The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1876-08-05
THE PACIFIC
Commercial AoOertisrr
SATURDA Y. AUGUST ).
HOME CHARACTERIZATION
4 Sermon Preached At the Fort Street Church,
Honolulu, Jane Is, 1876, By the Rev. J.
gieknell.

Honolulu, jane Is, 1876, b! Tue Kew. j..
BIeknell.
TPUBLIsHED By REQUEsT.I
Go not in the way Of the GentiIes, and into any city II the
Samartans enter ye not
But 60 rather TO the ist sheep OF the mouse OF israel
Matthew 10. so
The importance of Home Evangelization is
seen in the fact that il first engaged the attention
Of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 1t was
not until after his crucifxion and resurrection
from the dead what the way was opened TO enter
the foreign field. The Gospels of Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John, are a summary OF Home
Missionary intelligence.
Jesus confined his missionary labors TO the
Jews. Besides a few short visits TO the Samari-
tans, there are mentioned only two occasions on
which he deyiated from this course. Once when
he healed the Centurion's servant; and again in
the case Of the Syrophenieian woman. The
Centurion applied to him through a deputation
of the elders of the Jews. The Syrophenician
woman took no such round about course. She
waited on Jesus in person. AT first, he seemed
to reject her petition but afterwards granted it
in consequence Of her strong faith, as well as a
reward for Der admirable reply to his argument
But Jesus said unto her, Let the children
first be filed for it is not meet to take the
children's bread, and to cast it unto the dogs.
And she answered and said unto him, yea Lord
vet the dogs under the table eat of the chiidren's
crumbs. And he said unto her, for this saying
go thy way: the devil is gone out of thy
daughter.
Inc WORDS, - Let tile culluTtu HIpt Ut AACNJ
show Christ's estimate of Home Evangelization.
1t was to this branch Of the missionary work
that he specially addressed himself. The
Foreign Department, he left to his disciples.
AS a nation, the Jews had now been under
religious instruction nearly fifteen hundred
years. Everything was favorable to their
spiritual Development. They possessed an
elaborate ritual. From time to time, prophets
and teachers were commissioned to reveal to
them the mind of God. In drawing a COM
parison between them and the heather around,
Paul asks. What advantage then hath the
Jew, or what profit 10 there of circumcision ?"
And in reply to his own inquiry, he says,
81 Much every way. chiefly because that unto
them were committed the oracles of God
The Jews were in possession OF the Old
Testament Scriptures; their synagogues filled
the land the temple at Jerusalem was a stand
ing witness for God the daily sacrifices were
offered, and the tithes collected for the services
of the temple and the maintenance OF the
priesthood. At no time, perhaps, in their
history were they SO free from idolatrous prac-
tees. And yet Notwithstanding all this, Jesus,
in the text, declares that they were lost. " But
90 rather to the lost sheep of the house of
Israel, " is his charge to the disciples.
Here, the question arises, How were these
people lost?
1. Through presumption.
2. Through disobedience. g
We are not to infer that the whole nation was
lost. There were still living a few pious souls
like Zacharias and Elizabeth of whom it is
written, THAT they were righteous before God,
walking in all the commandments and ordinances
of the Lord blameless."
So too, among the Iawaiians there is a chosen
seed-a sturdy few who have received the truth
in it's simplicity. But then, these are I" hidden
ones"
The Jews presumed upon their ancestral
hopes. Being defendants Of Abraham, they
fancied that they were children of the covenant,
and therefore lived carelessly. They entertained
the idea that they would enter heaven at last
no matter how they lived. 1t was on a pre-
sumptuous notion like this that Aaron Burr
wrecked his life. He thought that the child of
SO many prayers could not be lost.
To the majority of the Jews religion was a
mere form so much money contributed for the
temple service SO many prayers, ana beasts
offered in sacrifice. The g answer of a good
conscience toward God" they did not possess.
The pharlsee could rob the fatherless and the
widow, and still stand up in the temple and
pray, "God, l thank thee, that | am not as
other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or
even as this publican"
The case of a people whose consciences are
SO scared as this, is desperate indeed. 1t is like
that of q patient so far gone in a decline that
fatal insensibility has supervened.
Religion is not form and ceremony merely,
but righteous living, the due discharge of ones
obligations towards God and man. We are to
love God with all the heart, and soul, and mind,
and strength, and our neighbor as ourselves.
The true standard of the Christian, is the life of
God in the soul. Religion is a dead thing if
this inner life be wanting. Form and ceremony
are only accessories to religion. The genuine
commodity is the inner life, called in Scripture
language, the pearl of great price" No
amount of external worship will make up for
the lack Of this interior life.
Three years or more ago, in the attempt to
form an Association in Hamakua for religious
purposes, and when the subject Of mans came
~ for discussion in mpntinp If was decided 70
call it a Young Mems Christian Association"
As soon as this decision was reached, a young
native who made no pretenslons whatever to
piety, jumped up and said, 81 am glad you
have not named the Association a religious one
merely. Now / can take part in the pro-
ceedings, Hawaii has been admitted to the
circle of Christian nations, and ! therefore. am
q Christian"
His idea was that be was a Christian although
not a religion man. Is there not a ~misapprehen-
sion of this kind lurking in the minds OF q good
many of our own people?
2, l have next to show wherein the Jews were
disobedient.
But they obeyed not thy voice, neither
walked in thy law they have done nothing Of
all that thou eommandedst them to do" is the
charge that jeremiah bias recorded against them.
No language could be more sweeping than this.
This record, be it observed, was made while the
first temple was still standing, and the routine
of daily services complete.
The value of an act of worship is in the moral
intent. But if the glory of God be subordinated
to something else, religion becomes vitiated, and
the act of worship, in that case, is worthless.
The Jews offered God lip service, and not heart
service. This is wherein they were disobedient.
Hypocrisy was the q dead fly" in their pot of
ointment. Stephens charge, though exaspera-
ting, was truthful and to the point "Ye stiff
necked and uneircumcised in heart and ears, ye
do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers
did, so do We.
Which Of the prophets have not your fathers