St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-11-26
ONLY A CLOUD.


liberation of which the Occident is only |
now getting the dawn. ne told US how. |
in His OWL time and way. by means |
adapted to each time and place, God has |
sent His message to all peoples, and that |
was always the same, His father
hood. mans brotherhood. He rebuked
the narrowneSS which arrogated to any
people to whom this message came that
they were the chosen people of God, or
that the message one had received was
the only trre message. In them all,
when the dry husks of dogma and cere-
monial were stripped off, was to be
found the same vital. single truth of the
fatherhood and the brotherhood.
Three months ago there met in Chi
cago as unique and unprecedented an
assemblage as this world ever saw. 1t
was one which no century of the world
could have seen but this one. 1t was one
that the first half of this century prob
ably could not have gathered, even had
the opportunity presented. At the
opening OF the congress OF religions
there were gathered on the stage men
who were the leaders of every religious
movement of the world. Je N and Gen
tile, Pagan and Christian, met and
fraterniZed on a common platform.
Sectarians among the Christians of all
shades of belief sat together. Roman
Catholic divines sat beside representa-
tives of all the Protestant sects, forget
ting in the new light of today the bitter
strife, the cruel prosecutions each had
in the dark past inflicted on the other.
And then for weeks to crowded seats
each told the story of his faith and the
reasons for its being. Buddhists and
Brahmins, Catholic and Protestant, men
of the Greek church and one Of the
faith OF Moslem, explained and defend
ed their beliefs.
He who saw only the curious in this
spectacle, the bringing from the corners
the earth men to tell US of religious
beliefs as strange as the products of
their soils, an application to religions
of the ordinary purposes of the exposl-
ton, saw nothing of the real signifi-
canoe of it all. The higher meaning.
the vastly more important meaning.
was the convincing demonstration thus
made of the spread of tolerance of the
faiths of others, liberation which can
only exist when the vital truth is ad :
mitted that, however diverse may be the
paths trodden, they all run on cOnverg-
ing lines to one common end, the wOr-
ship of one God who is the com mon
Father of all. 1t meant a brighter light,
in which this oneness of purpose was
clearly seen, and before which the fear,
the hatred, the distrust of sectarians,
br eeding ENVY, malice and all unchar-
itableness," creations of darkness, faded
away. 1t meant a recognition of the
brotherhood of man, and it was the best
promise the nineteenth century gives
the future. 1t furnished for the
Thanksgiving Of this year deeper
| gratitude, a larger sense of greater OBJ
| legation.
But bigotry is strongly intrenched in
| the prejudices of the human mind
Like the mists thatrise from the marshes
and resist the warmth and light of the
new sun, the bigotry which has made
men hate and perSecute their broth er:
| rises to obscure this new light which
| God has sent to make brighter and bet
| ll6 lisOS VI LIS III bHS
presence of this era of determination
there comes black specter of maleyo-
lent hate. Side by side with the con-
gress of religions, the best product Of
centuries of upward effort, comes {
secret. oath-bound association of men
borrowing the best and humanest words
of our language to badge their purpose
and making oaths in the name OF tha
common Father of all men that they will
ostracise in all the relations of life other
children of that common Father, theil
brethren.
Could the contrast be greater? CoulC
any age present it? The congress o
religions. with Protestant and Catholic
meeting and fraterniZing in one brother
hood, and the American Protective as
ISOLATION, banding Protestants togethe
to prosecute those Of the Catholic faith
But it is only a cloud which has com
between the eternal sun and earth t.
darken the latter for little, but behin
which the sun shines as brightly a
ever. 1t will pass away, dissolved b.
the warmth of the rays OF the ascendin
sun Of the brotherhood of man whlc
springs from the fatherhood of God.