alistic, but they were pure and lofty. But the
modern Taouism is a medley of wild and degrading superstitions.
According to its theodicy all nature is haunted. The ignorant masses are
enthralled by the fear of ghosts, and all progress is paralyzed by the
nightmare of "fung shuay." Had not Taouism been balanced by the sturdy
common-sense ethics of Confucianism, the Chinese might have become a
race of savages.[163]

The decline of Mohammedanism from the sublime fanaticism of Abu Bekr and
the intellectual aspirations of Haroun Al Raschid, to the senseless
imbecility of the modern Turk, is too patent to need argument. The worm
of destruction was left in the system by the vices of Mohammed himself;
and from the higher level of his early followers it has not only
deteriorated, but it has dragged down everything else with it. It has
destroyed the family, because it has degraded woman. It has separated
her immeasurably from the status of dignity and honor which she enjoyed
under the influence of the early Christian church, and it has robbed her
of even that freedom which was accorded to her by heathen Rome. One need
only look at Northern Africa, the land of Cyprian and Origen, of
Augustine and the saintly Monica, to see what Islam has done. And even
the later centuries have brought no relief. Prosperous lands have been
rendered desolate and sterile, and all progress has been paralyzed.

In the history of the Greek religion it is granted that there were
periods of advancement. The times of the fully developed Apollo worship
showed vast improvement over previous periods, but even Professor Tiele
virtually admits that this was owing to the importation of foreign
influences. It was not due to any natural process of evolution; and it
was followed by hopeless corruption and decline. The last days of both
Greece and Rome were degenerate and full of depression and despair.

It is not contended that no revivals or reforms are possible in
heathenism. There have been many of these, but with all allowance for
spasmodic efforts, the general drift has been always downward.[164]
There is a natural disposition among men to multiply objects of
worship. Herbert Spencer's principle, that development proceeds from the
homogeneous to the heterogeneous, is certainly true of the religions of
the world; but his other principle, that development proceeds from the
incoherent to the coherent, does not apply. Incoherency and moral chaos
mark the trend o