CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
TITUS COAN 
 
 Missionary and Explorer 
 
 1801-1882 
 
 By 
 Rev. S. J. Humphrey, D.D. 
 
 Cornell University Library 
 BV3680.H4 C65 
 
 Titus Coan missionary and explorer 180 
 
 olin 
 
 3 1924 031 020 799 
 
 From "American Heroes on Mission Fields,' 
 by permission of the American Tract Society 
 
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 H/tC65 
 
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TITUS COAN 
 
 Missionary and Explorer 
 
 HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 
 
 A STRIP of island seacoast from one to three miles 
 wide and a hundred long, dotted with groves and 
 seamed across by the deep chasms of mountain tor- 
 rents; behind this, for twenty-five miles, a belt of dense 
 forest and jungle, fencing in, since the days of Vancou- 
 ver, numberless herds of wild cattle ; beyond, in the in- 
 terior, a rough, volcanic wilderness, culminating in two 
 summits 14,000 feet in height — a chaos of craters, some 
 on the peaks of mountains, and some yawning sud- 
 denly before you in the forest; some long idle, some 
 ceaselessly active, making the night lurid with their 
 flames, and still building at the unfinished island; one, 
 a vast black hollow, three miles across, the grandest 
 active crater on the globe; 15,000 natives scattered up 
 
2 AMERICAN HEROES ON MISSION FIELDS. 
 
 and down the sea-belt, grouped in villages of from loo 
 to 300 persons, a sensual, shameless, yet kindly and 
 tractable people, slaves to the chiefs, and herding to- 
 gether almost like animals — to this parish, occupying 
 the eastern third of the island of Hawaii, a strange 
 mingling of crags and valleys, of torrents and volcanoes, 
 of beauty and barrenness, and to this interesting peo- 
 ple, was called the young missionary Titus Coan. 
 
 EARLY DAYS. 
 
 He was born February i, 1801, in the town of Kil- 
 lingworth, Conn., the descendant of old New England 
 stock. He studied at Auburn Seminary in 1831-3; 
 and much success attended his evangelistic labors in 
 connection with the revivals that followed the preach- 
 ing of his cousin, Rev. Asahel Nettleton, and of Rev. 
 Charles G. Finney. He was licensed to preach April 
 17, 1833; a few months afterwards he was ordained to 
 the ministry; and on August 16, 1833, under the direc- 
 tion of the American Board, he sailed on a mission of 
 exploration to Patagonia, leaving behind him his affi- 
 anced bride, Fidelia Church, who mourned for him as 
 for one never to return. " I think I am willing," she 
 wrote to him a few days before he sailed, " I think I 
 am willing to give you up to the Lord's disposal ; . . . 
 but oh, the life, the soul, of my earthly joys has de- 
 parted 1" 
 
 With one companion, the Rev. Mr. Arms, he was 
 set ashore among the savages of Gregory Bay. Their 
 litde vessel had sighted the " Beagle " in the straits, the 
 
TITUS COAN. 3 
 
 vessel on which Charles Darwin was making his famous 
 voyage of exploration. It is a suggestive thought that 
 the missionaries of science and of religion should thus 
 have crossed each other's tracks at the outset. 
 
 Mr. Coan and Mr. Arms lived and roamed with the 
 ferocious nomads of the eastern coast of Patagonia, 
 striving in vain to communicate to them something ol 
 their message. The savages grew suspicious of their 
 motives, and at last it became evident that there was 
 nothing to do but to escape with their lives; if possible. 
 A chance vessel gave them the opportunity ; they eva- 
 ded their captors by stratagem, and were returned to 
 New London in May, 1834, after an absence of nine 
 months. It was like a reappearance from the dead. 
 Not a word from Mr. Coan had reached family or 
 friends during all this time; and to the heart of one 
 whom he had left behind the separation was perhaps as 
 bitter as death, because of its uncertain duration and 
 fate. 
 
 After this trial came the joy of reunion and the seri- 
 ous resolve of a common consecration to the mis- 
 sionary's life-work. On the 3d of November, 1834, 
 Titus Coan and Fidelia Church were married at her 
 father's house in Churchville, N. Y., and on the 5th of 
 December embarked at Boston on the ship Hellespont 
 to spend the remainder of their lives on alien ground. 
 Six other missionaries sailed with them: the Messrs. 
 Edwin O. Hall and Henry Dimond, with their wives, 
 and the Misses Lydia Brown and E. W. Hitchcock. 
 
