Saturday press. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1880-1885, 1882-04-01
Salvation by Cathedrals.

pcDdcUt OF February lGthi
We hoar with some emotion that Bishop
Willis, from the Sandwich Islands, has M
rived in this country on his way 10 Eng
land. Whether he is 10 stay with us awhile,
on whether the urgency of his crrnnd will
not permit him to take breath on this con
tincnt, we have not been informed We
should think IL very likely that his haste
will brook no delay. The fact that the
destiny OF nation Of souls hangs on the
speed and success of his mission IL II spur
which the good Bishop would bc inhuman
not 10 heed. We suppose, therefore, that
he will lose no time in presenting himself
TO the people of England, who already
know the thrilling story OF his great plans
for the benefit of the Sandwich Islanders,
and nrc impatiently counting the days
until they shall hear il from his own lips.
Then their generous response will, we
trust, enable him to perform work which
will be The browning glory Of his own
episcopal career, and OF that OF his prcde
ccssor, and constitute nm epoch in the
history of the Sandwich Islands.
About ~ years ago (some 3 or 10 years
before the jubilee of the missionary work
OF the American Board in the Islands was
tion of the Gospel began mission in Ho
nolulu, for the supervision OF which Bishop
Stnley was consecrated. It's true, %. course.
that the revolving heathcnism Of the
people had disappeared under the teach
ings of the American missionaries. and
that Christianity had been established in
its stead II was entirely safe for Bishop
Stalcy and his conductors to carry the Cos
pei to the Islanders, who had never known.
much as they might have been improved
by the American teachers, what il was to
have the fatherly care Of Lord Bishop of
the Church of England, Successor of the
Apostles and Bishop by Divine Right We
can see, therefore, that the work of the
American missionaries was not altogether
in vain. They were the forer,Inners They
prepared the way, though enthusiastically
they were unworthy to loose the latchets
of the episcopal shoes. II might be claimed
that the Bishop and his helpers disrcgarded
the principles of Christian comfy, if they
had gone to the Sandwich Islands to tread
in the footsteps of the missionaries. But
they had no such purpose. They did not ap-
prove the methods which had been tried,
and held that without the episcopal Office,
and its accessories, duly ordained clergy
men, the Prayer book, etc, eternal ruin
stared the benighted people in the face.
Plain. unpretending missionaries, with no
divine authority to preach and administer
the sacraments, might gather the people
out of the mud of heathenism and wash
their faces, SO to speak; but it was for the
Church, with her bishops, deans. canons,
priests, deacons, her cathedrals, her en-
chanting ritual, her vestments, and her i'm
pressiye rites and ceremonies, completely
to cleanse and polish the dusky natives and
fit them for Heaven
Bishop Staley gave himself, heart and
soul, to the work, retiring in 1870 to make
way for fresher hand, if haply their
united lives and labors might securely es-
tablish the Kingdom Of God in Honolulu.
Bishop Willis went out in 1872, determined
to do or die. Bishop Staley had begun
wisely. He had secured from a firm of
eminent London architects, plans for a
magnificent cathedral well knowing that
without q cathedral, human endeavors
were vain. He left these plans legacy
to his successor. Bishop Willis, the pith
and pivot of whose appeals and hopes are
the completion of what the Annual Report
of the s. p. q. calls a sumptoous cathedral ,
1t can be plain to any one who studies
the history of this mission that, if it has
lacked success thus far, it has been because
it has had no cathedral and that the inspi-
ration which has kept it alive so long pro
ceeds from the piaas for it transmitted by
Bishop Staley. 1t is true Bishop Staley
was disheartened when he retired: but
would he not have given up much sooner
but for this inspiration! We trow he
would. Official documents tell us that his
withdrawal would have been the death
blow of the hopes of the Church of Eng
land in Hawaii, except for the money of
Miss Sellon. and even after Bishop Willis.
zeal was brought to the help of the mis-
sion the death of Miss Selion and the
withdrawal of the royal grant, we are told.
crippled the enterprise; but there was left
still the inspiration OF the plans. If these
had been destroyed the Church of Eng
land in the Sandwich Islands had. we
fear, utterly persisted.
Bishop Willis has made generous ac-
acknowledgement of the help received from
the treasury of the S. p Ct. He has shown
how he has worked along for some time ON
no more than $1,000 year; how, for the
sake of economy, he took charge of school
temporarily himself; and how the fund for
the cathedral has been drawn upon for
running expenses until exhausted. The
dlnuuu reports give Sbranpe testimony
about congregational attendance and the
number of communicates. There were in
1878, we find: $50 communicates and 80
in congregation; the next year, lit com
municants and $50 in congregation; while
in 1880 the communicates dwindled TO IA
and the congregation swelled to 2O2. II
not this decrease OF communicates signifi
cant? The people attend services, but
will not communicate, because there is
no cathedral in which the sacrament can
be properly celebrated. The Bishop has
now, as formerly, three helpers, enough
perhaps, to man the cathedral when ii al
last appears like Aladdin's palace
IL all this wears discouraging look 10,
the future OF the Church in the Islands
we reassure ourselves by the confidence
We have that the Bishop will raise money
enough TO save it, The King and Queen
have headed his subscription-list with 4
generous donation and the English peopl,
will follow where royalty leads, especially
when their pity and sympathy are excited
by the Bishops story of how the native,
sin and suffer because they have no cathc
dral, Honolulu shall have the ''sumptu
ous " editice and the Islands will be saved
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