houses, and rent the earth in various parts of Hilo, Puna, and Kau. Had
we built according to our original plan and agreement with the mason,
“our holy and beautiful house” would have become a heap of rubbish, and
our hearts would have sunk within us with sorrow. How true that “a
man’s heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his steps.”
[Sidenote: _Bettered Lives._]
It was my habit to get all the help that could be obtained from
converts, and this was much. As the company of disciples increased,
“they went everywhere preaching the word.” The Lord ordained them,
not man. In every hamlet and village there were found some who were
moved by the Holy Ghost, and to whom the Spirit gave utterance; and it
was joyfully true that “where the Spirit of the Lord was, there was
liberty,” not to dispute and wrangle, not to speak vain and foolish
things, not to lie and deceive, but to utter the truth in love, without
the shackles of form and superstition, but with the freedom granted by
Christ.
How true the promise, “My people shall be willing in the day of my
power.” Willing to give up their sins, their enmity, their vile
practices, their pipes, their _ava_, and all their intoxicants; to
forgive and be forgiven; to return every man to the wife he had abused,
and every wife to the husband she had forsaken; to pay their old debts;
to labor with their hands for the supply of their physical wants; to
see that their children were in school, in religious meetings; to see
that prisons were emptied and churches filled, and that the poor, the
sick, the blind, and the lame were not forgotten; to see that the call
of love and the offers of life were heard by all. The objects called
for laborers, and they were ready at call. Sometimes ten, twenty, or
forty men were sent out, two and two, through all Puna and Hilo, into
all highways, hedges, jungles, and valleys, to “seek and to save the
lost,” the sick, the ignorant, the stupid, the timid, or the “remnant
of the giants” in idolatry. And they were drawn out by hundreds into
the light of the Gospel and the love of the Saviour. There was no
retreat among the hills or in the forests where these helpers did not
come, and no place where I did not precede, accompany, or follow them.
The women also toiled earnestly for souls. They met, prayed, read the
commission of the Great Prince, and went out two and two into all
the villages, exhorting, persuading, weeping, and praying, and their
influence was wonderful for good. They were taught by the Word and the
Spirit, and understood their work. With these helpers every village
became a guarded citadel of the Lord, and there were few lurking-places
for the enemy, no dark passages by which he might make approaches to
the camp of the saints.
So far as we could learn, there was not a house or a cabin in all these
districts where the voice of morning and evening prayer was not heard;
and in most places Scripture lessons and hymns were rehearsed, and
efforts, often very rude and inartistic, were made to sing the praises
of God.
[Sidenote: _Prayers of Faith._]
Previous to the great revival I had been pained at the cold and formal
prayers of the natives. All had seemed mechanical and heartless, and
in grief I had said, “I do not feel satisfied with this praying, it
seems but a thoughtless and unfeeling rehearsal of a lesson.” But when
the Spirit fell upon the people, all this was changed. Some of the
most unlettered and weak became mighty and prevailing wrestlers like
the patriarch Jacob. “The feeble among them were like David, and the
house of David as the angel of the Lord.” They took God at His word,
their faith was simple and childlike, unspoiled by tradition or vain
philosophy. They went “boldly to the throne of grace,” and yet with
eyes melted with tears, and hearts yearning with love for souls.
Often have I seen a whole assembly moved to tears and tenderness by
the prayers and wrestlings of one man. They plead the promises with no
apparent shadow of a doubt, and the answer often came speedily. Is it
not recorded for the assurance of faith that “Before they call I will
answer, and while they are yet speaking I will hear”? They were praying
with melting fervor for the Spirit, and He came, sometimes like the
dew of Hermon or the gentle rain, and sometimes “like a rushing mighty
wind,” filling the house with sobbing and with outcries for mercy.
Controversies among Christians always sadden me. Our warfare is against
sin and Satan; and Heaven’s “sacramental host” should never fall out
by the way, or spend an hour in their conflict with Hell in fighting
with one another.