 For all of them it was a very real consecration. The 
 
4 AMERICAN HEROES ON MISSION FIELDS. 
 
 Hawaiian Islands -were then the very ends of the earth. 
 Neither Mr. Coan nor his bride had any idea of ever 
 retracing their six months' voyage around Cape Horn. 
 It was a different affair from that of a missionary post 
 on a railway and in a European town. They arrived 
 at Honolulu June 6, 1835, and were welcomed by the 
 missionaries then assembled at their annual meeting. 
 On the 2 1st of July they reached the serenely-beautiful 
 village of Hilo, now a thriving town, then the almost 
 absolute retirement in which they were to spend their 
 lives, and here, devoting themselves to self-denying la- 
 bors, they achieved, through the divine blessing, a suc- 
 cess hardly paralleled elsewhere in the history of missions. 
 
 AT WORK IN HILO. 
 
 We can perhaps see more clearly the character of 
 Mr. Coan and best learn the secret of his career by 
 looking in upon him in the midst of his work. Espe- 
 cially will those memorable years of the Great Revival, 
 in which he was one of the chief factors — ^years which 
 saw nearly two-thirds of these savage islanders trans- 
 formed into Christians — give an insight into the life and 
 qualities of this eminent servant of God. If we supply 
 the record largely from his own pen, the result will be 
 all the more satisfactory. 
 
 Upon reaching the island he found that some leaven 
 of the gospel had already been cast into the lump of 
 heathenism. Different missionaries had resided here 
 for brief periods. Several schools had been established, 
 and about one-fourth of the natives could read. A 
 
A Cornell University 
 fj Library 
 
 The original of tliis book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924031020799 
 
Titus Coan 
 1801-1882 
 
TITUS COAN. 5 
 
 marked change had come Over the mental and social 
 condition of the people. Most of them had a little 
 knowledge of divine truth. There were a few hopeful 
 converts and a little church of thirty-six members. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Lyman and his wife, most devoted 
 and efficient colaborers, were already on the ground; 
 and they remained at Hilo, in steadfast consecration, 
 during an unbroken residence of fifty-two years 
 (1832-1884). To them came the charge of a boarding- 
 school and much labor at the home station; while to 
 Mr. Coan, robugt in health and a fervid speaker, the 
 preaching and the touring were naturally assigned. 
 His mental force and abounding physical life revealed 
 themselves at the outset. In three months' time he be- 
 gan to speak in the native tongue, and before the year 
 closed he had made the circuit of the island by canoe 
 and on foot, a trip of three hundred miles. On this 
 first tour, occupying thirty days, he nearly suffered 
 wreck of his frail craft, as also twice afterwards. He 
 preached forty-three times in eight days, ten of them 
 in two days, examined twenty schools and more than 
 1,200 scholars, conversed personally with multitudes, 
 and ministered to many sick persons, for he was a not 
 wholly unqualified physician withal. He had at that 
 time also a daily school of 90 teachers and Mrs. Coan 
 one of 140 children, besides a large class of more ad- 
 vanced pupils. 
 
 This vigorous begfinning, however, was but the pre- 
 lude to the more incessant labor and to the marvellous 
 scenes of the years following. 
 
6 AMERICAN HEROES ON MISSION FIELDS. 
 
 On a tour made in the latter part of 1835 Mr. Coan 
 saw signs. of unusual attention to the truth. "Multi- 
 tudes," he says, " flocked to hear; many seemed pricked 
 in their hearts. I had literally no leisure, so much as 
 to eat. One morning I found myself constrained to 
 preach three times before breakfast, which I took at ten 
 o'clock." He could not move out of doors without 
 being thronged by people from all quarters. They lin- 
 gered by the wayside, and some followed him for days 
 from village to village. Much of this may have been 
 mere curiosity of an idle people ; but some of it, as the 
 event proved, was the working of a divine leaven. 
 
 The tours of 1836 — he sometimes made four or five 
 in a year — revealed that the work was deepening. " I 
 began to see tokens of interest that I scarcely under- 
 stood myself I would say to my wife, ' The people 
 turn out wonderfully.' The attendance increased, and 
 many crowded around me afterwards to inquire the 
 way. I preached just as hard as I could. There was a 
 fire in my bones. I felt that I must preach to this 
 people." 
 
