The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-07-20

tary of the society was none other than
the Rev Charles Pettitt Nc uvaine. a
f. priest of the Church, who was then n
! professor of Christian evidences in the
! University of New York, and who in
S33 was elected Bishop of Ohio AT
/ TINS time many members of the Epis-
! copal church We're contributors to the
| Seaman s Friend Society.
| Mr.. Whitney stated that there were
| two hundred English and Americans in
| Honolulu and that one to two hundred
| ships, each having a crew of from
| twenty to thirty men, came here every
year. Mr.. Me nvaine responded IA
vorably and the Rev. John Diel came
here in 1888, and the same year the
Bethel Chapel was built. Mr.. Diel re-
manned until 1910
1t was in 1910 that Captain Wilkes,
commanding the United States Explor-
ing Expedition, reached the Islands. On
the flagship was a chaplain, Church
man, the Rev. j. L. Elliot, who, of
| course, held Church services in these
waters. During these early years SLAM
derous reports were circulated in Amer
lea, England and France in regard to
the missionaries. They were accused
of inducing the very evils against
which they We're fighting. The French
and the English consuls spoke evil of
them, and newspapers had a great deal
to say on one side or the other.
At that time the missionaries need
ed defenders, and they needed calm,
unbiased and impartial men to tell the
world the truth. I wish to recall this
fact: The two men who did much,
perhaps more than any others, to set
the truth before the American people
and the people of the world were
Churchmen. These men Were Captain
Wilkes and Richard Henry Dana. They
wrote plainly and carefully of the men
and women who were at work in the
Islands teaching the people the Chris
tian religion, of that which they were
trying to do, their successes and fail
ures. The words of these Churchmen
were widely quoted and more correct
estimate of the men and women who
were working here in the mission field
was the result of the written words
of these Churchmen in the forties and
the ffties
Among the English and American
residents in the early forties there
were, of course, Churchmen, and as a
consequence there was desire for the
services of the Church.
As far as / can discover, the first
regular services of the Episcopal
Church were held in the Bethel Chapel
after the departure of the Rev. Mr..
Diel. In the Polynesian of July 25,
1910, we read as follows: ''Episcopal
service was read, with sermon in
the Chapel by p. A. Brinsmade, Esq,
who will continue the same until
the pulpit is regularly supplied" Mr..
Brinsmade was the American consul at
that time. He appears to have con-
tinued holding service for a long pc
Rod, for in October, 1841, appears an
extract from Church paper which
shows that application was made to the
Missionary Committee in New York for
a clergyman. In reads: "Seldom has
a more interesting application come be-
fore the committee than that for an
Episcopal clergyman to be resident IN
Honolulu. The foreign residents, about
forty families, desire the services of
the Church. On the failure of the
health of the previous chaplain, the
service had been actually commenced
bv the American consul The pledge of
one-half of the needful expense, and a
Chapel and parsonage to be provided,
are sufficient evidence that the labors
of missionary of our Church would
be appreciated in that group of Is
lands -
] presume if the committee had sent
a man here. the Seaman's Friend So
ciety would not have appointed another
chaplain at that time. Whatever one
feels of regret that the Church did not
then begin work in the Islands, it is
greatly modified by the fact that the
next chaplain of the society was the
Rev. S. c. Damon, who came here in
1912 This cody man ministered to
Churchmen and others in an impartial
and tolerant spirit. He was always
ready to use the services of the Prayer
book at baptisms. marriages and
burials, if so desired. He extended the
use of the chapel for services if a
Church clergyman was in town. In