good day and 
 trust the Divine Helper has been with us. We heard 
 that Mrs. A. intended to be here to-morrow, but 
 she must fail, on account of the weather." 
 
 September 18. — "I had not thought that six days 
 would pass without a line from home — I had hoped 
 some carrier pigeon had come in upon us ere this. 
 The time seems long, long. But I must drop the 
 pen and away to the Master's work. 
 
 "5:30 P. M. — A surprise! a leap! a heart shout! 
 While sitting in association at noon, word came that 
 Mrs. A. had arrived — and next a bundle of letters. " 
 
 September 19. — "Shall I jot again, when after one 
 night more, I hope, through the mercy of God, to 
 turn my face homeward? Our work here of four 
 and a half days is ended. This is the great day of 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 149 
 
 the feast. The church was crowded. Brother 
 Pogue preached in the morning, and was earnest, as 
 you know he can be. We have had a splendid day. 
 Have installed Kamelamela, and commemorated the 
 Lord's death. " 
 
 Puula, September 20. . . "I rose at day- 
 
 light and our association scattered from 7:30 to 8 
 A. M. We have held three meetings during the 
 day. All nature shines in the light of heaven. The 
 air is 'balmy and pure, just pure enough and just 
 vitalizing enough to send the oxygenated blood in 
 sparkling currents through all the channels of the 
 animal frame, and by a mysterious and gracious 
 sympathy, to touch and cheer and vivify the soul. 
 The landscape is lovely. Trees, shrubs and grasses 
 of every shade of green, little lakes among the hills 
 and ravines, conical craters robed in vegetation, 
 lofty mountains in the distance, and the wide Pacific 
 glittering with millions of brilliants, one mile away, 
 make a scene of enchanting loveliness. My heart 
 rejoices in Him who has clothed these heavens with 
 such glory, and adorned the earth with such beauty. " 
 
 TO EEV. L. SMITH, D. D. 
 
 October 20, 1875. . "Wife and I have 
 
 been through Hilo and have returned. The 
 weather has been glorious excepting the heat, which 
 is hot. Not so hot, however, as to set the forests 
 on fire, as an old geographer of my boyhood once 
 taught us. The streams were very low and some of 
 them were as dry as Cromwell's powder. Our 
 people in the rural districts are few, and it is sad to 
 
150 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 see so many once populous places now desolate. 
 From Hakalau to Laupahoehoe, a distance of fifteen 
 miles, not one school remains. Once there were 
 seven on this track, with a numerous population. 
 In the single district of Hilo no less than thirty-two 
 schools have been blotted out, while only six remain. 
 In Puna out of thirty-three schools, eight only 
 remain, and these are several of them as expiring 
 tapers. The thousands of scholars have become 
 hundreds, and the hundreds tens. Our rural popu- 
 lation is fast disappearing before the besom of time, 
 and our fair and broad fields wave their luxuriant 
 grasses in silence and solitude. In many and many 
 a place where once I heard the shout of the multi- 
 tude, and was jubilant at the merry gambols of boys 
 and girls, and where I met an eager congregation of 
 five hundred to a thousand hearers, I now see no 
 human habitation and hear no voice of man. Except 
 the solitary note of a bird or the chirp of an insect, 
 all is silent, with no presence and no voice but the 
 voice and presence of God. And thus it is all over 
 the Islands. The country is being drained to fill up 
 a few seaports and to work a few plantations where 
 the mower and the reaper gather in the harvest of 
 death, and the grinder breaks the bones of its victims. 
 "Well, all life is in God. He that gave life can 
 restore it. Houses and villages will yet be sprinkled 
 over the land; these desolate fields will yet rejoice 
 under the hand of the tiller; our streams will sing 
 and laugh in channels of industry; churches and 
 schools shall bless a future generation. Our streets 
 and lawns shall be full of 'boys and girls playing,' 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 151 
 
 and heaven will look down with smiles upon a 
 redeemed land, upon a lost ocean gem restored and 
 shining in the sight of God. 
 
 " 'Though seed lie buried long in dust 
 It shan't deceive our hope.' " 
 
 TO HIS WIFE. (Absent in Honolulu.) 
 
 December 3, 1875. — "You steamed out of the bay 
 splendidly at four P. M. I gazed at the vessel which 
 bore away the dearest earthly treasure of my heart, 
 till she was far off from her anchorage and yet close 
 to the moss-mantled and fern-fringed shore. I then 
 walked meditatively to the empty tabernacle. All 
 was now solitude where so late the voice of love, of 
 prayer, of intelligent conversation and of Christian 
 communion was heard. ... I believe in God, 
 in his presence, his wisdom, power and love; and I 
 believe that he manifests his love and goodness not 
 by encouraging hermits and anchorites and self- 
 inflicted penances, but in granting us food and 
 raiment and shelter and the sweet joys of domestic 
 life. He is a personal friend and not an infinite and 
 incomprehensible abstraction. He meets our wants 
 not with empty air and intangible promises but with 
 just the supplies we need. And if we truly wait on 
 him in full submission to his will, he will lead us in 
 the right way. How can infinite wisdom, faithful- 
 ness and power fail to do this? I trust I hold all 
 love and all friends in subordination to God, and 
 with this belief I could give up all for Jesus. " 
 
 December 5. — "I entered the church with the 
 Sabbath School at nine, and did not go out of it 
 
152 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 until twenty minutes to three; was held one hour 
 and a half on the question of giving up my afternoon 
 service; the lazy flocks urging it, and all the older 
 and more substantial holding on. Not decided yet. 
 At four I rode to Kalepolepo and had a pleasant 
 meeting, returning about sunset. " 
 
 December 7. — "How I count days, and often wish 
 their flight to be swift when the heart longs for a 
 coming joy. Is not this unwise? I do look forward 
 to the time — but I will not say with Hempsted, 
 
 " 'It saddens me to think the long, long night 
 
 Draws surely on, to shroud and stifle aJl 
 That I have ever seen of fair and bright; 
 
 That I shall miss the glance of birds, the oall 
 Of waters from the glen, and all the light 
 Which the great sun from his full urn lets fall.' 
 
 "No, no, nothing will be lost, nothing wanting. 
 When our last night shall have come, and the sweet 
 resurrection morn shall open in glory upon our 
 ravished eyes, shall we not be satisfied to awake in 
 his likeness? In spite of all my sins and fears, this 
 hope grows brighter and this faith stronger as I 
 approach the shores of embarkation for the 'better 
 country,' Ah, darling, earth is full of charms as 
 also of sins and sorrows. To me its beauties are 
 often ravishing. All along the track of life I have 
 trodden, I see sparkling gems; and even roughnesses 
 and pains and dark glades once passed now hold a 
 wild enchantment in my soul. But it is humanity I 
 have loved. And as 'friend after friend departs' my 
 soul clings to sweet yet mournful memories which 
 will not die. But thanks be to God for the exceed- 
 ing great and precious promises, and for the glorious 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 153 
 
 hopes of the future which cheer us in view of those 
 separations which must come upon all that is earth 
 born. God cares for us when he upbraids us for our 
 little faith. We will lean hard upon Him and try 
 the antidote for perturbation and fear. 'Earth has 
 no sorrow which heaven cannot heal.' " 
 
 December 9. . . . "Did you read Moody's 
 remark about the human heart, as, 'Who would stand 
 to have his heart photographed?' I am more afraid 
 of my own heart than of all other foes, and my daily 
 prayer is, 'Create in me a clean heart, O God.' 
 My whole character and life seem so full of faults 
 and sins that it often seems to me I cannot find a 
 place in heaven. But I will hope in God, and live 
 and die at my Savior's feet confessing and pleading. 
 Jesus hears prayer. He is a tender and true Shep- 
 herd. As the angel touched the trembling and 
 mourning Daniel and said, 'Be strong, yea be strong, 
 so Jesus speaks to my heart and I respond, 'Let my 
 Lord speak, for thou hast comforted me.' " 
 
 December 12. — "A good congregation to-day. I 
 am having labor in the church, and I want the help 
 of the 'other Comforter,' the one promised to abide 
 always with God's people. Don't be over anxious, 
 love, lest I work too hard. My health is good and 
 work supports it. I should die of rust had I nothing 
 to do. I desire, if the Lord will, to work up to the 
 grave and then rest. I should lose my life were I 
 too anxious to save it. " 
 
 December 24. — "The sun set in glory to-night. 
 Pink and purple banners flashed around him as he 
 
154 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 descended behind the snow-crowned mountain, and 
 rose and dipped and waved above, as his burning 
 disk disappeared below the flaming horizon. Christ- 
 mas trees are growing in many houses in Hilo, 
 loaded with fruits. I have distributed a few trifles 
 among some of the widows and fatherless. It is 
 Christmas eve, and I wait for the angelic song, the 
 rapturous burst, the shout of the heavenly hosts, for 
 shiniqg light, for the proclamation of peace, the 
 assurance of good will. May all come to your heart 
 and mine, to your friends and mine. May it come 
 to all peoples, and the dear Redeemer's 'harvest 
 home ' be soon shouted among all the nations, and 
 his glorious banner be waved around the world. 
 I have a daily almanac — and it makes no 
 mistakes. It lets it rain when it rains, and shine 
 when it shines, and it lets the wind blow hot and 
 blow cold and 'box the compass.' It also lets the 
 tides rise and fall, and the rivers run on their busi- 
 ness, but it tells me the day of the week, the day of 
 the month, how many days since the cruel steamer 
 bore ofi" my Better Life, and how many more before 
 she will restore her to my longing heart. These 
 passing days will come and go, and we shall go and 
 come for a little season, until our ever-living Savior 
 shall call us to our eternal home. The year wanes 
 fast and soon its adieu will be final. 
 
 " 'Well, if our days must fly 
 Well keep their end in sight; 
 Well spend them all vx wisdom's ways 
 And let them speed their flight. ' . 
 
 "Let us go gladly on, hand in hand, in the path 
 of duty, and with heart beating with heart prove 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 155 
 
 that 'the ways of wisdom are pleasantness and all 
 her paths are peace.' Has eternity the measure 
 of time? Are there years in the land where there is 
 no night? Do the glorified mark the sweep of 
 cycles? By what indicator do spirits measure the 
 roll of ages? Where is the echo that comes back 
 from those mysterious realms to answer our ques- 
 tions? All is silence in that unknown land, silence 
 so deep and profound as to oppress the heart of the 
 anxious inquirer. The great orbs of heaven roll on 
 through floods of silver light and seas of golden 
 glory, but they utter no articulate voice. Well, all 
 is right. God has planted a telescope on earth- 
 whose celestial power pierces the clouds and pene- 
 trates to the great central sun around which all the 
 mighty wheels of creation move. This telescope is 
 the Bible; and if we are not guided and satisfied by 
 this light we must grope in darkness." 
 
 TO REV. AND MKS. H. BINGHAM. 
 
 May II, 1876. — "Dear sister C.'s yery welcome 
 message addressed to the 'Twain in one,' looks us 
 full in the face and calls for an answer. And yet, in 
 kind and modest indulgence it excuses us from 
 writing, because we may be pressed with work. 
 Now, if you Twain in one should look in upon us 
 in the sweet Bower of peace and love, we would not 
 only open our doors, our arms and hearts to welcome 
 you joyfully, but we would lay aside pen and broom, 
 needle and book, and sit right down to a feast of 
 love and talk, of social joy, with thanksgiving to the 
 adorable Author of our being and all our blessings. 
 
iS6 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 So I now stop all other wheels of industry and sit 
 down for a pen and ink chat with you. I can better 
 afford to do it, than not to do it, for it pays. To 
 my social and spiritual nature, it is a relaxation 
 which lubricates the rough friction of care, and helps 
 to cheer and strengthen the soul for the many toils 
 and conflicts of life. It is a condiment for some of 
 the more severe, not to say bitter, experiences of our 
 mortal state. I am anticipating a delightful meeting 
 with both of you and with the sweet child. I have 
 not seen him in his little baby form, but hope to 
 meet him before he is as tall as I am, or as heavy, 
 for I want to lift him up to my bosom and my lips 
 and carry him in my arms. Tell him before I come, 
 that I love children and don't hurt them. My 
 ■choicest benediction on the babe. " 
 
 TO BEV. DE. SMITH. 
 
 July lo, 1876. — "The great spiritual wave that 
 now sweeps oyer some portion of the United States 
 gathers its hundreds of thousands into the church. 
 Does it gather an equal number of dollars into our 
 missionary treasuries? When we hear of the con- 
 quests of the gospel of a thousand born in a day, 
 we are not deeply moved, but let the trumpet sourid 
 the final passage of ' The Treaty' and the rising 
 prospects of the planters, of sugar, or business at the 
 Islands; flags run up and flutter, bells ring, powder 
 takes fire, men shake hands, embrace, congratulate, 
 ■drink healths (?), and shout hosanna to the coming 
 ■dollar. " 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 157 
 
 TO HIS SON. 
 
 March 23, 1877. — "The present grasping for 
 wealth on these islands is great beyond anything we 
 have hitherto seen. There will be many sad failures 
 in the end. Kau is troubled with drouth and with 
 subterranean dynamics. Wealth may come, or dis- 
 appointment and disaster. I would rather have you 
 possess Godliness, with contentment, than all the 
 winged wealth of the world. 
 
 "We have had a great wind storm on the Kona 
 side of the island, which carried off tons of yellow 
 dust from Mauna .Kea, in a stream miles wide, and 
 extending over the sea farther than the eye could 
 trace it. This continued for two days. Of course, 
 the steamer could not leave port and live. On the 
 14th ult. a gorgeous eruption broke out on Mauna 
 Loa, flooding the heavens with lurid light, and call- 
 ing out all Hawaii and Maui to gaze at the splendid 
 illumination. We have rarely witnessed a grander 
 spectacle of Plutonic pyrotechnics; but from that 
 night to the present day we have seen no more of 
 it." 
 
 TO MISS E. BINGHAM. 
 
 April 2', 1877. . "If we endure unto the 
 
 end, then Life, not death, is near. But our great 
 difficulty is to keep the eye and the heart fixed 
 steadily on Jesus. Peter on the restless wave became 
 dizzy and began to sink. So we get jostled and 
 giddy, even on ' The Rock,' and are just ready to. 
 jump into the sea. A little child was once so 
 frightened because of a slight quivering of a raft of 
 
158 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 rushes, where she was perfectly safe, that she leaped 
 into deep water in the river, and would have 
 perished had not her father been near to plunge into 
 the water and save her at the last moment. Thus 
 we are often near ' sinking In deep waters ' when 
 the strong arm and the deathless love of our heavenly 
 Father saves us. It is steady, stayed, unshaken 
 trust that keeps the soul in peace. David found it, 
 after great and terrible tossings, and when found he 
 said, ' My soul is even as a weaned child.' 
 How fast the months and years roll on, and how 
 rapidly the river sweeps away our race, our neigh- 
 bors and friends on every side. Is it not a com- 
 fort to know that when we drop our work the 
 Eternal God will employ others to carry it on? 
 Kings and princes die, but nations live. Pastors 
 and teachers leave all and go at the call of Heaven, 
 but the Church shall remain forever, like Mt. Zion, 
 and knowledge shall increase and run parallel with 
 •eternal ages." 
 
 TO HIS SON. 
 
 May 22, \%JT. . . . "On the lOth inst. a 
 great tidal wave swept our shores, destroying build- 
 ings along the beach,- removing Waiakea bridge, 
 wharf, and warehouse, and destroying the buildings 
 along the banks of the Wailoa, laying that pretty 
 and thriving suburb of Hilo in utter ruin. Trees 
 are torn up by the roots, and the debris of walls, 
 gardens, bridge, abutments and all, is scattered in 
 wild confusion over scores of acres. The wave was 
 twelve to fourteen feet high, and the oscillations of 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 159 
 
 the sea continued for three days. Five persons 
 were drowned, many more bruised and maimed. 
 The picture of loss and of suffering is sad. Bitter 
 experience teaches what men are slow to believe, 
 not to build houses on the sand nor to lay up 
 treasures where destroyers are abroad. 
 
 TO-EEV. GEO. "W. COAN.* 
 
 September 4, 1877. — "With ' our beloved brother 
 Paul,' I must say to my nephew, George Whitefield, 
 ' my dearly beloved and longed for ' — On reading 
 your graphic letter of August 3d, received a few 
 days ago, one great thought fastens upon me, viz., 
 that you may come to Hilo. How my heart leaped 
 at the idea. When I first heard that you were 
 appointed a missionary to the East a momentary 
 sadness came over me, but I now rejoice, for I 
 believe the Lord sent you to Persia, whereas the 
 love of kin would have called you to Hawaii. But 
 the hope that we may yet meet before we ' put off 
 this tabernacle ' of clay is cheering. . . . Your 
 mission was a grand one, and while it often wearied 
 you, it yet afforded joy. It was a gracious Provi- 
 dence that brought you safely back to quiet Niles 
 before the fall of the fiery avalanche of railroad 
 strikes and riots, and robbery and blood. That 
 was like the fall of that bitter and baleful ' star 
 called wormwood.' You speak right when you say 
 ' it seemed like a hell upon earth in many places. 
 
