The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1898-12-28
Rev. MT. Osborne Makes Plain
Bishops Authority.
NO POWER IN OTHER MATTERS
What Conservation Confers-When
not Coerce-At Washington.

EDITOR p. c. At was with much
pain that l read an article in the
Saturday issue of your paper, rela-
tive of myself and church matters.
l am quite sure that you do not mean
to misrepresent me, but you have done
so nevertheless, and l beg you Will
kindly permit me through your col
umns, TO correct you on two points:
| You failed to grasp my views of the
| Bishops position in this diocese. The
very last thing I wish to convey was,
| that l held the view that the Bishop
| had " no color of authority for ruling
the Church in Hawaii" He has the
| spiritual rule of this diocese. The
! Bishop in every diocese is the spirit
| ual ruler and head of the church, and
| the very act of conservation confers
upon him certain sacred powers and
prerOgative which give him spiritual
| jurisdiction in the diocese to which he
may be appointed. The Episcopal
Church is founded on the principle of
| the Bishops authority in spiritual mat
| aters, as monarchy is, on the prin-
ciple of government by a monarch, in
| temporal matters. What | wished you
| to understand was that the Bishop had
| no coercive authority whatever confer
red on him either by the English
Church or English crown, or by virtue
of his office. to discipline either the
| clergy or the laity, or to interfere in
any way with the rights or liberties
of any man in this country; and that
when he undertakes to do so, he does
so, ultra wires and entirely on his own
| ,,-ih wit nJ,f h16 or
authority. and by English Ecclesiasti-
| cal law only those persons in the
church who choose to acknowledge his
| temporal supremacy are bound by it.
| The Bishop is quite clear on this point
| himself, when he states in the April
issue of his Diocesan Magazine that
the "Anglican Church in Hawaii is a
voluntary Association" This is quite
true, and he, by virtue of his office is
president of the association. The pre-
Sident of any association enjoys GER
tain powers and privileges attached to
his Office, as does the Bishop, but these
| powers are limited, and he may not
go beyond them, without the consent
of the members of the association, and
| if he does, his action is not lawful.
In England and in the United States,
Bishops have coercive authority con
| ferred upon them by the church. with
| the consent of their respective govern
| ments, very right and necessary in the
interests of good government, but here
| no such power has been conferred.
which makes all the difference, and it
is the coerciye ruling of his diocese
| that / say the Bishop exercises with
| out authority.
| All good churchmen hold the Office of
the epscopate in the deepest venera-
nro6 hnt1 &c
worthily represented, it is the greatest
calamity that could befall a church.
| With regard to my visit to Washing
Iton to attend the general convention
of the American Church. you infer that
| / was received there with marked at
| tention, which was not the case. l was
| received with the courtesy that any
| clergyman from foreign diocese,
| might expect at such convention,
from such a body of men, with per-
| hapS tinge of extra interest, coming
from the Sandwich Islands, and a new
possession. In few cases the cour-
tesy extended to me by Bishops was
noticably scant, but the instances
were few. The House of Deputies po-
| litely gave me a seat on the floor of
| their house, by which l had access, to
members of committees, but not to the
| committees in session, as your paper
| would intimate. The House of Bishops
sits in council alone, and the public
| are excluded, the House of Deputies is
| comprised of the clerical and lay dele
gates, and it is this House that ex-
| tend welcome to such visitors as |
| was.
| l have to say that l did use every
| endeavOr to put the members Of this
convention in full possession of the
facts, and the true condition and state
of our church, in order that they might
legislate the more intelligently in the
matter of this new possession. This
was the purpose of my going TO the
convention I presume. After three
weeks session l left Washington, feel
ing that we had the sincere sympathy
of very great proportion of that Con-
gress, and that we might rely upon
the American Church for assistance in
the satisfactory settlement of our diff
ficulties, if our cause be right, and the
movement general. The joint commit
tee on the Increased responsi bilities
of the church" in that part of its re-
port which refers TO this diocese, dis
tinctly expresses its opinion, that in
such a case as ours, "the church is
charged with obligations of duty to ex-
tend help"
/ am very truly yours.
JOHN OSBORNE