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58 HISTORY OF THE PARLIAMENT. program, in which the Committee was greatly assisted by Bishop Keane, of Washington, was sent out in the winter of 1892 to more than three hundred scholars for criticism and suggestion, and then the enormous labor of the final program of topics was entered upon and speakers invited. It was no easy task to select and secure the best men, representing ten differ- ent religions and a score of Christian churches, who should properly handle the most important of all themes. That the success which was finally the outcome was so large and com- manding is due, in great measure, to the spirit of enthusiasm, hopefulness and self-sacrifice with which the believers in the Parliament cooperated with the General Committee. On the first of March, 1893, the Committee's Second Report was published, containing the program for the seven- teen days of the Parliament, and indicating what immense progress had been made in securing the cooperation of religious men. The report made it plain that the intellectual and spiritual forces behind the Parliament were more various and powerful than had ever before been combined in one religious movement. Hon. Dadabhai Naoroji, M. P., of London, Jinanji Jamshedji Modi, Dastur Dr. Jamaspji Minocherji Jamasp Asa, M.A., Ph.D., and Ervad Sheriarji Dadabhai Bharucha took active interest in the Parliament and enlisted the cooperation of the Parsees of India. In the summer of 1893, in the early months of the Colum- bian Exposition, the prospects for the Parliament were clouded somewhat by the long continued agitation of the question whether the Fair should be open Sunday. When Sunday opening was achieved, the Baptists decided not to hold a denominational Congress in connection with the Parlia- ment, and the Christian Endeavor Society, through its trustees, reached a similar conclusion. For other reasons the Congress of the Anglican Churches, for which earnest toil had been put forth, was given up. The Columbian Exposition itself for a time did not give promise of the marvelous and unprecedented success which it finally achieved.