The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1855-06-28

BROOKLYN, n. Y, June II, 1855.
DEAR SIR: send you an interesting lette
from the Hawaiian apostle, Rev. Titus Coan
which 1 hope you will publish at length in tn,
National Era. / am sure it will be read will
much interest.
shall be glad to have it returned to me soon
Truly, yours, L. Japan.
Hmo, HAWAII, March 7, 1855.
MY DEAR BROTHER: With this you will fine
draft for fifty dollars, in favor of the A. F
A. S. s., on the A. B. c. F. M. 1t is anothe
mite from the native church at Hilo, and i
goes with the prayers and best wishes of tn,
donors. We regret that we cannot send more
but money has been scarce here during tn,
past twelve months, so that our contribution
have fallen below those of 1853, while man,
and increased demands press upon US.
We are struggling hard to build good, sub
stantial church edifce and this we cannot d.
for less than $4,000 or $4,000, as labor anC
materials are high at the islands.
This building is 10 be at the station wher,
we live, while more than twenty out-stations O
our parish are also laboring to build bette
houses of worship for themselves, or to keev
old ones in repair. A late tempest has alst
Frustrated many of our out-station meeting
houses, and this increases the pressure of the
people.
We might easily absorb all the fluids we car
| collect, on our own domestic wants but we
cannot afford to do So" it tendeth to poverty.
So long as the Lord gives us anything, we must
divide 1t with the needy "Give a portion to
seven, and also to eight" is good motto. We
lose nothing, and gain much, by casting our
bread upon the waters" How blessed to
| give-to lend to the Lord But our means
are not commensurate with our desires. We
love the cause of the oppressed; and instead
| of doing out our tens, we long to impart our
thousands. But such as we have we give,
thankful that "the Lord loves a cheerful giver;"
and that, "if a man hath willing mind, it is
accepted, according to that man hath
/ wrote you at some length on the 18th of
| October, acknowledging the receipt of yours of
| August 4, and of report. Not many days ago,
| | received copy of DR.. Perkins's sermon,
Grooming Nomination" &C., which have
read with delight. His theology and his heart
seem IN entire harmony with the Gospel. How
simple and how lucid moral truth is to those
who love It'll And how can the natural man
desire truth, which conflicts with his pride, his
selfshness, his lusts That two and two make
four, is not more mathematical truth, than
that Slavery is contrary to that love which
works no ill to its neighbor. And every good
man, who is disentangled from all the multi
form ramifcatons of this web-work of Satan,
sees as by Intuition, and feels as by instinct,
the downright wickedness of that system
How cheering the thought, that our holy God
never changes With Him, truth il truth and
sin is sin, yesterday, to-day, and forever"
In 1918, Slavery was a fearful sin with most
| ministers of the Gospel, both in the South and
the North. NOp, with many Of those same
ministers, II IS no sun, but righteous institu-
| tion--a good a cherished, and important rela-
ton Time was, when every Mormon repudi-
| ated polygamy, and Indignantly spurned the
insinuation that any of their fraternity were
implicated in such crime. Nop, their tallest
leaders not only practice that beastly who're
dom, but unblushingly proclaim to the world
that 1T is patriarchal, a scriptural, and holy
institution-the purest, the hottest, and the
most happy state in which men can live on
| earth.
Once the disciples of Christ considered war
| and carnage diabolical, as inconsistent with
lcye to our neighbor, and as not to be tolerated
| by the friends of the meek and lowly Jesus
| the followers of the Prince of Peace. Now
almost the entire Christian world, including its
princes, Its statesmen, It's orators, its Swans
its civic corps, and its divines, dignity that
| dreadful science as one of the first of national
| duties-shout acclaim amidst the crashing
| thunder of battle, throw a food of glory over
the field of Internal carnage, and invest the
brow of the hero with an unearthly radiance,
in which the meek, the humble, the peaceful
follower of the Lamb is eclpsed and for
| gottenl
What poor, blind creatures we are How
tickle, how foolish, how inconstantl Veerinp
with every wind, modifying, changing, revers
ing our opinions and practices according tc
the caprice, the interests, the passions, and the
| ever-varying influences which affect us
hold to progress, and progress implies motion
| change. But 1t is sad to see one change from
| right to wrong, or from bad to worse! to see
one pronounce darkness light, bitter sweet, and
evil good After all, and notwithstanding per
sonal, temporary, and sectional retrogression
or apostacy, even, | believe there is genuin,
| progress in the world, and in the right direc
| ton.
Although many Christian legislators and
ministers may fatter themselves that they have
found intrinsic virtue in Slavery, War, &c.
that they have discovered a remedy for the
deadly poison of the Upas Leaf, without dis
turbing its root; that they have caught ant
bridled the devil, so that they can not onl,
render him harmless, but even make him vir
tuous and useful or, in plain terms, that they
can so remove the erils of Slavery &C., as t(
| preserve the fact the state, the institution the
| relation, the chattel, the-what shall we cal
1t? and make it not only model institution
but a rich and perpetual legacy, a pre-eminen
and eternal blessing to man-still, God is at tn,
helm of human affairs. He is on the throne o
the Universe, and all the mistakes, the blind
ness, selGshness, and madness of men will b,
and IS being overruled for good, and to ushe
in the day when oppression and all iniquit
shall cease, and when the oppressor and all tn,
wicked shall triumph no more.
am much pleased with the orthodoxy an,
the ability of the National Era. Its principle
or premises to me seem sound, and its reason
lngs logical and conclusive. Its doctrine OF
human rights Is, to my mind, more in accord
ance with the Gospel of Christ, or the law O
love, than the teachings of some of our tai
doctors. Such sentiments may expose us t.
the irony, the contempt, the sarcasm, the NAL
ice, or the pity, of the rulers and the Pharisees
nevertheless, they are the convictions of GU
sober reason, and we therefore avow them
and we feel sure that no man, rightly interpret
ing the Gospel of Peace, and cordially receivin,
1t into good and honest heart, can for a INC
msnt uphold Slavery.
We feel called upon to give this plain test
mony against what we call great sin,
Remembering crime, just as we would speal
against drunkenness, adultery, theft, robbery
and murder. We speak of the principle, with
out regard to individuals or States, to human
rulers or human laws. The great moral law
of God, like gravitation, are immutable an
universal; and whoever violates them mus
suffer their penalty, without distinction of ran
| or circumstance.
Many men, of estimable traits of character
are involved in Slavery; but this does not alte
the case, or make right of an eternal wrong.
l have just got hold of the memoir of oil
friend Hopper. 1t is a book full of interest