{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_27270/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_27270","id":"gutenberg_27270","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/27270","summary":null,"tags":["Category: History - Other","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Christianity and other religions -- Hinduism","India -- Social life and customs","Missions -- India","Missions to Hindus -- India"],"text":"India\u2019s Problem\n\n                            Krishna or Christ\n\n                                    By\n\n                           John P. Jones, D.D.\n\n                    of Southern India, A. B. C. F. M.\n\n                        New York, Chicago, Toronto\n\n                        Fleming H. Revell Company\n\n                                   1903\n\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\nDedication.\nPreface.\nChapter I. The Land And The People.\n   1. The Physical Features of That Land.\n   2. The People.\n   3. Economic Conditions.\n   4. Social Life.\n      (_a_) The Family.\n      (_b_) Society.\n   5. The Educational System.\n   6. The Political Situation.\n   7. The Government of India.\n   8. The Mission of Great Britain in India.\nChapter II. The Religions Of India.\n   (_a_) Judaism.\n   (_b_) Mohammedanism.\n   (_c_) Parseeism.\n   (_d_) Buddhism.\n   (_e_) Jainism.\n   (_f_) Sikhism.\n   (_g_) Hinduism.\n      (_a_) Incarnation.\n      (_b_) Vicarious Atonement.\n      (_c_) Spirituality.\n      (_d_) Eschatology.\n      (_e_) The Doctrine of Faith.\nChapter III. Hinduism And Christianity Contrasted.\n   1. In their Initial Conceptions.\n   2. Their Ultimate Aim or Goal.\n   3. The Agency and Means Recognized and Appealed to by those Faiths\n   Respectively.\n   4. The Processes of These Two Religions.\n   5. The Ideals of the Two Faiths.\n   6. The Credentials of the Two Faiths.\n   7. Other Distinguishing Traits.\n   Conclusion.\nChapter IV. The Products Of The Two Faiths In India. The Hindu And The\nNative Christian\u2014A Study.\n   1. And First, The Hindu.\n   2. Let us Now Study The Native Christian.\nChapter V. The Women Of India.\nChapter VI. The History Of Christian Effort In India.\nChapter VII. The Missionary.\n   1. Physical Fitness.\n   2. His Methods of Life.\n   3. The Intellectual Ability and Educational Training of the Missionary.\n   4. Spiritual Qualifications.\n   5. The Missionary\u2019s Attitude Towards the Non-Christian World.\n   6. The Relationship Which the Missionary Sustains to the Missionary\n   Society and the Churches Which Support Him.\n   7. The Missionary and the Mission To Which He Belongs.\n   8. The Relation of the Missionary to the People Among Whom He Lives.\nChapter VIII. Missionary Organization.\n   (_a_) The Evangelistic Department.\n   (_b_) Pastoral Work.\n   (_c_) The Educational Department.\n      Schools for Non-Christians.\n      Schools for Christian Children.\n      Training Institutions for Mission Agents.\n   (_d_) Literary Work.\n   (_e_) Medical Work.\n   (_f_) Work for Women.\n   (_g_) Work for the Young.\n   (_h_) Organizations for the Special Activities of the Native Christian\n   Community.\nChapter IX. Present Day Missionary Problems.\nChapter X. Missionary Results.\nChapter XI. Missionary Results\u2014(Continued)\nIndex.\nFootnotes\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDEDICATION.\n\n\n_To_\n_ _\n_ My Wife_\n_ _\n_ Without whom the following pages_\n_ could not have been written._\n\n\n\n\n\n                [Illustration: A Typical Buddhist Priest.]\n\n\u201cYes, it shall come! E\u2019en now my eyes behold,\nIn distant view, the wish\u2019d for age unfold,\nLo, o\u2019er the shadowy days that roll between,\nA wand\u2019ring gleam foretells th\u2019 ascending scene.\nOh, doom\u2019d victorious from thy wounds to rise,\nDejected India, lift thy downcast eyes,\nAnd mark the hour, whose faithful steps for thee\nThrough Time\u2019s press\u2019d ranks bring on the Jubilee!\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nThe following pages are, practically, the result of a course of lectures\ngiven, on the Hyde foundation, at the Andover Theological Seminary in the\nfall of 1902. Some of the chapters were also used in lectures, delivered\nduring the year, at the Yale and Hartford Theological Seminaries and at\nthe Western Reserve University. Small portions have appeared in Reviews\nand Magazines but have been much changed in the transfer. The cordial\nwelcome accorded the lectures, including an expressed desire that they be\npublished, has led to their appearance in this more permanent form.\n\nIndia should be better known to Europe and America. I trust that the\nfollowing pages may help the student to understand the vast country and to\nrealise the greatness of the problems connected with Christian work in the\nland; may they also stir within many a strong desire to present Christ to\nthat great people, and inspire a hope in the ultimate and speedy triumph\nof our cause in the land of the Vedas.\n\nI gratefully express my indebtedness to the Rev. J. L. Barton, D. D., for\nhis valuable suggestions and kindly sympathy, and also to the Rev. W. P.\nElwood for his kind help in proofreading.\n\nJohn P. Jones.\n\n_Pasumalai,_\n_ So. India._\n\n\n\n\n\n                                Chapter I.\n\n\nTHE LAND AND THE PEOPLE.\n\n\nNo country in the Orient is of greater interest to the West today than is\nIndia. It is picturesque in its life, wonderful in its history, remarkable\nin its present conditions and fascinating in its promise for the future.\n\nIt is a land most worthy of study both for what it has been, for what it\nis and for what it is to become; as the arena for the greatest conflict\nupon which our Faith and Civilization have ever entered; and for their\nmost magnificent triumph in the world.\n\nMoreover, India is now peculiarly wedded to the Anglo-Saxon race. For good\nor for evil the destiny of that country, socially, politically,\nintellectually and religiously, is linked with that of the Anglo-Saxon;\nand we, as a part of the Anglo-Saxon race, cannot, even if we would, shake\noff our connection with, and responsibility for, it.\n\n\n\n\n1. The Physical Features of That Land.\n\n\nIt is a very extensive land. More a continent than a country, it\nstretches, from east to west, a distance of 1,900 miles; and it extends\nthe same distance from the Himalayas on the north to Cape Comorin on the\nsouth. It covers an area equal to one-half of that of the United States.\n\nIt is physically divided into three portions. The first, on the north,\nincludes the Himalaya Mountains, which separate it from the rest of Asia\nand which furnish an important element in the meteorological conditions of\nthe country. Then from the base of this mountain range extend the plains\nof the great rivers which issue from the mountains themselves. Again, from\nthe southern boundaries of these plains gradually rises a very extensive\nthree-sided table-land reaching towards the coast on both eastern and\nwestern sides, and extending to Cape Comorin on the south. There may be\nadded to this the narrow strips of coast-land on the east and west. In the\nland are found some of the greatest and most wonderful rivers in the\nworld. The Ganges, which is the queen of Indian rivers, carries life and\nfertility to a population greater than that of the whole United States.\nAfter a course of 1,557 miles it empties, into the Bay of Bengal,\n1,800,000 cubic feet of water per second, which is half as much again as\nthe water of the Mississippi, and nearly six times as much as that of the\nNile at Cairo.\n\nIt is a land wonderful in the variety of its climates. It is difficult to\nimagine greater contrasts than those existing between the various climates\nof India\u2014from the eternal snows in the north to the fierce and constant\nheat of the tropics in the south; from the practically rainless expanse of\nthe western plains of Sind to the 600 inches of rainfall which deluges the\neastern mountain slopes. No land is more extensively cultivated and none\ngives more fruit in return for human labour than India. The Ganges, by the\nabundant silt which it carries, brings fertility and fruitfulness to its\nvalleys. Even the plains of Sind, which are nearly rainless, are\ntransformed into life by large irrigation schemes.\n\nRice, wheat and millets are the three staples of the country. In the\nnorth, wheat furnishes sixty per cent. of the cultivated area. This total\narea under wheat cultivation in India is estimated to be equal to that of\nall the wheat-fields of the United States. One-fourth of the population of\nIndia lives on rice; and various kinds of millets represent fifty-two per\ncent. of the whole cultivation of the land. Though the methods of\ncultivation there are primitive and the implements used inadequate for\nbest results, yet through the rich climatic conditions and the persistent\nefforts of the people the land normally yields an abundance of good things\nfor the support of its inhabitants.\n\n\n\n\n2. The People.\n\n\nThe people of India number, according to the census of 1901,\n291,236,000\u2014about one-fifth of the inhabitants of the globe. This\npopulation represents more races than are found in the whole of Europe.\nBesides many small tribes, it has eleven nations, the least of which\nnumbers 2,250,000 souls. Of these nations seven are of Aryan, and four of\nDravidian, extraction; and they differ in physique, temperament and\nlanguage. Between the sturdy Aryan on the north and the degraded primitive\npeople on the plains of the south there is a great gulf. Between the\nclever and subtle Baboo of Bengal and the war-like Marahtta of the west,\nthe bold, spirited Pathan in the north and the passive but enduring\nDravidian in the south, there are many intermediate classes which furnish\nwonderful diversity of character and temperament. Among these people there\nis not, and cannot at present be, a sense of oneness. Until recently their\nwhole civilization tended to emphasize their divergence, to broaden the\nbreach between them and to cultivate a perpetual, mutual jealousy and\nhatred.\n\nThe languages spoken by these people are, according to the census of 1891,\nseventy in number.(1) Of these the Sanskrit is the oldest, and may truly\nbe called the mother tongue of the country. It is one of the most ancient\nlanguages in the world, with a history of more than 3,000 years. It is\nstrong, pliant, expressive\u2014a worthy vehicle of noble thought and religious\naspiration. Though not spoken today by any tribe or people, it is not a\ndead language, for it is the religious tongue of India. The best thought,\nthe deepest philosophy, the highest religious aspiration, the laws,\ncustoms and legends of the people are treasured in that tongue. All who\nwould know the religious life and thought of India at its best and in its\nsources, should study Sanskrit. From it have sprung many of the languages\nof Modern India. In the northern and northwestern parts, the Aryan tongues\nfind supremacy. Although these languages differ greatly among themselves,\ntheir source and vocabulary is mainly Sanskrit. Of all Indian languages,\nthe one most widely spoken is the Hindi\u201488,000,000 people use it as their\nmother tongue. Forty-one millions speak Bengali, 18,000,000 speak Punjabi,\n19,000,000, Marathi, 11,000,000 speak Gujurathi.\n\nThe Dravidian languages of South India are entirely separate from the\nAryan group, their source and character being Turanian. These languages\nare Tamil, Telugu, Kanarese and Malayalam. Fifty-three million people\nspeak these tongues alone.\n\nThe inhabitants of India are an ancient people. When thirty centuries ago\nour ancestors were grovelling in the lowest depths of primitive savagery,\nour fellow-Aryans of India were enjoying a civilization of their own,\nwhich was, in its way, unique and distinguished. Their philosophy shows\ntestimony to their ancient glory. It may truly be said that their chief\nglory is to be found more in ancient than in modern times. It is a people\nwhose progress has, in some respects, been backward rather than forward,\nand whose boast is rightly of what they have been rather than of what they\nare.\n\nIt is a conservative people. India is a land where custom is deified\u2014the\npast is their glory. Today, we are living, they say, in the iron age (Kali\nYuga), in which righteousness is all but lost. Hindu law has conserved the\npast\u2014it exalts past observances above those of the present. Under such a\nsystem all innovations are out of place, individual ambitions are crushed.\nTo resemble their ancestors is the _summum bonum_ of their life.\n\nThe inhabitants of that land are a rural people. Unlike western countries,\nIndia has very few large towns. Nine-tenths of the whole population live\nin villages of less than 5,000, four-fifths live in villages of under\n1,000 inhabitants. The average village of India today contains 363\ninhabitants. During the last few years the tendency has been towards\ntowns. But the large increase in the population is still to be seen in\nrural regions. In India two-thirds of the villages have less than 200\ninhabitants each, while 1,000 have from 5,000 to 10,000 inhabitants.\nNotwithstanding this fact, the population, in some parts of the country,\nis very dense. The whole of Bengal furnishes 360 persons to the square\nmile, and in the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh the total per square\nmile rises to 416.\n\nOwing to modern methods of sanitation, to peace and to general prosperity,\nthe population has grown and is growing rapidly.(2) There is already one\nperson to every two acres of land in the country; and under the British\nGovernment the prosperity of India is largely measured by the growth of\nthe population; and this in turn seriously increases the difficulty of\nproviding for the wants of the people. Indeed it has become one of the\nhardest problems which confronts the Indian government; and the difficulty\nis considerably enhanced by the religion of the country which demands that\nevery man and woman marry and add to the population, regardless of any\nquestion as to health or even sanity. In India the first privilege and\nduty of man and woman is supposed to be the propagation of their kind.\n\n\n\n\n3. Economic Conditions.\n\n\nOne of the most marked characteristics of India is its poverty. The\npeople, as a whole, have always been extremely poor. There has been some\nwealth in the land; but it has not been evenly distributed. While a few\nnabobs have enjoyed immense treasures, the people, as a whole, have\ngrovelled in the lowest depth of penury and want. There is better\ndistribution of wealth today than ever before; and yet the poverty of the\nmasses continues to be a serious feature of the land. \u201cIts finance lies at\nthe base of every difficulty connected with our Indian Empire,\u201d is the\nremark of Sir Charles Dilke. And at the base of the finance difficulty\nlies the poverty of the people. It is a well known and lamentable fact\nthat one-fifth of the population, say sixty millions, are insufficiently\nfed even in ordinary years of prosperity. They are the ever ready prey of\nthe first drought, distress or famine that may happen. It is a not\nuncommon experience of the ryot (or farmer) to retire at night upon an\nempty stomach. The average income of the common labourer in India is\nbetween four and five rupees, or, say, $1.50 per month.\n\nMost of this evil which the people endure is self-imposed. They reveal a\ncombination of blind improvidence, reckless expenditure and an\nunwillingness to shake off impoverishing customs. For instance, the debt\nincurring propensity of the native is akin to insanity. All the poor\npeople with whom I am acquainted are bound hand and foot by this terrible\nmill-stone. And the interest paid upon loans is crushing. Two and three\nper cent. per month is an interest commonly received. It is rare that a\npoor farmer who gets into the clutches of the money lender regains his\nfreedom. It usually leads to the loss of all property and means of\nsupport. Under the ancient Hindu law no money lender could recover\ninterest upon a loan beyond the amount of the principal which he had\nadvanced; under the present rule he can recover to any extent, sell the\ntenant\u2019s crops and even take possession of the land under a judgment\ndecree. It is one of those instances where justice in law is made to\nminister unrighteousness and cruelty in life. The people moreover are\ngiven to the most extravagant expenses at marriages and funerals. It is\nfrequently the case that a man spends upon the marriage of his son or\ndaughter, the latter especially, more than a whole year\u2019s income. I know\nof many who are overwhelmed by debts incurred for the marriage of their\nchildren; and the saddest thing about it is that they have little option\nin this expense; for it is prescribed by caste custom.\n\nAdd to this the rank growth of religious mendicancy, under the fostering\ncare of religious teaching and superstition. There are five and one-half\nmillions of such lazy, worthless fellows encumbering that land today. The\nmass of them are sleek in body and pestilential in morals. Whenever a man\nfinds work too hard, he dons the yellow cloth of the religious mendicant\nand becomes an immediate success. But alas for the community! Hindu\ncharity is proverbial, but it is blinder than love itself. Such a body of\nworthless consumers would tax even a wealthy land. To India it is a\ndreadful burden and drain.\n\nAdd to this the insane passion for jewels which consumes both high and\nlow. Millions of rupees\u2019 worth of gold flows into the country annually,\nand most of it is melted and converted into personal adornments for women\nand children. For this purpose nearly one-half million goldsmiths,\naccording to the last census, are employed and make a comfortable living\nat an annual expense of ten million dollars. This is a much larger force\nof workmen than that of all the blacksmiths in the land.\n\nThe litigious spirit of the people is also phenomenal. It is doubtful if\nany other people on earth spend, relative to their means, more in legal\nprocesses than the Hindus. In view of all these facts, Sir W. W. Hunter\u2019s\nstatement that \u201cThe permanent remedies for the poverty of India rest with\nthe people themselves\u201d is eminently true. It is further emphasized by the\nremarks of Sir Madhava Rao, K. C. S. I., one of the very few statesmen\nwhom India has produced among her own children: \u201cThe longer one lives,\nobserves and thinks,\u201d he says, \u201cthe more deeply does he feel there is no\ncommunity on the face of the earth which suffers less from political evils\nand more from self-inflicted, self-accepted, or self-created, and\ntherefore avoidable, evils than the Hindu community.\u201d\n\nFamine is an oft-recurring and most perplexing evil with which India has\nalways been familiar. In times past, it was the gaunt Avenger which\ndecimated the people and which kept down the population within the range\nof tolerable existence. The god of dirt and insanitation carried away the\nunneeded residue left by famine. Famine is one of the very few evils\nbefore which human power stands helpless. The government has done very\nmuch by irrigation schemes and by the building of railways to mitigate\nthis evil. By famine funds and relief works it strives, as it did the last\nfamine, to reduce the mortality and suffering arising from these seasons\nof drought. But the constant penury of the people, and the fact of their\nalways living upon the verge of hunger and want, make it almost impossible\nto save many from the terrible result of such visitations. Perhaps there\nis no other thing, at present, which occupies more of the time and thought\nof the Imperial Government than this; but, to drive entirely away this\nhideous demon from a land which is peculiarly liable to drought, and while\nthe people are chronically unprepared to meet the least extra drain, is\nmore than can be expected from any government.\n\nThe railroads of the land are manifestations of the material progress\nwhich meet one on all sides. In the extent of its railroads India is the\nfifth country in the world. Already the splendid railway system, upon\nwhich travel is as comfortable as, and perhaps cheaper than, in any other\ncountry in the world, has extended 23,000 miles and reaches the remotest\nparts of the land. These throbbing arteries carry life and enterprise to\nall portions of India; and many regions not yet made thus accessible will\nsoon listen to the neigh of the iron horse and feel the pulsations of new\nlife thereby. Three hundred million pounds sterling have been expended in\nthis work alone.\n\nBut better, if possible, than these roads is the rapidly developing\nirrigation system which brings security of life and works prosperity\nwherever it reaches. Nearly 14,000,000 acres are now cultivated under this\nsystem. This includes fourteen and eight-tenths per cent. of all\ncultivated land in India. One great enterprise in this line is the \u201cPeryar\nProject\u201d of South India which was large in its conception, perfect in its\nexecution and is rich in its blessings. It consists in the diversion of a\nlarge river which vainly poured its treasures down the western\nmountainside into the Arabian Sea, and causing its waters to flow into the\neastern plains to fertilize the thirsty land as far as the Bay of Bengal.\nIt embraces the second largest dam in the world, a tunnel one and\none-fourth miles through the mountain, and many miles of distributing\nchannels. It will irrigate at least 150,000 acres for rice cultivation and\nwill feed 400,000 people. I live in the heart of the region thus\nfertilized and refreshed, and know the joy of the residents who also stand\nastonished before the magic power of these white people who do for them\nwhat, they say, even their gods failed to accomplish. It is well to\nremember that these irrigation schemes, now found in India, are much the\nmost extensive in any country.\n\nLooking at her commerce during the Victorian reign alone, we see a growth\nof 1,000 per cent. in the imports and exports of India. The export of tea\nhas risen from nothing to 70,000 tons, and that of cotton from nothing to\n220,000 tons. There are now in the land 150 cotton-mills with 150,000\nlabourers. Three million tons of coal are annually mined, and gold mines\nyield \u00a31,000,000 sterling every year. It may, indeed, be said that India\nhas now, for the first time in its history, taken a place as a land of\nmanufactures, trade and commerce.\n\n\n\n\n4. Social Life.\n\n\nThe contrast between the social life of the East and that of the West is\nmarked. Problems that today stir this land to its depth have no existence\nin India. The conservatism of India is proverbial. The Hindu people have\nbeen kept back from all progress, so that questions arising about human\nrights and liberty have not begun to be mooted there. The thousand\nproblems of our land are the direct result of the emphasis which our\ncivilization has given to human rights and individual freedom and the\nequality of men. India has thus far denied to the individual those rights\nand liberties which are deemed elementary and fundamental in the West. Its\nemphasis has always been upon the rights and privileges of Society as a\ncorporate body. It has ignored entirely the claims of the individual and\nhas prevented him from enjoying his inalienable rights in any division of\nsociety. This may be seen in the two great departments of life in that\nland.\n\n\n\n(_a_) The Family.\n\n\nThe family systems of the East and of the West are essentially different.\nIn India the Joint Family System prevails. According to this system\nmembers of a family for three generations live together and have all\nthings in common. No member of the family can claim anything as his own.\nIt is the old patriarchal system and emphasizes the rights of the family\nas a whole, and denies to any individual member separate possession or\nprivileges. This system has had a long day in India; but, as western ideas\nare spreading, dissatisfaction is manifestly increasing, especially among\nthe educated classes. The recent introduction to the Madras Legislature of\nthe so-called \u201cGains of Learning Bill\u201d is the first serious attack made\nupon that system. By means of this bill, which was introduced by an\northodox Hindu, but which is not yet passed, an educated man could claim\nexclusive right to ownership of all properties acquired by him through his\neducation. Thus, for the first time in India an individual might claim,\napart from the family, that wealth which was acquired by himself. This\nbill has brought opposition from the public, because it conflicts with the\nrights of the joint family, and is a serious blow to all the old Hindu\nfamily privileges. The Hindu joint family system, while it has been a\nsource of some blessing to the land, has also been a serious curse in that\nit has fostered laziness, dissension and improvidence, and has put a ban\nupon individual initiative and ambition.\n\nChild marriages have been an unfailing source of evil to the land. Of this\nSir John Strachey says: \u201cIt would be difficult to imagine anything more\nabominable than the frequent consequences of child marriages by which\nmultitudes of girls of ten to twelve or less are given over to outrage;\nor, if they belong to the higher class of Hindus, are doomed to lives of\ndegraded widowhood.\u201d\n\nThe Indian government has endeavoured to remove this evil; but at all\npoints it has been opposed not only by conservative, orthodox Hindus, but\nalso by educated members of the community. No system can degrade the\nwomanhood of a race, nor, indeed, for that matter, its manhood, more than\nthat which marries its girls in childhood and which consigns millions of\nthem to wretched widowhood. One of the consequences is that girls of even\ntwelve years are known to become mothers in that land, while very few\nattain the age of eighteen without bearing children. An increasing\npopulation under these physical conditions cannot be a healthy or a\nvigorous one.\n\n\n\n(_b_) Society.\n\n\nIn India, Society is almost exclusively the product of the ancient caste\nsystem. A more elaborate social system than this was never known in the\nworld. It is an order of social tyranny of the worst sort, whereby every\nman is compelled to give up his own individuality and to be bound to the\niron will of an ignorant community: a will also which is based upon the\npast and conforms to the rules and habits of peoples who lived in remote\nantiquity. No greater millstone could be hung around the neck of any\npeople than that of the multitudinous caste rules of Manu and later\naccretions which are the all in all of Hindu life. There may have been\ngood in this system in the past, and it may have conserved some blessings\nof antiquity; but today it is the worst tyranny and the greatest curse\nthat has blasted the life of the people. It is the source of their\nphysical degeneracy, for it compels them to marry within narrow lines of\nconsanguinity. It has cursed the people with a narrow sympathy; for no man\nin that system deems it his duty to bless or help those beyond his own\ncaste. It has sown poverty broadcast over the land; for it prohibits a man\nfrom engaging in any work or trade which is not prescribed by caste rules\nand customs; and thus has brought many to penury, want and famine. When\nthe caste-prescribed occupation or work is not available, the suffering is\nvery great.\n\nIt has brought stagnation to the people by restraining every man who had\nambition to move forward and improve his prospects in life. The whole\nvillage regards as conceited a young man of the outcastes who seeks to\nrise in life; they soon bring him low. Progress is impossible under the\ncaste system.\n\nIn like manner, it has fostered the pride and presumption of one class and\ndestroyed the ambition and aspiration of the other. No people on earth\ntoday are more proud than the Brahmans; none more hopelessly abject than\nthe Pariahs and other outcastes.\n\nIt has also made national unity and the spirit of fellowship impossible in\nthe land; large corporate interests are impossible for the people. The\ncastes of the community are filled with jealousy and are mutually\nantagonistic; each division having rules and ceremonies which make it\nimpossible for communion of interests with others. Many would like to see\nit removed; but the system itself has created such abjectness of feeling\namong them that they dare not come forward to stem its tide or oppose it.\n\n\n\n\n5. The Educational System.\n\n\nIgnorance still rests like a pall upon that land. According to the census\nof 1891, out of a total population of 261,840,000, 133,370,000 were males.\nOf these, 118,819,000 were analphabet. Including boys under instruction,\nonly 14,550,000 could read and write. Of the 128,470,000 females only\n740,000 could read and write or were being instructed. In other words,\nonly eleven per cent. of the males and a little more than one-half of one\nper cent. of the females were in any sense literate. In Madras, we find\nthe greatest progress; but even there eighty-five per cent. of the male\nand ninety-nine per cent. of the female population are illiterate. In\nOudh, on the other hand, corresponding figures are ninety-four and very\nnearly one hundred per cent. When it is remembered that the Brahmans, who\nconstitute only five per cent. of the total population, include seventeen\nper cent. of the literate class and more than twenty per cent. of those\nwho know English, it can be understood that the illiteracy of the common\npeople is still greater than that indicated by the above figures.\n\nConsiderable effort has been made by the government to educate this\nimmense population. It is seriously handicapped in this endeavour by want\nof funds. The State does not largely enter into the establishing of\nschools of its own; its policy being to give grants in aid to private\nbodies on the basis of results achieved. And it contents itself with the\nestablishing and conducting of relatively only a few schools of its own\nwhich shall serve as models and as a stimulus to the private aided\ninstitutions. More than three-fourths of the education of the land is thus\nconducted by private bodies which are encouraged by the government through\nits grants in aid. There still remain not a few indigenous or, so-called,\n\u201cpiall\u201d schools. Educationally, these schools are of little value, as\ntheir training is both antiquated in kind and extremely limited in\nquantity. They are interesting because they reveal to us the old\neducational methods of the land. Schools on modern lines, however, by\ncoming under government surveillance, for the purpose of receiving grants\nin aid, are conducted much more efficiently, and attain results worthy to\nbe compared with those of western lands. The chief feature of the\neducational system, controlled, examined and aided by government, is the\nemphasis given to an English training. From the second year of\ninstruction, the English language grows annually in importance in the\ncurriculum of studies. In the grammar school it becomes compulsory and in\nthe high school and college it is the sole medium of the communication of\nknowledge. The English language is emphasized also because it is the test\nfor admission even into many of the lowest of the numberless offices in\nconnection with government service; so that the study of this language of\nthe West has become to young India practically a necessity and a craze.\nPeople of the lowest conditions in life pawn and mortgage their property\nand involve themselves in terrible debts for the sake of giving their sons\nan English education.\n\nChristian missions constitute one of the principal bodies which engage in\nthe training of Hindu youth. One-ninth of all the school children of India\nare found in mission schools. This number includes 330,000 boys and nearly\n100,000 girls. In the training of girls, Protestant missions have not only\nbeen pioneers; they are also today much the most prominent and efficient\neducators of the women of the land. Their girls\u2019 schools and colleges are\nnot only the most numerous, but also the most efficiently conducted and\nthoroughly managed of all institutions for women in India. The Madras\nChristian College for boys and the Sarah Tucker Woman\u2019s College of\nTinnevelly are among the best institutions for those classes in India. The\neducational system of India culminates in the five Universities of\nCalcutta, Bombay, Madras, Allahabad and Lahore. These are not instructing,\nbut simply examining universities like the University of London. With\nthese the 140 colleges of two grades and of various degrees of efficiency,\nare affiliated. In these colleges are found 18,000 students of whom more\nthan 5,000 graduate yearly. The city of Calcutta is a city of many\ncolleges and has more college students, relative to its population, than\nalmost any city of the West.\n\nThough the masses of the people, and especially the women, are still, as\nwe have seen, grossly ignorant, yet every year encouraging progress is\nbeing made in spreading the blessings of, and in creating a taste for,\neducation. Every year natives themselves enter more largely into the\neducational work and find in it not only a living, but noble scope for\ntheir activities. Among the higher and cultured classes there is a growing\nbody of young men, besides the ambitious few from the lower classes,\ncrowding into the higher institutions of the land. It is one of the\nproblems of the day to direct the mind of this increasing army of\nuniversity graduates to other professions than the overcrowded government\nservice. There is a persistent feeling among these youth that it is the\nbusiness of State to supply them with lucrative posts upon their\ngraduation. And it is the disappointed element of this class which\nfurnishes so many of the discontented, blatant demagogues who are almost a\nmenace to the land.\n\n            [Illustration: Madura Mission Hospital For Women.]\n\nYet this educational work is one of the potent, leavening influences of\nthe country, and is helping greatly in carrying quietly forward one of the\nmightiest revolutions that have been witnessed in any land. In its train\nfollows closely the social elevation of the people. The relaxation of the\nterrible caste system, the elevation of woman and her redemption from some\nof the cruelties and injustice of the past, immediately attend that\nexpanding knowledge which results from the schools of the land.\n\nProtestant missions are pre\u00ebminent in their work of educating the\nChristian communities gathered together by them.(3) Though these\ncommunities are largely drawn from the lowest outcasts, yet they compare\nfavourably, in their educational equipment, with the highest classes. This\nis a significant indication of their present, and a bright promise for\ntheir future, position among the people of India.\n\n\n\n\n6. The Political Situation.\n\n\nIndia today is politically a subject country. Though in one sense England\ndid not directly subjugate India, it is nevertheless true that its\ninhabitants, though treated with large consideration, are today a subject\npeople\u2014ruled by a foreign nation 7,000 miles away. Hence, it might be\nexpected that political rights and privileges would not prevail there as\namong a self-governing, entirely independent, people. The existence of an\narmy of about 75,000 Britons in that land today is significant of the\nsituation and partly reveals one grip with which Great Britain holds India\nand makes it a part of her great empire. I do not wish to minimize the\nmoral power with which also, and increasingly, Great Britain draws India\nby sweet compulsion to herself; of this I shall speak later.\n\nIt should also be remembered that the genius of the Orient is not for\nself-government; in the East, people have little taste for free\ninstitutions; they have always craved, and found their greatest happiness\nand chief welfare in, a strong paternal government. The ordinary Hindu\nseeks for himself nothing higher than a government which, while not asking\nfor his opinion concerning its policy and acts, will at least dispense a\nfair modicum of justice to him and his.\n\nNotwithstanding all this, the Indian government has bestowed upon the\npeople a wonderfully large meed of power and privilege. Political progress\nin the land is one of the marvels of the past century. Before the British\nentered India that land had never enjoyed the first taste of\nrepresentative institutions. Today the query which arises in the mind of\ndisinterested persons who know and love India is, whether political rights\nand liberties have not, of late years, been conferred too rapidly upon\nthem. It should not be expected that a people who, by instinct and\nunbroken heritage, are the children of the worst kind of autocratic and\nabsolute government, should acquire, in one age or century, wisdom or\naptitude to rule themselves. The mass of Hindus love to be led and they\nfollow easily.\n\nBut there is a small and growing party of the soil who have aptly learned\nmany of the lessons taught them by the rulers. The best acquired of all\nthese lessons is that of the power of agitation and of the efficacy among\nthe Anglo-Saxon race of the cry for human rights. The only difficulty is\nthat one might suppose, from the language of some of these men that\nEngland has not yet conceded to worthy Indians any of those political\nprivileges which every Anglo-Saxon citizen demands for himself. As a\nmatter of fact, we see in the municipalities of that land a form of\npopular government such as even not all western countries enjoy. The power\nof the franchise, in the election of municipal commissioners, is vested in\nall those who are possessed of the least amount of property. Even women\nenjoy the franchise; and it is a curious fact that the natives of South\nIndia have recently protested in the newspapers against the granting of\nthis power to women, because, they say, the power is exercised only by\n\u201cdancing girls\u201d and other public characters. To those who watch carefully\nthe working of this right of municipal franchise and see how easily and\nspeedily the natives have adopted all the vices and tricks of the system,\nit does not by any means seem an unmixed good. And the hardest critics of\nthe system that I have met have been intelligent and loyal Indians who\nbelieve that this meed of self-government is fraught with evil. The\nDistrict Boards also are composed almost entirely of native gentlemen, and\nthey have large powers in the administration of the internal affairs of\nthe land. Moreover these municipal and local bodies, together, elect\nmembers for provincial legislative bodies where they enjoy recently\nenlarged powers for interpellating the government\u2014a power which, by\nexcessive use or abuse, they may soon forfeit.\n\nTo all this must be added the freedom of the press, which also has\nrecently been abused by the dissemination of disloyal and seditious\nsentiments, but which adds immensely to the powers of the people.\n\nThen the \u201cNational Congress\u201d is a peculiar institution which, while it\ngives scope to the political aspirations of many natives, adds, by its\nvery existence, to the lustre of the British Raj in the land. Just imagine\nfor a moment the existence of such a Congress under Russian rule! It is\ntrue that this Congress, which meets annually in some great city of the\nland, has no connection with government or legislative bodies and has only\nthat power and influence which inhere in its deliberations and\nresolutions. It is also true that up to the present it has given itself\nlargely to the criticism and abuse of government. By this it has alienated\nsome of its best friends. Still, even as a public censor it has doubtless\ndone good, and offers to the discontented a wholesome vent for pent up\nfeelings. It is also a remarkable gathering in its numbers of cultured men\nand illustrates one of the wonders which Great Britain has accomplished in\nthat land. To think, that out of the babel of Indian tongues there should\ngather together in one place annually some 5,000 native gentlemen to\ndiscuss questions of State, and to criticise one of the most modern of\ngovernments in the pure English accents of Addison or of Macaulay! What a\nwonderful object lesson of progress this!\n\nNor is Great Britain as remiss or as selfish as many would lead us to\nbelieve in the distribution of the loaves of office. There are only\n122,661 male Britishers in that land (including the army)\u2014one to every\n2,500 of the population. Of these, only 750 are found in the higher\noffices of government. In the Provincial Services 2,449 natives are\nemployed in high judicial and administrative posts. It is a significant\nfact that out of 114,150 appointments, carrying Rs.(4) 1,000 annually,\nninety-seven per cent, are in the hands of natives. To all offices, below\nthat of the Governor of the Province, natives are eligible. As Judges of\nthe High Court and as Members of the legislative bodies not a few Indians\nare found; as they are also in the Indian Civil Service which was so long\nexclusively filled by Anglo-Indians. It hardly appears how England can\nhold that great land to herself, as a member of her empire, with fewer of\nher own citizens than are now found at the helm. Nor does it yet appear\nthat a strong, efficient and acceptable government can be maintained there\nby a large reduction of this force. I use the word \u201cacceptable\u201d advisedly;\nand it is certainly the business of Great Britain to discover and consult\nthe wishes of the people\u2014not of the hungry office seekers\u2014in this matter.\nAfter many years of observation and of living among the people, I am\nconvinced that nine-tenths of them are prepared any day to vote in favour\nof the relative increase, and not the decrease, of the European official\nforce. The people have found them to be just and honest; they know that\nthey can be depended upon to administer justice with an even hand and that\nthey are incorruptible. In their own native officials they have no\nconfidence. They have found, alas, too often that justice is sold by them\nto the highest bidder. The \u201cmiddle men\u201d who arrange such matters are too\ncommonly known as the accompaniments of the native courts of justice. It\nis true that some native judges are above such venality. But I know how\ngeneral is the want of native confidence in native officials. Many a time\nhave I been importuned to use my influence to have cases transferred from\nthe jurisdiction of the native to the Englishman. And the reason\ninvariably given is that \u201cThe white man will not accept bribes and will\ngive justice.