 * Mr. Coan's correspondence with this beloved nephew began 
 in his earliest years, but letters previous to this date were lost 
 through accident on the removal of G. W. C.'s family from one 
 home to another. 
 
i6o Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 It seems to me that it would be sufficient torment to 
 dwell among men wholly given up to unbridled 
 passions and lusts.' Yes ; and such a state of 
 things, if it were made eternal, would be as the 
 worm that dieth riot. To us at this distance, and 
 standing upon our watch-tower, it looked like the 
 opening of the bottomless pit and the rising of a. 
 smoke out of the pit, filling all hearts with conster- 
 nation and horror. And there came out of the 
 smoke locusts upon the earth with scorpion power, 
 and their king was the angel whose name is 
 Apollyon. I believe that prophecy, as well as 
 history, repeats itself. I believe also that retribu- 
 tion will sooner or later follow the parties who pro- 
 voked and the demons who executed these infernal 
 riots. Your remarks on the war in the East are 
 full of interest. The Mohammedan religion is bitter 
 as wormwood and cruel as the scorpion, and the 
 Lord will destroy it. Whether he will use the tooth 
 and claw of the Northern Bear to do this is un- 
 certain to me. It is not by muscular might nor by 
 Northern steel that sin can be put down and the 
 blood of martyrs avenged, but it is true that the 
 Eternal God can and does ' make the wrath of man 
 to praise him.' Assyria was his 'rod,' his sword, 
 and his ' battle-ax,' but the proud Assyrian did 
 not mean it, nor did his heart think it. So we will 
 wait on the Lord and see what he will do with the 
 Russ and the Turk. Meanwhile he calls upon his 
 people to enter into their chambers and to shut their 
 doors about them. It is our joy, while the waves 
 of war roar and rage, to know that ' we have a strong 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. i6i 
 
 city,' and that our ' God will appoint salvation for 
 walls and bulwarks.' We feel for and pray for our 
 dear missionary brethren and sisters in the East. 
 They are under trials and in perils, but they have 
 the assurance that ' in the Lord Jehovah is everlast- 
 ing strength. ' The fact you relate about the belief 
 of the Mussulmans in the East that the next or I2th 
 Imaum is Christ, the true prophet, and that he is 
 expected to appear soon, is remarkable. It would 
 s>em that they are 'feeling after God' and truth; 
 and the Lord grant that they may soon find the 
 Savior. One thought cheers me. I believe that 
 nearly every bar and door and wall which once for- 
 bade the entrance of the Gospel, has been broken 
 down by the fire and hammer of the Lord, so that 
 the whole earth now lies at the feet of the Church, 
 as Canaan lay at the feet of Israel when the walls 
 of Jericho fell and the defenses of those pagan 
 nations departed. There will be conflict and in- 
 terrupted successes, measured by the strength or 
 weakness of faith, but the watchword will be 
 ' Onward !' and the inomentum will be moral pro- 
 gression. Shall we look down from the peaceful 
 hills of heaven and see the whole earth one bright 
 realm of peace and love, with ' no more sea ?' " 
 
 TO EEV. G. W. COAN. 
 
 February II, \'&^%. . . . "Your labors in the 
 United States have been abundant and I rejoice that 
 the Lord has so graciously blessed them. I think 
 that a season of rest in our quiet home, with the 
 breathing of our balmy air would greatly refresh 
 
1 62 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 you, and you would receive as warm a welcome as 
 ever greeted you on earth. But the picture you 
 would see would, in all respects, differ greatly from 
 all that you have read or conceived of our Islands. 
 Instead of the multitudes of Hawaiians of whom you 
 have read, you would find many foreigners of very 
 many nationalities and thousands of Chinamen 
 spread over the country, and sugar plantations 
 springing up wherever there is room and water, with 
 the crushing of mills, the roaring of furnaces, and 
 the darkening smoke of a multitude of chimneys. 
 The rush now is for pelf, and every one seeks gain 
 from his own quarter. Meditation, prayer and 
 sober attention to the interests of the soul are of 
 little or no importance in the eyes of the multitude. 
 The labors of a faithful embassador of Christ were 
 never more arduous and responsible than now. 
 Heathenism is being rolled back upon us like a flood, 
 and no one can predict what will be the moral and 
 spiritual condition of this nation ten years hence. 
 Our hope, our trust are in God alone, and so we 
 keep on the armor and fight on until called from 
 this to a higher field." 
 
 TO JOEL AND HANNAH BEAN. 
 
 October g, 1878. . . . "Evenings of precious 
 conversation on the things pertaining to the kingdom 
 of God on earth, and on the coming revelations of 
 glory in heaven, are as the soul's viaticum on its 
 journey upward. . . How glad I am for the 
 
 grace which is given to your brother and sister Miles, 
 to spend their strength in efforts to bless the much 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 163 
 
 abused Indians. O when will Christian sympathy 
 and devotion overcome the obstacles in the way of 
 imparting a real Christian civilization to the aborig- 
 ines of our country, and the grace of God redress 
 their wrongs? Were I young again and free from my 
 duties to the Polynesian race, how gladly would I 
 devote all my powers to the Indian tribes, or to the 
 emancipated, yet enthralled, negroes. And when 
 I look in at the great and effectual doors opened in 
 Africa, India, Turkey, China and Japan, my heart 
 yearns to go forth again to the heathen, and, if it 
 might be, to spend another life in laboring to win 
 them to the love of Christ. Have you read Stanley's 
 'Through the Dark Continent?' It is painfully 
 interesting because of the struggles where carnal 
 weapons were used and much blood was shed. But 
 whatever may have been the agencies used to force 
 a way through those savage tribes, one thing is 
 clear, God has opened a wide door into the heart of 
 that long neglected continent, and that door will 
 never be again closed until the blessed Gospel of 
 Jesus shall have penetrated to every part of that 
 fearful land, and lifted the pall of death from all its 
 hills and valleys and plains. The wrath, the 
 cupidity, the curiosity and the ten thousand schemes 
 of sinful men will be over-ruled in the end to accom- 
 plish God's redeeming purposes in the earth." 
 
 TO REV. G. W. COAN. 
 
 October 23, 1878. — "Your remarks on the lack of 
 information and of interest on the subject of missions 
 found in many parts of the country, and on the 
 
164 Memorial of Rev, Titus Coan. 
 
 demoralized state of many churches are painfully 
 true. I saw and felt it when in the States in 1870. 
 While I rejoice in every effort to 'Reform the Civil 
 Service' and to cleanse the Augean stable of politics, 
 I would rejoice still more if the work of reformation 
 might begin at the sanctuary which should be ' the 
 pillar and ground of truth,' and thence work outward 
 till the body politic, or the whole community should 
 feel the cleansing power. How greatly all professed 
 ministers of the pure Gospel should heed the solemn 
 charge, 'Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the 
 Lord.' How sad to sefe ministers giving themselves 
 up to foolish fashions, to idle speculations in doctrine, 
 to sceptical views of the Bible, to loose and false 
 views of life and duty, to fleshly indulgences and 
 doubtful recreations, while their hearers are trained 
 to fastidious tastes, to critical and captious nervous- 
 ness on the matter, the manner and the length of 
 religious services, scorning the devout and humble 
 servant of the Lord, and flattering with gifts and 
 garlands him who has not known that there is a 
 Holy Ghost, or that the word of God is the 'Sword 
 of the Spirit, sharper than any two edged sword.' 
 The Lord spare your dear Fred and Frank 
 to go through college, gathering strength as they 
 pass from stage to stage, and coming out not so 
 much with University honors, as with the honor that 
 cometh from God. I see that you are dubbed D. D. 
 Bear your honors meekly and see that you are not 
 hurt by them. " 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 165 
 
 TO EEV. L. SMITH, D. D. 
 
 December 11, 1878. — "What a difference there is 
 in men, and with what different eyes they see things! 
 A landscape often looks smooth and lovely in the 
 distance, but is rough and unsightly underfoot. To 
 look at Mauna Loa from my window, it is as smooth 
 as a cannon-ball; but on near approach it is frightful 
 to walk over. How soft the light and uniform the 
 surface of the moon until the telescope draws her 
 within fifty miles of us, when we are amazed at her 
 frowning precipices, her yawning fissures, her horrid 
 pit craters and her untraversable fields of scoria. 
 So it is to some eyes with missions. They glow 
 and sparkle with beauty in the distance as if sur- 
 rounded with a halo of golden glory, but when 
 examined as places of toil, of friction, of weariness, 
 and often as scenes disgusting to human senses, they 
 become objects of disgust and of disappointment to 
 many. " 
 
 TO BET. G. W. COAN. 
 
 November 11, 1879. . . . "I long to hear of 
 your preaching again, but not to such excess and 
 such exhaustion of physical and brain power as 
 aforetime. This severe lesson of weakness and 
 wasting will, I trust, lead you to be more careful 
 should you once more be permitted to go out into 
 the field to scatter the seeds of the kingdom or to 
 thrust in the sickle into the waving harvest. How 
 I wished to see your name on the glorious roll of the 
 elders and saints in the Assembly at Syracuse. We 
 have just read the report of the seventieth meeting 
 
1 66 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 of the A. B. C. F. M. What prayer, what spiritual 
 logic, what wise counsel, what unity, hope and faith, 
 what love, zeal and eloquence, what resolutions, 
 what new consecrations were developed in that 
 assembly, during those days of saintly communings. 
 If my voice could be heard all over that broad 
 domain, the United States, I would say, let the full 
 report of that annual meeting be printed in sufficient 
 numbers and sent to every Congregational pastor 
 and church, and to all ministers, editors and churches 
 of other Christian denominations throughout the 
 land. What Christians need is light on the great 
 mission of the church on earth, i. e. , what they are 
 called to do/ and also Aeal, such only as comes from 
 the fire which burns forever on the altar of God, to 
 move and melt and purify the hearts of the redeemed 
 and furnish a spiritual motor that shall move and 
 renovate the world. How I long to see that great 
 organization, the Presbyterian church, moved like a 
 forest in a mighty wind till not a leaf remained 
 untouched. The latent power of the church is 
 dormant; let it once be aroused and wisely directed, 
 and such miracles of grace as the world never saw 
 would be soon witnessed. What a trumpet call 
 sounded out from the burning lips of Isaiah more 
 than twenty-five centuries ago! 'Awake, awake, 
 put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful 
 garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city.' The world 
 will yet see greater things than science, civilization, 
 sages, seers and angels have ever seen." 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 167 
 
 TO EEV. J. D. PAEIS. 
 
 Honolulu, June 17, 1880. — "Your excellent letter 
 lies before me. I answer from the dust and heat of 
 the metropolis. Glad if my little savage waif 
 ('Adventures in Patagonia') found favor in your eyes. 
 Your letter reminds me of the days of Auld Lang 
 Syne, wheii we walked and talked, when we sang 
 and prayed, and when we rejoiced and wept together. 
 Well, we are nearer the shore of Time than in our 
 youthful days. Nearer than when we struggled and 
 panted together for the first time up the rugged 
 steeps of Mauna Loa; nearer than when in our 
 nightly descent we stumbled and fell, often, amidst 
 the scoriatic ridges and into the jagged valleys of 
 the mountain, and when we felt in our utter exhaus- 
 tion that there was but a step between us and death. 
 Yes, we are now fast nearing the shore of Time, and 
 looking off upon the boundless, the fathomless, the 
 shoreless ocean of Eternity. But we do not shudder, 
 for our Pilot, 'who is our life,' is with us." 
 
i68 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 XII. 
 
 ' 'A little longer yet — a little longer, 
 Life shall be thine; life with ite power to will; 
 
 Life .with its strength to bear, to love, to conquer. 
 Bringing its thousand joys thy heart to fill. 
 
 A little longer, and thy heart, beloved, 
 
 Shall beat forever with a love divine; 
 And joy so pure, so mighty, so eternal. 
 
 No creature knows and Uves, will then be thine." 
 
 — Adelaide Proctor. 
 
 To the many guests who through the passing 
 years had been entertained with cordial hospitahty 
 at the Emerald Bower, Mr. Coan had sometimes 
 related his experiences as a missionary explorer in 
 the wilds of Patagonia. The story, as it fell from his 
 lips, was full of interest, and the listeners often 
 asked why he did not publish it. 
 
 While he had strength for touring he never felt 
 that he had time to write a book, but when, by rea- 
 son of advancing age, he was not able to go as often 
 as aforetime to the outskirts of his parish, he thought 
 he might, perhaps, be doing good by responding to 
 the wish of those who desired "to see the simple 
 narrative in print." 
 
 It was thus that he came, in 1879, to prepare his 
 first volume, "Adventures in Patagonia." To very 
 few of his correspondents and to almost none of his 
 island neighbors, did he speak of this work while 
 engaged upon it. 
 
 The favor with which it was received by his friends, 
 and their solicitations that he should also give a 
 sketch of his life, in its earlier and later periods, led 
 him, after much hesitation, to write his autobi- 
 
Memorial of Rev, Titus Coan. 169 
 
 ography. This was in 1881 when he had reached 
 his eighty-first year. At this time his form was still 
 erect, his step alert, and his characteristic ardor in 
 work was unabated. Seldom lying down during his 
 active day of sixteen or seventeen waking hours, he 
 carried forward the manuscript of "Life in Hawaii," 
 kept up his correspondence, and met the daily duties 
 of his position with his habitual cheerfulness and 
 patience. 
 
 For seven months of this year he watched with 
 others, sharing in their anxiety, that threatening lava 
 flow from Mauna Loa, which, beginning on the Sth 
 of November, 1880, continued until the lOth of 
 August, 1 88 1, without any abatement of action. 
 
 The letters of this period will show with what feel- 
 ings the pilgrim of fourscore years looked back 
 upon the past, and in what unshaken trust he still 
 went forward to the future. 
 
 TO EEV. H. HALSEY. 
 
 January^), 1881. — " Time flows on. I had feared 
 that it had stamped your name upon the marble and 
 taken the pen from your hand, but here before me 
 is the evidence that your active limbs, your reason- 
 ing brain, and throbbing heart were Still in motion. 
 And I do thank you, my long loved and faithful 
 brother, for your late epistle, as I do for all you 
 have sent me. Your letters are laden with the 
 aroma of ripe fruit. How I remember our journey 
 together on the Erie Canal (in 1839), our visit in 
 Onondaga, my own ague and fever at that time, our 
 parting in New York, you for Philadelphia, I for 
 Connecticut; my long sickness there; the reflections 
 it produced, resulting in study for the ministry and 
 the entire change of my after life. I will bless the 
 
17° Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 Lord if any of my weak efforts to serve the cause of 
 truth and peace and love have been of any use. 
 Could I have another life to give to the great work 
 committed to the disciples by the Supreme Master, 
 how gladly would I go at the trumpet call to 
 benighted and bleeding Africa. But your feet and 
 mine begin to dip in the waters of Jordan. These 
 waters are not dark and cold to the believer, nor 
 does Faith stand shivering on the brink of that 
 narrow stream which divides the heavenly land from 
 ours, for it sees the ' sweet fields beyond.' _ More 
 than a score of venerable and distinguished men - 
 whom I met in the United States in 1870-71 have 
 passed over the river since my return. At this I 
 ought to rejoice for their sakes, and yet the thought 
 that they are to act no more on the theater of time 
 sometimes saddens me. When the beloved Barnes, 
 Drs. Anderson, Wisner, Treat, Buddington, Adams, 
 Condit and many others passed over the line of 
 mortal life, I felt the repeated shocks like an earth- 
 quake wave rolling over the wide Pacific. ' Thus 
 star by star declines',' but only to rise higher and 
 shine brighter in the heavenly firmament. 
 Just two months ago a grand burst of our mountain 
 volcano commenced, about 12,500 feet above sea 
 level, and this crater is still in blast. This awful foun- 
 tain shot up columns of liquid fire, and poured out 
 rivers of seething fusion, throwing up a blazonry of 
 ruddy light upon the overhanging canopy of clouds. 
 One fiery river rushed madly down the northeast slope 
 of the mountain for thirty miles, and another stream 
 ran off to the southeast about the same distance. 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 171 
 
 At length these streams stiffened and ceased to 
 flow, when others, at about equal distances from the 
 termini of these spread wings, rushed down the 
 mountain in a direct line for Hilo, and their flows 
 are now about twelve miles distant. Like a great 
 red dragon, it flashes its burning eyes upon us. 
 Will it come to Hilo?" 
 
 TO HIS CHILDREN. 
 
 February i, 1881. — "This is a joyful day. The 
 heavens shine with glory. The earth glows with 
 beauty. The sea sparkles with brilliants. The 
 radiant orbs sing praises. The bland zephyrs mur- 
 mur sweetly. The rippling rills leap and laugh. 
 The emerald fields rejoice. Silvery' notes of praise 
 rise from glen and forest, and mingling strains of 
 harmony and love ascend to the Creator from all 
 his works. 
 
 " ' Let man by nobler passions swayed, 
 The feeling heart, the judging head, 
 In higher praise employ.' 
 
 "I am this day four score years old. God gave 
 me a happy childhood, a cheerful youth, a vigorous 
 manhood, and now a calm old age. My health is 
 good, my spirits buoyant, and my heart is happy in 
 the companion of my choice. My faith is firm, my 
 hope anchored, and my love for you all is deathless 
 as the soul. My experiences have been varied, and 
 I look back upon my life as marked with many mis- 
 takes, numerous sins, and much unworthiness. But 
 I also adore the grace of God in his pardoning love, 
 and humbly trust that the blood of Jesus Christ, his 
 
172 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 Son, will cleanse me from all sin. I am not 
 ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power 
 of God to the salvation of every true believer. I 
 love the law of God, for ' it is perfect ' — perfect in 
 holiness, in justice and in love. I love the Bible, 
 for it is 'a light to my feet and a lamp to my path.' 
 And I now confess, with thanks to my ever-blessed 
 Lord and Savior, that I chose the service of Christ 
 freely, deliberately and intelligently; and since the 
 day when I avouched the Lord Jehovah to be my 
 God and Savior, I have never seen the hour or the 
 moment when I regretted this act, or wished to 
 return to ' the beggarly elements of the world.' 
 I have been in perils often; but under all circum- 
 stances, and in all climates, the Lord has been a 
 kind shepherd and faithful guide and protector. 
 And he has enabled me to draw comfort and con- 
 tentment from all the vicissitudes of life, and under 
 the shadow of Emmanuel's wings I have found more 
 joy than sorrow, more pleasure than pain, more 
 hope than fear. And now, as the shadows of life 
 are lengthening, and the time of my departure 
 cannot be distant, I esteem it a duty and a joy to 
 testify, from long experience, to the marvelous 
 mercy of the Lord in thus preserving his unworthy 
 servant during these eighty years of mortal life. Not 
 a bone has been broken, not a joint dislocated, 
 while all the powers of nature, physical and intel- 
 lectual, have been kindly preserved until the present 
 time. 
 
 " ' Strange, that a harp of thousand strings 
 Should keep in tune so long.' 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 173 
 
 " And my heart is still young, and in sweet sympathy 
 with all the radiant beauties of nature, and in har- 
 mony with the diapason of the illimitable universe. 
 'I am not old, I cannot be old,' for I am in early 
 childhood — in the first dawn of being — and I am 
 now studying the alphabet of immortality. Ah! the 
 illimitable, the immeasurable, the boundless, the 
 INFINITE that spreads around and rises above me, 
 without horizon and without zenith. 
 
 "Let me beg of you, my dearly beloved children, 
 one and all, live by Faith, live in Love, live for 
 others, live for immortality, live for God, and you 
 shall never die. This is no fantasy, because Love 
 and Truth and God are eternal. 
 
