The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-11-30

The service at Central Union church
yesterday was not unusual for the day
III point of program making but it
was unusual from the fact that the
sermon, preached by Rev. j. Walter
Sylvester, the new pastor, was de-
parture from the usual lines and show
ed a broadness of thought that is not
always noticeable in the sermons on
day of Thanksgiving. The seats in
the auditorium were nearly all occu-
pied and the gallery crowded.
The decorations of the chancel were
by Mrs. Myers and were typical.
Bunches of tropical foliage set off the
branches dropping with ripe oranges
and in groups hung eocoanuts. In the
center of the space was a basket filled
with island fruits and around were
banana trees showing the rich foliage
and fruit The arrangement must have
been a novelty to the pastor who, while
in the East, associated snow with the
day
Following is the program of the ser
vice:
Organ Prelude Melody j. A. West
Miss Lillian Byington.
Anthem-''A Hymn of the Home
land' .. Arthur Sullivan
Kamehameha Choir.
Reading of Presidents Proclamation
Governor Carter.
Doxology-
Responsive Reading7Section 1 in
Hymnal ..---.-- -.
Mr.. Perley Horne.
Rev. G. D. Edwards.
Response-The Lords Prayer in
Hawaiian ... ..... ......
Ofertory Solo Face to Face -.
Herbert Johnson
Mr.. Chester G. Livingston.
Hymn 7-"EOh, Worship the King
(Omit 2nd Stanza) a)..............
J. Walter Sylvester, D. D.
Hymn" America ...... go.
Benediction--
Rev J. w Wadman.
Organ Postlude-March. ......- We1y
Miss Lillian Byington.
Seated back of the desk were Gov
ernor Carter, to his right was DIR. Syl-
vester and on his left Rev. j. w.
Wadman, of the Methodist Church. At
the right of DR.. Sylvester was Rev.
Geo. D. Edwards and to the left of
Mr.. Wadman was seated Mr.. Perley
Horne of Kamehameha Schools.
The choir singing lead by Mr.. Living
ston was excellent as was the solo by
that gentleman. The sermon, of which
the following is a part, was called
Thanksgiving offering, the doctor tax
ing his text from ST. John xiii 20.
s'The people therefore, that stood by,
and heard it, said that it thundered:
others said, an angel spake to him.
All the people heard the same sound.
To some il was as the noise of thunder;
to others it was as voice from heaven.
The difference did not arise from any
thing inherent in the nature of the
sound itself, but from something IN the
nature of the people who heard 1t. Ger
tain ones were looking for evidences
of divine disapproval upon the MN
istry of Jesus; to them 1t was only
natural that this voice of the Father
should seem as the voice of thunder
Others who were in full sympathy with
the purposes of the Master, were on
the watch for marks Of divine favor;
Instantly they cried out that this sound
was an angels voice from heaven IN
each case something resident IN the
man himself determined his lnterpreta-
tiou of the sound. 1t was the same
sound to both men, but one heard 1t
as that of thunder because his nature
was KEYED to such Interpretation, while
the other heard it as an angels voice
because his nature in turn was keyed
to a diviner Interpretation.
From this you will determine the
trend of my thought for the morning
The events OF life are largely what we
make them. We may train ourselves
into the mood of pessimism, or into that
of optimism We may look on the
dark side. or on the bright. We may
interpret the sounds of divine provI.
dence that fill the air about us as OF
a threatening thunder; or they may
seem TO US as the sweet melody OF anger
voices.
I ask YOU. first, before we come to
the broader application of the text, to
take the matter home to your own
hearts. There is q general range OF
experience through which all men ana
women. sometime, must pass. The ex-
rerierces, through which you have pass
ed during the last year, are the same
as those through which thousands OF
others have been passing Do not
imagine that you have been hv!ng
through something understanding