{"id":"01KG8AM6KND6ERYZNRRZF63V2C","cid":"bafkreic2scym4f4vug5gjuqmom2ym2rry3fkh2rsrdfgc6pzk4fu5roroe","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":8683,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:25.203Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 9","source_file":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","start_line":8634,"text":"Christians, have ever been prevailing faults in the Church. Nor is this\r\nto be wondered at: for subject as Christianity is to the assaults of\r\nunprincipled foes, we are naturally disposed to regard everything like\r\nan exposure of ecclesiastical misconduct as the offspring of malevolence\r\nor irreligious feeling. Not even this last consideration, however shall\r\ndeter me from the honest expression of my sentiments.\r\n\r\nThere is something apparently wrong in the practical operations of\r\nthe Sandwich Islands Mission. Those who from pure religious motives\r\ncontribute to the support of this enterprise should take care to\r\nascertain that their donations, flowing through many devious channels,\r\nat last effect their legitimate object, the conversion of the Hawaiians.\r\nI urge this not because I doubt the moral probity of those who disburse\r\nthe funds, but because I know that they are not rightly applied. To read\r\npathetic accounts of missionary hardships, and glowing descriptions of\r\nconversion, and baptisms, taking place beneath palm-trees, is one thing;\r\nand to go to the Sandwich Islands and see the missionaries dwelling\r\nin picturesque and prettily furnished coral-rock villas, whilst the\r\nmiserable natives are committing all sorts of immorality around them, is\r\nquite another.\r\n\r\nIn justice to the missionaries, however, I will willingly admit, that\r\nwhere-ever evils may have resulted from their collective mismanagement\r\nof the business of the mission, and from the want of vital piety evinced\r\nby some of their number, still the present deplorable condition of the\r\nSandwich Islands is by no means wholly chargeable against them. The\r\ndemoralizing influence of a dissolute foreign population, and the\r\nfrequent visits of all descriptions of vessels, have tended not a little\r\nto increase the evils alluded to. In a word, here, as in every case\r\nwhere civilization has in any way been introduced among those whom we\r\ncall savages, she has scattered her vices, and withheld her blessings.\r\n\r\nAs wise a man as Shakespeare has said, that the bearer of evil tidings\r\nhath but a losing office; and so I suppose will it prove with me, in\r\ncommunicating to the trusting friends of the Hawiian Mission what has\r\nbeen disclosed in various portions of this narrative. I am persuaded,\r\nhowever, that as these disclosures will by their very nature attract\r\nattention, so they will lead to something which will not be without\r\nultimate benefit to the cause of Christianity in the Sandwich Islands.\r\n\r\nI have but one more thing to add in connection with this subject--those\r\nthings which I have stated as facts will remain facts, in spite of\r\nwhatever the bigoted or incredulous may say or write against them. My\r\nreflections, however, on those facts may not be free from error. If such\r\nbe the case, I claim no further indulgence than should be conceded to\r\nevery man whose object is to do good.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 9"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJR25VD49M8PDP0DQV6HE","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM6KNHV54ZNG4PP642JJY","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:29.301Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:41.967Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}