 "Remember the calm, thoughtful, and sweet mother 
 of four children. Think of her serene evening, of 
 her intelligent faith, of her deathless love, of her 
 readiness to depart, of her assurance of being with 
 her Divine Savior, of the pluming of her angel 
 wings, and of her shining pathway to those realms 
 of life, ' Up where eternal ages roll.' 
 
 " Was her faith a fallacy? her life a failure? her 
 hope a bursting bubble ? If not, then ponder the 
 lesson of her life, and be followers of those who 
 through faith and patience inherit the promises." 
 
 TO KEY. H. BINGHAM. 
 
 February 10, 1881. — "Your congratulations on 
 my birthday are in receipt, and my responsive 
 thanks go with this. I esteem it a great mercy to 
 be preserved so long in life with so much physical 
 vigor as I now enjoy. When I entered upon the 
 
174 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 ministry I little thought that my life would be 
 extended to eighty years, and I had no dream of the 
 marvelous developments which the advancement of 
 civilization and the progress of evangelical Chris-, 
 tianity would reveal during my life- time. I look 
 back upon the last eight decades with wonder and 
 gratitude, and still cling to life in anticipation of 
 what a few more years will reveal; and desiring to 
 do a little more for our adorable Savior before bid- 
 ding a final farewell to our planet. But is it not 
 probable that the saints in heaven will be permitted 
 to know more of what transpires on earth, than is 
 known by the earthly pilgrims? And if the glorified 
 in heaven are to be 'satisfied,' will not one element 
 of their satisfaction consist in knowing the progress 
 of those interests below which so filled their souls 
 with earnest interest while toiling in this earthly 
 vineyard? Can a redeemed spirit be satisfied in 
 heaven, while an impenetrable veil shuts out from 
 his vision all that traijispires on earth? But we leave 
 that with our all gracious Lord. We wait to hear 
 about your prospects for a house and a little home 
 comfort for your future days on earth, and we trust 
 that this question will be well settled in due time. 
 We know that the Lord is good and ready to help, 
 and that he has the hearts of many of your friends in 
 his hands. " 
 
 TO MRS. H. BINGHAM. 
 
 June 8, 1881. — "We are so glad, so happy to 
 hear how your little tabernacle is rising with its 
 cords and stakes, and we do hope to see you all 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 175 
 
 some day in that Peace Cottage where you will toil 
 and rest for a little, until you are called up to your 
 mansions 'not made with hands,' and 'not of this 
 building.' I love to think of you all as laborers 
 together with. God, as breakers up of the fallow 
 ground, as sowers, reapers, sheaf-binders and as 
 shouters of 'the harvest home.' But how .odd it 
 seems not to be in Honolulu this June. It is all 
 well. Honolulu can get along without us, and if we 
 were never seen there again, we would not be long 
 missed. Mortal life is but a vapor that appears but 
 a little while and then vanishes away. And yet life 
 is real and momentous in its products and results. 
 We have been reading the 'Life of Miss Havergal,' 
 and it puts me to shame. These blessed women 
 who follow Christ and minister to him, become 
 teachers of us poor blind clergymen. We don't say 
 much about our volcanic fires in these days. They 
 burn, but do not burn us. Blessed be the Lord who 
 'keepeth Israel.' " 
 
 TO EEV. H. HALSET. 
 
 September 2J , 1881. . . . "Your hint of the 
 debt of the American Peace Society touches my 
 heart. It ought not to be so. The feeble hold 
 which the heaven-born cause of peace seems to have 
 on the hearts and purses of Christendom amazes me, 
 and I mourn: at the little I can do either by pen or 
 purse. 'Will a tithe meet the responsibility of 
 Christian stewardship?' I think not. That was a 
 rule in a dark age of the world. The Gospel is to 
 flood the world with light and love, and the Christ 
 
f76 Memorial of Rev. Tiius Coan. • 
 
 who is our life claims all his disciples and all they 
 have, while he gives himself for us, and says, 'All 
 things are yours.' And his rule is to 'give as the 
 Lord prospers us;' while he loves the cheerful giver , 
 and promises a hundred fold, even in this present 
 life, to all who surrender all to him. What the harm, 
 what the loss, if a poor sinner, saved by grace, and 
 made heir to a heavenly crown and an eternal king- 
 dom, and who now holds, as a steward of God, two 
 million dollars, should give one million, or one and 
 a half million to help men on the way to heaven? 
 It is a sad mistake if we who have the promise of all 
 things should satisfy our love to Christ by a tenth. 
 Our fearful volcano was in fierce blast for 
 nine months, and the destruction of our beautiful 
 town and harbor seemed imminent. Human reason 
 and arithmetic both doomed us. The fire rushed 
 down the mountain, across the highlands and through 
 a mighty forest fifteen to twenty miles wide, and 
 appeared within half a mile of our town. Its flaming 
 banners waved over us; its burning breath scorched 
 us; its offensive odors entered our nostrils; its 
 forked tongue darted towards us. We had ob- 
 served a day of humiliation and prayer; the nation 
 was alarmed — but the eternal God interposed. The 
 fiat came forth at the last apparent hour: ^Hitherto , 
 no further.' The burning scourge obeyed its God, 
 and we are saved." 
 
 TO REV. JAMES BOYD, D. D. 
 
 December 13, 1881. — "Here is your thrice welcome 
 letter of November ist. I echo its first utterance. 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. \i'j 
 
 'I wish I could talk with you face to face instead of 
 writing to you at a distance of five thousand miles.' 
 'Yes,' respond my heart and soul, 'that would be 
 joyful,' but with you I am thankful that the privilege 
 of communion by letter still remains. 
 Your allusion to the arrest of that 'great red dragon' 
 shows that you view the deHverance in the same 
 light as we do. All of God. As we walk out a 
 few rods from our happy Bower, and look upon the 
 indurated monster whose blackened corse stretches 
 for fifty miles from mountain to main, my soul rises 
 to the hills, whence our help cometh, and adores 
 that Power and Love which quenched the devouring 
 fire and destroyed the destroyer. 
 
 "At the time of Mr. Hallenbeck's visit we did 
 have a little noise and shaking among the dry bones 
 of Hilo, and there were some cases of quickenings 
 and a few hopeful conversions among foreigners. 
 But the work was not deep and broad, and some of 
 those who wept then, dance now, and some who 
 seemed almost persuaded seem farther off than ever. 
 But what if some do not believe? God's kingdom 
 stands fast, and all who trust in God are as Mount 
 Zion. The work among the natives is much as 
 usual. The great harvest of former years has been 
 gathered, and we are gleaners now, but not without 
 some sheaves. We have a little ingathering at all 
 our communion seasons, and our monthly contribu- 
 tions do not fall below $ioo. But our battle now is 
 sharper and heavier than in the beginning of our 
 mission. The world rushes in; the greed of gain is 
 intense; and educated skepticism is arrayed against 
 
178 Memorial of Rev. Titu? Coan. 
 
 gospel truth and consecrated living. . . . The 
 fall of our chosen Garfield made the earth tremble 
 and the heart of the nation groan. The assassination 
 was infernal, but the prince of darkness is now 
 staggering under the returning blow of his own 
 weapon, and the fall of our beloved president is the 
 uprising of millions in defense of the right. The 
 agonizing prayers of a nation in anguish are being 
 answered in a way which no man or angel could 
 have devised. God carries the counsels of the fro- 
 ward headlong. Did Booth break the Northern 
 steel? and can Guiteau scale the battlements of 
 heaven or hush its thunders? Heaven bless you, my 
 dearly beloved brother, for the thought and the act 
 of sending such a Christmas gift to my precious wife 
 and me, as the pictures of the exalted and the 
 mourning Garfields. What souvenirs could you have 
 sent us to excite more gratitude? What memento 
 to keep alive more tender and chastened love for the 
 departed and the living? We intend to frame the 
 pictures and hang them on our parlor walls. " 
 
 TO ME. F. W. DAMON. 
 
 November 17, 1881. — "Your answer to my note 
 of welcome [on his return from Europe] is all aglow 
 with kindness and courtesy. The fervor and style 
 remind me vividly of the warm welcome and cordial 
 benediction given me by the eloquent pastor of the 
 Cambridgeport church, when we were about to sail 
 for the Hawaiian Islands in 1834. You doubtless 
 have felt much of the power and persuasive elo- 
 quence of this Christian teacher while sitting under 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 179 
 
 his instructions as President of Amherst College. 
 We are all glad to read your letter. It was so full 
 of enthusiasm, of refined culture and Christian love. 
 And now I congratulate you again, and rejoice with 
 you in the great work in which you have enlisted. 
 To Christianize China, in China, and out ^ China, is, 
 I apprehend, the greatest specific missionary enter- 
 prize of the age and of the world. Give your soul 
 to it, dear brother, with all its powers and the Lord 
 will honor you. When we think of the Mongolian 
 race of 500,000,000 as being lifted into a state of 
 high civilization, of pure and transparent Christianity, 
 our conceptions of the grandeur of the work soar 
 to lofty heights, and the thought is clothed with a 
 dazzling sublimity; but when we come down to the 
 detail, to the dig and tug and push, we feel the 
 gravity and the friction of the work, and in our toil 
 and sweat we; almost lose sight of the magnificent 
 theory of the uplifting, the enlightening and Chris- 
 tianizing of this vast mass of mundanity. But after 
 all, this is the work the great Master puts into our 
 hands, and we must dov^n upon our knees, grasp it 
 with both hands, earnestly give body and soul to it, 
 and with patient toil strive to bring these creatures 
 of God'a power and of Christ's agonizing love, one 
 by one, into the eternal kingdom. But we need 
 not fear the detail, for God and all heaven are with 
 us and each member of our Lord's body has only 
 the work of one to do, and this with the cheering 
 promise of Infinite Love, 'Lo, I am with you.' So 
 then we are to imitate the calm patience of the good 
 clock, never to fear, never to fret, never to faint. 
 
i8o Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 and never to count beforehand the amazing number 
 of ticks demanded in fifty years; but as the owner 
 of the clock winds it, oils it and watches over it, so 
 we will trust our Maker and supporter to watch over 
 us, and to help us in our work until it is done. " 
 
 TO EEV. DE. BOYD. 
 
 March 3, 1882. — "Love is the true exchange for 
 love, and its possessor is always rich. Giving feeds 
 and increases it; withholding strangles it. . . . 
 Here comes another of your heaven-lit missives 
 written the day after my birthday. This fresh token 
 of your unabated and unchangeable love is very 
 cheering to us both. 
 
 "There are many who are not reached by the 
 Gospel unless it is carried to their doors, their haunts 
 and their hearts, by warm, earnest and repeated 
 personal appeals. This is a new age in Hawaii. 
 We have little of that simple, docile and reverent 
 element which once pervaded the Hawaiian mind. 
 Indifference to things unseen prevails, and the 
 victory is not yet won. Complexity of character 
 abounds. . . . With more than thirty nationali- 
 ties here, with an infinity of opinions and no 
 opinions, with education and no education, and with 
 an over-mastering earthliness, it requires the furnace 
 and the wind of heaven, to melt, amalgamate and 
 assimilate these elements into a harmonious Chris- 
 tian civilization. But 'with God all things are 
 possible' and we are to fight in massed columns, in 
 extended lines, or in hand-to-hand struggles, look- 
 ing to the Captain of our Salvation for orders and 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. i8i 
 
 success. . . . We see that the assassin of our 
 dear Garfield has been sentenced to death. May 
 God bring him to repentance. 
 
 "As to the Revised New Testament, I like some 
 of it much, and some of it I don't like. But it is an 
 improvement that will be improved. I have no 
 doubt that it gives the mind of the Spirit more 
 clearly, on the whole, than the old version. The 
 views of the American Committee are, I think, more 
 sensible than those of the English. . . . Our 
 rains are abundant; oursurf and rivers roar; our soil 
 is soaked; our mountains are laden with snow, and 
 our air is cold. For nine days I have been sneezing 
 and coughing, wrapped in warm garments yet 
 shivering. Last Sabbath was my first experience, 
 during almost forty-seven years in Hilo, of not being 
 able to meet my people in the house of God." 
 
 TO EEV. H. HALSET. 
 
 May 12, 1882. . . . "It must have been a 
 trial to you not to have attended the meeting of your 
 Synod. You have attended many a general assem- 
 bly, and there may be but one more to receive you 
 on the 'roll-call,' and that will be the greatest, the 
 grandest and the most glorious of all, for it will be 
 the 'general assembly of the church of the first- 
 born whose names are written in heaven.' And 
 what an assembly that will be! No jar, no discord, 
 no envy, no strife, no 'Demetrius,' no 'copper- 
 smith,' no 'accuser of the brethren,' no one to say 
 'stand by,'' no wolf in sheep-skin cloak, no Judas, 
 and no one without heaven's credentials, and without 
 
1 82 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 a wedding garment. Ah, 'what will it be to be 
 there?' and shall such a worthless worm as I stand 
 in that vast and spotless assembly? Shall I survey 
 those shining ranks? Shall I hear the sweet music 
 that rolls over the heavenly hills? Shall I behold 
 that Royal Head once crowned for me with cruel 
 thorns, arrayed in majesty, crowned with glory? 
 And shall I bow among the throng and add my 
 feeble voice to swell the grand Alleluia of 'blessing 
 and glory and honor unto God and the Lamb?' I am 
 more and more pained by the petty strifes of minis- 
 ters and professed followers of the Prince of Peace. 
 In heaven all is harmony; not a discordant note in all 
 the diatonic scale. What will that general assembly 
 do with the polyglottous list of churches of the one 
 Christ? When the roll-call is heard, the key-note 
 struck and the celestial music begins, which church 
 will come to the front? Will the great Roman 
 church appear as the mother of churches, the only 
 pure and holy church? And where will the next 
 perfect church, the Episcopal stand? And in what 
 line shall we look for the strong and orthodox Pres- 
 byterians? Shall we find the Baptists marshaled 
 on the banks of 'the River of Life' and their doc- 
 trines reflected from that water 'clear as crystal?' 
 And where shall we meet that great family, the 
 Methodists? Will they not be seen in flying squad- 
 rons along all the frontiers of heaven? And how of 
 the Congregationalists? Will they stand in the 
 great congregation, and blow the trumpet and lift up 
 the voice of song? 'And what shall I say more, for 
 the time would fail me to to speak' of the quiet and 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 183 
 
 peaceful Friends, and of other divisions, great and 
 small, into which the human family is divided in 
 their opinions of God, and their modes of worship? 
 Should all these reach heaven, what mighty angel 
 would be able to marshal and harmonize this disin- 
 tegrated and incoherent family? May we not hope 
 that all these conflicting elements in Christendom 
 will, in due time, be consumed by that fire which 
 shall try every man's work, removing the wood, hay 
 and stubble, and causing the gold, silver, and 
 precious stones to shine out in one faith, one hope, 
 and one love?" 
 
184 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 "They stand, those halls of Zion, 
 All jubUant with song, 
 And bright with many an angel, 
 
 And all the martyr throng. 
 There is the throne of David, 
 
 And there from toU released, 
 
 The shout of them that triumph. 
 
 The song of them that feast." 
 
 — Bernard of Cluny. 
 
 "While the inhabitants of Hilo were anxious for the 
 safety of their homes exposed to a great volcanic 
 eruption, the citizens of Honolulu felt their lives 
 imperiled by the scourge of small-pox. 
 
 The strict quarantine established in the spring of 
 1881, at the metropolis, for the protection of other 
 island ports, was felt to be an obstacle in the way of 
 the usual gathering of pastors and delegates at the 
 Hawaiian Evangelical Association. And. so, for the 
 first time in many years, Mr. Coan remained at his 
 station during the summer. It was, therefore, with 
 peculiar interest that in May of 1882 he made his 
 preparations once more to visit Honolulu. 
 
 He had been appointed to preach the annual 
 foreign missionary sermon in English, and this in 
 accqrdance with his remarkable habits of promptness 
 he prepared weeks before the time to go. Letters 
 to be forwarded by the Morning Star to Micronesia, 
 he wrote, as long had been his practice, before 
 leaving home, giving his words of remembrance and 
 cheer both to the American and Hawaiian mission- 
 aries in those distant isles. Once more he called the 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 185 
 
 roll of his church, and made up the statistics for the 
 yearly reports. 
 
 The voyage to Honolulu was one he greatly 
 enjoyed. It was enlivened by the steamer stopping 
 to take freight at a northern port of Hawaii, thus 
 affording time to go to Kohala, distant twelve miles 
 from the sea. His fellow-travelers will not forget 
 the enthusiasm with which he enjoyed the novelty 
 of his first railway ride oyer Sandwich Island 
 ground. 
 
 At Honolulu the days were crowded full of inci- 
 dents and work. In addition to the many meetings 
 of the June anniversaries, there were those of a 
 revival then in progress in the city. These Mr. 
 Coan attended every evening, though the home at 
 which he was entertained was two miles from the 
 churches. In social relations there was a demand 
 on his time and strength. It sometimes involved a 
 ride of three or four miles to return a call or accept 
 an invitation to a meal. Yet not for weariness 
 would he allowhimself to fail in the courtesy of recip- 
 rocating these kind attentions of friends. He was 
 deeply interested in the improvements and prosperity 
 of the city, and took thoughtful notice of political 
 affairs, carrying a burden of fears for the future of 
 the Kingdom, as he saw wicked measures prevail in 
 the councils of its rulers. As so often he had done 
 in the passing years, so once more he talked with 
 the children of the United Sabbath Schools of the 
 Foreign Churches, who gathered about him to hear 
 his words of wisdom and loving exhortation. He 
 spoke with impressive earnestness to the students of 
 C3ahu College on keeping those commandments that 
 would add to them "length of days and long life 
 and peace. " 
 
 When the work was done, and the visit ended, he 
 returned to the home to which he always went back 
 so gladly, and on July 20th he wrote: 
 
1 86 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 " One week ago we re-entered our quiet bower 
 and knelt to bless the Lord. It was sweet to re- 
 turn to the old nest, to see the luxurious green, to 
 breathe the fresh air, and to bathe in the Cool, 
 limpid water. . . We are preparing outwardly 
 
 for the arrival of Mr. Hallenbeck, but it is not clear 
 that we are all prepared inwardly to entertain our 
 divine Lord and Master. For this we pray, for 
 without him nothing good can be done." 
 
