£ 713 »v _ „ . , . -J ■^oV* .^'\ ^^ "^ ^ <^ WM% V,^^ .'i^!^', *t.../ /^fe\ % "Manifest Destiny" FROM I ^ ^ A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. An Address Delivered before the Boston Music Hall Patriotic Association, Novem- ber 6, 1898. Prof. Luther Tracy Townsend, D.D. To both our houses. May they see Beyond the borough and the shire ; We sail'd wherever ship could sail, We founded many a mighty state ; Pray God our greatness may not fail Thro' craven fear of being great." To be obtained from BALTIMORE METHODIST, 6 South Calvert St. Baltimore, Md. Single Copies 10 cts. Ten Copies 50 cts. 2nd COPY, 6lUVt»£S- DEC 14 1898 E'7/2 (»65C Copyright, 1898, by LUTHER TRACY TOWNSEND. FiyOCOPiW RECEIVED. WILMAMS & \VIL?riN«5 LUKTI^tCnV PRESS, BALTIMORE. .( n CD MANIFEST DESTINY" A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. Mr. President and Members of the Boston Patriotic Association : "Manifest Destiny'' is a phrase capa- ble of quite diverse meaning. But in our country at the present time is con- siderably restricted in its application. The magnitude of the subject now sug- gested by these words, and the interest awakened by them is such, however, that we shall be justified in employing while discussing the questions involved, the method of gradual approach, and we be- gin, therefore, at seemingly a distant point from the heart of our theme when calling attention the fact that never be- fore in the history of our country have the thoughts of the people been so much on the islands of the sea as during the past few months. Islands, as strategic points in com- merce; their importance as supply and 4 "MANIFEST DESTINY" FROM coaling stations for merchant ships and war vessels ; in many instances their mild and superb climate making of them at- tractive health resorts in mid-winter ; the beauty of their scenery and their remark- able floral and vegetable productiveness 'furnishing inviting fields for the tourist and naturalist, and the peculiar advan- tages they afford for ' missionary work have engaged for a long time the atten- tion of certain specially interested j)er- sons, but to-day the interest is so wide- spread that everybody is alert, thinking and talking about the islands of the sea — the educated, the illiterate, persons in all professions and in all vocations, and our children even, are studying the maps of the world not as a school task any longer, but as a matter of downright delight. y\nd for all this, as }()U need not be told, there is abundant reason. As a people we have been brought as never before into close relations with some of the most important islands of the sea. We are l)lacing our protectorate not only over those that are near, but over some that are remote. Growing out of this new order of things, there is not only an in- A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 5 creasing interest but great diversity of opinion and plenty of discussion every- where. And it is obvious from what we hear that while the outlook, to some of our people is exceedingly hopeful and inspir- ing, to others it is equally alarming and depressing. Now, in view of this condition of things, let us for a few moments look at the facts as they are, and ascertain if pos- sible what would better be done. Expansion of territory, as every one knows, has been thought to be for our RepubHc a suicidal policy; but whether this is the case or not, expansion of ter- ritory even beyond the natural water boundaries of our country, already has begun. The Hawaiian Islands without the shedding of a drop of blood, or involving our country .in any troublesome interna- tional complications whatever, have been placed in our hands and under our pro- tection. We also have to-day commis- sioners in Cuba and Porto Rico arrang- ing the time and conditions of Spanish evacuation, by which the larger of these 6 "MANIFEST DESTINY" FROM two islands, for a time at least, must come under our protectorate and Porto Rico into our permanent possession. In Paris, too, American Commission- ers are in session to conclude peace with Spain, and in the name of the United States to take possession of some part, if not of the whole vast group, of the Philippine Islands. Many conservative men, a little time since, from one cause or another, stood aghast in the presence of these new un- foldings, and iiiipcrialisni, almost a new word on American lips, was put into cir- culation to express a peril that is thought to be so full of mischief that it will plunge our country ultimately in national overthrow and ruin. But this word already is becoming familiar and no longer startles our people when using it, and meanwhile the sentiment is grow- ing very rapidly that imperialism is not such a dreadful thing after all, and that, if it means the spread of American power, free institutions, and human happiness, it need not in the least excite our alarm, provided there is any sterling vitality left in the American Republic; and of A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 7 this fact, since our war with Spain, few people are in doubt. In a word this nation of ours in spite of itself is coming into new realms of purpose and opportunity; whether that purpose is right or wrong, and whether the opportunity shall make for righteous- ness or unrighteousness, safety or dan- ger, we cannot tell just yet, though every one is hoping for the best; and if the best shall fail to be the outcome, the fault is not God's but ours. And it is perfectly obvious, too, that this tide of affairs that is now sweeping on, lifting men ofif their feet and landing them at a distance from where they were determined three or six months ago to take their stand, has got beyond the con- trol of the Administration and of Con- gress ; that is, if they should attempt to arrest it. Some of the most cautious and conservative men among us are be- ginning to realize that we are so much involved that if, for instance, our Gov- ernment should now abandon Cuba, leav- ing it to itself, with the probable conflicts between the liberal and the clerical par- ties, like those that keep some of the « "MANIFEST DESTInT" FROM South American republics in a perpetual turmoil, we should be condemned in the eyes of the world ; nor is it any way clear as yet what the future may resolutel> demand of the United States as to the final disposition of that island. And likewise it is beginning to dawn upon all thinking people, that if we should sail away from the Philippine Islands, as not a few leading men, three months ago, were urging should be done, leaving the entire archipelago in the hands of the insurgents, or a prey to any foreign government that might pounce upon them, we should be guilty of a great wrong; and probably there is not a disinterested civilized nation on earth that would not pronounce such deser- tion, in such times as these, unchristian, if not inhuman. The judgment has been forcefully expressed by one writer on this subject, that "a nation which would give back the Philippines to Spain would hand back to a tiger the little lamb wrested from its jaws." We may say the present condition of things is all wrong. We may blame the so-called jingoes and the ambitious, rest- A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 9 less and selfish politicians, but that does not help matters. Here we are involved^ with no reputable way open to us of shifting these responsibilities to the shoulders of some one else. The fact is that an honorable escape from our obli- gations, however disagreeable they may be, is now an impossibility. All talk of our mistakes is, therefore, at the present juncture, irrelevant. Now% therefore, the all-important ques- tion that is forced home upon this Chris- tian nation of ours is this : \\' hat ought to be done, and how can you and I as in- dividual Christians direct or have any influence in this whirlpool of national afifairs? But before attempting to answer these questions it may be wise for us to take under consideration certain matters that have an important bearing upon the general subject before us. And the first fact in this connection to which we call attention is, that the islands of the sea have figured quite largely in God's plans for the world's redemption. The Sa- cred Scriptures repeat again and again the thought that the islands of the sea. 10 "MANIFEST DESTINY" FROM even those that are far off, are his; that the people dwelHng there, even the hea- then, shall worship him and utter his praise. The Psalmist sang his hymns and Jewish people repeated them, saying that the islands shall bring presents and shall rejoice with gladness in the great- ness and majesty of God's Kingdom.