 REVIVAL SCENES. 
 
 In 1837 the great interest broke out openly. It was 
 the time of a wonderful stir through all the islands. 
 Nearly the whole population of Hilo and Puna turned 
 out to hear the Word. The sick and lame were 
 brought on litters and on the backs of men, and the 
 infirm often crawled to the trail where the missionary 
 was to pass, that they might catch from his lips some 
 
TITUS COAN. 7 
 
 word of life. And now began a movement to which 
 the history of the church furnishes scarcely any paral- 
 lel. Fifteen thousand people, scattered up and down 
 the coast for a hundred miles, hungry for the divine 
 bread, cannot be reached by one man, and so whole 
 villages gather from miles away and make their homes 
 near the mission-house. Two-thirds of the entire pop- 
 ulation come in. Within the radius of a mile the little 
 cabins clustered thick as they could stand. Hilo, the 
 village of ten hundred, saw its population suddenly 
 swelled to ten thousand, and here was held literally a 
 " camp-meeting " of two years. At any hour of the 
 day or night a tap of the bell would gather from three 
 thousand to six thousand. Meetings for prayer and 
 preaching were held daily. The people wrought with 
 new industry at their little taro patches. The sea 
 also gave them food. Schools for old and young went 
 on. " Our wives held meetings for the children, to 
 teach them to attend to their persons, to braid mats, to 
 make their tapas, hats, and bonnets." Special meet- 
 ings were held for all classes of the people, for the 
 church, for parents, mothers, the inquiring, and for 
 church candidates. There was no disorder. A Sab- 
 bath quiet reigned through the crowded hamlet, and 
 from every booth at dawn and at nightfall was heard 
 the voice of prayer and praise. 
 
 Let us look in upon one of the assemblies. The 
 old church, 85 feet wide by 165 long, is packed with a 
 sweltering and restless mass of 6,000 souls. A new 
 church near by takes the overflow of 2,000, while hun- 
 
8 AMERICAN HEROES ON MISSION FIELDS. 
 
 dreds press about the doors, crowding every opening 
 with their eager faces. The people sit upon the ground 
 so close that no one, once fixed, can leave his place. 
 It is a sea of heads with eyes like stars. There is a 
 strange mingling of the new interest and the old wild- 
 ness, and the heated mass seethes like a cauldron. An 
 effort to sing a hymn is made. The rude, inharmoni- 
 ous song would shock our ears, but the attempt is hon- 
 est, and God accepts it as praise. Prayer is offered, and 
 the sermon follows. The scene is most affecting; it 
 calls for all the power of the reaper to thrust in the 
 sickle. The theme is the great salvation, and this the 
 accepted time. The whole audience trembles and 
 weeps, and many cry aloud for mercy. 
 
 It required rare gifts to control such meetings and 
 secure good results; and Mr. Coan was equal to the 
 task. " I would rise before the restless, noisy crowd 
 and begin. I soon felt that I had hold of them and 
 that they would not go away. The Spirit hushed them 
 by the truth till they sobbed and cried, ' What shall we 
 do ?' and the noise of the weeping silenced the preach- 
 er. It was God's truth preached simply, and sent home 
 by the Spirit, that did the work." 
 
 There were not wanting those physical manifesta- 
 tions which have often attended the 'Work of grace, es- 
 pecially among ruder peoples. There was weeping, 
 sighing, and outcrying. "When we rose for prayer 
 some fell down in a swoon. There were hundreds of 
 such cases. I did not think much of it. On one occa- 
 sion I preached from the text, 'Madness is in their 
 
TITTJS COAN. 9 
 
 hearts.' The truth seemed to have an intense power. 
 A woman of great beauty rose and cried, ' Oh, I 'm the 
 one; madness is in my heart!' She became a true 
 Christian. A man cried out, ' There 's a two-edged 
 sword cutting me in pieces!' A backwoods native, 
 wicked, stout, who had come in to make fun, fell sud- 
 denly. When he had come to, he said, ' God has struck 
 me!' He was subdued, and gave evidence of being 
 a true Christian. Once, on a tour, while I was preach- 
 ing in the fields to about two thousand persons, a man 
 cried out, 'Alas! what shall I do to be saved?' and 
 prayed, ' God be merciful to me a sinner 1' The whole 
 congregation joined in with ejaculations. It was a 
 thrilling scene. I could get no chance to speak for 
 half an hour, but stood still to see the salvation of God. 
 "There were many such scenes; and men would 
 come and say, ' Why do n't you put this down ?' My 
 answer was, ' I did n't get it up.' I did n't believe the 
 devil would set men to praying, confessing, and break- 
 ing off their sins by righteousness. These were the 
 times when thieves brought back what they had stolen, 
 quarrels were reconciled, the lazy became industrious, 
 thousands broke their pipes and gave up tobacco, 
 drunkards stopped drinking, adulteries ceased, and 
 murderers confessed their crimes. Neither the devil 
 nor all the men in the world could have gotten this up. 
 Why should I put it down ? I always told the natives 
 that such demonstrations were no evidence of conver- 
 sion, and advised them to quietness. And I especially 
 tried to keep them from hypocrisy." 
 