 Mr. Coan was anxious to prepare his people by 
 personal interviews with them for the evangelistic 
 meetings which were to be held the latter part of 
 August, under the leadership of Messrs. Hallenbeck 
 and Forbes. Riding out among their little settle- 
 ments, he would summon the natives around him 
 by his well-known hearty call ' ' Aloha oukou " (love 
 to you), and then having kindly inquired after their 
 physical and spiritual estate, he would tell them of 
 the blessing soon to be offered them, and urge their 
 faithful attendance upon the anticipated services. 
 
 The house of God was also to be put in readiness. 
 There were many details of repairs and improve- 
 ments which he himself must superintend. 
 
 Discordant elements among backsliders and a few 
 self-willed church members gave him concern and 
 cost him hours of labor to harmonize. His prayers, 
 his toils, were constant and untiring. Untiring? 
 Ah! the poor frame was often weary, and he would 
 sky the strength of his feet was gone. But his heart 
 was as ardent and as brave as ever. 
 
 The burden of souls was always upon him, and in 
 prayers never to be forgotten, he plead for the wan- 
 derers and the unconcerned. A wonderful breadth 
 of thought marked his petitions as he remembered 
 a dying world and sought for blessings on every 
 righteous cause. 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 187 
 
 Thus gladly spending and being spent for the 
 Master whom he had so long served, he went on 
 through the busy days, still taking time, as they 
 passed, to meet the calls upon' his pen. Some of 
 the letters written at that period are these that fol- 
 low. The one addressed to the Rev. Dr. Goodwin 
 seems a precious legacy of Mr. Coan's latest thoughts 
 on Foreign Missions. 
 
 TO EEV. N. G. CLARK, D.D. (Cor. ScC. A. B. C. F. M.) 
 
 July 25, 1882. — "It is a gi-eat pleasure to write 
 to you, for your kindness of heart and Christian 
 courtesy are cheering. Your favor of May 13 is a 
 sunbeam. You give me liberal praise for my little 
 octogenarian book, and your opinion' is of great 
 value — none could be more so. Thus far, all the 
 notices I have seen of the book, and the many letters 
 of thanks received, have been kind and congratula- 
 tory; not, of course, on account of its intrinsic merit, 
 but what is immeasurably better, because of sympathy 
 and of joy in the blessed cause of missions to the 
 heathen, the supreme work given by the Lord Jesus 
 to his brethren. We on our ocean watch-tower are 
 looking eastward and westward, south and north, to 
 see the movements of the grand army of our King 
 in its divisions over continents and islands and in 
 its floating batteries. The watchmen are multiply- 
 ing and sending out their voices from all points, 
 declaring what they see of conquest or defeat, to 
 bring joy or sorrow into the sacramental host. 
 We rejoice that the light is not extinguished on the 
 Marquesas group. From Micronesia the tidings are 
 joyful and sad. War, drunkenness, idolatry, and 
 
1 88 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 debauchery rule on some of the islets, while cheer- 
 ing sunlight shines on others. On Hawaii we have 
 the lifting and the shutting down of the cloud. It 
 is like ' a fitful April day,' and may we not hope 
 that it is the harbinger of the tender leaves, the 
 opening buds, the beauteous blossoms of May and 
 June and the golden harvests of summer and 
 autumn? 
 
 "Dear wife and I have recently returned from a 
 visit of six weeks in Honolulu. Of what we saw 
 and heard and felt while there I can give you no 
 adequate idea. It was a busy time. The Hawaiian 
 Evangelical Association, with its pastors and dele- 
 gates, was in session. The superintendents and 
 delegates of the island Sabbath schools were assem- 
 bled. The Hawaiian Executive Board was holding 
 frequent meetings to attend to important business. 
 There were examinations and exhibitions of Oahu 
 College and various schools. . . . The Fourth 
 of July brought two thousand people out to the 
 usual exercises of such occasions, though better 
 these, by half, than such exercises usually are, as 
 we had an eloquent and moral oration, prayer, and 
 good music, with a grand lunch without intoxicants. 
 . Another scene was the sailing of the 
 Morning Star with the band of missionaries, with 
 prayers and benedictions of a multitude of friends. 
 Meanwhile, amidst all these scenes of stir and 
 interest, Mr. Hallenbeck, the evangelist, com- 
 menced his religious meetings, calling out large 
 assemblies, to whom the Gospel was preached with 
 great power and with the Holy Spirit sent down 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 189 
 
 from heaven. We left Honolulu rejoicing in what 
 the Lord had done for the place, physically and 
 spiritually, and for what he is still doing. The physi- 
 cal change from the wharf to Punahou and beyond, a 
 distance of three miles in length, and one in breadth, 
 is marvelous. From a sandy, hot, and barren 
 heath, such as we first saw it in 1835, it has become 
 like the garden of Eden, waving with light-green 
 and feathery-leaved trees, adorned with gardens of 
 beautiful flowers and fruit-bearing vines and shrubs, 
 vocal with the song of a thousand birds, studded 
 with mansions and neat cottages, and sparkling with 
 the quivering irradiance of the waters of many gush- 
 ing artesian wells. The whole scene, as viewed 
 from Roundtop Hill, is one of inimitable beauty. 
 Among others who are enjoying the beautiful water 
 of the great subterranean reservoir, so long sealed 
 by the Infinite Architect amidst mountains which 
 his hand planted in unknown ages past, are our 
 friends, the Bingham family. While we were their 
 guests the plan was matured and executed for boring 
 an artesian well near their cottage. The work went 
 on day and night, until, at the depth of 3 S3 feet, 
 the brilliant column of water spouted up in copious 
 volume, and we all clapped hands and praised the 
 Lord. . . . We are glad to see our quiet 
 tabernacle again, with its tropical surroundings, all 
 dressed in living green, and more especially to meet 
 the dear people for whom our lives are devoted. On 
 the first Sabbath after our arrival we met a larger 
 congregation than we had seen for months in our 
 church, and at the close of the services about fifty 
 
J 9° Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 remained a full hour for prayer. . . . Adult 
 Chinamen outnumber adult male Hawaiians by 
 several hundreds, and we have great need of a faith- 
 ful Chinese evangelist for this field. Mr. Frank 
 Damon has just spent a week here in labors for our 
 Chinamen. He is full of zeal, energy and devotion 
 to the cause he has espoused. " 
 
 Mr. Damon, afterwards alluding to that visit, 
 wrote : " I shall always love to think of him as I saw 
 him last in his study, standing like a hero, crowned 
 with years of grand and faithful service. His very 
 face seemed a benediction, and through all my life 
 I shall count the memory of it as one of my most 
 precious treasures. " 
 
 TO -REV. L. SMITH. 
 
 August 3, 1882. — "Yes, we should be very 
 thankful for the peace and comfort we enjoy in our 
 little nest in the Pacific. The earth, in many parts, 
 rocks and reels and rends. War, earthquake, 
 cyclone, pestilence, and famine, with bloody crimes, 
 distress millions of the hunjan family; while we, poor, 
 thankless sinners, sit under our sha'des in ease and 
 security. But will not our turn of sorrow come? 
 The tiger is unchained. The fiery serpent is let 
 loose, and the 'Destroyer is on his way to make our 
 land desolate.' The tidings of this morning from 
 Honolulu distress me. Those who should be our 
 protectors have opened the flood-gates of a fiery 
 ruin upon us in granting the free use of the demon, 
 alcohol. And we hear, also, that the Legislature 
 has appropriated more than 3,000,000 of dollars. 
 But that seems only child's play. Suppose they had 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 191 
 
 voted one hundred millions. It would only be 
 empty air, and it might not have hurt a sparrow or 
 killed a flea. But that great red-faced dragon! 
 That Apollyon, drunkenness, is to be dreaded. 
 Well, we have only" to look to the Hills for help, for 
 vain is the help of man. We will trust if the 
 heavens come down, and the mountains leap into 
 the sea. Two years may tell the story which we 
 may not tell now. If God will destroy this people, 
 he will leave them in madness to make their own 
 hemp and to dig their own graves. If he will save 
 them it may be 'so as by fire.' Let us wait on the 
 Lord, and let us pray. . . . Fight on, dear 
 brother,' till death? — no! till 'victory shall bring 
 thee to thy God.'" 
 
 TO EBV. E. P. GOODWIN, D. D. 
 
 August 14, 1882. — "You have presented a weighty 
 subject for my consideration, and what can I say? 
 Surely you who stand on the watch-towers of one of 
 the most evangelical countries on earth, sweeping 
 the whole spiritual horizon of our planet, can better 
 report the state of Christianity in the world, and 
 especially in our favored land, than we who occupy 
 the distant stations in the shadowy realms of hea- 
 thendom. 
 
 "But as you ask for my impressions as to the cor- 
 rectness of ' President Washburn's convictions that the 
 American churches are losing their interest and faith 
 in foreign missions,' allow me to say that, on the 
 whole, I would regard this as a mistake; at least 
 let me hope so. The waters of the world left to the 
 
192 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 laws of hydrostatics will find their level. Rivers 
 flowing undisturbed in channels of uniform depth 
 and breadth and angles of descent, will move 
 smoothly and with increasing speed. But the 
 Mississippi is so changed in its course by disturbances, 
 that a stranger following down its devious banks 
 might doubt where it would disembogue its mighty 
 flood. But it is bound to the gulf and to the ocean, 
 and, in spite of all its obstructions and sinuations, it. 
 will reach its destination. 
 
 "In this light I look upon the church of God in 
 the world. Its growth and progress are beautifully 
 pictured in Ezek., 47th chap., and in the Revelation 
 of John under the figure of a river. Ezekiel sees it 
 as 'issuing out from under the house of the Lord,' 
 deepening, widening and extending into 'a river that 
 could not be passed over.' And he adds that 
 'Everything shall live whither the river cometh.' 
 The same glowing figure is found in the last chapter 
 of the precious Bible. Doubtless this river means 
 the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament. 
 And the carrying of this 'water of life' is the work 
 of God's people. The church must be the channel 
 of conveyance, and, as God has now removed all 
 formidable obstacles, and provided the means of 
 rapid and universal communication with the nations 
 and peoples of the earth, it is, doubtless, the solemn 
 duty and the precious privilege of the children of 
 Zion to carry the water of life to all the families of 
 men; and with trump of jubilee, sounding from 
 every hill-top and along every valley, to call a thirsty 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 193 
 
 and perishing world to come to the gushing foun- 
 tain, to drink and live. 
 
 "During my visit to the United States in 1870, I 
 felt assured that many ministers of the gospel, and 
 many churches were earnest and faithful in this work. 
 I also felt that many were delinquent, that they had 
 never understood the marching orders of Zion's 
 King; that a veil was upon their hearts; that the 
 god of this world had blinded their minds to the 
 great, and only great life-work of the church, viz.: 
 to 'disciple all nations.' But I did not feel that the 
 work, on the whole, was retrograding; any more 
 than that the 'Father of waters' was running up hill 
 to empty into the Northern Polar ocean. 
 
 "I admired the work of women. It is great and 
 grand. It is full of the sunshine of love. Its 
 prayers are as the rain of heaven. Its tears are the 
 drops of spring, opening its buds and giving promise 
 of a joyful harvest. And I began to feel that our 
 women are yet to save our dear country from the 
 fiery dragon of intemperance, and the petrifying 
 power of infidelity. I do not believe that the 
 precious, precious cause of missions is to be left to a 
 blind and mad indifference, and that the lamps of 
 life which are shining, though dimly, upon the 
 benighted nations, are to be extinguished for want 
 of oil. But I did and do feel that our love to our 
 bleeding Savior is too cold, and our pity for our 
 perishing brethren and sisters in lands of brooding 
 darkness is too feeble. We are not awake to our 
 privileges. Bronze gates are open, iron bars are 
 broken, and the voice of the Eternal calls the church to 
 
1 94 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 improve the opportunity, lest Satan shall pre-occupy 
 the field, and scatter the seeds of infidelity which 
 shall prove a more stubborn obstacle to the blessed 
 Gospel than the old paganism. The Captain of our 
 salvation calls out of heaven to his church to 'arise 
 and shine.' But the increase of professed Christians, 
 of intelligence and of wealth, and the multiplied 
 facilities for Christian work are not rightly improved. 
 Zion does not lengthen her cords and strengthen her 
 stakes fast enough. The heathen are marching by 
 annual millions into ruin while we enjoy our luxuries 
 and are at ease. The contributions of the church 
 should be increased ten fold in means and in living 
 workers, and also in the clear understanding of the 
 fervent effectual prayer, 'Thy kingdom come.' 
 
 "You ask an explanation of the apathy of Chris- 
 tians in regard to foreign missions. I will simply 
 suggest a few of the multiform causes as they have 
 struck my mind. The main root is worldliness and 
 self-gratification. To many wealth conies in like a 
 flood. Perhaps the like was never known before. 
 Now it seems to be a law of human nature that 
 an unchecked desire for wealth beguiles and blinds 
 men. Accumulation begets the lust for accumula- 
 tion until the rich man is ensnared and drowned in 
 'destruction and perdition.' There are rich men 
 who are rich in faith and in good works. Such are 
 God's stewards. But the masses of wealthy men are 
 not of this stamp. 
 
 "A canker that eats deep into the hearts of 
 thousands upon thousands of professed Christians is 
 an unguarded and unscrupulous love for luxuries. 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 195 
 
 They give the penny to the Lord and the pound to 
 the mansion and the furnishings, to glittering orna- 
 ments and unnecessary show. Tens of thousands 
 Hve in houses that cost thirty, fifty and a hundred 
 thousand dollars, with furnishings in equally expen- 
 sive proportions, when they might have reduced 
 these expenses one-half or three-fourths without 
 loss on the score of comfort and convenience, and 
 given the great balance to the suffering poor and the 
 perishing heathen. 
 
 "For armies, for navies, for war and strife, for 
 blood and agony and dying groans, for millions of 
 souls sent shivering into eternity, gold and silver 
 can be poured out in streams that flow like melted 
 lavas, while for the rescue of 800,000,000 of souls 
 that are hurrying into a dark and fearful future, only 
 a few drops of mercy can be afforded. Alas for the 
 church! Must we be weighed in the balances and 
 be found wanting? 
 
 "O that a harvesting angel might be sent from 
 heaven to gather up the hoarded and the wasted 
 wealth of the churches to pour it into the treasury 
 of the Lord. Many of the hard-laboring poor so 
 pathetically depicted in 'The Song of the Shirt' give 
 more in the sight of our adorable Savior than the 
 rich miUionaire. ... 
 
 "As to the motives which lead missionaries to the 
 heathen, they are .plain to all enlightened Christians. 
 'The love of Christ constrains;'' and his command, 
 coupled with love for the perishing, is a motor that 
 moves them to obedience. Of course success 
 encourages, and failure leads to the inquiry. Why? 
 
196 Memorial of Rev, Titus Coan. 
 
 I commenced my life work cheerfully and in hope, 
 because I felt called of Christ to do so, and because 
 my heart was drawn out in pity for the heathen. 
 Success followed and increased joy, courage and 
 strength. Had I gone to China, or some harder 
 field, I might have felt sad for want of apparent and 
 immediate success; but I trust that I should not 
 have forsaken the work, or doubted the duty of 
 discipling the nations, or the promised presence of 
 the Master. . . . 
 
 "The Hawaiians are poor, and yet as to their 
 percentage of giving, there is no comparison between 
 our native churches and the wealthy members of 
 your churches in the United States. They give a 
 thousand per cent, more than your rich men. And 
 they often do it with shining faces and jubilant 
 hearts. But all do not give. We have the stingy . 
 and the scoffer. I usually preach a missionary 
 sermon, or something connected with generosity, on 
 the first Sabbath of every month, giving my people 
 such facts as keep them informed on what God and 
 his children are doing to evangelize the nations. 
 
 "Three words embrace our whole commission to 
 the heathen, viz: Pray! Give! Go! And how can 
 a man pray 'Thy kingdom come,' while he gives 
 nothing, or nothing worthy of a man, to help the 
 conquests and enlargements of th;? kingdom? How 
 can the ambassadors of the Lord go without means 
 of support? or preach to the heathen unless they be 
 sent? What must we think of pastors and churches 
 who are often chanting 'The Lord's Prayer,' without 
 
Memorial of Rev. Coan. Titus 197 
 
 giving or going? Will not their very prayers con- 
 demn them before the final judge? 
 
 "I fear that the absolute dependence on the 
 presence and power of the Holy Spirit in the con- 
 version of our lost world is too little felt everywhere, 
 not excepting your unworthy correspondent. I fear 
 that too much dependence is put on machinery, 
 upon learning, eloquence and popular preaching and 
 living, such as will please the fastidious, and gratify 
 ' itching ears.' And I fear that strict and cheerful 
 obedience to God, that supreme element of true love 
 and pure religion, is not taught and urged, as it 
 should be, as the condition of acceptance before the 
 Lord. 
 
 "Please let me know if I have in any way answered 
 your questions satisfactorily. 
 
 "With great respect and brotherly love, I am 
 your fellow-laborer in the kingdom and patience of 
 Jesus Christ. TiTUS COAN. " 
 
 Mr. Coan had sometimes said that if God would 
 grant him once more to see life among "the dry 
 bones," he thought he could pray "now lettest thou 
 thy servant depart in peace. " When the blessing came 
 in the reviving influences of the Holy Spirit, which 
 attended his own labors among his people after his 
 return from Honolulu, and which continued to be 
 manifested during the gospel meetings held by the 
 evangelists, his soul rejoiced and blessed the Lord. 
 But he was still eager, while strength remained, to 
 be about his Father's business. 
 
 Early in September, the East Hawaii Association 
 met in Hilo. With cheerful endurance he daily 
 attended its long, wearying sessions until they 
 
1 98 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 closed. On the morning after the adjournment, 
 Sept. iSth, he said, "Now the pressure is- lifted 
 somewhat, I am going to break out to-day. I will 
 go among the people to find a little exercise and 
 recreation." At family worship that morning the 
 Psalm in course was the 103d. He read it with 
 deep feeling ; pausing a little to talk about the 
 Lord's putting our sins from us "as far as the east 
 is from the west," and about the precious thought 
 of the Heavenly Father's pity for his children. A 
 tender pathos was in his voice while he read, "As 
 for man, his days are as grass; as a flower of the 
 field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over 
 it, and it is gone ; and the place thereof shall know 
 it no more. " Yet he knew not, as he laid down the 
 family Bible, that he should never again read from 
 its sacred pages, and that the place at which he 
 knelt to pray would know him no more. 
 