^ The earlier and the later Old Testa- ment prophets while speaking of the ^lessiah's reign, likewise were careful to include the islands of the sea. Isaiah, who is especially recognized as the pro- phet of that Kingdom, more than a half- score times, mentions the isles and islands of the sea. They are in his fore- cast of the future to glorify God; they are to declare his praise ; they are to wait upon God and await his coming, and in the ingathering of his people, the islands are never forgotten." Nor were the islands overlooked in the New Testament dispensation. No sooner had Paul, who was pre-eminently the missionary among the apostles, received his ordination at Antioch, than his face ' Ps. Ixii. lo; xcvii. i. -Is. xi. ii; XX. 6; xxiv. 15: xli.i; xlii.4, 12; xlix. i; li. 5; Ix. 9; Ixvi. 19. A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 11 was turned to one of the islands of the INIediterranean. He and his compan- ions went directly to Seleucia, which was the nearest seaport town to iVntioch and from thence they sailed to Cyprus. And the record goes on to say that when they reached Salamis, which was on the east coast of the island, they preached there the Word of God and then went through its entire length to Paphos, on the west coast, preaching as they went the won- derful things of the gospel of Christ. Crete, Rhodes, Sicily and Melita were other islands visited by Paul in which he carried on his missionary work. Such, therefore, seems to have been God's care and provisions during the Old Testament dispensation and also at the dawn of the Christian era, for the islands of the sea. And from those early times to the present the Holy Spirit has moved upon the hearts of God's children to care for these Hmited territories that are scat- tered among the encircling waters of the oceans, not merely because they are islands, but for other reasons that will be apparent upon a moment's reflection. Islands are easily reached and some of 12 "MANIFEST DESTINY" FROM them constitute the cross roads or cen- ters where the commerce of one part of the world meets that of another. In the apostles' time and earlier, Cy- prus, Rhodes, Crete and Sicily were com- mercial stations for the shipping from Africa, Asia Minor and Southern Eu- rope. The Hawaiian Islands have constituted for a half-century an important station between the Pacific coast of the United States and all Asiatic ports. Cuba, vir- tually the key of the Gulf of Mexico, to- gether with the other West India Is- lands, afford stations and ports of in- estimable value to the traffic of the east Atlantic Ocean. And the Philippine Islands are in the road-way of travel be- tween Australia and other islands on the south, and Asia on the north and west. And there can be no question that these islands, Hawaii, Cuba, Porto Rico, and the Philippines, which are now of absorb- ing interest in the thought of the Ameri- can people, are destined to become more and more centers of traffic, points of con- tact, winter resorts, coaling and naval stations of increasing importance during A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 13 the progress of an ever-expanding civili- zation and during the inevitable and uni- versal spread of the Christian religion. These are facts that no reasonable man would think of denying. But we repeat, whether we are able, and shall be dis- posed to make the best possible use of our opportunities and privileges in the disposition of these islands are with many persons serious questions, and the con- viction is increasing that almost every- thing depends upon what the dominant purpose may be in our taking" posses- sion of them. But their intrinsic value and importance are* not in the least afifected by our relation to them, except to increase their value. Cuba, with much of its natural wealth untouched, and Porto Rico, thought by some tourists to be the gem of all the West Indies, are looked upon by every nation on earth, unless we except our own, as possessions of inestimable value. But while these islands of the West India group merit even more than has yet been said in their favor, still, in some respects they have no such future as either Hawaii or the Philippine Islands. 14 "MANIFEST DESTINY" FROM William H. Seward, one of the most far- sighted statesmen this country ever pro- duced, after his journey round the world, wrote that " the Pacific Ocean, its shores, its islands and the vast regions beyond, will become the chief theater of events in the world's great hereafter." And never has this prediction seemed so full of significance or so near fulfilment as it does to-day. But confining our attention more es- pecially to the religious phases of our subject, let us consider what already has been done by missionary enterprise in some of these island territories. Look for a moment to the Hawaiian group, ten in number, having as perfect a climate as this world affords, with lofty mountains, rich mineral resources, a pro- ductive soil, and now adorned with a high type of Christian civilization. Ages ago essentially the same people discovered and took possession of those islands that found their way to others in the Pacific Ocean. There is now scarcely any ground for doubting that for the larger part they came from the Malay Peninsula five hun- A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 15 dred or more years before Christ. As a people they were bad and everything connected with their rehgion was hcen- tious, vile, oppressive and cruel. The sacrifice of human victims and the mur- der of infants were prevailing practices. Before Christianity reached those islands it is estimated that at least one-third of all the children born there were put to death simply to get rid of them. One woman after her conversion, confessed to the missionaries that she had buried alive thirteen 'of her children. To these barbarous people first came the discoverers, Spanish and English. The Spaniards Were essentially of the same class as those who with Cortes de- vastated Mexico, and those who with Pizarro did their murderous work in Peru. Then came traders, for the larger part venturesome and unscrupulous men who more than anything else gave the people fresh lessons in licentiousness, treachery and criielty, making of the Hawaiians a nation of debased drunkards. Those discoverers and traders also introduced new diseases and vices that caused such IG '-MANIFEST DESTINY" FROM a fearful niorlality among the natives that at one time it came near bringing on an extinction of the entire popula- tion, affording additional evidence of what has been seen over and over again, that it is a positive calamity for a hea- then country to come in contact with that type of modern civilization which is destitute of a pure Christianity. Now^ notice, it was less than a century ago that American protestant mission- aries began their labors among that un- fortunate and vice-cursed people. It w^as a difficult and unpromising task that confronted those pioneer mission- aries ; all the more so because those Ha- waiians had added the vices, diseases and crimes of modern civilization to their own ancient and barbarous idolatry. But with less delay than was expected those protestant missionaries w^ere suc- cessful and wrought w'onderful transfor- mations. Think of it for a moment. It was only seventy years ago that those Hawaiian Islands were peopled with a race of vicious and naked Malay sav- ages. But to-day there is no heathen idolatrv on the islands. The natives have A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 17 ceased their inhuman practices ; they have become honest, law-abiding citi- zens, whose national motto is one that would do credit to any people on earth : ''The life of the country is righteousness.'' Those natives are now living in flour- ishing, civilized communities, like those in our own country. The Hawaiians, in- cluding both natives and other residents, not only have magnificent church edi- fices, and support generously rehgious work at home, but with marked success are carrying on foreign missions. There are no pOor-houses in the islands and no need of any. Ample school privileges are provided, all children being taught the English language. In the latest report of the Inspector- General of Schools of Hawaii we find the following statements : "The compulsory education