Polynesian. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu], Hawaii) 1844-1864, 1853-08-27
Civilization VS.. Christianity.

Oeing simpiy nne OF one dozen OF aIe.
Civilization VS.. Christianity.
1t is favorite doctrine with some people
that heather nation must be civilized 6rst,
and Christianized afterward; that commerce.
and its influences must 60 before, to elevate,
refine and train the people, introducing bet
ter social customs, better organic forms Of
government, and that then Christianity may
press behind it, to gain an easy and certain
conquest; to march, hardly so much in
body militant as in a triumphal and glad
procession, celebrating an already achieved
conquest, over the Appian Way thus open.
ed to its advances.
From this theory we totally dissent; and
against it we have insuperable objections.
The case of the Sandwich Islands, which 10
not unfrequently cited in behalf Of it, ID
enough, il there were NO other equal or
clearer case, to demonstrate its incorrect-
ness, its essential falsity. 'Look at these
islands," it is said, "with their wasting pop-
ulation; with their laborious and awkward
efforts after constitutional government, in
place of the old government by chiefs, which
was so happily adapted to the popular wants
and capacities; with the general uneasy,
excited life, having the hot and vicious
ambitions Of American or European Society
without their victorious powers, which has
taken the place Of the placid, contented, en-.
joyable experience that prevailed in the is
lands before the foreigners set foot upon
them; you see there what your efforts to
convert the people to Christianity have DONE
Well, grant it all, if il be possible. Grant
that the inhabitants have diminished to .
fourth even, if so much is demanded. Of the
original population. Grant that the old life
with all the violence and cruelty that were
in it, was more enjoyable than the present:
when men eat fish in preference TO human
flesh, and cultivate their grounds instead Of
impaling their captives, or starving their
grandfathers, or alternately worshipping and
fiogging their gods. What then! So fat a.
the contrast is against the present state Of
the islands, and in favor Of the former state,
what has made the difference? Clearly i
has not been Christianity but Civilization. !"
It has been, that is, not the Religion of the
New Testament, but the vices and
the vielences that have swarmed over
upon those islands from countries called civ
ilized and which the Religion, preached by
Missionaries has continually been contendinR
against, in life or death wrestle.
The Sermon on the Mount has decimated
no village The story Of the good Samari-
tan has turned no fertile district into waste
wilderness The EpistIes and the ProPhe-
cies, and the Story Of Jesus Christ
the Redeemer of the world, have fired no
honest and childlike hearts with rage for
wealth, or disdain of the charming simple
city of nature. II is Rum, poured into potts
of the islands by what calls itself Civi!iza-
ton. against the utmost efforts Of Inissiona.
res, that has marked its passage over their
territory by desolation not less but more
appalling than that of any torrents of Lava
flowing from Mauna Loa. II is Licensious-
ness introduced into the islands fromcivil'zed
lands, and only held in any measure in check
by the grand appeals and the startling sane
tions of Christianity continually urged, that
has shot diseases into the reins Of those mis-
guided islanders, to rage there With mors
terrible power Of devastation than was ever
known among the northern and superior na-
lions. And now we ask, in all solemniiy and
seriousness. If Civilization against the ut-
most resistance Of Christianity that at
tended and preceded il in these islands has
done so much to destroy and wreck them
to sink them lower in the experiences and the
misery Of evil than ever foundefed ship
was sunk in the seas, floating among Sub
marine plants and reptiles in tropic drpshs--
what would il not have done il not Christi
anity had been by to check il. and in many
cases, thank God! to effectuaiIy resist 'ts
The truth is that more complete and Ia
mentablc faIlacy than that which says, 'send
civilization first, and follow Il with Christi-
anitv. !" was never uttered and never held.
n. sI. oshor ha nd n - frs,e that civilIzatl0n
without christianity is the deadIiest enemy OF
the human race. Il only sccumulstes the
v;ces Of Ref;pemeut on the vices 6f Barbar.