The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1901-07-10
Il PATRIOTIC SERMON.
Rev. G. w. Luts Says We Need Have No
Fear Of Expansion.


On each Sunday bef,re July 4th,
since he became q minister Rev. q,
m. Lutz has preached patriotic
sermon On the Sunday morning
before last Thursday he invited the
old soldiers and members Of the Re
lief Corps to be present They
were there ID a body
Mr.. Lutz's sermon was distinctly
! expansion. He took his text from
i the second verse Of the 54th chap
/ ter OF Isaiah.
Enlarge the place of thy tent and let them
stretch forth the curtains of thine habita-
tions spare not; lengthen thy cords and
strengthen thy stakes.
Mr.. Lutz said:
This is evidently a part of the Mes
sianic prophecy and reveals the OPTIC
mistic spirit of the prophet concerning
i the future of Zion. In this chapter the
people of God are represented under
i the double figure of which the Book OF
i Revelation has made us familiar, Of
the Bride and the city. TO imagine
the nation or land as the spouse of God
lis a habit natural to the religious IN
stinet of all times. the land deriving its
/ fruitfulness and the nation her stand
! ing from her connection with Deity.
/ Thus it is that Israel is represented as
the spouse of Jehovah, the church as
the Bride of the Lamb. The prophets
vision is sweeping beyond the limits OF
Judaism taking in the Gentle world.
Isaiah seems to have been a religious
/ expansionist To him, God in the
/ amplitude of His grace, had made pro-
vision for the redemption of the entire
race.
1 In the oIden time the church and
the Nation were one, their history IN
separahIe To speak of the church was
to include the civic as we'll as the re-
3Iligious life of the Commonwealth.
Therefore, believe do the text no
violence if apply it to our civil and
religious life as a Nation.
Progress has been the WatchWord Of
4 the centuries. In the evolution OF
thought and language there has come,
not new word, but an old word, with
meaning to take its place, and that
word is expansion. To many this
word has an ominous sound. 1t fills
many mind with suspicion and many
heart with fear. To many the word
3 expansion is synonymous with imper.
81 ialism, but it is only another word fol
progress. 1t does not necessarily mean
imperialism as the term is usually APP.
piled to our insular possessions Elk
pansion is not governmental policy
but fact Of history. 1t is not the pro
duet of any mans mind, but primal
q law in the moral constitution OF man
4 hence q fundamental law of human
i society. 1t is a part of Gods great
plan for the development Of the race
Then, to thwart progress is to arrest
civilization, and to invite moral, in
teIlectual and social retrogression.
In matters of religion there has beer
a constant, if not rapid advancement
along all lines Dogmatic theology
may not have kept pace with the
movement of the times, but there is
liberal theology that has kept stet
4 with the march of progress. This new
theology has extended cordial vel
come to science and has found that thu
a one is quite in harmony with the other
q MANY of our earlier notions about Goo
were crude, if not ridiculous. Many Q
the doctrines of religious teachers hav.
had to give way to the worlds intellec
tual advancement. Astronomy anc
geology, by the aid of the telescope ane
the microscope have not destroyed
faith in a Supreme Being, but have
forced an evolution in theology tina
has compelled it to acknowledge TIT
claims of science to be entitled to re
Il spect.
luG past CSululy las HVsAehSrs'SSs
wonderful advancement in human
feeling Men, like Darwin, Wallace
Huxley. Tyndall and Spencer are NJ
y longer considered enemies of human
society, but as having rendered thu
& cause of science and education an in
valuable service. Not that all thei
conclusions are correct, or are unqual
ifiedly endorsed. But, that these mer
d are honest searchers for truth and hav'
given q great impulse to scientifi,
) knowledge and made the world thei
debtor, there is no longer any doubt.
believe through teeir efforts liberty ha
been enlarged, intelligence advanced
and faith engthened.
IT has been the policy of the govern
ment from the beginning to enlarge it
borders, extend its commerce AM
Il -