law re- quires that all children between the ages of six and fifteen shall attend school dur- ing the entire school year (ten months). . . . Of 5467 children of pure Ha- waiian blood within school age, 98.39 per cent, attend school. Of 2437 of part Hawaiian blood, 99.01 per cent, attend 18 "MANIFEST DESTINY" FROM school. Of 26,495 people of pure Ha- waiian blood over six years of age, 83.97 per cent, are able to read and write. Of 5895 people of part Hawaiian blood over six years of age, 91.21 per cent, are able to read and write." The part of the report now before us closes with this statement: 'Tt is as rare an occurrence to find an illiterate adult Hawaiian in Hawaii as it is to find an illiterate adult American in the most favored state in the Union." The report of criminality in the islands is no less remarkable. The number of convicts in prison is only one-third of one per cent, of the entire population, and the greater part of these are Asiatics and Portuguese. This religious, educa- tional and social condition, we repeat, has been brought about in less than a century. And what particularly inter- ests us is this fact, that the natives of those islands are essentially of the same stock as the Malays who inhabit the Philippines, and judging from that fact, and also from the marked ability shown by some of those natives w^ho have been educated abroad and who have been A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 19 leaders in the revolt against Spain, we may feel confident that if the native Filippinos were placed under a protest- ant protectorate and were brought under protestant Christian influences, there would be results similar to those achieved in the Hawaiian Islands. Indeed why should we not confidently expect that similar influences will produce similar re- sults among essentially the same people? But that our conclusions may not lack the support of ample evidence, let us for a moment look southwest of Hawaii to a group of two hundred and fifty islands bearing the name Fiji. This name Fiji, as you know, is a synonym for whatever is inhuman, vicious and cannibahstic. The early missionaries tell us that the scenes they witnessed there were too horrible and fiendish to describe. Two-thirds of the children born were put to death, usu- ally by strangling and burying alive. Sick people and the over-aged were also buried before they were dead, and widows were choked to death. Enemies taken in battle and shipwrecked sailors were killed and eaten by those Fijians. Bar- barity, the most cruel and inhuman, was 20 "MAXIFEST DESTINY" FROM witnessed everywhere on those islands. It was a Httle over sixty years ago that Christian missions were estabhshed there. In 1874 the islands fortunately were ceded to England, and under her protection and under the influence of protestant Christian, missions, they are to-day one of England's best governed colonial possessions. Cannibalism, in- fanticide, the strangling of widows and aged people and other unrivaled forms of baseness and cruelty are unknown. What marvelous transformations ! In 1835 there was not a Christian in the Fiji Islands ; to-day there is not an avowed heathen. A careful survey of the religious work- there has been made, showing that out of a population of one hundred and twenty thousand, more than one hun- dred thousand are professing Christians. There are now employed on the islands not more than ten white missionaries, while there are upwards of three thous- and native ordained preachers and nearly as many more natives who are regularly employed as religious workers, such as A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 21 local preachers, colporters and evange- lists. Last year the Fiji Christians con- tributed twenty-five thousand dollars to Foreign Missions, while some of the sons and daughters of those former cannibals are to-day doing missionary work in lands that lie beyond the borders of their own islands. But still further to strengthen certain conclusions we hope to reach, you will pardon us for cahing attention to another group bearing the name of Her- vey Islands. They, too, have an inter- esting, almost romantic, history. They are beautiful islands, one of their num- ber on account of the picturesqueness and magnificence of its mountain peaks and the rich productiveness of its valleys, is called the "Queen of the South Seas." The natives of those islands originally were utterly depraved, given over to cannibalism and savage warfare in which more than once the entire population was nearly exterminated. In 1823 the Rev. John Williams visit- ed this Hervey group and began his work. In 1889, by invitation of the 23 "MANIFEST DESTINY" FROM chiefs and people, a British Protectorate was proclaimed, and those islanders un- der English guardianship and under the influences of protestant Christian civiU- zation, soon abandoned their heathen idolatry. They are now engaged in all the enterprises and industries of modern civilization. They are building ships of a one-hundred-tons measurement. They have an excellent public school system, support their own churches, and one of the islands of the group, alone, is con- tributing from fifteen to twenty thousand dollars yearly in support of general mis- sionary expenses. And will you please keep this fact in mind that all these changes from extreme savagism to a high type of Christian civi- lization have been brought about since 1823. Of scarcely less interest is the history of the Samoan Islands, now under a sort of a threefold, protestant protectorate, — that of England, Germany and the United States. Those islands received their first missionaries in 1830, and now the whole population is nomi- nallv Christian, and on the most impor- A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 23 tant island of the group there are said to be no more than fifty homes in which is not regularly observed family worship. Essentially the same, too, may be said of the group of islands bearing the name New Hebrides. In one of their churches is found an interesting and suggestive tablet which reads thus : "When he (Dr. John Geddie) landed in 1848 there were no Christians here ; when he left in 1872 there were no heathen." But the hour prevents us from going- further into particulars. We therefore in a more general way call attention to the following facts that Micronesia, which, as a geographical terni, includes several groups of islands lying east of the Philippines, witnessed its first Chris- tian baptism only a little over a quarter of a century ago ; now there are forty- seven self-supporting churches and more than five thousand church members in those islands. Seventy-five years ago there was not a Christian convert in all Polynesia, wdiich includes several island groups ly- ing southeast of the Philippines ; now the converts there number more than one 24 "MANIFEST DESTINY" FROM hundred thousand and the adherents to the Christian faith are not fewer than half a miUion. At the birth of Pomare, the South Sea Island king, the first Christian mission- sionaries were just making a landing in his dominions ; at his death three hun- dred of the islands had been Christian- ized. Quite recently a company of one hun- dred and sixty native young men and women sailed from Tahiti as missionaries to other islands of the South Pacific. And on the authority of a recent publi- cation by the American Board, it is said that "of all these native workers, not one has ever proved recreant to the faith. Yet these are the cannibals of less than a century ago, who had no idea of any God, save that of some strange, tyrannical despot."^ Now, what especially should be borne in mind is this, that those Hawaiian bar- barians, those Fiji cannibals, those bru- tal savages of the Hervey and Samoan Islands and of these others referred to, in some instances are of precisely the same ^ " Facts that Tell," by American Board. A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 25 origin as the Filippinos, and in other in- stances they are of essentially the same origin. The family name given to them all is Malayo-Polynesian, and with a measure of precision they can be traced back to a Mongolian-Negrito origin. Owing to their seafaring propensity they have been called "Sea Gipsies" and "No- mads of the Sea ;" and though there may be some disputes among ethnologists on these matters, still there can be no ques- tion that the natives of those Pacific ^- lands who have become civilized and christianized have the same general char- acteristics as those that distinguished the I\Iala_v-mixed population of those Pa- cific islands which God by his provi- dence is placing at our disposal. Why, therefore, is it not within the range of possibility for the United States and pro- testant Christianity to do for those FiHppinos what has been done for the natives of these other islands of the sea? We know the comparison we are about to make is faulty in many particu- lars, and without that expressed under- standing we hardly should be justified in making use of it, but we are sure, •J() MAXIFF.ST DESTIMY" FROM jiul!;"ini;' ivoiu wli.it wo know, lliat it is not likely to require so loni;- a time to redeem those l^^ilijij^inos as it did to make reputable duistians oui of oiu" .