8. THE CONGRESS OF NATIONS.

No feature of the World's Columbian Exposition was more striking and representative of human necessities, aspirations, and possibilities than that one Congress, familarly styled "The Parliament of Religions." One orator, already cited, thus voiced its lesson, "Sublime the thought, to have the proclamation go out from the great Exposition that God reigns, and that man is his servant; that all progress begins and ends with Him who is the Alpha and Omega of all things." The following, from the Chicago "Inter-Ocean " was designed to develop the thought. The occasion was more conspicuously memorable for concerted prayer of the representatives of all religions, each striking the New Liberty Bell, as its prayer was uttered. The Old Liberty Bell, transported from Independence Hall, Philadelphia, added interest to the dedication of the new, by comparison of size and voice.

PROLOGUE.

"OF one blood," the Father "all nations, made,"
Whatever their race, their nation, or grade,
And breathed of Himself that spirit of life,

With warmth in its charge, with health ever rife,
Which bids its quick currents with infinite force
Flow back in its tide to the Heavenly source,
Whenever the soul, from its taints set free,
Asserts its proud right to full liberty.

The struggles of ages, their passions and hates;
The ruins of empires, of peoples and States;
The greed of the few enforced by the sword;
The sweep of the many, a desperate horde;
The battle for self; the license of lust

Which laid generations low in the dust,
Had mocked the swift ages with devilish glee
And robbed, in the name of fair liberty.

The essence divine, its fervor and glow,
Still pulsed in all hearts with feverish flow.
At altars and fanes and numberless shrines,
Regardless of sect, regardless of climes,

The soul sought relief from taintings within, Some cleansing of blood from inflowing sin, And ever aspired how best to be free

In the freedom of sinless liberty.

1. THE EXPOSITION OPEN.

COLUMBIA winged a welcome
For all the sons of earth,
To the abundant feast she spread,
From her abounding wealth;
Her mighty inland mart, the place,

By flowing inland sea,

Where marble mansions filled the

To every nation free.

space,

Art, Science, Industry, and Arms
Were called to there compete;
Beauty and grandeur lent their charms,

In concert chaste and meet;

That thus, from nations far and near,

Alike as guest and brother,

Whate'er their name, their race, or sphere,

Might fellowship together.

Each potent force in Nature's hold,
Released at bid of man,

Was marshalled by his courage bold

To dignify the plan.

Land, wave, and overhanging sky,

By keen electric skill,

Were made their subtle powers to ply,
The wondrous hest to fill.

Material schemes their part fulfilled,
And zeal had nought to crave;
Material wealth was freely spilled –
"No limit," but the grave.

While yet the assembled throngs

Held breath, in silence bound, Through concert as to one desire, For sights, this life beyond.

II. THE PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS.

Thus the mighty mart of the mighty West
Where Columbia's feast was spread,
Brought not alone material wealth, for test,
But treasures of the heart and head.
Religion's plea and deepest human need
Outbalanced all material good,

And from all climes and for each varied creed,
Some earnest waiting sponsor stood.

As when the earthquake rocks the solid earth
And finite skill proves faint and vain,
While anxious hearts, dispelling thirst for mirth,
Invoke the great Creator's name,

So doth the mighty concourse wait
As one by one in turn appears,

To cast his transit on that future state
That has no stint by counted years.

As rays from all encompassed bounds combine
Beneath the glist'ning convex lens;
As Magi once pursued the "Promised Star, "
And earnest hope with action blends,
So at this Parliament, devout, supreme,

Gathered with zeal from everywhere,

One voice, one cry ascends, and this the theme,

"To prayer!" for aid, "To prayer! To prayer!"

III. THE NEW LIBERTY BELL.

Those guests from many climes had often heard
How Liberty this land possessed,

And that the tongue of Independence Bell
Would never tire, could never rest;
Yet, lest its lesser size, these later years,
Should fail to reach all human kind,
A larger bell was cast, dispelling fear,-
The tale to ever keep in mind.

As stripes in "starry banner" count thirteen,
Those first-born States to honor well,

That many

"thousand weight" was fitly seen

To rightly gauge in size the bell;

And lest no bronze could fill the standard sought, All relics prized, of arms or art,

With eager zest and will were quickly brought, As tributes from the people's heart.

And now this sacred bell hath sounded clear,
"Strike, strike at will, ye people, all!"
And, "Winds, oh, quickly reach the Father's ear,
With humblest prayer and faintest call.
Sound deep within each anxious, waiting soul
That hence shall homeward quickly go,
And cheer its onward way to Freedom's goal,
Where streams of mercy ever flow."

Then let each soul, with faith, in earnest vow
For peace, fraternity, and right,

That all the earth, with joy, may humbly bow,
And pledge to Liberty their plight.

So shall each stroke on vocal, mellow bell

Give tone to life and strength to prayer; The accents reach the skies where angels dwell, And God, who dwelleth everywhere.

IV. THE ECHO.

As stricken wave, its motion, never lost,

Is felt on farthest shore;

As new-born star its light forever speeds,
Though Time shall be no more;

As thought, while body rests, out-reaches space,
To grasp its destiny;

So shall thy strokes, O bell, be carried on,
And ring eternally.

H. B. C.

9. OUR FUTURE.

FROM Address delivered at the opening of the World's Auxiliary Congress, at the Columbian Exposition, October 21, 1892, by Bishop Ireland. "This organization" is stated, as follows, "to embrace international conventions or Congresses of workers and scholars of the whole world, along all lines of human progress in the various departments of civilized life, crowning the work of all other departments with the fragrance of heaven, in the department of religion."

THE history of humanity is a history of progress. A narrow survey of the scene will not always bring out this important truth. There are, in the tide of progress, backward currents and tortuous windings. We must consider the general movement, of which the trend ceases not to be toward higher planes:

"Forward, then; but still remember how the course of time will swerve,

Crook, and turn upon itself in many a backward streaming curve."

Disguised in a rhythm of rise and decline, of ebb and flow, of growth and decay, the progress of humanity continues, and the hopes of the workers in the cause of humanity obtain their rewards: