The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1865-04-22
THE PACIFIC
Commercial Advertiser.
SATURDAY, APRIL %.
Bi-bop staIe,'- PASTORAL Address.
,For Tie Pacific Commercial Aavert.er)

arise from religion 1 was iOrCIbly reminded
Of this truth on reading q pamphlet entitled " \
Pastoral Address, by the Right Reverend the
Bishop Of Honolulu etc. In view of the high
and responsible position which its author Occu-
pies in a Christian Church. one might well be
surprised al the bitter and partisan character
Of this document. The -selfcomplaccnt and IN
charitable manner in which he speaks Of other
denominations Of Christians, the too evident
eagerncss with which he catches a. any statement
10 the discredit of the American Protestant Mis-
sion, and the sneers and inuendoes in which he
INDUCES, but Ill accord with the great IGJv 0t
charity To which he 50 often appeals.
As none of the persons asSailed have as yet
thought tit To notice this attack, / propose, with
your leave, 70 review q few of his statements,
and for what is here said the writer alone Is re-
sponsible
The charge Of intolerance which is made in
the preface against the Congregationalists, and
illustrated by an apOcryphal a%necdOte, Is often
repeated in the sequel. Now, liberation gen.
orally is reciprocal in its nature, and the writer
had better - consider the beam IN his own eye"
before calling attention to the mote in his bro
Tiers eye. / need not 90 back = the bloody per-
solutions through which the authors Church
was : by law established | would, however,
ask his Lordship how Puritans Jared in Virginia,
and even New York, in those old Colonial times.
Does he not know that heavy fines and imprison-
ment awaited the dissenting minister who should
dare 10 preach in either of those Colonies?
1t was but natural that men who had been
beaten, who had been branded and had their
ears dug out by the hangman's knife. who had
languished in filthy dungeons for their religious
opinions, and who had sought refuge in an in
hOspitable wilderness beyond the Atlantic, should
have had their feelings somewhat embittered,
and should have regarded that prosecuting
Church ~ an intruder when it followed them
into their retreat. Besides. the Puritans we'll
knew that the success of the P~relatists in New
England would be destruction to their own civil
and religious liberties. The proceedings Of the
Churchmen Of those times showed the deadliest
hostility To the Colonial Government. Yet they
were freely allowed to preach, and We're cx-
empted from all taxes for the support Of the
State Church us early rs l727.
Turn then to the mother country even at the
present day. Only last December u Mr.. Thomas
Powell, near Peterborough, in England, wished
to have his son buried in the parish church-yard
and a dissenting minister to otficiate. When the
friends had gathered around the grave, a mes
senger arrived from the clergyman Of the Estab-
lished Church, u Mr.. Ellaby, stating that he was
ready to perform the Episcopal service. This
was cautiously declined, upon which the rector
issued from the church and forbade the burial.
Even the right OF silent interment was denied
them, and when the afflicted father would him
self perform the last sad Office at the grave Of his
child, the spade was wrenched from his hand by
the sexton. Would this scandaloGs scene, which
reminds US Of the times of Archbishop Laud,
have been possible in Puritan New England?
This Is not the place To enter into Il defence Of
the IuriEd1S. l. cannot. however, refrain from
quoting the testimony of one who hated them,
tine historian Hume, who declares that : the pre-
cious spark of liberty had been kindled by the
Puritans." and that = to them the English owe
the whole freedom Of their Constitution" SAYS
Lord King. - As for liberation, or any true no.
ton of religious liberty or any general liberty Of
conscience, We owe them not in the least degree
to what Is called the Church Of England. On
the contrary, we owe all these to the Indepen-
dents in the time of the Commonwealth, and to
| laly, .InIr r,,cf I'll r.trihus on1 nplrhtanal dc
ciple."
1t is hardly necessary for me to point out the
unfair and garbled character of the quotations
which Bishop Staley has made from the minutes
of the Hawaiian Evangelical Association, held in
1853. Two or three examples may suffice.
From the abstract Of the report for Ka-u, he
quotes The Sabbath is not observed by the
Ka-u people in that sacred manner indicative Of
a high standard of piety :" but omits the next
sentence: 1.-The arrival and departure of the
steamer on the Sabbath, every alternate trip, has
proved Il snare to many of our people, and is an
eyer-returning temptation 10 ,Sabbath-desecra-
ton" OF course he omits everything favorable
in the reports, as the additions TO the Churches,
the increase of liberality in some districts, the
improvements in schools, etc. Thus, from the
report from South Kona he quotes - There
has never been so much perfect Indifference
among the ungodly,'' etc, but omits the follow
ing sentence On the other hand, there never
has been, since the first establishment of the Mis-
! Slbl ~ LllANh anu CO 1NANIu 60 ACAl' Vi nun
piety."
The district Of Hama, having been some years
without Il Protestant Missionary, had retro
graded in civilization and morality, notwith-
( standing the Jealous labors of several devoted
French priests. After extracting the worst
points IN this report, the Bishop quotes haJf q
sentence, which applies, not 70 Hama proper. but
10 Hdupo, the most b%enighted and inaccessible
district, perhaps, on the Islands. He quotes as
follows - Sorcery as been for four years in
creasing in this district - bat omits the rest of
the sentence. = in consequence of the licensing of
native kahunas by kapu." Now, it is notorious
that this. business of selling licenses to native
kahunas IT SO a head has been carried on for
several years all over the Islands, and it Is uni
verSally believed to be under the patronage Of
persons in high official station. | would respect
fully ask, first, by what law these licenses are
issued, and secondly, whether the money accru-
ing from them is duly accounted for at the Gov
eminent Treasury, or whether it finds its way
into private pockets. Other facts of q similar
nature might be cited TO show how the influence
Of Government officials, during the last ten years,
has too often been e2erted on the side of immoral
ity and barbarism.
The temper displayed in the personal allusion
10 the Rev. L. Smith, (ou pages : and o. speaks
for itself, and viii not strengthen the authors
argument. There is this difference between
them. that Mr.. Smiths remarks were written for
Il private document, not intended for general cir
c~ulation, while the Bishops pamphlet is avow-
edlv written to be read in the United States and
England. His Lordship i pleased to draw atten-
ton TO Mr.. Smiths use Of a plural verb in the
sentence. - This sect hare come and established
themselves etc, which he considers a sJleciSm.
Now. ii is 4 settled principle of grammar, that
when the subject of q verb is a - collective noun
conveying the idea Of plurality, the verb must
be in the plural lumber. And it has been sug-