nt or fetter of bigotry.[5]

It was Christianity that, in a country where the religion of Jesus has
fullest liberty, called the Parliament of Religions, and this for
reasons clearly manifest. Only Christians had and have the requisites of
success, viz.: sufficient interest in other men and religions; the
necessary unity of faith and purpose; and above all, the brave and bold
disregard of the consequences. Christianity calls the Parliament of
Religions, following out the Divine audacity of Him who, so often,
confronting worldly wisdom and priestly cunning, said to his disciples,
"Think not, be not anxious, take no heed, be careful for nothing--only
for love and truth. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil."

Of all places therefore, the study of comparative religion is most
appropriate in a Christian theological seminary. We must know how our
fellow-men think and believe, in order to help them. It is our duty to
discover the pathways of approach to their minds and hearts. We must
show them, as our brethren and children of the same Heavenly Father, the
common ground on which we all stand. We must point them to the greater
truth in the Bible and in Christ Jesus, and demonstrate wherein both the
divinely inspired library and the truth written in a divine-human life
fulfil that which is lacking in their books and masters.

To know just how to do this is knowledge to be coveted as a most
excellent gift. An understanding of the religion of our fellow-men is
good, both for him who goes as a missionary and for him who at home
prays, "Thy kingdom come."

The theological seminary, which begins the systematic and sympathetic
study of Comparative Religion and fills the chair with a professor who
has a vital as well as academic interest in the welfare of his
fellow-men who as yet know not Jesus as Christ and Lord, is sure to lead
in effective missionary work. The students thus equipped will be
furnished as none others are, to begin at once the campaign of help and
warfare of love.

It may be that insight into and sympathy with the struggles of men who
are groping after God, if haply they may find him, will shorten the
polemic sword of the professional converter whose only purpose is
destructive hostility without tactics or strategy, or whose chief idea
of missionary success is in statistics, in blackening the character of
"the heathen," in sensational letters for home consumption and reports
properly cooked and served for the