The Supreme Religion by Robert E. Speer

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 4, 1907

The Supreme Religion

By Robert E. Speer

Every great truth in the non-Christian religions is found in a purer and richer form in the Christian religion. It is true that Hinduism teaches the immanence of God; it is true that Mohammedanism teaches the sovereignty of God; it is true that Buddhism teaches the transitoriness of our present life; it is true that Confucianism teaches the solemn dignity of our earthly relationships and our human society. But are not all these truths in Christianity also? And in Christianity each one of these truths is balanced by its just corrective, which is absent from the non-Christian religions. Hinduism teaches that God is near, but it forgets that He is holy. Mohammedanism teaches that God is great, but forgets that He is loving. Buddhism teaches that this earthly life of ours is transitory, but it forgets that we have the assurance of immortality. Confucianism teaches that we live in the midst of a great framework of holy relationships, but it forgets that in the midst of all these we have a living help and a personal fellowship with the eternal God, in whose lasting presence is our home.

—Robert E. Speer.