\u201d Indeed, it may be said that the chief difficulty which\nconfronts the Government in its great work is that of saving the people\nfrom low, mercenary and unprincipled native officials\u2014especially those of\nthe lower and lowest grades.\n\nThe police department is corrupt to the core. The common people dread the\npoliceman as they do the highwayman; for the constable rarely touches a\ncase without making money out of the transaction; and he is expert in\nmanufacturing cases.\n\nWhat India needs today, above all else, is an honest, faithful, efficient\nclass of officials. The presence of a few English dignitaries found there\nis worth ten times its cost to the land, purifying and toning up the\nservice.\n\nConsidering the political situation as a whole, I confidently maintain\nthat the people of India enjoy political rights and privileges quite as\nextensively as they are prepared wisely to exercise them. No people\nanywhere enjoy larger privileges, relative to their ability to use them\nwisely; and no subject people on earth have ever been treated with larger\nconsideration by their conquerors, or have been more faithfully trained to\nenter upon an ever increasing sphere of opportunity and of\nself-government. The political situation in India today\u2014in the privileges\nand rights which the people enjoy\u2014is a marvellous testimony to the wisdom\nand unselfishness of Great Britain in her Indian rule.\n\n\n\n\n7. The Government of India.\n\n\nThe government of India is perhaps the most elaborate in the world; the\nhighest powers of statesmanship have been manifested by the successive\nrulers during more than a century in the development of a State which is\nextraordinary no less in the complication of its provisions and details\nthan in the wise adaptation of human laws to meet the multitudinous\nexigencies of this great conglomeration of peoples. It should also be\nremembered that British statesmen in their work of legislation in India,\nand in their coordination of laws, have not only had to consider the\nmanifold character of the different portions of the population of the\nland; what is more difficult still, they have been compelled to ingratiate\nthemselves with the Indians by conserving, so far as possible, those\nmyriads of ancient laws and customs which obtain there. The laws of Manu\nand of other writers of twenty-five centuries ago have been handed down by\nthis people through the ages and have accumulated authority and reverence\nwith increasing time, until today all Hindus regard them as divinely given\nand as possessing irresistible claim upon them for all time. So that,\nwhile it may be said on the one hand that the laws of India are largely\nbuilt upon western foundations, and savour of Christian principles and\nmodern ideas; it should also be remembered, on the other hand, that the\n_dicta_ of ancient Hindu lawgivers find a large place in the legal codes\nof that land.\n\nYea, even more than this is true. There are a host of caste rules and\ncustoms which have no further sanction than the fact that they have become\ncustoms, and yet which have been dignified with the authority of law. This\nis of course due chiefly to the fact that most customs in India have a\nreligious basis and interpretation, and therefore draw to themselves that\nsanctity and claim which belong to things religious. Thus, for instance,\nevery caste in South India has its own marriage customs. Most of these are\nhighly incongruous with modern ideas and rights, and most of them\nabsolutely disregard the rights of the wife. And yet it has been deemed\nwise by the State to conserve and to give the sanction of law to these\nmultitudinous marriage customs which are enough in themselves to\nconstitute an extensive code.\n\nSome conception of the magnitude of the work carried on by the Indian\nGovernment may be gathered from the following description by Bishop\nThoburn:\u2014\u201cWith a population greater than that of the five great powers of\nEurope put together; with a revenue exceeding $350,000,000; with a foreign\ncommerce worth $768,000,000 annually; with a standing army 230,000 strong,\nmore than two-thirds of which are composed of native soldiers; with a\ndrilled police force of more than 150,000 men; with a code of laws in many\nrespects superior to those found on the statute books of European\ncountries; and with courts of justice as impartial and as faithfully\nconducted as any to be found in the world, India may well claim a place\namong the great empires of the present era.\u201d\n\nThe British Government has respected the possessions of native chiefs in\nwhose hands still remain about one-third of the country. But these so\ncalled native territories are so largely under English control and\nguidance that we may well regard them as essentially a part of the British\nDomain.\n\nThe Secretary of State for India has practically the control of British\nIndian affairs. He, with his council in London, has the final word in\nIndian matters of paramount importance. Nevertheless, the Indian\nGovernment finds this power rarely antagonistic in matters whereon it has\nfirmly made up its mind.\n\nThe British possessions in India are distributed into twelve governments,\neach separately organized and yet all of them constituting parts of the\nSupreme Government of India. This Supreme Government is administered by a\nGovernor-General or Viceroy with whom is associated a Council of six\nmembers. This Council constitutes the Viceroy\u2019s Cabinet and each one has\ncharge of a separate department of the government.\n\nOf the Provincial Governments of India, the principal ones are the\nProvince of Bengal with 71,000,000, under a Lieutenant-Governor; United\nProvinces of Agra and Oudh, with a population of 47,000,000, under a\nLieutenant-Governor; Presidency of Madras, with 35,500,000, under a\nGovernor; Presidency of Bombay, with 18,800,000, under a Governor; and the\nprovince of Punjab, with 20,800,000, under a Lieutenant-Governor.\n\nThe unit of government in India is the District. The whole of India is\ndivided into 235 Districts. At the head of a District is placed an officer\nknown as Collector, Senior Magistrate, or Deputy Commissioner, who is\npractically ruler of that division. He is the administrative\nrepresentative of the government. In each District there is also a\nDistrict Judge and a few other officers at the head of various\ndepartments. These Districts vary in size and population, covering areas\nfrom 14,000 to 1,000 square miles, and containing from 3,000,000 to\n250,000 population. The average population of a District is 800,000.\nNothing impresses the careful observer more than the large amount of\nresponsibility and the multifarious duties which devolve upon these\nDistrict officers. During recent years, however, authority has been\nwithheld increasingly from Collectors and centralized in the Provincial\nGovernments; for at the head of every Province also there is a government\npatterned somewhat after the Supreme Government in Calcutta.\n\n                 [Illustration: Maharajah Of Travancore.]\n\n                     [Illustration: Rajah Of Ramnad.]\n\nNo greater mistake can be made than to think that India is either crudely\nor poorly governed. Owing to the great poverty of the land it is extremely\ndifficult to maintain so costly and elaborate a r\u00e9gime as the present one;\nand many claim that for the support of so expensive a luxury the people\nare taxed beyond their ability and resources. The taxation imposed by a\ngovernment on its people is rightly considered, both in its extent and\ncharacter, as a measure of the wisdom of the State. The critics of the\nIndian government are prone to dwell upon the alleged injustice of its\ntaxes. It is, however, difficult to understand why this matter should be\npressed unless it be on the ground, apparently maintained, that the\npoverty of the people should exempt them from _any_ of the burdens of\ntaxation\u2014a theory beautifully generous to the people but fatal to the\nmaintenance of any government. The salt tax does certainly seem cruel in\nits severe pressure upon the very poor; and yet it is the only one whereby\nthis very large part of the community can be reached at all, and made to\ncontribute its mite to the State which protects it.\n\nComparing present taxes with those of the past, we should certainly expect\nheavier imposts now, because the government furnishes today, as an\nequivalent of protection and blessing, infinitely more than former\ndynasties did. And yet Sir W. Hunter has ably shown from a comparison of\ntaxes levied by the present government and by the Moghul government that\nthe modern Hindu is vastly better off than was his ancestor of two and\nthree centuries ago. Today, five and one half per cent. is collected in\nland tax; under the Moghul rule they had to pay from thirty-three per\ncent. to fifty per cent. Besides this, the Mohammedan imposed various\nother taxes, many of them upon non-Mohammedans as a religious penalty. Nor\nwere the Hindu governments one whit better off; and even today the native\nstates are much harder upon the people than is the British Raj.\n\nThe famine commission is the highest authority on the subject. In its\nexhaustive report of 1880 it writes:\u2014\u201cIn the majority of native\ngovernments the revenue officer takes all he can get, and would take\ntreble the revenue we should, if he were strong enough to exact it.\u201d\n\nIf we pursue the comparison to that of European peoples, Indian taxation\nwould seem but a trifle. Placing even English taxes side by side with\nIndia\u2019s, we shall find instruction. The average income in the United\nKingdom is \u00a340, while the tax assessed is 44_s_, or five and one-half per\ncent. In India, alas, the average income is only 36_s_. But then the tax\nis only 1_s_, 9_d_ per capita which is a trifle smaller per capita than\nthat for England. Here again we are impressed with the reasonableness of\nthe tax imposed.\n\nThe opium and liquor traffic in India is one which has drawn forth much\ncriticism. From the moral standpoint the critics have a very strong case.\nThe evil which the opium traffic of India has inflicted upon China\u2014against\nher will too\u2014has been enormous. The large army of opium eaters which it\nhas created, only to destroy with a terrible death, has long been an\nargument to which no nation of England\u2019s position and pretensions can\nrender satisfactory reply.\n\nIn like manner, the State monopoly of the drink traffic is neither\nhonourable nor wise. It not only gives unwonted and unwarrantable dignity\nto a disreputable business, it also involves the State in the business of\nmaking a large army of drunkards in the land. To take up a traffic like\nthis, for the revenue there is in it, is to trifle with the higher\ninterests of the subjects and to become instrumental in the corruption and\nmisery of the people whom it is bound to protect. It is questionable\nwhether any other civilized government has involved itself in such\nunworthy means of creating a revenue. Doubtless, opium and drink\nrepresent, morally, the weakest part of this government. Of course, the\nall important defense lies in the revenue thus acquired. These two items\nof revenue flow more easily than any others into the depleted treasury of\nState. To give these up in behalf of what is termed sentiment, would\nnecessitate the imposition of other heavy taxes. This is an aspect of the\nquestion which too easily silences and secures the acquiescence of the\npeople of India. But, its evil is great and is spreading.\n\nThe drink curse is rapidly becoming one of the trying problems of India.\nIt was slanderously remarked some years ago that if the English then left\nthat country the only monuments left behind of their life would have been\nbroken whiskey bottles! There is indeed ground today for the fear that if\nEngland were to abandon the land, it would leave, as the saddest monument\nof its past, an immensely increasing army of drinkers; and this evil is\nfurther enhanced by the mean ideal of life which the ordinary Englishman\nsets before Hindus by his passion for the cup. Half a century ago an\nEnglishman died while on duty in the jungles in South India, and his body\nwas there buried in the wilderness. The natives soon erected a shrine over\nhis grave and, for a long time, offered, in true sobriety, whiskey and\ncheroots to appease his thirsty and unsatisfied spirit! It is not strange\nthat the natives should recognize a continuity of spirit-taste in the here\nand the hereafter of the Sahib!\n\nThe recent utterance of the Archbishop of Canterbury on this subject\nshould be heeded by the State. \u201cThe true principle of morals,\u201d he says,\n\u201cis to have nothing whatever to do with that which is shown to be\nnecessarily productive of evil. The English nation caused the opium evil\nin China and we are responsible for that evil. I also protest against the\nprinciple of raising revenue by temptations to evil. It might be right for\na government to pause before interfering with private trade; but, in this\ncase we ourselves are carrying on the evil trade. Such a thing on the part\nof a great government is, I think, without a parallel in the whole world.\u201d\n\nThe Army in India is a necessary but great evil in the expense which it\ninvolves to the government, no less than in the evil life which it leads\namong, and the evil example which it sets, the native community. Its\ninfluence is deplorable. It is the most vulnerable to attack of all\ndepartments of government, both on the score of expense and character.\n\u201cTommy Atkins\u201d is the greatest trial to the Hindu, and brutally rides\nrough-shod over all his sensibilities. If he could only be left at home\nwith safety to British interests in the land, it would help largely to\nimprove the situation between the two races. It would also save England\nfrom the terrible disgrace of immorality which the army is instrumental in\ncarrying as a plague wherever it goes. Awful indeed is the prevalence of\nthe social vice in the native community itself; but the English Army\nspreads the demoralization in a most disgraceful way.\n\nConsidering the government as a whole, then, it is wonderful, both in the\nextent of its operation and in its numberless activities and agencies. Its\npurpose is generally noble, and its wisdom, both in the framing of laws\nand in general administration, has been most marked. The occasion of most\nof its failings and weaknesses is the poverty of the people whereby the\ngovernment has, at times, been driven to subterfuges to avoid bankruptcy.\n\n\n\n\n8. The Mission of Great Britain in India.\n\n\nThe British people are only today beginning to realize fully the wonderful\nmission which, under God\u2019s providence, they are called to fulfill in that\ngreat land of the Vedas. For nearly a century the commercial motive was\nnot only paramount but was practically the only motive which impelled the\nAnglo-Saxon in his contact with India. Everything Indian had value in his\neyes in proportion as it added to his revenues. For many years he excluded\nthe Missionary of the Cross from his domains in the East, lest that good\nman should, by teaching the people, disturb the revenue of the Honourable\nEast India Company. As the domains of this great company extended and its\npowers multiplied, the English nation gradually came to realize their own\nresponsibility as a people to the land; and the Indians thus were brought\nwithin their influence. This contact and communion of interests became to\nthem the voice of responsibility and of obligation to impart their\nblessings to them as well as to take their material resources from them.\nThe dawn of the new altruistic sense towards its subject people, though\nlong deferred, rapidly grew into full daylight; and Great Britain today\nfeels, as no country has felt before, its privilege and duty to bestow\nupon its dependency in the East the highest and best which it can furnish.\n\nThe difficulty of England\u2019s mission in India is greatly enhanced by the\ndifference which amounts almost to a contrast between her own people and\nthe inhabitants of India. The striking difference of type and character\nexisting between the Anglo-Saxon and the Hindu facilitates all sorts of\nmisunderstanding between them, and aids perceptibly in making the path of\nthe British Raj a very thorny one in the land. It would perhaps be\nimpossible to find two peoples who are farther removed from each other in\ntemperament and training\u2014whose nature and antecedents are more\nirreconcilable at all points. While the Anglo-Indian is bold, frank and\njust, even to harshness, the Hindu is subtle, affable, practiced to\ndissimulation, with ready susceptibilities to temporize and to barter\njustice for expediency. On the one side, we see the Westerner haughty,\nunyielding and unwilling to conciliate; on the other we behold the\nOriental willing to be trampled upon when it seems necessary, and to smile\nwith apparent gratitude under the process; but, withal, possessed of a\nlarge inheritance of ineradicable prejudices, which make a contact with\nhis too domineering Western lord an unceasing trial to him.\n\nThere is another point at which the two races are antipodal. The Briton is\nprogressive to the core. He only needs to be assured that a certain course\nis right and for the best interests of the community, in order to adopt\nit. His face ever looks upward and his ambition is ever to go forward.\nBut, in India he lives among a race whose chief divinity is custom and the\ngist of whose decalogue is, \u201cHold fast to the past.\u201d As they approach a\nproposed enterprise their first and last question concerning it is not\nwhether it is right and best, but whether it is in a line with the past\nand would be approved by their ancestors. The whole country has been\nanchored for the last twenty-five centuries to a code of social laws and\ncustoms which are more unyielding than the laws of the Medes and Persians.\nWith them conservatism is the acme of piety and propriety. All progress\nhas been practically forced upon the country from without, and in the\nteeth of their most sacred institutions and their most earnest\nprotestation and opposition. Thus the great difference between the two\npeoples has been a serious hindrance to the realization of British designs\nin that land.\n\nNotwithstanding all this, Great Britain has patiently, persistently and\ndoggedly carried on her work and pursued her highest ideals for India.\n\nAnd what have been the ideals and blessings which she is seeking to\nachieve for that great land?\n\nThe first is that of Western culture and civilization. In these two\nparticulars, England has introduced into India a perpetual conflict.\nWestern ideas, processes of thought, points of aspect and ideals of beauty\nand of life have been gradually supplanting the very different ones of the\nEast. Western life in India today is a constant challenge to the people to\nstudy, admire and appropriate its many features of thought and conduct;\nand India is not insensible to this call. The railroads and hospitals, the\nschools and sanitary projects which have been introduced by the West into\nthat land are markedly transforming the sentiment and the life of the\npeople. The contrast between the people of India today and of a century\nago is all but complete in this respect. While the educational\ninstitutions of the land are revolutionizing the thought, the more\nmaterial elements of civilization are transforming the outer life of the\npeople.\n\nEngland also is imparting to India the Anglo-Saxon conception of right, of\nlaw and of justice. In order to know how widely apart the East and West\nwere in this respect, one should live in India a few years. The idea of\nequal rights to all the people, of freedom of speech, of liberty of\nconscience and of other similar rights which are regarded as elementary\nand fundamental in the West, was all but foreign to India when England\nestablished her power there. That the government itself should treat high\nand low, the poor ryot and the wealthy rajah, the ignorant Pariah and the\ncultured Brahman as one in their claim for right and protection, for\njustice and for favour, seemed to the Hindu absurd. It is one of the best\ncommentaries on British justice and administration in India, that the\npeople have now come not only to regard it with satisfaction, but also as\nan indispensable condition of their life.\n\nThe blessings of peace also are among the greatest which England has\nconferred upon India. \u201cPax Britanica\u201d is equally known and loved today in\nIndia and in the British Isles. From time immemorial India had been torn\nasunder, not only by internecine wars, but also by numerous attacks from\nthe peoples of other countries. India has always been a prey both to the\ndecimating wars of her own unjust and ambitious tyrants, and mutually\nantagonistic castes and tribes; she has also been the easy victim of any\nhardy, enlightened, ambitious people who sought to invade her. The\npresence of Great Britain in India has been a voice commanding peace to\nits troubled and exhausted people. With a strong hand she has put down\ninjustice of tribe against tribe and made impossible inter-tribal wars and\nraids. She has brought rest such as India never before enjoyed and has\ngiven safety to the most harmless and innocent classes, as she has peace\nto the most warlike and aggressive in the land. This great land of the\nEast has thus had opportunities to grow and to develop in many of the most\nessential characteristics of individual and national progress. These\nblessings would have been impossible apart from the peace which Great\nBritain assured and wrought out for the land.\n\nIn connection with this we need to emphasize the various forms of progress\nwhich are an essential part of British blessing to India. We have seen\nthat India was a stagnant land, that its people were pre\u00ebminently\nunprogressive and ultra-conservative. England has helped her to break down\nmany of these barriers of the past. Though India is obstinately slow in\nher acceptance of the spirit and blessings of progress, England has thrust\nupon her many of the conditions, and compelled her to enter into some of\nthe paths of progress which will bring inestimable benefits into her life.\n\nIn like manner, the mission of England has been and is a religious one.\nHer Majesty, Queen Victoria, upon assuming authority in the land, issued a\nproclamation to the effect that under her reign all the inhabitants of\nIndia should enjoy perfect right to worship as they please and whom they\nplease. It is true that too many of the representatives of the British\nGovernment in India today are so impressed with the importance of a\ngovernment that is absolutely neutral in religious matters, that they have\nboth ceased themselves to manifest any religious preference in their life\nand are scrupulously careful to see to it that Christians get just a\nlittle less of right and of protection than the adherents of other faiths.\nThis they consider to be true altruism added to breadth of religious\nsentiment!\n\nNotwithstanding this, nothing is more manifest in India today than that\nthe very fact of the rulers of the land being nominally Christians adds to\nthe prestige of Christianity in the land. The people naturally come to\nregard it as the State religion. What is more significant, however, is the\nfact that, at the basis of modern laws in that land and of the multiplying\ninstitutions of the country, distinctively Christian principles are\nuniversally recognized. Should the government of India resolve to be\n_absolutely_ neutral in all religious matters, it would have to renounce\nthose laws and institutions which have furnished it with all its success\nin the land and which today crown its efforts with largest usefulness. To\nthe government, and unconsciously to the masses of the people, Christian\nthought and truth and method necessarily characterize most of the laws,\ninstitutions and processes of India. They are all a part of the work of\nGreat Britain in that land and such a part as she could not dispense with\nif she would. It is a part of her unconscious Christian heritage.\n\nThus the work of Great Britain in India has been attended with a large\ndegree of success; it has lifted the land out of a condition of\nsemi-savagery and placed it among the civilized nations of the world. It\nhas cut it asunder from its anchorage to the past and brought it almost\nabreast of the times. There is still much to be done and much to be\ndesired. We shall be glad to see the day when radical steps in progress\nshall be taken voluntarily by the people and through the initiative of\ntheir own leaders, rather than that they should wait to have them thrust\nupon them, as in the past, by the progressiveness of the foreigner among\nthem.\n\nThe people, on the whole, appreciate the blessings of British supremacy in\nthe land. If they are not demonstratively loyal to the government, they\ncertainly do rest satisfied in the progress which has been achieved for\nthem.\n\nThe well known political leader of Bengal, Babu Surendra Nath Banerji,\nrecently expressed, in the following eloquent words, the sentiment of the\nmost thoughtful and influential natives of the country.\n\n\u201cOur allegiance to the British rule,\u201d he says, \u201cis based upon the highest\nconsiderations of practical expediency. As a representative of the\neducated community of India\u2014and I am entitled to speak on their behalf and\nin their name,\u2014I may say that we regard British rule in India as a\ndispensation of Divine Providence. England is here for the highest and the\nnoblest purposes of history. She is here to rejuvenate an ancient people,\nto infuse into them the vigour, the virility and the robustness of the\nWest, and so pay off the long-standing debt, accumulating since the\nmorning of the world, which the West owes to the East. We are anxious for\nthe permanence of British rule in India, not only as a guarantee for\nstability and order, but because with it are bound up the best prospects\nof our political advancement. To the English people has been entrusted in\nthe Councils of Providence the high function of teaching the nations of\nthe earth the great lesson of constitutional liberty, of securing the ends\nof stable government, largely tempered by popular freedom. This glorious\nwork has been nobly begun in India. It has been resolutely carried on by a\nsuccession of illustrious Anglo-Indian statesmen whose names are enshrined\nin our grateful recollections. Marvellous as have been the industrial\nachievements of the Victorian era in India, they sink into insignificance\nwhen compared with the great moral trophies which distinguish that epoch.\nRoads have been constructed; rivers have been spanned; telegraph and\nrailway lines have been laid down; time and space have been annihilated;\nNature and the appliances of Nature have been made to minister to the\nwants of man. But these are nothing when compared to the bold, decisive,\nstatesmanlike measures which have been taken in hand for the intellectual,\nthe moral and the political regeneration of my countrymen. Under English\ninfluences the torpor of ages has been dissipated; the pulsations of a new\nlife have been communicated to the people; an inspiriting sense of public\nduty has been evolved, the spirit of curiosity has been stirred and a\nmoral revolution, the most momentous in our annals, culminating in the\ntransformation of national ideals and aspirations, has been brought\nabout.\u201d\n\nGreat Britain has not been, and is not now, without failings in her work\nin India; and her line of progress is studded with many errors. But she\nhas been faithful to her trust and has carried it out in no selfish way.\nThe warm and deep loyalty of India bears testimony to this; for native\nsentiment everywhere reveals marked appreciation.\n\n\n\n\n\n                               Chapter II.\n\n\nTHE RELIGIONS OF INDIA.\n\n\nIndia is the mother of religions. No other land has been so prolific in\nreligious thought or has founded faiths which have commanded the\nallegiance of so large a portion of the human race. While the Aryans of\nthe West have been content to borrow their faith from the Hebrews;\nIndo-Aryans have produced the most wonderful and mighty ethnic religion\n(Brahmanism) and also one of the three great missionary religions of the\nworld (Buddhism). A third of the human race today cling with devotion to\nthese two products of the fertility of the mind, and the spirituality of\nthe heart, of India.\n\nIndia\u2019s toleration for other religions has been marked. For twelve\ncenturies she has been the asylum of Zoroastrianism. Nearly nine-tenths of\nthe followers of that ancient cult of Persia found and still enjoy a\nhospitable home in India. There are more of the narrow, bigoted followers\nof Mohammed among these tolerant people than are found in any other\nland\u2014even in the wide domains of the Sultan. Christians also have lived,\npractically unmolested, in this great land almost from Apostolic days.\n\nThus not a few of the great Faiths of the world are at present\nrepresented, and are struggling either for existence or dominance, in the\nland of the Vedas.\n\nThe principal faiths of the land, with their adherents, were as follows,\naccording to census of 1891:\n\nHindu          207,731,727\nSikh             1,907,838\nJain             1,416,638\nBuddhist(5)      7,131,361\nParsee              89,904\nMohammedan      57,231,164\nJewish              17,000\nChristian(6)     2,284,000\n\nLet us consider these faiths briefly. It will be seen that Christianity\nhas, as its followers, only one per cent. of the whole population of the\nland.\n\n\n\n\n(_a_) Judaism.\n\n\nThe Jewish Community in India numbers only 17,000; these are found mostly\nin Bombay and Poonah. Perhaps the most interesting colony of them is that\non the west coast in Cochin. I had the pleasure of visiting them in 1897.\nThere are 1,500 of them divided into two sections\u2014the White, and the Black\nJews. There is a marked racial difference between the two. The Blacks were\noriginally the slaves of the Whites as is shown by their historical\ndocuments. It is not known when the Whites came to India. Some think that\nthey fled there during the Jewish exile. More likely they came upon the\ndispersion during the first century of our era. The purity of their blood\nand the remarkable fairness of their complexion indicate that the\nsettlement has been from time to time reenforced from northwestern\ncountries. They are an exceedingly conservative people; and in their two\nsynagogues, they conduct their worship perhaps more like the Jews of\ntwenty centuries ago than do any other representatives of that race today.\nThe day-school connected with the White Synagogue closely resembles the\nlittle school which our Lord attended at Nazareth.\n\n\n\n\n(_b_) Mohammedanism.\n\n\nAbout one-fifth of the whole population of that land is connected with the\nreligion of the great prophet of Arabia. This is a number largely in\nexcess of the whole Mohammedan population of Turkey. It is very suggestive\nthat this faith finds larger growth under the peaceable protection of the\nIndian, than under the semi-barbarism of the Moslem, government.\n\nThis religion was carried into India in 711 A. D. at the point of the\nsword; and its establishment and success for centuries was owing to the\nsame method. This community is not evenly distributed all over India; for,\nmore than one-third of it is found in Bengal alone, where it furnishes the\nmajority of the population. More than one-half of the adherents of this\nfaith in India are converts from Hinduism. These were gathered in former\ncenturies when the Mohammedan power was dominant, and when to be a member\nof any other faith than Islam was regarded as a disability. The\nMohammedans of the country are, on the whole, physically more sturdy and\nvigorous than their neighbours. Government, in its treatment of the\npeople, has to conciliate and regard with favour this class more than the\nHindus who are four times their number. They possess a great deal of\nreligious bigotry which is intrenched behind their dense ignorance. There\nis a no more ignorant element than this in the population of India; only\nsix per cent. of the men are able to read and hardly any of the women; and\nthey seem, even today, to have a positive aversion to the schoolhouse.\nMohammedanism had, during the days of its dominance, considerable\ninfluence in the land; but it did very little to improve the material,\nmoral or religious condition of the people; and it is a significant fact\nthat, comparing today the adherents of Islam in India, with those of\nHinduism, the latter are found not inferior in life, morals and\naspirations to the followers of the prophet.\n\nThe converts gathered from Mohammedanism by Christianity are few, though\nnot so few as ordinarily represented. In North India encouraging success\nhas been achieved by missions for this class. But in South India, where\ntheir numbers are fewer, efforts in their behalf have not been so well\norganised and have produced smaller results. It is a hard task to reach\nand to move this class, owing not only to the important truth of\nmonotheism, which they hold with great enthusiasm, but also because of the\nsupreme ignorance which blinds them equally to the weakness of their own,\nand to the excellence of the Christian, faith.\n\n\n\n\n(_c_) Parseeism.\n\n\nThis faith has had adherents in India for eleven centuries. Driven out by\nMohammedanism from their home in Persia, the Parsees found refuge in\nIndia. There are only 100,000 of these followers of Zoroaster in the\nworld. 90,000 of them are in India; and nearly all of these reside in\nBombay and its vicinity. Their faith, Zoroastrianism, is the purest of\nethnic religions. It has preserved its ancient integrity and high tone\nmuch better than its sister faith, Brahmanism. Among the members of this\nreligion are found men possessed of great enterprise, much wealth, the\nspirit of progress and of philanthropy and culture. They give high honour\nand position to their women, and in all matters of civilization are\nconsiderably in advance of even the best class of Hindus.\n\nThis religion, though from the same source with Brahmanism, has\nfundamental differences of doctrine from that faith. None is more marked\nor significant than its Dualism as contrasted with the Pantheism of its\nsister faith. The problem of the origin of evil has found these two\ndiverse interpretations and these have had a large influence in shaping\nthe characters, respectively, of these two great ethnic religions.\n\nBesides the far-off common source of these two religions, indicated by the\nearliest names and character of their deities, there is hardly any bond of\nfellowship in doctrine, worship or observance between the fire worshipping\nParsee and the Hindu idolater. And though these Parsees have, for more\nthan a millennium, made India their home, they have kept themselves apart\nfrom the people of the land and are still as truly foreigners in the land\nof their adoption as are the English residents.\n\n\n\n\n(_d_) Buddhism.\n\n\nThis religion is a child of India; its founder, Gautama, was the product\nof that land, and, next to our Lord Himself, is the greatest among the\nfounders of religions. Buddhism arose as a reaction, twenty-five centuries\nago, against the excesses of Brahmanism. It flourished wonderfully for a\nfew centuries, and at the time when Christ was on earth, had gained\nsupremacy over the old faith and had become the State religion in India.\nOwing to the Brahmanic revival, in the eighth century of our era, Buddhism\nwas in its turn, driven out of the land, and has found refuge in Ceylon\nand in more eastern countries from that time until the present. Since then\nit has been almost entirely without followers in India proper. Of the\nBritish India possessions Burma is the only place where it is the popular\nfaith today.\n\nStill it is not without much influence in the land of its birth. For,\nBrahmanism overcame its rival faith in India only by adopting some of its\nmost fundamental contentions and teachings. Indeed, modern Hinduism is\nlargely a blending of the Brahmanism of old with its supplanter, Buddhism.\nThe abundant sacrifices which Brahmanism offered were entirely abolished\nin deference to Buddhistic sensibilities. The doctrine of transmigration,\nthrough Buddhism, received new emphasis; and kindness to all living\ncreatures was extolled to a supreme virtue. As a climax to this attitude\nof conciliation Hinduism finally adopted the Buddha as the ninth\nincarnation of Vishnu. Thus, by the irony of history, Gautama, the Buddha,\nfound a place in the pantheon of the religion which he gave his life to\noverthrow; and today many of the leading aspects of the life and teaching\nof the Hindus may be traced, either in source or in emphasis, to his\nreligion.\n\n\n\n\n(_e_) Jainism.\n\n\nThis religion is an offshoot, or the India remnant, of Buddhism. It\nperhaps represents that element among the followers of the Buddha who\ndeclined to be absorbed into the revived and transformed Brahmanic faith.\nThrough the many centuries of their existence as a sect they have spurned\nevery approach of the Brahmans and have largely stood for Buddhistic\nteaching and observances. They have differed little from Buddhists in\ntheir beliefs; for they deny the authority of the Hindu Vedas, disregard\nsacrifices, cultivate a high morality, believe strongly in transmigration\nand reverence life in all its forms. And yet, strangely enough, many of\nthe priests of their temples are Brahmans and they place Hindu idols close\nto their shrines. They differ from the Buddhists chiefly in their objects\nof worship and in their ritual. They have a mythology of their own\u2014a\nmythology of saints rather than of gods. These saints, or \u201cJaina,\u201d (the\n\u201cvictorious ones\u201d\u2014those who have attained perfection through self-victory\nand discipline) are worshipped, and furnish an inspiration to all the\ndevotees of that faith.\n\nThe Jains, like the Parsees, are found mostly in Bombay and are a wealthy\ncommunity, usually engaged in banking and commerce. They are noted for\ntheir charity, and their philanthropy is largely directed towards helping\nthe poor among them and for maintaining hospitals for animals.\n\n            [Illustration: Temple Of Buddha\u2019s Tooth, Ceylon.]\n\n            [Illustration: Oldest Relics Of Buddhism, Ceylon.]\n\n\n\n\n(_f_) Sikhism.\n\n\nThis religion, if we may so denominate it, was founded by Nanak Shah in\nthe fifteenth century. Nanak Shah was apparently an admirer, if not a\nfollower, of Kabir, the Hindu reformer who established a sect which was\nessentially a compromise between Hinduism and Mohammedanism. This is the\nchief characteristic of Sikhism. It eschewed the polytheism and idolatry\nof Hinduism. It taught the unity of the Godhead, abolished caste, and\nenforced a high type of morality. It has, however, subsequently fallen\nunder the blighting influence of surrounding Hinduism and has lost much of\nits distinctive excellence. So that, according to the census report of\n1891, \u201cdistinction between Sikhs and the rest of the Brahmanic community\nis mainly ritualistic.... The only trustworthy method of distinguishing\nthis creed was to ask if the person in question repudiated the services of\nthe barber and the tobacconist; for the precepts most strictly enforced\nnowadays (by the Sikhs) are that the hair of the head and face must never\nbe cut, and that smoking is a habit to be avoided.\u201d\n\nHowever manifestly the Sikh religion is going the common way of all the\nnew faiths and religious revolts of India\u2014the way of reabsorption into\nHinduism\u2014it has done much to create and foster a strong national feeling.\nSikhs were cruelly persecuted by the then ruling Mohammedans. But the\noverthrow of the Moghul Empire gave the Sikhs territorial power and they\npossessed the only remaining political organization in the Punjab. So\nthat, at the advent of the British, the Sikhs were a mighty power to be\ndealt with. They became the great power of North India; and during the\nIndian mutiny their loyalty to the British Raj was its salvation. At\npresent the Sikh nation, warlike and valiant as ever, furnishes, perhaps,\nthe most stalwart and invincible contingent for the Indian Army.\n\n\n\n\n(_g_) Hinduism.\n\n\nThis is the religion of three-fourths of all the inhabitants of India and\nof nine-tenths of all those who are there reached by missionaries.\n\nWhat is Hinduism? It is a mixture of Brahmanism, Buddhism and\nDevil-worship. As we have seen, the supplanting faith of Buddha was\nfinally absorbed, so far as India was concerned, into the old faith. When,\nlater on, the Brahmans moved towards the southern part of the peninsula\nthey entered the region occupied by, and largely given over to,\ndemonolatry. According to its wont Brahmanism, as modified by Buddhism,\nsought not to overthrow the primitive cult of the people, but to absorb\nit. Thus, in South India today, more than three-fourths of the people are\ndevil worshippers. And yet, with their demons, they have been accepted\ninto the higher faith of the Aryan; and, according to their mood and\npreference, give themselves to the worship of Hindu gods or village\ndemons. Worshipping in pure Hindu temples is to that people but a pastime,\na mere holiday diversion; while the appeasing of the demons at their\nvillage shrines and under old trees in their hamlets is the most serious\nconcern of their life. And yet all of them are regarded, and rightly\nregarded, as Hindus. Indeed, in the Hinduism of today, especially as found\nin South India, can be found living amicably together and without any\napparent sense of incongruity or conflict the lowest type of fetishism, an\nardent devil-worship, an engrossing ceremonialism, a worship of the higher\nBrahmanical deities, a thoroughgoing pantheism and a pure theism. I have\nwitnessed in our district, side by side, a hideous fetish, a gross idol of\na local demon, an image of Vishnu who is the best of Brahmanical gods,\nwhile in an adjacent hamlet lived families who belonged to none of these\ncults but who gave themselves to a belief in, and practice of, a vague\ntheism which is farther removed from the fetishism of their neighbours\nthan is their religion from the highest type of Christian teaching.