WE are in favor of expansion. But we are Christians, and therefore the expansion of which we are in favor is Christian expansion.
What then is Christian expansion? To this the Text-Book of Christianity will give an answer.
Go back in thought through the centuries, to the year 33 A. D. Picture in your mind a scene described in the gospel narratives—the risen Saviour standing in the midst of a little group of his disciples, and saying to them, “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature;” “and teach all nations… teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” From that small center the doctrines of Christianity were, in the purpose of God, to spread out and out and out into all the world, to every nation and people, teaching and establishing everywhere the divine principle of love toward God and all men. This is Christian expansion.
And this expansion is still going on in the world, in the final fulfillment of the great Christian commission. This is the expansion in which we believe; and in what other kind can any Christian believe consistently?