Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1893-10-05

this difference, Christianity is essen
TALLY progressive. while Mohammed
aniSm is unprOgreSSive and stationary
V
After 10 days devoted to speculation
and abstract ideas the parliament OF
religions turned on Friday last TO the
actual facts of life>-to practical Chris
tianity. The sessions of that day will
be memorable ones in the history OF
the parliament The seed of thought
scattered by the practical Christian
workers who spoke will undoubtedly
in its season bear good fruit. One OF
the first practical subjects treated was
Religion and the Erring and Criminal
Classes by a talented woman. Rev.
Anna @. Spencer.
The contribution Of the Christian
religion to our civilization" said she.
has borne direct fruit in the great
change from tyranny and brutality to
justice and humanity in the administra-
ton of the accepted moral law The
new scientific element in religion has
given us social science of which en-
ightened penolOgy is part The rela-
ton of this new religion to the criminal
and eIring classes is not only the
tenderness of human sympathy. which
would not that any should perish; it is
the conservation of human wisdom to
social betterment, which shall yet for
bid that any shall perish
The deadly grade crossing was brand
ed as irreligiOuS and unchriStian by
Prof. Richard T. Ely, the we'll known
political economist, who, in closing a
fine address, declared:
Shall a land be called Christian
leSsly by the thousands rather than
introduce Improvements in railway
transportation simply because they
cost money. To make the claim for
our country that it is a Christian coun-
try is a cruel wrong to Christianity
If we were animated with the spirit Of
Christianity we would do away at the
earliest possible moment with such
abuses as these and others which daily
in factory and workshop MAIN and
mutilate men and women and child
rem
The Relations of the Roman Cath
Ole Church to the Poor and Destitute
was the subject of careful paper by
Charles L. DOnnelly. 1t stated that
in the United States there were over
N thn1i .hn, ,t,J hi
"Ohristianity and the Social Question"
was the subject of a helpful paper by
Prof. f. G. Peabody, of Harvard uni
versity, who with a wisdom and earn
estneSs that reminded one of Phillips
Brooks, discussed true charity, the duty
of wealth and Christianity in business
Two women contributed prominently
to this symposium of practical Chris
tianity. One was Rev. Olympia Brown
who. in an address on Crime and the
Remedy" declared that the hope of the
race is in motherhood. The other noble
was Mrs. Laura Ormiston Chant, the
popular English speaker, who drew "a
spiritual lesson from an inquiry into
the duty of God to man
Prof. A. w. Small, Phi D., of the
University of Chicago, told exhaustive
ly how to reach the city masses
Churches and City Problems was his
theme.
Religion and Wealth was the vital
subject treated by Rev Washington
GLADDEN.. d. D., the celebrated author
clergyman. Poverty and perfection be
declared to be incompatible, In the
production Of wealth, in the multiph-
cation Of eNchangeable utilities" he
said, man is a cO-wOrker with God
The religious man must seek to be 4
co-wOrker with God. not only in the
production but in the distribution Of
wealth."
That the aim of the parliament of
religions is to study all colors of the re-
ligOus spectrum was realized is evident
from bare review of the many forms
of faith therein represented. Orthodox
religions most typical champion, Rev.
Joseph Cook, occupied d generous share
VI liC pIoSl dlI, SpeethlnS vi w udl lue
Bible Has Wrought" The liberal
creeds also contributed their brightest
minds. Edward Everett Hale speak
ing on Spiritual Forces in Human
Progress" Thomas Wentworth Higgin-
son on ''Sympathy in Religion" Rev.
E. L. Rexford, the eminent Boston Uni
versalist, on the Religious Intent
and Rev. Lyman Abott, successor to
Henry Ward Beecher, on Religion,
Essentially Characteristic of HUI
mainly"
The lone hereto of the congress
was DIR. Charles A. Briggs, who de-
delivered a mastery address on THE
Truthfulness of Holy Scripture
The Roman Catholic church was
represented in the parliament by it's
master mind in America, Cardinal
Gibbons, whose paer, ''The Needs of
Humanity Supplied by the Catholic
Religion was read by Hishop Keane,
rector of the Catholic university at
Washington. Right Rev. Mgr Seton,
of Newark, n. J., read a paper on 1.-The
Catholic Church and the Bible" and
Bishop Keane spoke on ''The Incarna-
ton Idea in History and in Jesus
Christ" Other eminent Catholics par
ticipated, including Rev. James NJ.
Cleary, of Minneapolis, and Prof. Mar
tin J. Wade, of the University of Iowa.
Judaism was eloquently champiOned
by Rabbi Gottheil, of New York; Rabbi
Alexander Kohut, of New York; Miss
Josephine Lazarus, of New York; Miss
Henrietta Sold on what Judaism
HIS Done for Women" by Prof. D. G..
i IAn Of Aar1-a1:d 1111iuer.Situ. BOY II