\n\nThus Hinduism may be viewed as an immense cloth of many colours; which\ncolours have been patched together without any reference to harmony or\nconsistency. In other words, that religion is a big mass of mutually\ninconsistent and undigested beliefs, practices and ceremonies. It has not\nonly mutually antagonistic philosophies, it has also three different ways\nof salvation, 330,000,000 gods and as many laws and customs which, though\nbinding as the laws of the Medes and Persians, are nevertheless,\nabsolutely wanting in consistency and in unity of purpose and teaching. In\nthe words of Sir Alfred Lyall,\u2014\u201cThe general character of Indian religion\nis that it is unlimited and comprehensive, up to the point of confusion;\nit is a boundless sea of divine beliefs and practices; it encourages the\nworship of innumerable gods by an infinite variety of rites; it permits\nevery doctrine to be taught, every kind of mystery to be imagined, any\nsort of theory to be held as to the inner nature and visible operation of\nthe divine power.\u201d\n\nIt has been the wont of Brahmanism not to directly antagonize and\noverthrow the old and the opposing cults, but rather to absorb them. Note\nhere its fundamental contrast with Christianity. It meets its rival with a\nsmile of appreciation, then seeks to fraternize with it, after which it\napproves and appropriates and finally absorbs it.\n\nIn the Madura District of South India, where I have lived, the Brahmans,\nupon their first arrival, found all the people given to the worship of\ntheir village demons. They said to them, practically,\u2014\u201cWe do not wish to\ndeprive you of your devil shrines and images and worship. We will take the\nleading demons which you worship and marry them to our great gods and then\ngive to them a place in our pantheon and a part in our worship. Come ye\nalso with them and we will welcome you into our temples and faith.\u201d Thus\n\u201cMeenatchi,\u201d the old and the principal demoness of the primitive cult of\nthat region, was married to the great god Siva and became the presiding\ngoddess of the great Hindu temple of Madura; and all her old worshippers\nfollowed her into the new faith of Hinduism. So all those people are\nHindus today. And yet they have not abated one jot of their interest in\nand practice of their demonolatry.\n\nThat which may be regarded as the more strictly Brahmanical development\nand manifestation of Hinduism is divided, at present, into two great\ncults. These are Saivism, or the worship of Siva, and Vaishnavism, or the\nworship of Vishnu. These two cults, while not mutually antagonistic, are\nnevertheless entirely separate\u2014their devotees, respectively, being\nsatisfied with their own god and his incarnation and manifestations.\n\nThe first god of the Hindu triad (Brahma, Vishnu and Siva)\u2014has practically\nno shrines among Hindus today. His worship has been largely transferred to\nhis so-called sons, the Brahmans; and Siva has, in the main, absorbed all\nhis functions as creator. As it is only Vishnu, the preserver, and Siva,\nthe destroyer and recreator that have anything to do with men, the Hindus\ndevote themselves to these two only. Siva is the \u201cgreat god,\u201d the austere\nand terrible one whom the people fear. He is known chiefly through his\nphallic emblem, the _linga_, which emphasizes his creative activity.\nVishnu is the benign god who has resorted to many incarnations whereby he\nmight free the world of demons who were worrying and destroying our race.\nSiva has many manifestations; Vishnu alone has \u201cdescents\u201d or incarnations,\nsome of which were in brute, and some in human, form.\n\nThese two cults obtain universally throughout India. Vaishnavism (the\nworship of Vishnu) has many popular sects which wield extensive influence\nthroughout the country. The one established by Vallabha-Swami, in the\nsixteenth century, is a worship of Krishna and is given to the indulgence\nof the passions and is characterised by gross licentiousness.\n\nThe sect founded by Chaitanya in the fourteenth century is one of the most\ncelebrated, and is very popular in Bengal. It subordinates everything to\nfaith (_bhakti_) even making this more important than caste.\nContemplation, rather than ritual, was Chaitanya\u2019s pathway to salvation\nand he gave supreme value to the virtue of obedience to the \u201cguru\u201d or\nreligious guide.\n\nIn South India the cult of the religious reformer, Ramanuja, who\nflourished in the twelfth century, has extensive popularity. He was a man\nof great thought, and his special type of Vedantic philosophy is much in\nvogue today. He proclaimed the unity of God under the name of Vishnu. He\nreceived converts from every caste. It is an interesting fact that nearly\nall, in the long list of religious reformers in India, took a position of\nhostility to the caste system. But it is also significant that none of\nthese reform movements has persisted through the centuries in that\nattitude, but has fallen into line with orthodox Hinduism in absolute\nsubmission to the caste demon.\n\n\u201c_Sakti_\u201d worship has also attained great influence and extensive\npredominance in many parts of India. This is the worship of the _Sakti_ or\nthe female half of the great deities of the land. The _Saktar_\npre\u00ebminently worship _Kali_, the goddess of blood, and the other consorts\nof Siva. It is a worship of power (\u201c_Sakti_\u201d means energy or power), and\nusually power of the maleficent type. It is perhaps the lowest form of\nHinduism and easily lends itself to a gratification of the lowest passions\nof men. This _tantric_ cult (the _tantras_ are the sacred books of the\nSaktar) is the only one in modern Hinduism which indulges in bloody\nsacrifices\u2014_Kali_ and her sisters being satisfied by blood as by nothing\nelse. This attests the non-Aryan origin and character of this worship,\ninasmuch as Brahmanism, since the days of Buddha, abjures all bloody\nsacrifice.\n\nLet it not be supposed, however, from the above remarks, about the\nmultiform and self-contradictory character of the amorphous thing called\nHinduism, that it is therefore impossible for us to understand and measure\nits nature and power. For Brahmanism, through all ages, has not been\nwithout a definite tendency, an underlying philosophy and pervasive\nfundamental beliefs. It is indeed more a congeries of faiths than a simple\nreligion, like Christianity. And yet, amid all its hosts of contradictions\nand ways of salvation and sects and cults there have sounded, as a\ndiapason through all the centuries, the fundamental teachings of\nVedantism. A few doctrines such as pantheism, transmigration, \u201ckarma,\u201d\n\u201cbhakti\u201d and final absorption into the Supreme Soul are all but\nuniversally held by the people of all sects and divisions, however much at\nvariance with these their peculiar beliefs may seem to be.\n\nThe prominent staple of Hindu religious thinking in all ages has doubtless\nbeen Vedantism\u2014that subtle form of pantheism which has charmed and\nbewildered not a few of the great minds of the Occident also. The\nparamount influence of this philosophy upon all religious thought and life\nin India is unmistakable today, as it has been through the centuries. Of\nthis Max M\u00fcller says,\u2014\u201cIf the people of India can be said to have now any\nsystem of religion at all ... it is to be found in the Vedanta philosophy,\nthe leading tenets of which are known to some extent in every village....\nNothing will extinguish that ancient spirit of Vedantism which is breathed\nby every Hindu from his earliest youth, and pervades, in various forms,\neven the prayers of the idolater, the speculations of the philosopher, and\nthe proverbs of the beggar.\u201d\n\nWe may therefore, without hesitation, so far as Hinduism is concerned\nregard as philosophic Hinduism those basal doctrines and their corollaries\nwhich, from the earliest days, have been the stock in trade of all\nIndo-Aryan thinkers and at the same time the source and solvent of all the\nmysteries of their faith.\n\nBy a study of these one may easily reach the heart of Hindus and of\nHinduism and can weigh and measure the forces which enter into their\nreligious life and thinking, and can compare them with the teachings and\ninstitutions of Christianity.\n\nThis study will bring a twofold blessing to Christians of the West,\nespecially to missionaries who have given themselves to the regeneration\nof India. It will give them a larger degree of respect for that great\npeople of the East and a new appreciation for Hindu thought and religious\nspeculation. We of the West have been imbued with too much of an\nintellectual arrogance and a spirit of contempt for \u201cthe benighted Hindu.\u201d\nEven if we ever learned, we certainly have too easily forgotten, that\nmany, many centuries ago\u2014when our ancestors were grovelling in the lowest\ndepths of primitive savagery\u2014the rishis of India were engaged in perhaps\nthe highest self-propelled flights of religious speculation the world has\never known and were working out a philosophy, or more correctly a system\nof ontology, which is today the wonder and admiration of Western savants.\n\nI argue for a study of those teachings which, though hoary with age, are\ntoday all-important as the foundation upon which the many-aisled temple of\nHinduism is built and (if I may change the figure) as the cement which\nbinds the whole structure together.\n\nA few years ago it was generally thought that Brahmanism was little else\nthan the insane ravings of well-meaning, but unguided, or, worse still,\nmisguided, denizens of darkness; the whole literature was considered a\nmass of intellectual and moral rubbish. How much the verdict of Western\nscholars upon this subject has changed during the last quarter of a\ncentury I need not mention. All men who have investigated the subject give\ntoday unstinted praise to the heart and intellect of those sages who\nproduced much of the ancient religious literature of India. They will not\nendorse the statement of the great German philosopher who exclaimed, \u201cIn\nthe whole world there is no study so beneficial and so elevating as that\nof the Upanishads. It has been the solace of my life\u2014it will be the solace\nof my death.\u201d And yet many claim that its truths are numerous and\nspiritually helpful. Hopkins writes(7):\u2014\u201cThe sincerity, the fearless\nsearch of the Indic Sages for truth, their loftiness of thinking, all\nthese will affect the religious student of every clime and age, though the\nfancied result of their thinking may pass without effect over a modern\nmind.\u201d And Barth truly remarks(8):\u2014\u201cThe religion of India has not only\ngiven birth to Buddhism and produced, to its own credit, a code of\nprecepts which is not inferior to any other; but in the poetry which they\nhave inspired there is at times a delicacy and bloom of moral sentiment\nwhich the Western world has never seen outside of Christianity. Nowhere\nelse, perhaps, do we meet with an equal wealth of fine sentences.\u201d Of\ntheir intellectual acumen Dr. Matheson says: \u201cIt is not too much to say\nthat the mind of the West, with all its undoubted impulses towards the\nprogress of humanity, has never exhibited such an intense amount of\nintellectual force as is to be found in the religious speculations of\nIndia.... These have been the cradle of all Western speculations; and\nwheresoever the European mind has risen into heights of philosophy, it has\ndone so because the Brahman has been the pioneer. There is no intellectual\nproblem in the West which had not its earliest discussion in the East; and\nthere is no modern solution of that problem which will not be found\nanticipated in the East.\u201d These words of the Scotch divine are doubtless\nstrong; too strong, I think. And yet they may be serviceable, if they warn\nus against that proneness to depreciate the intellectual value and serious\npurpose of the religious books of that land. It is worse than useless to\nconfidently descant upon the errors, inconsistencies, the follies and\nabsurdities of these writings without acknowledging at the same time the\nprofound thought, the deep spiritual yearning and the sublime poetic\nbeauty, which characterize some portions.\n\nIn this connection the question of the origin of Hinduism is important.\n\nIt was formerly laid down as a postulate of the Christian\u2019s belief that\nHinduism is of the devil; and that, coming from below, it must be shunned\nas a study and denounced root and branch as a thing purely satanic. This\ntheory has entirely given way to a more rational belief. The question\nwhether the truths of Hinduism, with those of other ethnic religions, have\nfiltered down from some primitive revelation and are the relics of a\nvanishing faith, divinely communicated to some of the earliest members of\nour race; or whether God has directly, from time to time, guided the\nthoughts and answered the deep yearnings of the soul of the Indo-Aryan, is\none which is still discussed. But modern scholarship is practically of one\nvoice in maintaining that God hath not left Himself without witness among\nthe many nations of the earth,\u2014a witness that has indeed been\ncomparatively feeble\u2014a revelation that is dim and starlike as compared\nwith the noonday brightness of the Sun of Righteousness in the Christian\nreligion. The day has come when the Christian must accept and believe that\nGod has been dealing directly with this people through the many centuries\nof their history, leading them to important truths, even though their evil\nhearts and worse lives have caused them, in many cases, to \u201cchange the\ntruth of God into a lie and worship and serve the creature more than the\nCreator.\u201d Many of the truths which are imbedded in the religion of that\nland find their solution in no other hypothesis than this.\n\nThis study of Hinduism will also lead us to realize the important truth of\nthe many points of contact between that faith and our own. A knowledge of\ntheir sympathies cannot be of less importance than that of their\nantipathies. And this knowledge is indispensable to the Christian worker\nin India as it gives a new and a most direct way of approach to the Hindu\nheart, and a fresh and all-potent argument with them in behalf of\nChristianity.\n\nThis process also best illustrates the method and Spirit of Christ. Dr.\nRobson aptly remarks that \u201cwhile no religion has done more to overthrow\nother religions than Christianity, no religious teacher has said less\nagainst other religions than Christ. We have from Him only one short\nsaying condemning the Gentiles\u2019 aim in life, but not even one reflecting\non the gods they believed in, or the worship they paid them. Was not this\nbecause He came not to destroy but to fulfill?\u201d\n\nI can refer to only a few of these common points and belief in the two\nfaiths.\n\n\n\n(_a_) Incarnation.\n\n\nThese are the only two faiths which have exalted, to primal importance,\nthis doctrine. In Christianity it is basal, and in later Brahmanism, or\nHinduism, it has overshadowed nearly every other teaching. In a sense the\nall-pervasive pantheism of Brahmanism made a certain form of incarnation a\nnecessity from the earliest days. The ancient Aryans could not rest\nsatisfied with the Unknown and the Absolute of their Vedantism; so they\nspeedily began to erect for their evergrowing pantheon an endless\nprocession of emanations. But it was, probably, the phenomenal success of\nGautama, and especially the posthumous influence of his life and example,\nthat opened the eyes of the Brahmans and suggested to them the supreme\nneed of an _avatar_ (\u201cdescent\u201d), for the popularizing of their faith. And\nthus originated that vast system of descents, or incarnations, which have\nmultiplied so greatly and developed so grotesquely all over the land. The\ncommon ground furnished by this doctrine to the two faiths is not\nadequately appreciated. This truth of incarnation, in its fundamental\ndoctrinal bearing upon Hinduism, and in the strengthening of its hold,\neven until the present, upon the popular imagination and affection, should\nnot go for nought in the mind of Christian critics, because of the content\nof the multitudinous descents, which is mostly grotesque, debasing and\nrepulsive. They forget that the Christian doctrine of incarnation\nfurnishes, perhaps, the best leverage with which the Christian missionary\nis to overturn the faith of that people, simply because the doctrine\nitself has been so popularized, even if debased, in India for many\ncenturies. Christ should be none the less, yea the more, welcome to that\nland because the most popular god of the Hindu pantheon (Krishna) is also\nthe leading incarnation of Vishnu.\n\n\n\n(_b_) Vicarious Atonement.\n\n\nIn Christianity this is second in importance only to the doctrine of\nincarnation. In Brahmanism also it has maintained, from the first, a\nposition of cardinal importance. In pre-Buddhistic days this found\nexpression in sacrifices that were probably more numerous and more\nprecious than those offered by any other people. This is partly shown by\nthe fact that words used for sacrifice are more numerous in the Sanskrit\nthan even in the Hebrew language. It is true that their idea of sacrifice,\nboth as to its import and object, was different from ours or from that of\nthe Israelites; and indeed their own ideas also varied at different times.\nUnder the influence of Buddhism, sacrifice, as such, was practically\nabandoned; but the idea of atonement for sin, which was underlying them,\nthey practically carried over into the doctrine of transmigration. For,\nhowever stiffly they contend that, through metempsychosis, the doctrine of\n_karma_ is realized and every soul atones for its own sin, it nevertheless\nremains true that the element of consciousness separates the person who\nsinned from him who suffers; and one becomes the involuntary atoner and\nthe other the atoned for.\n\n\n\n(_c_) Spirituality.\n\n\nIt may, to some, seem absurd to bring the two faiths into anything but the\nrelationship of contrast in this particular, when it is remembered that we\nare confronted daily by a Hinduism which is as grossly formal,\nmaterialistic and sensual as any religion known in any land. But it is\nunnecessary to remind us of the fact that the literature of the faith of\nthis people is, in some respects, far removed from the low life and ritual\nof the present day; and in no greater respect than in this which we are\nnow considering. All students recognize in many writings, vedic and\npost-vedic, profound seriousness and a sometimes strange depth of\nspiritual apprehension coupled with an other-worldliness which, to the\nwestern mind, seems absurdly impractical. Indeed, the naturally mystical\nbent of the Hindu mind has been regarded, and, doubtless, rightly\nregarded, as one of the chief obstacles to a true and easy understanding\nof much that is in their sacred writings by the too practical Westerner.\nWe should not be blind to the lofty height of spiritual thought which we\noccasionally, and the deep spiritual yearning which we frequently, are\npermitted to witness in their books. In evidence of this we need only to\nrefer to the powerful hold which the _yoga_ system of philosophy and life\nhas upon them. An intense meditativeness, a devotional ecstasy and an\ninsight of true heavenly wisdom is the ideal of life to which the Hindu\nhas been called from time very remote.\n\n\n\n(_d_) Eschatology.\n\n\nIn Hinduism, as in Christianity, man is directed to look to a\njudgment-seat and a system of rewards and punishments in the world to\ncome. While this doctrine again, in its development and detail, differs\nessentially from that of the Christian faith, it is well to call attention\nto it as a point of contact. It breathes the spirit of _karma_, which, in\nits retributive power, has been compared by some to the doctrine of\nheredity, and by others, to that of fate. _Karma_ demands the full future\nfruition of every act done in the body; and many re-births, with intervals\nof keener suffering and bliss in numerous hells and heavens, are the\ncountless steps in the doleful fugue of emancipation\u2014a process which is\nenough to appall any but the patient, stolid soul of a Hindu. And yet this\nweary detail of a very long and sisyphean effort to shake off this mortal\ncoil and to enter into rest is worthy of the missionary\u2019s attention, as it\nrepresents, perhaps, the most elaborate system of eschatology outside of\nthe New Testament. It is also ethical in its character, and in its\nfundamental principles has chords which harmonize with those of the\nChristian doctrine.\n\n\n\n(_e_) The Doctrine of Faith.\n\n\nThis doctrine maintains that, by devotion to a personal god, salvation is\nachieved. This idea separates this doctrine from, and apparently\nantagonizes, the prevailing philosophy of the land\u2014Vedantism. This cult of\n_Bhakti_ is connected with Krishnaolatry, which is the worship of the most\nunworthy and licentious god of the Hindu pantheon.\n\nOf Vaishnavism, or the worship of Vishnu, in which the _bhakti_, or faith,\ndoctrine prevails, Sir Monier Williams remarks:\u2014\u201cNotwithstanding the gross\npolytheistic superstitions and hideous idolatry to which it gives rise, it\nis the only Hindu system worthy of being called a religion. At all events\nit must be admitted that it has more common ground with Christianity than\nany other form of non-Christian faiths.\u201d The basal truth of _bhakti_\u2014that\nof supreme attachment to, or faith in, a personal god\u2014could not fail of\nrousing within the devout lofty and stirring emotion. _Bhaktar_, _i.e._,\nthose who have given themselves absolutely to this doctrine and make it\nthe motive and inspiration of their lives, are oblivious to all other\nbonds, abjuring among themselves even caste and all its demands, and\nproclaiming the true oneness of the brotherhood of the faith among all the\ndevotees of the same god.\n\n              [Illustration: Rock-Cut Temple, South India.]\n\nThus we have today a large and vigorous class of Hindus who have\nsubordinated every doctrine and practice of their religion to that of\nfaith, or _bhakti_. I believe, with not a few illustrious scholars, that\nthis doctrine traces its origin to Christianity. Like everything else\nwhich Hinduism had absorbed, it has been considerably transmuted in the\nprocess. It has been necessarily and greatly affected and degraded by the\ncharacter of the gods who have been its objects. It has been debased by\ncontact with idolatry and error, with superstition and sensuality. And yet\nwe trace its lineaments to its lofty, divine origin, and hesitate not to\nsay that it furnishes a common ground of a fundamental truth of which\nChristian missionaries have not yet sufficiently availed themselves in\ntheir work for this people.\n\nHindus have also done not a little thinking in the elaboration of the\ndoctrine of salvation. In their discussion as to the relative potency of\ndivine grace and human agency in the salvation of man they became divided\ninto two antagonistic schools, corresponding, very closely, to the\nCalvinistic and Arminian, among Christians\u2014the _Tengaliar_ maintaining the\n\u201ccat theory\u201d and the _Vadagaliar_ the \u201cmonkey theory\u201d; so called because\none party holds that, just as the cat saves her kitten by seizing and\ncarrying it away bodily, so God seizes and saves man without his own\neffort. This is the doctrine of absolute grace. The other party insists\nthat the relation of the young monkey to its mother, whereby its rescue\nfrom trouble depends upon its own grasp, best represents the process of\nsalvation in which man\u2019s co\u00f6peration is necessary.\n\nThey have also developed the doctrine of growth in grace sometimes in a\nvery instructive way. The spiritual development from _saloka_ (in the same\nworld with God) to _s\u0101m\u012bpa_ (in the divine presence) thence to _s\u0101r\u016bpa_\n(in the divine image) and finally to _s\u0101yujya_ (complete identity with the\ndivine Being) bears, in some respects, a striking resemblance to the\nteaching of St. Paul, where he writes that Jesus was \u201cmade unto us wisdom,\nrighteousness, sanctification and redemption\u201d (1 Cor. 1:30).\n\nIn like manner they teach that, for the attainment of beatitude, it is\nnecessary to pass through five stages\u2014(1) that of _s\u0101nti_, quiet repose or\ncalm and contemplative piety; (2) that of _d\u0101sya_, the slave state\u2014the\nsurrender of the whole will to God; (3) that of _sakhya_, or friendship;\n(4) that of _v\u0101tsalya_, or filial affection; and (5) that of _m\u0101dhurya_,\nor supreme, all-absorbing love.\n\nI must refer briefly to only one other illustration of the probable\ninfluence of our religion upon the faith of India, and that is in its\nteaching on eschatology. The illustration is drawn from the tenth\nincarnation, _Kalki avat\u0101r_, of Vishnu. This incarnation is to take place\nhereafter, when Vishnu will come, at the close of the present _Kali yuga_,\nor iron age, and put an end to these growing evil times, destroying with\nthem all the wicked and ushering in the new era of righteousness (_Satya\nyuga_) upon the earth. For this great work of the restoration and the\nrenovation of all creation, he is to come seated upon a white horse with a\ndrawn sword, blazing like a comet. Hindus at present look forward to this\nnew incarnation as their future deliverer, when the sorrows and the\ndepravity of this present, shall be swallowed up in the glories and joys\nof the future, age. The striking thing about this teaching is not the hope\nwhich it inculcates for the future; for that is practically a part of the\nHindu conception of the succession of the ages of their time system.\nAccording to this the present era must yield to the coming good _yuga_,\nwhich must, in its turn, give way to the ages of lesser good and of evil,\nwhich again will go and come in their ever-changing cycle. What seems\nremarkable is the _form_ in which this idea is here clothed. The coming of\nthe Deliverer upon a _Kalki_\u2014a white horse\u2014with his great message of\nuniversal destruction and deliverance, brings directly to our memory the\nBible prophecy of Rev. 6:2; 19:11-16, and also brings us into touch with\nthe belief of many Christians today as to the appearance and the work of\nthe Son of Man at the great day of His Second Coming.\n\nThe question arises as to how this _avatar_ originated. It evidently seems\nto be an afterthought and of no ancient date among the series of Vishnu\u2019s\ndescents. And following the ninth, or Buddha, _avatar_, which was clearly\nintended as a bait to Buddhists, and as a frank and full compromise with\nthat hitherto supplanting and hostile faith, it seems natural to suppose\nthat this tenth also came in the same way and with the same spirit as a\npalm leaf to another religion, even our own, whose prophetic words about\nthe second coming of Christ could be so easily appropriated and so\nharmlessly adopted into the Hindu system. It thus introduced into their\nfaith an element of future glory and triumph which the religion had not\nformerly possessed. Indeed this very element of aggression and conquest is\none of the signs of its Western origin and Christian source.\n\n\n\n\n\n                               Chapter III.\n\n\nHINDUISM AND CHRISTIANITY CONTRASTED.\n\n\nIn the previous chapter I have endeavoured to show and emphasize the\nteachings common to Christianity and Hinduism.\n\nBut it must not be forgotten that if their consonances are neither few nor\nunimportant their dissonances are far more numerous and fundamental. They\nmeet us at almost every point of our investigation and impress us with a\nsense of a vast contrast.\n\nWe will now give ourselves to a brief study of these divergences.\n\nThe two faiths differ essentially.\n\n\n\n\n1. In their Initial Conceptions.\n\n\nTheir starting points are almost antipodal. This will seem evident when we\nstudy their views:\n\n(_a_) In reference to religion itself. Christianity is briefly and\nbeautifully explained by its Founder (Luke 15) as a divine method of\nseeking and saving the lost. It is the expression of the Father\u2019s love\nyearning for the return, and seeking the complete salvation, of the son.\nIt is primarily and pervasively a \u201cThus saith the Lord\u201d\u2014a revelation from\nGod manward. Hinduism on the other hand has been the embodiment of man\u2019s\naspirations after God. Wonderfully pathetic, beautiful and elevating these\naspirations have been at times; and doubtless guided at points by Him whom\nthey so ardently sought. They perhaps represent the highest reach of the\nsoul in its self-propelled flight towards its Maker. It is true that\northodox Hindus variously describe the Vedas as eternal, as a direct\nemanation from Brahma and as a divine entity in themselves. They\nconstitute the \u201cSruti\u201d\u2014\u201cthe directly heard\u201d message of God to man. But the\nauthors of the Upanishads, which are a part of _Sruti_, absolve man from\nthe necessity of accepting the four Vedas and propound a way of salvation\nentirely separate from, and independent of, vedic prayers and ritual. The\ndirect influence of the Vedas upon religious life and ritual in India\ntoday is practically _nil_; while that of the Upanishads, which are the\n_fons et origo_ of the all-potent philosophy, is felt in every Hindu life,\nhowever humble.\n\nThis aspect of the two faiths is not unexpected when we remember:\n\n(_b_) Their very dissimilar conceptions of God. The monotheism of the one\nand the pantheism of the other are clear and uncompromising. They have\nstood for many centuries as representatives, to the world, of these very\ndissimilar beliefs. Christianity inherited from Judaism its passion for\nmonotheism, and brings the \u201cGod of Israel\u201d very near to our race as the\ninfinitely loving Father. It has not only emphasized His personality but\nreveals, with incomparable power and tenderness, His supreme interest in\nour race and His loving purpose concerning it.\n\nOn the other hand Hinduism derived its highest wisdom and deepest\nconvictions concerning the Divine Being from the ancient rishis through\nthe Upanishads. There they accepted, once for all, the doctrine of the\nBrahm (neuter)\u2014the one passionless, immovable, unsearchable, ineffable\nBeing who, without a second, stands as the source and embodiment of all\nreal being.\n\nBarth truly remarks that \u201cthis is the most imposing and subtle of the\nsystems of ontology yet known in the history of philosophy.\u201d This\ninscrutable Being is the only _real_ existence, all else being illusion\nprojected by ignorance. This doctrine of identity or nonduality\n(_advaitha_) lies at the foundation of all their religious thinking. This\nBeing which is devoid of qualities (_nirguna_), because incomprehensible\nto man, can be of no comfort to him. In this respect the Hindu is an\nagnostic of a profound type.\n\nFor this mystical philosophy one word of praise is eminently due. It is\nnot to be confounded with that species of Western pantheism which is rank\nmaterialism\u2014making God and the material universe convertible terms. Sir\nWilliam Jones emphasized this difference\u2014the difference between a system\nwhich, in all that it sees, sees God alone, and that which acknowledges no\nGod beyond what it sees. One is the bulwark of materialism; the other its\nmost uncompromising enemy. Whatever the defects of this philosophy of the\nUpanishads it must be confessed to be deeply spiritual.\n\nAnd yet in this very effort to conserve the spiritual and transcendental\ncharacter of Br\u00e2hm the Aryan sage has covered Him with the dark robe of\nmysticism and pushed Him into a far off realm beyond human ken.\n\nSo that the only intimations which man has of Him are confessedly false\nprojection of ignorance. For all practical purposes this hypothetical\ndeity\u2014for the very existence of Br\u00e2hm is only assumed as a working\nhypothesis by the theosophist\u2014is a nonentity to the worshipper. How can a\nbeing lend itself to a devout soul in worship when it is rigidly devoid of\nevery quality that can inspire or attract the soul? This very fact has led\nthe ordinary Hindu to seek and develop something else as an object of his\ndevotion. Hence the polytheism of Brahmanism. Let it not be supposed that\nthere is any antagonism between their pantheism and their polytheism. One\nis the natural offspring of the other. The numberless gods which today are\nsupposed to preside over the destiny of the people, are but emanations,\nthe so-called \u201cplay\u201d of Br\u00e2hm. Properly speaking they are neither supreme\nnor possessed of truly divine attributes. Even the Hindu Triad\u2014Brahma\n(masculine gender), Vishnu and Siva\u2014are but manifestations of the delight\nof the eternal Soul to invest itself with qualities (_guna_). These three\ngods are no more real existences than are the myriad other children of\nillusion (_maya_) and ignorance (_avidya_) which constitute the universe.\nAnd as they had their existence, so will they find their dissolution, in\nthe fiat of the Supreme Soul. India finds polytheism no more satisfying\nthan it does pantheism. There is no more assurance of comfort in\nworshipping 330,000,000 gods, whose multitude not only bewilders but also\ncarries in itself refutation to the claim of any one to be supreme, than\nthere is in the yearning after an absolute, ineffable Being which cruelly\nevades human thought and definition. It is no wonder therefore that the\ngrowth of the Hindu pantheon is constant, and both follows, and bears\ntestimony to, the craving of the human soul for a God who can satisfy its\nwants and realize its deepest longings.\n\n(_c_) Their theories of the universe are also divergent. According to the\nBible the outer world is the creation, by God, out of nothing. To the\nBrahman of all times the idea of pure creation has seemed absurd. _Ex\nnihilo nihil fit_ is an axiom of all their philosophies. Whether it be the\nVedantin who tells us that the material universe is the result of Br\u00e2hm\ninvested with illusion, or the Sankya philosopher who attributes it to\n_prakriti_\u2014the power of nature; or the Veisashika sage who traces it to\neternal atoms; they all practically posit that it is eternal.\n\nOf course the Christian doctrine of creation from nothing does not, as the\nHindu too often assumes, maintain that the universe is a result without a\ncause; for it teaches that God Himself, by the exercise of His sovereign\nwill and omnipotence, is an all-adequate cause to all created things.\n\nIf the Vedantin claims that creation is impossible, how can he at the same\ntime believe that ideas have from time to time sprung up in the mind of\nBr\u00e2hm, which ideas themselves have put on illusion and appear to human\nignorance as the universe? It is, to say the least, no easier for him,\nwith his conception of Br\u00e2hm, to account for the origin of such ideas than\nit is for the Christian to trace the source of the material universe to an\nall-wise and omnipotent God. Nor does the Sankya philosopher, by\npractically denying God and positing the eternal existence of souls and\n_prakriti_, remove half the difficulties that he creates.\n\n(_d_) Again, the teachings of the two faiths concerning man are no less\ndivergent. In the Bible man is represented as a son of God. He is fallen\nindeed, but with a trace, even in his degradation, of his Father\u2019s\nlineaments. We follow him in his willful rebellion against his Father; he\nplunges into the lowest depths of sin. But we still recognise in him the\npromise of infinite and eternal possibilities of spiritual expansion and\nhappiness. Indeed we find at work a divinely benevolent scheme through\nwhich he is to be ultimately exalted to heavenly places in Christ Jesus\nand made the heir of infinite bliss.\n\nOn the other hand, Hindu Shastras represent man as mere illusion\u2014the poor\nplaything of the absolute One. For man to assume and to declare his own\nreal existence is, they say, but the raving of his ignorance (_avidya_).\nTo the practical Western mind it seems almost impossible that a\nphilosopher should be so lost in his philosophy as to aver that he, the\nthinker and father of his philosophy, has no _real_ existence\u2014is only\nillusion, concerning which real existence can only be assumed for\npractical purposes. What must be said of the philosophy begotten by such\nan illusive being? Shall it not also be doomed to vanish with him into the\nnothingness whence he came and which he now really is, if he only knew it?\nSir Monier Williams aptly remarks,\u2014\u201cCommon sense tells an Englishman that\nhe really exists himself and that everything he sees around him really\nexists also. He cannot abandon these two primary convictions. Not so the\nHindu Vedantist. Dualism is his bugbear, and common sense, when it\nmaintains any kind of real duality, either the separate independent\nexistence of a man\u2019s own spirit and of God\u2019s spirit, or of spirit and\nmatter, is guilty of gross deception.\u201d\n\nAnother conception regards the human soul (_jivatma_) as a part of the\nSupreme Soul. This theory adds small comfort or dignity to it when we\nremember that this whole of which it is declared a part is an intangible,\nunattractive Being\u2014devoid of all qualities (_nirguna_). If the soul\nexisted from eternity as a part of the divine Soul and will ultimately\nresume that interrupted existence, what value, ethical or otherwise, can\nbe attached to that bondage of manhood which was thrust upon the soul (or\nwas it voluntarily assumed?)? This part of deity called individual soul\ncertainly cannot be improved by its human conditions; and the question is\nnot\u2014\u201cHow soon can I pass through this slough of despond,\u201d but, \u201cwhy was I\nthrust into it at all? Was it a mere sacred whim (_tiruvileiadal_) of\nBr\u00e2hm?\u201d\n\nMoreover this view of human \u201cself,\u201d or soul, carries one out too far into\nthe sea of transcendental metaphysics to be of any practical use,\nreligiously. We know something of man\u2014this strange compound of soul and\nbody\u2014and we are deeply interested in his history and destiny; the more\ndeeply because we are included in this category.\n\nBut who knows of the eternal soul\u2014that part of the absolute\u2014separate from\nhuman conditions and apart from all experiences of men? Is it not simply\nthe dream of the philosopher, a convenient assumption to satisfy the needs\nof an impractical ontology? To magnify the soul apart from human life, and\nto interpret human life as the self\u2019s lowest degradation and something\nwhich is to be shaken off as quickly as possible, can hardly be sound\nphilosophy, and is certainly bad theology. It simply reduces this life\ninto an irremedial evil, with no moral significance or spiritual value.\n\nThis leads us to the second point of contrast:\u2014\n\n\n\n\n2. Their Ultimate Aim or Goal.\n\n\nWhat do these two religions promise to do for those who embrace them? The\nwork which Christianity proposes to itself is difficult and glorious. It\ntakes fallen, sin-sodden, man and leads him out into a new life of\nholiness; it opens out to him a long and broad vista of life with an\never-enlarging, blissful, activity. Christ said that He came into the\nworld that men might have life and have it abundantly. He came not only to\nsave the lost but also to develop all the grand possibilities of the soul\nto their utmost, and to launch the human bark upon a voyage of everlasting\nlife, which means unceasing growth in all its noblest qualities,\nactivities and enjoyments.\n\nHindu philosophy and faith, on the other hand, unite in commanding that\nhuman endowments be starved, qualities suppressed, activity of all kinds\nstayed, ambition and every other desire, even the noblest and purest,\nquenched. All the essential elements of life itself are to be mortified\nthat the soul may, unhampered by its own entanglement, reach that\nconsummation which is supposed to be final. And what is it? Who can tell?\nThe Aryan philosopher himself stands mute in its presence. All that we can\npredicate of it is not life and happiness, according to any standard of\nhuman experience known or imagined. The idea that the individual soul will\nfinally sink into and blend with the Absolute Being as a drop of water\nreturns to and mingles with its mother ocean may seem plausible to the\nphilosopher; but of such an hypothetical existence we know absolutely\nnothing and can expect nothing that would inspire hope and kindle\nambition.\n\nIn Hinduism there are heavens many and not a few hells. But unlike the\nplaces of reward and punishment connected with Christianity, they\nrepresent nothing final. They are more like the purgatory of the\nCatholics, and represent only steps in the progress of the soul towards\nemancipation.\n\nConcerning the general view of human life, its import and outcome, the two\nfaiths are antipodal. Christianity is brightly optimistic. The future of\nevery Christian is to be as the sun shining more and more until the\nperfect day. Unceasing progress and eternal expansion are held out before\nhim. His is an heritage that will abide and will resound in an ever\nincreasing anthem of praise throughout time and eternity. Nothing can\noccur hereafter to rob him of that crown of glory which is the gift of God\nand which is to result in likeness to Him.\n\nHinduism, on the other hand, is essentially pessimistic. It teaches that\nhuman life is totally and irremediably evil. Every power of the soul must\nbe exercised in the endeavour to shake off this terrible burden of\nseparate human existence and escape all the conditions of this life. That\nis the only relief possible. To the Hindu the question so often discussed\nin Christian lands\u2014\u201cIs life worth living?\u201d\u2014has no interest, since it has\nbut one answer possible. And even if the Indian sage forgets his present\nconditions and pessimism long enough to gaze down the long and dismal\nvista of numberless births to the final consummation (_Sayujya_)\u2014the final\nunion with God\u2014he finds in that nothing which the Christian does not\ndiscover in tenfold richness and beauty in the Bible. To be partaker of\nthe Divine Nature is a blessed reality to the Christian without his\nforfeiting, in the least, the dignity of self-identity and the glory of\nseparate personal consciousness. To have the \u201clife hid with Christ in\nGod\u201d; to be able triumphantly to exclaim\u2014\u201cI live; yet not I, but Christ\nliveth in me\u201d; to experience the blessedness and power of abiding in\nChrist and to realize the answer to Christ\u2019s own prayer to the\nFather\u2014\u201cthat they also may be in us\u201d\u2014all this is the joy and hope of the\nChristian in a manner and to a degree utterly impossible to the Hindu\nwhose union with the supreme spirit is the loss and end of self, including\nall those faculties which are capable of enjoyment.