 After prayers he went to his study, as was his 
 custom; and, in the hours that followed, probably 
 prepared the brief of the next Sabbath's sermon, 
 from the text, "Looking unto Jesus." When re- 
 minded of his purpose to seek relaxation, he left his 
 desk at once, saying he had been prompted just at 
 the right time. 
 
 Mr. Coan's outings always seemed those of the 
 sower, going forth to sow. It is remembered that 
 on this his last walk about the streets of the little 
 village, he was seen standing in conversation with a 
 foreigner whom he earnestly entreated to lead a 
 purer life. 
 
 Cheered by his walk, and refreshed by the daily 
 bath, in the afternoon he again repaired to his 
 study. Unanswered letters were on his table ; he 
 would reply to those from two young nephews, sons 
 of the missionary to Persia. He wrote to each ; 
 and to the elder thus: 
 
Metnorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 1 99 
 
 "my deae nephew feed: 
 
 "If you are filled with the spirit of love and 
 obedience to Christ, and an earnest, pure desire to 
 win souls for the Master, your life will be useful 
 and happy. I presume you do not belong to the 
 class of young Christian students who spend the 
 seed-time of life, and the flower of youth, in prep- 
 aration to be useful, but rather, that while diligent 
 in your studies you are 'fervent in spirit' and in 
 prayer; and active in all proper ways and seasons 
 in doing good. A very important part of our prep- 
 aration for the service of the Master consists in 
 earnest labors to save souls while we are cultivating 
 our mental powers by study. I would not make 
 myself an example of fidelity, but would bless the 
 Lord for inclining me, long before my decision to 
 study for the ministry, and during my theological 
 course, to watch for souls, and to improve oppor- 
 tunities by the wayside and everywhere, as Provi- 
 dence gave them, to speak a word for Jesus. And 
 these exercises did not hinder but helped my studies, 
 as they brought me into contact with humanity in 
 its multiform shades and aspects, and helped me 
 much during my whole ministry in winning souls 
 for Christ. How many pious and ardent young 
 men have studied hard in college and seminary 
 with the hope of future fruitfulness, when disease 
 and death rapped at the door, took them suddenly 
 away, and called them apparently ' empty handed,' 
 or with ' nothing but leaves,' to their last account. 
 Thus we are admonished to work while it is day, to 
 sow our seed in the morning, in the evening, beside 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 all waters, and everywhere and always to be found 
 working in the Master's vineyard, until he comes to 
 call us to a higher service. My prayer shall ever 
 be that you may be fully consecrated, and meet for 
 the work and warfare of Hfe, having put on the 
 whole armor of God. " 
 
 Once more he dipped his pen and wrote a few 
 lines to his " ever dear brother Lyons," but the 
 letter was never finished. Reading and sweet dis- 
 course filled the evening hours of that day. 
 
 On the following morning a messenger came, 
 bearing summons from the Master. Mr. Coan 
 seemed to have caught some vision of him; he called 
 him " a beautiful messenger," and told us he had 
 come to bid him away. He said he believed it was 
 his time to go, and with solemn earnestness he re- 
 peated Paul's memorable words, " The time of my 
 departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight ; 
 I have finished my course. I have kept the faith ; 
 henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of right- 
 eousness. " 
 
 The bodily powers failed rapidly; but his soul 
 triumphed, and testified of its faith and love in such 
 exultant strains, it seemed as if he were improvising 
 some " psalm of life," of which the frequent refrain 
 was " Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! " Then, exhausted, 
 he slept. When roused, by direction of the doctor, 
 to take the medicine prescribed, he said: " O, why 
 did you call me back? I was almost home, in my 
 Father's house." Having somewhat revived, he 
 said to his wife, " If I do not go to-day, it will be 
 a disappointment to me; but if you say I must stay, 
 and your prayers prevail, I am willing to remain. 
 Let His will be done, entirely." 
 
 The faithful physicians, Drs. Wetmore and Kit- 
 tredge, and Mr. Coan's son, who lived near, to- 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 gether with her with whom he had " walked in lov- 
 ing fellowship," watched by him though all that day 
 and night, believing that the end was very near. 
 
 Sabbath morning many friends came in to see 
 him. One of these wrote: " His simple, sweet 
 faith, his constant outbreaks of rapture, his testi- 
 mony to the support of Jesus, in the dying hour, 
 make it a sacred joy to be with him. At times his 
 utterance is unintelligible, feeble and low, then it 
 rises into strong and beautiful distinctness. There 
 is only one tone to his soul — it is all joy and peace 
 there. The natives who had heard of his condition 
 were coming and going, the room being filled most 
 of the time. They drew about his bedside, leaning 
 over him in great sadness and solemnity. For all 
 of them he had a blessed word of counsel or testi- 
 mony; a favorite quotation from scripture, or a 
 prayer. " 
 
 As the church bells rang for service he asked what 
 bells they were, and having been told he responded: 
 " Yes, they will have their meeting to-day, but it 
 will not be mine; I shall go to the assembly of the 
 first-born." 
 
 But the " abundant entrance " was not to be at 
 once. He whose life had ever been one of rare ac- 
 tivity, was to be a beautiful ensample of saintly 
 patience in serving while he waited. In the pres- 
 ence of the messenger he had exclaimed, " O, death, 
 where is thy sting! O, grave, where is thy victory! " 
 And when asked if he had any fears, he had an- 
 swered, " When I look at myself, I see no reason 
 why I should be in heaven; when I look at Jesus, 
 I see such a Savior I have no fears, not one, not 
 one." 
 
 Afterwards, as wearisome days and nights were 
 appointed him, he bore witness often to the pres- 
 ence of the Comforter. " I know it is of the Lord," 
 he would say, " and what he does is best. I bow 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 to his will entirely, entirely. " When one grieved 
 for him, that he must pass the days in the " distress 
 of disability," the utter helplessness of paralyzed 
 limbs, he said, smiling sweetly, " Let patience have 
 her perfect work, her perfect work. That is my 
 motto. I say it to myself every day and God helps 
 me. We have everything to be thankful for; the 
 Lord is very good to us. " 
 
 A remarkable degree of memory and great clear- 
 ness of mind were granted to the dear invalid 
 through all those weeks of waiting. He retained 
 an unfailing interest in the world's progress, and 
 listened to all that could be read to him. He heard 
 to the end the three closely printed sheets of the 
 Portland Press, not wishing to have one paragraph 
 omitted of that paper's report of the meeting of the 
 American Board. As we read to him from Mrs, 
 Thurston's "Book of Reminiscences," he delighted in 
 recalling the experiences of missionary toil through 
 which they both had passed. Chapters in Mr. 
 Kimball's book on " Heaven " gave him great com- 
 fort, while letters from beloved friends were wel- 
 comed as often as they came. Yet he was not 
 inclined to talk at any length, and would sometimes 
 say that he was not thinking much, only found it 
 " sweet to lie passive in His hands and know no will 
 but His. " Sometimes, in reply to inquiries how he 
 felt, he would answer, "I feel pretty well, as if I 
 ought to be up and at work;" and then would tell 
 of his dreams, in which he had been calling over 
 long lists of names, assigning to each one some task 
 to be done. Once he said, "I can't rest with my 
 Redeemer. The Redeemer doesn't rest; he works 
 always. " 
 
 There were many touching scenes through all those 
 days. Aged men, who in their prime had been the 
 companions of the beloved missionary in his tours, 
 came long distances to speak once more with their 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 203 
 
 revered teacher. Leaving their shoes at an outer 
 door, they stepped softly into the room where he 
 lay, and, with tears coursing down their cheeks, 
 pressed the hand that had so often been extended 
 to them. Then kneeling by the bedside they would 
 pour out their grief in tender prayer to God. 
 
 On the 1st of November, at Mr. Coan's request, 
 the candidates for admission to the church assembled 
 in the parlor of his home. Unable, himself, to take 
 active part in the examination held, he listened to 
 it as conducted by the venerable Father Lyman and 
 the assistant Hawaiian minister. At its conclusion, 
 as the eighteen candidates passed from the room, he 
 gave his left hand to each and spoke a word of gra- 
 cious benediction, his own face radiant with holy 
 peace, while others wept. 
 
 About the eighth week of his sickness there began 
 to be so much gain of strength and vitality in the 
 prostrated frame that hopes of his recovery revived 
 in the hearts of his friends. A comfortable manele, 
 or rechning chair, was made for him, and in this, 
 borne on the shoulders of strong men, he was car- 
 ried about the village. Those who saw him on these 
 occasions spoke of his beautiful, bright smiles, and 
 of his courteous greetings as they met him. Ever 
 thoughtful of others, he sometimes directed the 
 bearers to rest by lowering the manele to the 
 ground; and while they thus halted, natives from 
 houses near by gathered about him. Their plaint- 
 ive wails were touching, but in his placid eyes there 
 was a wondrous look of heavenly love and calm. 
 Heaven was not far away. 
 
 Not infrequently during the last month Mr. Coan 
 was able to lead in prayer at the morning or even- 
 ing devotions. And he prayed as if in the very 
 presence of the Father. As a trustful child sure of 
 forgiveness, he confessed his sins and quietly com- 
 mitted his soul to the faithful Keeper. 
 
204 MeiHorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 On the morning of Friday, ist December, after a 
 very restful night, we thought him better than he 
 had been at any time before since his attack. At 
 noon, in preparation for the daily airing, he was 
 lifted from the bed and aided to his easy chair. As 
 his head leaned upon the pillow fitted to it a pallor 
 and look of pain passed over his face, and to the 
 anxious inquiry, "What is it, darhng?" he answered, 
 " I am going." Yes, the hour to go had come. 
 The heavenly visitant, whose first coming had been 
 at dawn, September i6, had tarried for a while that 
 precious seasons in the land of Beulah might, to the 
 survivors, give glimpses of glory to be revealed. 
 Now he was ready to take the beloved toiler to 
 higher service. Tender counsels and blessed testi- 
 monies had long been uttered. What need of 
 more? Three words of " Farewell," spoken calmly 
 — slowly; the name of Jesus whispered with the 
 latest breath, and then he stood before the King, 
 
 " Faultless in His glory's presence! 
 Faultless in that dazzling light. " 
 
 The 3d December was a Sabbath of most exquisite 
 loveliness. Something of the beauty of those 
 heavenly fields " in living green," and of the bright- 
 ness of the upper courts seemed reflected upon the 
 earth. But in Hilo flags were for the third day at 
 half-mast, and a slow-tolling bell called together a 
 company of weeping mourners. The precious re- 
 mains of the departed pastor were borne to the 
 church, and once more his people looked upon the 
 noble face so calmly beautiful in death. 
 
 Occupying the draped pulpit of their revered 
 friend, the Reverends Mr. Lyman, Mr. Baker, and 
 Mr. Oleson, with the Hawaiian pastors, Mr. Kalana 
 and Mr. Pahio, took their assigned parts in reading 
 the Scriptures, in prayers, and in addresses. The 
 sweet hymns, "There is a land of pure delight," 
 
Memorial of Rev, Titus Coan. 205 
 
 and " Nearer, my God, to Thee," were sung. Then 
 a long procession followed the hearse, drawn by- 
 many kindly hands, to the place of burial. No 
 more fitting or beautiful spot on all the earth could 
 be a quiet resting place for the sainted dead. Into 
 a flower-strewn grave the sacred dust was lowered, 
 while tearful voices sang, 
 
 "Asleep in Jesus, blessed sleep, 
 From which none ever wake to weep." 
 
 The venerable Father Lyman offered one more 
 prayer, and then "all that love the deepest, the 
 tenderest, all that respect and honor, the highest 
 and truest could do, had been done; and in un- 
 doubting hope of a glorious resurrection we left him 
 there." 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coa?i. 
 
 » 
 
 XIV. 
 
 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 " When the weary ones we love 
 Enter on their rest above, 
 Seems the earth so poor and vast, 
 AH our life joy overcast? 
 Hush! be every murmur dumb, 
 It is only ' TUl He come.' " 
 
 As Mr. Coan's Hilo friends desired another 
 occasion when in some public way they might still 
 witness to the esteem and affection in which his 
 memory was cherished, they held a Memorial 
 Service in Haili Church on the 25th of March, 1883. 
 Portions of papers and ■ letters read at that time, 
 together with some of later dates, are gathered into 
 this thesaurus, in the hope that to many who knew 
 and loved the friend thus mourned and honored, 
 these tributes may be valuable. 
 
 FROM WM. T. BEIGHAM. 
 
 Boston, Jan. \, 1883. 
 
 TO EEV. E. p. BAKEE: 
 
 "The letter just received informing me of the 
 death of my dear and honored friend, Titus Coan, 
 causes mingled feelings of sadness and chastened 
 joy. I look back to those very happy days when 
 he was my Mentor in exploring Puna and Kilauea, 
 and my kind host in the Emefald Bower; to the 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 207 
 
 later years when he was aiding science so effectually 
 by his wise correspondence; to the visit he made me 
 in my own home; to our last meeting two years ago 
 in Hilo; and to the last letter I had from him so 
 full of kindness and love. But is it not a joy to have 
 known, and to be the friend of such a man ? To 
 those of us who are still groping and stumbling on 
 in this dark world, what consolation his life offers ! 
 How well he, through all the years of a long and 
 useful life, kept steadily on the narrow path with his 
 face set toward Zion. Can we doubt that he has 
 heard the blessed words, 'Well done, thou good 
 and faithful servant, enter into the joy of thy Lord?' 
 "No narrow bounds confined his work, and while 
 acting as a true hishop to his flock, and a wise citi- 
 zen and friend, he yet found time to do more for sci- 
 ence in watching and recording the wonderful fiery 
 work of Kilauea and Mokuaweoweo, than all other 
 men united. To day, wherever the phenomena of 
 volcanoes and earthquakes are studied, the name 
 of Titus Coan is familiar, and no work on the Ha- 
 waiian volcanoes would have much value that did 
 not quote largely from his reports. Science will 
 enroll his name among the illustrious dead of the 
 departed year, and in the name of my fellow- 
 scientists here I hasten to offer a tribute to his 
 memory. Will you lay upon the new-made grave 
 a wreath of maile, as I would do if present, 
 as an offering from me, who loved, honored and 
 never doubted Titus Coan ? May its leaves be a 
 token that here, so many thousand miles away, we 
 will keep his memory green." 
 
2o8 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 FEOM EEV. J. E. BOYD, D. D. 
 
 Albany, Jan. 2, 1883. 
 
 TO MES. COAN. 
 
 . . . . "Only last night at family worship I of- 
 fered supplication for his recovery and health, and a 
 return to a life of active usefulness, when it seems 
 he had been a month in the sanctuary above — a 
 happy spirit before the throne. My tears mingle 
 with yours at his departure. I have just been bless- 
 ing God anew for my acquaintance with your dear 
 husband, for his friendship, his love, his letters, his 
 prayers, and for my personal intercourse with him 
 under your own hospitable roof, which at times 
 seemed almost the vestibule of heaven. Times in- 
 numerable I have recalled the happy weeks passed 
 with him, and our seasons of converse upon divine 
 truths. I bless God for prolonging his life until the 
 publication of his ' Life in Hawaii,' and also for the 
 continuity of his labors for Christ through so long a 
 period. " 
 
 FEOM EEV. N. G. OLAEK, D. D. 
 
 {Corresponding Secretary of A. B. C. F. M.) 
 
 Boston, Jan. 3, 1883. 
 
 TO EEV. E. p. BAKEE. 
 
 "Your favor of Dec. 14 in regard to our honored 
 and beloved missionary, Mr. Coan, has just come to 
 hand. I have not time or strength to enter into 
 any detailed account of his very valuable labors 
 and most remarkable life. Others will do it. I can- 
 not but congratulate you on the privilege of having 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 209 
 
 known such a man, and shared in his sympathies 
 and large and generous Christian views. It is an 
 education t(3 know and be intimate with such a man, 
 and his influence upon your own life and character 
 will doubtless be reflected for, years in your min- 
 istry. " 
 
 FROM MES. EDWAED E. WATEE8. 
 
 Sandwich, Mass., Jan. 4, 1883. 
 . "There are many incidents of my child- 
 hood connected with father which I can never for- 
 get, but the present sorrow is too great to think of 
 much but the magnitude of our loss. That which 
 stands out most clearly and brightly before me now, 
 is his whole character, to which I would reverently 
 and affectionately pay a few words of tribute. As 
 a father he was firm, but his firmness was so tem- 
 pered of gentleness born of love, as to ' cast out 
 fear.' Not a day passed without some expression 
 of his deep affection. It might be a bright smile, 
 and a jest about his little bird, made to a little girl 
 swinging in the top of a guava tree, or a snatched 
 kiss as the same little girl flew past him in the romp 
 of a game. In childhood, girlhood and woman- 
 hood to think of him was to say to one's self, ' Papa 
 loves me.' And to the boundless love of his nature 
 I think you, his townsmen, can bear witness. ' With, 
 malice toward none, with charity for all,' might fit- 
 tingly be his epitaph, for it was the sin and not the 
 sinner against which he battled. Of his sweetness, 
 gentleness; patience, moral courage, enduring faith 
 and buoyancy of heart it is not my province to 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 speak, more than to say these traits of character 
 made a lasting impression on my child mind. 
 
 "I can remember no angry word, no impatience 
 amid all the trials of life, nor even a complaint that 
 life had its hardships, of which he endured many in 
 his long career. 
 
 "So there is laid to rest a loving and loved parent, 
 whose children rise up and call him blessed. ' He 
 lived by Faith' he requests inscribed on his tomb. 
 The words recall an incident of my very young 
 childhood. He was endeavoring to make clear the 
 meaning of perfect faith, and wished to illustrate it, 
 as was his custom, by a practical application. I was 
 to stand on the top of a high wardrobe and jump, 
 without injury, he assured me, into his arms. It 
 was some time before his affectionate coaxings and 
 promises of safety could overcome to my mind the 
 obstacle of that hard floor beneath onto which I 
 might fall. But I finally jumped unhurt, and the 
 lesson on faith went home with lasting force. 
 
 "He had faith, hope, charity; but the greatest of 
 these was. charity. " 
 
 FEOM EEV. S. J. HUMPHREY, D. D. 
 
 {District Secretary of the A. B. C. F. M.) 
 
 Chicago, Jan. ,5, 1883. 
 
 TO EBV. E. p. BAKEE. 
 
