Daily Kennebec journal., 1893-10-02
FAITHS OF MANKIND.
Echoes Of the Religious Par
Iiment at Worlds Fair.
Pointed D.scsurses Between Mission
aries and 0rientals.
pssrs o. aises fxistis1 - b H. aset q
The fsrilsmsat.

msin point to be neeed is that we are Eos
so unanimous rs we were. II IL a trifle odd
that the first harsh criticism should come
from '.liberals''-thas b to say. men Of no
religion whatever--becAuse they did not
yes hearing. They should have noticed
the language Of the call, which says that
the objee, Of the gathering Is to unite ali
religion against all irrelgion. to present to
the world the substantial unity OF many re-
Hgions In the good deesisof religious life." !"
etc. So il was prerequisite to admission
that one should have n religion. and that
such religion should claim to make men
better, and under thes, requirements no
hamned Russell Webb eot Ia with de-
fense Of polygnmy. though Bob Ingersoll
could not have got in with denunciatien
Of it. The Chicago pap.rs have not failed
To point out that this Mohammed came
originally from St. Louis.
Another prominent point to be noted is
TINT all the participants acquitted them
selves well. and the orientais have con-
sinced western people that their religions
are really worthy Of investigation. Never
theless the presentment Of Buddhism was
In the essentials great disappointment.
The western mind cannot conceive OF a re-
ligion which does not start with the recog-
milton Of Supreme Being. The first
Buddhist speakers ignored that point, but
when urged to a declaration distinctly de
c!ared: 'Buddha says there is no such be-
ing. Its teaching is universal sympathy
with all mankind and animal kind, prog
ress by successive reincarnations' and en-
joyment in each life of the good deeds of
previous life. even to the ultimate absorp-
ton in Nirvana." This is too cloudy for
the practical mind Of the west. All this
prolonged struggle only TO sink at last
soul Fighting thought-in the chilling
waves Of annihilation.
Are There No Poiytheists?
We were hardly prepared for the sweep
ing statement of the Hindoos that they are
really monotheists. There is one above
who has upheld the spheres" said their
chief speaker. quoting from the Veda,
''and purity is the condition of his mercy"
One may believe so much as he can or SO
little rs he pleases about silva and Cane
IA and Vishnu and all the rest. The Mo
hammedans and Parsees are monotheists,
of course, and possibly IL the fetichists
were advanced enough to tell what they
think they would show us that they con-
slider their snaky gods ard bits of bone,
etc, az only Intermediates. The net re-
suit would seem to be that there really are
no poIytbeists, and our belief on that mat
ter has only been misconeeption of terms.
One Parsee, by the way, showed to his owA
satisfaction that theirs Is the oldest reli-
gion in the world. The book of job is
claimed to be Parsee original.
Despite the mixed character Of the gath
ering, there has been wonderfully small
amount of irritation. The most, perhaps,
was on the day Christian missions were
discussed. Mr. Dharmapala Of Ceylon be
gan by denouncing the Chicago slaughter
houses as disgrace to civilization, and
added that the missionaries sent from such
cities will be n selfish and intolerant set,
and only the lowest class OF natives would
associate with him. This was the keynote
to an address which must have made some
distant ears burn, IL the old idea be correct.
Narisenla Cbaryar OF Madras said that
Christianity was looked upon there as the
superstition Of an arrogant nation Of CON
querors, and his missionaries could not
compete with I}uddhists till they went
among the people in the same poor garb
and humble way. Both these speakers
were educated at Christian colleges.
noiammed Webb Scared.
Rev. Il. Il. Hume Of India replied with
statistics, showing that while the popuIa-
ton increased per cent the number Of
Christians increased 33 Per cent, and from
1851 to 1891 the relative Increase was 10 per
cent and % per cent. Rev. B. Hawortt Of
Japan showed that there are 5000 Chris
tians Tiers in a population Of s0, ,00, GOO. and
that this minority is transforming the en-
tire spirit of the nation. DIR. George f. Post
of Beyroot, Syria, gave Mohammed Webb
a scoring by quoting from the Koran the
passages in regard TO women and polygamy.
All the missionaries agreed that the
churches should unite in the mission field.
and that missionaries should first Of all
study the native books and religions thor
oughly. r. &C. Mozoomdar thought the key
to the situation was found in the fact that
orientals are by nature intensely, ioyously,
enthusiastically religious-''they love to
worship ipGod"-whilet the western races only
serve God because they think they mustl
Criticism being in order, Mrs. Fanny q.
Williams, q colored woman OF Chicago.
followed on the next day with somewhat
severe arraignment Of the churches for
their attitude toward slavery and the ne
groes. Rabbi Silverman of New York
complained gently of the popular ignorance
about the Jews. Rev. Ohannes Chat
schumyan Of Armenia made q similar
statement about his people. traced the
origin of the Christian church there to the
Apostle Tbaddeus, who began his preach
ing there in 81 A. D., and Bartholomew,
who preached there in GO, and presented
bther proofs that 1t is the Oldest Christian
church in the world.
Important Addresses
1t must be borne In mind that In atldi-
ton to the general parliament meetings
were in progress in the smaller rooms of
the Art institute, at which views Of more
strictly denominational character were ut
tered, ard nearly all Christian churches
were represented by their best meH. In
truth, this wonderful parliament has
brought together more able and truly rep
resentative men OF more faiths than were
ever before assembled, so far as history re-
cords.
Among the papers to excite the greatest
interest were Father Thomas O'Gorman's
nn the Relation Of Christianity to Aneri-
ca" DIR. II. X. CarroIls on the schisms
among Christians, and Dr.. George +. Pen
tecost's rather severe attack on the religions
OF India. This was. in fact, fat contra
diction of all the delegates from India had
claimed about morality, and In eonclusipx
he said: There have been several psfle
Brahmanical bubbles floating arouyd CM
r. tus- - II -