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THE RIGHT REV. J. E. C. WELLDON^ D.D., ON 



Tylor, and, T may add, by Frazer in his book, " The Belief in 

 Immortality." It is not difficult to trace the evolution of 

 religious belief from Animism to Polytheism, then, with some 

 diversion in favour of a dualistic system, such as Manichaeism 

 to Monotheism, and, ultimately, to that finer Christian Mono- 

 theism in which God is held to be not only one God, but to be 

 the Father of all His children upon the earth. 



In the comparison of religious systems it is possible to put 

 aside, as not aspiring to universal supremacy, all purely local, 

 tribal, racial, or national religions. Among these religions the 

 most remarkable is, of course, Judaism, as the Hebrew genius for 

 religion was unrivalled, and the Hebrew religious literature 

 has been far more influential than any similar literature upon 

 the moral and spiritual fortunes of humanity. Not less is it 

 possible, I think, to put aside such religions as not only were 

 originally, but have remained, in their essential features. 

 Oriental. To this class of religions belong Hinduism, Parseeism, 

 Shintoism, and, I think it is not unfair to add, Buddhism. All 

 these religions have found, and still find, their natural homes in 

 the East. There was a time when the religion of Islam 

 threatened to inundate Europe ; but the overflowing tide was 

 driven back by Charles Martel and John Sobieski, and in spite 

 of Gibbon's ironically regretful words about the lost teaclnng of 

 the Koran in the University of Oxford, it has never seemed 

 probable that Islam would become acclimatised in Europe, or 

 that Mohammed would be treated as a rival of Jesus Christ. 



Two great religions there are which by a singular fortune 

 have flourished, not in the countries where they were born, but 

 in the countries to which they were transplanted, viz.. Buddhism 

 and Christianity. But Buddhism, if it migrated from India to 

 Ceylon, Burma, China and Siam, never lost its Oriental character. 

 Christianity is the sole example of an Oriental religion achieving 

 ascendancy over the minds and hearts of nations in the West. 



I put, then, first as a proof of the supremacy which Chris- 

 tianity claims among the religions of the world, that it alone has 

 shown its capacity of fusing in spiritual sympathy the East and 

 the West. Jesus Christ, it is clear, contemplated the univer- 

 sality of His religion ; for He bade His disciples to make 

 converts of all nations. His Church, after evangelising the 

 Western World, has within the last two or more centuries reacted 

 upon the East, in India, in China, and in Japan. Nor is it too 

 much to say that in all these countries, as also in Africa, the 

 Church has proved its capacity for evoking, at least among 

 certain select representatives of the native population, the 



