tion? I would not allow anyone to surpass me in respect for the Boys in Blue who have bravely gone out at their country's call. When I addressed them upon several occasions last summer, in their camps about the bay, it thrilled me to look into their faces and see, not the dull, coarse expression that one finds in the mercenary soldiers of Europe, but the fine intelligence of my own neighbors and fellow citizens. But while I honor their zeal and their consecration, I could wish that these brave soldier boys were engaged in something better than killing Filipino women and in burning a mile square of the humble homes of the helpless poor ! The despatches further tell us that it is the estimate of Admiral Dewey that two long years will be required to entirely subdue this group of islands to our control. The casualties, when we add up the number of those killed in battle, and those who have died from their wounds, and those who perished by fever and sunstroke, have been at such a rate that it would mean the loss of fifteen thousand American soldiers per year. Are we prepared to condemn thirty thousand of our Boys in Blue to death in the subjugation of those far-away islands of the sea? principle of political justice or what necessity of national honor requires such costly and cruel sacrifice? We are told that Spain oppressed these people; but even cruel, ignorant, incompetent Spain has never burned a mile square of their homes in a single day. The death of thirty thousand of our men, on the principle that one American soldier is equal to five savage Filipinos, would mean the death of one hundred and fifty thousand of these uncivilized natives. If we should write that bloody record within the next two years it would eclipse the annals of any cruelty that can be charged for a similar period against Spain ! I listen carefully when men tell us that we are doing all this in the interests of Christian civilization and the evangelization of these benighted people. The Rev. Dr. Wayland Hoyt, of Philadelphia, has vigorously expressed his idea of our opportunity for evangelism. "There never was a more manifest providence than the waving of Old Glory over the Philippines. The only thing we can do is to thrash the natives until they understand who we When we have conquered anarchy, then is the time to send Christ there." But I read my New Testament and do not find any such directions given us as to the method to be employed in evangelizing the world. The Old Testament heroes did sometimes enter upon wars of extermination against the Amalekites, are. the Hittites, and the Jebusites, but when Jesus came He changed all that, and rebuked those who would mete out such treatment upon their enemies. He did not send out His Apostles to "thrash the Gentiles until they understood who the Christians were," and then to teach them what He had taught them, baptizing them with all His holy helpfulness. That would have seemed a strange order of procedure to the Prince of Peace. I listen while the Congressman from New Hampshire tells us that "we are carrying Christian civilization to the dark corners of the earth; that we go with the Bible in one hand and the rifle in the other, and that if people will not take what is in the Bible they must take what is in the rifle." These are the sad days, alas, when the wretched Filipinos are being compelled to take what is in the rifle. I rejoice in believing that our nation should be a missionary nation. I glory in our missionary usefulness which already is world-wide. The phenomenal success of the representatives of our American churches in Japan, in China, and in India has been, in no small measure, due to the fact that there was no mixture of political and religious ambitions; the people were confident that no plans or purposes of political aggression lurked within the Gospel messages brought by American ministers, teachers, and physicians. For us to depart now from this policy which has been owned and blessed of God, would be a serious blow to the evangelizing power of our churches at home. It is urged, of course, that Spain was Roman Catholic and that we had to drive her out, and that in this war it is proper for us to destroy the churches she left. Those poor Filipinos, however, are not well up in theology, and I suppose it feels about the same to be shot to death by a man who follows John Calvin as by one who follows Pope Leo the Thirteenth. It is said that Spain is a relic of the Dark Ages and still entangled in the superstitions of despotism. I presume, however, it does not matter much to the unfortunate Filipino whether his home is burned by those who believe in monarchy or by those who believe in the ideas of nineteenth century democracy. The victories that are being won by our troops are not awakening any deep response in the hearts of the American people. Complaint has been made that the Red Cross ladies about our bay have not been so generous and enthusiastic in receiving the troops who came home on the transports as they were when these same regiments embarked for Manila. The change of sentiment and the slackened enthusiasm is significant. There is a feeling abroad that has chilled the former ardor. There is a feeling that somehow, as a Christian nation, we