10 AMERICAN HEROES ON MISSION FIELDS. 
 
 Into the midst of these thriUing revival scenes 
 there came suddenly a divine visitation, which, under 
 less skilful guidance, might have proved a serious hin- 
 drance to the work. But it became a sermon more 
 pungent than any that human lips could utter, and 
 reached many who had hitherto withstood the Word. 
 
 It was November 7, 1837. The revival was at its 
 height. The crescent beach, dotted with native booths, 
 reaching up into the charming groves behind, smiled in 
 security. A British whaler swung idly at its moorings, 
 and the ocean slept in peace. From daybreak onward 
 the usual succession of meetings was held. One of the 
 texts was, "Be ye also ready." At the time of evening 
 prayer a heavy sound was heard upon the beach as of a 
 falling mountain. Instantly a great cry and wail arose, 
 and a scene of indescribable confusion followed. The 
 sea had suddenly risen in gigantic waves and fallen 
 upon the shore. Men, women, children, houses, canoes, 
 food, clothing, everything, floated wild upon the flood. 
 So sudden was the catastrophe that the people were lit- 
 erally " eadng and drinking," and " knew not till the 
 flood came and swept them all away. The volcanic wave 
 fell like a bolt of heaven, and no man had time to flee or 
 to save his garment. In a moment hundreds of people 
 were struggling with the raging billows. Some were 
 dashed upon the shore ; some were drawn out by friends 
 who came to their relief; some were carried out to sea 
 by the retiring current; and some sank to rise no more 
 till the call to judgment wakes them." There was no 
 sleep that night " To the people it seemed to be as 
 
TITUS COAN. 11 
 
 the voice of Almighty God when he speaketh." The 
 next day the meetings went on with renewed power; 
 and through all the week, as the sea gave up, one after 
 another, its dead, and the people bore them with funeral 
 rites to their resting-places, the Spirit sent home this 
 new sermon with divine effect. 
 
 In the year 1838 the waves of salvation rolled deep 
 and broad over the whole field, and the converts were 
 numbered by thousands. We may well ask, in view of 
 so slender a missionary force, By what aids and means 
 were such results wrought and secured in permanency ? 
 There was a marvellous outpouring of the Spirit. The 
 battle-cry was, " The sword of the Lord." But it was 
 also the "sword of Gideon." The human means were 
 adapted to produce the results. Mr. Lyman was a true 
 yoke-fellow, preaching in addition to teaching. The 
 missionaries' wives, besides caring for their own little 
 children, held daily meetings with the women, the au- 
 diences sometimes numbering thousands. The method 
 of Mr. Coan was wise ; his energy and zeal were inde- 
 fatigable. 
 
 As we turn over his letters, written at that time, 
 the wisdom to plan and the strength to execute which 
 were given him of the Lord seem marvellous. " On 
 these tours," he says, " I usually spend from two to five 
 weeks, visiting all the church members in their respect- 
 ive villages, calling all their names, holding personal in- 
 terviews with them, inquiring into their states, their 
 hearts, prayers, and manner of living; counselling, re- 
 proving and encouraging, as the case may require, and 
 16 
 
12 AMERICAN HEROES ON MISSION FIELDS. 
 
 often 'breaking bread' from place to place, besides 
 preaching twenty or thirty times a week." Tlie physi- 
 cal labor of these tours was great. The northern part of 
 his parish was crossed by sixty-three ravines, from 
 twenty to a thousand feet in depth, difficult of passage, 
 and, in times of rain, perilous. And then the rivers, 
 leaping and foaming along the old fire-channels, must 
 be crossed. "Some of them I succeeded in fording; 
 some I swam, by the help of a rope to prevent me from 
 being swept away ; and over some I was carried pas- 
 sively on the broad shoulders of a native, while a com- 
 pany of strong men locked hands and stretched them- 
 selves across the stream just below me and just above a 
 near cataract, to save me from going over it if my bear- 
 er should fall." This experience was often repeated 
 three or four times a day. 
 
