The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1868-07-04
The Revolutionary Tendencies
OF THE
American Mission TO the Hawaiian
Islands.

The Annual Sermon on Home MISSIONS, before The
Hawaiian Bosrd, Preached la FOrt Street
Church, Honolulu, June 10, is6s.
by REV Il COISVvIN-
-Ths-e rh1i have turned the world upside do~n are come
hifhsr aisV-"- gs xVh,6
A we open this primitive Missionary Herald,
the Acts of the Apostles, and trace the progress o
the Missionaries from province to province and
from city to city as VIC read of the trials 10
which they were subjected, the obstacles they had
10 overcome and the prcjudiees they were called
to encounter; we are often surprised to sec how
marvelously the Missionary work reproduces it
self in every age. Having traversed many prov
inces Of Asia Minor, as home missionaries, Pau
and Silas, who now had Timothy and the beloved
physician Luke in their company, purposed to
turn northward into Bithynia, visiting the AsiatiC
towns ON the southern shore Of the Black Sea,
But they were here, Mt the extreme western limit
of Asia, suddenly arrested in their home mission
ary career, and received an unmistakable call to
the foreign work. They were required to leave
the land of their birth and cross the Egean Sea
into Europe, that there, through the Grecian
provinces, they might preach he Gospel of Christ.
Paul in visions Of the night saw a man of Mace
donia standing before him in the attitude of earn
est duplication, and saying, Come Oser into
Macedonia and help us. SO without delay, set
ting sail from Treas, the new town standing near
the ancient ruins of Troy, they had a quick run
with "A fair wind in two days to tie opposite
coast, and set foot for the first time upon the soil
of Europe, passing through the Roman town of
PhilipJi, where they began faithfully and with
good effect to preach the Gospel.
What befcll them there every student Of the
Bible very well knows. They were scourged and
cast into prison as disturbers of the public peace,
because they cast out the devil Of impudenee and
deception from n half crazy, half hypocritical.
slave girl, who brought her masters some revenue
by pretended prophecies and fortune telling, but
who was comparatively worthless to them when
these brnzen-faccd devils were gone out Of her.
You remember how nature shuddered Mt such in
justice and successive earthquake shocks loosened
their bonds and unlocked their dungeon doors.
And you remember the manly response of Paul
when the magistrates having beaten them openly
AMI uncondemned, now alarmed Mt their own
indiscretion. sent word to the converted jailor to
liberate them and privately send them away.
How ~salutary the lesson he thus taught to the
politicians OF Philippi that whether or not they
had any rights "A missionaries winch rulers were
bound to respect, they had rights as Roman citi-
zcns which it might not DC prudent to trifle with.
Not with unsecInly haste did they leave the prison
or the city, but with dignity and deliberation
they assembled the disciples brought to Christ by
their faithful ministrations, left them as the nu-
cleus of n Christian Church under the care Of
Timothy and Luke, and themselves passed on
along the great Roman road through Amphipolis
and Apollonia to Thessalonica. At that important
commercial centre would they plant the good seed
of the Gospel. There they preached with great
power and success for a few Sabbaths when the
Jews, Jealous of the new faith raised a mob, and
not finding the missionaries, dragged Jason. ut
whose house they tarried, and certain other dis
ciples before the magistrates with the complaint
contained in the text &. These that nave turned
the world upside down are come hither also"
How maryelously like a page or two from some
modern Missionary Herald reads this record of
the acts Of the Apostles. We have in our day
the same enmity of the human heart to contend
with, the same corrupt men in power who are
willing To please the enemies of religion by at
tempting to stife by force what cannot be con-
fronted by argument, and the same false accusa-
tons reiterated respecting the purpose, the ten
denotes and the results of the Missionary Work.
Though the efforts of godly men to plant and
train Christian churches in these Islands have en-
less open opposition from tie authori-
and less hostility from the native population
than almost any other mission efforts in any part
of the world, yet has the American Mission to
these Islands encountered its full share of vitu-
and abuse, Of misrepresentation and
abuse, and abortive efforts ut mob violence.
Well received, and, for the mostpart, kindly
bv the kings, chiefs and people To
xxbou, then came they hive bean the tnr-
of irrcligious travellers WHO sometimes shared
their hospitality only 10 traduce their work, and
"'s ~ -srttersd and published by
the Christiaaimea in November and one mt Hilo b
alike by their own "a Auihorizing b- .men !
unreasonable opposition To That which has been
tie best boon OF the civilized nations to this re-
heathen people.
Ii is chiefly from just such men that the charge
is brought against the Missionaries of the Cross
they are disturbcrs of the public peace, revo-
turning the world upside down. As
Luke could not trace the track of the Apostles in
heir transition from the home To the foreign
work without encountering this charge,
% shall we encounter il as we trace the progress
Jf the foreign missionaries on these Islands till ut
Icngth we find them Ininistering to n Christian
people, and engaged in tine Home Mission
iry Work. AS of the Apostles 1T was partly false
md partly true, so is IL partly false and partly
true of those who have come hither, also that they
have been rcyOlutiOnists turning the world upside
down.
Let us notice then some of the things which
they did not attempt TO cverturn, some of the
things which they did not do, and then notice
they have accomplished rs revolutionists, in
what respects they have turned the world upside
down.
First, then-They did moi come hifher ,rith any
purpose 10 0Uerfurn He form Of Go~cernmenf, TO
-er0hVtrni=e The political ideas Of The people, or 10
DIaoe themselves or their oOnUerfs IN direct anfdQ-
- - I.-F. L.-V- .l-.- -. I
aDding to the present hour these Puritan Mis-
themselves strongly republican, in lrin-
;iple, have never failed to symIathize with the
preferences of the people and most care
ully to avoid any collision with heir rightful
So far then from aiming to overturn the
they have thus, from religious prin-
.iple rather than from any idea of policy, been
lie steadfast supporters OF authority, till it may