Page:The World's Parliament of Religions Vol 1.djvu/221

THE STUDY OF THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 1 93 God had taught him not to call any man common or unclean; and declared that God was no respecter of persons, but that in every nation he that feared him and zvorked righteousness was accepted by him. It is becoming more and more a duty for all the nations of the world to study each other ; to inquire into and compare each other's systems of belief ; to avoid expres- sions of contempt in speaking of the sincere and earnest adherents of any creed ; and to search diligently whether the principles and doctrines which guide their own faith and conduct rest on truth or not." There are many Christian minds who will find their faith in these preeminently New Testament principles much rein- forced by the fact strikingly brought out by Prof. Estlin Car- penter, in his paper on the sixth day of the Parliament, that the earliest of the Christian Fathers, in the days of heathen domination and cruel persecution, held the same views toward which, after these many ages, the church is now begin- ning to return. The name of Justin Martyr will be an en- couragement to some to adhere to the teaching of Paul and of Peter. If there are timid souls who dread the re-statement af the apostolic teaching as a dangerous novelty, they may find themselves re-assured by referring (in its proper place among the sixth day's papers) to Prof. Carpenter's citation of the teaching of the earliest ages of the church. 13