h. When he came out his friend asked him
how he liked the preacher. He said, "Very well, on the main line. He
had good wheels, his track was straight and level, and he carried a good
head of steam, but he seemed to _lack terminal facilities_."

Horace Seaver recently wrote the following:

"ALL OWING TO THE BIBLE.

"It is a very common argument with Christians, that only
those nations which have had the Bible were refined,
civilized, and learned. A Christian paper, now before us,
exultingly says:

"'Take the map of the world, draw a line around those
countries that have enjoyed the highest degree of
refinement, and you will encircle just those nations that
have received the Bible as their authority in religion.'

"From this language the plain inference is, that those
nations have been indebted to the influence of the Bible for
the positions to which they have attained. Let us follow out
a little this line of argument and see where it will lead.

"The ancient Egyptians stood as far in advance of their
contemporaries as do the nations of Christendom at the
present day, as the remains of Egyptian cities and temples
fully attest. And if the argument is good, they were
indebted for that superiority to their worship of cats,
crocodiles, and onions!

"The ancient Greek might have exclaimed, as he beheld the
proud position to which Greece had attained--'See what we
owe to a belief in our glorious mythology; we have reached
the highest point of enlightenment the world has ever
witnessed; we stand unequalled in power, wealth, the
cultivation of the arts, and all that makes a nation
refined, polished, and great!'"

COMPARATIVE STATUS.

It is a fact that in some Christian countries the actual status of woman
is higher than it is to-day in any other country; but it is also true
that her _comparative_ status is often lower.*

* See Appendix C, 1-6.

If we compare the actual status of woman in Russia or Spain (the two
most intensely Christian countries to-day) with that of the Chinese or
Hindoo woman, the showing may be somewhat in favor of the former; but on
the other hand, her _comparative_ position (when taken with that of the
men of her country) does not gain but loses by the contrast.

"How immeasurably would his faith in the elevating tendency
of his religion have