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viii. PREFACE. fore-front of this gathering of the Nations, has said that, as Columbus discovered America, the Columbian Exposition discovered woman. These volumes will show many of the jewels of thought and self- sacrifice which she has contributed to the golden treasury of history.

It IS my inspiring duty to bring before my readers a rhost varied and stately procession of living scholars, reformers, missionaries, moral heroes, delvers in the mines of the soul, seekers after Truth, toilers for humanity.

In this book will be found Theology, Science, Philosophy, Biography, History, Poetry, Experience, Political and Social Wisdom, Eloquence, Music, the rich lore of the head, the richer literature of the heart. Revelations from God, the story of Man's outreachings toward the Infinite, his triumphs and partial failures, his hopes and despairs, the bewildered efforts of noble souls

"Who, groping in the darks of Thought, Touched the Great Hand and knew it not,"

and the sublime joy of those to whom Religion was a daily walk in the light of the Eternal.

This Book will show Man seeking after God, and it will also tell the diviner story of God seeking after Man.

Striking the noble chord of universal human brotherhood, the promoters of the World's First Parliament of Religions have evoked a starry music which will yet drown the miserable discords of earth.

This Book is the record of Man's best thinking to-day on the greatest of themes. For the first time in all the centuries, the wonders of Art and Science and the wonders of Faith and Thought have been exhibited side by side.

The faces of living men of all Faiths, the Temples wherein they worship, the record of their highest achievements, the reasons for their deepest convictions, and the story of their earliest meeting together in loving conference, are for the first time presented in one comprehensive work.

The Western City which was deemed the home of the