Revised Jun 22 2021
This sermon was not only preached in Pitcairn's Island, but also in London. On Sunday morning, Nov. 28th, 1852, the Pastor of Pitcairn delivered the same discourse in the parish church of St. Dunstan-in-the-East, City, and added the following passages:—
"And now, my brethren, will you bear with me for a few moments, whilst I refer to circumstances which have come in a great measure under my own immediate notice, in the community over which I have for nearly twenty-five years been the unworthy pastor?
"Many years ago, an officer and some seamen belonging to the British navy, after committing an unjustifiable act that of mutiny fled for safety to Pitcairn, an isolated rock in the South Pacific Ocean, taking with them some Otaheitan men and women. Within ten years, all the men, with the exception of two, came to an untimely end; one of these two died of consumption; and the last of this party of mutineers was left on the island with five or six heathen women, and twenty fatherless children. After some time this man, John Adams by name, became seriously impressed with the responsibility of the situation in which he was placed. Here were a number of young persons between the ages of five and fifteen years, growing up in ignorance of the God who made them. And they would, humanly speaking, in a few years have become confirmed idolaters, from the example of their heathen mothers.
"These considerations weighed heavily on Adams's mind; and it was then that he had two alarming dreams, which so affected him, that he could scarcely eat or sleep for some time, when he bethought himself of the Bible, brought on shore from the Bounty, which had been much used by Christian, and also by Young in his last illness. After some search he found it, and commenced reading it, imperfectly at first, for he had never been to school, but had taught himself what he did know from scraps of paper picked up by him, when a boy, in the streets of London. Being, however, a man of excellent natural abilities, he was soon enabled to read with facility both the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer; a single Prayer-book also having happily been recovered from the Bounty. He commenced praying in secret three times a day; nor did he pray in vain; his mind became enlightened, he saw his guilt and danger; and he was almost tempted to despair of pardon. Still, as he persevered in reading the Bible, he gradually became acquainted with the Gospel method of salvation; and, by the guidance of the Holy Spirit, was enabled to come to Him who is mighty to save. In short, my brethren, he was brought to Jesus.
"Now, mark the result. From this time he commenced instructing the children of the mutineers, first by reading to them portions of the Scriptures, and subsequently teaching them to read for themselves; and so anxious were the young people to learn, that on one occasion two of the lads, who were employed by Adams to make a mattock of iron from the wreck of the Bounty, instead of accepting the promised compensation, (a quantity of gunpowder,) told Adams, they would rather he should give them some extra lessons from God's Book, a name by which they used to designate the Bible. And now peace and contentment pervaded this rock of the West. The young men and women entered into the social relations of husband and wife; and they, in turn, depending on that most precious promise of their all-sufficient Saviour, 'Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them,' instructed their children with that knowledge which is better than riches. They brought them to Jesus.
"The population of this settlement now amounts to 170 persons, who are living without any dissensions, and with but one form of Church government—that of the Church of England. The Holy Bible, and the Church Prayer-book, are their chief rules of guidance; their motto, 'One Faith, one Lord, one Baptism.' And when I, their pastor, took a sorrowful leave of them, about three months since, they were strong in faith, giving glory to God. That they, and all who hear me this day, may be included in that most precious invitation, 'Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world,' may God of his infinite mercy grant, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen."
The same sermon was preached by Mr. Nobbs in St. Mary's Chapel, Park-street, Grosvenor-square, on Sunday morning, December 12th, 1852, and was printed at the request of several members of the congregation.