 PARISH WORK. 
 
 It was only by an exact system that Mr. Coan was 
 able to "overtake" his parish of 15,000 souls. Not 
 St. Francis or Dr. Chalmers knew his people better 
 than he. When his church numbered more than 5,000 
 he could say, " My knowledge of the religious experi- 
 ences and daily habits of the individuals of my flock at 
 the present time is more minute and thorough than it 
 was when the church numbered only fifty or a hundred 
 members. By drawing lines in my parish, by dividing 
 the people into sections and classes, by attending to 
 each class separately, systematically, and at a given 
 time, and by a careful examination and a frequent re- 
 
TITUS COAN. 13 
 
 view of every individual in each respective class, by 
 keeping a note-book always in my pocket to refresh 
 my memory, by the help of many faithful church mem- 
 bers, and by various collateral helps I am enabled, 
 through the grace of God, to gain tenfold more knowl- 
 edge of the individuals of my flock, and of the candi- 
 dates for church-membership, than I once thought it 
 possible to obtain in such circumstances." 
 
 The children did not escape his care. From his 
 earliest ministry he had believed in childhood conver- 
 sions. Besides Sabbath-school instruction, a regular 
 weekly lecture was maintained for them throughout the 
 year. There were also numerous occasional meetings 
 for different classes of children — for those in church - 
 fellowship, for the children of church members, and for 
 the anxious. During the protracted meetings there was 
 usually a sermon each day for them at eight o'clock in 
 the morning. As the result of this faithfulness there 
 were, in 1838, about 400 children, between the ages of 
 five and fifteen years, connected with his church. 
 
 It was Mr. Coan's purpose that there should be no 
 one in all Puna or Hilo upon whom the claims of the 
 gospel had not been pressed. No village was so remote 
 or insignificant that it did not receive frequent visits. 
 Families were tracked into mountain fastnesses and 
 plied with the invitations of mercy. In order to do 
 this " many of the more discreet, prayerful, and intelli- 
 gent of the members were stationed at important posts, 
 with instructions to hold conference and prayer meet- 
 ings, conduct Sabbath-schools, and watch over the 
 
14 AMERICAN HEROES ON MISSION FIELDS. 
 
 people. Some of these native helpers were men full oi 
 faith and the Holy Ghost, and succeeded admirably. 
 Other active members were selected and sent forth, two 
 and two, into every village and place of the people. 
 They went everywhere preaching the Word. They 
 visited the villages, climbed the mountains, traversed 
 the forests, and explored the glens in search of the 
 wandering and the dying sons of Hawaii." 
 
 On one occasion Mr. Coan sent out about forty 
 church members to visit from house to house and in 
 all the " highways and hedges " within five miles of the 
 station. They were instructed to pray in every house, 
 to look after all the sick, the wretched, and the friend- 
 less, to stir up the minds of the converts, and to gather 
 the children. Two days were spent in this way. 
 Every cottage was entered, every fastness of Satan 
 scouredj "The immediate result was that several 
 back-loads of tobacco, awa, and pipes were brought in 
 and burned, and about 500 hitherto careless and hard- 
 ened ones were gathered into the house of God to hear 
 the words of life. The Spirit of the Lord fell upon 
 them, and it is believed that many of them were born 
 again." 
 
 To the heart of our missionary the ingatherings of 
 the souls over whom he had brooded with such intense 
 solicitude were occasions of rare delight. They were 
 also times of great solicitude. 
 
 The great harvest years were 1838 and 1839. Seven 
 or eight thousand natives had professed conversion, but 
 very few had thus far been received to the church. 
 
TITUS COAN. 15 
 
 The utmost care was taken in selecting, examining, 
 watching, and teaching the candidates. The ever- 
 faithful note-book was constantly in hand. People from 
 the distant villages came in and spent several months at 
 the station previous to their union with the church. Day 
 by day they were watched over and instructed with 
 unceasing labor. Together with those on the ground, 
 they were examined personally many times, sifted and 
 resifted with scrutiny, and every effort was made to dis- 
 criminate the precious from the vile. Many of them were 
 converts of two years' standing. A still larger class 
 had been on the list for more than one year, and a 
 smaller number for a less period. The accepted ones 
 stood propounded for several weeks, and the church and 
 the world, friends and enemies, were called upon and 
 solemnly charged to testify if they knew aught against 
 any of them. 
 
