The Indianapolis journal., 1899-10-23
EXPANSION IS A DUTY
REV. j. A. MILBURN SAYS ANY COURSE
OPPOSED TO THIS Is BLIND.
Americas Mission i'm the Philippines
the Same as Englnnd's in the Trans
vaaI-Penslty for Omission.

Al the Second Presbyterian Church last
night. Rev j. A. Miburn preached on the
subject. Evolution in the Spiritual World
In the course of his remarks he said: "And
let me say to you that this law of the per-
petual projection of the ideal is the basis
of all national as we'll as individual health
and vigor. Our own Nation is the most
vital of all nations. 1t abounds with life
and exults in fullness of Intellectual en-
ergy that make it mighty among the nations
of the earth And TO what do we owe this
largeness: this fulness; this splendor of
life? / think that since the Nation first
became conscious of its separate existence
and its moral inheritance it has perpetually
striven 10 project its ideals and TO extend
its conception of democracy and liberty. 1t
has not been content to stay shut up in any
given theater of action, no matter how vast
that theater might be; but rather it has
felt itself obligated to go forth to the wide
world-to the West and the Northwest; to
the South and the Southwest. We are not
in the Philippines because We want more
land, more wealth, more commerce-but be-
cause we believe in the blessings and bene-
fits of civilization; because we believe it is
our duty to educate and lift up and clothe
with the blessings Of our larger life peoples
bondage by individual incapacity and re-
ligious superstition. The anti-expansionist
is blind to the lessons of the day and faith
less to the magnificent career Of his own
country, for every great page in the worlds
history tells the story of expansion and of
people ennobled and crowned with dignity
and honor just in the measure that they
have conscientiously and deliberately pro-
jected their knowledge, liberty and ideals
into the opaque and limitless places of the
earth
This, too, 1 am sure. is the secret of
England's greatness, for she, above all peo-
pie, has felt obligated to project her
self in ever extending lines into the
worlds life. Her glory lies not in
her wealth nor her navy, nor her
army, nor in her enormous empire; but
in the fact that she has used her might and
her wealth and her navy and her army to
make better day for all the world She
her liberty, In her schools, In her Constitu-
ton. She loves light and freedom. She
knows that her ideals are ideals Of justice
and fair-dealing; that they make for prog
make for power, self-respect and prosperity,
and 50 she has felt it incumbent to give her
to the world. That is why she fought and
blcA at Lucknow, at Trafalgar and at Wa
ter 90. This Is the reason why she Is IN
South Africa to-day. 1t is deplorable. this
war in the Transyaal; we all regret It.
War is a terrible thing. whether it be waged
coe or at Ladysmith against the Beers.
May God hasten the day when armies and
navies shall be needed no more; when all
Of life's vast and vital problems shall be
wrought out in the spirit of peace and the
element of concord. But though this war is
deporable, let us not think that because
England Is larger in bulk than the Trans
vaal she is, in this unhappy instance. dis
loyal to her own traditions. BY no means.
ther empire. nor the gold fields of the
Transvaal, nor the lust Of territory. These
are not the motives that impel her on to all
the loss and destruction and desolation of
battle. Her motive to-day is true to her
motive of 100 battlefelds She Is in South
Africa she is in India, as she Is In Egypt,
as she is in Australia to-day-to project her
light and liberty. her culture and her JUS
tice and her DEMOCRACY into the dark places
and without regard TO the spirit Of liberty
and equity. She is there to make reason
and justice prevail to Danish ignorance, to
| expel tyranny, to equalize laws and to give
| new empire TO the gracious and benignant
| glories of democracy Her supreme faith is
| that England and America belong TO the
| world to all parts Of the world-north.
| south, east and west. II to this world they
| give their light, God will call them to yet
more illustrious place among the nations Of
| the earth. IT.. however. they fail-if they
| ease then their light and glory will perish
| from the earth have the light and glory
| of so many nations. dynasties and peoples
before themo t.,, ,.u4 . -tf.