The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-01-02
WANTS SEE
ENDOWED
Bishop Willis, Appeal
To AngIicans.
URGES NEED OF UNITY
The Venerable PreIate Says Staff
Of Clergy Here Should
Be Doubled.

| IL n ihclIo1 w IL1<lo, vi Tie
rs Church, wants an endowed See il
~ Honolulu In letter to his focl
he states his view of the church situa
ton here as follows:
My Dear People: 1t is under no or.
Urinary circumstances that l write m,
New Years greetings to all members OF
1.-THE Anglican Church in Hawaii, wish
| ing every one all earthly happiness anG
! prosperity, and, above all, that you
may be filled with that peace and joy in
believing which comes from fellowship
| with God the Father, through His Son
Jesus Christ our Lord.
The occasion is one which none of us
have seen before or will see again-the
beginning of century. AT midnight on
| December 31st, the nineteenth century
ended, and we passed, not only into a
New Year, but a New Century This
New Years Day marks an epoch which
no thoughtful person will lightly dis
regard. What hopes and anticipations
1t iEspiresi Compare the condition of
1.-THE world in 1901 with it's condition now
What progress and advancement has
been made! What discoveries have
been recorded! What triumphs have
been won Of mind over matter; that is,
of man over nature! We cannot sup
pose that the future will be less fruit
full than the past. But no can say
what the new century has in store, hat
changes 1t Will bring, what discoveries
1t Will witness, what further advances
it will be given to man to make in sub
DUNG the forces of nature, and in eX-
ercising that lordship over the earth,
which was given him at the creation
when God made him to have dominion
over the works of His hands. and put
all things in subsection under his feet?
hta Of l,tc
man over the natural world ought to
fill all hearts with humble gratitude
and praise to the Creator of the world
10 has bestowed on man, created
aft His own image, the power to
peEesrat into the mysteries that sur
roul-s. aim, and make them subservient
to his needs.
And let us not fail to recognize in all
that is going on around us, in political
changes, in wars and rumors of wars,
not less than in the conquests of sci
ance, the hand of Almighty God carry
ng out His own eternal counseIs of pre-
pairing the world for the second advent
Of His incarnate Son, when He shall
ccme 10 judge mankind for whose sal
vation II was born in Bethlehem nine
teen centuries ago.
And then again the circumstances
lnder which the century begins with US
Is Church are of no ordinary kind |
The Anglican Church of Hawaii as an +
offshoot of the Anglican branch of the |
holy Catholic Church, whose mission it I
$ to prepare the way for the second
coming of the Lord, occupies the
Unique position of being the first mis-
ionary diocese established by the
church of England beyond the limits of
he British Empire. AS the one diocese
# the Anglican Communion in the
Western Pacific it has furnished a con-
lecting link between the dioceses on
he west coast of America, and those
n Japan and China to the East, and
hose in the British Colonies to the
south
his diocese be extinguished in conse-
uence of the political changes which
ave made these Islands a territory of
he United States? This change, as
oE are aware, has been made the oc-
aston for the withdrawal of the en-
ire subsidy which the diocese has hith-
rto received from the mother church,
though the Society for the Propaga-
ion of the Gospel, and no correspond
lg aid is offered by the American
ranch of the Anglican Communion.
AS diocese, we, therefore, find our
elves thrown upon our own resources,
supplemented by such assistance as we .
Jay receive from fellow churchmen in
Their dioceses who realize and sympa-
alze with our position. If, on the one
and, it appears a hardship that all
Eternal aid should cease in an I'M
recedented manner, yet, on the other
and, what glorious opportunity is
wen you, II only you can rise to it, to {
row to the rest of Christendom that
ou do not intend that the See of Ho-
oiulu shall be extinguished, nor that
lie staff of clergy shall be reduced
he future of the diocese now, in
reat measure, rests with you, the Lai-
the People of God. According to
acient custom the Bishop should be
by the faithful of his own
ocese. If steps We're at once taken
II the endowment of the See, we
could not be SO far removed, as is
supposed, from obtaining rec
snition by the American Church as a
iooese, rather than as Missionary
jurisdiction. But to reach this point
lere must be united effort on the
art of all members of the church
roughout the Islands, All must work
gether for the glory of God and the
1vancement of His church. All indi-
dual and sectional aims must be laid
'lde. 1t was inevitable under the 4
'ndltions that had to be met in the I
-riy stage of our organization that
GONZALES should have arisen. The
NE mas now come when nothing out of
he should any longer be tolerated AL a
ady an exaggerated view of an W
'oiidiouS state OF Things, as seen from Fl
distance, has caused our reputation {,
suffer, attention being thereby drawn =
way from the quiet, earnest work that n
Is all the while been going on. Ii
III, forgetting those. things that are a
mind, and pressing forward to the flu :,
re, all unite in a common aim to es- y
hllsh the church, whose privileges p
ey enjoy upon permanent founda- S.
On IN these Islands, the first decade of f
e new century may see the Bishopric
bowed, the cathedral completed, and Z
!" staff of clergy doubled Only let
ere be unity of spirit and a tenacious
asp of purpose, and who can say
nat may not be achieved with the
esslng of God upon our efforts
Praying that the grace of our Lord
sus Christ may be with you all, 1 re-
ain,
Affectionately yours,
ALFRED WILLIS,
-