Page:The World's Parliament of Religions Vol 1.djvu/230

 202 INTRODUCTION TO PARLIAMENT PAPERS. by abiding in virtue, by following the dictates of humanity, by subduing anger, and by restraining the appetites. The prize essay on Confucianism, by Kung Hsien Ho, of Shanghai, presented on the ftfth day, pointed out as the foun- dation the principle of respect for the will of heaven, fear of disobeying heaven's will, and the universal practice of wisdom, with regard for all people under heaven as members of one family. The Mohammedan conception of religion, with its root in confession of one God and loyalty to Mohammed as the prophet of God and author of a divine revelation, was brought out on the fifth day of the Parliament in a paper by Dr. George Washburn. In a tenth-day paper Mohammed Webb explained the special character of Islam, the sum and substance of Mo- hammedan religion towards God, as signifying resignation, submission, aspiration to God, with deep faith in his mercy and compassion, and with the broad application of the conscious- ness of God, not only in frequent stated prayer, but in conduct and discipline of the most exemplary character. The Christian view of religion as a necessity of human nature was urged in a third-day paper by Dr. Wm. Byrne. In another third-day paper. Father Walter Elliott found the end and office of religion to consist in directing the aspirations of the soul toward an infinite good and securing for it a perfect fruition. Dr. Lyman Abbott, in a fourth-day paper, expounded religion as a development out of the nature of man, rooted in such a perception of the infinite as tends to elevation of char- acter and direction in right ways of conduct and life. In a sixth-day paper, Rev. T. T. Munger urged religion as a broad revelation in literature, tending to modify our Christianity by correction of its mistakes and perversions, and development in the direction of its universality. The theory of the Christian religion as finding its starting point in certain historical events, was presented in an eighth-day paper by Dr. George P. Fisher, and that which identifies Christianity with Christ himself was set forth on the same day by Rev. Julian K. Smyth.