The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-04-03
RELIGION AND EXPANSION.
MFR. Bryan Points TO Christ's Doc
triue of Peace ON Earth.

But. my friends. the Republican party
has, by its legislation, driven people out of
the mountains OF the West By an English
financial system, and now II wants colo
NAL system to drive them 1000 miles
away from home to find employment in
the Philippine islands. But there are some
who have been deluded by the religious
argument. Convince man that 1t is his
religious duty to do a thing and he will
do it. Convince him that 1t is his re
ligious duty TO give up his money and
he will give X up. Convince him that IL is
his religious duty TO give up his life and
he win give It up. But, more unfortunate
still convince him that IL Is his religious
duty to take another mans money and he
will do it Qaughter) Convince him that
IL is his religious duty TO take another
mans life and he will do it. How much
money has been taken and how many
lives have been taken by men who have
declared that God commanded them TO
kill somebody or to rob somebody? Be
ware OF the man who tells you that God
commands you TO do wrong. Demand his
credentials Where is the Republican who
is authorized to speak for the Almighty
and tell us what God wills?
Il do not mean to say that there Is no
mean to say that YOU cannot always tell
who speaks with the inspired voice and
who with the uninspired voice. Possibly
my own experience makes me skeptical
| remember in 1886 eco men stood before
large audiences and told them that they
were about to listen to the next president
erection
was over / found there were coo men who
thought they were prophets running
around loose who had never been annoint-
ed. daughter and applause) Therefore
whenever a man prophesies now | demand
his credentials Qaughter). and when a
man tells me that God commands US to
enter into war OF conquest / demand his
credentials I have known Republicans to
go up and down this land telling what God
wanted and what God willed; when If God
knows them as well as | do He would
never let them know anything He does
want. UaughterD
II won't gainsay that God may not now
speak to the human race through the hu-
man voice, but / do mean to express as
my candid opinion that when God gets
ready to speak to the American people
and reveal His divine will and paint the
future of this nation, I believe He will
choose some other mouthpiece than Mark
Hanna. Laughter)
MY friends, how are you to find out
Gods will? believe in God. l believe He
influences the thoughts and the purposes
Of men, and / believe that God has laid
down great laws, and that neither nation
nor individual can violate them with i'm
punity. | believe in God. But how are we
TO find out Gods will concerning us? The
man who attempts to tell us what God
wants must either have a special commu-
nication from TIE Almighty or he must
find the authority In Gods Word and
when ! read the Scripture find there that
when Christ visited the village OF Samaria
and they refused to receive Him, and His
disciples wanted TO call down fire from
heaven to consume the. people. Christ re-
huked them and said: 'Ye know not what
manner OF spirit you are OF. The Son OF
Man came into the world not to destroy
mems lives, but to save them And
against this Republican doctrine Of con-
quest and blood l place the words of the
Nazarene. that He came not to destroy
mems lives. but to save them. (Applause }
And ! often wonder and am amazed to
hear ministers of the Gospel shouting
over the country about this war of con-
quest. | have been amazed 10 hear men
who have taken upon themselves the vow
to preach Christ and Him crucihed
shouting over the policy that would make
this nation the exponent of brute force
among the nations of the earth. and |
wonder whether those ministers who
preach imperialism-I wonder whether
they remember that when the angels came
to announce the birth OF Christ they came
not TO the soldiers in battle array but TO
shepherds who kept their flock by night,
and IL was not a clash OF arms, but Peace
on earth and good will toward men. Gap
plause)
II read n sermon delivered by a man
named Brown at Rochester. N Y | wish
that every Christian might read It, He
took for his text the passage that de-
scribes the scene where Christ was be-
fore plate, and Pilate said TO him:
'Knowest Thou now that I have power
TO release Thee or put Thee to death p
And taking that text the minister con-