World Parliament of Religions Scrapbook 003

              #003 World Parliament of Religions Scrapbook, p. 103

world are written. They are winning the high-
est honors that the great universities have to be-
stow. Hundreds have been ordained to speak 
and to teach this new gospel of freedom which
has come to bless the world. We are still in the
dawn, the very early dawn of the new era. Its
grand possibilities are all before us. We are as-
sembled in this great parliament to look for 
the first time in each other's face and speak to
each other our best and our truest words. I can
only add my word of earnest and heartfelt greet-
ing to those who have gone before, and I wel-
come you, my brothers, from every land and of
many faiths, who have wrought so long, so
grandly, and so well, in accordance with the
wisdom high heaven has given you. And I Wel-
come you, my sisters, who have come with beat-
ing hearts and high hopes and reverent pur-
poses to this great feast to participate, not only
in this parliament, but in the great congresses
which are associated with it, to behold not only
that an Isabella of Spain had a prophetic vision--
she beheld not only a new world, but beheld a
new future—and an emancipated and intelligent
womanhood [Applause.] and a strengthened re-
ligion to bless the world. I welcome you all to
the fulfillment of her grand vision.
       HARLOW N. HIGINBOTHAM.
  The President of the Exposition Greets the
       Illustrious Representatives.
Harlow N. Higinbotham, President of the
World's Columbian Exposition, was intro-
duced and spoke as follows:
Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Parlia-
ment of Religions of the World's Columbian Ex-
position: It affords me infinite pleasure to wel-
come the distinguished gentlemen who compose
this august body. It is a matter of satisfaction
and pride, Mr. President and gentlemen, that
the relations existing between the peoples and
the nations of the earth are of such a friendly
nature as to make this gathering possible. I
have long cherished the hope that nothing would
intervene to prevent the full fruition of the
labors of your honest chairman. I apprehend that
the fruitage of this parliament will richly com-
pensate him and the world, and more than justify
his efforts and prove the wisdom of his work.
It is a source of satisfaction that to the resi-
dents of a new city in a far country should be
accorded this great privilege and high honor.
The meeting of so many illustrious and learned
men under such circumstances evidences the
kindly spirit and feeling that exists throughout
the world. To me this is the proudest work of
our exposition. There is no man, high or low,
learned or unlearned, that will not watch with
increasing interest the proceedings of this par-
liament. Whatever may be the differences in
the religions you represent there is a sense
in which we are all alike; there is a com-
mon plane on which we are all brothers. We owe 
our being to conditions that are exactly the
same. Our journey through this world is by the
same route. We have in common the same
senses, hopes, ambitions, joys, and sorrows, and
these, to my mind, augur strongly and almost
conclusively a common destiny. To me there is
much satisfaction and pleasure in the fact that
we are brought face to face, with men
that come to us bearing the right-
eous wisdom of the ages; face to
face with men who come to us bearing the ripest
wisdom of the ages. They come in the friend-
liest spirit, that I trust will be augmented by
their intercourse with us and with each other.
I am hoping, Mr. Chairman and gentlemen,
that your parliament will prove to be a golden
milestone on the highway of civilization; a
golden stairway leading up to the tableland of a
grander, higher, and maore perfect condition,
where peace will ever reign and the enginery of
war be known no more forever. 
      REV. ALEXANDER M'KENZIE.
  He Tells of What Puritanism Has Done for
      Civilization,
Rev. Alexander McKenzie was introduced
and said in part:
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: I sup-
pose everybody who speaks here this morning
stands for something, and every soul has its own
faith. The only claim I have here this morning
rests upon the fact that I am one of the original 
settlers. I stand here this morning representing
New England Puritans, the men who made this 
gathering possible. Puritanism came very early 
to this country with a particular work to do, and 
it has continued diligently in the work it had in 
hand. There are persons who wish the Puritan 
had been somebody else, but he was not. It is a
little more than a trueism to say that if he had
been a different man from the one he was he
Would not have been the man he was; and I 
venture to say if the Puritan had not been pre-
cisely what he was this gathering never would
have been heard of.
We are able to show these friends who have
come to us from the other countries what we
have done for the progress of the world. I think 
the grandest exhibit which we can show our
visitors is to take them to that place on our
sea coast where out of the savage red man and
the ignorant black man Christianity is molding
men and women. We have no great cathedrals,
but we have log schoolhouses, and log school-
houses where characters of men and women are
formed are the grandest of all cathedrals. We
have not painted Madonnas, yet we have taken
women in the name of the faith and lifted her up
in motherhood until she stands for all that is
good and true and noble in the Nation.
