Page:The World's Parliament of Religions Vol 1.djvu/160

132 HISTORY OF THE PARLIAMENT. Mr. Theodore F. Seward, representing The Brotherhood of Christian Unity, briefly stating the character and method of that fraternity, presented to the Parliament the following letter, already signed by many leading members, and invited the sig- natures of others : Chicago, September, 1893. We, the undersigned, feeling it desirable to crystallize, and as far as possible to perpetuate, the remarkable spirit of unity which has character- ized the World's Parliament of Religions, and being deterred by the widely varied beliefs therein represented from offering a formulated ex- pression of views, herewith give, as individuals, our approval of the formula of the Brotherhood of Christian Unity as a suitable bond with which to begin the federation of the world upon a Christian basis. The formula is as follows : For the purpose of uniting with all who desire to serve God and their fellow men under the inspiration of the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, I hereby enroll myself as a member of the Brotherhood of Christian Unity. A Turning-Point in the History of the Parliament, was announced in a speech by Col. T. W. Higginson, of Boston. Before the regular course of business was resumed, Col. Higginson was granted the freedom of the platform, and spoke as follows : I wish to call your attention to the fact that this is the turning point in the history of this Parliament of Religions. Up to this time we have devoted ourselves almost wholly to speculation and abstract ideas. To-day, as you see by your program, we turn to the actual facts of life and the social questions which press upon us so tremendously. Those of you who have gone up in the Ferris Wheel may remember very well that when you got about a hundred feet from the earth you began to have an uncomfortable sensation of having got higher than your natural position, and you almost wished for a moment that you had given your place to that other man who was so anxious to step in before you. But as you rose higher and higher this feeling passed away, and when you got to the very top there came a blissful moment when, though you were as high as you could get, you saw that you were not alone in the air. For the first time you saw that you had comrades, and the top of the next car on the right and the top of the next car on the left gave you a sense of safety almost as if you were back on mother earth. It is no matter who might be in those cars. There might be the Rev. Joseph Cook in the car on the right, and Mohammed and his seventeen wives in the car on the left. You cannot see any of them, so you did not suffer from their presence. At any rate you were as far as you could conveniently get. You had human beings on