are seeking to enthrone something other than, and opposed to, the qualities embodied in the King of Kings. But we are often asked, what should our Government do? I would that we might say to those people, "We have delivered you as we delivered the Cubans from the yoke of Spain; now set up your own government in your own way. We fought for our independence and gained it a hundred years ago, and now we have fought for yours and we leave it in your hands. We will stand by and see that no foreign power molests you. You must work out your own political salvation, and work it out with your own hands and brains. You will undoubtedly make mistakes; you will have revolutions and bloodshed. But the blessings of constitutional liberty and of self-government are always bought with a price, even the price of the blood of many first-born sons." It is no excuse for our slaughter of the Filipinos for us to plead their alleged incompetency to manage their own affairs. In 1861 a certain great nation had a deadly dispute with itself. The North and the South were arguing out with the awful weapons of war that political principle which we call "States' rights.' The lives of almost a million men were sacrificed and thirty-seven hundred millions of dollars were expended in determining which view of that principle should obtain. We would not have thanked any nation on earth to have said to us in those days: "Those American people are not capable of self-government. They are killing each other; their country is torn by rebellion; therefore, we must come in and by our superior force set up our government and manage their affairs for them." Let the Filipinos learn to govern themselves precisely as we learned to govern ourselves, and let us not soil our hands by killing them because they claim in desperation this solemn privilege. I remember it is urged that their leader, Aguinaldo, has once been bribed. Perhaps he was, and, if so, it was a grievous fault and grievously has Aguinaldo answered it. But here, at home, we do not kill men nor burn their towns because they have been bribed. If such were our settled policy, what awful conflagrations and what dreadful slaughter might have marked some of our state capitals! We announced at the beginning that this was a war for humanity and not for conquest; it was to deliver men from oppression but not to shoot them down or to compel them against their wills to submit to our rule. To me there is something more splendid than any conquest that we might win, and that is for a nation to keep its word. The oppressor has been driven out, and now, with a simple note of warning to other nations to keep their hands off, and with the retention of a coaling station for our future convenience, I would that we might come back and pay the bills incurred in our work of deliverance, and allow these men in their own way by such outlay of treasure and of blood on their own part as might be necessary, to solve for themselves the questions of self-government. The lesson, then, that I would leave with you on this Palm Sunday is the sacred importance of enthroning the peaceful measures of humanity and gentleness. Our national influence ought to enter the cities of the world as Jesus entered Jerusalem of old. The battle-ship "Iowa " lying yonder in our harbor, is a splendid creation of iron and steel. One cannot but admire the skill, intelligence, and ability that created it. But we must judge ships as we judge men-by their hearts. The great ship was built to destroy; it was meant to threaten with force and when not obeyed, to kill. To me there is something more splendid than that. The humblest truck that carries coal through our streets to warm some poor man's home or cook his dinner is a nobler creation of human skill than any battle-ship. The standards by which Christians judge are those of the Son of Man who came not to destroy men's lives, but to save them. The ships that go out the Golden Gate loaded with wheat to feed the hunger of the world, and the schooners that come in bearing lumber to build the homes where families shall live in the enjoyment of peace, are a thousand-fold more beautiful than all the battle-ships of the line. When the kings of old entered their capital cities they brought their trophies; they had other kings and queens chained to their chariot wheels and long lines of captives marching in to be sold in the slave markets. When Christ came He also brought His trophies, but they were trophies of life. He was followed by lepers cleansed and made ready to associate with their fellow beings; by deaf men whose ears he had unstopped; by the blind whose eyes had been opened; and by sinners whose sins had been forgiven. What a procession it was! What a procession it always is when the spirit and method of Christ march at the head! True Christian civilization must ever follow Him. It must go not mounted upon fierce war-horses of conquest, it must go riding upon the ordinary beasts of burden, upon the appliances of peaceful and productive life. Its royalty must lie in its humanity and then angels and men will welcome it with palm branches, and will cry, "Behold, our King cometh unto us in gentleness. Blessed are the gentle, for they are inheriting the earth." |