Missionaries / Churches / Religious Buildings | Page 55

August 12, 2019 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Day 073 – January 3, 1820

January 3, 1820 – Yesterday, “The Holy Rest,” was in the morning somewhat disturbed by the catching of a large turtle, for which purpose it was necessary for the ship’s company to let down a boat and spend considerable time The afternoon was pleasant. We had service on deck where a New Year’s sermon was delivered by Brother Bingham from Luke 4, 19, “To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” After an introduction and an explanation of the text, he endeavored to show that by a due regard to our sins. our mercies, our engagements and our instructions of the past year, we might reasonably expect the New Year would be to us and to those with whom we may have intercourse, an acceptable year of the Lord. Mrs. C. is threatened with a fever.
This evening we have attempted to join with the Christian world in the great monthly concert of prayer for the prosperity of Zion, and the salvation of the Heathen. A letter dated in Boston and signed A.G. containing an earnest request for our prayers in behalf of the writer when we should be far from her, also the farewell letter of Brother Cornelius to the mission, were read and made the foundation of some remarks with respect to the feeling which our American friends cherish towards us, and to our correspondent duties. (Thaddeus Journal)

3. – We are now going at the rate of 200 miles a day cords that point of terror Cape Horn. (Samuel Whitney Journal)

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

August 11, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Day 074 – January 4, 1820

January 4, 1820 – Off the mouth of the Rio De La Plate. – We are this morning experiencing a gale from the north. The violence of the wind has split several of the sails. We are now running under bare poles at the rate of 7 or 8 miles an hour. We reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man. The tossing mountains around us skip like rams, and the hills like lambs. The foaming surges lash the trembling sides of our little bark and drench her decks; while the rain like hail pelts the poor sailors as they cling to the whistling rigging and the spray of the sea sweeps over the surface like the driven snow on a northern winter’s day. But he who said to the raging tempest, “Peace be still,” can and does afford us protection, and give us peace within. (Thaddeus Journal)

Jan. 4th, The last, a night of tossing—awakened by the cry, between four and five this morning, “all hands on decks” a strong gale having arisen suddenly.
The motion of the vessel was very great, few things keeping their position. We assembled as usual for morning prayers—read the 124 and 125 Psalms—sung three verses of Watt’s version of the former, soon after went to breakfast. Here, to a land spectator, methinks the scene would have been truly novel and amusing—in the midst of commotion he must have smiled, A view of a very different kind which presented itself, when, not long after, we looked out upon deck, was indeed, beyond my power to describe. Wave dashing upon wave, our little bark, dismantled of its noble sails, ascending one, and descending another? with its naked masts, riding at the rate of seven miles an hour. This is considered hut a sketch of the scenes we must expect to witness at the Cape.
But it was nobly grand I We are now a few degrees east of the mouth of that majestic river the Rio-de-la-Plata, fast approaching those tempestuous regions, so often the subject of conversation with us; Yet, there we shall be safe, attended by that GOD “who rules on high— And thunders when he please,—Who rides upon the stormy sky—And manages the seas.” What need we farther anxiety about the event, than to see to it, that we have grace to enable us to say, in the trying moment, if it arrives, “This awful GOD is ours, He shall send down his heavenly powers, Our father and our love, To carry us above.” (Sybil Bingham)

4. – I arose this morning somewhat apprehensive that the weather was not so pleasant as common. Going on deck I found the waves going over the ship & flying in every direction; very similar to what I have seen in a snow squall. I soon found it best to retire to my cabin which is my asylum in all times of trouble. This, though the most violent gale I have witnessed, the sailors tell us it is but a trifle compared with what we shall see in a few days. Several land visitors came on board who had been driven off the coast of Patagonia; such as butterflies, spindles &c. (Samuel Whitney Journal)

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

August 10, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

‘Why did you not teach the nation English?’

“Our ignorance of the language of the people, and their ignorance of ours, was, of course, an impediment in the way of intercourse between the teacher and the pupil, at first very great …”

“… and the absolute destitution of suitable books for the work of teaching the nation, was an embarrassment rarely or never to be found among Asiatic tribes …”

“Desirous to teach them thoroughly, through the best medium then available, we undertook with the English, with zeal, and with some success, in the case of a very limited number.”

“But our object was not to change the language of the nation but to bring to their minds generally, the knowledge of the Christian religion, and induce them to embrace and obey it.”

“The sounds of the English being so different from their own, and so much more difficult of utterance, their ignorance of the meaning of English words, and the impracticability of learning them from English dictionaries …”

“… together with the intricacies of English orthography, presented insurmountable obstacles to the speedy accomplishment of the main object of a Christian Mission, if the nation were to be confined to that medium.”

“What could French Protestant missionaries do in teaching English and American seamen the doctrines and duties of the Gospel, through the medium of the French alone?”

“Clearness, accuracy, and force in religious teaching we deemed so essential to success, that the vernacular tongue, or a language understood by the learner, must needs be employed to be successful; for a miracle is required to give sense and cogency to unknown words and phrases, before they can enlighten the mind or impress the heart in respect to the will of God.”

