The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1897-04-06
The DUTY OF man
Where There is no Wis.
ion, People Perish.
Devotion to Commercial interests
and Self Culture Pro-
vokes Decay.

Perish" was the subject of Rev. Doug
las P. Birnies discourse at Central
Union Church yesterday morning. The
application of the text was not made
TO the church member only, or to the
individual. The nation, as made up
of individuals whose characteristics
are shortsightedness and selfishness, Is
bound TO totter and fall, unless the Wis
ion is expanded, unless the idea of liv
ing only for today and for selfish in
terests gives place to care for the
future and for the welfare of man
kind. As members of society, as
people, we owe duty to our neighbor.
1t cannot be paid by mere desire to
| benefit humanity, or by an expression
of good will only We must look to the
! future. we must enlarge our vision. If
for no other motive than the selfish one
of self-preservation, the individual
owes a duty TO his neighbor.
The general theme of the sermon
was that achievement and long life
demand vision. Success in life depends
upon something more than activity.
something more than an attention to
details. There must be at the same
time a sensitiveness TO eternal reali-
ties, a sublime vision of duty, to avoid
which invites retrogression and disas-
ter, oftentimes postponed, but ineyita-
BILE.
If history has taught one thing more
than others in the rise and fall of ma
tions. it is the workings of the socio-
logical problem, the relation and the
duty of the individual and the nation
to the rest of the world. Vision is abb
solutely necessary for strong and &C
tive living. Providence. translated lit
orally, means the vision ahead, the
foresight The ancient Greek limited
his range of vision. he imagined him.
self entirely self-sufficient. and the
rest of the world were to him barbar-
ians. Yet these same barbarians rose
up and wiped the Greek and his ciyili-
zation off the face of the earth. The
Sccratic philosophy was know thy
self" 1t offered no way of overcoming
the evils which man found by this in
trospection, and the result we know.
History shows succession of bitches
of disaster filled with the blind who
were lead by the blind. The saviors OF
people have been their stars.
There is a distinction made between
the wilfully blind and the ignorantly
blind. yet the result is disaster The
heavenly vision and the true relation
of man to man is through Christ
alone. Paul declared that he was not
blind to the heavenly vision. Man
must look within. he must know him.
self. The sight which he gets of him.
self by carefully and honestly look
ing at the mirror of the Gospels en-
ables him to see not only his sins. but
the way to overcome them. This ac-
curate vision is essential to strong
life. and it keeps him from disaster
Mans vision of his God, a loving, liv-
ing righteous reality is revealed in the
word Christ as the Father, the Son
and the Holy Spirit
1 The individuals obligation is to his
fellow. He must ask himself, who is
my neighbor, and what do owe him
Ny neighbor is the man who needs
something. It is my duty to give him
something, to pay him what l owe him
The solution of race differences, OF
class feeling and of the whole soul
problem is the spirit of the brother
hood of man as illustrated in the self
sacrificing life of Christ
If man or a nation wishes to live
a strong, pure and helpful life. it is not
by doing specific things or thinking
certain things. He must stand in the
presence of God. in whose sight all
men are equal. The man who is con-
tent with self-culture is in the path
way of retrogression which leads to
disaster.
The nation that is content to figure
upon a commercial basis alone, it pro-
vokes decay. If it is wrapped up in it
self and loses sight to the eternal re-
lations. internal disturbances are sure
to result, and the nation at war with
itself must in the end be overcome by
some powerful external force.