The record-union., 1893-10-03
An Important Event in the Worlds
Religious History.
Abstract of a Sermon Thereon Deliv-
cred by the Unitarian Pastor.
Rev. Z. J. Horner.

w hen the war uTulIl Bedbs 1O 4OL6OA1
And the battle flag is furled
In the parliament of men
The federation OF the world.
And at last the dream has been realized
among men whom Colonel Ingersoli
lately said were capable of being ami
mated by the ''keenest hatred''-that is,
religious hatred. 1.-The most malicious
malice" said he, SIS found in the hearts
Of those who love their enemies"
Whether true or false, certain it was
that on the 1lth of September there as
sembled in Chicago the most remarkable
gathering of men and women ever seen
upon the face Of the earth; all animated
with the common feeling OF love.
Almost every existing religion was
represented and many of the different
sects of each religion. There upon the
same platform from day to day sat side
by side Christian and Jew, Buddhist and
Mohammedan, Brahmins from Hindo-
stan and Taoists from China, Unitarians
from Boston and London and Paris, and
members of Brahmo-Somaj from Cal
cutta and Bombay; Roman Catholic and
Greek Bishops. with almost every sect
that lies between the Christianity Of the
West and of the East.
Among the Christian sects there were
three notable exceptions, viz: the Epis-
represented because such representa-
tion would be an acknowledgment OF
virtue in other religions beside Christian
ity; the Jesuits, among the Catholics (ac-
cused by some of the critics of the con-
gress of being back of the whole move
ment, and the Baptists, who withdrew
from any part IN the congress because tne
gates OF the fair were opened on Sunday.
These three exceptions might be called
exceptions to the spirit of toleration
which has been the animating spirit OF all
the meetings Of all the representatives
gathered there.
II. as Mr. Ingersoll thinks, religious
hatred is the worst of all hatred, and
history seems to bear him out, the world
must be congratulated on having reached
a period in its history when such hatred
can be looked upon as the masquerade OF
religion and not religion itself, Tor re-
ligion at heart is love wherever found,
whether under the fez of MOslem, the
turban Of the Hindoo or the shaved head
OF Christian monk.
This lesson was perhaps the most i'm
pressive lesson taught by the Worlds s
Congress, and no religion needed the les
son more than Christianity itself, whose
works from the first have been claimed TO
be works of love, yet whose intolerance
has been the course of its European
history.
l would venture to say that never since
the human heart began to reach out Cod
ward has an event Of greater significance
taken place than this Congress of Re-
ligionS, because 1t marks the beginning
OF the fultllment of all the prophesles OF
all the religious leaders of the world.
Not that the feeling Of brotherhood has
actually come, but the feeling that it
ought 10 come, and must come, has GER
tainIy come.
The birth Of a great religious leader is a
great event; but no religious leader has
ever been able to lit himself above his
nationality. Jesus remained a Jew,
though His thought was made universal;
Zoroaster remained Persian; Moham-
med an Arab; but the event which marks
the beginning Of an epoch In which the
following of a person is put aside for the
principles he taught, period IN which
nationality gives way before universal
sentiment, is certainly greater than the
birth Of any single leader who has never
been able to abstract his religion from his
race. No one will deny that to become
Christian in any past time meant the ac-
ceptance OF the theology of the Old Testa-
ment, i. e.. the fall, ETC.
Now if there was one feature which
was significant because of absence at the
Congress of Religions, it was the old
doctrine of mans natural and total de-
pravity. And if one thing was more
marked than another, it was the saintli-
ness of the men who came to represent
the religions that Christians have always
called pagan.
About the only note of discord in the
whole period of the meetings was
sounded by Joseph Cook, whose lack Of
charity was a disgrace to christianity.
But the Chicago papers apoIoglZed for
him, saying that "he was wrong as
usual" and Robert Colyer said 'One
Cook could not spoil the - well no
matter"
The sentiments dwelt upon were of a
universal character. God, His father
hood and mans brotherhood seemed to
be central in every faith.
The devil, save the devil of human
avarice and hate, had little place, and |
never heard hell-fire mentioned at any of
the meetings l personally attended.
The Dignity OF man as a child of God
was echoed by every faith, thus showing
the essential unity of all religious science.
Theosophy and spiritism each in turn
had its innings, but nothing miraculous
was brought in as evidence Of truth. The
appeal was always to mans rational
nature.
The personality of the foreigners, es-
pecially the Hindoos, was noteworthy.
Everyone commented upon their fine,
manly appearance and scholarly attain
ments.
The English language was spoken with
huency by almost all. MoZoomdar Dhar-
mopala and Nagarkar, the repre- .entatives
OF the Brahmo-Somaj movement in India,
seemed to command the greatest interest
and attention. l heard Mozoomdar preach
in the Church of the Unity (Unitarian)
and can truly say have heard few more
eloquent sermons in my life.
OF course such a congress could not
proceed without critics. The narrow
minded ministers of Chicago took occa-
in Snn6ax- 10 l,O.
their own narrowness as a matter of
course.
One said that only an Sgnostic purpose
could be served by bringing together
both anti and ante Christians. DR.. Han
son, piqued at its success after the with
drawal of the Baptists, characterized it as
like the coming together of the witches
in Macbeth"
On the other hand Bishop Dudley of
Kentucky severely censured his own
church for not taking part.
The speaker then dwelt upon the part
taken by the Unitarians. saying that
fourteen OF the catalogued speakers were
avowed Unitarians, and counting for
eigners who in this country would be /
classed as nitarians, the number would /
reach In the tWentleS. Twentv-four out +
of the sixty-siX hymns used were by /
Unitarian authors, selected because of /
their application TO universal sentiment /
Aside from the tact that thes nitarians
held q great convention of their own
during the congress. the congress itself
was one grand confirmation of the great
doctrines of unity and fraternity taught
by Unitarians since Claiming first raised
his voice against the narrowness and big
otry of the religion of his day.
AS DIR. Edward Z. Hale truly said. the
congress represented the 'plunder of
the worlds best religious thought"