 The communion season was held quarterly, and at 
 these times the converts, thus accepted, were added to 
 the church. The first Sunday of January, 1838, 104 
 were received. Afterwards, at different times, 502, 450, 
 786, 357, and on one occasion a much larger number. 
 The station report for the mission year ending June, 
 1839, gives the number of accessions for that twelve 
 months at 5,244. A large number of these never came 
 to the central station. The sick, the aged, and the in- 
 firm were baptized and received into fellowship at their 
 own villages. Some believers were thus accepted who 
 could neither walk nor be carried, and who lived far 
 up in the mountains. 
 
16 AMERICAN HEROES ON MISSION FIELDS. 
 A MEMORABLE DAY. 
 
 The first Sunday of July, 1838, was a memorable 
 one in the history of missions. It was the day of the 
 greatest accession. On that afternoon 1,705 men, 
 women, and children, who aforetime had been heathen, 
 were baptized and took upon them the vows of God, 
 arkd about 2,400 communicants sat down together at the 
 table of the Lord. 
 
 We look in upon that scene with wonder and awe. 
 The great crush of people at the morning sermon has 
 been dismissed, and the house is cleared. Down 
 through the middle are seated first the original mem- 
 bers of the church, perhaps fifty in number. Mr. 
 Coan then calls upon the head man of each village 
 to bring forward his people. With note-book in hand, 
 he carefully selects the converts who have been pre- 
 viously accepted. They have been for many weeks 
 at the station. No pains have been spared, no test 
 left unused, with each individual to ascertain if he 
 be truly a child of God. The multitude of candi- 
 dates is then seated upon the earth floor, in close rows, 
 with space enough between for one to walk. There 
 is prayer and singing, and an explanation — already 
 made many times, that none may trust in the external 
 rite — is given of the baptism they are now to receive; 
 the sealing ordinance is reverently administered. " I 
 never witnessed such a scene before," said Mr. Coan, 
 looking back through the lapse of thirty years. " There 
 was a hush upon the vast crowd without, who pressed 
 
TITUS COAN. 17 
 
 about the doors and windows. The candidates and 
 the church were all in tears, and the overshadowing 
 presence of God was felt in every heart." 
 
 Then followed the Lord's • Supper. And who are 
 these that take into their hands the emblems of the 
 Lord's death ? Let him tell who broke the bread and 
 gave the cup: " Not only the young and strong were 
 there ; but also the old and decrepit, the lame, the blind, 
 the maimed, the withered, the paralytic, and those af- 
 flicted with divers diseases and torments; those with 
 eyes, noses, lips, and limbs consumed with the fire of 
 their own or of their parents' lusts, with features dis- 
 torted and figures the most deformed and loathsome; 
 these came hobbling upon their staves, and led or 
 borne by their friends, they sat down at the table of the 
 Lord. Among this throng you could see the hoary 
 priest of idolatry with hands but recently, as it were, 
 washed from the blood of human victims, together with 
 the thief, the adulterer, the unclean, the sorcerer, the 
 highway robber, the blood-stained murderer, and the 
 mother — no, the monster — whose hands have reeked 
 in the blood of her own children. All these met to- 
 gether before the cross of Christ, with their enmity 
 slain and themselves washed, sanctified, and justified 
 in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our 
 God." Has Jesus come again ? Is this one of the 
 crowds which he has gathered, upon whom he has pro- 
 nounced the words of healing? Surely it is. In very 
 deed he is there. These are the lost whom the Son 
 of man came to seek and to save. And the rejoi- 
 
18 AMERICAN HEROES ON MISSION FIELDS. 
 
 cing angels are there; they leave behind the pomp 
 of cathedrals, and fly with eager wing to this lowly 
 island tabernacle. With holy wonder they hover 
 over the bowed heads of these weeping redeemed, sin- 
 ners. " The bright seraphim in burning row " ring 
 out anew the praises of the Highest as they hear re- 
 counted these triumphs of almighty grace. 
 
