The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-09-22

ruined cities of earth; and everything
Jerusalem. home of the hearts of a
most of friends of God. Step by step,
We may go over Paurs experiences.
me geography of the journey will
lilumine the inspired narrative. And
as we study, there will emerge a new
conviction of the power of the Per-
Sonallty behind history; and we shall
get new conception of the living
truth that God cares for His own; and
that no man who lives for Him and
works for Him is ever failure
The Final Faith of Man.
Terse Comments on the Uniform
/ Prayer Meeting Topic of the Young
Peoples Societies-Christian En-
/ deavor. etc.--for September "a:
| christianity Compared with Other
| Religio ms. II Cor. 10:1-21.
!. Count Okuma, the great japanese
statesman, once expounded to me his
/ belief that the ultimate world-religion
would be a compound of Buddhism,
Confucianism and Christianity. The
grand lama of Tibet told me that in
four hundred years the whole world
would be Buddhist. The sheik III Islam
/ explained to me why Mohammedan-
ism is destined to be the universal re-
! ltgion. Abbas Effendi, one memora BILE
night in Egypt, expounded at length
to me his theories about the univer
salty of Behaism. This idea of world
:
accept, has an especial allurem ent for
most thoughtful persons. To the in
telligent Christian, it is inwrought in
his faith. He cannot believe in Christ
! at all unless he believes that Christ
+ designed His message and His saliva
! ton for all mankind everywhere 1t
| was for preaching an extra-Judean
gospel that Jesus was crucified. His
vision, like that of His great apostles,
was OF a world redeemed, TRANSPORTED
and unified in new brotherhood of
love, acknowledging God as Father
Some faiths are local. They are like
certain plants, which can not grow
except in a restricted region. They
make no claim to universally, and no
attempt at worldwide propagation.
iShintoiSm the ancestral faith of jap
ian. is one such. 1t has no mission
aries and seeks no converts. 1t is sole
ly national faith. Present day
Zoroastria nisnl, or Pariseeism, is an
other such. 1t has no provision for
proselytes. Nor lis Judaism mission
airy: it does not look toward a win
ming of the world to its beliefs. Neither
Is ConfuclaniSm missionary; indeed
II is not, properly speaking, a religion.
The elemental religions of primitive
peoples. like anirnism and shaman
ism, as well as certain mystery cults
OF the Near East, do not contemplate
the religious conquest of mankind
The faiths that claim the whole world
are few Most resolute and successfu l
among them is Christianity.
More than one college student. in
an examination, cited Confusion
ism as a prevailing faith! Perhaps
they were not SO far wrong The
average modern man or woman SEEM
. to be confusion worse confounded
The common progressive or lib
eraP' thought upon religion is as
nebulous as Cape Cod fog. Clear
: strong, thoro thinking upon religion
, is not the characteristic of our day.
Only three faiths are really con-
tending for world dorninion-Chris.
tianity, Mohammedanism and Budd-
hisrn, and in the case of the last it:
present missionary activity, is almosr
wholly defensive, to offset the inroa d.
: of Christianity. No serious thinke,
. contemplates for an instant the incur
sion of Buddhism into the western
; world, any more than he considers the
Likelihood Of a real spread of Beha.
) ism. AS for Islam, its field of con.
quest is practically limited to the non.
Christian lands. Rarely-very rarelv-
q a Christian becomes a MosIem. bu
: there is nowhere any perceptibIe drift
in that direction.
Buddhism is eclectic: 1t has eve,
l faiths, and to conquer by absorption
r It has no absolute standards Thi
r tendency to concession is one of it
. weaknesses: for Intelligent man want
e an absolute religion, to which he mus
e conform and which will not conform
4 to him.
g Islam makes too many concession
= to the flesh to satisfy a race with al
e ethical and moral sense. 1t is a pic
l ture of Mohammed's mind. All hi
n weaknesses and appetites are mir
: rored in the faith he founded An,
\ his essential doctrine of conquest b,
the sword merely arouses the horro
: of civilization, especially as of late ex
5 pressed in Turkey
I Time has proved that Christianity +
adapted to all men and to all of man
1t bears the same fruits wherever
; is planted. Established in Asia it We
e produced in the savages of northern
:. Europe. as well in the debauche,
dilettantes of southern Europe tn
= same characteristics that marked tn
y first disciples in Palestine. Today tn
Z converts in tropical Africa are as tru
. to New Testament type as those il
:, America Korea and China and jana
" produce saints like unto those Q
Europe Indian Christians are in n
# essential different from America
+ Christians. If any point in connec
\ ton with Christia nifty has been estab
# lished beyond dispute. it is the uni
y versatility of the religion of Jesus
.e ( myriad proofs of this can be gathere
&C from every continent and from tn
n islands of the sea and from every in
n habited latitude and longitude c
m earth. There is no longer any poss
10 bility of dispute or discussion abou
le the applicability of Christianity to a
mankind The proofs are at hand L