Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1911-10-31
PASTOR breaches
POWERFULLY

Fabcr's famous hymn. Faith of our
Fathers" was the subject of power
ful sermon by the Rev X. Elmer Smith
at the Methodist Episcopal church sun
day evening. Adding to the pleas
ure of the service was musicale pro-
gram under the direction of Mr.. Hud-
son.
The sermon follows:
This IL virile hymn. The claim
ant note II the heroic one. The spirit
Of the hymn Is sacrifcial. II suggests
christian service. spiritual courage and
unconQuerabe zeal The whole hymn
~ In accord with the temperament of
the author. lie was built on the Peter
plan--he was ardent, impulsive, ag-
gressive. or all the hymns which Fred
erlCk William Faber wrote. this hymn
Is probably the most expressive of the
man himself. lie was of Huguenot or
igin and inherited the fearless. devoted.
self sacrificing spirit OF the Huguenots.
lie was born in Yorkshire Eng, June
| 2S, 1914, where his grandfather. Rev.
Thomas Faber, was then vicar. The
boy showed n decided fondness for
study, which was carefully cultivated
throughout his youth and early man
hood. In 1889 Faber was ordained in
| the Church of England and then spent
| the following four years In travel In
1913 he became rector at Elton, where
he displayed great earnestness and
achieved signal success.
"Faber wrote many hymns. book
containing one hundred and fifty of
Fabers hymns was published In 1861.
Twelve of his hymns are found In our
| hymnal. Among his most popular
hymns are the following: Pilgrims OF
| the Night The Land Beyond the Sea,
% Paradise! q Paradise!' % II IL Hard
to Work for Cod 'Hark. Hark. my
Soul! Angelic Songs Are Swelling,
There's n Wilderness In Gods Mercy
and % How the Thought of God At
tracts
Faith of our Fathers Is regarded
by many as Faber's most popular hymn
II Is certainly n great hymn, and has
been for many years favorite with
mutitudcs of people throughout Chris
tendon
1
ccptions to which I invite your attcn-
tion this hour. He points to the sacri-
fees. the sufferngs and martyrdom OF
| those who have made the history OF
the Christian church ms glorious as II
IL imperishable. This IL clearly suE-
gcsted In the following lines: Faith OF
our fathers! living still in spite OF
dungeon, fire and sword and Our IA
theirs chained In prisons dark
| AS Fabcr wrote these words l be
llieve he thought of all those heroes ant
horoines In the church who had suf'
fercd and died because of their faith
He had vision of the tragic death o
most of the apostles. of the martyrs
of the first three centuries, of the no
bile Christian men and women who were
tortured and slain by the Spanish In
luuisition. of the disciples of our Lor,
slain during the Reformation period
Especially did he think of the massa
ere of his ancestors the Huguenots. II
France, when 10000 of them persisted
within few hours. This IL the pic
ture which he saw when he wrote thi
immortal hymn.
"IIow terrible Is the story of the per
secutions in the history Of the Chris
tian church! The oratOry of the maj
has never been able to justly describe
IT. the artists brush has only faintl,
pictured IT. the pen of the historian
has inadequately portrayed 1t. In thes
prosecutions the Christians were sub
jected to every conceivable kind of tor
lture and death. The sword, the fire
the cross. wild beasts, hooks of steel
the rack. red-hot irons. the wheel wer
among the methods employed to pro
duce exquisite pain and cruel death
They were nailed, like their Master, T.
the cross: they were sent, like Paul, L
the CORY block; they were ushered, lik
Ignatious. into the arena of wild beasts
they burned. like Polycarp. at tn
stake: they were weighted with stones
like Symphorase, and cast into tn
lriver or sea; they were skinned alive
they were covered with skins of will
beasts and then worried to death b.
. dogs: they We're smeared with pitci
dashed to poles and set on fire to serv
for nocturnal lights; they were saw
asunder: they were pierced with iron
ut white heat; they were tied to horse
and the limbs torn from the body-yei
In many ways these martyrs went HON
TO God.
thine would fail me to tell of tn
later prosecutions which ragged In Spain
France. England, Scotland and else
I where. II has been estimated tina
nearly 100000 people have died n
martyrs since the cruciiixion of Chris
II was a mental vision Of this hol
army which caused Faber to write
Faith of our fathers! living still I
spite of dungeon, fire and sword ]
these days, when we can worship Go
In our own chosen way with none
make us afraid; when all civilzatio
Is In sympathy with Christianity: whe
the heather nations are slowly bu
surely turning to the crucined Christ
when every opportunity for Christia
development Is afforded us; we shoul
remind ourselves frequently of hoy
this condition of affairs was brougl
J about. Lest we forget! Lest we for
get! ! want to emphasize the debt
the tremendous debt-we owe the mar
tyrs of the Christian church. The
toiled,. they suffered, they died fo
their most sacred connections, an