Grasping and defending _vital truths_, and allowing kind and courteous
discussions of outward forms, the whole Church of Christ should clasp
hands and march shoulder to shoulder against the common foe. The many
and different church organizations, with their external rites, rules,
and preferences, never offend me where there is “the unity of the
spirit in the bonds of peace.” All Christians are bound by the supreme
law of heaven to love one another, not to bite and devour, nor to
indulge in “envy and strife.”
I believe in the beautiful rite of baptism, not as essential to
salvation, but as a sign and seal of faith in Christ.
I believe that the mode and the amount of water are indifferent, and
that every thinking man is at liberty to choose for himself so as to
satisfy his own conscience before God, whether by immersion, pouring,
or sprinkling; nor do I believe that the Bible warrants dogmatism,
division, or non-communion on this subject. For myself I prefer
sprinkling, not so much from the many discussions I have heard, or
the arguments I have read on the subject, as from the facts in my
experience.
[Sidenote: _Some Necessities of Baptism._]
Granting that this rite is designed to be _universal_ as is the Gospel,
Matt. xxviii. 19, I have often found it impossible to baptize by
immersion. I have found in parts of Hawaii, one, two, and five miles
from the sea, and as far from any pool of water sufficient to immerse
even the head, men, women, and children so old or so sick that they
could not be carried to any water fountain to be immersed; some ready
to die, and begging me with tears to baptize them and administer to
them the emblems of the body and blood of the Lord Jesus. They accepted
Christ with good evidence of faith and love, and welcomed His messenger
with tears of joy and gratitude.
And now let me ask with Peter, “Can any man forbid water that these
should not be baptized?”
Similar considerations apply to the communion of the Lord’s supper.
I have been in situations where it seemed a duty and a privilege to
administer this sacrament, but could get neither bread nor wine. Of
course this led to reflection. Shall I omit the sacrament? Shall it
be postponed for months, with the probability that some of these aged
and wasting forms will be laid in the dust within a few days or weeks?
Which is of the greater importance, the ordinance or the articles used
to symbolize and call to remembrance the death of the Lord Jesus? Do
not the food we eat and the water we drink sustain our mortal bodies,
and does not faith in the Saviour’s broken body and shed blood give
life to our souls? The argument seemed to me logical and conclusive.
And on further reflection that the bread we now use differs from that
used when the ordinance was first instituted, and that much of the
wine of this age is a poisoned mixture, the conclusion was further
strengthened that neither our bread nor our wine was essential to our
acceptable observance of the Lord’s supper.
We use bread at the Hilo churches, and for the cup a preparation
without alcohol or any poisonous drug; but in making my distant tours
we used the food and drink which sustains the life of the people,
whether bread-fruit, taro, or potato, and water.
VIII.
_Arrival of Catholic Missionaries--Admiral de
Tromelin--Proselytism--Controversies with the Priests--Arrival of
the Mormons--The Reformed Catholics--Bishop Staley--Lord George
Paulet._
The pioneer Catholic missionaries arrived in 1827, and were rejected by
the rulers.
This company was led by Rev. John Alexius Augustine Bachelot, who was
commissioned by Pope Leo XII. as “Apostolic Prefect of the Sandwich
Islands.” They landed without permission and refused to depart, under
the delusion that the Pope as the Vicegerent of Heaven had dominion
over all earthly principalities and powers, as if the earth were his
footstool. Then followed a long struggle, in which arrogance, intrigue,
and duplicity were freely exercised, and which conflict has continued
until this day. One step of aggression followed another until the
power of the French Government was invoked by the priests, and in 1839
Captain Laplace, commander of the French frigate _l’Artémise_, appeared
and made charges and demands which, it was then supposed, meant a
seizure of the Islands. But the Lord spared us.
Failing in this attempt, the French sloop-of-war _Embuscade_, Captain
Mallet, appeared in 1842 with fresh charges and demands, threatening
the king and the life of the kingdom. Fortunately royal commissioners
had been dispatched to England and France with plenary powers to settle
all difficulties amicably with these Governments, especially with the
French. Of course Captain Mallet had nothing to do, as the case had
been appealed to the supreme power.
In August, 1849, the French frigate _La Poursuivante_, Admiral de
Tromelin, came into Hilo with a French bishop and consul on board, who
made a pleasant and polite call at our house. From here the Admiral
sailed for Honolulu, where he brought new charges of grievances because
the French priests and the Catholic religion had been dishonored.