\n\nLooking from another standpoint, we perceive that the aim of the religion\nof Christ is the banishing of sin from the life and the establishing of\ncharacter. Sin is the dark background of Christianity. It explains its\norigin and reveals its universality. Its whole concern is with the\nemancipation of man from the presence and power of sin. To the Vedantin,\non the other hand, sin, in the Christian sense of it, is an impossibility.\nWhere God is all and all is God there can be no separate will to\nantagonize the divine will. Monism necessarily, in the last analysis,\ncarries every act and motive back to the supreme Will and establishes an\nall-inclusive necessitarianism which is fatal to human freedom; and it\ntherefore excludes sin as an act of rebellion against God. Much is made of\nsin, so called, in the Hindu system, as we shall presently see; but\nnowhere is more care needed than here that we may distinguish between\nideas conveyed by this word in these two faiths. In Christianity the\nethical character of sin is emphasized. It is described as a thing of\nmoral obliquity and spiritual darkness. According to the Upanishads the\nonly defect of man is an intellectual one. He is in bondage to ignorance.\nPlato made ignorance the chief source of moral evil and proposed\nphilosophy as a remedy for the malady. The Vedantin differs from the Greek\nphilosopher only in his more absolute condemnation of (_avidya_) ignorance\nas the mother of all human ills. Remove this\u2014let a man attain unto a true\nknowledge of self, of the fact that he has no _real_ separate existence\nand is one with the Supreme Soul\u2014and he becomes thereby qualified for his\nemancipation and ends his long cycle of births. Moreover, in the\npolytheism of the Puranas and in the laws and customs of Manu sin\ngenerally means only ceremonial defilement and the violation of customs\nand usages.\n\nHinduism, therefore, has never addressed itself to the task of helping man\nas a _sinner_\u2014of regenerating his heart, of establishing within him that\nbeautiful thing known in Christian lands and philosophies as a well\nrounded, symmetrical and perfect character. For many reasons and in many\nways it has aimed at a very different consummation in man from that\nconsistently sought by Christ and His religion.\n\n\n\n\n3. The Agency and Means Recognized and Appealed to by those Faiths\nRespectively.\n\n\nBy what power and instrumentality are the above ends to be sought and\nattained? They will be, doubtless, quite as divergent as the aims\nthemselves were found to be.\n\nIn Christianity God Himself is the agent who works out its scheme of\nsalvation. He entered, through infinite condescension, into human life and\nrelations in the Incarnation. He wrought, in the days of His flesh, the\nredemption of our race\u2014a work which finds its climax in His atoning death.\nIn the person of the Holy Spirit He is working and bringing to full\nfruition, in the hearts and lives of men, the redemption which He wrought.\n\nInto this, man enters not as an efficient cause of his own redemption. He\ncannot atone for his past, nor has he the assurance within himself for the\nfuture. Hence the atoning sacrifice of Christ and the indwelling of the\nSpirit of God which becomes in him a source of peace, of power and of\nhope. Yet, in this divine work, man is neither passive nor apathetic. In\nthe exercise of saving faith he not only appropriates the works and gifts\nof God but also enters into full and active harmony and co\u00f6peration with\nGod in his own regeneration and salvation. So that the Apostle Paul aptly\nurges the Philippian Christians (Phil. 2:12) to \u201cwork out your own\nsalvation with fear and trembling; for it is God which worketh in you both\nto will and to work for His good pleasure.\u201d\n\nHow different is the picture presented to us by the Hindu Shastras of the\nmeans of human redemption\u2014a picture, however, consonant with the aims\nwhich they have set before themselves to accomplish for man. The first and\nall-present fact of this faith is the terrible loneliness and isolation of\nman in the great struggle of life. His destiny is in his own hands, and he\nmust fight single-handed against a thousand odds in the awful battle for\nemancipation.\n\n_Karma_ is the word used to express this thought which has possessed the\nHindu mind from the earliest days to the present. This word may be\ntranslated \u201cworks,\u201d and means the acts by which the soul determines its\nown destiny. In Vedic times the all-powerful works were sacrifice and\nritual. In the Upanishads they are meditation and self-mortification.\nToday they are ceremonial, with works of charity, self-renunciation or\nreligious mendicancy generally added.\n\nIn pre-Buddhistic days sacrifice abounded in Brahmanism; and it grew to\nsuch proportions that the revolt headed by Gautama and incarnated in\nBuddhism became universal. But vicariousness was largely wanting as an\nelement in, and as a cause of, their sacrifices. They were rather offered\nwith a view to nourish the gods and as a means of acquiring power. He who\nsacrificed a hundred horses was said to gain thereby even larger power\nthan Indra himself possessed\u2014a power which enabled him to dethrone this\ngod of the heavens. Such was the power said to inhere in sacrifice that\nthe gods themselves combined to prevent men from the practice lest they\nshould rise to larger power than themselves! With the triumph and\nsubsequent absorption of Buddhism into Brahmanism the latter abandoned its\nsacrifices and accepted the Buddhistic emphasis upon _Karma_, and doomed\nevery soul to the tread-mill of its own destiny. To every human word, deed\nor thought, however insignificant, there is fruit which must be eaten by\nthe soul.\n\nIt is claimed for this doctrine that it well emphasizes the conservation\nof moral force. Christianity also conserves, to the last, moral force; not\nhowever by insisting upon man bearing himself the whole burden, but by\nenabling him to cast the burden upon the Lord who graciously offers to\nbear the load of human guilt belonging to every soul.\n\nAnother word in India which is synonymous with large power and merit is\n_Yoga_. It is inculcated in the _Yoga_ philosophy and is supposed to stand\nfor a high mental discipline which speedily qualifies one for absorption\ninto the Deity. It is manifested in the form of abstract meditation and\nausterity\u2014an austerity embodied in asceticism and self-mortification. From\nearly times this method has been held high in honour, and today is\nuniversally esteemed as the most powerful and speedy boat wherewith to\ncross the sullen stream of human existence. The grand object of _Yoga_ is\nto teach how to concentrate the mind\u2014an object based upon the idea that\nthe great and sole need of man is not moral and spiritual regeneration,\nbut more light, _i.e._, a clear, intellectual apprehension of things. Not\nonly is this basis of philosophy false in supposing that such intellectual\ngymnastics can finally exalt and save a soul, it is also radically\ndefective in its general rules and practical results. No one who has\nstudied the childish rules which are prescribed to the Yogis, or has\nobserved in India many of even the better type of Yogis can fail to be\nimpressed with the degradation to mind and morals which is indissolubly\nconnected with it. Barth\u2019s observation on the processes of _Yoga_ is\neminently true. \u201cConscientiously observed,\u201d he says, \u201cthey can only issue\nin folly and idiocy; and it is, in fact, under the image of a fool or an\nidiot that the wise man is often delineated for us in the _Puranas_ for\ninstance.\u201d(9)\n\nMeditation upon the Divine Being and upon self is a supreme duty\ninculcated by Christianity. Here God is a Personality upon whom the mind\ncan be centred and find rest and exaltation. The self also is conceived as\na being with a separate and infinitely high destiny marked out before it.\nConcentrated thought, deep emotion and lofty purpose, in view of these\nobjects, is supremely profitable. But what is there left worthy of thought\nfor the Vedantist _Yogi_ when the Divine Being is the unknowable and the\nYogi himself the deluded child of (_Maya_) illusion and (_avidya_)\nignorance\u2014those twin enemies to all true and worthy knowledge? It cannot\nbe elevating to detach the mind from things worldly and attach it to\nnothing!\n\nIncarnation, as we have seen above, has in later times become a popular\ndoctrine in India. The _avatars_ (\u201cdescents\u201d) of members of the Hindu\npantheon, especially of Vishnu, the second member of the Triad, wield a\nlarge influence in the religious life of the masses. Yet the doctrines\nshould, by no means, be regarded as identical or even similar in Hinduism\nand Christianity. It should be remembered that in Hinduism it is believed\nand magnified by those who also hold the law of _Karma_ as supreme. There\nis hardly a Vaishnavite and Krishnaolater who does not believe firmly that\nhis destiny is writ large upon his forehead\u2014that nothing that this or any\ngod may do can affect his _adrishta_ which is that felt but unseen power\nworking out the _Karma vivaka_, or fruition of works, done by him in\nformer births. This belief directly antagonizes incarnation from the\nChristian standpoint, where it appears as God\u2019s mighty instrument of grace\nto man. Not so from the Hindu standpoint. The incarnations of Vishnu are\nreferred to in their _Shastras_ \u201cas consequences of deeds which the god\nhimself had performed. One was the fruit of sins he had committed; another\nof a curse which had been pronounced upon him.\u201d And yet they are doubtless\nfrequently referred to as undertaken with a view to benefit and help our\nrace. If such was their intention it is difficult to see how that benefit\ncould be any other than racial and temporary; for there is no intimation\nin any of them of its being a means for the spiritual uplifting, or moral\nregeneration, of one human soul.\n\nThere is no finality of blessing supposed to be in any Hindu incarnation;\nand it would be sacrilege to compare the character of any one of them with\nthe wonderful incarnation of Jesus. It is not so much that many of them\nappear as fish, fowl and beast, and as such are devoid of moral aim and\nefficiency; not a few are immoral, some of them, like Krishna,\nrepresenting the worst type of sensuality and moral obliquity. Such\nexamples, in the popular mythology of the land, have done, and are doing,\ninexpressible harm to the people and the country. \u201cLike God like people\u201d;\nand when the god is highly popular and conspicuously immoral the result\nwill be correspondingly great.\n\nIn connection with the doctrine of _avatar_ has arisen the well-known\n_bhakti marga_\u2014\u201cthe way of faith.\u201d Many believe that the latter was the\nsource of the former and that both were affected by Christian teaching. In\nany case they are closely connected. Among many this way of love and\ndevotion to individual gods has gained pre\u00ebminence over the other two ways\nof salvation\u2014knowledge (_gnana marga_) and works (_Karma-marga_)\u2014though it\nshould not be forgotten that _bhakti_ itself is regarded as a work of\nmerit and is by no means synonymous with Christian faith. Yet it must be\nconfessed, as we have seen above, that Hinduism comes nearer, at this\npoint than at any other, to touching the religion of Jesus.\n\nThe blindness of this faith is also a serious objection to it. To the\n_bhaktan_ \u201cfaith is the great thing.\u201d It matters not how hideous, morally\nand spiritually, the object of faith may be, _bhakti_ will triumphantly\nvindicate itself in the ultimate salvation of the soul. \u201cRepose faith in\nthe idols, in ceremonial observances, in ascetic performances, in all that\nyou religiously do, and blessing will rest upon you.\u201d This is the\n_bhaktan\u2019s_ creed; it is essentially the teaching of the \u201cDivine\nSong\u201d\u2014Bhagavad-Gita. And it is this which has so powerfully helped the\nmoral and spiritual degeneracy of India during the past few centuries. Men\nhave attached themselves absolutely to gods whose mythology, detailed in\nthe _Puranas_ and _Tantras_, is a narrative of lust and of moral\ncrookedness, devotion to which can mean only moral contamination and\nspiritual death. Such a faith, in its nature and results, can only be\ncontrasted with a loving devotion to the incomparably holy and lovely\nJesus.\n\n\n\n\n4. The Processes of These Two Religions.\n\n\nIn other words we inquire, in what manner do they propose to attain unto\ntheir respective ends?\n\nChristianity brings man into the new, divine life through the narrow gate\nof a new birth. He stands justified before God and, under the influence of\nthe Holy Spirit, he begins that course of spiritual development which\nsteadily progresses towards perfection in truth and holiness. He,\n\u201cbeholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord is changed into the same\nimage from glory to glory even as by the spirit of the Lord.\u201d And in the\nfullness of his acquired, or divinely bestowed, powers he passes through\nthe gate of death, once for all, to enter upon the full glories of eternal\nlife beyond.\n\nIn Hinduism _metempsychosis_ is the great process. \u201cAs the embodied soul,\u201d\nsays the Bhagavad-Gita, \u201cmoves swiftly on through boyhood, youth and age,\nso will it pass through other forms hereafter.\u201d This doctrine is\nuniversally regarded as the all-potent solvent of human ills and the\nprocess which alone can lead to ultimate rest. In transmigration the soul\nis supposed to pass on from body to body in its wearisome, dismal\nprogress, towards emancipation. The bodies in which it is incarcerated\nwill be of all grades, according to the character of the life in the\nprevious births, from the august and divine body of a Brahman down to a\ntenement of inorganic, lifeless rock. From ancient times this weary\nprocess of working out the law of _Karma_ has seized upon the imagination\nand wrought itself into the very being of the people of India; so that\ntoday it is the universal way of salvation believed and taught by the\nVedantin, accepted with assurance by the idolater, and the one great\nbugbear in the mind of even the common coolie.\n\nThis doctrine has its roots in Vedantism and is an essential part of it.\nThe Brahman theosophist taught that all souls emanated from Br\u00e2hm and must\nreturn to their source along the way of metempsychosis. All acts, words\nand thoughts find their exact reward in future births. If a man steals a\ncow he shall be reborn as a crocodile or lizard; if grain, as a rat; if\nfruit, as an ape. The murderer of a Brahman endures long-suffering in the\nseveral hells and is then born again in the meanest bodies to atone for\nhis crime. According to Manu the soul might pass \u201cthrough ten thousand\nmillions\u201d of births. The passageway to absorption is through Brahmanhood\nonly. Transmigration is the doom of all others.\n\nThe prevalence of this doctrine in India is one of the saddest facts\nconnected with its life. It is sombre and depressing in the extreme and\nrobs the mind of a good portion of the small comfort which the idea of\nabsorption might otherwise bring to it. Though the doctrine has found a\nfooting among other nations at different periods in their history, nowhere\nelse has it prevailed so long and exercised such a mighty influence over\nhigh and low as it has in that land.\n\nThe doctrine is based upon a hypothetical identity of soul in different\nsuccessive bodies\u2014a hypothesis which can never be proved, and which\ncontradicts the universal consciousness. Until that erratic Englishwoman,\nMrs. Besant, appeared, no one claimed to possess the first intimation,\nthrough consciousness or memory, of a previous existence in another body.\nAncient rishis and a few others were said by _others_ to have possessed\nit. Strange, if such a re-incarnation were a fact, that none has ever been\nassured of it by any other agent than the philosopher in his search after\ntruth. Stranger still that men in such countless millions should hang\ntheir whole destiny upon so rotten a cord\u2014so unethical a theory\u2014as is here\ninvolved. Why should any moral being be put through a course of\ndiscipline, or be punished, for a past of which he has no knowledge? To\ninflict a punishment for any conduct or thought to which the memory does\nnot bear evidence, nor conscience furnish assent, nor the whole realm of\nconscious experience reveal a trace, is both unethical and in violation of\nthe deepest laws of being.\n\nNor does it appear how this process, as a method of discipline, can\nachieve what is expected of it. It is maintained that, ultimately, all the\nmyriads of separate souls will cross over this terrible stream of human\nexistence and reach the further shore of emancipation. But what aptitude,\nor efficiency, there can be in metempsychosis itself to reach this end is\nnot apparent. That the soul should ultimately reach beatitude rather than\nabsolute, irremedial, degradation through this process is merely\n_assumed_, and that without adequate foundation in reason.\n\nIn view of the well-known power of sin and its tendency to settle down,\nthrough habit, into a permanent type of character; in view of the\nwell-attested scientific doctrine of heredity\u2014a doctrine which easily\naccounts for and explains every semblance of truth in transmigration\u2014it\nseems incredible that any soul in India could, through transmigration,\nfinally emerge out of the quicksand of sin and corruption which surround\nand overwhelm it, especially when it is assumed that it has already passed\nthrough many births.\n\nIt should also be remembered that, at its basis, this doctrine has its\nface turned, with equal repugnance, against all sorts of work. Desire of\nevery kind, good as well as evil, is to be suppressed inasmuch as it is\nthe source of action, and action must bear its fruit, the eating of which\nprolongs existence which, itself, is the burden to be removed. The\nquestion is not how to become good and to overcome evil in life, but how\nto shake off all personality. And this is accomplished, they say, by\nabandoning all action and suppressing all desire whatever. How this can\nresult in holiness and lofty character is not evident. It is true that a\ncertain sort of \u201cgood works\u201d have large value in this process of\nemancipation. But quiescence rather than character is the thing\nemphasized. Noble thoughts and aspirations are as fatal as are the basest\nto immediate deliverance\u2014they all disturb that equilibrium of the soul\nwhich ushers it into its final rest. \u201cThe confinement of fetters is the\nsame whether the chain is of gold or of iron.\u201d\n\nIt is doubtless true that this doctrine has some elements of truth,\notherwise it could not have survived and thriven as it has. It bears\nconsistent testimony to the immortality of the soul. It also teaches the\nimportant truth that the soul must receive the full reward of all its\ndeeds in a body. It is also, in a certain way, a response to that deep\ninstinct of justice which is a part of human nature. But these cannot\natone for its fundamental defects and errors. Some claim that its highest\nmerit is that it is a powerful deterrent from sin and incentive to virtue.\nBeyond the remarks made above the all-sufficient refutation to such a\nstatement is the present condition of the Hindu race itself. If any people\non earth, more than others, sin with \u201cfatal facility\u201d and seem perfectly\noblivious to the character and consequences of their deeds they are the\ndescendants of the rishis of old and the heirs, in rich abundance, of this\nand its cognate doctrines. To judge this doctrine by its results in India\nis to pronounce it an error and a curse.\n\n\n\n\n5. The Ideals of the Two Faiths.\n\n\nNo religion can regenerate or exalt men simply through a code of moral\nlaws, or even through impassioned appeals to a higher life and threats of\neternal punishment. There must be, above and beyond all this, a life which\nstands boldly forth as an example and inspiration to good men. The noble\nexample of the royal Gautama did more perhaps than any other thing to\ndisseminate Buddhism throughout India. His supreme renunciation and his\nloyalty to truth exalted him before his disciples and transformed him into\nan ideal for Buddhists of future ages. This also is a pre\u00ebminent\ncharacteristic of Christianity. It is the religion of the Christ. _He_\nstands supreme in it\u2014not merely as its Founder, Expounder and Life. He is\nalso the embodiment of His own teaching, the ideal of life and conduct\nwhich He has brought to men. His command to all is not\u2014\u201cDo this or that\u201d;\nbut \u201cFollow Me\u201d\u2014not, \u201cBelieve in this truth or another,\u201d but \u201cBelieve in\nMe,\u201d who am \u201cthe way, the truth and the life.\u201d For these twenty centuries\nHe has stood before the world as the incomparable, unapproachable, perfect\nideal which has wrought more for the regeneration of the world than all\nother forces put together.\n\nDo we find any counterpart to this in Hinduism? Do we find any life or\nexample which stands related to it as Buddha\u2019s to Buddhism or as\nMohammed\u2019s to Mohammedanism, or, even in a slight degree, as Christ\u2019s to\nChristianity? None whatever. Starting with the absolute Br\u00e2hm, we have\nseen this Supreme Soul shrouded in unfathomable, unapproachable darkness.\nWe descend to the divine emanations of this eternal Soul and search in\nvain among the millions of beings which constitute the Hindu pantheon to\nfind one who could become an ideal of life and an inspiration to the soul\nstruggling against sin. \u201cGodlike life could scarcely start from its\nexamples of incarnations; for none of their lives is superhuman in\nholiness. Even Rama, the most blameless character in Hindu mythological\nliterature, is by no means perfect; while the most popularly worshipped\nincarnation committed deeds so vile that even the narrator warns his\nhearers not to take him for their example. \u2018Listen to the story of Hari,\nbut do not think of doing his deeds,\u2019 he says.\u201d\n\nWe look again at the sages and heroes of India with the hope that we may\npossibly find one who stood conspicuous among others as the perfect type\nof character and the helper of those struggling after a better and holier\nlife. Here again we are wofully disappointed, though it must be confessed\nthat there are loftier types of goodness and of self-discipline among them\nthan we found among the gods. Thus, with no worthy ideal of life before\nthem and no one to inspire them to better things, the wonder is that men\nin India have not descended to a lower level than they have. It is perhaps\nthis very reason that has discouraged them and has led them to strive to\nattain unto beatitude, not by perfecting, but by destroying humanity. The\nrenunciation and loss, rather than the realization, of self has thus\nbecome their aim and ambition. Perhaps it is for this same reason also\nthat the votaries of this faith have constructed one of the most elaborate\nsystems of ceremonial and ritual that the world has ever witnessed;\nwhereby, in the absence of a high ideal and of a divine inspiration, the\nwhole life from birth even until after death, may be directed and\nprotected from evil.\n\n\n\n\n6. The Credentials of the Two Faiths.\n\n\nEach has its Scriptures in which are found its original teachings\nincluding a declaration of its source and message to man. Beyond this\ngeneral statement very little can be predicated of these two in common.\nThe theories of their inspiration are dissimilar. In the Bible there is no\ntheory of inspiration taught. Its testimony to its own divine origin is\nindirect rather than direct. And yet the evidence, both internal and\nexternal, that the Bible was written by men under Divine guidance and\ninspiration is unmistakable and convincing. Whether we have regard to its\nprophetic utterances, its record of miracles, its plan of salvation, its\ndelineation of the incomparable life and character of Jesus Christ; or\nwhether we behold its marvellous power among men of all classes and of all\ncountries and tongues\u2014all that pertain to it point unmistakably to its\ndivine origin.\n\nNor can any one fail to appreciate the beauty and sublimity of some of the\nVedic hymns of the Hindus or the profound depth of the philosophic reach\nof the Upanishads, those sublime \u201cguesses at truth,\u201d or the great\nexcellence of the Bhagavad-Gita which is the gem of all Hindu literature.\nAnd yet the puerilities of many and the obscenity of others of the Vedic\nsongs and prayers are well-known. So are the strange vagaries and the\nrambling character of many parts of the Upanishads. And as for the\nBhagavad-Gita it is simply a dialogue whose gist is the argument of\nKrishna\u2014\u201cthe Supreme God\u201d\u2014to urge the tender-hearted and the\nconscience-smitten Arjuna to slay his relatives in war. Its argument is\nthat no evil which one man may do to another is of any moment, since he\ncannot touch his soul which is eternal and beyond the reach of any human\npower! In the destiny of a soul what can the destruction of one of its\nbodies signify? This is an argument which is subversive of morality and of\nsocial order.\n\nWhen one leaves these earlier scriptures of Brahmanism and takes up the\nlater productions\u2014the _Puranas_ and Tantras\u2014he comes into a very different\natmosphere, most of which is morally pestilential and spiritually\ndegrading. The ascription of divine inspiration and special heavenly\nguidance in the production of such literature is nought else but\nblasphemy. To pass over from the study of the Bible, with its transcendent\nbeauty, its perfect ethics, its heavenly spirit, its Divine Saviour and\nway of salvation, to the Scriptures of India, especially the more recent\nparts, is to exchange the pure air of heaven for the charnel house.\n\nThe \u201cdivine brevity\u201d of the Bible is one of its most striking features.\nFew things could impress one with the heavenly source of this Book more\nmarkedly than its wonderful omissions.\n\nHow very different when we examine the countless tomes of the sacred\nliterature of India! If the salvation of a soul depended upon the reading\nof even a hundredth part of these, who then could be saved? Their very\nmultiplicity and their voluminous character debar any man, however\nlearned, from an acquaintance with more than a small fraction of them.\nMoreover, among learned pandits of today the _Smriti_ (traditions) are\nmore frequently quoted as authority, and they wield a larger power over\nthe life of the people, than the _Sruti_ (revelation) itself.\n\nIn the Christian Bible we are permitted to see a _progressive_ revelation.\nFrom age to age, and from page to page, we see new glimpses of truth and\nare attracted by the divine light whose illumination grows ever brighter\nfrom Genesis to Revelation. This is what we should have expected from a\nGod-inspired book. We should have looked forward to a gradual transition\nfrom the starry midnight of the far-off past to the rising, in Christ, of\nthe sun of righteousness with healing in His wings.\n\nIn Hindu literature this process is reversed. The surest, I may almost\nsay, the only, evidence we have of divine guidance in the production of\nthis literature is to be found among the earliest productions. There we\nsee earnestness of purpose combined with heavenly aspiration and deep\nsearching after truth. Subsequent to this we see the light vanishing and\nearnestness giving place to triviality of thought, to the ravings of\nsuperstition, to the inanities of ceremonialism and to the laws of social\nand religious bondage. All this progress downward is in direct ratio to\nour distance from Vedic times.\n\nWhat could be more conclusive proof of the human source and direction of\nthese prolific writings? Educated Hindus are sensible of this fact. They\nconstantly hark back to the Vedas, to the Upanishads and to the\nBhagavad-Gita, conscious of the fact that these represent the high\nwater-mark of their faith and literature.\n\n\n\n\n7. Other Distinguishing Traits.\n\n\nThese are not a few, and they aid in presenting the two faiths in bold\nrelief.\n\n(_a_) Their attitude towards the individual and Society. Nowhere are they\nmore antipodal to each other than here. Christianity is pre\u00ebminently a\nfaith which exalts the individual. It presents, with marked clearness, his\nrights and responsibilities. His liberty of thought, of belief and of\naction, is fundamentally sacred and to be conserved at all hazards.\n\nHinduism is the staunchest foe of individual freedom. It concedes no right\nto the individual which others are bound to respect. It has erected above\nthe individual, and in such a way as to overshadow him entirely, the\nstupendous caste system. And it has subordinated his every right and\nprivilege to the whim of this demon caste. Man is its abject slave\u2014cannot\nswerve one inch from its dictates; and these reach down to the smallest\ndetail of his life. If the vast majority of the members of a caste were\nhigh in their morals and strict in their integrity and pure in their\nbeliefs, the aid to a higher life which this system might render to the\nindividual would, in small part, compensate for its destruction of his\nmanly independence. But caste discipline directs itself to petty forms and\nobservances and to the perpetuation of mean jealousies rather than to the\ndevelopment of character.\n\nIn India alone is caste a religious institution. The Brahman merged the\nindividual in the corporate body, thus perfecting his bondage; and he set\nclass against class to prevent the lower from rising and to make national\nunion impossible. Men were said to have been created differently even as\ndifferent kinds of animals; to bring them together is as unnatural as it\nis sinful.\n\nThus, every man within the pale of this religion has his social, as his\nreligious, status fixed unchangeably for him before his birth; and woe be\nto him who tries to shake off this bondage, or even in a small degree to\nkick against the pricks. No better system than this has been devised under\nheaven to rob man of his birthright of independence and self-respect. And\nthe population of India bears, in its character and conduct, ample\ntestimony to the truth of this statement.\n\n(_b_) Connected closely with this is another aspect.\n\nThe religion of Jesus fosters progress. Not only do we behold Christian\nnations the most progressive, we also find that as this faith obtains in\nits purity, so do its votaries enjoy the large spirit and results of\nprogress, both in religion, science, the arts and in civilization. In\nIndia, on the other hand, conservatism is a fetish and custom a divine law\nof conduct. In the West the question asked, as men approach a certain line\nof action, is whether it be reasonable? Among Hindus the invariable\ninquiry is,\u2014is it customary?\u2014did our forefathers practice it? This again\nis the legitimate product of the caste system. It conserves and deifies\nthe past. It never tolerates a question as to the wisdom of the ancients.\nThe code of Manu, which is the source and supreme authority for this\nsystem, has done more to stereotype and degrade social and religious life\nin India than has any other code in all the history of other lands.\n\n(_c_) Another marked feature of the religion of Jesus is its\nexclusiveness. It claims to be the only way of salvation. Not that it is\nunwilling to acknowledge the truths which are found in other faiths. While\nit recognizes such, it maintains that they are but broken lights of the\nTruth which it presents in all its full-orbed glory. It reveals Christ as\nthe fulfillment of the good and pious of all nations, and His revelation\nas the realization of all truth wherever found. But as a means of\nsalvation it stands alone, and will brook no rivalry nor accept divided\nhomage.\n\nIn Hinduism, on the other hand, we see tolerance incarnate. It is true\nthat the caste system lends itself readily to intolerance, that some of\nthe most refined and cruel forms of persecution are conducted by it\nagainst Christians today. Yet in itself this faith has a genius for\ntoleration. It does not go out of its way to attack other faiths. On the\ncontrary it generally reaches forward the flag of truce and peace to them.\nIt willingly appropriates much of their teaching and ritual. It placed in\nits pantheon its arch-enemy, Buddha, and has dignified many of the demons\nof the primitive cult of South India in the same way. And herein lie the\nsubtle power and supreme danger which inhere in it to other faiths.\n\n(_d_) It must also be remembered that the faith of India is an ethnic\nfaith, with no ambition to reach to other peoples beyond that peninsula.\nThis faith has a hundred ways of expelling and excommunicating its members\nand only one doubtful door by which it may receive outsiders, namely, by\nthe formation of a new caste.\n\nChristianity, on the other hand, is pre\u00ebminently a missionary religion. It\nclaims to be the universal faith. The last commandment of the Lord upon\nearth and the first work of the Holy Spirit upon His descent was to\npropagate the faith and to carry it to many lands and peoples. Hinduism is\nconserved by its social organism of caste; Christianity, by its leavening\ninfluence upon all that comes in contact with it, and the outreaching\npower of its life within.\n\n(_e_) Another difference is observable in the fact that while Christianity\nis always held as a system of saving truth to be believed, Hinduism, in\nits acceptance, does not involve the necessary belief of any doctrine or\nsystem of doctrine. It is well understood that a man of any belief, or of\nno belief, may be a genuine and orthodox Hindu provided he observes caste\nrules and ceremonies. It has been more than once insisted upon that a man\nmay accept Christ as his Saviour and His religion as his firm belief and\nstill remain a Hindu if he only submit to the demands of caste. Not a few\nHindus are trying to live up to this strange dual system today! And I fear\nsome native Christians have not got rid of the same delusion.\n\n(_f_) There is also a marked difference in the moral standards of the two\nfaiths. In a certain sense the moral code of Brahmanism, at its best, is\nlofty if not perfect. It enjoins a man not to lie, not to steal, not\ninjure another, to be just, brave, hospitable and self-controlled. Some\nsavage races inculcate, with more or less severity, the same moral\nlessons. But to Hindus as to savages these injunctions have represented\nthe moral code; and whoever, among them, attains unto these, mostly\nnegative, virtues, is deemed worthy of praise. In a sense the ten\ncommandments communicated through Moses, obtain among Christians and are\nenjoined upon them today. But they, rather than represent the Christian\u2019s\nideal, indicate only the low water mark of his moral requirements. To say\nof a Christian gentleman today that he does not steal, or does not lie, is\nrather an insult than a compliment, since it assumes that he possesses\nonly what is now considered a very elementary form of morality, such as\nthe lower classes and children are supposed to practice. It is only as we\nfollow Jesus Christ and sublimate this code in love (Matt. 22:37-40) that\nwe rise to the full significance and divine content of morality. The\nChristian code rests not in negation, but commands a life of outgoing,\nactive love. A lofty altruism must permeate his every act and give\ncolouring to his whole life. Christ not only introduced and emphasized\nthis golden rule; He taught that it was absolutely necessary (John 12:25;\nMatt. 5:44).\n\nTo the Hindu, on the other hand, the _lex talionis_ is a law of life still\nenforced. See, _e.g._, Vishnu Purana 5:19. He never thinks nor is he\ncommanded by his religion to think, of aught but outward conformity to a\nmoral code which is altogether inadequate to keep, direct and inspire him\nin life. This difficulty is, of course, enhanced when we remember that in\nthe whole realm of Hindu life\u2014whether it be of gods or of men\u2014there is no\none who looms up as a perfect example. It is therefore little wonder that\nin India today morality is at so low an ebb and that even the code which\nprevails there is so sadly and universally violated.\n\nHopkins aptly remarks in this connection: \u201cThis Christian ideal of today,\nwhich makes fair-mindedness, liberality of thought, and altruism the\nrespective representatives of the savage virtues of manual honesty,\ntruth-speaking and hospitality, is just what is lacking in the more\nprimitive ideal formulated in the code of savages and of Brahman alike....\nIn India all the factors of the modern code are entirely lacking at the\ntime when the old code was first completely formulated. Liberality of\nthought comes in with the era of the Upanishads; but it is a restricted\nfreedom. Altruism is unknown to pure Brahmanism.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nConclusion.\n\n\nConsidering therefore these two faiths in all their characteristics and\ntendencies we are warranted in concluding that Hinduism must wane and\nvanish. It is an ancient faith and has survived not a few storms. It has a\nstrong place in the hearts of a great people. But the leaven of\ndissolution and death is mightily at work within it today. The times are\nchanged, new circumstances are bringing in a revolution of thought.\nForeign ideas, language and customs are the rage; a new civilization, the\ndeadly foe to the strongholds of the faith, is supplanting the old. This\nfaith has nothing to offer with a view to meeting this new and complicated\nsituation. It opposes all progress; through its pundits and orthodox\ndefenders it antagonizes modern civilization and scientific advancement at\nevery point. It is given up to degrading idolatry and a debasing,\nall-absorbing ceremonialism. It is the foster-mother of ignorance.\n\nThe mighty influence of Christianity, on the other hand, is being felt by\nall in the land; and the thousand-headed, thousand-handed civilization of\nthe West is grasping and slowly transforming all their ideas of life.\nVerily India is in the throes of a new birth. Hinduism has done some good,\ndoubtless. It has had a mission in the world and that has unquestionably\nbeen, partly, in the conservation of the great doctrine of God\u2019s immanence\nat a time when the western world had largely forgotten it. But this work\nis no longer needed. Today this truth is emphasized also by the Christian\nChurch, and in the safe and practical way, in combination and harmony with\nthe personality and fatherhood of God.\n\nWe can therefore look forward with confidence to the ultimate issue of\nthis great conflict and see, through faith, the day when Christ shall\nreign supreme in that land.\n\n\n\n\n\n                               Chapter IV.\n\n\nTHE PRODUCTS OF THE TWO FAITHS IN INDIA. THE HINDU AND THE NATIVE\nCHRISTIAN\u2014A STUDY.\n\n\nDuring the many centuries of its history and working in India Hinduism has\nhad ample opportunity to produce its own type of religious devotee, one\nwho is thoroughly representative of its teaching and life. This type\nabounds in India today and is a faithful reflection of that faith. We\nshall now endeavour to study that living embodiment of Hinduism. In one\nrespect it will be but another way of studying the faith itself\u2014perhaps\nthe best of all methods of studying a religion, for it is thus presented\nin life and action.\n\nProtestant Christianity has not been sufficiently long in India to develop\nand foster an Indian type of character of its own. And yet we see it\nrapidly working towards that consummation. A century is too brief a time\nfor this purpose. Moreover, native Christian life in that land is too much\nunder the dominance and guidance of the West to enjoy a large degree of\nspontaneity; and without spontaneity life is not natural.\n\nNevertheless, the century that has passed has brought into existence the\nfourth generation of Protestant native Christians in India; and we are\nable to see, to some extent, among these descendants of native Christians\nthat tendency and bent which will ere long develop into a definite and\nsettled type of its own. For the time being we can only study the native\nChristian as a prophecy\u2014a prophecy not for many years to be fulfilled in\nall its details, and yet worthy of study both in itself and for what it\nsuggests.\n\nLet us consider, then, these types of the two faiths which we see in that\nland.\n\n\n\n\n1. And First, The Hindu.\n\n\nThe Hindu Devotee is a genuine product of his religion, wrought out during\nthirty centuries on its native heath. He stands before us as a distinct\ntype whose characteristics differentiate him from the followers of any\nother religion.\n\nIt is well to remember here that that modern product\u2014the Hindu of Western\nculture who is so much in evidence today in India and who sometimes comes\nWest in flowing orange robes and turban to urge his mongrel philosophy\nupon our fellow-countrymen\u2014is not the type of Hindu appreciated by, or\nrepresenting, the people of that land. Neither in life nor in teaching\ndoes he represent the faith whose name he bears. He is a man who has\nstudied Western thought and religion under the guidance and inspiration,\nperhaps, of the Christian missionary; and then in an ingenious way strives\nto interpret his own faith in the light of his Western attainments. He\npresents to us not orthodox Hinduism, but a mongrel doctrine and\nphilosophy which are as foreign to the teaching of the orthodox Hindu\npundit and as alien to the Hindu Scriptures as they are to Western\nphilosophy and faith. It is a significant fact that all these\nWestern-travelled Hindus have first to violate a fundamental injunction of\ntheir own religion\u2014namely, that which prohibits sea travelling to a\nHindu\u2014before they can visit the West in order to commend their faith. And\nwhen they return to their native country they do so as the outcastes of\ntheir religion, and can be reinstated only after performing a work of\natonement which includes the disgusting act of eating the five products of\nthe cow!\n\nThe _real_ Hindu, who stands today as the true exponent of his faith, is a\nvery different man. He would no more cross the seas than he would cut off\nhis right arm; for he knows that he can remain a true Hindu only so long\nas he remains at home. He is a conservative of the stiffest kind. He\nthinks on ancient lines and swears by the rishis of old.\n\n                      [Illustration: Idol Worship.]\n\n                  [Illustration: Religious Mendicants.]