\ni;lo- Saxon aneestrv, for tliat retjuired a tliousantl years. And at this i^Miit let it be distinetly understood that these islands of whieh we arc speaking-, and we add Australia, now a i^reat ee>nuuereial oiMunu^nwealth, with a federal constitution rccoi^nizini;- God in its preamble, but which as late as 184Q was "a den of thieves." and New Zealand with its dark history, but now enjovini;- all the benefits (^f enlightened and well ordered conuuunities. and Java. one of the best cj^overned island colonics in the world, and others that could be named, have been lifted from savaqery and tuiscrv into a benign civilizatic^n. whose type in some instances is as high as that of the United States of America, not in e(^nse(|uence of their natural re- sources, their commercial advantages, nor by reason of any of the influences of a Christless civilization, but by reason of j-trotcstant Christianity, introduced into those islands by protestant missionaries, A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 27 under the protection of protestant na- tions. Of these facts there can be no question. They are vouched for by trav- elers, by scientists, by scholars, by men in official positions, by such men as Sir Richard Temple, Professor Sedgwick, Gladstone, Stanley, Charles Darwin and Richard H. Dana, who made a very care- ful tour of inspection, and his report is an uncompromising vindication of Chris- tian missions and an ovenvhelming an- swer to the many falsehoods that have been circulated by infidel writers and Roman Catholic ecclesiastics as to the benign work done by protestant mis- sionaries. Now for a distinct purpose we must take an additional step and call attention to another phase of this subject which in these times of almost a new national awakening, is of vital importance. We may preface what is to be said at this point with the remark that while we should not withhold our admiration and praise for the zeal, the suffering, the self- sacrifice, and in some instances the mar- tyrdom of Roman Catholic missionaries in their work in China, in Japan, and among 28 ''MANIFEST DESTINY" FROM the North American Indians, as well as on the islands of the sea, yet in the inter- ests of truth we are forced to say that Roman Catholic priests and members of the various monastic orders of that church have in almost every instance been more zealous in their efforts to overthrow protestant missions, than they have to gain conquests over the idolatry of the heathen. No one can read the history of the New Hebrides, of the Loyalty Islands, of New Zealand, and the Carolines, and reach any other con- clusion. Roman Catholic priests have followed our missionaries like evil spirits. Some of those monastic orders at their initia- tion solemnly swear that they will do everything in their power to root up and banish from the face of the earth protes- tant Christianity. "Stern coercion in curing obstinate protestants" wherever force can be employed has been and still is held by Catholics to be the privilege and duty of the Papal Church. We presume it is no news to you that when Roman Catholic countries, if pro- nounced in their allegiance to the Pope, A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 29 gain full control of any territory, they aid the priesthood in preventing, as far as they can, all distinctively protestant mis- sionary work, though the people have been made happy and prosperous by it, and though it' has been going on for a quarter or a half century. Take, by way of illustration, the So- ciety Islands, named for the Royal So- ciety of London. As on other islands, immorahty, polygamy and infanticide prevailed to an incredible extenj:. It is, estimated, from the reports of early mis- sionaries, that two-thirds of all the chil- dren were put to death soon after birth. One chief confessed to the missionaries that he had nineteen children, and mur- dered them all. After visiting these islands Captain Cook said : "There is a scale of dissodute sensuality on which these people have descended wholly unknown to any other nation I have visited, which no imagina- tion could possibly conceive." Dr. WiUiam Ellis remarked that "No portion of the human race was ever, per- haps, sunk lower in brutal licentiousness 30 "MANIFEST DESTINY" FROM and moral degradation than this isolated people." Beginning early in the present cen- tury, after several years of adversity, an interesting and remarkable Christian work was in progress. The natives re- nounced their idols, ceased their brutal practices and accepted the gospel of Christ. Captain Harvey, in_,i839, writ- ing of one of the largest of these islands, says: "This is the most civilized place I have seen in the South Seas. They have an excellent code of laws and liquors are not allow^ed to be landed at any port on the island." He tells us that on Sunday he saw five thousand people attending the principal place of worship, the Queen sitting near the pulpit, her subjects about her all decently appareled, devoutly worshipping the God who is the Creator of us all. This was in 1839. But in 1842, Roman Catholic France played a game of usurpation. Her priests appeared upon the scene ; good laws were abol- ished and a reign of intemperance, lust, ignorance and superstition was the lamentable result. The French govern- ment officials and the Roman Catholic A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 31 priesthood combined in a protracted effort to undo the work of the protestant missionaries. But it should be said to the praise of many of the natives, that though persecuted they continued to cling to their protestant faith and wor- ship, otherwise the mass of the popula- tion would have lapsed into a condition almost as hopeless as that from which they had been redeemed. The same essentially may be said of the Marquesas Islands, which just at a time when protestant missions were 'promising to be eminently successful were taken possession of by the French soldiers. Protestant missions were de- stroyed by papal priests and government intrigue ; as a result ignorance, super- stition, intemperance and tyranny were engrafted upon the people. Such is the repeated story of the cen- turies ; for wherever a powerful Roman Catholic country takes possession of any territory, she demands as far as possible the exclusion of all religions except the Roman Catholic. It is also well known that of all Catholic countries, Spain has been the most loyal to the Papal Church 32 "MANIFEST DESTINY" FROM and at the same time the most cruel and tyrannical in her rule over the people. Seemingly the purpose of Spain has been to get every advantage possible from her colonial possessions and in return to con- tribute as little as possible to their wel- fare. Her civil officers and her Roman Catholic priests have been guilty of an extortion that is little different from rob- bery and a cruelty that is utterly heart- less, keeping the mass of the people in deplorable ignorance, poverty, and deg- radation. Spanish priests, taking ad- vantage of the civil authority and power of Spain, have wrecked protestant mis- sions simply because they were protest- ant ; have expelled and massacred pro- testant missionaries as if this were their religious privilege and duty. Take, for illustration, the history of the Caroline Islands. The first Chris- tian missions established there were by the American Board, September lo, 1852, before Spain had a foothold in the islands. The work of those missionaries was eminently successful. The natives, a Malay-mixed people, like the Filippinos, A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 33 became civilized and many of them Christianized. Thirty of the islands, under native chiefs, at length enjoyed a civil administration