Page:The World's Parliament of Religions Vol 1.djvu/42

14 His Eminence, Cardinal Gibbons, of Baltimore, sent the following cordial letter:

Judged by the tenor of the Preliminary Address of the General Committee on Religious Congresses in connection with the Exposition of 1893, I deem the movement you are engaged in promoting worthy of all encouragement and praise. Assuredly a Congress of eminent men gathered together to declare, as your address sets forth, "what they have to offer or suggest for the world's betterment, what light Religion has to throw on the labor problems, the educational questions, and the perplexing social conditions of our times," cannot but result in good to our common country. I rejoice, accordingly, to learn that the project for a Religious Congress in Chicago, in 1893, has already won the sympathies and enlisted the active cooperation of those in the front rank of human thought and progress, even in other lands than ours. If conducted with moderation and good will, such a Congress may result, by the blessing of Divine Providence, in benefits more far-reaching than the most sanguine could dare hope for.

Responses began to pour in, largely favorable, from the representatives of Christian missions in other lands. President George Washburn, D.D., of Robert College, Constantinople, wrote:

I sympathize with the spirit of your circular, and I have no doubt that such a Congress, meeting in the right spirit, would impress the world with the fact that there is unity in religion, broader and deeper than has ever been generally recognized. I am more and more impressed with the thought every year, as I am brought into close contact with so many different faiths, that there is a God to whom we are responsible for our actions, that to do justly, love mercy and walk humbly with God is essentially the foundation of all Religion. The Holy Spirit leads men of the most diverse faiths to the knowledge of our common Father.

The Rev. J. C. R. Ewing, D.D., a missionary of the Presbyterian Board in India, Professor of Theology in one of its seminaries, the President of the Lahore Christian College, a Fellow of the University of the Punjab and Moderator of the Synod of India for 1891, wrote:

When news of the proposal to have such a Congress of Religions first reached us on this side of the earth, I experienced some misgivings through fear lest the faith we loved and the Saviour we preached might seem to us to be dishonored. Further acquaintance with your plans and with the central object of all that is being done has largely, if not entirely, removed such misgivings, and I am glad to be able to heartily approve the plan, and shall cheerfully do all in my power in this corner of the earth to aid you.