The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-06-05
A snIendid 0pnortunitx.


Perhaps there may be nothing like 1t till
his second coming. Here 10 defnite-
ness Of aim that IL most helpful and In.
spring. The millions Of dollars given
for the redemption of the world and the
thousands of glorious missionaries who
have as volunteers gone forth among
barbaric nations, were given and enlisted
under great and Unreasonable idea.
But when they come to add to the great
and immeasurable idea the idea of defn-
iteness we will infinitely augment the
work. More than 100000 900 Of heather
In India, more than 300,000,00O of peo-
| pie in China, and more than millions Of
heather than can be guessed outside Of
those countries, sometimes stagger aud
confound and defeat our faith. But here
in these islands Of present controversy
| we can farm out the work among the
churches, and in five years, under the
blessing of God, not only fit the people
for the right of suffrage, but prepare
| them for usefulness and heaven. The
| difference between the general idea Of
the worlds eyangelization and some par
/ ticularized field of evangelization Is the
difference between the improvement Of
| agriculture among all nations and the
Improvement ef X, acres put under ones
especial care and industry. BY all means
let the general work go on. But here
| is the specific field for religious concen-
tration and development. This is not
| chimerical or impractical. read this
morning that the American Missionary
association Of the Congregational Church
has already begun the work at San Juan,
Utuado and Albonito, and all denomna-
tons of Christians, in six months, will
be in those islandy fields, and we all
need with our prayers and contributions
to cheer them on to take for God and
righteousness those regions which our
American navy has captured from Span
ish perfdy.
1t has been estimated that this Amer
ico-Spanish war cost us 4$300OO0,00O. 1t
would not cost half Of that to proclaim
and carry on and consummate a holy
war that will rescue those archipelagoes
from satanic domination. Who will vol
unteer? I beat the drum of recruiting
station Who will enlist under the one
starred, blood striped banner of Imman-
>uel? Cuba and Porto Rico and the Phil
ippines are stepping stones for our Amer
ican Christianity to cross over and take
the round world for God. We need new
one purpose In all denominations there
are those with large enough hearts and
who have been thoroughly enough con-
verified to join in such an advanced move
ment; men who, putting aside all minor
differences of opinion, "believe in God the
Father Almighty, Mixer Of heaven and
earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only be-
gotten Son." and who would march
h., 10 CHI in,
campaign. The result would be that
those islands, after a scene of gospeliza-
ton, would assert themselves into de. |
nominations to suit themselves, and some
would be sprinkled in holy baptism, and |
others would be immersed in those warm
rivers, and some would worship in re-
ligious assemblagc silent as the Quaker |
meeting house, and others would have as
many jubilant calculations as back
woods camp meeting, and some Of those |
who preached would be gowned and sur
pliced for the work, and others would
stand in citizens apparel or in their
shirt sleeves preaching that gospel which
is to save the world.
Religious Education.
Mark you well that craftsmanship,
however grand it is, and wise men of the
world, however noble, cannot do this
work. Mere secular education does not
moralize. Some of the most thoroughly
educated men in all the world have been
the worst men. Quicken q mans intel
lect, while at tho same time you do not
make his morals good, and you only aug
ment his power for evil. Geography and
mathematics and metaphysics and phi
losophy will never qualify u people to
govern themselves. A corrupt printing
press is worse than no printing press at
all, but let loose an open Bible upon those
islands and let the apocnlyptic nngel once
fly over them and you will prepare them
to become either colonies Of the United
States government or, as / hope will be
the case, independent republics.
God did not exhaust himself when he
built this nation. Those islands will yet
have their Thomas Jeffersons, qualified
to write for them declarations of indie
pendence; and George Washingtons, ca
pable of achieving their liberties; and
Abraham Lincolns strong enough to
rmancipate their serfdoms and Longfel-
lows and Bryants, capable of putting
their hills and their rivers and their land
scapes into poems; and their Bancrofts
and Prescotts to make their histories;
and their Irvings to write their sketch
books; and their Charles O'COnOrs and
Rufus Choates to plead in their court
rooms; and their Daniel Websters and
John j. Crittendens to move their SEN
ates.
The day cometh-hear 1t all We who
have no hope for those islands Of be-
dwarfed and diseased illiterates-the day
cometh when those regions will have
Christian civilization equal to that which
this country now enjoys, while hope by
that time this country will be as superior
to what 1t now is Us today Washington
and New York are better than Manila
and Santiago. Do you see by this process
Of gospelized intelligence those archi-
pelagoes will as a nation be protected
from the two woes prophesied in regard
to this country, the one woe prophesied
by the expansionists and the other woe
prophesied by the antiexpansionists? 1t
is said by those who would have us take
all we can lay our hands on as a nation
that unless we enter the door now open
for the enlargement of our national do
main we will decline the mission which
God in his providence has assigned us.
But surely no woe will come upon us or
upon them If we Christianize them, as we
now have the opportunity Of doing. Tile
political technicalities are nothing as
compared with the importance of this
movement. implore ail political ex-
pansionists to augment us in this work Of
moral and religious expansion, for unless
those islands are moraized and elevated
IN intelligence and habits we do not want
them, and their annexation would be po-
litical damnation. On the other hand,
implore all antiexpansionists to take
hand in The gospelization Of Cubn, Porto
Rico and the Philippine Islands. The
only way to prepare them to take care of
themselves is to give them the Ten Com
nlandments that were published on Mount
Sinai and let them hear the groan of sac
riice that was breathed out on the
heights of Golgotha. What they most
want is the gospel, the pure gospel, the
onnipotent gospel, the gospel that helps
heal the wounds of the body and irradi-
ates the darkness of the mind and
achieves the ransom of the soul.
Conquest of Nations.
But on this platform the so called ex-
and so cs,led antiexpansion-
lists will yet stand side by side. Though
| am not prophet or the son OF a