“The Hawaiians might indeed have been taught to cross themselves, repeat Pater nosters and Ave Marias in Latin, to dip the finger in water, gaze on pictures, bow before images, and buy indulgences with great formality and punctuality …”

“… and still have been as ignorant of the volume of inspired truth as the Aborigines of California and South America, or the youthful Spanish Franciscan monk, now a protestant missionary at Gibraltar …”

“… who, at twenty-five years of age, though studying for the priesthood, had never seen the Bible, and did not know that such a book existed: and they might, moreover, have been still just as idolatrous as their fathers were in the days of Cook, and as ready to visit with poison, fire, or bonds, any who should oppose or ridicule their folly.”

“The plan of teaching the mass of children exclusively, while neither children, adults, nor rulers knew the practicability and utility of learning; and the plan of teaching children exclusively in a language unintelligible to their parents; and the mass of the community around them, would have been chimerical …”

“… and a perseverance in such an attempt would have given over the adult and aged population to incurable ignorance and hopeless degradation, or left them to rush en masse to pagan or papal polytheism, and thus have defeated the education of the children and the education of the nation.”

“To have neglected the rulers, and taught the children of the plebeians a new religion in a language unknown to the nation, would have arrayed prejudice and opposition against us in high places, and thus defeated our cause, or greatly retarded our success.”

“To change the language of a people is a work of time. Even in a conquered province, with the favoring influences of colonization, commercial intercourse and literary institutions, with an impulse from a new government and fashion, such a thing is effected but slowly and imperfectly.”

“With how much less hope of success could a few missionaries, with no help from circumstances like these, attempt it. The progress of a generation or two may so alter the circumstances of the nation as to make the use of the English more feasible and useful.”

“This, then, is our answer to the oft-repeated and not unimportant question, ‘Why did you not teach the nation English, and open to them, at once, the rich stores of learning, science and religion, to be found in that language?’ …”

“… and here we show our warrant for applying ourselves to the acquisition of the Hawaiian language, reducing it to a written form, and preparing books of instruction in it, for the nation, and teaching all classes to use them as speedily as possible.”

“In connexion with this general mode of instruction, we could, and did teach English to a few, and have continued to do so. We early used both English and Hawaiian together.”

“For a time after our arrival, in our common intercourse, in our schools, and in our preaching, we were obliged to employ interpreters, though none except Hopu and Honolii were found to be very trustworthy, in communicating the uncompromising claims and the spirit-searching truths of revealed religion.”

“Kaumualii, Kuakini, Keeaumoku and a few others could speak a little barbarous English, which they had acquired by intercourse with sea-faring men. But English, as spoken by sailors on heathen shores at that time, was the language of Pandemonium …”

“… and the thought of making young men and women better able to comprehend and use that language, while subjected to the influence of frequent intercourse with an ungodly class of profane abusers of our noble English, was appalling.”

“We could not safely do it until we were able to exert a strong counteracting influence.”

“It is worthy of a grateful record that King Kaumualii, though accustomed, like other heathen who stammer English, to use profane language, on being faithfully taught that it was wrong, broke off, and abandoned the vile habit.”

“How chilling to a missionary’s heart, to hear a heathen father curse his own little child in profane English, and to hear his own fellow-countrymen teaching the heathen that awful dialect, by which profane men anathematize one another, and insult their Maker!”

“That the sudden introduction of the Hawaiian nation in its unconverted state, to general English or French literature, would have been safe and salutary, is extremely problematical.”

“To us it has been a matter of pleasing wonder that the rulers and the people were so early and generally, led to seek instruction through books furnished them by our hands, not one of which was designed to encourage image worship, to countenance iniquity, or to be at variance with the strictest rules of morality.”

“It was of the Lord’s mercy.”

“With the elements of reading and writing we were accustomed, from the beginning, to connect the elements of morals and religion, and have been happy to find them mutual aids.”

“The momentous interests of the soul were the commanding reason for learning what God has caused to be written for its salvation, and for regulating its duty to him.”

“The initiation of the rulers and others into the arts of reading and writing, under our own guidance, brought to their minds forcibly, and sometimes by surprise, moral lessons as to their duty and destiny which were of immeasurable importance.”

“The English New Testament was almost our first school book, and happy should we have been, could the Hawaiian Bible have been the next.” …

“During the first year, no suitable system of orthography was fixed upon for writing the language of the country. It was difficult, even, to write out in native, the meaning of words and sentences of English lessons.”

“It was no small labor, not only to teach simply the enunciation of a lesson, but to teach the meaning of a column of words, or a page of sentences constituting their English lesson, which, without such an interpretation, must have been, to such pupils, too forbidding.”

“But this was so far accomplished as to make the school pleasant to most of those who attended, partly by means of the slate, and partly by writing out short lessons on paper, with an imperfect orthography.”

“There was a frankness and earnestness on the part of some, in commencing and prosecuting study, which agreeably surprised us, and greatly encouraged our first efforts.” …

“On the 1st of August, the slate was introduced, and by the 4th, Pulunu wrote on her slate, from a Sabbath School card, the following sentence in English; ‘I cannot see God, but God can see me.’”

