There is another feature of the subject that will bear looking at. Christians are the last to give credit to other religions for the development and advance of civilization in the countries possessing them. What Christian will admit that it is the religion of the Chinese that makes them the most orderly, law-abiding, mob-avoiding people on the globe? Will any Christian admit that it is the inferior moral tone of Christ and his teachings which enables the followers of Confucius and Buddha to offer this superior showing? Is he prepared to say that Mohammedanism is superior to Christianity because its followers outdo the Christians in honesty?* Is it owing to the superior blessings of the Mormon faith that its followers are more thrifty, and that paupers are few or unknown among them?
* Travelers tell us that a native can leave an order
together with a bag of uncounted gold at the shop of a
dealer, and upon the return of the buyer his order will be
exactly filled, his gold properly and honestly divided, and
all where he had left them, even though the shop be open to
the street and unattended and unguarded.
Is it because their religion is superior to ours that the Lapp women are better treated; that their comparative status is higher, and their family life purer than with ourselves?*
* "Though Norway with Ladies." By W. Mattieu Williams.
F.R.A.S., F.C.S.
The claim that superiority of civilization is due to Christianity, and that to it we owe the good things of the nations where it is the prevailing religion, proves too much. It will work just as well for any other religion as for our own. Its reach is too extended, its conclusion too comprehensive for its purpose. Christianity could not be made its sole terminus. It reminds one of the story of the brakeman who was persuaded to go to church. When he came out his friend asked him how he liked the preacher. He said, "Very well, on the main line. He had good wheels, his track was straight and level, and he carried a good head of steam, but he seemed to lack terminal facilities."
Horace Seaver recently wrote the following:
"ALL OWING TO THE BIBLE.
"It is a very common argument with Christians, that only
those nations which have had the Bible were refined,
civilized, and learned. A Christian paper, now before us,
exultingly says:
"'Take the map of the world, draw a line around those
countries that have enjoyed the highest degree of
refinement, and you will encircle just those nations that
have received the Bible as their authority in religion.'
"From this language the plain inference is, that those
nations have been indebted to the influence of the Bible for
the positions to which they have attained. Let us follow out
a little this line of argument and see where it will lead.
"The ancient Egyptians stood as far in advance of their
contemporaries as do the nations of Christendom at the
present day, as the remains of Egyptian cities and temples
fully attest. And if the argument is good, they were
indebted for that superiority to their worship of cats,
crocodiles, and onions!
"The ancient Greek might have exclaimed, as he beheld the
proud position to which Greece had attained—'See what we
owe to a belief in our glorious mythology; we have reached
the highest point of enlightenment the world has ever
witnessed; we stand unequalled in power, wealth, the
cultivation of the arts, and all that makes a nation
refined, polished, and great!'"
COMPARATIVE STATUS.
It is a fact that in some Christian countries the actual status of woman is higher than it is to-day in any other country; but it is also true that her comparative status is often lower.*