The Independent. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1895-1905, 1901-01-02
a PASTORAL LETTER
Bishop Willis Exhorts His Flock
To Unity and Tenaoity.

OVuluary circumstances tnaJ L WrlJe |
my New Years greetings to all
members OF the Anglican Church in
Hawaii, wishing every one all earth
ly happiness and 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 Sop,
Jesus Christ oui Lord.
The occasiou is one which mono
Of US have setn before or will see
sgsin-the bef,uning OF century.
AT midnight or December 3lsf, the
nineteenth century ended, aud we
passed, not only into New Year.
but New Century. THIS Nav Years
Day marks al epoch which no
thouehtfn person will hgntly dis
regard. WHIST hopes and aulicipa-
tiops it inspires Compare the con.
dition OF the world in 1861 with it's
condition now. What progress ard
advancement has been msd ! What
discoveries have bean recorded!
What triumphs have been won OF
mind over matter; abst is, of man
over naturel We cannot suppose
that the future will be less fruitful
than the past. But who can cay
what the new century has iu store,
what changes it will bring, what
discoveries it will witness, what
further advances it will be given to
man to make in "suhduing" the
forces OF nature, aud in exercising
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, aud
put all things in subsection uuder
his feet?
The thought Of this sovereignty
OF man over the natural world
ought to fill alj hearts with grati-
tide aud praise to the Creator o.
the world, VINO has bes, o we'd o.
man, created after His own image,
the power to penetrate into tie
mysteries that surround him, and
make than subservieut to his n 4eds.
And let us not fail TO recognize in
all that is going on around us, in
political changer, in wars and
rumors OF wars, not less than iu the
conquests of science, the hapd of
Almighty God carrying sut His
own eternal counsals of preparing
the world for the second advent of
His incarnste Son, when He shall
come to judge mankind for hose
salvation He was born in Bethlehem
nineteen centuries ago.
Ard then again the circumstances
under which The century begins
with US as Church are of no ordin.
sry kind. The Anglican Church oi
Hawaii, as au ffahoot OF the Ang'i
can branch cf the holy Catholic
Church, whose mission it is to pre-
pare the way for the second coming
OF the Lord, occupies the unique
position OF being the first mission
sry diocese established by the
Church Of England beyond ths
limits OF ths British Empire. Al
J the one diocese Of the Anglicsr
Communion in the Western Pacific
} it has furnished connecting linl
between the dioceses on the wes
, coast OF America, and those in Jap
sn and China to tha East, aod thos,
+ III tho British Colonies TO tn,
} South.
Shall this link now bs broken
| and this diocese 6s e1tingui he'd il
r conseq 1enoe OF tho political change
} which havs made these Islands
territory Of the United States
This change, as you are awar g, hs
been made the occasion for tn
} withdrawal Of the entre subsid,
? which ths diocese has hitherto ie
} ceived from he mother church
. through the Society for the Propa
l CATION Of the Gospel, and no corres
t ponding aid is off red by the Ame
8 rican branch OF the Anglican Com
I munion.
: As diocese, we, therefore. fn,