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

We scarcely hear more than a faint echo Of It's
noise. The questions that trouble Us, though 70
us great. are yet IN the great world. but mlnutely
small. | was sometimes asked If l did not feel
myself shut in down here, or as If | were at sea
on a chip, and yet VIC are q part OF the world
and that world Is full oE greatness and Of divine
importance. 1t Is good 10 feel that we arc not
sundcrcd from It, that VIC are a vital part Of II.
We doubtless DO realizs tins more Is we 90 70
larger places. and feel more Of the great world
pulses. and look upon broader and more varied
reaches of land. We can it IS true read of what
is Transporting in the great world, but 10 BE- where
the fuller tides Of life are flowing, 10 be amid in
dustries Of many different kinds, to see the man
fold products of shop and field and mine, and
streams Of prosperity flowing IN many different
channels. to travel through varied and extended
scenes. no doubt helps us 10 realize more the
riches of Gods goodness and the greatness of
country and of the world, and the importance Of
the issues that are pending and waging. We
can, for instance, look upon the United States as
n country pictured on the map. We may tell OF
the miles Of its length and breadth. We can
think how long are its rivers and mountain
ranges. but 10 realize its extent one needs 10
spend days on the swift trains. He should pass
from one mountain chain 10 another, through
valleys that seem intermlnable. He should look
upon territory, so broad that whole nations could
sleen in their bosom. lie should follow water
courses for hundreds of miles, and then find that
thew empty themselves into yet larger rivers that
extend on for thousands of miles more. He
should 90 from great city TO great city each the
centre Of trade and exchange, and influence,
financial. moral, social and religious, for many
lesser ones. which are vet great in themselves.
lie should 90 the length and breadth of states
hat are almost empires in themselves, and survey
the countless homes of industry and look upon
the interminable miles of grain fields, and count
up the acres of furnaces and humming factories,
and then think what room there is for cities vet
unbuilt, and for industries yet undeveloped, and
for population yet unborn, and for enterprises
yet unconceived, and for greatness vet I'M
achieved.
Skeptics say that our ,c0rld is small, too small
to be the theatre Of such great dOings on the
part of God, as are involved in the gospel scheme
of redemption-too small TO be visited by the re-
vealing God in person and to be ransomed by the
divine son. They say that it is but q speck amid
all the great spheres, and so it is; and yet how
great may even a single nation be-great not
only in extent and resources, but great in what
God has wrought for it, and in the exhibition of
his power and love and purposes-great as the
theatre of destinies and as the developing place
of immortal and divine ideas.
We feel this more in a great land that is full
of stir. We feel that there millions and millions
of immortal souls made in Gods image and each
Of priceless worth, are TO live and find develop
ment and prepare for eternity-that there is to
be the home of mighty influences and mighty
works of redeeming grace. The fruits unto eter-
nal life that one such great country may bear are
! great beyond our power of computation. Having
IN itself almost every variety of climate and of
resource, with coal-beds underlying vast reaches
of it, and precious metals scattered on many
mountain sides, and fertile acres reaching out
into many broad plains, it affords n field for every
variety of human taste and ability. 1t is not all
hill, or all valley, not all mine, or all farm, but
there is n place for the treasure and n place for
the wheat. The failure of no single industry
brings disaster, for the channels of prosperity are
many. There are the snowy heights that form
and feed the rivers and the valleys that are
watered by them. Every energy may find its
exercise every man may find his home, and every
character its development. The United States is
but one of the great countries. | have used it
but in Illustration. Others may be yet more i'm
. portant, but it helps us to understand the great
ness and Importance of this world of ours. To
save such a world, to possess it all for Christ, to
redeem it to HIS service, to fill it with His praise,
to have it peopled thickly with those that are
pure and p~rospered and blessed in His love and
righteousness how great and grand the work and
mission : Must not the faith to do this be n Con-
0uering one ? Not a timid contracted one, but
one that shall enlarge itself to the greatness that
God has put upon the earth, and that seeks to
make this wond to be as full OF the riches of His
grace as He has made it to be full of the riches of
His goodness.
Again, one cannot well journey out upon the
earth without new Impressions of the goodness of
the divine arrangements in another respect. |
mean that amid all this variety of place and
cline and all this diversity of interests that exist
on earth, God has so ordered it that there is to
each and all o. us n home. He has appointed to
every one a place. Not only the coney has its
rock and the stork her nest, and the wild goat his
hill, but man also his home. God has set us in
families and places, and our local attachments,
our accumulating interests, our strengthening
ties, draw and bind us each to our place and
bop,n Wo oil nOua 70 lorn nur Hmallipn plona
We all have a feeling of pride and satisfaction in
our town or city or country. On the islands and
all over the broad Continents throughout regions
as diverse from each other as can be, on the shore,
in the valleys, on the mountain sides, in the
deserts even, families live and have their home,
and feel that it is the best place for them.
Wherever we Journey, it is remarkable that we
enter no city, no town, no State, or kingdom, the
praises of which we do not hear celebrated by its
inhabitants. Each locality is thought to have
its advantages and attractions over others. The
San franciscan would not live in New York. The
New Yorker would not live in London. To the
vast body of Californians, the islands arc away
out of the world, while to many of us here no
other cline or country can compare with this.
While this home feeling or p~artiality may give
rise to q little foolish local Boosting and pride, rs
1t often does, between cities and countries, it is
vet n most happy provision in our nature for our
contentment and welfare. 1t prevents local I'M
easiness and gives permanence TO society and
fosters enterprise, and establishes the growth and
prosperity of each different part of the world. 1t
is one of the riches of the divine goodness that
things are so ordered, that our home is home to
us, that we love our place, and are drawn toward
it. This comparing of different places of resi-
dence and country that is so common, is, after
all, but the setting forth of the excellence of ones
W place. 1t is a kind of thankfulness that we
live where We do. Ii is but an evidence that
God has made all places to be best for somebody,
and that the whole earth everywhere is full of
His riches. The many and strange questions that
l had to answer about these islands, and the
many inquiries as TO how L liked this place or
that, made this to be by no means a slight i'm
preston upon me. And L need not add that We
who live here under these bright skies need not be
cnYious of those whose lot has fallen in other and