Show THE RELIGIOUS CONGRESS As aa the object of the religious con goreee 9 ress to be held bold in chicago next mouth month becomes better understood the interest in it deepens and it is ia looked looked forward to as aa the most remarkable movement of the age no better evidence ot of the progress of humanity in ia me he di action of tolerance and universal brotherhood can be furnished than the fact that it nas nag been possible poss iole to bring together christians jews edans and pagans to discuss in a friendly manner the various principles on which their religious systems are built it may well be holad that the good seeds sown gown during the meetings will be becar car ried by the delegates to all ail parts of the globe aud bear fruit for all ages to come the plans for the gatherings are jim in the bands of a general committee of which john henry barrows D D is ie the chairman A general council of two thousand members has baa been appointed for the purpose of didiog the chal in formulating the program in this thin council the leading christian taiyba of the world are represented including the greek armenian nestorian and bulgarian creeds and also juda ism shintoism Shinto lem taoism mohammed Mo Mob hamme amine damiam and others the rhe themes to be discussed have special reference to mans requirements on earth and uia nis salvation in the life after this thin alae program as published by a chicago paper is in as follows the first day of the parliament monday september 11 will be devoted to addresses of welcome by the various constituted authorities of the united states government the worlds fairand the congress auxiliary with responses by representatives from the worlds four quarters september 12 god september 18 man september 14 religion essentially characteristic act eristio of humanity september 15 systems of religion september 16 sacred books of the world september 17 religion and the family be september unkind 18 the religious leaders of mankind september 19 religion dinits in its relation to the natural sciences and to arts and to letters september 20 religion in its relation to morals september 21 religion and social problems september 22 religion and civil society september 28 il religion and the love of mankind september 24 the present religious condition of christendom september 26 25 religious reunion of christendom september 26 the religious union of the whole human family september 27 elements ol of perfect religion as recognized and set forth in the different historic faiths in the advisory v council are many men famous throughout the worlds world j as prof max muller sir edwin arnold hon W E gladstone Glau NEOne rabbi auler aul ea 1 general william booth W T stead count bernt Bernit prof luthardt Luth arut and many others the oriental nations are well represented justice ameer all of the supreme court in calcutta a mohammedan Zit suzen a Boud hist of japan nilkanth Nilba nth vithal Sham shastri tri a hindmo high priest are a ai few of the more prominent names on the list papers will be read by numerous delegates the following american dignitaries have auve already promised promie ea their valuable contributions prof philip prof charles A briggs rev bev H K carroll col thomas W higginson insun rev bev ceorge dana boardman Board mao prof george P fisher rabbi babal berkowitz Ber bowitz bishop john H vincent rev bev edward everett hale haie bishops thompson Thomp Thom pison non and dudley rev bev theodore li cuyler Rev BevI Lyman jyman Abbot tAren bishop ireland and bishop keane to give a correct estimate of the numerical strength of the various historical religions of the world is not P possible poa oad sible ble but the buddhists are supposed p to 0 be foremost representing represent irig a membership of souls soule next I 1 come the christians christiana with the Mohammed edans aDs are not far behind ti in the united states or about two thirds of the whole biot are non christians recent ath ot of the churches chu robeo give the following figures for this country roman boman catholics methodists baptists baptiste presbyterians rians Luth lutherans erans reformed baptists baptiste cormons mormons Mer Mor mons mends friends adventists german evangelists christian union Moravia ns lans ians one great lesson ought to be drawn from the deliberations of the coming congress of religions reli gione it will prove to many that the difference of creeds and rites ries to is not so radical so as some have supposed it is a difference of species rather than of genus the unity ot of origin is ie a feature as remarkable as the diversity of details de talle indeed some who have studied the oriental creeds have been when discovering liow now striking are the points of resemblance between them and christianity a fact impossible to account for except on the theory that they are all branches of one common religious system originally revealed to the first man but this supposition la is satisfactory if god in the beginning taught our first parents the true way of salvation explaining the principles of the gospel goepel if these teachings then were handed banded down by tradition to succeeding generations erat ions most of whom lost th the 0 light of direct revelation the apparent mystery is solved the points point of resemblance and of difference are accounted for and still more a final unification such as to is predicted by some of the most clear seeing men the world ever had will when these facts are properly understood be seen to be the range ot of possibilities and something tor for which it is well worth living and working |