102 



THE GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 



and is nine times as large as India ; whilst the number of its 

 various races put together is only two-thirds of the population 

 of Hindustan. Again, when Christ was born in Bethlehem, 

 the area of the whole of the Eoman Empire was not larger 

 than the area of India and Burmah, and the population was 

 about 125,000,000. From a very interesting book, A Century 

 of Christian Progress, by the Bev. James Johnston,* we Jearn 

 that, according to an official census of China, taken A. P. 2, the 

 population of China was 59,000,000. We shall, therefore, not 

 be far wrong if we estimate the whole population of the world 

 at more than 300,000,000. 



Comparing this with the statements of Gibbon and of 

 Bishop Lightfoot (paper, S.P.G.), we are enabled to draw up the 

 following charts : — 



Growth of Population. 



Year. Christians. Non-Christians. 



a.d. 300 6,000,000 360,000,000 



a. d. 1900 490,000,000 1,250,000,000 



That is, while in the year 300 a.d. Christians were as one to 

 sixty non-Christians, in 1900 they were as one in three and 

 a half ; and while non-Christians have multiplied four-fold, 

 Christians have multiplied seventy-fold. 



Distinguishing now among Christians, we find : — 



Individuals. a.d. 1800 a.d. 1900 



Bomanist 107,000,000 222,000,000 



Greek, Copt, Armenian, etc.... 06,000,000 128,000,000 

 Protestant 37,000,000 140,000,000 



210,000,000 490,000,000 



It will be seen that there is no ground whatever for the 

 statement made in booklets, which have had a very large circu- 

 lation, that " the heathen world is increasing faster than the 

 Christian world." The authors take no account of family in- 

 crease. Had they consulted members of the Statistical Society of 

 London, they would have learned that whilst the non-Christian 

 population of the world increased by 200,000,000 in the nine- 

 teenth century, the Christian population increased 250,000,000 ; 

 the number of living converts from non-Christian faiths in 



* p. 167, 1st edition, Nisbef. 



