Saturday press. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1880-1885, 1883-12-01
fT ST fNDREW'S.


Kew bcorgc wallace preached from Inc
following ext At St Andrew Pro. cathedral las,
Thursday
Citizenship a. il become,h the Gospel Of chria-
ph,hftfssf = ~.
As rational beings, capable both Of receiving
and eserting moral and religious influences,
we are placed by Almighty God in tha, order
of mutual relation which is called society.
Society consists OF three main divisions, the
family, the nation, the Church. Without
these organizations man has never existed save
to remain as they have remained, so long as
men shall live on earth. In each Of these
states Of society the rule OF law is handed down
from generation to generation. The law Of
love is di,incly ordained to I've the law Of the
family, the law OF Justice, the law Of the
nation, the law Of holiness and the law OF the
church. We are led 10y the character OF our
religious observance this morning, in keeping
with the words chosen for the text, to speak to
you of the law Of the nation. by this law,
which TO I've binding on the conscience must he
according to justice, all classes and conditions
are bound for common interest and protection.
The wcll.doerS will recognize it as the bond
holding society together, framing and forming
men in various relations and conditions with
power gentle and silent yc, real and present.
To evildocrs the law OF the state is simply
stern, severe force, laundering out its penal.
ties, enforcing its claims and innicting its
punishments with strong arm. And the law
of the nation is enforced by the stronges,
powers and resources that men can command
Whether men will obey or not they bear wit.
ness that law is principle and fact by
which they arc to be governed and controlled,
and to govern and control themselves. In all
ages men have thus thought Of law. The bcs,
we call law is nothing else but the operation of
the will, the power and the justice Of the great
God, who lives and governs all things.
Richard Hooker, the wiscst divine Of our
mother, the Church of England, in words Of
great beauty, wrote: "Of law there can be no
less acknowledged than that her seat is the
bosom of God, her voice the harmony Of the
word all things in heaven do her homage,
the very least as feeling her care and the great
est as not exempted from her power. Both
men and angels and creatures of what con.
dition soever, though each in different sort and
manner, yet all with uniform consent, admire
her as the mother Of their peace and JOY"
THE powers tha, be are ordained of God"
and this law, which is Of God, finds utterancc
in the enactmcnts of civil government. OPP
preston, cruelty and injustice are restrained
under its direction, and punishments are
awarded under its discipline. All power is
from God who bestows all the delegated power
and authority which men hold. He docth
according to His will in the armies of heaven
and among the inhabitants Of the earth
In heaven His government is administered
in the perfection of justice. On earth His
government is entrusted to weak and sinful
men, His law, therefore, SO far as in its exc
cuton it is given to men, is not manifested in
perfection Of justice. Yet the civil govern
ment is ordained of God. 1t is divine
institution, and it is proof sufficient Of its
divine origin that under government most
unworthily administered men are happier and
better than under anarchy and lawlessness.
As the government of civil society came
from God, SO also in Gods good time there
came from Him that which was to render il
highly adaptive to the control and regulation
Of the affairs of men, and make it infinitely
more productive of happiness and peace.
When the fullness of time was come God sent
forth His Son to redeem fallen world TO
teach those truths most worthy to control the
hearts OF men, to change the course of human
society and usher in a new era for civil life and
civilization. Since the Christian religion
broke up the heather civilization of the Roman
dominion, governments have been more humane
and the cause of the mighty change is none
other than the incarnation Of the Son OF God,
the Prince Of Peace of whom the prophet fore
told, The government shall be upon His
shoulder"
The sense of human brotherhood is more
actively alive and more keenly sympathetic
since men have learned that they are one in
Christ Jesus, the Sacred Head of the whole
family in heaven and in earth. "One is their
master, even Christ, and all are brethren"
The rights Of property are more sacred than
in heather times since Christ proclaimed the
laws Of honesty. There is dignity in poverty
since He who was rich, for our sakes became
poor" The hospital and the asylum-all
institutions for the relief Of the poor the sick,
the suffering and incapable, are simply out.
growths Of the divine law Of love set forth by
the Lord OF Love who went about doing good,
healing all manner Of sickness and all manner
Of disease. Woman was degraded and en-
slaved in the pagan world, but Christianity
gave her place of special privilege and honor
because the Saviour of mankind-in whom is
neither male nor female-was Of woman born
The Christian religion has drawn clear
distinction between sensualism and love. From
the wild licence Of sensualism the laws of
Christian nations protect their subjects, and love
according to Christianity is the purest Of moral
impulses, the tenderest and noblest of the move
n,sof the soul. Since the advent OF the Prince
OF Peace the old universal feeling OF bitter hos
tility between rival races has been denounced
and diminished Nations have felt the bond
Of brotherhood and in our own day have come
to a realizing sense Of the claims OF tina, inter.
national law which, it is proven, can settle
disputes and regulate disturbances between
n,tons, without recourse to war and bloodshed.
And here let me add the words Of grea,
English PREACHER
Let me tear two pages, for your perusal, out
Of the receat history Of England. Let me men.
ton two conspicuous instances, which, il we
do our duty. ought, to our eternal blessedness,
to be the types and preeedents Of many more.
One is in the recollection Of most Of US here.
and can mention i, with the more proprety
because, il il was inaugurated by Liberals, one
OF the chief commissioners who helped TO carry
4, hat