      ARCHBISHOP OF ZANTE.
  He Is Thankful for the Opportunity to
      Meet American Ministers.
President Bonney introduced the most
Rev. Dionysios Latas, the Archbishop of
Zante, Greece, the head of the Greek
church, who, adorned with all the emblems
of his religious office, arose and was received
with great applause. He addressed the
parliament as follows:
Mr. President, Most Honorable Gentlemen, the
Superiors of This Great Congress, Most Honorable
Ladies and Gentlemen: I consider myself very
happy in having set my foot on this platform of
the congress of the different nations and peo-
ples of the earth. I thank the great American
Nation, and especially the superiors of this con-
gress, for the high honors which they have con-
ferred upon me in inviting me to take part in
this parliament of religion, in this congress of
the ministers of divinity, of the different na-
tions and peoples of the globe, which for the
first time will be written on the pages in the
books of the history of the world. 
I thank them still more because by this invi- 
tation I have had the opportunity to satisfy my
desire, which I have had from a very long time
ago to visit and see this fine, this most glorious
country. Having stayed for a long time at Athens,
the capital of Greece, I have had an opportunity
to be acquainted with many American gentle-
men, American ministers, some professors who
came there for the sake of learning the new
Greek, and travelers who from time to time vis-
ited this wonderful place, the place of the an-
tiquities, and by conversing with these gentle-
men I wished hard to learn many things about
America, and I admired from afar the greatness
of the country, and my desire has always been
and my anxiety I have always had to see this
great Nation. Now thanks to the Almighty I
am in America and witnessing the example of
the great progress and wonderful achievements
of the human mind; and I stand on the platform
of the representatives of all the religions of the
world, which fact, as I say, for the first time
will take part in the pages of a united world.
Most honorable ladies and gentlemen. My
voice, perhaps, for the little kingdom of Greece,
from which I come, means very little compared
with the voices of men of you, who represent
here great and powerful States, extensive places,
and numerous nations, and I pray that the Al-
mighty may bless them and continue the history
of the Nation; but the church to which I belong
is extensive, is great, and my heart is great. My
thanks go out to the superiors of this congress,
and my blessings and prayers to the Almighty
for the country and the people of America, for
they are measured, I say, not by extent and
quantity, but by the kind and quality. This is
the only way to measure these expressions of
good will, and when so measured they have a
considerable value.
I bow my thanks to the superiors of this con-
gress, to President Charles Bonney and gentle-
men, Rev. Dr. John Henry Barrows, and the
others, the eminent names of all the great men.
I salute you in the name of the great Kahn, as
my brothers in Jesus Christ, from whom we all
draw our faith in God as it radiates out in this
world. I salute you in the name of the divinely
inspired Gospel, which, according to our faith,
is the salutation of the soul of man and the hap-
piness of all the souls in this world. And to
the other great Kahn I salute you as
my friends in the eminent ideas and senti-
ment which forms a part of every man in the
world, and of all men, for we all have a common
Creator, without any distinction between who
are great, men who are rich or poor, the ruler
and the ruled, all men have a common Creator
without any distinction on account of climate or
race, without any distinction on account of
nationality, descent or ancestry or name or
family title. All men have a common Creator,
and, consequently, a common father in God Al-
mighty.
At last, I represent my great Kahns, with
hearts full of love for your great country and for
the glorious people of the United States of
America.
         FROM FAR OFF INDIA.
  P. C. Mozoomdar Speaks of the Faith of the
         Ancient Nation.
At the conclusion of Archbishop Latas'
address P. C. Mozoomdar, of India, was
introduced. He said:
Ladies and gentlemen of the parliament of re-
ligion, men and women of America: The wel-
come and recognition which you give to India
are gratifying to hundreds of thousands of
liberal religious thinkers on that continent, and
in behalf of my countrymen, so many of whom
are here present, I give you my heart thanks.
You have realized the teachings of our Shinto;
you have demonstrated and realized the
principles of our great religious leaders.
India claims a place in the brotherhood of
nations, not only because of her undoubted an-
tiquity, but also because of what has taken place
there in modern times, because, my friends,
modern India is bringing forward the very ancient
India by the law of evolution, by the principle of
progress, by the action of continuity. Our pre-
historic forefathers worshiped the only living
God on the icy-crowned summits of the Hima-
layas. while we to-day worship the same living
spirit of God on our river banks and in our
cities.