 . " I can think of no more beautifully 
 ordered departure than Mr. Coan's. It seemed 
 eminently fitting that he who had labored with such 
 restless energy should show that, at his J^ord's bid- 
 ding, he could also suffer and wait. It will always 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 be a delightful memory with me Jthat when this 
 saint of God was visiting this country, I was per- 
 mitted to come into personal fellowship with him, 
 and to hear from his own lips of the wonderful suc- 
 cess of his labors through the abounding [grace of 
 God. Nothing in my official life of nineteen years 
 has given me greater pleasure or been productive of 
 more good, I think, than the preparing of a narra- 
 tive of the great revival as he was connected with 
 it, drawn from his own lips and from his exceed- 
 ingly interesting letters. 
 
 "It is a very delightful thought that a life which 
 had witnessed such scenes of revival should have 
 given its last labors in special efforts for lost souls, 
 and that in the midst of the toils of a season of 
 refreshing from the Most High the tense bow should 
 have broken. There was a divine and delightful 
 fitness that the spirit of the aged warrior should 
 ascend to its reward from the battle-field where the 
 gracious conflict was still raging, and where such 
 amazing triumphs of infinite love had been'achieved. 
 
 " I trust that your Memorial Service will be one 
 of great spiritual profit, and that in rendering due 
 respect to the friend and father departed, there will 
 come fresh honor to the blessed King''and Lord 
 whom it was his highest ambition to serve." 
 
 FEOM EEV. E. P. GOODWm, D. D. 
 
 Chicago, Jan. i8, 1883. 
 
 TO MES. 00 AN. 
 
 "All our hearts bear you up lovingly in this hour 
 of sorrow. Yet we all know how the light must 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 shine upon your way from those opened gates 
 through which the dear departed has entered into 
 the better country. Such a going home as his — 
 after a life all given to the Master's service, and a 
 life that had seen the harvests garnered in a way 
 hardly permitted to another missionary toiler — was 
 like a hero's triumph. It seems to me as if John 
 Banyan's vision must have been more than realized, 
 and all the sky been filled with horses and chariots 
 of fire, and harpers on stringed instruments to wel- 
 come this honored servant as he went in at the 
 gates of the city. As I listen, that mighty anthem 
 of ineffable praise seems to breathe celestial music 
 on the air, " Blessing and honor and glory and 
 power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, 
 and unto the Lamb forever and ever." And amid 
 the pauses of the harmony I seem to see your hus- 
 band led up by a mighty angel to receive a crown 
 thick set with stars, and with it the dear Lord's 
 "Well done." Surely such a going home as that is 
 all victory, and to be rejoiced in even through our 
 tears. " 
 
 FEOM EEV. E. K. ALDEN, D. D. 
 
 {^Corresponding Secretary of the A. B. C. F. M.) 
 
 Boston, Jan. 30, 1883. 
 
 TO MISS BINGHAM. 
 
 "You and your sister and other friends have been 
 much in our thoughts and prayers of late. We sat 
 with you, a great many of us, during those weeks 
 when you were watching for the departure of your 
 and our Elijah. We were not near enough to see 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 213 
 
 the ascension or the chariots, possibly not even to 
 catch the faUing mantle, though we would gladly do 
 it, but with you and a great multitude around the 
 world who felt as though they had personally known 
 him, we cried, " My father, my father! the chariots 
 of Israel and the horsemen thereof. " 
 
 It was once my high honor to have Mr. Coan in 
 my own pulpit, and to hear then from his lips the 
 •story which has thrilled so many, of the great in- 
 gathering of his Pentecostal years of labor. I have 
 been permitted during the past six years and more 
 to speak of him in a great many pulpits all over the 
 land; and since his departure have seemed almost 
 to see him looking down serenely from his present 
 exalted point of vision, and encouraging us who 
 remain, with his animating words. He will abide 
 in our missionary firmament like Siriiis and Orion 
 in the skies above us in the night season." 
 
 FKOM EEV. O. M. HYDE, D. D. 
 
 {President of the North Pacific Theological Institute.) 
 
 TO MRS. coan: 
 
 "To our whole community the tidings of Mr. 
 Coan's death came as unexpectedly as suddenly. 
 And to the mission circle it was like the falling of 
 Table Rock, that had stood so long and borne itself 
 so sturdily in the midst of Time's Niagara-like flood 
 of commotion and change. He had not only iden- 
 tified himself with his beloved Hilo, and the won- 
 drous transformations of these forty bygone years, 
 but here at Honolulu his annual visit to the general 
 meeting, and active participation in the consultations 
 
214 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 and decisions of the June anniversaries, was one of 
 the marked features of the occasion. What will the 
 mission work of the Sandwich Islands be without 
 Titus Coan ? 
 
 "His name and his life are identified with God's 
 marvelous work of grace in these islands, the over- 
 throw of pagan cruelty and superstition, the spread 
 of Christian truth and love, the upbuilding of the 
 institutions of piety and philanthropy. The earthen 
 vessel is broken, but the fragrant perfume of divine 
 grace will linger long in the loving memories with 
 which his name will be associated and cherished. 
 We are glad to know that in the closing days of life 
 he had ample time for last loving thoughts and 
 labors for those whom he knew he must soon leave, 
 and that the final summons came not in conflict and 
 agony, but in such gentle guise as brings to mind 
 the old Jewish tradition of the death of Moses, whose 
 breath Jehovah kissed away. 
 
 "Our family send to you their sympathy alike in 
 the grief at parting with one so honored on earth, 
 and the joy of anticipating for him the eternal bless- 
 edness of the rest of heaven. " 
 
 FEOM EEV. H. BINGHAM. 
 
 "I can never forget the great hospitality of Mr. 
 Coan when I have visited Hilo. I cannot forget his 
 cordial manner and pleasant smiles; his deep inter- 
 est in the foreign work in Micronesia; his thorough 
 work as a delegate of the Hawaiian Board, in the 
 Marquesas in 1 867 ; his zeal in collecting funds for 
 missionary purposes; his promptness in meeting his 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 215 
 
 appointments; his regular attendance at the annual 
 meetings of the Association in Honolulu, and his 
 great liberality. 'Did my memory serve me well, I 
 would like to go back forty-five years to the days 
 when Brother Coan's words of love to the mission 
 children thrilled our young hearts, and made us 
 realize the love of Jesus, and the duty we were 
 under of giving our hearts to him in our childhood. 
 Will the fading past re-appear in vivid distinctness 
 when we drink of the waters of Life above ?" 
 
 FROM EBV. 8. 0. DAMON, D. D. 
 
 "The grand business of Mr. Coan's life has been 
 to preach the Gospel among Hawaiians, and right 
 nobly has he performed his life-work. But he had 
 broad sympathies, which led him to labor efficiently 
 for his fellow-men of all races, so far as they were 
 brought under his influence. For many years he 
 has been a most efficient seamen's chaplain. Assisted 
 by the Rev.. Mr. Lyman, a chaplaincy was sustained 
 at Hilo, by their voluntary, well-directed efforts, 
 which for usefulness equaled almost any chaplaincy 
 in any other part of the world. 
 
 " Upon this subject I can speak with great freedom 
 and assurance, for during the past forty years I have 
 been in the most intimate correspondence with Mr. 
 Coan. I feel sure the spiritual interests of seamen 
 attached to the whaling fleet and vessels of war 
 could not have been more thoughtfully cared for if 
 a chaplain had been sent out from America or Eng- 
 land for this special field of labor; yet this extra 
 service was discharged with the most hearty cheer 
 
2i6 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 and thoughtful consideration. Many masters, offi- 
 cers and seamen must have good reason to bless 
 God to all eternity that they touched at Hilo in their 
 long voyages, and came under the happy influence 
 of Mr. Coan and other resident missionaries at that 
 port. 
 
 "He loved to preach the Gospel. He was no 
 ordinary preacher, but was often truly eloquent, in 
 both English and Hawaiian. As a platform speaker 
 few were more ready and eloquent. 
 
 "Some men are distinguished in their public ca- 
 reer, but fail when viewed in the home circle and by 
 their neighbors. We believe it was the good fort- 
 une of our departed brother to appear at his very 
 best at home and among his familiar friends. He 
 was most considerate and thoughtful of those with 
 whom he came in familiar intercourse. How often 
 have we heard guests refer to the home of the Mis- 
 sionary, Coan, in Hilo, and have there ourselves 
 experienced his kindness. I am happy to bear my 
 testimony to the purity, refinement and ideal beauty 
 and excellency of that home. It was one of "XH. 
 Homes," so enthusiastically described by the Rev. 
 Dr. Chaney in his volume entitled 'Aloha.' 
 
 "While there are other traits to which I might 
 make reference, as, for example, his love for science 
 and nature, there is one characteristic to which I 
 would not fail to allude. I refer to his love for chil- 
 dren. They were in his thoughts continually, and 
 his correspondence with many of them, outside of 
 his family circle, was most interesting. He delighted 
 to preach for their special benefit. 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 217 
 
 "In contemplating his life and character I am 
 forcibly reminded of the old Roman saying, "Mens 
 Sana in corpore sano. " With these he was right 
 royally endowed by the author of his being, and 
 when we reflect that to these were added a good ed- 
 ucation, a naturally poetic temperament, and an 
 emotional, spiritual nature, it is apparent that Rev. 
 Titus Coan stands forth as a man of no ordinary 
 abilities and endowments. He will be remembered 
 as one of the noble men who have in modern times 
 been leaders in the world's evangelization. Such 
 men may have been sustained by some local or na- 
 tional missionary society or organization, but they 
 belong to the church universal, the catholic church. 
 Carey, Williams, Livingston, Pattison and Moffat 
 head the list of English Protestant missionaries, 
 while Judson, Mills, Goodell, Bingham, Thurston 
 and others lead off in the noble phalanx of those 
 who have left America. 
 
 "Among those noble men our friend who has just 
 passed away will have his allotted place. 
 
 " ' Servant of Christ, well done, 
 Praise be thy new employ; 
 And, while eternal ages run, 
 Rest in thy Savior's joy.' " 
 
 FEOM PEOF. W. D. ALEXANDER. 
 
 "Our lamented friend, Mr. Coan, was one who 
 looked through nature up to nature's God. 
 
 "The sublime volcanic phenomena which he 
 witnessed were to him but manifestations of the 
 power and glory of the Creator, and with the inspired 
 poet of old he would exclaim 'He looketh upon the 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 earth and it trembleth; He toucheth the hills and 
 they smoke; He uttered his voice and the earth 
 melted. The hills melted like wax at the presence 
 of the Lord.' 
 
 " Although he had not enjoyed any special scientific 
 training, and made no pretensions to the character 
 of a professional geologist, he was a good observer 
 and of sound judgment; while for physical vigor and 
 endurance he had few equals. As a mountain 
 climber he would have been qualified for admission 
 into the Alpine Club. In addition to these qualities 
 he had a natural gift of language, and his descriptions 
 are remarkably vivid and true to nature. 
 
 "At the visit of the United States Exploring- Ex- 
 pedition in 1840, he made the acquaintance of 
 several distinguished scientific gentlemen. Among 
 these Prof J. D. Dana, so distinguished as a Chris- 
 tian philosopher, continued to be his life-long friend 
 and correspondent. 
 
 "Afterwards, in 1846, Prof. C. S. Lyman, now of 
 the Sheffield Scientific School, was his guest for 
 several months and formed a friendship interrupted 
 only by death. 
 
 "During the year 1840 occurred the first great 
 eruption from Kilauea which had taken place since 
 1823. It was thoroughly explored by Mr. Coan, 
 who wrote a graphic description of it which was 
 published in the Missionary Herald for July 1841. 
 
 "Since then there have been six great eruptions 
 of Mauna Loa, besides many lesser eruptions, earth- 
 quakes and volcanic waves; all of which phenomena 
 were duly observed and recorded by Mr. Coan. 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coati. 219 
 
 His original reports are contained in the Missionary 
 Herald, and the American Journal of Science, 
 besides which he has given us graphic descriptions 
 of these phenomena in his ' Autobiography.' 
 
 "To him Geology is indebted for a continuous 
 record of the Hawaiian volcanoes for more than forty 
 years. With indefatigable energy he traced almost 
 every eruption to its source on the. mountain side, 
 and observed it in all its various phases. The near 
 view which he had of the sublime lava fountain of 
 1852, was an experience unparalleled by anything 
 on record. 
 
 "No history of the two volcanoes of Mauna Loa 
 and Kilauea can be written which will not be largely 
 based on Mr. Coan's writings. This fact will be 
 evident to any one who will read Dana's 'Geology ' or 
 Brigham's 'Monograph on Hawaiian Volcanoes.' On 
 several questions of geology he has furnished valu- 
 able data, such as the manner in which lava streams 
 advance many miles over the surface of the earth 
 without being fed by fissures or vents from below; 
 the formation of lava tree moulds, etc. On one 
 occasion he risked his life in attempting to measure 
 the heat of the liquid lava in the South Lake of 
 Kilauea with a pyrometer furnished by Prof. Dana. 
 
 "But these were only episodes in a most laborious 
 and useful life. Our departed friend thought little 
 of them in comparison with his main object, to bring 
 immortal beings to a saving knowledge of Jesus 
 Christ, and to lead them gradually upward to higher 
 stages in Christian civilization. It is this part of his 
 work which will be lasting as eternity. Even if the 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 race which he loved and labored for should become 
 extinct on earth, it will still be represented in heaven. 
 The influence of his labors will continue to be felt in 
 Hawaii nei for generations to come. Truly 'his 
 works do follow him.' " 
 
 FEOM HON. S. N. CASTLE. 
 
 " I had a pleasant acquaintance with Mr. Coan in 
 the spring of 1828. We were both employed in 
 adjoining stores in Western New York, and we 
 boarded at the same house, sitting at the same 
 table. After a few weeks we parted, and I did not 
 again meet him till three years later as he passed 
 through the place where I then lived on his way to 
 Auburn, to prepare himself for his chosen life-work. 
 But, in the meantime, I had heard from him as a 
 most acceptable and successful worker and assistant 
 in some of the great revivals which at that time so 
 largely blessed Western New York. I knew of his 
 Patagonian expedition and explorations in his Mas- 
 ter's service, but my next meeting with him was 
 here in Honolulu in the spring of 1837. 
 
 "You can imagine the deeper interest which I felt 
 in renewing, under such changed circumstances and 
 in a foreign land, the acquaintance begun nine years 
 earlier in our far-off native country. 
 
 " Here I found him engaged in that loved life-work 
 from which he never ceased till the message from 
 the Master came, bidding him 'come up higher.' 
 He was a successful laborer, and large numbers 
 whom, through the Master's assistance, he had won 
 from the darkness of heathenism to the way. of life. 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan... 
 
 preceded him to the Heavenly City, and many more 
 that mourn him now will follow hereafter. 
 
 "He possessed fine conversational powers, and 
 spoke and wrote acceptably with equal facility on 
 sacred and secular subjects, as those well know who 
 have read the productions from his facile pen. 
 
 "His descriptions of his volcanic explorations, and 
 of volcanic eruptions and earthquake experiences, 
 led the American Journal of Arts and Sciences 
 long ago to speak of him as 'the prince of pen- 
 painters,' and it was deserved, as one cannot but 
 feel when rising from the perusal of his graphic 
 descriptions, whether they be of the sublimity of the 
 ocean; of wanderings in the wilds of Patagonia; the 
 grandeur of the volcanic fire-river, irresistibly car- 
 rying all before it; the voice of God, as he shakes 
 terribly the earth; or his still small voice, speaking 
 to the hearts of men. He fascinated men, as I have 
 occasion to know, who have heard so many testify 
 of him. He had unusually diversified powers, but 
 he consecrated them all to Christ. " 
 
 FEOM EKV. S. E. BISHOP. 
 
 " I enclose a copy of the chief portions of a letter 
 written by the beloved Father Coan, a year ago, in 
 which peculiar circumstances led him to make what 
 was to me a very wonderful revelation of his inner 
 experience in preaching the word of salvation. 
 
 "It is to be observed that he asserts an intense 
 and habitual consciousness during the earlier period 
 of his ministry to the Hawaiians, of a Divine power 
 resting upon him in speaking the word. To those 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 who witnessed his speech in those days, or who 
 were familiar with the wonderful effects produced, 
 such an assertion will not seem strange or improba- 
 ble, unless they are disbelievers in the Savior's 
 promise of such power of the Holy Ghost to his 
 messengers. 
 
 "It is also to be observed, that he declares a 
 mighty out-reaching of his heart in loving desire 
 towards his hearers, also an all-conquering assurance 
 possessing him at such times of the irresistible, 
 penetrating power of the Word upon the souls of 
 the hearers. To my mind these are most preg- 
 nantly significant expressions of that combined 
 power oi faith and love with which our departed 
 friend was gifted by the Holy Spirit to wield the 
 Divine Word, for the salvation of such a multitude 
 of souls as gave evidence of true conversion to 
 Christ through his preaching. 
 
 "It appears from his statement that the period of 
 his enjoyment of this extraordinary prophetic or 
 preaching endowment, in its highest degree, was 
 about ten years. After this, while habitually preach- 
 ing with a peculiar power, both of love and of con- 
 fidence, he would seem to have more commonly 
 exercised the pastoral gifts of teaching, ruling, train- 
 ing the Lord's household, rather than the evangel- 
 ist's gift of awakening and converting men in great 
 masses. 
 
 "Permit me now to state briefly my own early 
 recollections of My. Coan, in the first years of his 
 ministry in these islands. I was, from 1834 to 1839, 
 one of a company of the older children of mission- 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 223 
 
 aries. During the general meetings, every year, we 
 were wont to be assembled frequently, often daily, 
 for children's meetings. Mr. Spalding had been our 
 favorite children's speaker, but when Mr. Coan came 
 he absolutely fascinated us. He was sweet and win- 
 ning, in presence and tones; he was fertile and co- 
 pious in such stories and illustrations as please the 
 youthful mind; but underlying and pervading his 
 whole speech and presence there was a personal 
 magnetism of love that ' wrapped his heart ' around 
 us, and drew us, sweetly and irresistibly, to the love 
 of God in Christ. I, later, came under the stringent 
 intellectual and spiritual force of Finney, and felt 
 the piercing power of the Spirit's sword, in his hands, 
 but never have known a winning power of love in 
 any preacher like that of the spiritual father of our 
 childhood. 
 
