Morning journal and courier., 1883-11-21
Wednesday. November 21, 1883,
CHRIsTTANITY's PROGRESS.

It is frequently asserted and quite general
 ly believed that the power of Christianity as
 living system of faith is visibly declining
 among the mass of civilized mankind. This
 assertion is taken up by Professor A. A. Hodge in an article in the current number of the North American Review, and he gives some facts which will astonish many of his readers and cheer those who believe in the truths of Christianity
 Never before, says Professor Hodge, has Christianity, nominal &Ad real, advanced as proximate estimates give ss the whole num- Der of Christians on earth at the end of the first century, 500, ,O00; at the end of the seventh century, 25.OOO, GOO; at the end of the fourteenth century, 8O,OOO, ,O0O; at the end of the seventeenth century. 155, ,O00, GOO; at the end of the eighteenth century, 20O,- GOO, 900; and in 1880. 40, 1000, ,ooO. Asto the relative political influence of these Chris tiens, we have 100. .ooO, ,0Oo of population sub ject to Christian government in the year 1900 as compared with 6s5, 459, ,oOO in 1876.
 Concerning the religious tendencies pre- vailing at present in the population of this country Professor Hodge says: In the year 1900 there were in the evangelical churches in the United States 3,03O congregations 2,651 ordained ministers, and 364, ,s72 com municants. In the year 1850 there were 43,- 072 churches, 25 555 ministers, and 3, ,529, ,9S8 communicants. In the year 1870. JAS churches, 47,609 ministers, and 6,673 1896 communicents. In 1880, 97,090 churches, ,s7O ministers, and 1O,065, ,963 communi- cants. The ratio of the communicants of our evangelical churches to the entire popu- Iation of the United States at these different dates was, in 1900, one to evsry 14. 50 inhab- itants; in 1850, one to every 6. 57 inhabitants; in 1870, one to every 5.7s and in 1880, one 70 every inhabitants. This last, of coHrse, is one communicant to every or non. Roman Catholic adult men and women. From 1900 to 1880 the population of the na- tion increased 9.46-fold; while, in the same time, the evangelical communicsnts in- creased 27 52-fold. From 1850 to 1880 the evangelical communicaats increased 184 per cent. The above leaves out of view the 6, 367, $50 Roman Catholics, who do not re- port commandments Rs distinct from the gen. eral mass of their adherents. If these are all counted as sincere believers in the truths of hIstorical Christianity, it increases the supe- rior ratio of the increase of those who make a personal acknowledgement of the truth of Christianity over that of the general popula- ton 100 per cent. The Catholic population has increased more than four hundred per cent. in thelast thirty years.
 In order to show that theGe figures repre- sent a real faith Professor Hodge points to the efforts made by the Christiez Ice 'eersuade others to adopt their faith by means of foreign missions, especially during the present century. Prof. Christlieb has esti- mated that in 1900 the total sum annually contributed in all Christendom to Protestant missions amounted to $25o, 900. In 1850 the income of the mission boaxds in England end America was s2 ,959, ,541. In 1872 the amount was $7, STA, ,155. The aggregate funds col lscted by the evangelical churches in the United States for home missions amounted, from 1920 to 1929, to $233, 1926; from 1860 to 1869 they amounted to $21, ,o15. 719, and from 1870 to 1880 they amounted to $31, ,272, 154. Sunday schools were instituted only one hun dred years ago. Fifty years afterward, in 1880, 1t is estimated that there were less than 1000, GOO teachers and scholars in the world. In 1880 there were IA, ,000, 900 teach- CTS and scholars in the world, or (, 6,0eO, ,o00 in Europe and g ,0oO, 900 in America.
 These and other facts which Professor Hodge sets forth gre very striking and in- structive. They indicate that the world is not nearly as bad as 1t has been or might be, and that while some of the agnostics make considerable noise there is no danger that they will destroy Christianity immediately.