which would com- pare favorably with that of most of the civilized countries of the world. As early as 1861 churches were formed at Ron Kiti and Shalong Point, on the island of Ponape. In 1889, there were forty-seven churches, with a membership of 4509; there were seventy-six native pastors and teachers, four training schools, three seminaries for girls, forty- three common schools having in all nearly 3000 scholars. In 1887, Mr. Doane, writing of Po- nape, says : ''The outlook, on the whole, is cheering. In some places the people had long clung to darkness, but now the rulers have become Christians, and the people have followed their example. The making of and deahng in intoxi- cating drinks have ceased, also the prepa- ration of the narcotic joko root; polyg- amy and Sabbath-breaking are now un- known among the natives." The annual report of that year says that there is *'a deep and pervasive re- 34 "MANIFEST DESTINY" FROM vival influence among all the tribes, so that the entire population seemed on the point of yielding to Christ." And we shofild bear in mind that all this civil, educational and religious improvement was accomplished in a period of thirty- five years. Now note what follows. Two years after the settlement of certain disputes between Germany and Spain, the Span- iards were allowed to take possession of those islands ; this was in 1887. The re- morseless tyranny of the Roman Catho- lic Church speedily showed itself. The guns of Spanish warships were turned upon those peaceful Protestant places cf worship. The native churches were burned; the missionary ship the ''Alom- ing Star," was forbidden to enter their ports, and Christian preachers and teach- ers were driven from the islands and all intercourse with the natives prohibited. The details of this story of Spain's du- plicity and of Roman Catholic persecu- tion and downright cruelty in the Caro- line Islands, are too many and distress- ing to emmierate in this address, but enough has been said to illustrate the A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 35 point we are making, and also these facts presented would justify the United States in placing those islands, as wed as Cuba and the Phihppines, under a pro- tectorate until the American Board, whose claim long since has been filed in Washington, is fully reimbursed for all its losses and until reparation is secured for the inhuman treatment inflicted upon American citizens. . Nor should that protectorate be re- moved until reUgious freedom i_^ forever guaranteed by Spain to the people of those islands. But at this point some one may ask if CathoUc Spain has done no redeeming work among her colonial possessions? Yes, we are free to confess that she has improved in some respects the condition of her conquered territories. She has established schools, some of them of high order, but never for the education of the masses of her people. She has builded in her colonies (not with her own money but with that filched from her poor peo- ple,) churches and cathedrals ; she has placed before her conquered subjects works of religious art and adornment. 36 "MANIFEST DESTINY" FROM in some instances of very high order ; she has put a stop to some cruel practices, but for all that, the history of Catholic Spain is written all over with intolerance, plunder and murder. The whole ten- dency of her work, wherever she has gone with her priesthood, is to bring on another era of the dark ages. That she has not done this in every instance and to the fullest extent is not to her credit but is to the credit of protestant Christian civ- ilization that has sent some rays of light to the people of her possessions who, in spite of her determined purpose and op- position, have succeeded measurably in improving their condition. The possessions of Spain that at the present time are of special interest to us are a case in point. Cuba is at our doors. You all know what misery the rule of CathoHc Spain has entailed upon that gem of an island which is to be in the fu- ture a winter Saratoga for our country ; and you know, too, what have been the efforts of those oppressed people to free themselves from civil and ecclesiastical bondage. And you also know that some of the protestant missionaries sent there A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 37 have been killed, imprisoned and starved or expelled from the island. And all would have suffered this fate but for the protest and protection of other nations that Spain dared not disregard. And those of the native Cubans who have risen above the degradation of some of Spain's other possessions, have done so not because of anything that Spain or Romanism has done, but because those Cubans visited the United States, have been educated in our schools and have breathed the free atmosphere of our Re- public or in other ways have felt the pul- sations of liberty that are sent out from the mighty heart of our body politic. x\nd, too, on the island that is now ours, Porto Rico, the parish priests have opposed education, the mass of the peo- ple are in densest ignorance and, as is reported, there never had been held a protestant service for the natives until since the United States assumed con- trol. Likewise the history and present condition of the PhiHppine Islands are a story of oppression, sorrow and^wrong that we have not time fully to recount. 38 "MANIFEST DESTINY" FROM We quote one or two authorities only, out of twenty that could be cited. Dr. Barclay, in a book recently published, entitled "Survey of Foreign Missions," says : "All the islands are priest-ridden. Before any news can be published in the newspapers, they must be submitted to the archbishop. No protestant service of any kind is permitted. All the best property belono^s to the church, ^^'hen some four or five years ago (1893) the Bible Society attempted to carry the light into one of the islands, the Bibles were confiscated and the Bible agent was put to death." Rev. F. De P. Castells, now of Guate- mala, claims to be the only protestant Christian living who has ever tried to preach in the Philippines. He was per- secuted, dragged to prison and compelled to leave the country. This was ten years ago, while Weyler was governor-gen- eral. Now these are the facts. Here were barriers that needed removing. A pure gospel could not enter those dependen- cies of Spain as freely as it could enter some of the most heathen of heathen A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 89 countries. We are therefore amazed : what has been reported, namely, that a prominent Episcopal bishop has taken the position recently that "to send mis- sionaries to Spanish-American countries is not only unnecessary but wicked." Can it be possible that any protestant bishop, or those who are of the same mind, have not learned that the Chris- tian religion never has been taught by the Roman Catholic Church in Spanish- American countries ; that the constant effort of the papal priesthood there and wherever else it has had the power, is to teach not what God's Word says but what the Church decreeT? Or, what well informed man does not know that in papal countries the protestant Bible not only is prohibited but reviled ; that the worship of images scarcely less revolt- ing than those of pagan lands, not only is permitted but extolled ; that the Vir- gin Mary, as a mediator, not only is adored but given the place to which Christ alone is entitled; that to the pa- pacy is delegated not only infallible wis- dom but absolute power: that the fixed purpose of the Papal Church is not to 40 ''MANIFEST DESTINY" FROM spread general intelligence among the mass of her people, but wherever pos- sible to keep them in ignorance, in super- stition, and in abject submission to the will of the parish priest, however tyran- nical he may be, and that religious lib- erty shall neither be enjoyed nor known. Says General Gomez, who has shown himself no less a Christian gentleman than Admiral Cervera, (and this Cervera as you know, is the only Spaniard among them all whose name is paraded before us by Spanish admirers until we are nigh sick and tired of it)— "The Cuban people above all else desire rehgious freedom. They have had practically no Church liberty in the past. Freedom of religious thought, the privilege of own- ing and reading the Bible, the right to erect or not erect churches, all this the Cubans want," and, we may add, they now can have. "Wicked" to send Christian mission- aries to these people! ''Wicked," merciful