He went so far as to land his marines, and with martial music and
waving flag, enter the fort at Honolulu, throw down the guns from
the walls, fill up an old well, break up a few calabashes, etc. The
fort had no garrison, the gates were wide open, and there being no
resistance, it is reported that the gallant Admiral said to his
officers and marines: “Let us go on board; they won’t fight, and there
is no glory in this.” I relate the story as it was told me.
[Sidenote: _Catholic Proselytism._]
Rumors were afloat that the United States Commissioner then in
Honolulu had agreed, under the earnest request of the King and nobles,
to run up the United States flag as a signal of a protectorate so soon
as a hostile gun was fired from the frigate. It is supposed that the
Admiral felt that he had gone too far, and could not grasp the prize,
and therefore withdrew from the bloodless conflict, since which time we
have had no more threatening from the French Government, but have had
to meet what looks like Jesuitical tactics on all sides.
I have here given only a hasty sketch of the introduction of
Catholicism into these Islands, and for more detailed information
I will refer the reader to the histories of the Rev. Hiram Bingham
and James J. Jarves, Esq. These histories were written mostly at the
times and place of the troubles, and they present a fair and truthful
statement of the facts. Mr. Bingham’s history also affords a very full
and interesting view of the mission of the A. B. C. F. M. from the year
1820 to 1845.
Of this persistent aggression of the Catholics, Hilo and Puna have
had their full share. Priests were early stationed in these and the
adjoining districts, and they at once took a bold and defiant stand.
These emissaries confronted me everywhere. I often heard of them
as having gone just before me on my tours. They appointed meetings
near by my appointments, and at the same hour; they even came to my
congregations in anger to command some of their claimed neophytes to
leave the house.
Everywhere they perplexed and vexed the simple natives by telling
our best and most tried Christians that they were outside the true
Church and on their way to perdition. They taught the people that the
Protestants were all heretics and deceivers, that their ordinations
were invalid, their pretended marriages adultery, and their teachings
delusive.
They also appealed to the selfish and baser feelings of the natives
to carry their point, encouraging them in the cultivation and use of
tobacco, and assuring them that if they would turn Catholics they
would never be called on to give to the priests, to assist in building
churches, to contribute at monthly concerts, or be taxed in any way to
support religion. Thus they gained weak followers. But when the priests
changed their policy and began to call on their proselytes for help in
building churches and supporting their teachers, many of the natives
saw the duplicity and left them at once.
When a church member was under discipline or had been suspended for
notorious sins, he was often sought and received into the Catholic
church. Liars, thieves, drunkards, adulterers, were flattered with the
belief that all would come out well with them if they were only in the
_true Church_!
[Sidenote: _Catholic Proselytism._]
This “daubing with untempered mortar,” and crying “Peace, peace, when
there was no peace,” was a bold and impudent opposition to sound church
discipline, encouraging delinquents to harden themselves in sin. It
became “a refuge of lies,” a hiding-place of transgressors, a snare to
catch souls.
This determined and unrelenting attack of the papal powers upon
the church of Hilo and Puna greatly increased the cares and labors
of the pastor. I delivered more than thirty public lectures on the
history, character, and predictions of the papacy, besides continuous
and unwearied private efforts with those who were perplexed by the
sophistry of the priests. And I had the comfort of knowing that many
of my people became more than a match for the priests in faith and
argument.
A priest one day assailed one of the native Christians by asserting
that all the American missionaries came to the Islands to get money.
“Ah!” said the native, “you believe that, do you?” “Most certainly,”
said the priest. “Well, your belief is most marvelous. We Hawaiians
think that those who are in search of gold and silver avoid such poor
people as we are and go where money is plenty. It is most strange that
you should believe that Mr. Bingham, Mr. Thurston, and others came here
to get money when there was no money in this country. Do you think them
such _fools_?”