\n\n(_a_) Study his prepossessions and then alone can you appreciate his\nheritage. Though he may not be a scholar or a philosopher, he is\nnevertheless fortified by a host of religious beliefs and prejudices. A\nthousand dogmas and prepossessions, the inherited treasures of thirty\ncenturies, are his. He drank them in with his mother\u2019s milk; he has\nbreathed them in as an essential part of his daily environment. They are\nmore than second nature to him and constitute largely the world of his\nthought. His ideas of God, of himself, of sin, of salvation, of human\nlife\u2014all are far removed from ours and are peculiarly his own. He feels\nhimself to be in the toils of an iron destiny which slowly grinds him to\npowder. His conception of God brings him no ray of comfort, or hope of\nrelease. His idea is that his sin and suffering of today are the\ninflictions, by some unknown power, for the sins of supposed former\nbirths. So that he must, through countless ages, work out his own\nsalvation\u2014a salvation which indeed means eternal rest; but it is a rest\nfrom all thought, emotion, self-consciousness and separate existence as\nwell as from all work.\n\nWithin the mighty fascination of this Vedantism the people have been held\nthrough the centuries. And it is a doctrine which renders the highest\nmorality impossible and has proved the mightiest soporific to the\nconscience. A few years ago a murderer in South India was being led from\nthe court of justice to prison where, soon, he was to be executed for his\ncrime. As he was struggling in the street with the police, a missionary\naccosted him, urging him to confess his sin against God and to seek his\npeace. Whereupon the man replied, \u201cI did not commit the murder; it was the\nwork of God Himself, in whose hands I am and of whom I am part.\u201d To this\nthe missionary replied that this was neither true nor worthy, and that he\nwould soon suffer the full penalty of the law for his crime. \u201cAh, yes,\u201d he\nexclaimed, \u201cthe god who wrought this in me and through me, will put me to\ndeath. It is all his and I am he.\u201d\n\nSuch is the line of thought which passes through the mind of the orthodox\nHindu devotee under all circumstances, be they pleasant or disagreeable.\nAnd it is one of the most difficult things for him, under these\ncircumstances, to cultivate a true sense of responsibility and a genuine\nconception of sin as a moral act.\n\n(_b_) See again his ideals. He has many such which influence him largely\nin his life. Much depends upon what a man regards as the _Summum Bonum_ of\nlife. The supreme blessing which the Hindu ever holds before his eyes, as\nthe highest and last attainment, is union with God. Not a union of\nsympathy, but a metaphysical oneness with Br\u00e2hm. To lose himself entirely\nin the Divine Being and thus to cease having separate thought or\nexistence, and to pass out of the turmoil and restlessness of human life\ninto the calm of the passionless bosom of the Eternal\u2014this, to him, is the\nideal which alone is worthy of human attainment.\n\nAgain; we, Christians, look forward to a complete self-realization, to a\nperfect manhood and a full rounded character as our ideal. The opposite\nideal is the Hindu\u2019s. He seeks the loss of all that we hold best\u2014the\nelimination of every ambition and desire, the eradication of all love and\naltruism, the cessation of all activity\u2014good as well as evil. His ideal is\nnot greatness and goodness of heart, but the renunciation of all that\nanimates and inspires. To him the highest virtue in its noblest activity\nhas no charms; for he claims that he looks above and beyond all this to\nthat absolute equilibrium of soul when passion, and when all desire, shall\nhave been killed through self-mortification and self-abnegation and he\nshall have attained mental poise and repose rather than a perfect\ncharacter. Thus, in its last analysis, his ideal is an intellectual,\nrather than a moral, one; for it is again absorption into the Divine Soul;\nand that he conceives to be the Supreme Intelligence rather than the\nPerfect Will. This difference of ideal between the two faiths is\nfundamental and must work for very diverse results.\n\nIn harmony with this is the other thought that the body, yea each and\nevery body with which the soul may clothe itself, is an unmitigated evil\nbecause it is the highway to suffering and defers the final consummation.\nHence, the Hindu has no respect for the body and longs for the day of\nfinal emancipation from flesh and all its ills.\n\nHow then shall the soul be freed from its many births so that it may pass\nout of this bondage into the final freedom of _Sayutcha_, or emancipation?\nTo him _Yoga_, the way of meditation, represents the highest way of\nrelease. To wean the mind, through this process, from all desire and\nambition and thus to reach absolute equilibrium of soul is the object of\n_Yoga_. This indeed is the only condition whereby the soul can rise above\nany future contact with earthly bodies.\n\nConsequently the Hindu has, for many centuries, looked to the monastery\nand the wilderness as the only places where this ideal can be safely and\nspeedily attained. To live among men, and thus to be subjected to\ncorroding cares and to the swaying passions of human society, renders the\nattainment of beatification impossible. Under these circumstances the soul\nfinds no way of emancipation. Therefore the watchword of the Hindu is,\n\u201cflee from the world rather than overcome it.\u201d For the attainment of those\nqualities which ensure final repose he immures himself in a _mutt_ or he\nflees into the forest where, apart from men, he gives himself to\nself-mortification and meditation that he may speedily find the desired\nrelease. At the root of this idea, as its animating motive, lies the\nworthy ambition of living a better life than the environments of a corrupt\nsociety favour. And with this desire is coupled the idea that a full\nrounded life and a perfected character are not only possible in the\nsolitude of a wilderness but are nowhere else attainable. And thus it is,\nwith many, a silent acknowledgment of failure and of the belief that in\nthe rush and struggle of public life a godly, heavenly-minded character is\nimpossible. According to the Hindu conception, a man may be successful in\nbusiness matters, but he cannot be holy or fit for the highest communion\nwith God unless he spend his time in separation from all his kind.\nTherefore the so-called pious and holy men of that land are ascetics. They\neschew human society and seek to renounce all human good and every earthly\nambition.\n\nWith this purpose, ostensibly, in view there are, as we saw, about\n5,500,000 men in India who have given up all earthly employment, who live\napart as ascetics and spend their time in roaming around the country as\nreligious mendicants. These people are, in the main, doubtless possessed\nof the laudable ambition to be holy and to prepare themselves for union\nwith Br\u00e2hm. And yet, as a matter of fact, they are the most pestilential\nin their morals of all the people of the land. Many of them, at the same\ntime, both regard themselves and are regarded by their co-religionists as\nthe acme of piety. Nevertheless, they daily trample under foot every\ncommand of the decalogue. It is true that a few of them are different from\nthe mass, and genuinely seek the higher life for the cultivation of which\nthey have separated themselves. But into their ideal of life altruism\nhardly enters at all. It is not to do good unto others, but to escape\ncontamination from others which is the concern of the Hindu devotee. At\nthe basis of his higher aspirations concern for self is supreme, thoughts\nof others are absent.\n\nA notable illustration of a high realization of the Eastern ideal we see\nin the famous Hindu ascetic Swamiji Bhaskara Nanda Sarasvati, of Benares,\nwho recently died and to whom Dr. Fairbairn has referred so cordially. For\nmany years he had given himself to devotion and meditation. He had subdued\nthe body by the rigours of asceticism and had attained pre\u00ebminence in\nself-restraint and in the highest wisdom of _yoga_ culture. He had\ntherefore retired from the world, spurned all its allurements, denied all\nits claims and devoted himself exclusively to thought and meditation. Thus\nimmured within temple walls in the great city of Benares he was utterly\noblivious to the sin and sorrow of the swarming multitudes of that city\nand did nought to relieve the suffering, or to improve the lives, of his\nfellow-beings. He died, and over his remains has been erected a shrine to\nwhich the thousands go for worship and for inspiration to attain unto that\nideal of life which they believe him to have realized.\n\nThis ideal has, for centuries, taken possession of the Hindu mind, and\nnever before did it rule with more absolute sway than it does at present.\n\nAnother ideal of life with the Hindu is the so-called \u201cpath of works.\u201d At\npresent this term is synonymous with a life of ceremonialism. In modern\nparlance \u201cworks\u201d means to the Hindu, ceremonial observance. His life is\nhedged in on all sides by a host of ceremonies and is permeated through\nand through with a most complicated ritual. There is nothing in the life\nof a Hindu devotee, whether it be eating, sleeping, bathing or travelling,\nwhich is not religiously prescribed both as to time and method. And\nutterly regardless of the significance of these rites or the\nappropriateness of them to his life, he deems their observance as\nessential to his salvation and finds in their daily keeping the highest\nsatisfaction and completest assurance of his spiritual progress.\n\nThe Hindu is no rationalist in his religion. He obeys implicitly, and\nwithout question, the ritual of his ancestors and finds no interest in the\nscrutiny or analysis of them.\n\nSo, to the ordinary Hindu, especially to him to whom the way of meditation\nin the wilderness seems impossible, ceremonialism becomes a matter of\nsupreme concern. No other religion has furnished to its followers a more\nelaborate and pervasive system of observances than this. These rites\nexercise their influence upon the mind and are wielding today a most\npotent influence upon Hindu character. A man may think nothing of, nor\nhave any ambition to attain unto, the spiritual aspect of his faith; he\nmay give no time whatever to any of its teachings or spiritual\ninstruction; but if he maintain its ritual with ordinary care he flatters\nhimself with the thought that he has attained a perfection corresponding\nto his estate.\n\nMoreover, the Hindu is a thorough _fatalist_. He believes that his destiny\nis \u201cwritten upon the forehead.\u201d Nothing which he may do can affect this\ndestiny. Nor does it seem to be a part of the divine purpose. So far as he\nis concerned it is an irrevocable fate. This belief manifests itself\nlargely in his life and conduct. It is one of the inconsistencies of the\nHindu\u2019s thinking that he, at the same time, worships a tribal god in whose\nhands he believes his affairs to be, and through whom prosperity can flow\ninto his life for time and eternity; and yet he holds, with equal, yea\nwith greater, persistence, the law of _Karma_, that is, the law of works,\naccording to which law alone future life, both to himself and to all men,\nmust be wrought out even to the last detail. It is strange that a man\nwhose pantheon is so crowded as that of the Hindu, and who believes in\nsuch constant divine guidance and interference, should, also, at the same\ntime, maintain a theory of life which practically dispenses with all\ndivine action and makes human life the product of a blind and grinding\nfate. Nothing is more marked as a characteristic of Hindu thought today\nthan a possession by the people of these mutually conflicting and\ncontradictory views of life.\n\n(_c_) Looking at the Hindu from a social standpoint we see him largely\naffected by the caste system. Not only is his life in bondage to this\nsystem, his view of life, too, is thoroughly coloured by his caste\nsentiments.\n\nJust as ceremonialism covers all his personal life, even so caste\nobservance defines for him all his social relations. There is not a tie or\nan influence which binds man to man that is not, to the Hindu, a part of\nthe great and all-embracing caste system. So all-pervasive is this social\ntyranny that a man dare not withstand it; yea, more, he has learned to\nlook at it as the prime necessity of his social being and therefore\ninvariably regards it as the highest good. He may indeed believe that, in\nthe abstract, caste is an evil and that it has been a curse to the people\nof the land. But he nevertheless maintains that, as it is an ancient part,\nand a most important part, of his ancestral faith, it must be submitted to\nin all obedience and regarded as the ideal of life.\n\nThe Bhagavad-Gita is regarded today not only as the gem of all Hindu\nliterature; it is also held up by educated Hindus as the highest authority\namong their _Shastras_. Concerning caste duties this \u201cDivine Song\u201d speaks\nas follows:\n\n\u201cBetter to do the duty of one\u2019s caste,\nThough bad and ill-performed and fraught with evil,\nThan undertake the business of another,\nHowever good it be. For better far\nAbandon life at once than not fulfill\nOne\u2019s own appointed work; another\u2019s duty\nBrings danger to the man who meddles with it.\nPerfection is alone attained by him\nWho swerves not from the business of his caste.\u201d\n\nTherefore the Hindu has come to regard caste observance as the supreme\nclaim of his faith. As we have seen, a man may believe or disbelieve any\ndoctrine he please; that does not affect his status as a Hindu so long as\nhe is loyal to caste rules and observances. As one has aptly remarked, the\nseat of other religions may be in the mind; the seat of Hinduism is\npre\u00ebminently in the stomach. It is not what he thinks but what and how and\nwith whom he eats that gives him his religious status.\n\nThe Hindu regards himself as socially devoid of any right of initiative\nand choice; he has no will of his own. His social conscience is in the\nkeeping of his caste. This has gained its rules from the past and\nexercises no discretion or judgment of its own in the social direction of\nits members; but it insists upon implicit obedience, by every one, to past\ncustoms which have crystallized into irrevocable laws. And to these laws\nthe Hindu is always and everywhere a willing and an abject slave. To\nviolate any of them is, he well knows, to be recreant to his faith and to\nbe an outcaste among his people.\n\n(_d_) The Hindu is not strong in character, as Westerners regard strength.\nAs we have seen, his religion is not favourable to the highest development\nof conscience. Hence, sincerity and truthfulness are not among his strong\npoints. Not only does pantheism undermine conscience, the example of the\nmost prominent gods of the Hindu pantheon, leads men to prevaricate and\nencourages all forms of duplicity. Under these circumstances it were\nstrange if the Hindu were conspicuous in honesty and in loyalty to the\ntruth. And in like manner he is wanting largely in those convictions\nwhich, in the West, are so inseparably associated with earnestness,\nintegrity and lofty purpose. If, to the Hindu devotee, religion is not a\nsystem of truth to be believed and loyally followed, but a series of\nceremonies to be observed and of caste rules to be obeyed, then loyalty to\ntruth becomes a very secondary matter and integrity of mind will be\nregarded by him as of no great moment. Therefore it is that hollowness is\nso often found at the core of their life. Lying and stealing are all but\nuniversal. It is said in our District in South India that the regular\nprice of a court witness is two annas (four cents); and he stands ready to\nperjure himself to any extent for this paltry sum. The ordinary Hindu\nseems too often to have a predilection for falsehood and uses truth with\nrare economy! There, dishonesty and petty larceny are foibles too\nfrequently condoned because too generally practiced. Even among the higher\nclasses\u2014the cultured and \u00e9lite\u2014open-faced and open-handed frankness and\nsincerity are too rare. Hypocrisy and duplicity are too often cultivated\nas a fine art. It seems to be the pride and pleasure of an Oriental to\nconceal his mind and purpose and to say and do things by the greatest\nindirection possible.\n\nIndia has been extolled as a land where there is no profanity. This is\ntrue and she should have the credit for this abstinence. And one never\nfeels like giving her this credit more than when he returns from that\ncountry to this and is compelled to endure the coarse profanity which\npervades our streets as a terrible stench.\n\nYet one can hardly see how the Hindu could find interest in, and a strong\ngrip upon, profanity, so long as the gods of his pantheon have so little\nof his respect and enter so rarely into the serious compacts of his life.\nMoreover it should not be forgotten that obscenity fulfills in India the\nfunction of profanity in the West. The bursts of passion which find\nexpression here through taking the name of God in vain gain utterance\nthere in language unspeakably bad of the other kind. And this is only a\npart of the larger subject of the prevalence of social immorality in\nIndia\u2014an evil which is largely fostered under the protection of the\nreligion of the land. When Lord Dalhousie, the Viceroy of India, was\nconsidering an act for the suppression of obscenity in the country, he was\ncompelled by Hindu sentiment to exempt all temples and religious emblems\nfrom the operation of the act! What better commentary could one desire\nupon the source and prevalence of this vice in that land? When such an\nevil is intrenched behind the religion of the people and is symbolized and\nfostered by its emblems and ceremonies\u2014when _tasies_, or women dedicated\nto the Hindu gods and temple worship (there are 12,000 of these in South\nIndia alone), constitute the public characters of the land\u2014then the hope\nfor the purification of life is at the lowest ebb.\n\nIt is also very rare that one finds a Hindu whose convictions and loyalty\nto certain beliefs are such that he is willing to suffer in their behalf.\nThat masculine vigour and manly persistence under difficulty in\nmaintaining what he believes to be right and true is not germane to the\nHindu character.\n\nOn the other hand, the Hindu is strong in the so-called passive virtues.\nIn harmony with his religious beliefs, patience and meekness and endurance\nof evil have become second nature to him. This side of his character has,\nindeed, received undue emphasis during the many centuries of his history.\nHe cannot understand the rush and impatience, the push and aggressiveness\nof the Westerner any more than he of the West can understand the Hindu\u2019s\ncool, quiet, patient, bearing under most trying and adverse circumstances.\nHe has a large lesson to teach us in the art of self-control and in the\nability to endure with complacency evils which cannot be remedied.\n\nThus as we look at the Hindu from the various standpoints of life and\ncharacter we see how strange a compound he is, and how unlike the man of\nthe West at nearly all points in our examination. He is pre\u00ebminently weak\nwhere we are strong, and he manifests strength where we seem to need it\nmost. His religion has developed within him traits and tendencies which,\nthrough these many centuries, have wonderfully wrought in his life and\ncharacter, and have largely made him what he is today.\n\nMoreover all this enables us to see what a serious problem Christianity\nhas in hand in India today, namely the conversion of 230,000,000 people so\nfar removed in life and sentiment from those who have gone to preach\nChrist to them. Yea, more, we have seen what mighty influences and forces\nChristianity has to overcome, what hosts of prejudices to destroy, before\nshe can lay her hand in power upon that great land and claim it as her\nown.\n\n\n\n\n2. Let us Now Study The Native Christian.\n\n\nThe Indian Christian, as we have seen, is a recent product, so far as\nProtestant Christianity is concerned. And yet we are glad to witness a\nmarked development in the life and character of those who are connected\nwith the Protestant missions. It is true that fully one-half of the\nChristian community there found has been connected with our faith no more\nthan a quarter of a century. But as we compare these recent accessions to\nour faith with those Christians of a second, third and fourth generation\nwe are much encouraged by the growth in Christian character and principle\nwhich is taking place. I have often studied these differences between the\nrecent convert and the Christian-born member of the community. I have also\ncompared those of the second, with those of the third and fourth,\ngeneration of Christian heritage; and I have been much encouraged to see\nthat our faith is adding to its power over the life and character of the\nnative Christian community as the years and generations increase. And if\nthe work continues, with the present insistence and vigour, it will not\ntake many generations more before Christianity will have become thoroughly\nindigenous, because it will have developed a type of character in that\nland fully in harmony with its own genius and teaching.\n\nIt is necessary, however, in considering this question, that we remember\nspecially that the antecedents and the environment of the native Christian\nhave been entirely Hindu. His ancestral faith has coloured, and must\ncolour, largely his religious preceptions and conduct. Let it not be\nthought that, when a man abandons Hinduism and becomes a Christian, he\nthereby, once and for all, drives out of his mind all those\nprepossessions, prejudices and superstitions which he has inherited from\nthe past. It will take a long time for him to separate himself from these\nand their influence. Many of them will probably cling to him during his\nwhole life. It is as much as we can hope that Christian truth will take\nincreasing possession of his mind and gradually supplant the old and\nunworthy beliefs of Hinduism.\n\nThere are moreover certain elements of truth in that old faith which we do\nnot care to eliminate from his mental furnishing, but which must find new\nadjustment and be properly located in the new religion which he has\nadopted.\n\nIt should also be remembered and made prominent in our consideration of\nthis subject that the people of India are an Oriental people and are the\nchildren of the tropics and, as such, will always remain and must remain\nvery different from us of the Northwest. Their climatic and meteorological\nconditions, their outer, physical life, their social customs and the trend\nof their civilization, have always been, and will continue to be, far\nremoved from our own. Nothing could be more fatal to our success in our\neffort for the conversion of India than the idea that we must in every\nrespect mold them after the pattern of Western life and habits. A large\nportion of their life is the result of the conditions which I have\nmentioned and must largely remain unchanged; and it would be folly for the\nmissionary to regard these as a part of the faith to be supplanted, and to\nteach that western social customs are inseparable from Christianity and\nmust be accepted by the Orient with our faith. The Christian of India will\nalways be, and it is well that he should be, differentiated from the\nAnglo-Saxon Christian.\n\nIt should also be remembered that the people of India, at least the\nmasses, are low in civilization. It should not be expected that those who\nare in that low estate, when they become Christians, will leap with one\nbound into the full possession of a high civilization and be clothed upon\nwith some of those beauties of western life and character which we\ninevitably associate with the term, \u201cA Christian Gentleman.\u201d They, indeed,\nbecome truly and sincerely the disciples of Christ; but they will, at the\nsame time, manifest some of the crudities and weaknesses of the low social\ngrade of which they have been and still remain a part. They should not be\njudged by standards Western or of a high civilization.\n\nLooking, then, at the native Christian of India let us have regard to his\ncondition socially, morally, religiously and spiritually.\n\n(_a_) Studying this product of the Christian faith in that land from a\n_social_ standpoint we find encouragement. He differs from his Hindu\nneighbour by a growing freedom from the trammels of caste. He feels, in\nhis best moments, that caste has been and continues to be the greatest\ncurse of the land, that he has been emancipated from it, and that he is\nambitious to enjoy the liberty wherewith Christ has made him free. And\nyet, unfortunately, he does not remain constantly in the possession of\nthis sane mind. The roots of the caste system have reached down into the\nlowest depths of his being. Even at times when he believes that he is\nabsolutely independent of caste considerations, there is in him a blind\npersistence which clings to caste bondage. I have often felt that Hinduism\ncan be dispensed with by our convert with vastly more ease in all other\nparticulars than in its caste feelings and affiliations. This relic of the\npast clings to him with a tenacity which is phenomenal and most sad.\nThough everything teaches him that this caste system is the greatest enemy\nof Christianity and will prevent any one who believes and practices it\nfrom fully imbibing the spirit of Christ; and though he aspires to be an\nearnest and an efficient Christian and to love all his brethren, this\nremnant of Hinduism in his heart returns to rob him of the joys and\nblessings of his Christian birthright. I have seen this frequently\ndisfigure what would otherwise have been a beautiful Christian character.\nI have witnessed it blast the prospects of Christian congregations dooming\nthem to stagnation and death. I have known it to palsy the arm and deaden\nthe heart of more than one Christian worker.\n\nAll this is inevitable when we remember the mighty influence and the long\ncontinued dominance of caste in that land. But even at this point, where\nthe missionary finds the greatest discouragement, there are marked signs\nof progress. So long as the missionary fought this evil alone there was\nlittle hope of success. But, during the last few years, the conscience of\nthe native Christian Church itself has been roused on this question. The\nIndian Christian today, as never before, has the conviction that this\ncaste evil saps the spiritual life of every member and of every church\nwhich entertains it, and that it is his supreme duty to fight it steadily\nin his own heart, home and church. And there is an increasing number,\nespecially of the young Christians, who are pledging themselves to an\nunceasing warfare against the demon caste. Christians are also organizing\nthemselves into Caste Suppression Societies. All this is highly\nencouraging, but needs large furtherance and development before the native\nChristian can be said to be freed from this most subtle curse of the\nancestral faith.\n\nThe old Hindu Joint Family System is the foster-mother of the caste idea,\nand it is cheering to see native Christians increasingly abandoning that\nsystem for the Western idea of home which encourages thrift, independence\nand liberty among the various members of a family and clan.\n\nIn India, for many years to come, this blight of social narrowness,\nexclusiveness and divisiveness will affect more or less the native\nChristian character and give colour to the native Christian Church. For\ncenturies it may prove the weak spot of Indian Christianity.\n\n(_b_) _Morally_, the native Christian develops slowly. One writer has\nrecently claimed that the Christian of India manifests little, if any,\npre\u00ebminence over the Hindu, in this respect. This is not true. He is\ncertainly moving forward and upward morally. But it should be remembered\nthat moral character is not one of the first results of Christian conquest\namong such a people. It is rather the highest and last fruit upon the tree\nof Christian life. It should not be forgotten that what we regard in the\nWest as the high moral traits of a Christian gentleman are the product of\nmore than 1,000 years of Christian living.\n\nThe native Christian manifests, in this respect, the weakness of his\nantecedents and his environment. When we remember that weakness of\ncharacter to which we have referred as belonging to the Hindu it is not\nsurprising that the native Christian, who is daily surrounded by men of\nthat faith and who imbibes the atmosphere of that religion, should largely\nbe affected by the same evil. A few years ago an English barrister\ncomplained to me of certain Christian witnesses who had given evidence in\na case recently conducted by him in Madura. \u201cI hate to have your\nChristians as witnesses in any of my cases,\u201d he says; \u201cfor whenever they\nventure to give false evidence they instantly falter and stumble and are\ncaught by the opposing counsel. A Hindu, when he gives false evidence,\nwill tell a straight and a plausible story. But your Christians are too\nmuch affected by twinges of conscience.\u201d What was embarrassing and\nannoying to him was encouraging to me! That our Christians should\noccasionally give false evidence did not surprise me; but that they, in\nthis matter, should be differentiated, by this disinterested observer,\nfrom Hindu witnesses is a reliable testimony in favour of their growing\nveracity.\n\nAmong the higher class of native Christians, which is annually increasing\nin number, there is marked improvement in character. Especially among\nmission agents do we have opportunity to witness this development. They\nare growing in sincerity and reliability. The missionary is learning, with\nincreasing pleasure, to place confidence in their veracity. And yet, we\nmust mourn that moral progress among our people, both high and low, is not\nmore rapid and satisfying.\n\nSocial immorality, as we have seen, is very prevalent in that tropical\ncountry. It is natural that this should annoy and worry us greatly among\nour native Christians. It is a sad fact that more of our mission agents\nare dismissed on account of this sin than any other. Hindu society is not\nonly largely demoralized by this evil, there is also no public sentiment\nagainst it. But, under the influence of a growing sentiment in behalf of\nchastity and purity, the evil is gradually diminishing among our native\nChristians.\n\nOne source of moral depravity in Hindu society is the prevalent belief\namong them that there is no necessary connection between piety and\nmorality. Their faith maintains that a man may be an ardent and worthy\ndevotee, and at the same time trample under foot every part of the\ndecalogue. Indeed the immorality of their religious ascetics is as\nnoticeable as their profession of piety. Nobody there questions their\nlofty faith, their deep piety, their supreme devotion to their gods; nor\nwill any one hesitate for one moment to charge them with every vice and\nsin in the human catalogue. Such is the Hindu mind that it can and does\nbelieve that these, to us, inseparable elements of a noble life, can be\nsevered and found absolutely apart. In India, today, the moral people are\nlargely the non-religious; while the ostentatiously religious are the\npublicly immoral ones.\n\nIt will take a long time for this fundamental and universally prevailing\nerror to lose its grip upon our Christian people in that land. We find,\nnot infrequently, in the Christian community, men and women living in\nunrighteousness and at the same time believing that it will be overlooked\nin the Divine account because of their zeal in Christian advocacy or their\noffering for the Christian cause. Perhaps this land of the West also is\nnot free from such a delusion! We endeavour to teach them, in the language\nof the Apostle Paul (1 Tim. 3:9), \u201cto hold the mystery of the faith in a\npure conscience\u201d; and we emphasize the supreme truth that faith and\nconscience, piety and morality are one and inseparable.\n\n(_c_) _Religiously_, the native Christian is slowly shaking off the\nclinging brood of superstitions which he inherited from Hinduism. Our most\nrecent converts have often a tenacious belief in the efficacy of some of\nthose childish superstitions and charms which were largely their main stay\nin their ancestral religion. In most cases these are not a matter of faith\nso much as of inheritance which have become more than a second nature to\nthem. Idolatry may be abandoned, belief in Hinduism as a saving faith may\nbe thrown to the winds, Hindu ritual may lose its charm; but the many\nlittle superstitions which are connected with private life and social\ncustoms have still a quiet influence and a lingering power over them.\nThese largely belong to the life of those who have _recently_ accepted the\nChristian faith. It may be that some of them will never make that progress\nin life which will lift them entirely above some of these Hindu\nsuperstitions. But the great majority of native Christians today have\nreligiously had no connection whatever with Hinduism and have entirely\nsubstituted Christian rites and observances for those of the Hindu\nreligion. And they apparently have large satisfaction in them. The old\nHindu idea of the supreme value of asceticism is largely yielding to a\nChristian altruism which abandons self-centred, self-seeking, activity in\nfavour of loving sympathy for, and an endeavour to do good to, men.\n\nWe also notice that among them the idea of the efficacy of certain forms\nand ceremonies is lessening in favour of a conviction of the power of the\ninner life of faith.\n\nAnd yet it should be constantly kept in mind that ceremony and ritual must\nalways find a larger place in the religious life of India than in that of\nthe United States. The inhabitant of India is tropical and poetic in\ntemperament. He beholds things, and appreciates and appropriates spiritual\nblessings, more through the help of forms and ceremonies than does the man\nof the West. A rite appeals to his nature more strongly and lends to him\ngreater facility in getting at its underlying truth and antitype than it\ndoes to us. Indeed it is his nature to look at Christian truth through the\neyes of a poet; and ceremonies consequently convey to him the largest\nsignificance and are more revealing of the spirit within. We seek divine\ntruth and spiritual blessings more directly than he. It would be therefore\na mistake for us to expect that practical, unpoetic mind of ours in the\nOriental, or to present religious truth to him in its nakedness, unadorned\nand unenforced by rite and ritual. It has been, and, to some extent,\ncontinues to be the fault of our Congregational Missions in India that\nthey try to lift the native Christian to those dry, unadorned, simple\nforms of religious service which indeed satisfy the missionaries, but\nwhich ignore the great difference of nature and temperament between\nthemselves and the converts. It should be remembered that in India people\nthink vocally. Even as they must and do read aloud in order to read\nintelligently, so must they worship aloud in order to worship feelingly\nand thoughtfully. Hence the wisdom and urgency for them of a ritual and a\nresponsive service.\n\n(_d_) _Spiritually_, the Indian Christian is slowly and surely developing\non definite lines of his own.\n\nThe simplicity of his faith is beautiful. He has none of those questions\nof doubt or misgivings of unbelief which are so prevalent in the West. He\ntakes the Bible in all fullness of acceptance. His prayers are not crossed\nand frustrated by any rationalistic theories, but have the simplicity of\nchildish directness, filial trust and full expectancy. Nothing has touched\nme more in my contact with native Christians than to feel the directness,\nsimplicity, unquestioning trustfulness of their prayers even in times of\ngreatest adversity.\n\nThe native Christian possesses a mystic temperament. The inhabitants of\nthat land, through many centuries of training, have become natural mystics\nin religion. This national heritage the native Christian retains; and\nproperly chastened and directed by Christian truth and faith it will add\ndepth, beauty and power to his religious life. Under these conditions I\nshall have no fear of mysticism in the Christian Church in India. Deep\nspirituality and a yearning after the hidden things of religion is more\nnatural to the East than to the West. The West is practical and worldly;\nthe East is mystical and other-worldly. The native Christian, at his best,\nis manifesting some of this spiritual power. He takes naturally to the\nPauline emphasis upon the life \u201chid with Christ in God,\u201d and to the mystic\nunion which exists between Christ and His own.\n\nIt is here that the native Church in India is, I believe, to show an\ninspiring example to the Church of the West. If the Christian of India is\nnot to be as practical or indeed as spiritually sane as his brother of the\nWest, he will probably illustrate more of the hidden mysteries and power\nof the spiritual life. In this respect the spiritual power of the East and\nthat of the West will be, in their separate emphasis, mutually\ncomplementary.\n\nThe Indian Christian, true to his native temperament, is and will continue\nto be strong in the so-called passive virtues, and weak in the positive or\naggressive ones. Patience, meekness, gentleness, endurance\u2014these are the\ngraces which pre\u00ebminently adorn him and which give colour and shape to his\nreligious character. Here, again, his life will be very different from\nthat life which has characterized, thus far, the Western Christian. The\nmasculine virtues of assertion, boldness, aggressiveness have\ncharacterized the West. We have been strong and continue strong in that\naspect of our faith which we associate with the words assertion and\nattack. The West has, true to its environment and training, developed\nChristian character mostly, I will not say exclusively, on the positive\nside of life. The equally important passive virtues we of the West have\nmuch neglected if not despised as weakness. The East is even today\nmanifesting the blessedness, and the native Christian will increasingly\nillustrate, the beauty and potency, of the passive virtues\u2014of the\nspiritual element of endurance and non-resistance. He will show to us that\na true and perfected character\u2014a character molded after that of the divine\nExemplar\u2014must have also, and with equal emphasis, the sweet and feminine\npassive graces of life as an essential element. In India today the\nAnglo-Saxon is wont to speak with contempt of \u201cThe mild Hindu.\u201d That\nmildness which we are too apt to despise contains the germs of that half\nof Christian character which is too largely wanting in the spiritual life\nof the Anglo-Saxon and which the Christian Church of India will\nincreasingly illustrate and gradually seek to respect, honour, and\nultimately, to adopt.\n\nThus, speaking broadly of the native Christian of India today we find him\nalmost as much a product of heredity and environment as he is of\nChristianity. He holds out Christ before himself as his ideal of life, and\nHis words as the all-satisfying truth. He seeks in His redeeming work rest\nand salvation of soul; but many of the deepest yearnings of his heart come\nto him through old channels worn out by his ancestral faith. Hinduism\ngives more or less of colouring to his religious thought and aspirations;\nand not a few of its forms and ceremonies are retained, but filled with a\nnew Christian content, and are utilized to aid in the development of\nChristian life. Even as the Jews of old entered into possession and\nappreciation of Christian life through Jewish rites and ceremonies, so do\nnative converts enter Christian life through Hindu forms today. From the\nnecessity of their thought and being they utilize not a few of the\nprocesses of the old, in order to acquire and enjoy the blessings of the\nnew, faith. This cannot be avoided nor do we desire that it should be\navoided.\n\n             [Illustration: House Of A Missionary In India.]\n\n               [Illustration: A Village Christian Church.]\n\nThe study of the Indian Christian character in its peculiarities and\ntendencies is of importance, because, as I have said above, I believe it\nis to affect our conceptions of life in the West. At the present time not\na few of the religious vagaries which infest our land such as Christian\nScience and Theosophy, have chiefly come to us from India. At least,\nwhatever of philosophy they may possess, and all of the occultism and\nmysticism which they court and magnify, are thoroughly Eastern and Indian.\nAnd from the popularity of such movements in this land it would seem as if\nthe boast of some men that Hindu thought is invading the West is partially\ntrue. But the invasion which I desire and expect, in the not distant\nfuture, is the invasion of an Oriental _Christian_ thought, _Christian_\nlife and _Christian_ character. This will come in its time as truly as,\nand much more fully than, the other has come, and it will do this country\nas much good as the other is now doing evil.\n\nAs an illustration of what I mean in reference to the influence of Eastern\nthought upon the West I would prophesy that ere long the Indian Christian\nChurch will formulate for itself and enunciate to the world an advanced\nand helpful doctrine of the Holy Ghost beyond anything that the West has\nenunciated. India, which for these many centuries has been the home of an\nall-prevalent spiritual pantheism, when it comes to elaborate the doctrine\nof God, from a Christian standpoint, will give as much emphasis to His\nimmanence as the West has given to His transcendence. God with us and in\nus and working in all creation, even the Holy Spirit of God,\u2014this is the\nconception which the Indian Christian will elaborate and illuminate beyond\nanything that the West has thus far attempted.\n\nThere is danger, today, and it is inevitable, that missionaries from the\nWest be too ambitious to occidentalize the native Christian community,\nignorant of, or indifferent to, the grand possibilities of thought and of\nlife which lie in Eastern character and teaching. It is much easier to\nthrust upon them everything Western than it is to appreciate and to\nconserve many things Eastern. The future missionary will learn wisdom from\nthe past and will enter upon his work with less depreciation of things\nOriental and with a larger desire to conserve to the utmost Eastern habits\nof thought and social customs, so long as, and so far as, they can be made\nthe vehicles of Christian thought and the channels of Christian life.\nHerein must lie the best means for a speedy coming of the Kingdom of\nChrist in India.