The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1857-12-17
FAST DAY.


Thursday, December 31st., has been appoint
ed as a day of fasting and prayer, as will be seer
by the following notice, which we insert gro
tuitously, as the state of the public finances
does not allow of the notice being fully pro.
claimed in all the journals of the day
BY ORDER OF rHf KING.
In Is HEREBY PROCLAIMED that Thursday, the Bis,
ofDecember ensuing, be kept as q day Of solemn fast
ing and humiliation for sin, and of thanksgiving to
Almighty God for numberless unmerited mercies and
blessings received during the year that expires on
that day. L. KAMEHAMEHA.
Office of the Interior, 10th Dec, 1857.
The above is a singular notice indeed. Though
protesting to be issued g by order of the King
it does not appear over his signature, as is Gus
tomary in such cases. The notice, as it now
appears, would convey the idea that the matter
of a public fast or Thanksgiving (whichever OF
both, as may be intended) is not of sufficient i'm
portance to receive the special attention of the
king, but is deputed to a ministerial officer, and
issued from the Office of the interior, when his
Majesty is still on the island, and within ten
hours ride of the metropolis. We do not know
that it will generally be viewed as such here, but
in England or America the form of issuing the
proclamation would be considered as little short
VI III u ehc puDuc. Out, dsiue from ls
~informality, the notice itself is perfectly ridicu-
lous. The idea of having a solemn fast day for
sin, united to a day of public rejoicing and
thanksgiving to God for his care and goodness,
is an absurdity that could only have originated
in the brains of the present Hawaiian Ministry.
Let us look at it a moment. A day of fasting,
according to the old Jewish ritual, and accord
ing to all modern religious customs, is considered
as a day of humiliation, prayer and withdrawal
from active business, to remember our national
and individual unworthiness in the sight of the
Creator. A day of thanksgiving is, on the con-
trary, observed everywhere as a day of Teasing
and rejoicing. A union of the two is inconsist-
ent and 4beurd, and will be viewed abroad as
quite ridiculous.
How the day isto be kept, we are puzzled to
know. Perhaps another proclamation is to issue
from the .Interior Ofice,'' giving the full
est particulars for the proper performance
of an Act, which, without a programme, must
tax the ingenuity of the public. We do not see
how the day can be observed at all, and do not
think it will be unless the notice is SO modified as
to make it possible.
But really the 31st December, the day chosen
for either a fast or a feast Tin this case uncertain
which) is not appropriate. The day selected last
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES exceedingly appropriate
for a day of thanksgiving. 1t is observed among
the English and Europeans us a day of feasting,
and the appointment of it in 1856 gave general
satisfaction.
Wherever, in any country or state, a day of
general thanksgiving is appointed, it betokens in
the ruler and the people a spirit of reverence.
thankfulness and humility. 1t is a spectacle of
moral sublimity to see a people thus returning
thanks to the All-bountiful Providence, and ask
ing for a continuance of His blessings. And
surely the Hawaiian nation and it's rulers owe a
heavier debt of gratitude to an overriding Provi-
dence than any of the nations on the earth.