heavens, what does the statement mean ! As it seems to us no where within the domains of either western or eastern A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 41 civilization are there more favored ter- ritories for the swift and glorious plant- ing of a pure and elevating Christianity than in these possessions that now are at the disposal of the United States of America. The people there have re- nounced practically the Papal Church of which they are members. They are es- sentially and largely without religious teachers. They scarcely can be restrained from laying hands of violence upon all ►Spanish priests, nuns, monks and friars among them. If these native Cubans and Filippinos were in control of their is- lands, one of the first measures they would adopt w^ould be the expulsion of every Spanish priest in their domains. Those natives are in a condition similar to that of the Mexicans when they threw of¥ the ecclesiastical yoke that had long oppressed and galled them and became a protesting if not a protestant people. They looked about for religious teach- ers. Wealthy New York Episcopalians sent to them Bishop Riley. Hundreds of the leading men and officials of Mex- ico City flocked to this Protestant Church and would have become its sup- 42] "MANIFEST DESTINY" FROM porters and members had not the bishop, most unfortunately for the cause of pro- testantism in that repubhc, proved him- self to be a man utterly debased, after- wards being expelled for his misdemean- ors from the Church that had sent him there. Now, taking all these facts into con- sideration, it looks from our point of view as if, under the providence of God, the year had come when the advance- ment of the Redeemer's Kingdom in Spanish colonies no longer could be re- tarded by Spain and Rome. How rap- idly events a few months ago transpired and took their place in order, as by di- vine assignment. War was declared' and victories followed that if recorded in an- cient sacred history would have been pro- nounced by modern skeptics as impossi- ble. Had the two victories, the one at Ma- nila, the other at Santiago, been recorded in the Book of Kings, higher critics would have pronounced them incredible ; it would have been said that there could have been at most but one such victory, and that the compilers of the Sacred A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 43 text in their carelessness made a blunder. But here were the facts right under our eyes, and thoughtful men in Europe as well as in America began talking of mir- acles as the only solution and are now in- terpreting these events to mean that the United States of America have been se- lected or elected to give protestant .Christianity to those Spanish misruled peoples who have not been permitted to know what Christianity means, nor to partake of its benefits any more than if it had no existence in the world. We dare reiterate and say that Rom- anism in Spanish America and in the Philippine and other islands of the sea has not been Christian, and that this is one of the reasons why God has led, if he has not forced, the United States to open some of these territories to a free and pure gospel. But as you all know it is here that we are confronted with our favorite national policy already referred to, which is that we must not extend the blessings of our Government, except indirectly, to any foreign people on earth. Such is the logical outcome of the Monroe Doctrine. 44 "MANIFEST DESTINY" FROM Though the ricliest and most beautiful islands of the sea were offered us for the taking, we must not touch them. Our bounds are forever fixed, beyond which we must not pass, whatever the call or provocation. But ivJio has set these bounds? Is it God who has said, thus far and no fur- ther? If he has not limited our terri- tory, would it not be well m these event- ful times for us to reconsider and recon- struct our favorite policy? Suppose, for instance, that England should elect, or be elected to put an end to the strifes between the clerical and liberal parties in some one or more of the American republics, and suppose it were her purpose to establish there peace- ful Christian protestant governments, may we not very well doubt whether the United States would have any ethical right to prevent it? Should not the United States rather aid than hinder such a mission? On moral and religious grounds we therefore would better say : O Eng- land ! stand with us and we will stand with vou in an efifort to rule this world A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 4o — every part of it, in the interests of Christ's Kingdom ! In the presence of such a purpose how very narrow and puerile seem the later interpretations of the Monroe Doc- trine. If there is a foreordained destiny and evolution for nations, and if the United States are to be the exponent of the pur- est type of Christian liberty on earth, then must not our Republic be ready to doff the garments of its childhood and don those of a growing and vigorous manhood? European, as well as some of our own statesmen, have foreseen this promise of our coming greatness and have rejoiced in it. Mr. Seward felt it wdien he urged our country to "have the courage of its destiny." John Bright, ever our loyal friend in the Civil War, said once in the House of Commons, that if the war against the Union failed and the United States re- mained united, in forty years not a gun could be fired without our assent. Forty years have not yet passed over our Republic since this prediction was 46 "MANIFEST DESTINY" FROM spoken, but we now seem nearing rap- idly the dawn of a new day when any na- tion on earth will hesitate to fire a gun should the United States present a deter- mined protest. One of England's leading journals has recently expressed a growing sentiment that "Americans no longer can go on living for themselves." William E. Gladstone, on the eve of departing this life, predicted that ''America will one day become what England is to-day, the head steward of the great household of the world, be- cause her service will be the best and ablest." Therefore let what was said of Eng- land by Tennyson also be said of the United States : 'And statesmen at her council met, Who knew the season, when to take Occasion by the hand, and make The bounds of freedom wider yet." And on this and on other great and grave questions still pending, God, if we mistake not, is creating public opinion faster than we dream, and is making it appear that our statesmanship in the A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 47 past, broad as it has been, is not suffi- ciently broad nor sufficiently generous, and that it is not altogether in harmony with New Testament ethics and hence should be changed to conform to those ethics. Our Lord more than once illustrated and emphasized the grand underlying- principle of the Christian faith that God's people must look beyond the limitations of their own households, even at personal inconvenience, and must care for their neighbors as well as for themselves, and that our neighbors are those who need our help, and that our nearest neighbors are those who need it most, though they live on the other side of the globe. The ambitions of Christianity are merciful, but admit of no limitations. And still we need not be surprised at the opposition usually offered when any advance beyond traditional policies and views is proposed. The spirit that prompts such opposition has been with us from the beginning. It was unquestionably an onward and providential movement when on these shores our Puritan fathers sought and 48 "MANIFEST DESTINY" FROM obtained religious liberty. But there were those who ridiculed the attempt as needless and fanatical. That, too, was an onward and provi- dential movement when our Revolution- ary fathers fought and secured civil lib- erty and bequeathed it to their children. But there were many of the colonists who deprecated the resort to armed resist- ance and called the leaders madmen. They were likewise onward and provi- dential movements when our Govern- ment extended its territory beyond New York and Virginia to the Mississippi River ; then later to the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains, and later still over their summits to the golden shores of the Pacific Ocean, and from the two Port- lands to Mexico and the great Gulf. But each of these extensions of terri- tory and the later acquisition of Alaska were resolutely opposed not only by men of moderate