Page:The World's Parliament of Religions Vol 1.djvu/163

THE CHRONICLE OF THE PARLIAMENT. I 3 5 competition under which we live may not be swept away as absolutely as the feudal system disappeared before it ; with the questions of drunkenness and prostitution in our cities ; with the mortgaged farms in our country towns — with all these things pressing upon us, is it quite time for us to assume the attitude of infallibility before the descendants of Plato, and the disciples of Gautama Buddha ? [Applause.] The test of works is the one that must come before us. Every Oriental that comes to us — and curiously enough I have heard half a dozen say the same thing in different places — concedes to us the power of organization, the power of labor, the method in actual life which they lack. I do not say that they deny us any virtue, except the knowledge of the true God. They don't seem to think we have very much of that, and that knowledge, as they claim, is brought to bear in virtue of heart as well as the virtues of thrift, of industry, of organization and the virtue of prayer, in the virtue of trust, in the virtue of absolute con- fidence in God. A friend of mine in Chicago told me the other day that when he was talking with one of our Oriental visitors about some other place he was going to, the question arose as to whether he could afford to go. The calm face of the Oriental was utterly undisturbed during the discussion. " O," he said, "I think I can go; I think there will be no trouble; I have ^15 in my pocket." Put any of us, put the greatest Christian saint among us, 13,000 miles away from home with only ^15 in his pocket, and do you think that he would be absolutely sure that unassisted divine providence would bring him back without a call at his banker's ? [Laughter.] You find this curious combi- nation of traits running through the actual life and running through the spiritual life, or what passes for such. We have come here to teach and to learn. The learning is not so familiar to most of us perhaps as the teaching, but when it comes to actual life we might try a little of both. And in thanking once more our Chairman, as we ought to thank him every moment of every day, not alone for the way he has organized this great Parliament, but for the sonorous decision with which he even shuts the door in our faces when we particularly want to get in ; thanking him for everything, I can only give him this parting wish — that he may not be like that once famous sportsman, who prided himself on his good shooting, and boasted that in one instant the deer which he brought in had been shot by himself with a single bullet through the ear and through the hind off foot. His friend became a little solicitous about the statement, and he turned to his black servant and said: " Sambo, isn't it so ? " "Yes, massa," said Sambo. " But how did you do it ?" asked the incredulous. " Why," said Sambo, "it was simple enough. De deer he just scratched his ear wiv his off hoof and massa shot him. There was complete triumph on the huntsman's part, and when his friends had gone he said : "Sambo, you did that handsomely; thank you for getting me out of that." " Yes, massa," said Sambo, " I did