Ka Leo o ka Lahui, Volume II, Number 223, 25 June 1891 — ROYAL HAWAIIAN OPERA HOUSE. BLASPHEMOUS. [ARTICLE]

ROYAL HAWAIIAN OPERA HOUSE.

BLASPHEMOUS.

"My houee shall be called of all naiione, the House cf J*rayer ? * btU ye h/ive madc it a den of thieves Mark 11:17. This text was applied to tho pharieees who infeeted the teojple of God. after Jesus had gone into the temple and used the leash on them that sold and boiight, and on the greedy bankers who were baterring gold at about probably the jcate of usury asked by our changers of to-dav. We are reminded to make rf;he above quotation as an illustratron aptly fitted to the condition in whieh some of our churches are desecrated by the money !oving t blind and stiff-necked pharisees in Hawaii nei. For 3evity and wani of due regard for the sarrc'!fy of the plaee wherein the Deity is supposed to be worsbipped, the congregationalists and others of like doctrines/ excel the devil himself, for the Jatter even feared, whieh is even Siore than our professing Ghristian protesters seem to feel. To save a dollar they avoid>hireing places built purposely for aueh work as was allowed to desecrate the old chureh of Kawaiahao, a house built mid the prayers and devotion of the missionary fathers and the Hawaiian chiefs. Those that t"hat old granny the P. C. A. accuses of Jbeing blaspbemous. never dared make use of a plaee of wofship for theatricals, and for singing such songs as u Dear Annie of tbe Vale," and others far more inapnropriate even than that. What a difference there is] in the respect shown towards places of worship by those, who are accused ōFpaganism, aiīc[ by those who accuse them. We hear of a Prince, no leFS than the heir to the throne of Russia, being struck down by a pagan for daring to tread with his unsanctified sandals the sanctity of the latter*s plaee of worship. A Christian church is a plaee of worship, or ought to.be, nota nlaee for whistling, shoūting, yelling, stamping, and other unseemly antics. It should never be used for other purposes than for the service of God. as was the tabernacie in the wilderness or the temple buiit by Solomon. were the Spirit of God comoiuned with men.ī These two places are types and the 8acred service conducted bv the 83rvantsi of the Most High, s]iould teach those *who bave as8Umed the places of the priesthood, what is"reqaired of them in ing the House of God from'being j made a ,4 den of thieves."