The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1899-04-17

sovereignty must be maintained. Let us
ask that the President shall declare that
1t Is our duty and desire to have these
islands free and independent. as soon as
1t can be believed that their people can
govern themselves. But Aguinaldo, II
he had been the patriot some persons
think he IL. ought to have waited for the
arrival of the commissioners. He: began
hostilities. The speaker wished he could
stand with the noble men who denounce
the war in the Philippines. But he can
not. The President and his cabinet and
the commissioners are not hypocrites. 1t
Is our duty to maintain our sovereignty.
Jesus taught that he brought sword to
those who oppose the right Force may
be employed when the good of the con-
trollsd is the object. DR.. Lyman Abbott
is no jingo. Bishop Hurst, President
Seth Low, Prof. MoMas.ers are not greedy
of gain or power or imperialism. They
wish to serve humanity. They uphold the
maintenance of sovereignty in the Philip
pines.
The sermon closed with the expression
of an earnest hope that the Congress
would bring about noble results-a large
decrease in ornaments; deepened
depreciation of all strife among the chill
dren of the One Heavenly Father; a
practical plan for the organization of IA
Worlds Tribunal of Arbitration. DIR.
Blanchard submitted resolution en-
bodying the points of the sermon.
Nearly all of the large congregation
rose in response to his invitation to vote
for the resolution 1t will be forwarded
to Rev. DIR. Edward Everett Hale and
Mr.. Edwin D. Mead, who have charge of
ell expressions of sympathy with the
Peace Congress.
REV. j. CARROLL PERKINS
SERMON.
At the First Parish church, Rev. j.
Carroll Perkins preach ed, taking his text
from:
st. John, i6, 33. These things have |
spoken unto you, that In me ye may have
peace.
st. Mark, 10, "a. "Think not that l
came to send peace on the earth; 1 came
not to send peace, but a sword"
These texts apparently contradict each
other. In the popular mind wal is one
thing; peace is its opposite. War is set
forth as the basest of all conditions. Up
on 1t are heaped the anathemas OF the
ages. 1t Is looked upon as something in
itself bad. Peace on the contrary is
looked upon as all beautiful. 1t is some
81 Ia 10 1a. ~nrchinnad q thnnnbf of
as the absolute good.
From this popular ana think super
fetal point of view, the two sayings of
Jesus are antithetical. They are mutual
ly exclusive. II one contains the truth,
tho other must be false, for here is "a con-
tradiction. But these words go far deeper
than such point Of view. Life itself 10
the great goal Of human striving in
Christian thought. And life is gained in
a multitude Of ways Peace is no more
an end In itself than war Is an end in It.
self. II about the skirts of war are
gathered baseness. cruelty, crime and
licenss; SO about the skirts of peace are
ness. The soul grows not by peace alone,
but by strife as well. The fact is that only
as We under stand the human qualities
that underlie 10th peace and war can We
understand human character in the least.
AS q life without peace could give US no
conception of love, JOY, rest; so a life
without strife would leave us ignoran of
duty, obligation and conduct. In
other words war and peace are not ex-
elusive terms. They are the two eyes and
hands and feet of the human soul. Who
ever attempts to follow the great work of