\n\n\n\n\n\n                                Chapter V.\n\n\nTHE WOMEN OF INDIA.\n\n\nThe condition of its women is the truest test of a people\u2019s civilization.\nHer status is her country\u2019s barometer.\n\nThe one hundred million women of India admirably reflect the whole social\nand religious condition of that land. There are more nations in India than\nare found in all Europe; they also present a greater diversity of type.\nBetween the aboriginal tribes which treat the weaker sex only as a beast\nof burden, and the Parsee community which holds its women in the highest\nconsideration and furnishes them with a liberal education and large\nopportunity, there are many intermediate tribes and nations which regard\ntheir women with varying degrees of consideration and of contempt.\n\nOf all Scriptures the Zend Avesta of the Parsees is the only one which\nfurnishes woman, from the beginning, with absolute equality with man; and\nthat position she has never lost among the Parsees. But the Parsees in\nIndia are a mere handful.\n\nThe Hindu woman constitutes four-fifths of the total number of her sex in\nIndia; and her condition is fairly uniform everywhere and conforms, in\nvarying degrees, to a type whose characteristics are easily recognized.\nShe has come down from earliest history. We recognize her everywhere in\nthe pages of their ancient literature, in their laws and legends; and we\nbehold her in all the manifold walks of modern life. For nearly a quarter\nof a century the writer has lived as her neighbour, gazed daily upon her\nlife, wondered at and admired her many noble traits which have been\npreserved under the most adverse circumstances, and grieved over her\nweakness and her many disabilities.\n\nIn ancient times, the position of woman in India was one of power coupled\nwith honour. Today the power remains, but the honour has been largely\neliminated.\n\n1. In ancient Vedic times woman enjoyed many distinctions and revealed\ngreat aptitude. She joined her husband in the offering of domestic\nsacrifices and sat as queen in the home. Some of the sacred hymns of the\nRigveda were made by her and have come down these thirty centuries as a\nbeautiful testimony to her intellectual brightness and aspiration, and as\nan evidence of the honour in which she was held.\n\nFive centuries later this beautiful description was given of her in the\nMahabarata:\n\n\u201cA wife is half the man, his truest friend;\nA loving wife is a perpetual spring\nOf virtue, pleasure, wealth; a faithful wife\nIs his best aid in seeking heavenly bliss;\nA sweet speaking wife is a companion\nIn solitude, a father in advice,\nA mother in all seasons of distress,\nA rest in passing through life\u2019s wilderness.\u201d\n\nThe rights and opportunities of woman are strikingly illustrated by many\nof the legends of their ancient epics. For instance, we read of the\n_Svayamvara_ of the lovely princess Draupadi. It was the occasion when she\nhad attained womanhood and was entitled to the right to choose her own\nhusband. How graphically are the royal suitors described as they press\ntheir claims to her heart and hand in knightly tournament. It is one of\nthose scenes which reveal woman in the possession of some of her most\nqueenly rights and attractions.\n\nThe ancient ideals of womanly character have come down the centuries writ\nlarge in their songs and annals; and these ideals are today held as\ndearly, and are loved and sung with as much ardour, as at any time in the\nhistory of India.\n\nEvery boy and girl of that land, today, knows the lovely Sita, wife of the\nnoble and heroic Rama,\u2014how, while in the power of the terrible Ravana, and\nat risk of life, she withstood every temptation and lived in unspotted\npurity and in supreme devotion and faithfulness to her royal lord.\n\nWho does not know of the faithful Saguntala, whose legend is woven into\none of the most beautiful and touching love stories the world has ever\nknown. This drama was the first translation from Sanskrit into the English\ntongue and elicited the astonishment and lively admiration of such a man\nas Goethe.\n\nIndia has always boasted of the constancy and devotion of the beautiful\nSavitri to her beloved Sattyav\u00e2n. After the death of her husband, she\nfollowed his soul into the spirit-world with fearless devotion and pleaded\nwith the King of Death with so much passion and persistence for his return\nto life that he was finally restored to her in youthful vigour.\n\nThese are some of the stock illustrations of the model wife used\neverywhere and at all times in India. And they have had an extensive and\nwonderful influence in the molding of wifely ideals.\n\nIt is, as we see, a glorification of devotion, faithfulness,\nconstancy\u2014traits that have always beautified the character of the Hindu\nwoman. It is true that, apart from her husband and from the kitchen, woman\nhas had few ideals urged upon her in that great country. Her ambitions\nhave not crossed the doorsteps of her house and home. She is measured\nentirely by her relation to her husband or children. She is her lord\u2019s\ncompanion and servant. Love to him is the wand which alone can transform\nher life into gold. Her usefulness and her glory are the reflections of\nhis pleasure and of his satisfaction in her. She has no separate\nexistence. Apart from man, she is an absolute nonentity. And yet, within\nthe sphere which has been granted to her, she has shone with a wonderful\nradiance and with a charm which reminds us often of some of Shakespeare\u2019s\nbeautiful womanly creations.\n\nThe physical attractions of woman have always, of course, captivated the\nsterner sex in India, as in other lands. Her beauty is lavishly described\nand painted in warm colours through all Hindu literature. And she _is_\nphysically beautiful; she will compare favourably with the fair ones of\nany land in womanly grace, in beauty of figure, and in bewitching charm of\nmanner.\n\nBut the standard of womanly grace and beauty is not precisely the same\nthere as it is with us in the West. A Hindu and an American have different\nideals of personal beauty. Though the Aryan type of countenance may not\nlargely differ East and West, there are touches of expression and shades\nof beauty which correspond respectively to the different ideals in both\nlands. May they not have created the ideals themselves?\n\nThe most common results of a Hindu woman\u2019s toilet are the smooth hair, the\nblackened eyebrow, the reddened finger-nails, the pendent nose jewels, the\nbulky ear-rings, the heavy bangles for ankles and arms. Without these,\nlife, to the Hindu belle, is not worth living. On wedding occasions, among\nthe common folk, red ochre is also daubed over the throat in ghastly\nsuggestion to the Westerner; but in glorious attractiveness to the native\nof the land!\n\nWest and East associate a fair complexion with highest beauty. A fond\nHindu mother once came to the writer moaning that she could not find a\nhusband for her daughter because she was \u201ctoo black!\u201d The young man of\nIndia puts a premium upon every shade of added lightness of complexion.\nHis taste is reflected in the universal feminine custom of using saffron\ndye to lighten the complexion upon all festive occasions.\n\nThe clothing of the woman of India is exceedingly attractive. Her pretty\ngarb sets off admirably the beauty of her person; and, both in\ninexpensiveness and grace, and in its contribution to health, is far\nbetter than the complicated extravagance, the heavy encumbrance and the\ninsanitary tight-lacing of the West. The women of South India dress with a\nview to comfort in the tropics; but they have also, in a most remarkable\ndegree, conserved appropriateness, beauty, and simplicity in their robes.\nThe possibilities of the one cloth, which is the full dress of the South\nIndian woman, as a modest garment and as a charming full-dress equipment\nwould be a revelation to the much dressed votary of the West. In the\narranging of this cloth there is considerable scope for ingenuity and for\n\u00e6sthetic taste; although, in this matter, the rules of each caste furnish\nan iron etiquette which must be followed by the women. Indeed, the tyranny\nof Worth in the West is nothing as compared with caste tyranny as the\nFashioner of the East. This is accounted for by the fact that a woman\u2019s\ndress must be arranged in such a way as to publish abroad her caste\naffiliations.\n\nWoman has a vast influence upon the life of the people of India. In no\nother country has she relatively exercised more power. All this,\nnotwithstanding the fact that, for more than twenty centuries, she has had\nno recognized position in religion or in society. Her spiritual destiny\nhas been entirely in the hands of man. By the highest authorities her\nsalvation has been made entirely dependent upon her connection with him.\nShe has absolutely no right of worship of her own. From the cradle to the\ngrave she is in man\u2019s keeping. Until she is married, supreme obedience to\nher father is her only safety; while her husband lives, heaven\u2019s blessings\ncan come to her only through his favour and prayer; and, after his death,\nher sons become her lords and the sole guardians and protectors of her\nspiritual interests. All this is everywhere recognized by Hindu society,\nand by none more than by the woman herself.\n\nAnd yet, it is equally true, and a fact of remarkable significance, that,\nin India today, the religious influence of woman is paramount. She is the\nstronghold of Hinduism at the beginning of this twentieth century. Man,\nunder the growing influence of western thought, civilization, and faith,\nhas largely lost his moorings and is growing increasingly insincere and a\ntrifler with religious beliefs and institutions. The woman, on the other\nhand, is a conservative of the conservatives. In her superstition she is\ndeeply sincere; her faith has no questionings, and her piety shapes her\nevery activity. Were it not for the women of India, Hinduism, with all its\nvaunted philosophy, its wonderful ritual and its mighty caste tyranny,\nwould, within a decade, fall into \u201cinnocuous desuetude.\u201d\n\nIt is a significant fact that in the religion of no other people on earth\ndoes the worship of the female find so prominent a place. In many parts of\nthe land _Sakti_ worship, or the worship of goddesses, is widely prevalent\nand almost paramount in influence. It is really the worship of power under\na female form; and the power which these goddesses exercise is mostly\nmalevolent in its character. The terrible wife of Siva, in all her dread\nmanifestations, is the most popular deity, because the most feared in the\nland.\n\nIt is natural to inquire whether this characteristic of the Hindu pantheon\nis not a reflection of the Hindu mind as to the influence of woman, and as\nto the belief of man in the evil character of that influence. As is the\nplace and power of woman among the men so is the character and place of\nthe goddesses in the pantheon of that people.\n\nThe famous religious reformer Chunder Sen, though he adopted and used the\nLord\u2019s Prayer, changed the form of address from the masculine to the\nfeminine and said, \u201cOur Mother who art in heaven!\u201d The adoration of the\nfemale in Hindu worship was never more marked than at present. What has\nChristianity to meet this bent of the Hindu mind? Or should it be\ndiscouraged as an element in worship? The Romanists meet it by exalting\nand giving pre\u00ebminence to the Virgin Mother. The Protestants have nothing\ncorresponding to this.\n\nSocially, the Hindu woman is a reactionary of the most pronounced type;\nshe opposes social reform at all points\u2014nowhere more than when it is\ndirected to ameliorate her own condition. Religiously, as we have seen,\nshe is the slave of man by law and teaching; yet she rules her household,\neven in these matters, with an iron hand.\n\nFrom her throne in the home she so wields her sceptre that it is felt also\nthroughout the whole social fabric. Her beloved lord has perhaps passed\nthrough a university course, is a pronounced social reformer and\ndiscourses in eloquent English, before large audiences of his admiring\ncountrymen, concerning the mighty social evils which are the curse of the\ncountry; he, with his ardent fellow-reformers, frames rules which shall\nsoon usher in the millennium of social reform and progress! And then\nhe\u2014this man of culture, of eloquence, of noble purposes and of altruistic\nambitions\u2014goes to his home and meekly submits to the grandmotherly tyranny\nwhich has shaped his life much more than he knows, and which vitiates and\nrenders nugatory all his social and other schemes! As man has narrowed the\nscope of woman\u2019s life in that land, so she has given it intensity of\npower.\n\nAnd what is more significant, she has become supremely contented with the\nnarrow sphere which man has grudgingly given her. And, for this very\nreason, she combats every endeavour, on the part of her friends, to\nrelease her from her bondage and to increase her opportunities and\nblessings in life. The old triple slander perpetrated upon India, to the\neffect that \u201cit is a country in which the women never laugh, the birds\nnever sing and the flowers have no fragrance,\u201d is a falsehood in all its\ndetails. Hindu women have as merry a laugh as their sisters in any other\nland. They have learned to make the best of their lot and to rejoice in\nit.\n\nSince the time of the Mohammedan conquest, and probably long before, the\nhigher class of women have mostly led a life of seclusion. This is\npre\u00ebminently true of the northern parts of the country where Mohammedan\ninfluence was strongest and the Hindu had carefully to protect his wife\nand daughters from the coarse Mussulman. In South India this seclusion is\nvery rare and observed only among the most aristocratic. The common woman\nof India finds ample freedom of intercourse in her town and village, and\nfigures conspicuously at the great religious festivals of her land.\n\nGenerally speaking, woman is the redeeming feature of India. She is the\nideal home-keeper and housekeeper. Usually, she is devoted to her husband,\na passionate lover of her children, the conserver of society, the true\ndevotee in religion. Her lord and husband has been taught, from time\nimmemorial, to keep her in obscurity and to surround her with the screen\nof ignorance and narrow sympathies; but she has magnified the work\nassigned to her; her excellence has shown far beyond his; and, in her\nbondage, she has built her throne from which she has wielded her sceptre\nof love and goodness over him.\n\nShe has never aspired to realms not granted to her by her lawgivers. The\nmodern aspiration of the \u201cnew woman\u201d of the West does not appeal to her.\nShe asks only to be let alone in her narrow but, to her, all-sufficient\nsphere.\n\n2. But, after all we have said, or can say, of the power of woman in\nIndia, it still remains that, in no other land, has she suffered such\nmarked disability and deeper injustice. If her goodness has shone out of\nher darkness, it has only served to reveal the more the sadness of her\nposition. She bears in her condition the signs of her bondage and\nhumiliation. The evils of the land have been attributed to her; and man\ntoo often ascribes his own degradation and sin to the curse breathed upon\nhim by woman.\n\nThe proverbs of a country are the truest test of its sentiments. What have\nthese to say of the woman of India today?\n\n\u201cWhat poison is that which appears like nectar? Woman.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat is the chief gate to hell? Woman.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat is cruel? The heart of a viper. What is more cruel? The heart of a\nwoman. What is the most cruel of all? The heart of a soulless, penniless\nwidow.\u201d\n\n\u201cHe is a fool who considers his wife as his friend.\u201d\n\n\u201cEducating a woman is like putting a knife in the hands of a monkey.\u201d\n\nThese are a few of the many proverbs which characterize woman in one\nvernacular only. Every other Indian tongue equally abounds in proverbial\nexpressions which brand a woman as one of the greatest evils of the land.\nSanskrit writers have exhausted vituperative language in describing woman.\nThey represent her as \u201cwily, hypocritical, lying, deceptive, artful,\nfickle, freakish, vindictive, vicious, lazy, vain, dissolute,\nhard-hearted, sinful, petty-minded, jealous, addicted to simulation and\ndissimulation. She is worse than the worst of animals, more poisonous than\nthe poison of vipers.\u201d\n\nThese proverbs do not necessarily reveal the depravity of the Hindu woman;\nbut they do testify unmistakably to the estimation in which she is held by\nman.\n\nThe ignorance of woman there is dense and is probably a fact which closely\nconnects her with the proverbial expressions concerning her. Her\nilliteracy is not an incident in Indian life. It has been, through the\ncenturies, a settled policy of the land. At the present time only one\nwoman in two hundred can read and write in that land of progress. The\nremarkable thing is, not that so many are illiterate, but that even a few\nhave been taught at all, in view of the attitude of the Hindu mind towards\nher. In ancient times there was little to learn, in India, apart from\nreligion; but it has been the strict injunction of their Shastras and\nreligious instructors that no man shall, under penalty of hell, teach to\nhis wife or daughter the Vedas which are the purest and best part of Hindu\nScriptures. Any form of useful knowledge was considered dangerous in her\npossession.\n\nIt is not that woman is wanting in capacity. She is as bright and as\nteachable as her brother. All that she has needed, educationally, has been\nopportunity; and this, society has denied her, and this has done injustice\nnot only to her but, still more, to itself.\n\nInfant marriage has been, for many centuries, a crying evil in that land.\nThis has brought to woman a train of evils which have made deplorable her\ncondition above all the women of the earth. This custom originated,\nprobably, from a sense of kindness to the girl herself. It was the\nexpression of a desire on the part of the parents to insure their\ndaughter, at an early date, against failure to attain that which all\nHindus regard as the _summum bonum_ of a woman\u2019s life\u2014marriage. But, in\ntheir short-sighted policy, they failed to realize the myriad evils which\nwould follow this pernicious custom. The girl\u2019s will or desire must not be\nregarded as an element in this life compact! And, what is worse still,\nthese infant compacts are necessarily followed by early consummation,\nwhereby girls enter, in many cases, upon the duties of motherhood at\ntwelve years of age. Few, indeed, are permitted to reach full physical\ndevelopment before they assume the function of child-bearing. This is not\nonly a serious evil to the woman herself, it also gives poor chance for\nthe begetting of a healthy progeny and for the early training of the same.\nAnd it is not strange that the woman who thus early enters the sphere of\nmotherhood should become a worn out old woman at thirty-five or forty\nyears.\n\nMuch effort has been put forth in India, by Westerners especially, to make\ninfant marriages impossible, or at least unpopular. But, little success\nhas thus far attended this effort.\n\nA small meed of alleviation was gained with much effort in 1891. It came\nthrough the passing of the \u201cAge of Consent Bill\u201d whereby the age of a\ngirl\u2019s consent to cohabitation was raised from ten to twelve. To a\nWesterner, the blessing acquired by this bill seems in itself a mockery\nand only reveals the appalling cruelty of that people to its girls.\n\nIt has been found impossible to touch, much less remove, the gross evil of\ninfant marriage itself, the custom which opens wide the door to other\nghastly evils.\n\nThe greatest of these is that of virgin-widowhood. If men will perversely\nmarry their infant daughters to small boys, it is sure that a considerable\nproportion of the boys will die before their marriage is consummated.\nThus, annually, thousands of these poor girls, who are in absolute\nignorance of the situation, are converted into virgin widows whose\ncondition, upon the death of their husbands, is instantly changed from one\nof innocent childhood pleasure into a sad, despised and hated widowhood.\nFor, the parents of the boy sincerely believe that it is her evil star\nwhich has killed the boy whose destiny was blended with her own. And\nhenceforth she is regarded, not only by the parents concerned, but by\nsociety in general, as an accursed person, hated for what has happened to\nher husband, and also a creature to be shunned. Her presence must not be\nallowed on any festive occasion, lest its evil influence bring sorrow and\ndeath to others. Thus a child of four or five years may suddenly have her\nprospects blasted, her life embittered and her company shunned by the\nwhole world, with none to befriend, to cheer or to comfort her. There are\ntwo millions of such sad and injured ones in India today. Their cry goes\nup to God and to man in inarticulate appeal for relief and redress against\na social custom and a religious rule which consigns them, in their time of\ngreatest innocency, to a life which is worse than death itself and which\nrobs them of the protection, love and sympathy which the whole economy of\nheaven and earth should guarantee to them.\n\nCoupled with this terrible fact is the other, that woman _must_ marry in\nIndia _anyhow_. No disgrace and misfortune can befall a woman, according\nto Hindu ideas, equal to that of spending her whole life in maidenhood.\nThis, of course, is connected with the idea that she has no social status\nor religious destiny apart from man. Hence it is that a host of loving\nparents, who are unable to find a suitable match for their daughters,\nrather than leave them unmarried, stupidly join them in wedlock to\n_professional_ bridegrooms. There is, in Bengal, today, a division of the\nBrahman caste whose men are professional purveyors to this silly but\nprevalent superstition. They are prepared to marry any number of girls at\nremunerative rates. And thus they acquire a fair income. Each of these men\nhave scores of such wives and entertains the proud satisfaction,\ndoubtless, that he is bestowing a favour upon a benighted community by\ncoupling his name in wedlock with unfortunate girls who otherwise would be\nwithout a name or hope among men! A state of society which renders such a\ncondition of things possible is not only a disgrace to any community, it\nis a monstrous evil against the womanhood of that community. Is it any\nwonder, then, that so many of the women of India, under these\ncircumstances, should commit suicide? Is it strange that a wife, in such a\nland, should find it best to obey and submit to the indignities of the\nworst kind from her husband? And is it remarkable that the Hindu widow,\nrather than endure the neglect, the temptations and the obloquy of her\nwidowhood, should have preferred to practice Suttee and to end her\nmiseries upon the funeral pyre of her husband? When we remember that their\nsystem consigns one-fifth of all the women of India\u2014more than 20,000,000\nsouls\u2014to this despised and ostracized widow class, we realize the depth of\nevil which flows from the system.\n\nThere is still another cruel injustice inflicted upon the womanhood of\nIndia. Many thousands (there are 12,000 in South India alone) of her\ndaughters are dedicated in infancy to a life of shame in connection with\ntemple worship in that land. These women, the so-called \u201cservants of the\ngods,\u201d have been mostly dedicated by fond mothers to this wretched life as\na thank offering to the gods for blessings received. This seems very\nstrange when it is known that all such girls thereby become public\ncharacters. The \u201cDancing Girl\u201d of India is thus shut up to her evil life\nby those who love her most; and her religious profession becomes to her\nthe highway to perdition and a bitter curse to society. Recent effort has\nbeen made, in Bombay, to save such girls by making it a legal offence to\n\u201cmarry\u201d them to the gods and thus devoting them to a life of shame. But\nthis law only refers to the dedication of girls of tender age in Bombay.\nIt is exceedingly sad that, practically, the whole population is utterly\nindifferent to this greatest insult committed against the womanhood of\nIndia and to the coupling of their own religion and their gods with the\nruin of the soul and body of many thousands of the daughters of the land.\n\nIt is not remarkable, under these circumstances, that among all the people\nof India the birth of a daughter is the most unwelcome of domestic events.\nThe evils which surely await her, and the greater possibilities of sorrow\nand suffering which surround her, the great burden of expense and of\ntrouble which her training, and especially her marriage, will entail upon\nthe family\u2014all combine to make her birth a much dreaded event.\n\nThe large expense, in the shape of the marriage dowry and the wedding\nexpenses which have to be incurred among nearly all classes in connection\nwith the disposal of their daughters, only make this situation the more\nemphatic.\n\nThe practice of infanticide, so extensively found in India, was the direct\nresult of this difficulty. For instance, among the noble race of Rajputs\nin North India it was found, some years ago, that, in a community of\n30,000, there was not a single girl! Every daughter that was born was\nkilled. The higher the rank of the family the more constant and systematic\nwas the crime. \u201cThus, while an unmarried daughter in India is looked upon\nas hopelessly disgraced, a son-in-law cannot always be found unless the\nfather of the girl is prepared to pay highly, and the marriage of a\ndaughter may mean the ruin of a family. Rather than incur this danger, the\nRajput preferred that his daughter should perish. And though the\ngovernment has enacted stringent laws against this custom, it is not\nentirely eradicated yet.\u201d(10)\n\nThus the Hindus have wittingly and unwittingly placed many of the most\nserious disabilities of life upon their women. And the greatest evil of it\nis that the woman has become so hardened to her lot that, like the\nprisoner of Chillon, she has become enamoured of her chains and is most\nloathe to part with her bondage.\n\n3. But the dawn of a new day has risen upon India. It is the day of\nwoman\u2019s emancipation. A new spirit, during the past century, has entered\nthat land, and the welcome era of brighter blessing, greater appreciation\nand larger opportunity for woman has actually begun. One has only to study\nthe laws which, during the nineteenth century, were enacted in India with\na view to removing the terrible evils and crimes which were committed\nunder the sanction of Hinduism; and he will find that not a few are\ndirected towards the amelioration of the condition of woman. Such inhuman\ncustoms as _suttee_, the murder of children, the dedication of girls to\nlives of shame\u2014these have been removed in whole or in part; and, by the\n\u201cAge of Consent Bill\u201d and other similar half measures, the beginning has\nbeen made in introducing a day of better things for the women.\n\nMany of the efforts of Hindu Social Reformers are directed towards the\nremoval of some of the disabilities under which woman lives. It is true\nthat the woman of India cannot expect, for a long time, much help from her\nown people. Even the Social Reformers among them are so few in number, are\nso half-hearted in their measures, and are so unwilling to deny themselves\nin behalf of the cause which they advocate, that little can be expected\nfrom them. And yet, it must be said that in a few matters of importance\nHindu sentiment is slowly moving in the right direction. As a Social\nReformer, the Hindu is a poor success; but he is not a fool; he can see\nthat the situation, so far as woman is concerned, is becoming increasingly\nuntenable and flagrantly inconsistent with the growing light of today. The\nhope is that he will yield, with increasing readiness, to the pressure\nbrought to bear upon him by Western sentiment.\n\nThe presence of many women of the West in that land has been a standing\nrebuke to the Hindu social situation. These women have done not a little\nto stir within their Eastern sisters a desire for something better. They\nopen their eyes to the contrasted conditions of the women of the East and\nof the West. When they shall have aroused the women of India to the\ndesperateness of their condition and to the urgent need of reform and\nrelief, the battle will be more than half fought and victory will be in\nview. For, when the Eastern woman herself will vigorously demand her\nemancipation, man will yield it to her. The Dufferin Hospitals are a noble\ntribute to the active interest of the good lady whose name they bear; and\nthe sympathetic endeavour of Lady Curzon for the elevation of India\u2019s\nwomen are but suggestive of considerable work which the fair sex of the\nWest have rendered and are rendering in behalf of their Indian sisters.\n\nProtestant Christian missions have been pioneers in this great movement\ntowards the emancipation of the women of India. American and English\nwomen, connected with these missions, have given themselves to the\nredemption of their sisters. More than one thousand of these good women\nare devoting their lives to the salvation of India through the elevation\nof the women of the land. Thousands of schools are conducted by them in\nwhich a host of young girls are receiving that training which Hinduism has\nproscribed for many centuries. And through these schools, and by means of\nat least two thousand Bible Women, trained by them, they have access into\nhundreds of thousands of Hindu homes where they reveal to the women and\ngirls a broader horizon of life and give a new conception of the\nprivileges and opportunities which are opening today before them. They are\ncreating among the women a spirit of unrest which is the dawning of a new\nambition for greater things in life and service. The very presence of\nthese foreign ladies suggests to their Indian sister a new sphere broader\nthan the home, and a new opportunity pregnant with rich blessings to the\nland.\n\nUnder the influence of these missionary efforts and of the less thorough\ntraining given in government schools, Hindus themselves are beginning to\nbestir themselves and to establish schools for their daughters; and thus\nwe trust that coming years will not only witness a change of thought among\nHindus concerning women, but also a new line of indigenous activity for\ntheir elevation.\n\nThere is further ground for encouragement; for the Hindu man of culture is\ngrowing increasingly sensitive to the wide gulf which lies between him and\nhis absolutely untrained wife. He sees that, while the Western woman is\nsuited in every way to become the companion of, and a helpmeet to, her\nhusband, his own little wife is fit to be neither. Even when not separated\nfrom him by a disparity of many years in age, he finds that she has\nabsolutely no interest outside the walls of her home and has not the first\nqualification to discuss with him or to help him by advice in any matter\npertaining to his work or profession. So he, under the new light of modern\ntimes, is increasingly ambitious to have a wife of the new training and of\nthe larger horizon, and is willing to pay a premium for her in marriage.\nAnd this, itself, is beginning to create a market for educated women even\nin that stronghold of conservatism, the Brahman caste.\n\nThus the effort of Christian missions in the development of womanhood is\nacting like leaven upon the whole social mass.\n\n\n\n\n\n                               Chapter VI.\n\n\nTHE HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN EFFORT IN INDIA.\n\n\nChristianity found very early entrance into India. How early we cannot\ndefinitely say. The Syrian Church of Malabar traces its legendary origin\nto the \u201cdoubting disciple,\u201d by whose name it loves to be called. The\nRomish Church also warmly supports this contention and exalts St. Thomas\nto a high place as the Patron Saint and Apostle of India.\n\nCareful historical investigation entirely overthrows this old claim. The\nThomas legends probably owe their existence to the natural desire of the\nSyrian Christians to connect their history with Apostolic origin and\nsanction. The name may also be confounded with a later Thomas, several of\nwhom were conspicuous in the annals of the India Syrian Church.\n\nThe ancient vagueness of the name \u201cIndia,\u201d has also, doubtless, had no\nlittle influence in the formation of these legends. In the beginning of\nthe Christian era \u201cIndia\u201d was a term of much wider application than at\npresent. It included several countries in Southwestern Asia, and even a\nportion of Africa. While St. Thomas may therefore have laboured and died\nin \u201cIndia,\u201d it does not at all follow that his field of labour was within\nthe limits of the peninsula now called by that name. Indeed, many\nhistorical incidents and facts agree in disproving Apostolic connection\nwith the rise of Christianity in India.\n\nPant\u00e6nus, the saintly and learned Presbyter and Christian philosopher of\nAlexandria and the renowned teacher of the illustrious church fathers,\nClement and Origen, is the first honoured name which finds historic\nsanction in the grand roll of Christian missionaries to India. He visited\nMalabar, South India, during the last decade of the second century. He was\na man wonderfully equipped by deep spiritual insight and piety and also by\nphilosophic training and metaphysical acumen to become the messenger of\nChristian truth and life to the Buddhists and Brahmans who lived side by\nside in South India in those days.\n\nWe know little of his work in that land. He found in Malabar a colony of\nJewish Christians who possessed a copy of the Gospel of Matthew in the\nHebrew tongue, said to have been given to them by the Apostle Bartholomew.\nIt is not known, however, whether this last named apostle laboured among\nthese Christians in that region.\n\nProbably a century later that Christian community formed connection with\nAntioch, Syria, which was the first of all Christian missionary centres;\nbut which, through its Nestorian faith, soon lost its missionary ardour.\n\n1. And thus emerges out of the darkness into its long and unique history\nthe Syrian Church of Malabar.\n\nIt has passed through many vicissitudes and has lost much, if not all, of\nits positive Christian influence and missionary character. During a recent\nvisit to that region I was saddened by the sight of this Christian\ncommunity which had lived all these centuries in the centre of a heathen\ndistrict with apparently no concern for the religious condition of the\nsurrounding, non-Christian, masses\u2014content to be as a separate caste\nwithout religious influence upon, or ambition to bring Christ into the\nlife of, its benighted neighbours.\n\nThis church has survived its own apathy, on the one side, and Roman\nCatholic inquisition on the other, and appears before the world as what it\nreally is\u2014the only indigenous Christian Church in the peninsula of India.\nIt enjoys the unique distinction of having lived more than a millennium\nand a half in a heathen land, for a thousand years of which it was\nentirely surrounded by a non-Christian people.\n\nDuring the last half century it has been considerably influenced by the\nwork and example of the Church Missionary Society which is established in\nthat region. Through this influence a Reformed Syrian Church has come into\nexistence which promises to do much for the whole community in ideals and\nlife. The Syrian Church has hitherto been greatly cursed with the trinity\nof evils\u2014ignorance, ceremonialism and superstition. It was not until 1811\n(at the suggestion of an Englishman) that it translated a part of the\nBible (the four gospels) into the vernacular. And this is the only\ntranslation of the Scriptures ever made and published by the natives of\nIndia.\n\nThe Syrian Church now numbers 248,741. That part of the Syrian community\nwhich the Romish Church compelled, by the inquisition, to unite with it\nnumbers 322,586.\n\n2. From the fourteenth century the ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH has continued to\nsend out her emissaries and missionaries to that land.\n\nJordanus and his brave band of missionary associates were her first\nrepresentatives.\n\nBut it was only from the arrival of Vasco da Gama and the Portuguese\nconquest four centuries ago, that the influence of that Church began to be\nseriously felt and its triumphs recorded.\n\nBy the sword and cruel Inquisition not only were Syrian Christians\ncompelled to transfer their allegiance to the Pope; non-Christians also\nwere, for perhaps the second time in the long history of the land,\nsubjected to the bitter restraints and inhuman inflictions of religious\npersecution. It is a curious fact that the hideous and bloody monster of\nreligious intolerance was hardly known in India until, first, the\nfollowers of Mohammed and, secondly, the disciples of the meek and lowly\nJesus began to invade the land.\n\nThen follow the devoted and heroic labours of the saintly Xavier. He was a\nman of princely extraction, of royal bearing, of Christian devotion and\nself-denial. He wrought, according to his light, with supreme loyalty to\nhis Lord and with a divine passion for souls in South India. Many\nthousands of the poor fishermen on the coast was he permitted to baptize\ninto the Christian faith. It is much to be regretted that, like nearly all\nsubsequent Romish missionaries, he gave himself, all but exclusively, to\nthe ceremonial salvation, rather than to the ethical transformation and\nthe spiritual regeneration, of the people. It has always been a much\neasier thing, in India, to gather the people for the reception of the\nmystical ordinances of our faith than it has been to prepare them, by\npatient teaching and guidance, to exemplify its precepts by their lives.\n\nAfter Xavier came the accomplished and wily Jesuit, Robert de\nNobilibus\u2014the nephew of Cardinal Bellarmine. A believer in the Jesuitical\nprinciple that the end justifies the means, and ardently desiring to bring\nthe Brahmans over to his faith he proclaimed himself, and in every way\nassumed the r\u00f4le of, \u201cthe Western Brahman.\u201d He lived scrupulously as a\nmember of that haughty caste and, until recalled by the Pope on account of\nhis deception, wielded much influence over the Brahmanical hierarchy in\nMadura.\n\nMen of great power and supreme devotion to their faith followed as\nrepresentatives of that great Church in India. Such names as de Britto,\nBeschi, the Abbe du Bois are a crown of honour to that community. Many\nlike them spent lives of great self-denial for the cause of Christ and\nfaithfully wrought for the redemption of the people; so that at present\nthe power of the Romish Church and the devoted energy of its leaders are\nknown in every section of the Peninsula. After nearly six centuries of\neffort its community in India has reached the total of 1,524,000 souls.\nFor a long time, it has not enjoyed much increase in its membership. In\nmany places it finds numerous accessions; but not a few of its people\nbackslide and return to their ancestral faith. The marked defects of\nRomanism in that land have been its concessions to, and compromise with,\nthe religion of the land both on the side of idolatrous worship and of\ncaste observance. I have discussed the subject with Indian Roman Catholics\nin the villages and find that to them the worship of saints, through their\nmany obtrusive images, is practically the same as the idolatry of the\nHindus\u2014the only marked difference being in the greater size of the Romish\nimages! In like manner the Jesuit has adopted and incorporated into his\nreligion, for the people of that land, the Hindu caste system with all its\nhideous unchristian divisions. All this makes the bridge which separates\nHinduism from Roman Catholic Christianity a very narrow one; and it\nreduces to a minimum the process of \u201cconversion\u201d from the former faith to\nthe latter. But an easy path from Hinduism to Christianity means an\nequally facile way of return to the ancestral faith. If the Hindu has\nlittle to surrender in becoming a Christian, neither has such a Christian\nany serious obstacle to prevent his return to Hindu gods and ceremonies\nwhen it suits his convenience to do so. Hence it is that the new\naccessions to Romanism hardly exceed the number of those who leave it in\norder to resume their allegiance to the faith of their fathers.\n\n3. PROTESTANT MISSIONARY EFFORT began late. In India it was introduced\nwith the Dutch conquest in the early part of the seventeenth century. But\nthe proselytizing methods of the Dutch in those days savoured too much of\nthe Romish inquisition under the Portuguese. When the pressure of\nreligious compulsion by the civil government was removed, consequent upon\nthe English conquest in Ceylon and India, the people apostatized in a\nbody.\n\n(_a_) It was not until the truly Christian King, Frederick IV. of Denmark,\ntook, himself, a religious interest in that land at the beginning of the\neighteenth century, and sent, at his own expense, the first two Protestant\nmissionaries to Tranquebar on the east coast, that really consistent\nProtestant effort for the redemption of India began.\n\nZeigenbalg and Plutschau, the two pioneers who were sent to Tranquebar,\narrived in 1706. They inaugurated the great work of Protestant\nChristianity for the spiritual regeneration of India, and will always find\nan honoured place among the heroes of the cross.\n\nZeigenbalg was a man of great piety and of intellectual resources. He died\nin 1719 after a most successful service of unremitting toil. He gathered\nhundreds of converts into the Christian fold, established schools and\nerected a beautiful church edifice which stands today as the oldest\nProtestant Mission Church in the East. Above all, he felt that an open\nBible in the vernacular was essential to the conversion of India; and he\ntherefore gave himself to the translation of God\u2019s Word. He was not able\nto complete this work; it did not issue from the press until 1725. This\nTamil version of the Bible was the first translation of God\u2019s Word in\nIndia and in all the East; and it stands today as a monument to his\nintelligent labours and to those of his worthy successor, Schultze. It\nalso represents the beginning of a new era of missionary effort in the\ncountry. The Roman Catholics, during all their stay in that land have done\nnothing towards giving to the people the Bible in their native tongue. It\nwas not until the year 1857 that, stirred by Protestant example, they\npublished their first and only translation of any portion of God\u2019s Word in\nany of the South India vernaculars\u2014that of the Tamil Gospels and the Acts\nof the Apostles.