ability but by some who held high positions in the Federal Govern- ment. Mr. Webster, Henry Clay and President Van Buren fought strenuously against the accession of Texas, on the ground that it might involve our country in perpetual warfare with Mexico. A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 49 Some of our ablest Congressmen and writers on political economy opposed the accession of California and Oregon, chiefly because of their distance and worthlessness. Mr. Seward and Charles Sumner found it exceedingly difficult to stem the tide of opposition and ridicule that con- fronted their eftorts to secure the acces- sion of Alaska. But every one now sees that if the counsels of these opposers of territorial expansion had prevailed, a serious blunder would have been made. Could it, therefore, be expected that our dealings with Spain, whatever they might be, would move on unchallenged and uncondemned? But criticism of this sort should not for a moment deter us. What our na- tion has been doing is not merely the carrying on of a war with Spain. We have been engaged rather in enterprises without fully realizing it, that are making for the civil and religious emancipation of the whole world. It is possible, too, that we are engaged in the oncoming struggle between pagan civilization of the East and Christian civi- 50 "MANIFEST DESTINY" FROM lization of the \\'esl? As Captain Mahan has forcefully said : "We stand at the opening of a period when the question i^ to be settled decisively, though the issue may be long delayed, whether Eastern or Western civilization is to dominate throughout the earth and to control the future. The great task now before the world of civilized Christianity and its great mission, which it must fulfil or per- ish, are to receive into its own bosom and raise to its own ideals those ancient and different civilizations by which it is surrounded and outnumbered." O ve people who think ! does it not seem to you in odd moments that the hour which is now striking is one of the most eventful in our eventful history, and perhaps, in the history of the world? Does it not look now and then as though God's providences are beckoning our country to take upon herself larger opportunities and philanthropies than ever before have entered into her con- ception? And does it not at times appear as though the King is calling this espe- cially favored people to aid in ushering A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 51 in that new order of things that is to pre- cede the coming of Christ — "that divine event To which the whole creation moves?" Nor will it be a new thing on earth, if original purposes honestly intended by our country, shall give place to others almost entirely different. George Washington, speaking in the Continental Congress at Philadelphia, said that no sensible man could stand for independence. But in two years at the head of his army he said that inde- pendence was the only ground for the restoration of peace. Abraham Lincoln in his first inaugural said that it was not the intention of the Republican party nor of his administra- tion to meddle with any domestic insti- tution (slavery was what he meant). But In two years the name of Abraham Lincoln was afifixed to the emancipation proclamation. In the earlier movements for reform the founder of one of the largest protest- ant bodies of the world resolutely op- posed separation from the Church of England. But later this same John 53 "MANIFEST DESTINY" FROM Wesley recommended the ordaining of his ministers without the ofiFices of the Estabhshed Church. And so is it in the n.atters now pend- ing. Conditions have changed since last spring when our nation was moved to interfere in behalf of the oppressed and starving Cubans and reconcentrados. That interference, including the expul- sion of Spain was the extent of our in- tention. It was so published to the world. But Spain's heart was hardened, and on a Sunday morning in last May, in a movement that surprised the nations of the earth, the firing of a gun was the sig- nal for the deliverance of the Spanish is- lands of the southern seas from centuries of barbarism and misrule, and ''there in the sudden tropic dawn the stars of the United States rose, beaming, in the orient, as we trust, never again to set." From some points of view the tasks before us are gigantic, but all easily can be accomplished if we move on in har- mony with the providences of God, if we seek the establishment of the Kingdom of Christ, and if we take upon ourselves A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 53 this humane mission resolutely and with- out any temporizing delays or policies. He who fought the battles of Israel, and no less the battles at Manila and Santiago, will fight our other battles for us, whether in war or diplomacy. To Judah in some of her darkest days, one of the Jehovah prophets spoke thus : I "Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusa- env, and thou King: Jehoshaphat. Thus saith the Lord unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude ; for the battle is not yours, but God's." "Ye shall not need to fi^ht in this battle ; fear not, nor be dismayed ; to-morrow go out against them : for the Lord will be with you. ***** "And when Judah came towards the watchtower in the wilderness, they looked unto the multitude, and behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none escaped."! Remember "God is where he was," and is no less among the nations of the earth to-day than in the days of Judah. God's thought is the one we must dis- cover and is the one with which we must confer. If we do this and if he remain with us we have nothing to fear. But on the other hand we do just as firmly believe that if we exclude God from the great problems now confronting us, and if by reason of a craven fear or a greedy selfishness we are indifferent to 1 2 Chron. xx. 15, 17, 24. 54 "MANIFEST DESTINY" FROM the trust that is committed to our hands, we have everything to fear ; and it is more than Hkely that we shall meet with com- plicated difficulties and embarrassments in Cuba, in the Philippine Islands and possibly elsewhere. Had we confidently beHeved in God and our destiny at the outset of our con- test with Spain, and had we moved on under the inspiration of those convic- tions, every question would have been settled long ago and many of our dead heroes would not now be sleeping in their graves. And pardon me for saying that what almost more than anything else remains still our danger is, that we shall quietly rule God out of the equations that are yet before us for solution. The question already has been raised, not on religious but on commercial and prudential grounds, as to what disposi- tion shall be made of the Philippine Is- lands? In the settlement of that ques- tion the purpose of God in miraculously putting that misruled territory into our hands is in the way of being overlooked. O America, do not blunder! The God A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 5o of nations has placed those islands of the Pacific Ocean at your disposal, not for merchandise but to civilize and Chris- tianize, and he will hold you responsible unless you fulfil your manifest destiny. In the words of Ambassador Hay : "What has been going on by our agency has been a case of the imposition of in- visible hands. The moving finger has written and it cannot be lured back to 'cancel half a line.' " Our honored President, too, has force- fully voiced this same sentiment when saying, *'the currents of destiny flow through the hearts of the people. Who will check them, who will divert them, who will stop them? And the move- ments of men, planned and designed by the Master of men, will never be inter- rupted by the American people." To be sure this pathway of the future may be difficult and dangerous, but there should be no hesitation. The Spaniards may annoy us by their tricks of delay and diplomacy, the Cubans may be unworthy of our esteem, and the Filippinos may be debased, yet we must move on, for is it not God's will and the highest virtue known among men to spread Christ's o6 "MANIFEST DESTINY" FROM gospel and to rescue from oppression the weak and distressed? And is not this precisely what He did who left heaven and came to earth to save an inferior, sin-cursed and degraded race? What ! is extension of territory or im- perialism or the abandonment of any cherished policy of our country to stand in the way of fulfilling such a mission or destiny as