 " God has vouchsafed many peculiar mercies to 
 the people of the Hawaiian Islands, both temporal 
 and spiritual, to which they owe their present high 
 vantage ground of liberty and prosperity. It seems 
 to me that we may estimate as among the most re- 
 markable of these mercies God's gift to the Hawaiian 
 people of a man of such extraordinary evangelistic 
 power as Titus Coan. " 
 
 The following are extracts from the letter referred 
 to in the above: 
 
 Hilo, December 24, 1881. 
 
 "my deae beo. bishop: — It is only when the ' pow- 
 ers of the world to come ' rest upon us that we have 
 any power to win souls, or to draw sinners to a near 
 view of the cross of Christ. It is then that the 
 
224 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 Spirit makes intercession for iis with groanings that 
 cannot be uttered. 
 
 "I often felt this same power while preparing for 
 the ministry, and numbers, both of adults and chil- 
 dren, were drawn to the Savior in meetings, in 
 schools, and in personal interviews. 
 
 "When I came to these Islands, and before I could 
 use the Hawaiian language, I often felt as if I 
 should burst with strong desires to speak the word 
 to the natives around me. And when my mouth 
 was opened to speak of the love of God in Christ, I 
 felt that the very chords of my heart were wrapped 
 around my hearers, and that some inward power 
 was helping me to draw them in, as the fisherman 
 feels when drawing in his net filled with fishes. 
 
 " In these days and years I never rose to address a 
 native audience without feeling an assurance that a 
 Divine power rested upon me, and that ' Death and 
 Hell ' could not withstand the Word of God, but 
 that it was the ' sword of the Spirit, quick and pow- 
 erful; ' that it was the ' fire and hammer,' and the 
 gleaming battle-axe of Jehovah, ordained to con- 
 quer Satan and sin; and that it is, in deed z.nA in 
 truth, ' the power of salvation ' to all who believe, 
 whether speaker or hearer. 
 
 "And the fruits of that faith were abundant and 
 marvelous. The masses of our people were moved 
 and swayed as the forest is swayed by a mighty 
 wind. Converts were multiplied by thousands, and 
 they came rushing into the open gates of Zion like 
 clouds of doves. The kingdom of heaven suffered 
 violence. And this continued, with more or less 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 225 
 
 power, for ten years; and up to the present day, for 
 more than forty-six years, we have had only one 
 communion season without some ingathering into 
 the church. 
 
 "But those early days were ordained and prepared 
 of the Lord. The plowman, the sower, the reaper, 
 the binder of sheaves, the gatherers into the garner, 
 moved forward in full view of one another, breaking 
 up the fallow-ground, and shouting the ' Harvest- 
 home.' But that state of things has passed. We are 
 gleaners now. 
 
 "The natives are few. The world has rushed in. 
 More than thirty different nationalities are com- 
 mingling their Babel jargon. Conflicting elements 
 are boiling in the little Hawaiian crucible, and 
 earthly greed, misrule and license are antagonistic 
 forces of great power. But still we ought to feel 
 assured that ' the Lord reigns j' and that there is ' a 
 Refiner' who can melt and purify in spite of sin and 
 Satan. 
 
 "The generation of simple, believing and praying 
 men and women in Hilo is gone, and another gen- 
 eration, that knows not Joseph, has come upon the 
 stage, and my helpers are few and feeble, and I can 
 not climb the hills, penetrate the jungles, fight the 
 rivers, and buffet the storms, as in days of old. . . 
 
 "How my heart would rejoice and my tongue be 
 glad, should ' the Holy Ghost come upon us, and 
 the power of the Highest overshadow us,' and Hilo 
 be once more visited with life from God before I go 
 home to return no more. 
 
226 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 " O ! for an awakening that shall shake these Islands 
 out of the sleep of death. " 
 
 FKOM EEV. 8. LYONS. 
 
 "After Mr. Coan reached his location at Hilo in 
 August 1835, our correspondence commenced and 
 was continued sometimes weekly and sometimes less 
 frequently until that fatal stroke of paralysis ter- 
 minated it. O, how I wept when the tidings came 
 that I must lose such a correspondent! In the time 
 of the great revival his letters were frequent, and his 
 soul was all on fire, kindled by the Holy Spirit. 
 They were very cheering and very stimulating to me. 
 How earnestly he preached and prayed and wrestled 
 in prayer for the salvation of souls. How he moved 
 vast assemblies by his fervent and overwhelming 
 preaching and praying. There was work enough 
 for two preachers and pastors in the large field of 
 Hilo and Puna — yes, more than enough. Yet 
 Brother Coan, being a strong young man and full of 
 missionary fire, thought he could do the work of two 
 pastors and preachers and thus allow Brother Lyman 
 to devote himself more exclusively to school-teach- 
 ing. Hence, arose the Hilo Boarding School which 
 has greatly prospered. 
 
 "What a laborious pastor Brother Coan was, is 
 well known. For years his tours were performed on 
 foot. When the appointed time came he was . 
 punctual in fulfilling his appointments. Raging 
 storms and swollen streains, and rushing, roaring 
 cataracts did not detain him. Dear, courageous, 
 fearless brother, thou art now reaping the rewards of 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 227 
 
 thy labors of love in that world where no raging 
 storms or roaring cataracts impede thy circuit over 
 the heavenly fields. 
 
 "Brother Coan's correspondence was extensive, 
 embracing the world. O ! ye recipients of his cheer- 
 ing, comforting, soul-stirring letters, join with me in 
 mourning over the loss of this prince of correspond- 
 ents. 
 
 "Though he was the pastor of the largest church 
 in the world, he was not proud of it. Though he 
 received the degree of D. D., he wished to be 
 addressed simply as Rev. T. Coan. Though a very 
 holy man, in his letters to me he would express 
 himself as a great sinner, and, if saved at all, it would 
 be by grace. 
 
 "Farewell, dear and loving brother. For forty- 
 seven years we were united heart and soul in 
 laboring for the good of Hawaiians and others. 
 Thou hast finished thy course first and obtained the 
 crown of life that fadeth not away. United in this 
 life, so may we be in the life to come. Amen. " 
 
 FROM PAAKAULA. 
 
 {Letter from a Native Parishioner^ 
 "Before giving expression to any testimony relat- 
 ing to him, I would express my great love for Mr. 
 Coan, a true worker for Christ, a faithful laborer in 
 the garden of the Lord throughout the districts of 
 Hilo and Puna; and in his separation from us we all 
 grieve in the loss of a laborer for the kingdom of 
 Christ in Hawaii. 
 
 "He was strong, without discouragement, in the 
 work of the Lord, with all meekness, content and 
 
228 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 deep reverence. He treated with kindness the poor, 
 the afflicted, the sick; and to all he was constant in 
 the preaching of the kingdom of God. I can see 
 that he did his work without the desire of man's 
 approbation, but was strong in the work of the Lord 
 even to the end. I am sure that we of Puna as well 
 as of Hilo are under a great debt for Mr. Coan's 
 instruction in Christian uprightness, as also as 
 regards many other good works. And I believe 
 that some of us who have gone before have found 
 the life eternal in the heavens, and that they now 
 are meeting Mr. Coan, rejoicing greatly. I desire 
 that I may die the death of the righteous. " 
 
 FROM ILI, 
 
 {Another Native Parishioner^. 
 
 "He was an upright man before God and man, 
 and his works were just. He was a faithful minister 
 of the great God, and his thoughts were ever of 
 him up to the time of his death. He was full of 
 love and gentleness, and his hand was ever ready to 
 clasp the hands of the men, women and children of 
 Puna. 
 
 "During the first years of his pastorate, while the 
 roads were exceedingly bad, with great patience he 
 made his journeys through Puna on foot, instead of 
 qn horseback. 
 
 "He showed to the people of Puna his very great 
 love for them in that he kept up his intercourse with 
 them during all of his long residence in Hilo. 
 
 "Through his preaching of the word of God, 
 doubtless those that believed in Jesus found life. I 
 doubt not that because of his labors in turning souls 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coati. 229 
 
 to Jesus, he himself has found life everlasting in 
 heaven. 
 
 "These are a few of my thoughts of him, hut there 
 remain untold many of his good works. ' Blessed 
 are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of 
 heaven.' Mr. Coan is there." 
 
 FROM DE. 0. H. WBTMOEE. 
 
 "My personal acquaintance with the Rev. Titus 
 Coan covered more than a third of a century. In 
 America I had read with deep interest, as so many 
 others have done, Brother Coan's letters as they ap- 
 peared from time to time in the Missionary Herald, 
 and I was thereby prepared to respect, love and 
 honor him. He had the pen of a ready writer, and 
 well knew what Herald readers were anxious to hear 
 about. My sainted father-in-law. Deacon Thomas 
 Taylor, of Pittsfield, always read his letters and 
 reports first; he sent by me a verbal, loving mes- 
 sage, saying', ' Tell him I wish there was a multitude 
 of other missionaries like him.' 
 
 " Up to the time of my arrival at the Islands, Mr. 
 Coan had labored assiduously both for the souls and 
 bodies of his parishioners. As soon as my acquaint- 
 ance with the Hawaiian language allowed me to take 
 up the work of the physician he gave it into my 
 hands cheerfully, that he might devote himself more 
 efficiently ' to the ministry of the word.' I was often 
 obliged to ask him to interpret for me, as new cases 
 presented themselves, and new language was re- 
 quired. How patiently he rendered the needed 
 aid, and how gladly he helped me in acquiring a 
 knowledge of the new tongue, I need only to allude 
 
230 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 to, as these were prominent features of his character 
 to the very last hours of his life. About six weeks 
 after our arrival at the station, he pressed me to 
 accompany him on foot on his missionary tour 
 through the district of Hilo, and in the following 
 autumn on another like trip through Puna. I gladly 
 accepted his invitations in order to see his work, 
 and see him work, and so be learning important les- 
 sons myself, which were calculated to increase my 
 qualifications for the labors before me. Traveling 
 with him over what he used to speak of as ' tortuous, 
 rough, precipitous, slippery, exhausting and dan- 
 gerous footpaths,' and crossing those rivers, too, 
 which he was wont to describe as ' rushing, roaring 
 and raging,' I became exceedingly weary, while he, 
 almost a score of years my senior, would appear 
 fresh, and in point of activity, youthful. On these 
 tours he labored all day and much of the night, 
 among the churches and schools, striving to develop 
 Christian character and usefulness, and endeavor- 
 ing to promote the cause of education, and also to 
 increase the interest of children and youth in both 
 day schools and Sunday schools. I shall not soon 
 forget his persistent efforts in encouraging me to 
 speak and pray, even with a stammering tongue, as 
 we journeyed on from village to village; when my 
 vocabulary was too limited he would joyfully sup- 
 plement the same. 
 
 "As neighbors — living as we did almost within ' a 
 stone's throw' of each other — we were, of course, in- 
 timate; not even a fence was needed to keep us from 
 quarreling. Seldom have families lived so near to each 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 231 
 
 other for so long a time, in such pleasant and happy 
 relations. After that terrible earthquake at Hilo, 
 late in the afternoon of April 2, 1868, which drove 
 us from our houses, rocking them like a ship at sea, 
 a few of us sat upon the grass in ' Emerald Bower,' 
 to partake of our evening repast — fragments that 
 had been snatched from our deranged tables and 
 dilapidated houses. As I now think of it, it seems 
 but as yesterday that I heard Father Coan's voice 
 as he then asked a blessing upon us from that God 
 whom he addressed as 'our refuge and strength, a 
 very present help in trouble. ' Calmly and trustfully, 
 and with an effect very soothing to every troubled 
 heart, did he utter these words of the Psalmist, 
 'therefore will not we fear, though the earth be 
 removed, though the mountains be carried into the 
 midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and 
 be troubled, though the mountains shake with the 
 swelling thereof.' 
 
 "He had ' a sound mind in a sound body;' it was 
 this that helped to make him so cheerful, hopeful 
 and active in his long and faithful career. He labored 
 diligently in his Master's vineyard, aiming constantly 
 at perfection. His work is finished, and already he 
 has heard the commending words, ' Well done, good 
 and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy 
 Lord.' " 
 
 TRIBUTE BY MBS. HIEAM BINGHAM. 
 
 " For more than twenty-five years it was permitted 
 me to know this noble man, 'one of God's great 
 men,' and under varied , circumstances to note the 
 excellence of his Christian character. 
 
232 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 "His first home in the Sandwich Islands was at 
 the old Mission House, then the Bingham home, and 
 during the month spent there, while awaiting op- 
 portunity to go to his appointed station in Hilo, was 
 commenced the life-long friendship, so prized in 
 both families. In later years, when Mr. Bingham's 
 son had grown to manhood and had girded on the 
 missionary armor, he came back to these islands on 
 his way to Micronesia. No one gave him a more 
 cordial welcome than did he who had been like a son 
 in the old home. The benignant smile, the gracious 
 courtesy of manner reminded me, who then saw hini 
 for the first time, of one whom I had greatly admired 
 in America, Rev. Dr. S. H. Cox. 
 
 "The Missionary packet, Morning Star, was to 
 make a voyage to the Marquesas Islands, before 
 going to Micronesia, and we were invited with great 
 cordiality to spend a part of the time of waiting for 
 her return, with the Coans, at Hilo. During that 
 visit, the first of many, we were favored in being 
 allowed to join a party of visitors to the world- 
 renowned Kilauea, under the escort and care of our 
 friend and host. Words fail to tell of all his gentle 
 attention to each one's comfort, and his genial good 
 humor that brightened every step of the often tedious 
 way. 
 
 "There was no comfortable 'hotel' at the volcano 
 in 1857. A grass house with but one room, 
 furnished all the accommodations the traveler could 
 then find. Here Mr. Coan kindly took supervision 
 of our entertainment. In, the memories of those 
 days he who was the central figure, the main actor. 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 233 
 
 Stands out prominently. ' The joy of the Lord ' was 
 his constant ' strength' and it beamed forth in every 
 act and word. 
 
 "Courtesy, urbanity, consideration for others, 
 abounding hospitality, faithfulness in every depart- 
 ment of domestic and social life, are words that but 
 feebly convey an idea of what he was. He loved to 
 'use hospitality without grudging' and to do good to 
 all men.' And how many ways he found of doing 
 good. Did our Hawaiian Board need help in its 
 foreign or home work? Was the American Board 
 wishing. to enter newly opened doors? Or did any 
 other organization of good for human kind appeal 
 for aid? His generous heart was ready to respond 
 according to his ability. Economical and frugal 
 in the best and highest sense, he was equally 
 benevolent and large hearted. He gave because he 
 loved to give. And he encouraged others to give. 
 Mothers under his instructions loved to teach even 
 baby hands to drop their little pieces of money into 
 the box where others were contributing. 
 
 " How kindly his greeting always was! Long will 
 last the memory of the gentle 'How do you do, my 
 little friend?' as he lovingly took the hand of some 
 child whom he met upon the street, or in the home. 
 Was it some lowly Hawaiian who wanted a few 
 words with the pastor so revered and loved? The 
 hearty 'Aloha,' the warm grasp of the hand were 
 ever ready. 
 
 "Never a morning in all the year that a most 
 cordial 'Good morning' did not await each member 
 of the family as 'they met in the breakfast room. 
 
234 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan^ 
 
 Afterwards we gathered about the family altar and 
 listened to his reading of the Word. How delight- 
 fully he remarked upon it. If there were children or 
 domestics who might not readily comprehend what 
 had been read, he would seek, in a most winsome, 
 natural way to make it plain to them. And when 
 one of the sweet songs of Zion had been sung, he 
 would lead us in prayer. Who that was ever with 
 him at the Throne of Grace, can forget the hour? 
 His simple earnestness, his fervor of adoring love, 
 with warm thanksgiving, and such tender emotion 
 when thoughts of him who ' loved us and washed us 
 in his blood ' came over him. The absent friends 
 were never forgotten, much less the dear children of 
 the household. His prayers for them are a most 
 precious legacy. Not seldom he would add this 
 petition. 'Bless our enemies if we have any.' 
 There are few men who could more rightly and 
 fearlessly than he, offer that petition of our Lord's 
 prayer, 'Forgive us our debts as we forgive our 
 debtors.' 
 
 "Unless there were occasion, Mr. Coan, when at 
 home, rarely failed to spend the morning in his 
 study; how industriously, let the many sermon briefs, 
 the essays for associations, the accurate church 
 records, the annual reports and sermons, always 
 ready in time, the glowing accounts of natural 
 phenomena and the many letters to friends both 
 across the ocean and at the Islands — let these tell. 
 But those hours in the study were not uninterrupted 
 ones. Often there might be heard a gentle voice 
 saying, 'My dear, some one wants to see you,' and 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 235 
 
 there could never be detected the sHghtest shadow 
 of impatience in the response, 'I'll come down soon,' 
 though called again and again ere the mid-day hour. " 
 
 " How easy it was for him to speak of the better 
 life and to sow everywhere the blessed seed. How 
 the fullness of his love to the Redeemer welled up 
 and overflowed in affectionate expression. For him 
 it was always ' Christ to live.' 
 
 "The Master's Word was more to him than meat 
 and drink. He enjoyed works of science and 
 philosophy; he maintained the liveliest interest in 
 the topics of the day; was always abreast of the 
 times, and often in advance of them; but he never 
 failed to find in the Bible that which was nearest 
 and dearest. His familiarity with it told how faith- 
 fully it had been studied. 
 
 Held in high esteem by others, how by those who 
 dwelt in the sanctuary 'of the home? It was my 
 blessed privilege to know well that rare woman who 
 was his first chosen companion. I can never forget 
 how I was always impressed with the sweetness and 
 the mutual courtesy of their domestic life. ' Her 
 children rise up and call her blessed; her husband 
 also, and he praised her.' Never more than here 
 was the home ' a little heaven begun below,' where 
 mutual love ' divided burdens and doubled joys;' 
 never was the spirit of the marriage relation, as set 
 forth in Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians, better illus- 
 trated than it has been in the Emerald Bower in all 
 the years." 
 
236 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 MEMORIAL POEM. 
 
 Mbs. M. C. Kitteedge. 
 
 Toll, softly toU, oh! swinging bell, 
 And from thine airy ohurch-tower tell 
 In what strange mystery of rest — 
 Hands' folded on a marble breast. 
 Closed eyes and frozen lips, whose calls 
 But lately thrilled these sacred walls — 
 He lies encoffined, 'gainst whose door 
 Love pleads in vain forever more. 
 