\n\nSchultze spent fifteen years in Madras and left a congregation of 700\npersons there. From Tranquebar, as a centre, missionary effort spread\nextensively throughout the Madras Presidency. This was done through German\nmissionaries supported mainly by English funds furnished by the Society\nfor the Propagation of Christian Knowledge.\n\nPerhaps the most commanding figure connected with that work and century\nwas Frederick Schwartz, the missionary statesman and apostle who arrived\nin India in 1750. His efforts extended throughout the Kingdom of Tanjore\nand even to the Madura and Tinnevelly districts. Through all these regions\nhis power was felt and, in company with a few other worthy souls, he\nlaboured with distinguished faith, wisdom and heroism. The Protestant\nNative Church which has so flourished in Tinnevelly and Madura found its\norigin and first success under his guidance. He spent forty-eight years in\nunremitting effort, influenced powerfully all missionaries who came in\ncontact with him, and passed on to his reward in 1798.\n\nThus, before the close of the last century, at least 50,000 Tamilians had\nbeen baptized in connection with this Protestant effort. When we bear in\nmind the fewness of the agents, and the very limited tract of country\nwhich they occupied, it is a matter of considerable astonishment that so\nmany converts were every year baptized in the various missions. In\nTranquebar alone, in nineteen years, there were 19,340 persons baptized;\nand during the century, the entire number of converts was nearly, if not\nquite, double this amount. In Madras, as many as 4,000 natives were\nreceived into the Christian church. The Cuddalore Mission, notwithstanding\nits great troubles, yielded between 1,000 and 2,000 converts; the\nTrichinopoly Mission, more than 2,000; the Tanjore Mission, about 1,500;\nand the mission established at Palamcottah in Tinnevelly in 1785, also a\nfew.\n\nIt is impossible to know exactly the number of the native Protestant\nChristian churches and congregations existing at the beginning of the last\ncentury, or the number of the Christian community in the Presidency.\n\nProbably only a few thousand remained to await the dawn of the new\ncentury.\n\nFrom Madras, down South as far as Palamcottah, infant Christian\ncommunities existed. But they did not largely flourish until new\nmissionary societies were organized and a larger force of missionary\nworkers were sent to strengthen and push forward the work established.\n\nAnd it is very unfortunate that, with much good, not a little evil was\nfound among these few Christians whom the eighteenth century bestowed upon\nthe nineteenth. Mr. Sherring truly says,\u2014\u201cThat many of the converts were\nsincere and genuine, we cannot doubt. Yet it is certain that the\npermission to retain their caste customs and prejudices throws\nconsiderable suspicion on the spiritual work accomplished among them. The\nDanish and German missionaries soon perceived the formidable influence of\ncaste as an opponent of the Gospel, unless they were ready, like the Roman\nCatholics, to enlist it on their side, by permitting it to be retained in\nthe Christian churches established by them. They chose to make caste a\nfriend rather than an enemy. In doing this, however, while they made their\npath easier, they sacrificed their principles. They admitted an element\ninto their midst which acted on the Christian community like poison.\u201d And\nthis poison is still exercising a potent influence upon a no small portion\nof the Protestant Native Church in South India. A bad beginning in this\nrespect has facilitated an evil continuance.\n\nThe closing years of the eighteenth century carry our interest to North\nIndia and are notable as the beginning of the organized missionary effort\nof the English people for the redemption of India.\n\n(_b_) The Anglo-Saxons seem to have been the last among Christian peoples\nto awake from the lethargy of a self-centred, self-seeking Christianity,\nand to enter upon the great missionary campaign for the conquest of the\nworld for Christ. It is true that the Society for the Propagation of the\nGospel received its first charter in 1701. But for more than a century of\nits history it did not concern itself about carrying the Gospel to the\nheathen races. It seems strange that, up to that time, both the Protestant\nclergy and laymen of Great Britain and America felt little or none of that\nsense of obligation for the conversion of the non-Christian world to\nChrist which has now become so universal a conviction and a passion among\nthem.\n\n            [Illustration: American Church In Southern India.]\n\nIn the work of rousing the English to this grand world-wide enterprise\nWilliam Carey acquired well-earned distinction. Though of humble origin\nand wanting in early training, his spiritual vision and contagious\nenthusiasm made him a leader of power. Thus, God chose a cobbler youth to\nlead the Christian hosts of England out of the bondage of narrow religious\nsympathies into a world-wide conquest of souls for Christ. Carey\u2019s efforts\nin England were unremitting, and the contagion of his burning altruism\nspread everywhere notwithstanding much opposition and contempt met from a\ncertain class.\n\nHis early efforts at home were supplemented by a missionary life in India\nso remarkable in its self-denying devotion, so characterized by\ndistinguished ability and linguistic genius, and so notable in wisdom and\npersistence under the greatest difficulties that his name will ever stand\npre\u00ebminent in all the annals of missionary effort.\n\nBut it was very sad that, while _Christian_ England was waking out of her\nlethargy to her spiritual opportunities and duties in India, _commercial_\nEngland threw herself across the path and denied the right of Christian\nservice for the Christless people of that land.\n\nCarey found no welcome or even permission to work in British India. He was\ncompelled to flee from the territory of the East India Company and to find\nrefuge and opportunity for missionary work under the more enlightened and\nprogressive rule of the Danish in Serampore. It was from that place that\nhe directed his missionary effort in India and found the long-sought\nopportunity to serve his Master in that heathen land. It was there that,\nin company with his worthy associates, Marshman and Ward, he built up a\nChristian community and translated and published the Word of God into many\noriental tongues. The success and achievements of Carey would be regarded\nas phenomenal in the case of any missionary. But when it is remembered\nthat he was compelled to support himself and his mission, in considerable\npart, through his income in secular pursuits; when it is also known that\nhis wife was, for many years, a wreck, mentally, and therefore a source of\ngreat care and anxiety to him, how wonderful must have been his faith, his\npersistence, his intellectual endowments and his love for the people of\nIndia to have led him to accomplish so much for the cause of Christ in\nthat great land!\n\nCarey\u2019s life and example wrought wonders in its influence upon others of\nhis countrymen. Among a noble band of followers is found the devout and\npious enthusiast Henry Martyn who, during his too brief career as a\nchaplain in India, found time to commend his Master and His Faith to many\nin that land of darkness and death. Martyn was a worthy example of what a\nconsecrated chaplain can do for the Christian cause, beyond the strict\nperformance of his priestly functions\u2014an example which was perhaps never\nmore needed in India than at present when so wide a gulf is found between\nthe ordinary chaplain and the missionary.\n\nAs a result of this missionary revival there also came into existence not\na few hopeful, vigorous missionary societies. First among them was the\nLondon Missionary Society which entered, in 1795, upon its grand career of\nworld-wide endeavour. After that, was organized (in 1799) the Church\nMissionary Society. Both of these organizations, at the opening of the new\ncentury, began to put forth their best energies for the salvation of\nIndia. Then a host of other lesser, but equally determined, agencies\nfollowed in their train and made India their special field of activity.\n\nIn addition to distinctively English societies there were organized, also,\nseparate Scotch, Irish and Welsh movements for work in the land\u2014each\nnation vying with every other in the work of upbuilding there the Kingdom\nof Christ.\n\nAmong the British societies the Church Missionary Society, the Society for\nthe Propagation of the Gospel, and the London Missionary Society have done\nmost extensive service and have been markedly blessed with growing\ncommunities and effective organizations for work among the people.\n\nEach nationality also represents a separate type of life and activity. The\nEnglish missions, for instance, are strong in their wise organization and\neffective administration. The Scotch, on the other hand, have a genius for\nthoroughness in everything, especially in educational work. The names of\nthe greatest missionary educators of India are, almost without exception,\nScotch. They have dug deep foundations and have aimed, by means of their\nsplendid schools, to excel in the work of directing the thought of, and\nimparting a new philosophy to, the rising generation of Indians. If their\nresults have not been statistically impressive, so far as converts are\nconcerned, they have had pre\u00ebminence in the task of transforming the\nthought and of leavening the institutions of the land. For instance,\nAlexander Duff\u2014the father of the higher educational work of missions, a\nman mighty in thought and kindled with a sublime faith and a Christian\nenthusiasm\u2014did not number many converts as the result of his college\ntraining of the young. But every convert under him counted for something\nin the Christian Church. It is said that, of the forty-eight educated men\nwho were won to Christ through his mission in 1871, nine were ministers,\nten were catechists, seventeen were professors and high-grade teachers,\neight, government servants of the higher grade, and four, assistant\nsurgeons and doctors. Similar to the work of Dr. Duff in Calcutta was the\nwork of Dr. Wilson in Bombay and is the effort of Dr. Miller, at present,\nin Madras. Mission results must be weighed as well as measured.\n\nAs a contrast to this thought-directing and leavening work of the Scottish\nChurches may be placed the work of the Salvation Army in India. This\nunique organization invaded that great land nearly a quarter of a century\nago. Believing that existing missionary organizations and methods of work\nwere too dignified, staid and inadequate for best results, the leaders of\nthis movement introduced its cyclone methods and proposed to take India by\nstorm. They began by insisting upon all their European officers conforming\nto native custom, in clothing and diet. Their appeal was simple even if\ntheir work was narrow and noisy. It was a call upon all to immediate\nrepentance and to a belief upon the Lord, Christ, for salvation. They\nignored the Sacraments of the Church and, for a while, even emulated the\nHindus by daubing their religious emblems upon their foreheads.\n\nBut their appeal fell flat upon a people who had no Christian heritage or\ntraining; and their genuine forms of self-denial and methods of\nadaptation, instead of producing popular admiration and attachment, soon\nproduced pity and even contempt. If the officers were men of spiritual\nardour and were kindled with a passion for the salvation of India, they\nwere also, on the whole, untrained and uncultured. They not only disobeyed\ntheir Lord in neglecting the Sacraments, they did not and could not\nunderstand the people and their religion. By ignoring all sanitary rules\nmany of them vainly sacrificed their lives to the Cause.\n\nConsidering the money expended, the precious lives sacrificed and the\nefforts exhausted during this quarter of a century the results achieved by\nthis organization have been painfully, though not unexpectedly, small. It\nclearly illustrates and emphasizes the fact that India is not to be won\nfor Christ by a campaign of ignorance and noise, however largely it may be\nenforced by altruistic fervour. And it should not be forgotten that the\narmy officers have not scrupled to enter territory already occupied by\nChristian missions, to cause unspeakable annoyance to workers on the\nfield, and to fill up more than half the ranks of their \u201csoldiers\u201d with\npeople who already claimed allegiance to Christ in connection with\nwell-established missions.\n\n(_c_) Australia has recently fallen into the ranks of those who carry the\nGospel to India. One Faith Mission in Western India is almost entirely\nconducted by men and women of that country. A Baptist Mission also is\nmaintained by them there. And not a few of the strong members of British\nmissions are Australians; these, with their work, are supported by the\nchurches which sent them forth.\n\n(_d_) Protestant Europe has not been conspicuous for its missionary\neffort. And yet India owes a large debt to the Christians of the\nNetherlands, Germany, Denmark and Sweden for their effort to present to\nthem the message of life. As we have seen, the Dutch, upon their first\nconquest in the East, sought to introduce their faith among the people.\nThe first Protestant missionaries who gave their life for India were\nDanes. They were supported by the private resources of their own king. In\nearly times Danish settlements in India were the refuge of Gospel\nmessengers to that land. They protected them against the unchristian\nnarrowness and persecution of the East India Company. The Danish\nsettlement of Serampore gave the only opportunity to Carey and his\nassociates for a home and for missionary work.\n\nThe Bible was the first time translated into an Indian vernacular (Tamil)\nby our Continental brethren, and the first vernacular Christian books were\nprinted in Germany.\n\nAt the present time they are giving themselves more fully than ever before\nto the work of India\u2019s redemption. There are eight Continental Missions\nconducted there, some of which have achieved considerable success. The\nLeipzig Evangelical Lutheran Mission has fallen heir to the first Danish\nmission established at Tranquebar. It has at present a strong force of\nworkers, and they are scattered through several Districts in South India,\nare doing solid and substantial work and have gathered a numerous\nChristian community.\n\nPerhaps the most successful of these European missions is the Basil German\nEvangelical Mission, which is established upon the southwestern coast. It\nis well organized, has a thorough educational system and is embued with a\nstrong evangelistic spirit. Connected with this mission is an extensive\nand prosperous Industrial Mission. With the German spirit of thoroughness\nthey have developed, more largely than any other mission in India, the\nindustrial department, until it is now well established and fully\nself-supporting.\n\nAll these European missions are systematic and painstaking in the work\nwhich they are carrying forward. In some respects this gives them\nwell-earned distinction. But, on the other hand, they labour under a\nserious disability in having to acquire the English as well as the\nvernacular of the people after arriving in the land. They are also\nextremely conservative, not to say antiquated, in their methods; and they\nhave not, in most cases, learned to hate and antagonize, as they should,\nthe terrible caste system of the country.\n\n(_e_) The American participation in the Christian conquest of India began\nearly. It was the perusal of the Life of David Brainerd, the American\nmissionary saint, which kindled the missionary zeal of William Carey in\nEngland. On the other hand, the Life of Carey had no small influence, at\nthe beginning of the nineteenth century, in giving irresistible impulse\nand definiteness of purpose to that noble band of American missionary\npioneers\u2014Mills and Nott, Newell and Judson. And their consecrated\nenthusiasm and purpose to labour for the conversion of the heathen\nnations, in its turn, led, in 1810, to the founding of the first foreign\nmissionary society in the United States\u2014the American Board of\nCommissioners for Foreign Missions.\n\nThe first field chosen by this society for its activity was India. It\nrepresented to them both the greatest need and the best opportunity for\nChristian work.\n\nThus the first organized attempt of the Christian Church of America to\nreach and to redeem the heathen world was directed towards the land of the\nVedas. And the first band of missionaries which that, now venerable, Board\nsent forth into the harvest went, with eager anticipation and earnest\nprayer, to that ancient and benighted people.\n\nBut how great must have been their disappointment and sorrow, upon their\narrival, to be refused permission by the Honourable East India Company to\nland in Calcutta. With sad hearts they turned their faces towards Bombay,\nhoping that God would open the way to their entering upon missionary\nservice there. This again was denied them and they fled to Cochin, but\nwere seized and brought back to Bombay to await the arrival of an American\nship to convey them home. It was just then that their prayer was answered\nand the Lord of Hosts came to their succour and opened wide the door of\nthat land to the missionary labourer. A new charter was granted by the\nBritish Parliament to the East India Company. In that, insistence was made\nthat the Christian missionary be permitted to prosecute his work for the\nheathen of that land unmolested. This charter was granted in 1813, while\nthe Americans were still held in durance in Bombay.\n\nIt was the Magna Charta of missions for India; and from that time until\nthis the Christian missionary has found permission to preach his message\nin that land. He has also enjoyed there ample protection in the exercise\nof all his religious duties and work as a messenger of Christ. By this\ncharter missions received State sanction to obey heaven\u2019s command, and\nmissionaries of all lands came to enjoy, on British territory in the East,\nthe undisputed right to carry the gospel of our Lord to heathen people.\n\nThe impatient little band of missionaries were therefore released at\nBombay; and from that day until this America has found joy in her effort\nto convey her spiritual blessings to that land. Adoniram Judson, having\nbecome a Baptist, was directed by Carey to Burma where he laboured for\nmany years with apostolic zeal and with distinguished success. The nearly\n150,000 native Christians of Burma today owe their conversion largely to\nJudson\u2019s wise initiative, resistless energy, grand Christian faith and\ninspiring example.\n\nMills, who was the leader in the early band of students whose zeal led to\nthe organization of the American Board, found his field of service on the\nWest coast of Africa, whence also he was early called to his heavenly\nreward.\n\nThe saintly Harriet Newell, wife of another member of this distinguished\ncompany, died on the Isle of France, and her sorrowing husband returned to\nBombay and rejoined his brethren Hall and Nott. These three, therefore,\nwere the founders of this first American Mission in India\u2014now called the\nAmerican Mahratta Mission. Bombay, Ahmednaggar and Sholapur are its\nprincipal centres of work; and it covers a field whose population is\nbetween three and four millions. It has had distinguished success and has\ngathered the largest native community among the Protestant missions of\nWestern India.\n\nIn 1834 the same society established its South India Mission at Madura.\nThis was an offshoot from the Jaffna Mission which was founded in 1815 in\nthat northern corner of Ceylon. The Madura Mission has prospered, has\n18,000 in its Christian community, and is regarded as one of the best\norganized missions in the country.\n\nIn 1834 the American Presbyterians, while yet connected with the American\nBoard, established in the Northwest their large and successful mission.\nIts centres of work are Lahore, Lodiana, Futtegarh, Dera-Dun and\nAllahabad. This mission has done excellent work and has attained high\neminence among the missions of North India, both for its educational work,\nits leavening influence and for its evangelistic zeal. A number of its\nmissionaries suffered martyrdom during the terrible Sepoy Mutiny of 1857.\nIt was from that mission that the first call to universal prayer for the\nconversion of the world was sent forth. And thus was founded the Week of\nPrayer which now finds such general observance among Protestant\nChristians.\n\n           [Illustration: College Hall Of The Madura Mission.]\n\nIn 1836 the Baptists established for Telugu people, on the southeastern\ncoast, the famous \u201cLone Star Mission.\u201d It has had such phenomenal success\nthat, though established only in 1840 in a purely heathen field, and\nnotwithstanding the fact that the first twenty-five years of its efforts\nwere barren of outward results, it is to-day by far the largest mission in\nIndia, having 53,790 communicants and a community of 200,000. Its chief\ncentres of work are Ongole and Nellore.\n\nThe Rev. Samuel Day was sent out by the society in 1835 to Chicacole, but\nin 1837 removed to Madras. After three years\u2019 labour there he resolved to\nestablish a mission among the Telugu people, and so removed to Nellore and\ncommenced work there in March, 1840. The unproductiveness of the work in\nthe early history was such that the abandonment of the mission was several\ntimes under consideration. But in 1866 prosperity dawned. Later followed\nthe great accessions which have, up to the present, continued in greater\nor less degree and which have been on a larger scale than in any other\nfield in South India. \u201cThe history of Christianity, in all ages and\ncountries, shows nothing which surpasses the later years of this mission\nin spontaneous extension, in rapidity of progress, in genuineness of\nconversions, in stability of results or in promise for the future.\u201d The\nchurch organized with eight members by Dr. Clough at Ongole in 1867\nnumbers now its thousands. The great famine of 1877 presented a large\nChristian opportunity which was eagerly seized by Dr. Clough, himself a\ncivil engineer, in the conduct of large famine relief works under\ngovernment and in the Christian instruction of many thousands who laboured\nunder him. This itself created a wonderful movement which has been\nmarvellously used of God in the conversion of the people. Nearly all of\nthese converts have come from the lowest class of society. But at present\nthe higher classes are beginning to consider the claims of the Gospel. It\nis natural that the most serious problem and principal concern of this\nmission has been to keep pace with the movement, and to train suitable\nagents for the guidance and instruction of the incoming thousands. It has\nalso been largely blessed in this line, as its various and growing\ninstitutions testify.\n\nAs the Madura Mission was the daughter of the Jaffna Mission so the Madras\nsection of the Madura Mission, in the year 1851, became the mother of a\nvigorous daughter. For the members of the Scudder family\u2014a family famed in\nmissionary annals\u2014were appointed to the District of Arcot, some seventy\nmiles south of Madras, and there began a work under the American Dutch\nReformed Church which has rapidly grown into power and promise.\n\nIn the year 1856 the Methodists of America entered upon their great work\nin that land. With their wonted zeal and evangelistic fervour they carried\nforward a vigorous campaign in North India. They early found an opening\namong the outcaste people as the Baptists had found among the same in the\nSouth; and they eagerly entered the open door and vigorously prosecuted\ntheir endeavours for that class. Their success has been signal. More than\n100,000 people have been gathered into their Christian community and an\nequal number of others are desirous to place themselves under their\nspiritual care and guidance. They have also entered seriously into the\nwork of training an agency and of educating the densely ignorant members\nof their community. In addition to their village schools they have a large\ntheological and normal school, besides two colleges, one of which is\nperhaps the best college for women in Northern India, if not in the East.\nTheir work has now spread to many parts of the land and even to Burma and\nthe Straits settlement. They have also wisely cultivated the press and the\npublishing department as an important auxiliary in their work. In this\ndepartment they are perhaps doing more than any other society now at work\nin India.\n\nThe great success of this society in India is largely owing to the wise\nleadership of that missionary statesman\u2014Bishop Thoburn. I doubt whether\nmany other missionaries, if indeed any other, have wrought more for the\nredemption of that people than this sturdy American of ample common\u2014and\nuncommon\u2014sense, of wide vision, of sublime faith and of masterful\ngeneralship.\n\nSeveral divisions of the American Lutheran community have also wrought\nmuch for India and are justly proud of their prosperous missions,\nespecially in South India.\n\nIn like manner American \u201cFaith Missions,\u201d not a few, have planted the\nbanner of the cross in that land of the trident and are prosecuting their\nmission and proclaiming their message with singleness of purpose and\nexemplary zeal. The \u201cChristian Alliance\u201d is the most pretentious\norganization of this class which does work in that land. Its efforts are\nchiefly confined to the Bombay Presidency where it has a goodly number of\nearnest workers.\n\nOrganizations for the young\u2014the Y. M. C. A., Y. W. C. A., Y. P. S. C. E.,\nS. V. M.,\u2014while they are not in any sense distinctly American, are\nnevertheless dominated by the American spirit and methods, and are, to a\nlarge extent under the guidance of American youth. These Christian\nmovements are doing royal service for the Kingdom of Christ in that\nstronghold of error. They bring cheer to the missionaries, youthful\ninspiration to the churches, a wide opportunity to the young life of the\nChristian communities and a new pace to all the messengers of Christ in\nthe land. The Y. M. C. A. is also doing an excellent evangelistic work\namong the educated non-Christian youth of India\u2014a work that is appealing\nmightily to their deepest spiritual instincts and is impressing them, as\nnothing else does, with the combined sanity and spirituality, the\nreasonableness and the saving power of our faith.\n\nI must also allude to that unique American Institution\u2014the Haskell-Barrows\nlectureship\u2014which has already done no small good to the educated of the\nland, and has within itself the possibility of largest blessing to the\ncountry. It was founded in connection with the University of Chicago; and\nit appoints and sends to India once every two or three years a\ndistinguished lecturer to present the excellence of our faith in its\nphilosophy and life in such a manner as shall best commend it and appeal\nto the thoughtful non-Christians of the Orient. Every effort of this kind\nwhich shall emphasize to Hindus the harmony of Christian truth and the\nbest thinking of our age and shall reveal to them Christ as the Redeemer\nand Exemplar of our race and as the only \u201cName under heaven given among\nmen whereby we must be saved,\u201d is to be cordially welcomed among God\u2019s\nbest forces for India\u2019s redemption. And America is to be congratulated\nbecause she is the first to endow and to inaugurate such a helpful agency\nfor the glory of God and the salvation of India\u2019s men of culture.\n\nIt is comforting to the American worker in India to be assured that the\nmodern rulers of the land are amply atoning for the unchristian and rude\nincivility of their predecessors in office ninety years ago. For they not\nonly cordially welcome the Christian worker from the States; they also\nreveal full appreciation of his labours, render him every protection and\nare not averse to praising him for his arduous endeavours. Listen to the\nwords of Lord Wenlock, while Governor of Madras,\u2014\u201cOur cousins in America,\u201d\nhe says, \u201care not, as we are, responsible for the welfare of a very large\nnumber of the human race; but seeing our difficulties and knowing how much\nthere is to do, they have not hesitated to put their hands into their\npockets to assist us in doing that which is almost impossible for any\ngovernment to achieve unassisted. They go out themselves, their wives and\ntheir sisters; they enter into all parts of the country, they send a very\nlarge amount of money and they spend their time and their health in\npromoting the welfare of those who are in no way connected with them....\nIn all Districts I find our American cousins joining with us in improving\nthe system of education and in extending it wherever it was wanted. To\ntheir efforts we owe a very great deal. It must be recognized that their\ngreat object is the advancement of the Christian religion.\u201d\n\nLord Harris, the Governor, of Bombay, a little more than a decade ago,\nalso said publicly, of the work of the American Board Mission among the\nMaharattas,\u2014\u201cI do not think I can too prominently say that our gratitude\ntowards this American Mission has been piling up and piling up all the\nyears of this century.\u201d\n\n4. Our record of the efforts of Christian countries in behalf of India\nwere not complete without a reference to the hearty co\u00f6peration of\nProtestant Canada in this work. Several missions have been established\nthere by Canadian Baptists and Presbyterians; and these are flourishing\nand are adding daily to the number of those who are being saved.\n\nLooking at the whole force of Protestant Christian missions in that land\ntoday we are impressed with the magnitude of its organization, work and\nsuccess. Nearly two and a half million dollars are devoted annually by the\nChristians of the West to this work of saving this great one of the East.\nIt is a great financial investment, but not to be compared with that of\nthe thousands of choice men and women who go forth and give themselves\nunto death that they might enable Christ to see of the travail of His soul\nand be satisfied among the millions of that land.\n\nComparing present missionary agency and methods in India with those of\npast ages it may be well to consider the differences and gather therefrom\nassurance for the coming of the Kingdom of our Lord in the East. These\ndifferences are numerous and radical. I need only refer to a few of them:\u2014\n\n(_a_) The spell of an ecclesiastical, and the glamour of a ceremonial,\nChristianity is being increasingly substituted by the moral and spiritual\ncharacteristics of our faith in that land. The conversion of India is less\nand less regarded by Christian workers in the land as a change from the\nceremonial and ritual of the old, to those of the new, faith. Ever\nincreasing emphasis is given to the fact that to be a Christian is to live\nthe Christ-life and to be loyal to Him in all the ethical and spiritual\nteachings of the Sermon on the Mount. And these missionary workers care\nless to touch the life of our converts on the surface and more to grip it\nat its centre and to transform character. And this is a work which is most\nenduring in its results.\n\n(_b_) Christian workers in India are learning mutual sympathy and\nappreciation in their work. Instead of the old jealousies, suspicions,\nantipathies and misunderstandings of the past, there is found a developing\nsense of oneness, of fellowship, of comity, amity and mutual helpfulness\namong the missionaries of that land. The watchword of to-day is\nco\u00f6peration. The distracting spectacle of a divided Christianity, of hated\nand mutually hating Christian sects in a heathen land is surely passing\naway and the dawning of the day of peace and harmony and fellowship in\nChristian work is upon us. And India will enjoy the wonderful results of\nthis.\n\n(_c_) The serious mistakes of method and standpoint in missions of former\ncenturies are now avoided. The compromise which they made with Hinduism in\ncaste and in other matters is no longer possible in Protestant missions.\nWe know, as they could not, the irreconcilable antagonism of caste to\nChristianity.\n\nOn the other hand we know Hinduism and other non-Christian faiths better\nthan our fathers did. We are not so anxious to trace all these back to\nSatanic origin. We are learning the sympathies as well as the antipathies\nof religions. The translators of God\u2019s Word into the vernacular of India\ntwo centuries and one century ago largely avoided the use of popular terms\n_because_ they were popular and the common-vehicles of Hindu thought,\nwhich (they said) was of the devil. We see the folly of such an avoidance\nand the need of using and rehabilitating the religious terminology of the\npeople that we may the more surely come into touch with them, and the more\neasily convey to them the deepest truths of our faith. Formerly,\nmissionaries declined to use the music of Hinduism because it enriched the\ntemple services and \u201cwas of the devil.\u201d Today these same sweet and\nplaintive songs are wedded to beautiful Christian hymns, prepared by\nnative Christian poets, and are the appropriate and very popular vehicles\nof the best Christian thought and sentiment to Christian and non-Christian\nnatives alike.\n\nThis only illustrates the fact that the Christian message and work are\nfinding greater power over the people because conveyed to them in more\nintelligible terms. It can come home to them in their common life as it\ndid not formerly.\n\n          [Illustration: Village Christian Church, South India.]\n\n        [Illustration: High And Normal School For Girls, Madura.]\n\n(_d_) Educational work is increasingly utilized. Formerly missionary\neffort was mostly the work of the preacher\u2014it was the direct Gospel\nmessage and appeal. To this has been added the no less necessary, indeed\nthe deeper, work of transforming the thought of the land and of\nintroducing everywhere a Christian philosophy and a process of thinking\nwhich will undermine the old methods and foundations of Hinduism. This\nChristian education, which is now being imparted in India to nearly half a\nmillion youth in our schools, is a leavening power the extent of whose\ninfluence no one can compute. And it carries within itself untold\npossibilities for the conversion of India. By these institutions, Sir\nWilliam Muir truly tells us, \u201cthe country has been inoculated with\nChristian sentiment.\u201d\n\nSir Charles U. Atchison declares that, in his judgment, \u201cthe value of\neducational missionary institutions, in the present transition state of\nIndian opinion, can hardly be overrated. It is more than ever the duty of\nthe Church to go forward in its educational policy.\u201d\n\nIn other ways also, medical and industrial, Christian work has broadened\nout so that it reaches the people at all points and lifts up the Christian\ncommunity into a self-respecting power which will abide and grow in\ninfluence.\n\nIn modern missions the Word of God, translated into all the vernaculars of\nthe people, has become the mightiest instrument of progress in Christian\nlife, and the most ubiquitous messenger of Christian truth. The Bible was\nalmost a sealed book to the people of India when William Carey arrived at\nthe close of the eighteenth century. The Roman Catholic and Syrian\nChristians had done nothing to bring this blessing to the people. The\nDanish mission, as we have seen, had translated it into the Tamil tongue.\nAnd that was all. How wonderful the work of the last century whereby this\nblessed Word has been translated into every language and many dialects of\npolyglot India. Among its 300,000,000 inhabitants there are few who cannot\nfind God\u2019s own Word translated into their own speech, published and\nbrought to their doors. Can any one realize how great a leverage this is\nin the work of overturning that land religiously and in bringing Christ\ninto the life of India?\n\n                                * * * * *\n\nThus the history of Christian effort in India has not been without its\nmany lessons. And these lessons have brought wisdom and, with that wisdom,\nconfidence and growing efficiency to the Christian forces now at work in\nthe land.\n\nFor this reason the progress of the Kingdom of Christ in India will,\nduring the present century, be much more marked and its triumphs more\nsignal than in the past centuries. And for this well-founded assurance we\nthank God.\n\n\n\n\n\n                               Chapter VII.\n\n\nTHE MISSIONARY.\n\n\nThe present missionary force in India represents, according to the \u201cIndian\nMissionary Directory,\u201d a body of nearly 2,500 men and women who have been\nsent from Europe, America and Australia to instruct the people in the\nblessings of our faith. This body is constantly increasing in numbers and\nis sent forth and maintained by some seventy societies.(11) They are a\nnoble band of Christian workers, of no less consecration and faith than\nthose in the past, and of the highest training and broadest culture ever\nknown.\n\nThe missionary furnishes to the home churches the chief interest in\nmissionary work and is the link which connects them and the home society\nwith their enterprise abroad.\n\nHis work at present is not what it once was in India. In earlier days the\nmissionary had to be a man of all works; every form of missionary\nendeavour came under his direction. In mission work, as in every other\nline of effort, specialization has become a feature and a necessity. There\nmust be men of as varied talents and special lines of training as there\nare departments of missionary work. But every missionary should be\npre\u00ebminently, _a man_. He should be a man of large calibre. There is much\ndanger lest the church become indifferent to this matter, and send to the\nmission field inferior men\u2014men who would be unable to stem the tide of\ncompetition and attain success at home. If a man is not qualified for\nsuccess in the home land, there is little chance of his attaining much\nusefulness upon the mission field. And an inferior class of men sent out\nto heathen lands to represent, and to conduct the work of, the home church\nmust necessarily react upon the church through want of success,\ndiscouragement and defeat in the missionary enterprise. A church whose\nmissionary representatives abroad are wanting in fitness and power cannot\nlong continue to be a strenuous missionary church; it will lack fuel to\nkeep burning the fire of missionary enthusiasm.\n\nAnd in speaking of the missionary I include the lady missionary.\nMissionary ladies today are more numerous in India than are the men. More\nthan a thousand single ladies have given themselves to the missionary life\nand are labouring with conspicuous success in that land. They meet almost\nthe same conditions of life and require the same qualifications for\nsuccess as their brother missionaries do. Of course, in certain details,\nthey differ; but into such matters I cannot enter at present.\n\nI desire to enumerate the qualifications of a missionary for highest\nusefulness in India at the present time.\n\n\n\n\n1. Physical Fitness.\n\n\nIs a man physically qualified to be sent out into missionary work? For an\nenterprise like this, where a man practically enlists for life, it is of\nmuch concern to the Society which appoints him, and of great importance to\nthe work which he is to take up that he be possessed of good health. This\nis pre\u00ebminently true in the case of all those who are appointed to India.\nThe climate of India is trying, though it is neither dangerous nor as\nfruitful in difficulty, as many believe. It is not necessary that a man\nwho is sent out to India be possessed of robust health. Indeed, I have\noften noticed that the most robust are the most likely to yield, through\nill-health, to climatic influences there. This is chiefly owing to the\nfact that such people are usually careless in all things pertaining to\nhealth. They place too much reliance upon their stock of vigour, and\nignore, until too late, the insidious influences of the tropical sun. We\nask not for a man of great bodily vigour; but he should be possessed of\norganic soundness. Such a man may stand the climate longer and work with\nfewer interruptions than his more vigorous brother; simply because he\nknows that his health is delicate and appreciates the necessity of taking\nsuitable care of himself. On the whole, my experience has led me to two\nconvictions about this matter; the first is that the less robust and more\ncareful missionaries stand well that tropical climate; and in the second\nplace, that to those who do take adequate care of themselves, the climate\nof India is neither dangerous nor insanitary.\n\nThere are, however, certain precautions which missionaries should take in\nthat land in order to insure the proper degree of efficient service.\nAnnual periods of rest at hill \u201csanitaria\u201d are not only desirable, but are\nnecessary, in order to preserve the health and add to one\u2019s usefulness.\nMany of the best missions in India, at present, not only arrange that\ntheir missionaries take this rest, but demand it of them. They have\nlearned by experience that it is a reckless waste of precious power for\ntheir missionaries to continue working upon the hot plains until compelled\nby a break-down to seek rest and restoration. It is much easier, in the\ntropics, to preserve, than to restore, health. Many a noble service has\nbeen cut short, and many a useful career has been spoiled by recklessly\ncontinuing work for a few years without rest or change in that land. The\nyoungest and the least organized missions, and consequently those which\nhave not perfected arrangements for the rest and health of their members,\nare those which have the largest number of break-downs, and which lose\nmost in labour and money on account of the ill health of their\nmissionaries.