 It sometimes happens that men who have had re- 
 markable success in winning souls to Christ fail in the 
 after-training of their converts. And the question will 
 naturally arise, Do these results abide? Tried by any 
 fitting standard, we can safely say, They do abide. 
 
 The care and painstaking of the pastor were not 
 less remarkable than the success of the preacher. 
 There were reactions. But what revival in America — 
 where the people have garnered into themselves the 
 growth and moral stamina of a thousand Christian 
 years — is not followed by reaction ? There were apos- 
 tasies; but we are constrained to say, after careful ex- 
 amination, that the permanence of the results seems to 
 us almost as marvellous as the revival itself During 
 the five years ending June, 1841, 7,557 persons were re- 
 ceived into the church at Hilo. They were about three- 
 fourths of the adult population of the parish. About 
 one in sixty came under discipline — a discipline stricter 
 than ours at home, and that among babes in Christ. 
 The greater part of these were restored, and few were 
 finally cut off. " I never administered the quarterly 
 sacrament without receiving from ten to twenty per- 
 sons. No year has the number gone below fifty. It 
 
TITUS COAN. 19 
 
 did not prove a great excitement, to die out. When I 
 left for a brief visit to the United States, in April, 1870, 
 I had received into the church, and myself baptized, 
 11,960 persons.'' 
 
 Under this training the people became more and 
 more settled in faith and morals. An irruption of 
 Catholic priests drew away but few of them. There 
 never was a grog-shop in the entire parish. Probably 
 to-day the ratio of people in New England who cannot 
 read and write is greater than among the Hawaiians in 
 Hilo and Puna. Not in New England is the Sabbath 
 better observed ; and the industries of civilization have 
 now largely taken the place of the old savage indo- 
 lence. 
 
 In 1867 the grand old church was divided into seven 
 local churches, six of them with native pastors. Three 
 of these are on the lava-fields of the south, and three 
 among the ravines of the north. The remaining one is 
 at Hilo, where also is an American church for the for- 
 eign population. To accommodate the widely-scattered 
 people, these churches have built fifteen places of wor- 
 ship, seating from 500 to 3,000 people each. Five of 
 them have bells, and the church building at Hilo cost 
 about $14,000. This has been done with the Hawaii- 
 ans' own money and by their own labor. 
 
 Another fruit of the faithful training of Mr. Coan is 
 the growth of beneficence in the churches. The Monthly 
 Concert was held from the beginning, and a contribu- 
 tion was always taken. They " first gave their own 
 selves to the Lord," and then it was " according to that 
 
20 AMERICAN HEROES ON MISSION FIELDS. 
 
 a man hath" — a fish, a fowl, a cocoanut, and later, mon- 
 ey, but in all sacrifice and worship. Each month, on 
 the first Sunday morning, a sermon was preached on 
 some department or interest of Christ's kingdom in the 
 broad world. They never even heard that miserable 
 sentence of a narrow faith, " There is so much to do at 
 home!" Their lips never uttered the miserly falsehood, 
 " It takes a dollar to send a dollar to the heathen." 
 They were instructed in all causes, and gave to all. 
 More than $10,000 have come to the United States 
 from the Hilo church; $200 went to a Chinese mis- 
 sion, and $100 to Syria at the time of the massacre and 
 famine. The appeal of Father Chiniquy, in Kankakee, 
 Illinois, reached them ; and when the letter which 
 brought him $200 from these poor islanders was read 
 his whole congregation bowed down weeping ! Their 
 monthly collections have averaged from the beginning 
 about $100, the highest reaching $265, and the grand 
 aggregate for all religious purposes amounts to above 
 $100,000. 
 
 One of the legitimate fruits of a true Christian train- 
 ing is a desire to carry the gospel to " the regions be- 
 yond." The faithful pastor was not slow to perceive 
 this, and he was among the first to advocate a native 
 mission to Micronesia. 
 
 The idea of a missionary packet, and an appeal to 
 the children of the United States to build it, seems to 
 have sprung from his fertile brain. 
 
 As a delegate of the Hawaiian Missionary Society 
 he made two voyages in the "Morning Star" to the 
 
Fidelia Church Coan 
 1810-1872 
 
TITUS COAN. 21 
 
 Marquesas Islands. After the wreck of the second ship 
 he became an earnest advocate of steam as an auxiliary 
 motor to help the little vessel in its errands of mercy. 
 He had the satisfaction of seeing nearly a score of per- 
 sons, wholly sustained by his church, go out on the 
 "Morning Star" as foreign missionaries to the dark 
 islands of Micronesia. 
 
