In order that the force of these remarks may appear more clearly, I will refer to the present state of the religious world, that is, to the strength of the respective religions, as represented by numbers: According to the latest and best information on the subject, there are throughout the world: Roman Catholics--206,588,206 Protestants--89,825,348 Greek and Russian Churches--75,691,382 Oriental Churches--6,770,000 Making the total of all Christians--378,874,936 The other religions stand as follows: Brahminical Hindoos--120,000,000 Followers of Buddha, Shinto and Confucius--482,600,000 Mohammedans--169,054,789 Jews--7,612,784 Parsees (fire worshipers in Persia)--1,000,000 Pagans, not otherwise enumerated--227,000,000 Making a total of--1,007,267,573[A] [Footnote A: These statements are taken from a recent work published by Gay Bros. & Co., New York, entitled, "What the World Believes"] From this showing it is seen that only a little more than one-third of the world's population are even professing Christians; the other two-thirds know nothing of Christ or of salvation through his Gospel. No one, however, will contend that all professing Christianity will be entitled to salvation, for the very good reason that they do not adopt its precepts in the practices of their lives; so that the one-third that are enumerated as Christians would be reduced to much less than that fraction of the world's population if this consideration is taken into account. Even if you grant that the gospel of Christ has been upon the earth for the past eighteen centuries, as the Christian world claim, here is a serious question confronting them, _viz_.: What is to be the fate of this greater part of the children of God who have never heard of Christ, and know nothing of the Christian religion? This is a question which confronted those who declared that the gospel and authority to administer in its ordinances had not been upon the earth for a number of centuries. It is a question which confronts them today; but it also may be asked of Christians generally, for even if you allow that they and their fathers before them have had and still have the gospel, here is the great majority of the human race--the children of God--who have not had it in the past generations, and do not have it even now. What becomes of the neglected ones? To this question the Saints used to reply, in one of their hymns-- "God is just is all we say, Seek no crop where 'twas not planted, Nor the day where reigns the night; Now the sunshine bright is beaming. Let all creatures see aright." Since those days, however, further light has been revealed from heaven, which gives enlarged views in respect to the plan of human redemption, and brings out in strong relief the justice and mercy of God; enlarges the hope, and dispels the gloom of wretchedness that man-made systems of theology have cast over religion.