this? "There is that which scattereth and yet increaseth; and there is that which withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty." This also should be said that in our country in carrying out its imperial destiny, if you are pleased so to name our new evange- lizing policy, there is almost everything to encourage us. The most brilliant era in the history of Israel began under David, and at that time the kingdom was the most extend- ed, stretching from Egypt to the Eu- phrates and from Syria to the Red Sea. And we read in the condensed but sug- gestive war reports of those times an account of methods of administration the adoption of which might relieve us from an existing embarrassment: A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. o? "Then David put garrisons in Syria of Damascus : and the Syrians became servants to David, and brought gifts. And the Lord preserved David whithersoever he went. "And he put garrisons in Edom ; throughout all Edoni put he garrisons, and all they of Edom became David's servants. And the Lord preserved David whithersoever he went." And we read that David conquered the King of Zobah and took from him his munitions of war, a thousand chariots, and of prisoners seven hundred horse- men, and twenty thousand footmen who became his subjects; and he slew of the Syrians two and twenty thousand men. And we read that none of the spoils of war — silver, gold nor war materials, of all the conquered nations were returned to them but were dedicated to the Lord and were used for religious purposes. We read also that David reigned over all Israel and executed judgment and justice unto all his people.'^ And later on we read that the friendly relations which had existed between Da- vid and King Hiram of Tyre, and Tyre was the England of that age, ripened into a firm alliance in the time of Solo- mon to the great benefit of Israel.^ To be sure Carthage, Greece and 1 2 Sam. viii. -^i Kings v. 12. 58 "MANIFEST DESTINY" FROM Rome was wrecked after entering upon a career of expansion, but no careful stu- dent of history would think of attrib- uting their downfall to extension of ter- ritory. Spain, too, lost her prestige after her territorial possessions encircled the globe, but every one must know that her downfall came not because of her world-wide domains but because of the wicked oppression of her subjects, and that her greatest plunge downward has come in these later years when her possessions were more limited than at any time during the past three hundred years. But, on the other hand. Great Britain has been no loser by extending her ter- ritory. Though on her possessions the sun never sets, yet no government on earth is mightier than hers. And ever since the time that her policy has been to aid in elevating and Christianizing the countries coming under her sway, God has prospered her. And, too, if Holland's outlying pos- sessions are taken into comparison with her limited area and population at home, she is one of the greatest colonial powers A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 59 on earth ; and yet she is prosperous and safe. Like Israel under David, but un- Hke Germany, P>ance, Spain, and some, other powers, she executes ''judgment and justice among all the people" of her colonies. During a period of nearly two hun- dred years those Hollanders have ruled their colonies in a conscientious manner, have made them a paying venture, and it is acknowledged that nowhere is the traveler safer or more respected than in her possessions, because nowhere is the native population better treated and pro- tected. How groundless, almost foolish, are our fears, therefore, that the United States of America are not able to do for the Philippine Islands what little Holland has most successfully done for the Dutch Indies ! If, however, owing to our form of gov- ernment, or owing to our system of mak- ing appointments, or owing to our po- litical corruption and a lack of national integrity, or in consequence of any other social or political evil, we are unable or unwilling to do for our prospective co- GO "MANIFEST DESTINY" FROM lonial possessions what Holland has done for hers, then we already are , doomed, and it is only a question of years when our republic will no longer be worth preserving. no, it is not extension of territory that endangers the life of a nation, but corruption and practical atheism. Im- migration is no less perilous than ex- pansion. We would better go to other people rather than have them come to us. 1 would therefore repeat over and over again that we have nothing to fear if we listen to God's call, and it is the Spirit of the New Testament which tells us what that call is and what it requires and portends. O, America ! lose not your faith in God's Word, nor in God himself. Keep your hands clean. Stretch them out to help those who need helping and there will be nothing to fear. He who sets up and plucks down the kings and the king- doms of the earth, even the Lord Al- mighty will be your defence and de- fender. A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. "Gcd of our fathers, known of old Lord of our far-flung battle line— Beneath whose awful hand we hold Dominion over palm and pine- Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, Lest we forget— lest we forget! "if, drunk witli power, we loose Wild tongues that have not Thee in aw( Such boasting as the Gentiles use, Or lesser breeds without the law, Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,' Lest we forget— lest we forget!" 61 Prof. L. T. TOWNSEND'S Publications. In these hard times, but times of cheap non-religious books and of n uch religious doubt, it frequently has been asked why writers and publishers of Christian literature cannot place their publications within easy reach of ministers and laymen who have but moderate incomes. Dr. Townsend already has made moves in this direction, securing a reduction in the price of his larger books from ^$1.50 to $1.00 and then to 75c. He has now made such arrangements with his different publishers that his books can be sent, postage prepaid, at the following prices : — Credo, Lost Forever^ Arena and Throne, God-Man, Intermediate World, Sword and Garment, Super- natural Factor in Revivals, and Fate of Republics at sixty cents per volume. Bible Theology and Modem Thought (332 pages), fifty cents. Art of Speech, forty cents. Faith "Work, Christian Science and Other Cures, thirty cents. The Bible and other Ancient Literature, twenty- five cents. What Noted Men Think of the Bible and What Noted Men Think of Christ, ten cents each. His two latest books, Evolution or Creation? and Jonah in the Light of Higher Criticism, are sent together for one dollar. In " Evolution or Creation ? " which has just secured for Or. Tovvnsend an election to membership in the Victoria In- stitute of London, the author challenges the position of the evolutionist, presenting a remarkable array of facts and of scientific opinion in support of the challenge; and in his "Story of Jonah in the Light of Higher Criticism" he controverts the interpretation given by the higher critics on their own ground to the story of Jonah. This last-nameo book, by some of the reviewers, is pronounced to be an im- portant contribution to Bible research, especially by reason of its application of scientific methods in the study of Bible history. DR. TOWNSEND^S SERMONS. Dr. Townsend, as is well known, occupied the chair of Sacred Rhetoric in Boston University for many years, and has filled some of the leading Methodist pulpits in the Northern and in the middle Southern States, and has served some of the leading Congregational pulpits of New England. The sermons preached by him in these different pulpits never have been published, though their publication repeatedly has been asked. A selection of the most effective of these sermons has been made, and they are now being issued in a neat booklet form with paper covers, entitled The Credo Series, and will be sent, postage prepaid, at the following rates : Single sermon, ten cents, three for twenty-five cents, six for fifty cents, and twelve for one dollar. This is the only form in which, for the present, they will be pubHshed. Your cooperation is kindly solicited in an effort to spread this evangelical literature. All communications should be addressed to L. T. TOWNSEND, D.D., Care of John Lanahan, D.D., Ii8 E. Baltimore St., BALTIMORE, MD. H 30Z 79 ,^ LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 012 608 235 6 %