In this thing India claims to be different from
other ancient countries. Egypt tried to build
eternally in the way of her magnificent marbles
and in her strange architecture, but where is
Egypt to-day? Passed like a dream: and the
catacombs and the sphinx and the pyramids of
her desert tell us that her work was too great
and it has passed away.
Ancient Greece expended her magnificent
genius in immortal works of marble and in an
all-embracing philosophy; but where is Greece
now? Buried under her noble monuments, sleep-
ing the sleep from which there is no waking.
The horses of war, the victorious Romans
trampled over them. Where are the monu-
ments and theaters, the institutions, the laws of
the Romans? Hidden behind the oblivion of
centuries, and if the laws of Rome appear at all,
they live only to point a moral or adorn a tale.
              India's Hope.
Israel, the chosen of God, the Jews with their
noble and long line of laws and history and
prophets and royal bards, where is Israel?
Scattered on the face of the globe, perse-
cuted by king and kaiser, the objects
of cruelty by the heartless, the objects
of pity by the kind. [Applause.] But
India the ancient, the elder of the elders, the
mother of religions and of nations, India is there
to-day. [Great applause.] She is there with
her ancient civilization, with her profound re-
ligion, with her immortal philosophy. India is
still fulfilling the destiny of her nation, and per-
haps of the nations of the world. Ladies and
gentlemen, when our religion declined and Mono-
theism flourished, when the European con-
science gave us the light of Asia, the per-
fection of whose moral idea was in the teach-
ing of human kind, then Buddhism de-
clined; when adversity rolled over her
country like a destructive wave, freedom was
gone, our greatness was gone, yet God remained,
India's ancient religion remained, the spiritual
vitality of the nation remained. And now to-
day, when England sits on the imperial throne of
her country, with the gospel of love and peace
in one hand and the scepter of civilization in the
other, is it time to despond or to die? No, and
therefore the intercourse with Christian nations
with our nation has awakened the deepest as-
piration of her nature, political, intellectual and
social, and started our ancient spiritual life to
her very roots. Do you think so many Hindoos
and Buddhists and other religionists from India
would have traveled more than 13,000 miles to
your distant land for nothing if they had not felt
the profoundest sympathy with your Parliament
of Religions. [Applause.]
But I plead that no sect, no denomination will
have greater sympathy than the men of Brahma
and Shamita, whom I represent, whose only
creed is the harmony of religion and whose only
denomination is the harmony and unity of all
denominations. The past and the present form
to us one life. Our sainted forefathers form
only one nation and another name for your noble
universe. Let us lay our humble tribute of love
and honor before your august tribunal and pray
to God that he may bless your labors with pros-
perity and success, for in glorifying God you
magnify humanity, and may the blessings of
both rest with you forever. [Great applause.]
      REPRESENTATIVE FROM CHINA.
  Hon. Pung Kuang Yu Responds in Behalf
      of the Followers of Confucius.
Hon. Pung Kuang Yu, representative
from the emperor of China to the World's
Parliament of Religions, was introduced,
and through an interpreter spoke as fol-
lows:
"This is a great moment in the history of
nations and religions, as for the first time
men of various faiths meet in one great hall
to present their beliefs and the grounds
therefor. The great sage of China believes
that duty was summed in reciprocity, and
I believe the word 'reciprocity' finds a new
meaning and glory in the proceedings of
this historic parliament. I am glad that
the great empire of China accepted the in-
vitation by which she was called to be
present, and I am sure that the meeting
will be one of friendly lines, in which one
will learn from the other lessons of charity
and good will. In behalf of my govern- 
ment I extend to the representatives gath-
ered the friendliest salutation."
      PROFESSOR. G. BONET MAURY.
  Speaks of the Interest France Takes in the
      Parliament of Religions.
Professor G. Bonet Maury was intro-
duced and spoke as follows:
Ladies and Gentlemen: It is for me a great
honor to have to answer for France, my coun-
try, to the welcome greetings which have been
just now expressed by our president, Mr. Bon-
ney, and by the energetical chairman of the
organizing committee of the parliament
of religions, Rev. J. H. Barrows and
others. That honor fell due to more
prominent leaders of religious thought
in our country such as Albert Reville, the
learned professor of the the history of religions
at our College de France (Paris), or Baron de
Shickler, the generous president of our
"Societe d'Histoire du Protestantisme Fran-
cais." Unhappily they were prevented from
coming here, and therefore I ought to speak--
not as a delegate of the French government, or
of such a one or such another church— but as a
Christian Frenchman and a liberal Protestant.
I consider it as my first duty to this Columbus
hall to say to you American friends. Hail.
Columbia! Hail, the land of George Washing-