The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1873-09-06

t. realize It's mission and to save and conquer for
Christ. The churches Of Christ need u realize
that Christianity Is sufficient for the issues Of the
day. that it has power to guide the new energies,
meet the new inhdelities and growing c0TruptioEs
and increasing spirit q ayaricc and wOrldlincss.
u arrest wrong tendencies, overcome prevailing
vices and rcncw the old waste places.
We here in this Kingdom need T. feel that 1t
can meet our needs, that 1t can give to us its own
new and better life, remedy Our evils, save this
people from lis vices and distractions. and open
again the true springs ct prosperity. /. has q
reyIyIDg and developing power in this respect
beyond all our faith. And would not a llrtlc
more or this faith Do more for lis than all the
outside help that we may wait for and Yet fail
of? Whatever may be- the external relations that
this Kingdom s~ustains, its true life and virtue and
prosperity will come out Of the salvation that Is
wrought here in II. Other things may greatly
help, but the new life that Is needed IS not So
much one of flesh and blood as of spirit-a re
generated life that Will stop the decay and heal
the plaques and give healthtul emery. How true
it is that we are consumed by our iniquities.
Again, do we not return from our lOurneyings
with the impression that it matters not 50 much
where rs how We live? It is character, not place
that is the chief thing. 1t is what we become
and what we do, more than where cur lot may be
cast. that makes us good and great and happy.
Any place may he home To us, but the work Of
life for us to do is one. One place has little adj
vantage over another in its essential elements for
Il good and happy living, but the one true life in
its ends and aims and enioyments IS as different
from the other as right is from wrong, or happi-
ness from misery, and that one life we can live
anywhere, and in one place about as we'll as in
another. The chief circumstances of life, after
all, differ but little with place. The same tempta-
tions are everywhere. The same conflicts are to
be met. Human nature is IN one place what it Is
in another. There are not less of selfshness and
a~yarice, not less sharpness and schcming in the
1,--o- communities and onnnfrtaS Fhnn IN rI,
smaller. In fact, there seems to be moro respect
paid to spounds and pence, more eagerness and
uneasiness for extra percentage, more canyassing
of stocks and shares and Investments, more money
on the brain, in the former than in the latter.
Churches there also have about the same work TO
do, the same opposers to meet, the same struggles
70 encounter, the same questions Of immortality
and of unbelief 10 face. They have the same
toiling by faith, and he who would live a life
unto God can do it no better in one place than in
another. Hawaii is Just about as good a place to
serve the Great Master in and TO prepare for the
Kingdom to come in, and to go to heaven from rs
any other part Of the earth.
Once more. Who can visit places of former
tolls and friendship without being impressed with
the changeableness of all that is human. Old
faces have changed. Streets are walked by other
feet. Stores are in other hands. Other pastors
are in the pulpits, other members are in the
pews. Other questions and interests are the
1 OlCN Va Nd1hs dbCANAS AZ w " NAN In
very progress that has been made has been
| through changes-some of them sad, others cheer
ing. The old towns, though grown in size, yet
seem contracted. The old brooks look smaller.
| Many things have lost their relative importance.
| The rich, some of them, have become poor and
the poor rich; and while our vast world and the
Great God who made it all are magnlfed in the
regards, the particular things, the individuals arc
less, and from it all comes the impression deep
and strong that blessed is the man who builds his
house upon the rock, whose hopes are anchored
upon the interchangeable and eternal. While
persons and places change in our impression, God
grows greater. His works seem more manifold,
and the riches of His goodness more u%nfailing
and boundless. lie alone is great and good; the
whole earth is full Of His praise. The changes
that pass over us here, the transitions we undergo,
the reverses, the removals are but the incidents oil
our earthly, human, mortal life, but to be one
with God in love, to have His will our will, and
His work our work, that is eternal, imperishabe
life. In the wide range of His designs, that
which we count great, is ever losing its great
ness, while to know Him and have our life
moving in the plain Of His will, that is our great
ness and our joy forever.
What future he will give to you and TO me we
know not, but we know that the riches of his
goodness, which fill the earth and is to all his
| creatures, will not fail from us. We know that
that same love and care which gives to every
creature its portion, will also provide for us.
We know that the earth is full of his good things
by which he blesses his own, and that conse.
quently as David argues in our psalm, Zion will
not starve. Her enemies will perish. The do.
minion of evil will be short. lie will care fol-
his own. Our song shall be therefore as in the
| closing of this psalm, " Bless the Lord, q my
soul. Praise ye the Lord"