These results are not from data as certain as those which we were enabled to obtain for the Catholic Church; yet they are founded on great probability. There is a remarkable increase in all, owing to the fact that more reliable researches have given a larger number of inhabitants on the globe.

Let us now compare our own results with those of the most celebrated geographers. Malte-Brun wrote in 1810, Pinkerton and Balbi in 1827, and yet, although so near to one another, they are not of one accord as to the inhabitants of the earth, and consequently they do not agree in their divisions. More recent geographers admit a number far larger than that allowed by Balbi, and seem to hesitate between eight hundred and a thousand millions. We are of opinion that the grand total cannot, with any good reason, be reckoned beyond eight hundred and forty millions (840,000,000); at the same time it cannot be set at any figure much below it. The following figures represent millions:


Malte-BrunPinkerton.Balbi.Civ. Catt's.
Christianity 228 235 260 344
Judaism 5 5 4 4
Islamism 110 120 96 100
Brahminism 60 60 60 60
Buddhism 150 108 170 180
Other creeds 100 100 147 152
Total 653 700 737 840

III. A glance at some particular countries will show how much the Catholic Church has gained in numbers and influence within a few years. Let us begin from two Protestant countries in Europe.

The "Catholic Directory," annually issued in England for the last hundred years, will, by comparing a few data, exhibit the progress of Catholicity in Great Britain's most Protestant sections—we mean England and Scotland. We limit ourselves to the official returns given within the last nine years. We mass them in two tables, which will place our assertion upon the strongest basis of truth. The first will show that in these two kingdoms, so totally averse to Catholicity—nay, intensely hostile to it—England and Scotland, the number of clergymen has increased, within twenty-five years, at the rate of 137 per centum; that of churches 30; religious houses for men 222, for women 105. The second table will give the same numbers, but divided in the various dioceses, in varied ratio indeed, but everywhere with the same tokens of increase:

GENERAL STATISTICS OF ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND.

Years Clergymen Churches
& Chapels 		Religious
Men		 Religious
Women		Colleges
1856 1142 849 17 91 12
1857 1162 894 23 106 11
1858 1204 902 27 109 11
1859 1222 926 34 110 11
1860 1236 950 37 123 12
1861 1342 993 47 155 12
1862 1388 1019 50 162 12
1863 1417 1065 55 177 12
1864 1445 1098 56 186 12

But if we draw our figures from earlier dates, the comparison will be even more striking. Behold the result within the last twenty-five years:

Years Clergymen Churches
& Chapels 		Relig Men Relig WomenColleges
1839 610 513 0 17 10
1849 897 612 13 41 10
1864 1445 1098 56 186 12

Limiting our researches only to England, we find the increase within eight years, between 1856 and 1864, stated in the official returns of the several dioceses, at the following rates: