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72 HISTORY OF THE PARLIAMENT. such idea is expressly disclaimed. In this Congress each system of Religion stands by itself in its own perfect integrity, uncompromised, in any degree, by its relation to any other. In the language of the i)reliniinary publication in the Department of Religion,ve seek in this Congress " to unite all Religion against all irreligion ; to make the golden rule the basis of this union ; and to present to the world the substantial unity of many religions in the good deeds of the religious life." Without controversy, or any attempt to pro- nounce judgment upon any matter of faith or worship or religious opinion, we seek a better knowledge of the religious condition of all mankind, with an earnest desire to be useful to each other and to all others who love truth and righteousness. This day the sun of a new era of religious peace and progress rises over the world, dispelling the dark clouds of sectarian strife. This day a new flower blooms in the gardens of religious thought, fill- ing the air with its exquisite perfume. This day a new fraternity is born into the world of human progress, to aid in the upbuilding of the kingdom of God in the hearts of men. Era and flower and fraternity bear one name. It is a name which will gladden the hearts of those who worship God and love man in every clime. Those who hear its music joyfully echo it back to sun and flower. It is the Brotherhood of Religions. In this name I welcome the first Parliament of the Religions of the World. At the conclusion of President Bonney's address, the Chairman of the General Committee which had been charged with the labor and responsibility of the arrangements prepara- tory to the Parliament, spoke in the name of the Committee. ADDRESS OF CHAIRMAN JOHN HENRY BARROWS OF THE GENERAL COMMITTEE. Mr. President and Friends, — If my heart did not overflow wnth cordial welcome at this hour, which promises to be a great moment in his- tory, it would be because I had lost the spirit of manhood and had been for- saken by the Spirit of God. The whitest snow on tlie sacred mount of Japan, the clearest water springing from the sacred fountains of India are not more pure and bright than the joy of my heart and of many hearts here that this day has dawned in the annals of time, and that, from the farthest isles of Asia; from India, mother of religions; from Europe, the great teacher of civilization; from the shores on which breaks the "long wash of Australasian seas ;" that from neighboring lands and from all parts of this republic, which we love to contemplate as the land of earth's brightest future, you have come here at our invitation in the expectation that the world's first Parliament of Religions must prove an event of race-wide and perpetual significance.