The Hawaiian gazette., 1904-09-02
CATHEDRAL WAS A
SCENE OF MOURNING

I
are not only patrarchs, prophets, apos-
ties. martyrs, but there are our own
dear departed of our own age and
knowledge, who have lived by faith,
who have struggled on and have toiled
and suffered. directed and made sted-
fast by a living faith.
Faith Faith" says one; what s
it?" Men sometimes speak as If they
thought that II was an irrational senti-
ment or some acceptance of some dog
ma. Faith, why it Is as natural as
love and as universal! 1t Is the soul
seeking its own. IT is the spirit of
man finding its affinity in the spirit OF
God. 1t is the child finding satisfac-
tion in the Fathers love. 1t is the son
recognizing its sonship.
The life of the one in whose memory
this service is held was the expression
of her faith. Christian saintliness has
marks of it's own. Other faiths may
/ produce souls strong in submission to
! that which they consider the will of
J God, and of strong moral character,
| but where should we look to find such
! women as Theresa. or Catherine or on
| through the centuries to Hannah Moore
or Elizabeth Fry or on to the sanity
! lives of our own age? Should we look
for women such as these as the product
of the Oriental faiths for example?
| The faith of the Oriental is that man
| is the ball and that God is the player.
1t finds expression in the Rubaiyat of
| Omar Khayyam:
But helpless pieces of the game He
plays
/ L II. n,.1 a
days
and slays
| And one by one back in the closet
lays"
| Yes such faith produces stolidity, but
stoldity is not Christian saintliness.
| Intellectual and spiritual impassiveness
is not the mark of Christian faith.
Christian saints are not fatalists they
are ever struggling for the better The
Oriental faith finds expression in a
stagnant civilization, while Christian
faith finds expression in a ceaseless ac
tivity for the good. Alice Macintosh
was one of those who eXemplified this
Christian faith.
There are some people in whose pres
ence unbelief falters and fails. There
are women in whose presence no man
has doubts of purity. There are those
in whose deaths Immortality seems
very real and Paradise seems very near
Alice Macintosh was one of these.
| have spoken on more than one oc-
casion in public of my estimate of the
many noble and sanity women in these
| Islands to whom under God is so large
ly due the best life represented in Ha-
waii nei. Whatever have been the con-
ditions around them their ideals have
| always been clear, their faith stedfast,
| and their hope sure. In spite of every
difficulty they have believed in humani-
! ty and have seen the real good in men
and women behind their sins and their
| faults. They have been sorely tried
but they have kept on brayely seek
| ing to give the very highest and best
| to their sons and their daughters. and
if these latter have failed in character
they have been faithless children of
most faithful mothers l thank God
that have had the privilege of know
| ing many of these noble women the
mothers of this generation. To learn
some of the lessons from one of these
| lives we are gathered in this church
today.
1t is not the custom of the Church of
which she was such faithful member
| to laud her departed children. We lay
them away in the words of faith and
| of hope as found in the Book of Com
I mon Prayer which have for generations
been read over all alike whether prince
or peasant, saint or sinner, leaving
judgment to God. But the life of our
dear departed one is so well known
to you that you will understand that /
am but trying to impress upon the
living the lessons of her devoted life,
and l should speak because these les
sons are of value to the living.
! | have in my hand copy of the Cos
pei Messenger of January, 1873. In it
there is notice which reads as fol-
lows: Wedding. The marriage of the
| Rev. Alexander Macintosh to Mrs.
Alice Won Holt was solemnized in the
Cathedral on st. Stevens morning by
the Bishop. The choir was present.
| Hymn 2l2 was sung at the commence
ment of the service and 2lS after the
| Benedicton. The Holy Eucharist was
celebrated and the newly married pair
received the Holy Communion"
Those who have known her life since
that time when by reason of her new
position she became more prominent in
her work for God and man, know how
that Communion was a mark of her
trust and dependence, in all she was
and all she did, upon God. She had
seen the beginning In these Islands OF
the Church of her fathers, teachers from
which Vancouver had promised long
ago and failed 10 send. And wher
at the solicitation of Kamehameha ~
Bishop had been sent she had seer
him come and go, and when Kameha'
meha V had again written asking for O
Bishop she had seen him come.
In all the trials, difficulties, strug-
giles, perpleXities OF the church she
was always the same in faith and
trust and hope, All that there Is up
on these grounds she saw from the be-
ginning l need not speak Of what she
did because her deeds are written IN
the hearts of many here present But
believe no one appreciates more than
! how much OF what there is here to,
day of the church life ana work IL
due to her personal influence and
r character I ann glad mat | told hcl