 ToU, softly toll; this Sabbath morn 
 Kesponsive waits, with radiant dawn; 
 On every vale and hill what calm! 
 What hush in whispering groves of palm! 
 Above, in azure depths of sky, 
 The white-robed choirs of clouds go by; 
 And on the shore soft wavelets creep, 
 Attuned the same sweet peace to keep. 
 
 Full fifty years have come and gone 
 Since he whose open grave we mourn 
 Stood in his manhood's glorious prime, 
 Attent unto the Voice .divine — 
 Like Samuel of old, his cry, 
 "What wilt thou, Lord, lo! here am I!" 
 In quick response came answer then, 
 Go, preach my word to dying men. 
 
 Henceforth, in far-off, unknown lands, 
 'Neath tropic skies, on burning sands. 
 With ardor keen and quick desire, 
 TJnquenched as Mauna Lea's fire, 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 237 
 
 That poured its volumes at his side, 
 He taught of Christ, the crucified. 
 The lowliest hut he shared — the cup 
 Of want and toil, he drank it up. 
 
 In life's great highway men give praise 
 
 To him who in the crowded ways, 
 
 By push and jostle in the race, 
 
 Secures at length the foremost place; 
 
 Who builds a monumental stone 
 
 To cai've a gilded name upon; 
 
 Who on Ambition's dizzy height 
 
 Has climbed, through greed and wrong and might. 
 
 But God's true heroes— such was he — 
 60 forth to soundless victory; 
 in humblest ranks they take their stand. 
 And reach a helping human hand. 
 To lift from depths of sin and pain 
 The soul, to life and hope again; 
 Nor other earthly boon they crave 
 Than this — to succor and to save. 
 
 He walked wUh God ; his love and grace 
 Shone ever deepening in his face; 
 A knight, without reproach or fear. 
 So spotless did his name appear; 
 A character self-poised and calm, 
 Like his own island's beauteous palm! 
 And like the tropic's sunset light. 
 His faith resplendent met the night. 
 
 At last the night! — ah! no, the mom! 
 God touched him — and for him the dawn ! 
 " He walked with God, and he was not;" 
 Like Enoch's is the story wrought. 
 Toll, softly toll, oh! swinging beU, 
 And from thy airy church-tower tell 
 That he who helped a race from sin 
 'Mid welcoming hosts has entered in! 
 
238 Memorial of Rev. Titns Coan. 
 
 FKOM KBV. E. BOND. 
 
 Kohala, May 26, 1883. 
 
 TO MES. COAN. 
 
 "Your reference to the visit of dear Brother Coan 
 and yourself to Kohala net, recalls the event, with 
 all its pleasant memories, most distinctly. 
 
 "It was a year ago to-day — a most beautiful day; 
 earth could not have shown one more perfect. I 
 had been wishing to meet Mr. Coan once more, 
 aware that at his full age he might be called away 
 at any moment, and pass beyond the possibility of 
 human fellowship. Yet such a meeting I had scarcely 
 dared hope for. It was only when I learned that 
 you both were designing to leave for the general 
 meeting, in Hololulu, that I saw a gleam of hope. 
 The long, hot day at Mahukona I thought it quite 
 probable you would avoid by taking the cars hither. 
 It was by no means, however, a certainty to my 
 mind that you would do so, and hence there was a 
 large element of doubt, mingled with a somewhat 
 feeble hope, as I looked out upon the road, hour 
 after hour, during the early part of the day. It was 
 late when I stepped out into the yard for a final 
 reconnoissance, when, as I was about to turn back in 
 disappointment, the carriage was espied coming up 
 the hill. The meeting and the greeting I need not 
 recount in its details. You know it all, for of it 
 you also were a part. And of the sweet Christian 
 fellowship of that afternoon, and of the early morn- 
 ing, what shall I say? Memory retains it all, and 
 will, most sacredly, to the end. 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 239 
 
 "The key-note of tl^e delightful season was given 
 in that expression of our dear Brother, ' This is my 
 last visit to Honolulu.' Not that there was, so far 
 as I know, any presentiment of the end so soon to 
 come, yet it so fully accorded with my own convic- 
 tions as I sat with him and noted his increasing age, 
 that it infused a tenderness of spirit into our com- 
 munings that would otherwise have been wanting. 
 It was clear to me that it was oiir last earthly meet- 
 ing. Yet, as from of old was his wont, there was 
 no shadow to dim his habitual cheeriness cast over 
 the scene. Nothing could have been more in ac- 
 cord with the spirit of joyous. Christian intercourse. 
 
 "The brief walk to the Girls' Seminary, and to 
 my son's house, seemed to him a delight, and with 
 the simplicity and heartiness of a child he seemed 
 to appropriate every object that met his eye and 
 every circumstance that attended the walk with full 
 and hearty enjoyment. 
 
 "And when, on the next morning, we assisted 
 him into the carriage, with yourself and Miss C, 
 can you imagine how thankful I felt to the gracious 
 Lord and Master that he had vouchsafed to us here, 
 to myself especially, so sweet a foretaste of what is 
 to come next, on the other side, when we shall, 
 through grace, all gather in the Father's house? 
 And the final embrace, and driving off and disap- 
 pearance down the road, how, as I now look back 
 upon it, does it seem to me a fittingly tender and 
 last adieu, as though he were leaving for his heav- 
 enly home, as indeed he was. 
 
240 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan, 
 
 "And so, substantially, closed a period of frater- 
 nal Christian intercourse which had, at that time, 
 run on through forty-one years. And now, in the 
 retrospect, it affords me great and tender satisfaction 
 that in all that long season of very frequent episto- 
 lary intercourse, not one shadow of unhappy disa- 
 greement ever came between us. He loved peace, 
 was ever a peacemaker, and now lives in the full 
 fruition of the blessedness promised to such. 
 
 "Good-by, dear Brother, till again we meet, face 
 to face, in the blessed Master's presence. " 
 
 FEOM .TOEL BEAN. 
 
 San Jose, Cal., 1883. 
 
 TO MRS. COAN. ./ > . j 
 
 "Our first meeting with dear Titus Coan was in 
 his own. home, in the spring of 1862. Long before, 
 we had read of him and his fellow-laborers, in the 
 journal of Daniel Wheeler; and the warm welcome 
 extended by these dear Fathers of the Sandwich 
 Islands Mission to members of our Society who vis- 
 ited the islands, as ambassadors for Christ, brought 
 them into esteem in our section of the church, both 
 in England and America. 
 
 "Not without some little trepidation did I ap- 
 proach the threshold of one whose praise in the 
 Gospel was throughout all the churches. But when 
 we met, the grasp of his hauvd, the beiliignity of his 
 countenance, and the gentleness and sweetness of 
 his spirit, dispelled it all, and my heart was at once 
 drawn to him, as a Father in Christ. 
 
 "He and his dear wife, Fidelia Coan, welcomed 
 us to their home and people; and during the weeks 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 241 
 
 of delightful Christian intercourse we were bound 
 together in a confidence and sympathy and fellow- 
 ship of spirit never to be broken, and destined 
 to deepen as the years passed on. Our cor- 
 respondence, from that time, continued until 
 their death. What their letters have been to 
 us, these twenty years, can only be estimated by 
 those who shared the warmth and wealth of their 
 affection, and the intellectual and spiritual impulse 
 they were gifted so largely to impart through the 
 pen. Titus Coan's contributions to the periodicals, 
 especially those on the subject of Peace, were very 
 acceptable to the Society of Friends; and his books 
 on ' Patagonia,' and ' Life in Hawaii,' have found 
 delighted readers among our people. 
 
 "When on the other side of the Atlantic, ten years 
 ago, in England, Scotland and Ireland, my wife and 
 I were called upon, over and over again, in large 
 and interested gatherings, to tell the story of the 
 Sandwich Islands Mission. So the name of Titus 
 Coan was endeared and honored among Friends, to 
 many of whom the tidings of his death were heard 
 with sorrow, and his memory is precious. 
 
 "Dear and noble veteran of the Cross! In the 
 Spirit of the Master, and by the grace of God, he 
 did large and blessed service, and in no common 
 degree he possessed and exhibited that catholicity 
 of spirit, that breadth and depth of Christian love 
 which brings into joyful realization the fact attested 
 in the Gospel, that the children of God, of every 
 nation and denomination, are ' all brethren,' and one 
 Church and one Body in Christ Jesus, the Head. " 
 
242 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 The following paper, by Rev. E. P. Baker, was 
 read at the Monthly Concert in the Hilo Foreign 
 Church: 
 
 "On this first Sabbath evening in July, 1883, the 
 45th anniversary of the day when Father Coan re- 
 ceived 1705 persons to membership in Hilo Church, 
 a larger number, probably, than had, up to that 
 time, ever been received in any Protestant church 
 in any one place and on any one day, since Pente- 
 cost, it seems fitting that we should speak of him 
 whose personality occupied so large a place in the 
 Christian past of Hawaii. 
 
 "Mr. Coan was, first of all, a man of practical 
 efficiency in dealing with external circumstances and 
 handling material things. He was above the world, 
 indeed, but at the same time in the world, quite as 
 much as the most pronounced secularist. He was 
 no ascetic or visionary mystic; had he been a non- 
 Christian and devoted himself, as a life occupation, 
 to mining, merchandizing, railroading or law, he 
 would probably have had the name of being, and 
 deservedly, one of the shrewdest and, perhaps, most 
 successful men of his time. As it was, he devoted 
 himself to the upbuilding of Christ's cause, as his life 
 occupation, bringing to this, his chosen task, sub- 
 stantially the same efficiency he would have brought 
 to any secular calling he might have chosen. 
 
 "Witness those perilous months of abode he and 
 his companion spent in Patagonia. Mr. Coan and 
 Mr. Arms, alike, must have then and there had at 
 command and in exercise address, tact, nerve and 
 courage of the highest sort, otherwise the only pos- 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 243 
 
 sible escape they could have effected from that terri- 
 ble peninsula would have been that of leaving their 
 bones upon the soil beneath them, and themselves 
 soaring upward, disembodied spirits, to the throne 
 of God. 
 
 "Witness Father Coan's foot tours around Hawaii, 
 involving excessive weariness, and his persistent 
 inspections of the great eruptions of Mauna Loa, 
 involving more or less of danger. He simply could 
 not have performed all these physical exploits had 
 he not known, and that, too, in a pre-eminent de- 
 gree, how to adapt himself to and take advantage 
 of, and manipulate at will, the various material con- 
 ditions with which, in any given case, he might find 
 himself beset. 
 
 "Witness, also, that carefully devised and effi- 
 ciently executed plan and method, by and according 
 to which, for long years, he carried forward Chris- 
 tian work in his chosen field. Plan and method 
 alone will not save this world, for which Jesus Christ 
 has died; still, plan and method, with other subsid- 
 iary help, should be employed in doing the Lord's 
 work, and the Hilo church of thirty and forty years 
 ago, with its outlying apanas, or branch churches, 
 and corps of Lunas, or sub-pastors, is an illustra- 
 tion of how Father Coan was wise in his generation; 
 as indeed all workers for Christ ought to be in theirs. 
 The changed condition of things in this field during 
 later years has rendered more or less inoperative and 
 inefficient, indeed, that system of Christian instru- 
 mentation which thirty and forty years ago worked* 
 so well. 'Still, its remarkable adaptation to those 
 
244 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 times shows that he who created it accurately per- 
 ceived the needs of the situation, and went wisely- 
 forward to supply them. 
 
 "Father Coan, moreover, had a certain versatility 
 of nature which enabled him to encounter any and 
 every environment with which he might find him- 
 self beset, in the best possible temper, and as it 
 seems to us, looking at what he did through the 
 perspective of the past, in the best possible way. 
 He flung himself with cheerful zest into things as 
 they came to him, and for Christ's sake made the 
 best of them. He had a buoyancy of nature which 
 may not unfittingly be characterized as boyish; and 
 octogenarian though he was, when I first knew him, 
 there was yet about him a certain easy simplicity 
 and juvenility of manner that was to me very attract- 
 ive. Boy-like, he would ever and anon take up, 
 toss about and extract sport out of the minor details 
 of life, in a way which, I think, was very fascinating 
 to all his friends. 
 
 "He was every inch a man — his manhood was 
 specially virile — still there was attaching to his make- 
 up and demeanor a certain quiet gentleness, passive 
 receptivity and delicacy of intuition which properly 
 belong to woman, and wherever found suggest the 
 presence of woman. There is no womanhood that 
 is not more truly womanly for having running through 
 and emanating from it an element and flavor of mas- 
 culinity. In just the same way there is no manhood 
 that is not more truly manly for having running 
 through and emanating from it an element and fla- 
 vor of femininity. Thus endowed, as I have read 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 245 
 
 his make-up, was Father Coan, by that wonder- 
 working power of God which accords to one person 
 one style of character, and to another, another. 
 And very richly endowed, as duly combined with 
 other elements, passivity is even more efficiently act- 
 ive than bare activity can ever by any possibility be; 
 and weakness even more truly powerful than bare 
 power can ever be. In a real and true sense, there- 
 fore, even as the Psalmist did, could Father Coan 
 say to the God who created him, 'Thy gentleness 
 hath made me great.' " 
 
 "Speaking mightily oftentimes in his public ad- 
 dresses, and, Nathan-like, on occasion rebuking sin 
 in private, was he not in his daily intercourse more 
 often than otherwise as delicate and tender as a 
 mother with her children? And did not strangers 
 writing of Hilo have good reason for characterizing • 
 the hospitality they received at his house as more 
 than Oriental, and feeling that there was a man to 
 be long corresponded with and remembered? 
 
 "But though encircled with ivy and exteriorily 
 variegated and adorned with many beautiful and 
 brilliant flowers, his essential personality was a tower 
 of granite of the solidest description: conjoined with 
 great gentleness of disposition and irrepressible 
 cheerfulness of demeanor was an interior rectitude 
 of the very toughest adamant — he literally loved 
 righteousness and hated iniquity — while his philos- 
 ophy of existence was scarcely less than the sternest. 
 
 "As he looked at it, it was a solemn thing to live 
 as well as a solemn thing to die. He held fast to 
 the old theology, because it seemed to him to be 
 
246 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 superior to any and all of the new theologies thus far 
 brought forward to fill the place of the old. As 
 compared with the new, the old theology, so it 
 seemed to him, furnished a truer explanation of the 
 deeper facts of existence, laid a firmer foundation on 
 which to uprear the structure of Christ-like charac- 
 ter, and afforded a loftier inspiration to right living. 
 He did not insist upon it that the modified Calvin- 
 ism of the New England theology was a final and 
 perfect statement of the truth of God; still, looking 
 over the world and up and down the ages, and 
 noting that the highest style of character and con- 
 duct earth has ever seen has been developed under 
 the philosophy of Calvinism as an enveloping atmos- 
 phere, and from out the bosom of Calvinistic insti- 
 tutions as a stimulating soil to support its growth, 
 he did accept the Genevan system for substance of 
 doctrine, provisionally indeed, but at the same time 
 heartily, believing that a working Gospel could be 
 better set forth by the terms of this system than by 
 those of any other thus far embodied in human 
 speech. 
 
 "But the child is father of the man, and back of 
 and partially concealed by Father Coan, the strong 
 man — who by his words and deeds, under God, 
 changed the very contour of Christendom itself — was 
 the weak child clinging to its Heavenly Father, and 
 tightly clasping the hand of its elder Brother, as 
 with tottering footsteps the little one pressed its way 
 through the darkness and dangers of earth to the 
 safety and glory of heaven; and at length he reached 
 the glory to which, through some fifty years of serv- 
 
Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 247 
 
 ice on earth, he had been pressing on; and it came 
 to him very suddenly at last. It broke in on him 
 in almost a single flash on the i6th of September, 
 1882, and all in a moment the brightness, so long 
 anticipated by faith, burst in upon his enraptured 
 spirit in apparently its full splendor, at which, dis- 
 regarding his body, fast dissolving into its original 
 elements, he could only repeat over and over again, 
 ' Glory in my soul.' The man — the earthly man — 
 has forever passed away, and it is now only the little 
 child that is left clinging to the bosom of its Father 
 and God. The last seventy-six days of his earthly 
 life are to me, by all odds, the most interesting 
 seventy-six days of his career beneath the sun, in 
 that his previously hidden little child life in Christ 
 , Jesus from that time forth blossomed out in all its 
 magnificence of glory, so that those who beheld him 
 saw almost nothing else. 'Ye are dead and your 
 life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ who is 
 our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with 
 him in glory.' The last few times I saw Father 
 Coan in the flesh were to me seeing him with Christ 
 in glory. Nor is it at all strange that during those 
 last days on earth he was with Christ, for through 
 the long stretch of fifty years preceding this final 
 hour, Christ had been with him. The following are 
 the exact words which in 1831 dropped from his 
 pen: ' Lord, send me where thou wilt, only go with 
 me; lay on me what thou wilt, only sustain me. 
 Cut any cord but the one that binds me to thy cause, 
 to thy heart.' 
 
 "And between these two shining dates, 1831, 
 when he wrote these words, and 1882, when he 
 
248 Memorial of Rev. Titus Coan. 
 
 heard unspeakable words from the throne of God, 
 I see the golden cord of faith and love running all 
 the way, and binding him all the time. I see him 
 for the last time while he is in the flesh, carried into 
 yonder church that he may look once more into the 
 pulpit, the dear old Haili pulpit, where for nearly 
 half a century he has proclaimed Christ's gospel. 
 The eyes of my body, I say, behold Titus Coan, the 
 aged, just like John the aged, thus borne into the 
 church, but the eyes of my soul behold then and 
 there, only a little child, nestling in the bosom of 
 its Heavenly Father. 
 
 "And though looking for the last time in the flesh 
 upon the dear old spot where he used to tell of 
 Christ's love, he was too near the home where God 
 shall wipe away tears from every eye, to gaze other- 
 wise than with steadfast, undimmed vision, we who 
 look upon the grave that marks his last earthly 
 resting-place are able to see it only imperfectly on 
 account of weeping. 
 
 " Go stand on the hill where he lies; 
 The earliest ray of the golden day 
 On that hallowed spot is cast. 
 And the evening sun as it leaves this world 
 Looks kindly on that spot last. " 
 
 A beautiful marble slab, the gift of his people, 
 marks the grave. It bears the simple inscription, 
 prepared by himself: 
 
 TITUS COAN. 
 
 FEBRUA RY 1ST, 1801. 
 
 DECEMBER 1ST, 188 2. 
 
 He Lived by Faith. 
 He Still Lives. 
 
 JoHS W 26. 
 
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