Another good old native was accosted one day thus: “Are you one of
Mr. Coan’s disciples?” to which he replied, “I am one of the disciples
of Christ.” “What is the _true Church_?” asked the priest. “Why do
you priests cast the second commandment out of your catechism?” In a
flurry--“The second commandment, the second commandment! I was not
talking about the second commandment. I asked you _what is the true
Church_?” Good old Paul replied again: “And why do you cast the second
commandment out of your catechism?” “What, what! what do you mean--I
tell you I am not talking about the second commandment, but about the
_true Church_.” Steady to his point, Paul coolly and emphatically
repeated again, “Why do you cast the second commandment out of your
catechism?” Turning on his heels the Jesuit went off exclaiming, “Paul,
you are an old stubborn fool.” But he never assailed him again.
Another priest meeting Barnabas saluted him with much politeness, and
offering a little flattery, began to express great desire that they
both might escape delusion and find the one and only way to heaven.
Then he began with the usual opening question: “What is the true
Church?” Barnabas calmly replied, “The true Church of God is composed
of all true believers who love and obey the Lord Jesus, of every age
and name and nation on earth and in heaven.” This comprehensive truth
began to ruffle the priest, and he tried to parry the point of the
Spirit’s sword by syllogistic logic, saying, “There can be _only
one_ true Church.” Barnabas saw the premises, and anticipating the
reasoning and conclusion, he cut the matter short. “I have answered
your question, and now, as you and I both have enough to do, I bid you
good-morning”--and as he left the priest he heard him murmuring, “Poor
deluded and stubborn heretic.”
[Sidenote: _A Passage at Arms._]
One of their most audacious acts remains to be recorded. I had once
visited Mr. Paris, at Kau, on the occasion of transferring those
members of my church from that district to the care of Mr. Paris.
On Monday I was returning toward Hilo. When near the center of Kau, as
I was passing a Catholic church under the foot-hills of Mauna Loa, I
was stopped by about two hundred Catholics, headed by a French priest,
who challenged me then and there to a debate. This was in a narrow pass
along the road which was so completely obstructed by the collected
Catholics as to prevent my passing on. The challenge I respectfully
declined, and as it was late in the afternoon, and I had some eight or
ten miles of rough road to travel before I slept, I begged the mob to
open the road, and suffer me to pass peacefully on my way. This the
priest refused, commanding the people to keep the passage blocked, and
with lifted hands and clenched fists, he declared that this Coan, this
opposer of the Catholics, should never pass until he had accepted the
challenge for debate. Again and again I calmly declined, and asked for
a passage through the crowd. The priest became furious and his whole
frame trembled with excitement, while the people around him seemed
fierce as wolves.
Not being able to proceed, I dismounted and tried to elbow my way
through, leading my horse. The priest kept right before me, with hands
quivering, and voice roaring: “_Who_ is the head of the Church? _Who is
the head of the Church?_” For a time I made no reply, but quietly tried
to work my way along, till at last I spoke out in full and clear tones,
“The Lord Jesus Christ, He is the Head of the Church.” Immediately the
priest roared out at the top of his voice, “That is a lie, Peter is the
head of the Church.”
Several faithful natives were with me, watching with intense interest
the scene. When this assertion of Peter’s headship thundered from the
priest, one of the men named Sampson, a bold and powerful man, could
hold in no longer, and with the voice of a giant, and the arm of Samson
of old, he cried out, “Clear the road, and let my teacher pass,” and
with the word came the act; with his strong arms he scattered the mob
to the right and left, and I followed on through the passage thus
opened. As I mounted my horse and rode quietly on, the howling crowd
shouted: “He flees! he flees! He is a coward.”
[Sidenote: _The Mormons in Hilo._]
Some of the leaders of this mob afterward left the Catholics, and
repented with tears.
This priest, recognizing me upon the road one day afterward, at once
turned into the bushes, rather than to meet me. I never met him again,
and it was not many months before the strong young man was dead.
Not many years after the introduction of the papal priests came a drove
of Mormon emissaries. These spread themselves in squads all over the
group like the frogs of Egypt.
