The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1881-11-12

IEVVT " WIITF INC NTIINT OT rIT0f-
~eousness be laid aside. What city in an
clent times appeared more impreunable
Than BabylOn2 But when once the hand
writing on the wall had gone forth against
IT" Meme, Meme, TekeI, Upharsin how
vain were the defences TO which Belshazzar
trusted. The same night the Persian army
entered the city, and Babylon became
heapS, winch remain IN their deSOlatiOn To
TINS day. Where i the Splendor of the
Court of Solomon, and the stately palaces
ana gardens that dazZled and fascinated the
Queen Of Sheba ? Tho eXtinguiShing of
that glory Is forecast in the 18th Psalm,
Whefe, along with the promise OF \ throne
that should endure for ever. are mingled
words of warning: "If his children furSake
my law, and walk not in my Judgments,
VIII visit their offences with the roi, and
their SIN with ScOurges.n Your MajeSty'S
visit 10 Siam will enable YOU to picture To
yourself those scenes of SumptuOuS magniti-
cenee with which Nehemiah was familiar
IN the palace of Shushan, and with which
We associate the memories of Nashti and
Esther. Where are now the marble pave
ments, the pillared courts, the gorgeous
hanglngs, the teTraced gardens of those
wonderful palaces, the glOries of ArtaNerXes
and Ahasuerus ? Buried, like the palaces
OF Nineveh, in a heap of ruins beneath the
accommodating soil of centuries-a witness of
tine unerring Word "The nation and
Kingdom that will not serve Thee shall
perish yea, those nations shall be utterly
! wasted"
The stability of a throne, then, does not
rest on ornaments, and fOrtresses, and eX-
ternal signs of magnificence and power;
nor does it rest in the education of the
people-if education be taken i'll its modern
sense of imparting knowledge without wis
dom, of sharpening the wits without the
training of the moral sense-sO hat the
present generation is being sent forth into
the world like a boat with its canvas
spread, and no one at the helm. In the
hendish conspiracies to which the Emperor
of Russia fell a victim, and in the g%rievous
lna- nj, E~- Ill H. 4 : - .s,I
mourning, We may read, if we have eyes to
see, the inevitable result of education with
out religion. The cultivation of the intel
lectual powers alone will not make men
good citizens or loyal subjects. Religion
alone Will make men true and just, submits
sive and loyal. 1t reveals the source of au-
thOrity, and supplies the sanctions for
humility, obedience, and respect. OF what
avails it to teach your children precepts of
morality if you leave out of sight the foun-
dations of that morality. You will be
spending your time like infants in building
a house of cards which, at the first puff of
wind, tumbles before your eyes. If for one
m / may turn your thoughts to those
shores which His Majesty so lately left, I
will ask wherein has lain the secret of
Great Britain's influence and power? Is it
not in her religion, and the truth and JUS
tice that religion inspires? She has not
thought scOrn of that heavenly wisdom
who speaks in the Book of Proverbs /" By
me kings reign, and princes decree Justice.
By me princes rule, and mobiles, even all
the judges of the earth" The worship that
daily ascends from her ancient sanctuaries,
the reverence for the Lords Day that
everywhere prevails, are the evidences of
the faith that is interviewer with all her
institutions. So closely is the state of Eng
land allied with the Ch rch of Christ, that
one might as we'll en- vor to tear asunder
two trees that have e. IN together, inter-
lacing one another frOin the root upward,
as to separate the State of England from
the enfolding embrace of the Church of
Christ.
What the Church of England has been
through many generations to the English
people, that in its small degree this furthest
Offshoot of that Church would fain be to
the Hawaiian people. Too backward in
the years that are past was the English
Church in giving the light of the Gospel to
these isles of the sea. Long before our
mission came, at the invitation of a former
King, others had labOred before us, II we
are entered into their labours. Thus our
Church's opportunities were narrowed.
Nevertheless, according to our OppOrtuni-
ties, the Church has striven to uphold those
principles of truth and justice, religion and
piety, which are the foundations of a ma
tion's stability and strength. Our need to-
day is to possess a sanctuary of our faith
and worship which shall declare the honor
OF the Saviour'S name to all generations.
There are those who would maintain that
religion stands not in cOlumned aisles and
vaulted roof, but is a thing so spiritual that
it needs no material structures to preserve
it. But his is not the teaching of Revela-
ton. What is more spiritual than light ?
Yet He who called it into being made for 1t
two great li~ght-holders. If man were pure
spirit he would need no temple in which to
worship. In his vision of the Eternal City,
st. JOhn beheld no temple therein, for the
Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the
temple of il. But here on earth man con-
sists of body and spirit. The body is not
yet spiritual, but of the earth, earthly.
UI,n Ia JNIx - 30 thn SnTl Nrhat tho hnSl-
is to the kernel what the casket to the
Jewel, what the canvas to the painting
that the material structures that men have
raised to the glory of the Saviour's name
are to the worship which is offered therein.
Your Majesty has listened to the voice
less eloquence of those grand Cathedrals of
Europe, which stirs the heart of generation
after generation to adore and bless the
Redeemer's love. Those old builders built
not for themselves alone, but for those who
should come after them. What patience,
what wisdom, what resolution, what love
they manifested I! Their names are for
gotten, but their works do follow them.
Can we not initiate in some degree the
noble example that they have left behind
them, There is no need to send to the
other side of the globe for materials that
we need. The providence of God has placed
at our very doors = stone that can hardly
be surpassed. All that we need is one who
can arouse a spirit of enthusiasm like that
which Nehemiah awOke In the hearts of
the nODleS OF Juuan, WISui Will Olc dCCOIui
thew determined to d" rise up and build"
Until this resolution is formed in every
heart, we cannot as a Church fulfil the in
junction of the text, to trade with the bless
ings that God has bestowed upon us. We
are hiding our pound in a napkin. The
erection of such a church as has been de-
signed as a monument to a predecessor of
His Majesty will be but a small return TO
Him who has so hountifully blessed this
land. If we AVE no poor on whom to
bestOw our liberality for Jesus sake, let Us
bestoW it directly on Jesus Christ himself,
and the promotion of His glory.
II will add further lustre to Your Majesty's
reign to have furthered the erection of this
church which has long been contemplated.
1t cannot be forgotten how King David of
old was spurred on to build the Temple by
the comparison of his own palace of cedar,
with the mere tent that served in his day
as the sanctuary of the Presence of God.
Yet that tabernacle was infinitely richer
and more costly than this miserable shell,
which for these many years has been the