 Mrs. Coan's work was not less constant and tireless. 
 For several years she taught a school for young girls. 
 This she was finally forced to relinquish by the grow- 
 ing cares of her family, cares that were doubly exhaust- 
 ing in that land of untrained servants and wholly unor- 
 ganized social life. A great labor of entertaining also 
 fell unavoidably upon her. The traveller may now 
 find excellent boarding-houses in the beautiful and 
 flourishing town of Hilo ; but during all of Mrs. Coan's 
 life both friends and strangers came to the missionaries 
 for unrequited entertainment. The most serious trial 
 of the early days has not been mentioned. One by 
 one her children left her to continue their education 
 and to seek their home in the United States. It was 
 the most cruel trial of the parent's heart, for these part- 
 ings were often final. 
 
 On the occasion of their visit to the United States 
 in 1870 Mr. and Mrs. Coan renewed many old ties and 
 formed many new ones. But Mrs. Coan's strength was 
 already spent in the service. She died at Hilo on the 
 29th of September, 1872. A woman of tender frame 
 and of high social and intellectual cultivation, this mis- 
 sionary work was for her a sacrificial consecration. 
 
22 AMERICAN HEROES ON MISSION FIELDS. 
 
 Through her whole island life she was an invalid. But 
 she was her husband's faithful helpmeet during thirty- 
 eight years of married life ; she was the patient, intelli- 
 gent, unselfish, and loving spirit to whom a great part 
 of Mr. Coan's large success was due — a greater part in- 
 deed than the world will ever know. Mrs. Coan was 
 his guide, counsellor, friend, and fellow- worker. Ac- 
 cepting a task which her deep and sure intelligence 
 told her from the first was too severe for her, she never 
 flagged until her strength and Ufe were spent, until she 
 fell, a Christian martyr. 
 
 While Mr. Coan was intent upon his great work as 
 a missionary, he was not insensible to the scenes of nat- 
 ural beauty and grandeur around him. His two vol- 
 umes, " Adventures in Patagonia," and " Life in Ha- 
 waii," are written with a graphic pen, and reveal not 
 only keen observation, but a fine poetic sense. The 
 greatest volcano on the globe was in his parish. He 
 was the ardent and frequent observer of grand phe- 
 nomena — the shudder of earthquakes, the inflowing of 
 great volcanic waves, the red glow of lava streams 
 marching seaward, the leaping of fire cataracts into 
 deep-lying pools, sending off' the water in steam and 
 burning them dry in a night. There were few days 
 when the smoke of subterranean furnaces was out of 
 his sight. 
 
 Once a river of lava, burrowing its way towards 
 the sea 1,500 feet below the surface, broke over the 
 shore cliff" and leaped into the hissing waves, waking a 
 tumultuous fury among the contending elements that 
 
TITUS COAN. 23 
 
 was perfectly indescribable. At another time, irom 
 Mauna Loa, one of the loftiest mountains of the island, 
 a pillar of fire, 200 feet in diameter, lifted itself for 
 three weeks 1,000 feet in the air, making darkness day 
 for a hundred miles around, and leaving as its monu- 
 ment a vast lava cone a mile in circumference. 
 
 The scientific world is fortunate in having had upon 
 the ground for nearly fifty years, where such titanic 
 forces were at play, one whose courage and love of ad- 
 venture were equalled only by his faithfulness and 
 graphic skill in portraying the most imposing of phe- 
 nomena. 
 
 The evening of Mr. Coan's days was spent as 
 pastor of the large church at Hilo, and in apostolic 
 supervision of the diocese which had sprung up under 
 his care. A happy second marriage cheered his later 
 years. 
 
 In the latter part of 1882, during a revival into 
 which he threw himself with unceasing ardor as of old, 
 he was suddenly smitten down with a paralytic shock. 
 For several weeks he lay "helpless, with only love, joy, 
 peace in his soul, his beautiful patience and submission 
 completing the lesson that his life had given of obedi- 
 ence to his Lord." He recovered in part, so that the 
 day before his death he was carried through the streets 
 looking natural and well. Almost the entire village 
 flocked out to greet him. The next day at noon, Dec. 
 I, 1882, he was standing among the redeemed throng 
 on high. 
 
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