The New York herald., 1868-03-15
RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE.
CHRISTIANS AND PAGANs.
EprroR OF TEE HERALp:-

To THE EDITOR OF THE HERALD:-
The Christians are said to bear to the total
population of the earth the proportion of twenty
seven per cent. The accuracy Of the summation
giving that result may, however, be held open to
question. The ratio Of Christianity to Paganism
is not what mathematicans term constant; it is,
on the contrary, variable. 1t is for example, to
some extent question Of health.
When the devil was sick, the devil saint would be-;
When the devil was well, the devil saint was he
The yellow fever is q great evangelizer Let
the cholera come across the sea, and, behold you,
1t comes reeking with the odor of sanctity which
picked up from the ragged pilgrims of Mecca.
The fold Of the faithful such they are, presents
then remarkable increase of animals of one de-
scrption or another dressed in the clothing OF
sheep.
The oscillations in the per centage of Christians
are subject to considerations other than general.
Mohammed, for instance, gives up to its embrace
for at all events, cruise two, of his most
radiant votares at the bidding of Yankee shippers,
who, doing business in the waters of the Euxine,
stand of and on near the shore of Circassa. Even
Abraham's bosom contributes to the number OF
Christians when, for instance, American COnsuls
play knight errant in the Holy Land by giving
"protection' to maids of Judah, with eyes melting
Esther's, would have set kings, as they appear to
have set consuls, mad.
The Western Governor who offered rewards for
the scalps of Indians did something for the in
crease of the per centage of the faithful. The
colonel who massacred squaws and papooses "out
West" has he not done good service to the cause
"whose lamp is lighted with wisdom from on
high," by having, in that practical way, reduced
the dimensions of the darkness to be lit!
But who are the Christians? The difficulty of
solving this question makes the figures of reli-
gious arithmetic almost worthless. writer of the
first century says" Behold these Christians how
they love one another" That description leads
TO the conclusion that no two of them have been
left to our day. Behold how they love one
another's wife would-when the lady is good
looking-be a more successful ground of search
now, only that in that case it would
be impossible to guard against questions of mis-
taken identity which would give offence to the
better class Of heathens.
Let us glance at subjects of religious arithmetic
with the view Of showing its worthlessness by
special cases. How do the statistics of belief
class John A. Hoffman! Is he jew because of
his broad phylactories? Is he a heather because
he dances dances and counts time by moons
as a Tammany Indian? And Judge Hilton-can he
be supposed Christian in his ministerngs to the
committee OF the counter at the altar of Mammon?
What OF his committeeman who look for the
Grant Of millennium of brown wigans and ten
forties. Those trading politicians will no donbt
comply with the conditions OF Christianity to
the extent Of selling all their goods but how
say the religious takers will they give the
proceeds to the poor? What of the politicians of
Tammany generally? Can they be said to believe
in anything whatever save in a devil provided
specially for the benefit of excsemen? Turk,
jew or heathen; what says the authentic of the
worlds creeds as to John Morrissey the Hit-ite
How do they classify Fernando Wood? Is he
Turk because of his sublime port a Catholic
because he blows the bellows Of the Mozart |
masses? OF Edwin NJ. Stanton how say the GEN.
sus takers? Is he not worshipper Of Janus |
with family likeness to that god in the matter of |
q double face-who, having kept that deity's tenn |
pie open during war, shows a piety worthy of
Eneas in his determination, now in these piping |
times OF peace, to hold it against all corners, shut
What say the statistics touching Charles Sumner? |
Whether does he speak with the mystery of an
oracle as priest of Delphos to votary or in the
sinister explictness Of the Old Man of the Noun
tain, speaking to a follower when, with his eyes
fixed upon the President, he tells Stanton to
Z" stickg'
What say the religious statistics Of the saint
whose liturgy for appointing missionaries to the |
pretty ones of the gentiles contains the injunction,
: BE sure to Bring 'um-Y oung?" His canonization,
precedent tells US, does not make him Christian,
and who, in view of the army of sweet Amazons |
that have been disciplined in his household to |
deeds of arms, would dare to set him down a |
Turk? |