They made an early descent upon Hilo. At first they employed flattering
words. They called at once on me, asserted their divine commission,
affirmed the heavenly origin of their order, enlarged on the new and
sure revelations made to Joe Smith and his successors, the prophets,
and invited me to join them, assuring me that I would then see the
full-orbed light of truth, whereas I had only seen its faint dawn. “You
are a good man,” said they, “and have done what you could; but we have
come to teach you the way of God more perfectly, and if you will unite
with us and come into this new light, your people will all soon be born
again, _i. e._, be dipped in water, and then by the laying on of hands
they will receive the Holy Ghost, and all the signs will follow.” I
asked, “What signs?” They replied, “Speaking with tongues, healing the
sick, and all miracles.” I then said, “Let us take up the ‘_signs_’ in
order, and see if you Mormons have them. Can you cast out devils?”
“Yes.” “But, if testimony is true, many of your people, like other
sinners, act as if the devil were still in them. ‘They shall speak with
tongues.’ Can you do it?” “Oh, yes, we can at Utah.” “And why not here,
where you need the gift more? And why do you ask for a teacher of the
native language? Do you believe you could handle poisonous serpents,
and drink deadly things with impunity?” “We can heal the sick.” “And so
can I. But do not Mormons die?” “Oh, yes.” “Can you raise the dead?”
“The Mormons at Salt Lake can do it.” “Well, if you will go with me to
a fresh grave near by, and raise a dead body to life, I will join you
to-day.” This silenced them on miracles and signs. And when I produced
my copy of “The Book of Mormon,” and showed them I knew more than they
about the doctrines of the faith to which they were trying to make
me a proselyte, they were confounded, and went away despairing of my
becoming a convert.
But for years numbers of this deluded sect traveled over these
districts, using all their powers of persuasion, not excepting lying
and deceit, to draw the people after them. When once they succeeded in
making a disciple they would quarter themselves in his house until he
had cooked the last pig, goat, or fowl, and until his taro, potatoes,
and bananas were gone, all the while boasting of their great love, and
comparing themselves with the American missionaries, who they said
came here to get salaries and to oppress the people.
[Sidenote: _Mormon Tactics._]
I met the Mormons often on my tours, and had abundant evidence from
repeated conversations, and from the testimony of the most reliable
members of the church, of their ignorance, bigotry, impudence, and
guile.
Finding that they could not prevail by flattery, they assumed a bold
front, denounced the American missionaries as false pretenders,
deceivers, and blind guides, without baptism, without ordination, and
without credentials from heaven. One of their number came into our
congregation on a Sabbath, and when I arose at the close of the service
to dismiss the assembly, the Mormon arose, and with a loud voice gave
notice that he would preach immediately. The great congregation moved
quietly toward the church door, when he placed himself in the door-way
to prevent their egress, demanding in loud, boisterous language that
they all remain and hear “_the true gospel_.” Steadily the crowd moved
to the door, and pressing the arrogant intruder aside, returned to
their homes.
Though numbers of low characters at first turned after the Mormons, the
sect soon ran out here, and now they have neither church, or school, or
meeting-house in all Hilo and Puna.
The entrance of Bishop Staley into the Hawaiian Islands with his corps
of priests and sisters has gone into history. Receiving the title of
“Lord Bishop of Honolulu,” he contemplated the supplanting of the
American missionaries, the conversion of the foreign residents and
natives to his faith, and the establishment of one grand Episcopal
Diocese over all the islands of the group.
The whole scheme was planned, and he soon began to move with his clergy
for its execution.
Having established several stations in Hawaii and other islands of the
Archipelago, he came to Hilo with one of his clergy.
Ignoring practically the church which had long been established here
under its present pastor, and all who had labored to gather and to
guide the flock, he walked boldly in as if by divine right, appointed
his meetings to preach in the English and Hawaiian languages, and
announced that he would at once establish two congregations, one of
Hawaiians, and one of English-speaking residents.
In the further pursuance of his scheme, he appointed two boards of
trustees or agents, one composed of members of my church, and one of
foreign residents. These agents he instructed and empowered to open
subscriptions, collect funds, proselyte the people, and make all
necessary arrangements for buildings and for gathering congregations.
He then presented the appointed curate of Hilo, and engaged board and
lodging for him.
[Sidenote: _The Lord Bishop of Honolulu._]