“She was delighted with the exercise, and with her success in writing and comprehending it. The rest of the pupils listened with admiration as she read it, and gave the sense in Hawaiian. Here was a demonstration that a slate could speak in a foreign tongue, and convey a grand thought in their own.” (Bingham)

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

Hawaiian Alphabet

August 10, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Day 075 – January 5, 1820

January 5, 1820 – Last evening as we were retiring from prayers in the cabin, a tremendous sea broke over the stern of the vessel. It disengaged a large coop filled with vegetables and bottles carrying it over the tiller or helm with such force as to beat off the boards from the opposite side of the Brig, and the next moment sending it back to the side from which it was first taken. By the same sea Capt. Blanchard was almost instantaneously dashed twice across the quarter deck from side to side with considerable bruising and with manifest danger of being carried overboard. Capt. Chamberlain had nearly reached the top of the stairs, and Mrs. Bingham who stood at the bottom, about to go on deck, both received a pretty heavy shock and showering from the torrent which poured down the companion way. But the glorious and omnipotent arm of our Savior afforded kind and seasonable protection. May our hearts be filled with adoring and unceacing gratitude to him,
“Who rides upon the stormy skies
and manages the seas.” (Thaddeus Journal)

5. – The gale still continues. The last 24 hours have indeed been a dreadful time. Last evening Captain B. and several others were knocked down by a wave which broke over the ship. Their lives were in danger as the water burst off the quarter boards & wash them near to the opening. The water came rushing down the companion-way into my cabin, so that it was with difficulty that I kept myself and Mrs. Whitney from a severe drenching. (Samuel Whitney Journal)

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

August 9, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Day 076 – January 6, 1820

January 6, 1820 – no entry. (Thaddeus Journal)

Jan. 6th. Thursday morn. The sea remains tempestuous—the wind strong and violent and directly ahead.
We reel to and fro, and are weary with our tossing.
For the last twenty four hours we have made no advance, but a retrograde step. As we were leaving the cabin, Tuesday evening, from prayers, a heavy sea broke over deck, threatening destruction before it. It took from their place several heavy things, tossing them about like little toya—dashing off a large space of the boards upon the side of the deck. Capt. B— was swept by it in various directions, not knowing, as he afterwards said, what prevented his being washed overboard— passengers he thought would have stood little chance. Providentially none were up, tho near it; one or two having ascended the stairs of the companion way. I, returning from prayers, stood at the foot, thinking I must ascend for a breath of air. Suddenly the water came rushing, in such a tremendous torrent, as to drench me as completely as if plunged in the sea. Under these circumstances we went to our berths, feeling there was a peculiar uncertainty as to our state when the morning light should appear. But our Heavenly Watchman, our Divine Pilot brought us safely through. The morning dawned, finding us still in safety; and in the midst of mountainous waves we have been preserved still another day and another night. This morning, I ventured again at an attempt upon deck, to behold the sublime scene;
Mr. B—, before I went out, having been up to the round- top to take a more extended view. I had looked about— put a little water upon my hands and face, when again, another wave drenched me as before. It was much less than the other, but I was just in the way of it.
Evening. Peel, to-night, truly like a pilgrim and stranger,—as if I had no abiding place. All the objects my heart so lately loved, far, far away. Amidst all, the flesh fainteth, O, my Gracious Redeemer, how do I need thy kind support ! I know that thou art infinitely more than friends or country—let my restless heart rest in Thee.
9 o’clock. GOD does allow me comforts, many tender and precious comforts. Still, I am continually forfeiting all. O, that I were constrained by them, in the hour of sadness, not to repine! I have felt my sorrows soothed, my troubled mind composed, by the seasonable tenderness of my dear husband. O, may I watch to cheer and encourage him, on his way, not often requiring his energies to rouse mine, his spirits to support mine; since, to aid him who hopes to be more directly employed in our Master’s vineyard, is the way in which I can, at present, most rationally expect to be the honored instrument of good. Thanks for that divine support which I trust I have hitherto experienced. May I be led by it to trust for the time which is to come. (Sybil Bingham)

Jan. 6. A gale of wind from the SW has driven us several leagues out of our course, towards the Cape of Good Hope. This gale has been the most severe which we have experienced. It is three days since it commenced. You can hardly conceive of the sublimity of the scene. The water rolling into heaps like mountains; waves dashing one against another, and sometimes against the vessel with a great violence; while our floating habitation has rolled and tossed with incessant motion. Capt Blanchard and several of his men, were knocked down by a wave which came over the vessel, and burst off several of the boards on quarter deck. The water came rushing down the companion way, so that our little room which was near was very wet. Owing to the good providence of God no lives were lost. The tempestuous wind begins to subside, and I trust we feel truly grateful for preserving mercies. (Mercy Partridge Whitney Journal)

6. – Old ocean seems to be moved from his lowest bottom; but the promise ‘Lo I am with you’ cheers my drooping spirits. As we have not been able to carry sail for the last 12 hours, our vessel has been left to the mercy of the winds & waves. I should have said at the mercy of God for surely the elements are under his control. (Samuel Whitney Journal)

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger