Page:The World's Parliament of Religions Vol 1.djvu/154

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126 HISTORY OF THE PARLIAMENT. ing's proceedings was the conclusion of the paper on Buddhism by Mr. H. Dharmapala which had been begun the day before. The Relation of Natural and Other Sciences to Religion; by Dr. Paul Carus, of Chicago. The History and Prospects of Exploration in Bible Lands; by Dr. George E. Post, Beiriit, Syria. The Tenth Day. — Wednesday, September 20. After the Parliament had been called to order by Dr. Bar- rows and after silent devotion and the reciting of the Lord's Prayer by Rev. Dr. McGilvary, of the Laos, Siam, a brief address was made by the Rev. Henry M. Field, D.D., of New York, editor of The New York Evangelist, a representa- tive Presbyterian journal, who said : It has been my fortune to travel in many lands, and I have not been in any part of the world so dark but that I have found some rays of light, some proof that the God who is our God and Father has been there, and that the temples which are reared in many religions resound with sincere worship and praise to him. I am an American of the Americans, born in New Eng- land, brought up " in the strictest sect of the Pharisees," believing there was no good outside of our own little pale. I know when I was a child it was a serious — quite a serious — question with me v/hether Democrats could be saved. [Laughter.] I am happy to have arrived at a belief that they can be saved, "so as by fire." Well, then, when I went across the ocean I thought a Roman Catholic was a terrible person. When I came to know the Roman Catholics, however, I found I was a very poor specimen of Christianity besides the Sisters of Charity whom I saw, and the noble brothers, devoted to every good. Christian and benevolent office. Only a few weeks ago I was in Africa, and there made the acquaintance of some of the White Fathers, designated by Cardinal Lavigerie to carry the gospel into the center of Africa. What devotion is there we can hardly parallel. 1 knew some of them — the first that were sent out — had been killed on the desert ; and yet at Carthage I said to one of the White Fathers, " Are you willing to go into all these dangers ? " " Yes," said he, " When ? " " To- morrow," was his reply. Such a spirit is magnificent, and whenever we see it in any part of the world, in any church, we admire and honor it. Ah, but those followers of the False Prophet — they have no religion in them ! So I said until I had been in Constantinople and in other cities of the East, when I heard the call for prayers in the minarets, and when I saw the devo- tion of those men, fluttering their white turl)ans like so many doves, at sun- rise and sunset, going to the house of prayer. I was told by one of the White Fathers about the observances of the Mohammedans. He said to