The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1864-12-03
PACIFIC
Commercial Advertiser.
a Thanksgiving Sermon,
Delivered 10y Rev L. H.. GuIici. an the For
street Church. Nov. ga. 1864
PrBLIsHED b REQUEST.

I'VE reJOIce to-day We gladly respond 70 I.s
appointment Of the President OF the United States
Minister resident 81 the Court Of the Hawaiian
Islands, and we to day keep Thanksgiving.
This - not a ~testiyity into the spirit OF which
the irTeligious can enter. This IS not tor Jocund
revelry- Believers IN = Holy God to-day render
thanks FOR the blessings Of = year The idea OF
such a day IL founded IN the belief Of a Divine
Being personal, Jenefcent, wise, powerful and
holy. Nothing less BELTS the occasion. The in
trusion Of any other thought, and OF any prac-
tice inconsistent with this thought, belittles the
day, and degrades the participants. As Chris
tians then, we this day rehearse the blessings
received from the Father of All, and render Him
the thanksgiving and glory : due unto his name
And this yearly festival can never find the
Christian individual OF nation without occasion
for thanksgiving. Whatever the minor features
Of the year, the great fact of JOY to frail beings,
feeling the need OF an infinite Ruler and Father,
- this central truth Of Revelation, that The
Lord ~reigneth. Whatever the Gesolarions of our
hearts, and whatever the temporary wreck OF
political, social. or religious interests, the Chris
tan Is always ready 20 keep Thanksgiving. and
ME solemn, reverent toast. as he lifts the - Gu
OF salvatIOn, Is "The Lord reigneth, let the
earth rejoice let the multitude Of isles be glad
thereof"
From the circumstances of this call To Thanks
giving, our thoughts naturally and properly turn
first to America. Very MANY Of US are Hawaiian
born. but fondly @e cherish the glorious land Of
our Fathers, and with no dislOyaltv 70 fair Ha-
waii, we proudly and truthfully call ourselves
Americans, and claim the privilege Of not only
ourselves yearly celebrating, but also of trans
hitting % our children, the sacred institution Of
Il Puritan Thanksgiving.
But Is from our island peaks, with yearning
h!Iai hearts we turn our eyes America-ward.
alas how the sulphurous smoke Of war enshrouds
her and We can almost hear through the mellow
air the terrible collision Of contending hosts.
(tnIu m EIDfG rnkEa - sou ,,,rI ,La Hi - -
own children Her sons for three years and q
half have been bleeding and dying over all her
vast territory slain IN q war which ALREADY
numbers nearly = million Of victims, and sad to
say. very many of them, under miserable delu-
slons, have fallen not as patriots fall. Her
daughters by tens of thousands keep to-day's
Thanksgiving in habiliments of woe. And still
the fra'ricidal strife only wakes hotter, and in
creasing numbers fall with every new day.
And can II be we are summoned to giving Of
thanks while this most awful of scourges Is desc
IIting the land we lOye2 While all the air Is
still laden with the distress Of the dead and diving
shall we talk Of Thanksgiving? What if true
That COlumbIa's eagle perches victorious on the
banners of the Union, can it be Christian 10 call
ns to rejoice while the land yet weeps over the
hecatombs of human sacrifices 20 the Demon Of
Discord?
Yes, the Christian ever saith, The Lord
reIgneth, let the earth rejoice and il is in times
Ut deepest trouble and saddest confusion that he
says it with the fullest en- ;,hasis. Even though
unable to see u ray Of light on the hopes of hu-
manity, though 10 our -hort-sighted vision all
were going To wreck, we look above, assured that
the Divine Ruler u guiding with q reach of wis
dom Infinitely beyond our own. and with a wealth
OF power that nothing can baffie-and we rejoice.
But we are not left to-day 70 bare faith. for
indictments TO Thanksgiving. We bless God,
VINO rules so gloriOusly tor his goodness TO Ameri-
ca Clouds and darkness are indeed round about
him, but even now, all who have an eye and heart
may see his glory resting upon her. This terri
Die visitation Is bringing TO the United States Of
America blessings difficult to estimate in their
present good and ultimate effect.
We rejoice to-day over the Political Reqenera-
non which is so surely being accomplished in
America.
In the revolution by which the United States
their independence, the most fundamental
principle at stake, was no taxation without repre-
That was triumphantly maintained.
Two generations passed, and gradually the politi-
heresy grew that States were the ultimate
clements of the Union, rather than the people of
the States, and that 4 minority of States need
not submit TO q majority. The admission of such
: doctrine would have sapped the citadel of Free
dom and we may well rejoice that rather than
submit to threatened anarchy or oIigarchy, there
vas vitality sufficient to resist, and that we have
iuch good reason to hope this resistance will re-
ult in forever settling, that the majority rules,
limited only by the constitutions mutually
We profess not 70 know all that God purposes
accomplishing even in political affairs by this
war, but nothing shall restrain our Thanks
owing that such 4 gain has already been made in
settlement of this point so ~palpably ut issue
between the couteuding PARTIES. and that the
the conflict. and the more severe. the more
thoroughly will the question be settled and the
essOn be learned. Generation upon generation
will listen 10 the terrible story, and each will
il 10 its successor that submission IL no less
n element OF republicaniSm than Independence.
Another political lesson, and one quite as much
moral as it is political, which the Lord who
-eigneth has been forcing upon the comba'ants,
oil now we may see at least a partial solution.
: regarding slavery. So sure a. 4 God of Holt
sits upon the universal throne, we could not
uppose that a nation would prosper while legal
zing so fragrant a violation of it's own PRINCIPLES
Ind the laws of Heaven. This was not an incl
iental corruption and oppression, such as class
viii always practice upon class so long as human
ty remains short of perfection, bat an incc--
wrong, and 4 mischief framed By a law;
nj true to its evil nature il came 10 be the ruling
in the government; every department
icing rapidly made subsidiary to its policy and
ne North itself cannot be exempt from the
'harge OF terrible completely, for which the
hand Of God is upon her.
This was the interest 10 promote which. the
lsresy OF State-rIghts was especially fostered.
was the spirit,-that but the form this the
the expression. And as they have
so inssparable in origin and life, together
shall die. The national uprising is virtu-
lily against both. 1t matters not what form the
takes Ii the first DC destroyed, The last
must also die the death.
And as We review the war up 10 this point,
cheering the evidence that this hvdra-headed
Is wounded PAST recovery. The re-
narkahle revolution, or rather emancipation of
'ublic opinion, Is the special advance and 50
-reat IL IL, that even religious bodies are no longer
he fhn --a1,t.rNr1g uzf e -, Ill ~ =