Great Religions of the World

while Brahminism, Zoroastrianism, and Judaism belong to the latter class. He adds that the characteristic feature of missionary religions is that in these "the spreading of the truth and the conversion of unbelievers are raised to the rank of a sacred duty by the founder. . . . It is the spirit of truth in the hearts of believers which cannot rest unless it manifests itself in thought, word, and deed, which is not satisfied till it has carried its message to every human soul, till what it believes to be the truth is accepted as the truth by all members of the human family." It is from the zeal for propagation in a religion that we are able to judge of its vitality. If, for example, we wish to gain a clear idea of the vitalityof Christianity, we must not direct our attention towards the intellectual centres of Christian countries, where materialism and hypercriticism often obscure the image of eternal religion, where indifference and skepticism seem to threaten the very existence of the faith, but we must look at the missionary work, in which, with youthful enthusiasm and sacred zeal, not the least valuable elements of the nations are active in the propagation of the faith, often at the sacrifice of their own lives. The same is true also of Mohammedanism, in connection with which a striking activity in the spreading of its teaching is displayed. This fact is not sufficiently recognized, and it may, therefore, be of general interest to give some information as t... --This text refers to the Paperback edition.