The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-07-11
PATRIOTISM in PULPITS
PRESIDENTS THANKSGIVING PROC
LAMATION GENERAL TEXT.
Most of the Ministers Wish This Ma
ton to Keep All the Islands 1t
Takes During the War.

Psalms lxxxv, /: Lord, thou hast been
favorable unto Thy land" He first referred
to the proclamation of TIE President. re-
questing the churches of the country TO
give thanks to God for the successes that
have followed our arms upon land and sea.
and for the favor which. in our crucial
hour, the Eternal has bestowed upon the
American people Mr. Milburn said 1t was
certain this Nation has, as a people, great
reason for thankfulness. Spain is already
defeated foe. No matter how long the
war may be drawn out, SO far as the issue
in Cuba is concerned Spain is virtually
conquered and at our mercy; and our con-
quest has been wrought at a marvelously
slight cost to the Nation. The two decisive
naval battles in which we have engaged
have been almost miraculous in their char
acter. and the one great land battle, though
| costly-costly to many brave men. many
homes and many families-has yet been
nobly symbolic of the superb qualities OF
American manhood. The speaker paid
tribute to the form of government of the
| United States, and the patriotism of the
! truest form that grows out of such a gov
eminent. He said it is not the right spirit
| which shows in those who say we don't
want the Philippines, we don't want Cuba
| we don't want Porto Rico, we don't want
| to be saddled with these ignorant people.
| Proceeding, he said:
What we do or don't want is not the
principle that should regulate us as indi-
| viduals in our dealings with our fellow
| men; and what we do or don't want is not
| the principle that should regulate US as
| Nation in our relations toward other people,
| The one word that sums up our attitude to-
| wards humanity is the word ought ana
| I am sure that every high-minded man.
| when he thinks of the degradation, and the
| poverty. and the darkness, and the supersti-
| ton, and the godleSSneSS, anG the hopeless
| ness of these people that have been under
| the incompetent, tyrannc rule of Spain SO
| long, must say that whatever our Nation
wants to do its duty is to take these ue-
| tendencies that are ours by the exlgencleS
| of war; TO establish over them military pro-
| tectorates and to educate them Until they
| shall be, IN due course of time, Self-govern-
ing self-reliant peoples and worthy 10 ire Of
| democratic institutions and really CHRIS
| tian civilization.
| of our Nation in the present emergency. II
must become an earth power; Its light us
strength. its justice, its freedom are me i,
| rightful portions of the human race, ana IL
is incumbent upon the American people 70
| give these prerogatives and blessings TO all
humanity in the measure or It's opportunity
| and in the measure of its strength
And there is a yet further reason why
we should be thankful to God this day, de-
| spite the sorrow IlaJ mas ldlieI OH ills
| Nation through the tragic battle of San
tiago: and this further reason is that this
| present war is measurable step toward
| world peace 1t is too much, perhaps, to
| hope for the immediate ushering in of uni
versal peace. Man constituted as he is must
| doubtless for generations to come live
more or less militant life. 1t is sad con-
| fession to make, but L fear there is little
| reason for entertaining the hope of any
| immediate reign of universal concord,
| though / am sure in our hearts we all wish
| that this most reasonable hope might be
| speedily realized. War is a CHASTITY thing.
4 1t is an anachronism. 1t does not belong to
| this age of culture, to this age of commerce,
| to this age of education, to this age whose
supreme word is humanity. In our more
| pellucid moments war must seem TO us all
| the most iatuous and ABSURD attitude or
man towards mar Can anything in the
| light of reason be more grotesque than one
lot of men trying to sink in the ocean deeps
another lot of men? Can anything be more
| pathetically groteSque than one thousand
men on the one side with rifles in their
hands trying to settle 9, question of equity
| and justice against a thousand men upon
| the other side with rifles in their hands? 1t
| all seems so strange, so savage, so destruc-
| tive when one calmly medtates upon it, this
warlike, belligerent tendency of the human
| race.
| God has mercifully spared us large nu-
merical losses in our present struggle with
Spain, but already we have paid a terrible
| price for the liberation of the Cubans, and
| thousands of people in this country are
mourning their dead, are mourning for their
| loved ones they shall see no more, and hun
| dreds of young lives have been blighted in
| the fullnesS of their promise. 1t is very
tragical and very sad, and I sure we
all long for the day to come. hoping against
| nope, when war shall be no more and when
| the calm and gracious spirit of peace shall
reign over all the continents and all the
seas.
But whether the reign of universal peace
shall be ushered in or not at any near date,
one thing is certain, this war is clear and
distinct step toward world-amity And INV
reason for asserting that this present war
With Spain is measurable step towards
peace is because it has given a percept-
lble elevation to the motive of war / do
not assert that hereafter nation shall not
strive with nation ignominiously; 1 do not
on the baSilar planes of life in the DAYS that
are TO come. believe it quite possible that
wars VIII yet be waged upon this earth with
purely territorial ends in view that
Russia will contend with her on
ponents for empire, that England and
Germany perhaps will strive in the
days that are to come with other powers
| actuated by the lust of dominion The world
IS not lifted from the low to the high in a
| transformed only gradually The Kingdom
| or heaven comes to the world-soul as ii
| comes to the individual soul. by a process Of
evolution, and not by miracle or thauma-
turgy. righteousness is a slow growth love
| is q slow growth, peace is slow growth
IN the neart of nations as well as in the
| heart of man.
AN IDEAL SET FOR WAR.
But the point l want to make is this
that in the future it will be much more
| difficult for nation to wage an ignomin-
| ious war than 1t has been in the past. This
| Nation has set before the world an ideal in
| the present war, and that ideal is the ideal
of humanity This is not war for power.
| nor for dominion. nor for territory, nor for
national ACKNOWLEDGMENT, nor for Ameri-
| cans; 1t is solely and altogether a war for
| humanity America has lifted the
| strong arm of force up to the
human plane; she has put war upon
the attitudes of mercy and in no
doing she makes every war that is fought
henceforth upon a lower plane war of
shame ana lgnominy and basen6ss. And in
| thus eurtailing the realm of war she cur
| tails the occasions of war BY lifting war
up from the physical to the spiritual plane
| from the plane of territorial aggrandize
| rent to the plane of humanity while she
| noble-she also makes vastly narrower the
| range of its possibilities; she dwarfs the
| area of potential difference, of potential
| strife between nation and nation and en-
| pire and empire.
| And yet another reason why we may
| regard this present war as a distinct and
| measurable step towards worid-peace, is
| because ii has brought about vast de-
velopment OF racial sentiment. To-day we
| are conscious as people. we have never
| been conscious before of the binding power
| of blood and the cohesion that is resident
in like political, social and civil institutions
! A hundred years more ago two peoples
| that We're to one another as mother and
| child separated, separated with animoSity
| towards one another in their hearts, and
| through all these hundred years and more
| this feeling of antgonism and hostility has