Page:The World's Parliament of Religions Vol 1.djvu/56

28 common desires and needs, but also have perceived, more or less clearly, certain common truths. And as the Apostle Paul, with his unfailing tact and courtesy, was careful to find common ground for himself and his Greek auditors in Athens, before he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection, so the wise Christian missionary is discovering that he must not ignore any fragment of truth which the heathen mind cherishes, for, thus ignoring it, he makes an impassable barrier against conviction in the non-Christian mind. I believe that the Parliament will do much to promote the spirit of human brotherhood among those of diverse faiths, by diminishing ill-will, by softening rancor, and giving men the privilege of getting their impressions of others at first hand. We believe that Christianity is to supplant all other religions, because it contains all the truth there is in them and much besides, revealing a redeeming God. The object of the Parliament, it scarcely needs to be said, is not to foster any temper either of bigotry or of indifferentism. Each man is required to speak out with frankness his own convictions, and, without compromising individual faiths, all are to meet under a flag emblazoned with the words, " Truth, Love, Fellowship," rejoicing in a fraternity that involves no surrender of personal opinions, and no abatement of faith on the part of those who recognize how widely Christianity is differentiated from other systems. As any wise missionary in Bombay or Madras would be glad to gather beneath the shelter of his roof the scholarly and sincere representatives of the Hindu religions, so Christian America invites to the shelter of her hospitable roof, at her grand Festival of Peace, the spiritual leaders of mankind for friendly conference over the deepest problems of human existence. Though light has no fellowship with darkness, light does have fellowship with twilight. God has not left himself without witness, and those who have the full light of the Cross should bear brotherly hearts toward all who grope in a dimmer illumination. While the Apostle Paul denounced an idol-worship which was devil-worship, he fully recognized that not all heathen religion was of that malign quality. He instructed the Athenians that he and they adored the same God, of whom all were the offspring, they in ignorance of God's full nature, and he in the blessed knowledge which Christ had given him. Rev. Thomas L. Gulick, of the Sandwich Islands, expresses his faith that St. Paul, who quotes heathen writers in confirmation of his own theology, would not refuse to confer with those whom he approvingly quotes.

The character and convictions of the men most heartily cooperating with the General Committee doubtless mitigated the severity of the criticisms which their novel and daring undertaking would otherwise have brought down upon them. The Chairman of the Committee was greatly assisted in his correspondence by the Rev. Dr. A. P. Happer, for forty years a missionary of the Presbyterian Board in China. He was