The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1893-09-28

1
believing what they were taught or
renouncing what they and their
fathers believed to be true, accepted
in addition the amakuas of the
strangers which they brought with
them from New England-Jehovah,
and book, the Bible.
I'm the words of a native as quoted
to me, your God speaks TO you
through one of your amakuas-a
our amakuas.' You have one huihi-
pilis-great big devil, we many little
devils; you pray TO be saved from one
big devil, we from our little devils
Mr.. +. s., a gentleman of position
| and intelligence, whose wife Is ma
| tive, mentioned that a venerable ha-
| waiiam, held in much esteem, after
taking part in the services OF the
| church, of which he is a member,
would retire to a secluded spot ana
| there, before his idol, to which
particular spirit was supposed to be
favorable. pour forth his petitions
with the earnestness of fervid devo-
ton. In harmony with the above
gentleman of undoubted veracity re-
lates this touching incident from the
lips of trusted Christian Hawaiian
My sweet child was sick nigh
unto death, I prayed to Jehovah
very earnestly with my whole soul,
but He did not answer. Maybe He
does not understand our language,
for he has only had seventy years
in which to learn it, or He was too
busy with the white people to mind a
poor Hawaiian. Then, in deep sorrow,
/ went to my own dear little god, got
priest to offer a sacrifice of white
chicken, q red fish and a black pig,
and my dear little amakua who
knows all about me and my family
drove away the demon that was Kill
ling my sweet child
Teachers tell me that whilst their
pupils, bright and intelligent, can re-
cite correctly long chapters of both
Old and New Testaments, yet when
misfortune befalls a teacher whom
they love it is not to Jehovah but TO
one of their amakuas they beseech in
their behalf; all going TO prove that as
the Samaritans were half Jew, half
heather, so these Hawaiians are half
Christian, half heather; for unto this
day they do after their former man
nersJ Should you then ask: Have
missions been n failure in these ISL
ands?' L answer: '1n part, yes; In part,
no. for never did the shadow OF the
cross rest on any land without It's
bringing benediction. Never was the
with any race without imparting
some of its sweetness. So amongst
these natives there have doubtless
been some who have lived life OF
faith in the Son of God, but as n ma
ton tn v have never been converted,
and would suggest the following as
reasons why great efforts which have
been pnt forth for their CHARACTERIZATION
have been productive of such small
results: First, profession has been
induced, unaccompanied by belief,
which must infiict a serious injury on
the moral nature of the professor. In
fact, all unconsciously a premium has
been offered for hypocrisy. Second,
judgments formed by the experience
of men like Livingstone and Stanley,
who have had a thorough knowledge
of the heather character, tell us that
it is only by gradual means, and must
be the work of more than one genera
ton before we get into the heather
mind ideas of the unity of God and
responsibility; that it is not best to
begin by reviling their old religions
which, if we believe that Christ is
the true light that lighteneth every
man that cometh into the world may
have in them some germs of truth.
Given in these poor Hawaiians,
heathens, pagans, idolators as they
were, their religion had powerful
influence on their minds, led them to
some faith in the Unseen to do and to
suffer and to dare, aye, and to pray to
power above them with faith that
they should receive a response to the
deepest yearnings of their heart.
What was the divine method in the
education of the world ? Did not the
Baptist prepare the way of the Mes
siah, and was not the moral law given
by Moses, q schoolmaster, to bring us
to Christ, the worlds Savior? All
experience teaches that Christian
work amongst degraded peoples,
whether in Christian or in Pagan
lands, must have 4 civiliZing element
as its handmade; indeed, frequently
its precursor. In the not long past
churches sought to evangellZe the
jewellers in the wretched portions of
our cities by Bible readers, tract dis
tributors, ETC., the visits of such being
tolerated for the pecuniary or other
help which they might dispense, but
the actual results were few indeed.
1t has been for this generation in
larger measure than ever before to
find that the lower strata of the masses
cannot be effectually reached by the
gospel without removing them from
their present degraded surroundings,
and having them learn lessons OF
cleanliness, industry, self-respect.
What ideas of purity or decency can
be instilled into the mind when the
entire family live in one room in a
crowded tenement house where vile
songs are sung, vile conversation in
dulged, and the only relief from
Indebtedness is sought in gin and
laudanum? So of the heather; they
| must be first taught cleanliness, habits
of industry, trades, the desire for to
them artificial wants in clothing and
dwellings; taught as they are able to
receive, the principles of morality and
| elementary religion-first the law and
then the gospel. a priest of the Latin
church, speaking of his work in the
| islands, said: Il can do little for the
conversion of this people until they
can be persuaded to abandon their
present mode of life, living in one hut
| without any separation as to age or
sex. AS in the material, so in the
| spiritual world, God works by slow,
| but ever progressive, stages" The
Doctor concluded with some words of
advice to his large congregation.-San
Jose Mercury.
Denounced Labor Strikes.