The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1886-10-23

Redeemer's kingdom, declared that il
should "break in pieces and consume
all other kingdoms, and stsnd forever .
The stone which he saw cut from the
mountains without hands, became a
great mountain and filled the whole
earth" Moreover, he 'ssaw in the
night-visions, dominion aad glory and
kingdom given to the Son of Man,
that all people, nations, and languages
should serve Him; whose dominion is
an everlasting dominion that shall not
pass away, and His kingdondthat which
shall not be destroyed" 81
The conquest of the Rol..an Empire,
therefore, was but preliminary to the
fulfillment of this ancient prophecy
preliminary, too, to the faifllment of
the Masters promise, that. @if lifted up
from the earth, he would draw all men
unto him" Prophecy cannot be brok-
en-. The tide of conquest must sweep
out into the centuries untilit has sub
iugated the globe. Promises must be
kept. Has the Masters promise lost
its force from sheer exhaustion? Bridg-
ing the centuries, from the. fourth to
the last years of the nineteenth century,
let us look around. 1T
Any attempt to measured the present
,yOJ1p,o o,5 i,,Huanoo of fbYiS4iopi4 y
by computation and comparison of
numbers, is certain to be u reliable. To
say there are so many Buddhists, Mo
hammedans, Jews, miscellaneous Pa
gans, and Christians in the world to-
day, affords 40 adequate basis from
which to calculate the force and infu-
ence of each separate sect Our esti-
mate, if we would be accurate, must be
made up from other data.
First, from geographical data. Bud
dhism, to which is usually accorded the
first place in the religious census of
mankind although we have reason
to believe that it's actual numbers are
greatly over estimated, ,-territorily Oc-
cupies large sections Of Northern, Cen
tral, and Eastern Asia, together with
the islands of Japan and Ceylon. Mo-
hammedanism claims Arabia, Persia,
Turkey, Egypt, Asia Minor, and parts
of India. Under the head Of miscellan-
e0us Paganism may be included Brah-
manism, found chiefly in India, the
religio- philosophical cults of China, land
certain islands in the Pacific ,ssaan, Ju-
daisni is represented 0y a ssufaI1 number
of Jews scattered in many lands.
Christianity is supreme in Europe and
America, the most enlightened pOr-
tions of the Worthwhile its mission
ary stations and permanent settlements
are in nearly every country and inhab-
tied island on the globe. Territorily
it is more than match for Paganism,
even if under that head we include
Buddhism
Next, from what we will venture to
call psychological data. The facts un-
der this head, indicate the soul-proper-
ties, the animating spirit of a religion.
Max Muller groups the religions Of the
world in two classes, and names them,
Missionary and Nom Missionary. There
have never been but three mis- sionary
religions in the world, and to day there
is but one.
Buddhism was once missionary re-
ligion, and won its first successes solely
by missionary effort. But very early
in its career it developed political am
bition, and centuries ago it's missionary
spirit left it. tits now a body without
a soul,-a mass of fostering remains
awaiting burial. Civilization is its
mortal foe, and will soon give it the
finishing stroke.
Mohammedanism, from the seventh
to the fourteenth century. was the
most vigorously missionary religion
known to history. But since the ex-
pulsion of the MOhammedans from
Spain, in the fifteenth century, its mis-
sionary career has virtually been closed.
1t is now in process of decay, and de-
cay means death.
Judaism, now represented by about
three million of Jews, was contemp
tuously anti missionary from its begin
ming. To-day it is but the ghost of its
former self. THE wandering Jew'' is
its fitting type, If, however, prophecy
and promise may be trusted, only in
part has blindness happened to Israel,
and when the "fullness of the Gentiles
be come in all Israel shall be saved. 8"
But, practically, Judaism is a dead re-
ligion.
The condition of Brahmanism at the
present moment may be taken to repre-
sent the condition of miscellaneous Pa
ganism generally. 1t Is professed by one
hundred and ten million souls. But, as
Max Muller says, at has ceased to live
for more than thousand years. 1t be-
longs to a stratum Of thought that is long
buried beneath our feet. 1t may linger
on like the lion and tiger, but the mere
air of free thought and civilization will
extinguish it, When a religion has
ceased to produce defenders of the faith
prophets, champions, martyrs it has