\n\nVisits to the home land every eight or ten years are also desirable, not\nonly for restoration of physical vigour, but also, for a recementing of\ndomestic and social ties and for a renewed contact with and a new\ninspiration from the Church of God in the West. Life in all its aspects\nhas a tendency to degenerate in the tropics; and one needs occasional\nreturns to northern climes for the blessings which they alone can give.\n\nShall the missionary indulge in recreations? Among missionaries themselves\nthis is a much debated question. Some maintain that all forms of\nrecreation are unworthy of a man engaged in this holy calling. I do not\nagree with them. I have seen many missionaries helped in their work by\nsuch recreation. There are some men and women who have no taste for such\ndiversions. To them they may have little value or usefulness. But, to the\nordinary missionary who has done a hard day\u2019s work an hour\u2019s diversion in\ntennis, badminton or golf has often been a godsend. It has brought relief\nto the tense nerves and a new lease of life to the organs of the body. In\na similar way an interest in carpentry, in geology, photography, or any\nother set study, brings to the jaded mind a diversion and a new lease of\npower, and prepares one to go back to his work with fresh pleasure and\nrenewed enthusiasm.\n\nOne should carefully avoid entering inordinately into any such recreation.\nThere is danger, and sometimes a serious danger, that such lines of\ndiversion may be carried to an excess, and the mind and heart be thereby\nrobbed of, rather than strengthened for, one\u2019s life-work.\n\n\n\n\n2. His Methods of Life.\n\n\nThere are questions of importance which come under this consideration and\nwhich are much discussed at the present time. It is asked, for instance,\nwhether a man should go out as a married, or as a single, missionary. A\nfew years ago the American Board showed very decided preference for the\nmarried missionary, and hesitated to send, except under special\ncircumstances, bachelors. Missionary societies connected with ritualistic\nchurches, on the other hand, have given preference, almost exclusive\npreference, to the unmarried missionary. At the present time there is a\ngrowing feeling, in all Protestant denominations, that there is a demand,\nand a specially appropriate field of usefulness, both for the married and\nthe unmarried missionary. The supreme argument in favour of the married\nman is connected with the home influence which he establishes and which,\nin itself, is a great blessing to the heathen people among whom he lives.\nThe light and beauty of a Western Christian home is always a mighty\ntestimony, not only to the Gospel, but to the civilization of the West\nwhich is a direct product of the Gospel. Through the wife is also\nconserved the health of the husband who is thereby rendered more\nefficient. And to his activity is added her equally beneficent one among\nthe women of their charge. The missionary home constitutes a testimony and\na power which no mission can be without.\n\nOn the other hand, there is a large and an attractive field of usefulness\nwhich can best be worked by the unmarried man and woman. There are forms\nof activity and lines of self-denial which can best be met by those who\nare not tied down by home life and who are more free to meet the rapidly\nchanging necessities of certain departments of work. It is also true that\nthe unmarried life represents to the Orient that type of self-denial which\nhas always been associated, in their mind, with the highest degree of\nreligious attainment; and it may, for this very reason, be in the line of\nhighest influence upon the people of the land.\n\nSo, married and unmarried life have in the mission field today their\nrecognized place, advantage, and sphere of influence. And, working\ntogether they will exemplify to the people those forms of religious life\nand activity which bring highest glory to our cause.\n\nAnother question pertains to the missionary\u2019s daily life. Shall he conform\nto the ordinary habits of life practiced by the people among whom he\nlives? In other words, shall the missionary from the West conform to\nnative customs in food and dress? It is not possible to give a categorical\nreply to this question. A country should be studied and the ideals of the\npeople thoroughly investigated by the missionary before he decides upon\nany course of action in this matter. There are countries where such\nconformity would be desirable and would add considerably to the\nmissionary\u2019s influence and success. China is such a country; and many of\nthe missionaries in that land find it to their interest, and to the\ninterest of the work, to adopt the Chinese costume, cue and all. They thus\ncease to appear foreign and peculiar in a land where to be a foreigner is\nto be hated, or at least to be unloved and distrusted by the people.\n\nThe same thing has been tried in India, not only in clothing, but also to\na large extent in food. Many a missionary, feeling how great a barrier his\nforeign habits created between him and the people, and inspired by a\npassionate desire to come near to them in order that he might bless them,\nhas divested himself of European clothing, adopted the native costume (at\nleast so far as it was possible for him to do so) and has confined himself\nto native food. But I have never known of any Western missionary who has\ncontinued this method for a long time and declared it a success. One of\nthe most pathetic instances on record is that of the famous Jesuit\nmissionary Abbe Du Bois, who, after a careful study of the situation,\ndonned the yellow garb of the Hindu monk and became practically a Hindu to\nthe Hindus, spending most of his time in travelling from town to town and\nliving strictly, both as regards food, clothing, and general habits, as an\nordinary Hindu in order that he might gain close access to the people and\nthus win many converts to the Roman Catholic Church. For many years, in a\ndistinguished missionary career, he followed this method of life. But was\nit a success? In his \u201cLife and Letters,\u201d written at the close of his\nmissionary life, he frankly confesses that that method of approach to the\npeople had proved an entire failure; that he had not thereby gained any\nadded influence over them or had become better able to lead them into the\nChristian fold. He maintains that, so far as this style of living was\nconcerned, he had accomplished absolutely nothing for India. I have known\nof ardent and able Protestant missionaries also who have tried the same\nmethod, with the same result, and have returned to their Western costume\nand food.\n\nThe Salvation Army, at the beginning of its work a few years ago in India,\ncompelled all its officers fully to adopt Indian methods of life. This was\nenforced, in its rigour, only for a short time; but for a sufficiently\nlong period to reveal its disastrous effects upon the health and life of\nits European officers. Their system has been considerably modified, but is\nstill unsatisfactory on the score of health and usefulness.\n\nIt is now recognized by all that the differences between the natives of\ntropical India and the inhabitants of northern climes, and between the\ntropical clime and that of the temperate zone, are so great that we of the\nNorthwest cannot, with wisdom and impunity, adopt the manners of life of\nthat people. There are differences so great, both in clothing and in food,\nthat it would require generations of acclimatization before the change\ncould be wisely adopted in its entirety. It is indeed desirable that the\nEuropean or American, who goes to live in the tropics, should change\nsomewhat his diet so as to meet the changed requirements of his system\nthere. But, to adopt the native diet is a very different thing, and will\nbe conducive neither to nourishment nor digestion.\n\nThere is, however, another question of more importance than this and one\nwhich seriously confronted the Abbe Du Bois. What is gained in\naccessibility to, and power over, the people by adopting these native\nhabits? It should be remembered that Westerners have lived in India so\nlong as to have become perfectly well known to all the people. Moreover,\nthe Western garb and habits of life represent to the Hindu honour,\ninfluence, power, and culture. In his heart of hearts the Hindu highly\nrespects, and is always ready to listen to, that man of the West who is\ntrue to himself and stands before him for what he is and for what he\nteaches. The ordinary Hindu is not stupid enough to be deceived as to a\nman\u2019s nationality or true position in life because of his change of\nclothing or food. Indeed, to nine-tenths of all Hindus, such a change of\nhabits, on the part of a European, would mean nothing else than that he\nhad lost caste among his own people and had descended to a much lower\nsocial scale than formerly. It is well to remember in India that the way\nof access to the people is opened to the Westerner not through such outer\nchanges of life, but through true manifestations of kindness and love to\nthem. They are quick to understand the language of love and would never\nconfound it with outer posings of men who are thereby seeking to win their\nfavour.\n\nThe Rev. Geo. Bowen, of Bombay, was perhaps one of the most self-denying\nof all the missionaries who lived in that land. He reduced the annual\nexpenses of his living to $150.00. It was in this path of self-denial that\nhe sought to find greatest usefulness as a missionary. Of this life he\nsaid at one time: \u201cI have not been wholly disappointed, but I have not\nbeen successful enough to make me feel like advising any one else to\nfollow my example. And yet I have not so completely failed as to make me\nregret the course which I have pursued. I have discovered that the gulf\nwhich separates the people of this country is not a social one at all; it\nis simply the great impassable gulf which separates between the religion\nof Christ and an unbelieving world.\u201d\n\nIt may be laid down as a general principle of life in that land that the\nmissionary should adopt that method of life which, while consistent with\nsevere economy, shall best conduce to health and efficiency of service\namong the people.\n\nAnd in this connection it should also be stated that there are many things\nwhich are perfectly natural and wise and desirable in the line of self\nhelp in America which should be unnecessary and unwise in such a land as\nIndia. It is a safe rule adopted by the best missionary workers in that\nland that a European should never do those things which can easily be done\nby natives in the matter of domestic service. It would be folly for a\nmissionary man or woman to spend much time in household work and in\nsimilar duties when there are many people around whose special province\nthat is, and who can do it for one-thirtieth his own wage, and who can\nthus release him for the more serious and higher duties of life.\n\nThus, in all these matters, one should consider fully the whole\nsituation\u2014the character of the climate, of the people, and the conditions\nof the best health and efficiency and greatest usefulness of the\nmissionary worker.\n\nThe question as to the length of the missionary\u2019s service is an important\none. Shall he enter upon it for a definite term or shall he consider it\nhis life work? In most missions and societies the missionary service is\nconsidered a life service. It is a service so peculiar in its training and\nin its direction; it tends in many ways so to lead a man away from the\natmosphere of work and direction of activity found at home, that it is\nbetter for him, who undertakes it at all, to consecrate himself to it as\nthe great mission of his life. It is also a fact that the longer he\ncontinues in it, the more ability and aptness he acquires for that special\nwork.\n\nThere are, of course, some who will find that they have mistaken their\nvocation and that missionary work does not suit them; or, rather, that\nthey are not adapted to it. Such people should make no delay in returning\nhome and in seeking a more congenial life work.\n\n\n\n\n3. The Intellectual Ability and Educational Training of the Missionary.\n\n\nWhatever may have been the case in the past, the day certainly has come\nwhen India demands only men and women of wide intelligence and thorough\ntraining as missionaries. Whether we regard it as a land of profound\nphilosophy, and of a marvellously organized religion; or whether we\nconsider the intellectual power of many of the natives of that land, the\nmissionary must be amply prepared, through educational and intellectual\nequipment, to meet them. One of the saddest sights seen in India is a\nmissionary who has absolutely no interest in the religious philosophy of\nthe land, and who is not able to appreciate the mutual relations of that\nfaith and his own and who is unequal to the task of discussing\nintelligently with, and of convincing in, matters of faith, the educated\nnatives of the country. Such a man apparently did not know that he would\nmeet in that land many university graduates who are still believers in,\nand defenders of, their ancestral faith. So he finds himself unable to\nstand before such men and to give reason for the faith that is in him so\nas to satisfy their earnest, intelligent inquiries, or to quiet their keen\nopposition.\n\nIt should also be remembered that, in addition to this growing host of\nnatives of university training and culture, there is a considerable number\nof Europeans in government service and in other departments. They come\ninto constant touch with the missionary, and gauge his culture and\ncapacity, and are sure to judge of the missionary work according to their\nestimate of his training and qualification.\n\nIn such a land, and facing such conditions, and in the presence of such\npeople, the missionary should be a man of thorough training and culture,\nand should have a mind which has ample command of the treasures of\nknowledge which it has acquired. He should also be able to find interest\nin various branches of learning. As I said above, he should, in some\nrespects, be a man of special training with definite and high\nqualifications for the special department upon which he has entered; but\nhe should also be not narrow, but of broad sympathies and of a growing\ninterest in the general realm of culture. He should continue to cultivate\nhis student tastes, and should grow constantly in ability and aptitude to\ngrapple with the mighty problems of the land. He should be able not only\nto understand the many aspects of Hinduism and of Buddhism, which has\nentered so largely into the Hindu faith, but he must also know\nconsiderable about Mohammedanism, since it is held by one-fifth of the\npopulation of that land.\n\nIt is well that he be thoroughly grounded in Christian doctrine before he\nenters upon his missionary duties. I have known men to enter the mission\nfield who had not clear views and definite convictions concerning some of\nthe most essential Christian doctrines; with the consequence that they\ndrifted away from their moorings and had to recast their faith, under\nadverse circumstances, on the field.\n\nThe mission field is no place for a man to readjust his faith and to\ndiscover that his religious affiliations are not what they ought to be.\n\nIt is not a question whether a man\u2019s theology is of the conservative, or\nof the progressive, type. Both types may be needed. It is largely a\nquestion whether he has grasped clearly and with conviction _any_\ndoctrine\u2014whether he has thought for himself and appropriated _any_ system\nof truth. Or, I should say, whether any sort of theology has gripped him\nin its power. Bishop Thoburn has well said that \u201cthe young missionary\nshould have a clear and well-grounded theology before going abroad. His\nviews of vital theological truth should be clear and settled. The\nChristian Church of America cannot afford to export doubts or even\nreligious speculation to foreign fields. The people of India, and I may\nadd of other lands, are abundantly able to provide all the doubts and all\nthe unprofitable speculation that any church will care to contend with;\nand one important qualification of the missionary should be a positive\nfaith as opposed to doubt, and a clear system of living truth as opposed\nto profitless speculation.\u201d Above all, the missionary should have a\nworking faith in the gospel\u2014not a half-grounded conviction. There may be a\nplace _at home_ for the unsettled mind; the mission field is not for such.\nIn India, especially, while there is ample room and abundant opportunity\nand inducement for progress in thought and development in doctrinal\nconstruction, there is no place for destructive doubts and mental\nunsettlement. Positive teaching and not interrogations and destructive\ndoubts should characterize the missionary. Give us a man who _knows_\nsomething and is inspired with convictions. For, it should be remembered,\nthe missionary is pre\u00ebminently an instructor. He must give himself to the\nwork of establishing others in living, satisfying, saving truth. He is to\ninstruct the people, as a preacher, in the way of salvation. He is also\ncalled upon to furnish a working equipment of truth to pastors, preachers\nand teachers. He should be conversant with the Bible and with the various\ntheories of interpretation. He should be possessed of a clear system of\ntheology and should understand the best methods and principles of\nChristian work.\n\nFor the attaining of all this, the missionary must continue as an earnest\nstudent, he must maintain upon the field thorough habits of study. His\nmissionary life, itself, should be to him, not only an interpreter of what\nhe formerly studied, but an incitement to further regular study. Many\ntemptations overtake the missionary to intellectual indolence as well as\nto intellectual dissipation. He is in danger, under the pressure of other\ninteresting work and distractions, either not to read anything very\nseriously or to read in a haphazard, desultory way. The latter is\nspecially a dangerous habit on the mission field. The missionary needs not\nonly to cultivate habits of study and to devote certain hours daily, so\nfar as possible, to that habit; he should, pre\u00ebminently, keep before him\nsome definite aim or ideal towards which all his reading should be\ndirected. If he be specially a preacher, he should conscientiously and\nthoroughly prepare his sermons as if he were to preach to the most\ncultured audiences; or, if he instruct his agents, he should make\nprevious, elaborate preparation for the same.\n\nHe should take an intelligent interest in, and make a thorough study of,\nthe people, their social and religious customs, their economic conditions,\ntheir educational efforts, their history,\u2014these and many other studies\nwill furnish abundant and abounding interest to the thoughtful missionary\nand will add to his power in his work. In all these respects, no people on\nearth are more interesting than those of India. And for successful\nspiritual work among them the missionary needs to study these side issues\nmore than he would, perhaps, among any other people.\n\nHe will find it of much help if he is apt at acquiring language. A good\nand usable knowledge of the vernacular of the people is a most important\navenue of access to their mind and heart. The acquiring of a living\nlanguage is a very different thing from the study of a dead language. A\nman may be a success in the one and a failure in the other. A good ear is\nof paramount importance in a first-class facility for acquiring and using\na modern vernacular.\n\nI would not say that a man who has not a good command of the vernacular of\na people cannot be to them a good missionary; for a few of the best\nmissionaries I know, speak the vernacular wretchedly. But I _do_ emphasize\nthe fact that proficiency here is of prime importance and I would also add\nthat it should be the first work of a missionary after entering his field.\nTo dawdle with the language the first year, is, generally speaking, to\nfail in acquiring it at all.\n\nShould a young man, who intends to become a missionary, receive a special\npreparatory training for missionary work? Yes, to a certain extent. I\nheartily approve of all recent courses established in theological\ninstitutions with a view to training their students in missionary\nprinciples and literature. And I would that these courses were much\nenlarged so as to correspond with the relative importance of the\nmissionary work. Beyond all this, I believe that every student, who\nintends to become a missionary, should spend time during his last year or\ntwo as a student in special preparation for his work and field. For\ninstance, it were a great help to him who is to become a missionary in\nIndia that he study seriously the Sanskrit language and Hindu philosophy.\nThese two would give him an important start upon his missionary career\nand, probably, furnish him with initial taste for that larger equipment\nwhich is essential to the great missionary. It is of course understood\nthat the modern science of Comparative Religion has already had his\nattention in the general course of study. Too much emphasis cannot be\nplaced upon the study of this science as an aid to the modern missionary.\n\nI would also urge here the importance of each missionary, so far as his\ntastes and ability permit, preparing himself for the work of enriching the\nChristian literature of the field and country of his choice. In India this\nis becoming a matter, not only of growing, but also of paramount,\nimportance. In the past, missionaries have been too much engrossed with\nthe other departments of work to give themselves to the production of\ntracts and books. Much more must be done in this line in the future. Every\nyear adds to the need for, and the influence of, a worthy literary effort\nexpressed in the various vernaculars of India. The growing host of readers\nin the Christian communities and among the non-Christians is a loud cry\nfor missionary consecration to this specific work.\n\nThere is not one possession or element of power connected with a thorough\neducation and high culture which will not become available and most useful\nin that interesting land, and which will not be transmuted into power for\nthe elevation and redemption of that people.\n\n\n\n\n4. Spiritual Qualifications.\n\n\nIt would hardly seem necessary to speak on this subject. It must be\neverywhere understood that a life of spiritual power is, and must ever\nremain, the first requisite of the missionary. And yet, I fear that the\nmissionary force of today reveals more serious delinquency at this point\nthan at any other. If missionaries were asked, wherein lies the chief\nhindrance to their work, I believe they would, all but unanimously, refer\nto their want of spiritual power. Not that they are more defective in this\nrespect than are the ministers at home. They are a noble band of\nconsecrated men and women. But they greatly need, and bemoan their need\nof, a growing spiritual endowment, the possession of which would give to\nthem a new joy, and, to the people, an inexhaustible gift of life, and to\nthe missionary work a power hitherto unknown.\n\nA man should not go out as a foreign missionary unless he has a definite\ncall from God to go. It must be laid so strongly upon his heart that he\nfeels the necessity of going forth unto the heathen. There must be a\nconstraining power and a felt conviction within, that in the mission field\nalone can he find rest and peace and power.\n\nThe missionary should be a man of pronounced and positive spirituality\u2014a\nman who loves the Word of God, who finds meditation in it sweet, and who\nfinds relief, strength and joy in frequent daily prayer. The depressing\ninfluences which beset his spiritual life are many. The all-pervasive,\nchilling influence of heathenism, and its dead and deadening ceremonialism\ntend to exercise an increasing power over him. He will not, at first,\nrealize this influence; but as an insidious and an ever swelling tide of\nevil it will come into his soul, unless he is well guarded and daily\nfortified against it by frequent communion with God. In India the\nhardening influence of the all-surrounding heathenism is as subtle as it\nis potent in its influence upon the life of any Christian worker and needs\nto be overcome by constant spiritual culture.\n\nThe life of the European Christians who reside in that country is so far\nfrom being Christlike and is so wanting in these spiritual traits which\nshould characterize an earnest Christian, that the missionary constantly\nhas to guard himself against its influence upon himself.\n\nThe loneliness of the missionary\u2014his frequent and long-continued absence\nfrom those means of grace which so largely minister to the spiritual\nstrength of a pastor in this country\u2014is something deeply felt. Few men\nrealize the extent of the spiritual helps which the Christian society of\nAmerica renders to the aspiring life of a man of God. In his loneliness,\nin the far-off land, the missionary feels its absence keenly.\n\nMoreover, all the native Christians of the community of which he is the\nofficial head look up to him for inspiration. Is he wanting in faith,\nhopefulness and cheer; is he depressed and discouraged; is he lacking in\nthe power of prayer and of sweet communion with God? It is marvellous how\nquickly this frame of mind is transmitted from him to the people of his\ncharge. The pastors, catechists and other mission agents of his field all\nlook to him for their ideal and seek to draw from him their inspiration in\nspiritual life. Is he down; then they are down with him. In coldness as in\nspiritual ardour they faithfully reflect his life and temper. It is,\nindeed, true that many of these live spiritual lives which bring\ninspiration and spiritual joy to him. The simplicity and earnestness of\nthe faith of most of the native Christians is beautiful. Still, in many\nrespects, he finds the community a heavy spiritual drain upon him; and, if\nhe is to maintain himself as a worthy leader in the higher Christian life,\nhe must live constantly with God and find daily strength in Him.\n\nIn India, specially, there are needed a few definite spiritual gifts which\nI desire to emphasize and which a missionary should aim to cultivate.\n\nThe first in order, if not in importance, is patience. To us of the West\nthe Orient seems pre\u00ebminently slow. To them of the East we of the West\nrush everything unduly and are the victims of impatience. There is much\ntruth in that homely skit of Kipling\u2019s:\n\n\u201cIt is bad for the Christian\u2019s peace of mind\n  To hustle the Aryan brown;\nFor the Christian riles but the Aryan smiles,\n  And it weareth the Christian down.\n\n\u201cAnd the end of the fight is a tombstone white,\n  With the name of the late deceased;\nAnd the epitaph drear, a fool lies here\n  Who tried to hustle the East.\u201d\n\nThe ordinary Hindu will endure the white man\u2019s impatience, and he and the\nnative Christian will submit to the same weakness on the part of the\nmissionary. But they fail to understand it; and the missionary\u2019s power\nwith them is very largely impaired by the manifestation of this evil\nspirit. Even if impatience were ever, anywhere, a virtue, in India it is\nalways an unmixed evil and should be guarded against. The warning is the\nmore needed because the tropical climate itself is a very bad irritant to\nthe nervous system. Among the Hindus patience is regarded the supreme\nvirtue of God and of man; and it should adorn every missionary who seeks\nto be their leader.\n\nHumility also is a grace which needs much cultivation by the missionary.\nHe has constant temptation to pride. The sin of masterfulness is naturally\nhis besetting sin; for his influence over his people and his control in\nthe direction of his work gradually grow sweet to him and develop, if he\nis not very careful, into an imperiousness of will which is neither\npleasant to those who come in contact with him, nor consistent with the\ngolden grace of humility, nor in any sense pleasing to God.\n\nLove\u2014that essence of divine character\u2014needs pre\u00ebminent guarding,\nencouragement and development on the part of the missionary. There is so\nmuch that is unlovely and unlovable all about him, so little to attract\nand draw out his tender emotions that he needs to drink freely from the\nfountain of love above; or he will degenerate very easily into a hard,\ncold, unsympathetic, cynical missionary\u2014a frame of mind which will utterly\ndisqualify him for any joy or power in his work. One of the best\nmissionaries I have known used to pray very frequently\u2014\u201cO Lord, save me\nfrom the sin of despising this people.\u201d It is a prayer which every\nmissionary may find it necessary to offer frequently. True Christian love\nis none the less necessary, yea the more necessary on the mission field,\nbecause the missionary lives among people who are not kindred in blood to\nhimself.\n\nThen he needs also a large gift of faith and of hope. The smallness of the\nChristian Church in the midst of a dense mass of heathenism; the apparent\ninadequacy of earthly means to convert that great people to Christ; the\nslowness of progress and the fewness of results\u2014all these tend to depress\nand discourage the worker. And he needs to offer for himself, as for his\npeople, the prayer which Elisha offered in behalf of the young man,\u2014\u201cO\nLord, I pray thee open his eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened the\neyes of the young man and he saw and behold the mountain was full of\nchariots of fire round about Elisha.\u201d\n\nSpiritual power, in all its forms, is not only greatly needed by the\nmissionary, it is also highly appreciated by the people who are always\nready to be led by it. I believe that the people in the East are much more\namenable to this influence and much more ready to follow spiritual\nguidance than are the people of our own land. And this, in itself, is an\nadded reason for deep spirituality in the missionary.\n\n\n\n\n5. The Missionary\u2019s Attitude Towards the Non-Christian World.\n\n\nThis attitude is one of considerable importance to the missionary because\nit furnishes largely the motive of his life work. Before one goes out as a\nmissionary he should acquire some definite and sound views as to the\ncondition of the non-Christians who constitute three-fourths of our race.\nThis means that he must decide as to his missionary motive,\u2014what motive\npower shall impel him to leave his native land and go to live among a\nbenighted people surrounded by a thousand disadvantages.\n\nSince the organization of our missionary societies\u2014less than a century\nago\u2014there has been an important change of emphasis in the matter of\nmissionary motives. The progress, I might almost say revolution, in\ntheology has worked towards this change. The recent discovery of new\nsciences, and the utilization of the wonderful modern means of\ncommunication whereby a new knowledge of non-Christian peoples has been\nmade possible to us, has affected our consideration of the whole problem\nof missionary work and has especially modified the missionary motive. Dr.\nW. N. Clark, in his admirable book on Christian Missions, discusses fully\nthis question. \u201cThe difference,\u201d he says, \u201cbetween our conception of man\ntoday and that of a century ago is mainly not that something true has\nfallen out of it, though that may be the fact with many minds: it is\nrather that immeasurably much that is true has been added to it.\nUnquestionably our conception of man is still incomplete, unbalanced and\nincorrect, but it certainly has been altered within the century by the\naddition of much that must remain in any true conception. Our knowledge\nmust have experienced true and legitimate growth and from our present\nconception of the human world we can never go back to that which our\nfathers held when they began the work of modern missions ... our thought\nconcerning our fellow-men contains elements of truth and justice that our\nfathers knew nothing of. The best Christian feeling towards the heathen\nworld today is far more true, righteous, sympathetic, Christlike, than the\nfeelings of those who were interested in missions an hundred years ago.\nBut the single motive which, standing alone, led to the missionary\nenterprise has come to be so surrounded by other thoughts and motives as\nto lose its relative importance, and be less available than it then was as\na controlling influence. This is one of the great and significant causes\nof the crisis in missions.\u201d\n\nIt is not necessarily true that the paramount motive of a century ago is\nno longer believed; but that other motives have grown and reached a\ncommanding influence as a power in the Christian consciousness of today. A\nChristian missionary has indeed changed his views, for instance,\nconcerning the origin and character of Hinduism. Through modern\nenlightenment and the study of comparative religion no man can go out as a\nmissionary, even as I was expected to go less than a quarter of a century\nago, with a general belief that that great religion is entirely of the\ndevil and is in itself evil and only evil continually. The missionary of\ntoday must discriminate, must study appreciation and consider historic\nfacts. He must know that ethnic, and all non-Christian religions, have had\ntheir uses, and that some still have their uses in the world. They are the\nexpression of the deepest religious instincts of the human soul. And they\nhave, especially such a faith as Hinduism, not a few elements of truth\nwhich a missionary should know no less than he should understand the great\nevils which enter as a part of them.\n\nThe greatest missionary motive of today lies in the last commission of our\nLord which emanates from the heart, and reveals the essence of our\nreligion. His command to his disciples to go and disciple the nations\nstands now as the Supreme Christian Command; and its significance is\nappreciated and emphasized today as never before. And so long as a Church\ngives increasing emphasis to this, His greatest commission, it must\nnecessarily be in the path of duty, of privilege, of blessing and of\npower. Above all other missionary motives this must remain supreme.\n\nAnd there must go hand in hand with this loyalty to Christ, a deepening\nloyalty to Christianity and a growing appreciation of its uniqueness in\nthe world. Christianity is not one religion among many; it stands alone as\nthe soul-satisfying and soul-saving faith. The scattered lights of other\nfaiths find here their centre, and all their prophesies find here\nfulfillment. The need of Christianity, by all men, is supreme. Whatever\nmay be said in favour of other faiths we must say of them that they are,\nin many respects, perverted and are inadequate as a means of salvation.\n\nAnd in addition to this the missionary must feel that all non-Christian\npeoples are in supreme need of Christ, the Saviour. This fact we cannot\nafford to qualify, without, in very truth, cutting the nerve of missions.\nWhen a missionary regards Christ and His mission and message as only an\nincident in the life and need of our race and ceases to acknowledge that\nall men need Christ supremely, he had better give up his work; for his\nmissionary motive has lost its foundation and his life work has been\nrobbed of its power.\n\nThe missionary is called to go wherever the Macedonian cry of human need\nand of spiritual helplessness is heard. Our Lord\u2019s command was\nworld-embracing in its extent; it was a discipling of _all_ nations; it\nwas a call to be witnesses unto the uttermost parts of the earth.\n\nShall the missionary go and preach everywhere the gospel of Christ,\nwhether men invite him or not? In view of recent events in China and in\nother lands some people (and among them are a few well-meaning Christians)\nquestion our duty and even our right and privilege to carry the gospel to\na people against its will and when it is satisfied with its own faith.\nThey claim that this restraint is demanded by true Christian altruism and\nby the spirit of Christ. That the day has come when the Christian Church\nshould thoroughly reconsider the best methods of missionary approach to\nsuch peoples I readily agree. I also maintain that Protestant missions\nshould everywhere scrupulously avoid all Jesuitical methods and political\ninfluences and should always strive to minimize, if not ignore, their\npolitical rights and magnify the spiritual side of their work. Under these\nconditions no people has lent an unwilling ear to the missionary\u2019s\nmessage, or, for a long time, failed to rejoice in his presence and work.\nBut had missionary societies sent their missionaries only to those people\nwho invited them, or were prepared to give them a cordial welcome, where\ncould they have found work or how achieve the magnificent success of the\nlast century? Imagine the great missionary apostle sending messengers in\nadvance to inquire whether the inhabitants of Lystra and Ephesus, of\nThessalonica and Athens were willing to receive him, and turning away his\nface because, forsooth, they were not prepared to welcome him! The only\ninvitation he did receive was from Macedonia in a vision. The acceptance\nof the invitation brought to him at once opposition and stripes. Paul said\nthat he _knew_ that bonds awaited him wherever he went. But that did not\ndeter him.\n\nHad our Lord Himself considered the attitude of man towards Himself He\nwould never have come down to men. He came to fling fire upon the earth\u2014to\nbring not peace but a sword. He was despised and rejected of men. Like\nHim, missionaries must consider the deep spiritual _need_ and not the\n_desire_ of a people. Above all, they must be assured everywhere, in their\ngreat life work, that they are sent by God rather than invited by men.\n\n\n\n\n6. The Relationship Which the Missionary Sustains to the Missionary\nSociety and the Churches Which Support Him.\n\n\nThe relationship into which a man, who becomes a missionary, enters with\nthe missionary society and the churches is a very precious one, and should\nbe fully realized. In a peculiar sense he has become their adopted\nchild\u2014the subject of their prayer and the object of their pride. They have\ntaken him into their own heart and his support and success are their\npeculiar concern.\n\nHe is the connecting link between them and the work which they support and\ncherish in the far-off land. Whatever of interest, of joy and of\nresponsibility they possess in that work passes through him. He is to them\nthe channel through which flow their endeavours. He is the living\nembodiment of their interest in the work as also of their effort to bring\nthe heathen to Christ. And in like manner he has become to them the\narticulate cry of the heathen world for help. He represents to them at the\nsame time both the progress of the work, its need and the claims of a\nheathen world upon them. He is their agent to develop and inspire their\ninfant Mission Church. He is also the almoner of their benevolence.\n\nIn all these capacities it is well that he remember, constantly, how much\nhe depends for inspiration as for support upon those who have sent him\nforth to the heathen and who, under God, sustain him and his work. He\nshould cultivate full appreciation of their endeavour; he should keep\nhimself in living, loving touch with both society and churches; and he\nshould deem it his duty and privilege to furnish them with all light and\nintelligence concerning his work. It is thus that he must strengthen their\nfaith and inspire their hearts in the great and far-off work which they\nare maintaining. It is his opportunity to add fuel to the ardor and\nenthusiasm of all the churches in the missionary endeavour. In this he has\nan important function to perform and should endeavour to magnify his\noffice.\n\nIn my opinion the relationship between the missionary and those whom he\nrepresents at home might easily be strengthened and improved by added\nrecognition and courtesy to him in the home-land. At present the foreign\nmissionary of the congregational churches is simply regarded as their paid\nagent. This relationship is indeed a pleasant and a cordial one. The\nAmerican Board is most appreciative of the labors of its missionary agents\nand deals with them generously. The churches also give them a cordial\nwelcome and a warm hearing. But the missionary has no status whatever\nbeyond this. He returns for a furlough to the home-land and feels himself,\nin a peculiar sense, a stranger. He has no official connection whatever\nwith his society; his voice is not heard in its councils; his wisdom and\nexperience are not sought in its deliberations. In other words, though\npossessed of a large stock of knowledge which might be of value to the\nBoard in the shaping of its policy and in the direction of its work at its\nannual meetings, he has absolutely no voice or place there and stands\napart from its organization, beyond the privilege of being its foreign\nservant. The missionary body has felt this deprivation and isolation\nduring critical periods in the history of the Board; and it still feels\nthat, at least some of its number should be permitted both to enjoy the\nhonour, and also to render the service incident to being corporate members\nof the Board.\n\nThe situation is no better in his relation to the home churches. He is a\nmember, probably, of some church in the home-land; but, upon his return\nhome he has no status whatever in any Conference or Association, or as a\nmember of a Ministerial body among his home brethren. In his deputation\nwork at home he finds welcome, as a stranger or as an outsider, and not as\na member or as an integral part of any body or Association.\n\nThe position of the missionary is different among the Methodists. Every\nminister of that body finds that, by becoming a foreign missionary he does\nnot separate himself from home ties and privileges. His ministerial\nconnection is preserved intact, so that he has a status in the churches\nand in the missionary society.\n\n\n\n\n7. The Missionary and the Mission To Which He Belongs.\n\n\nWhen a man becomes a member of a foreign mission he soon realizes that he\nhas become a part of a compact organization. All its members are bound\ntogether by the warmest ties of friendship and love. Largely separated\nfrom the world and knit together by common purpose as by all their highest\nambitions, they verily become a big family whose love increases as the\nyears multiply, and among whom the spirit of dissension can only create\nthe deepest sorrow and greatest bitterness. It is, therefore, of the\nutmost importance that every one who becomes a missionary should be a man\nof peace; should know how to live in harmony with all his brethren. He\nshould cultivate that spirit and should aim to see eye to eye with those\nwho are thus so intimately connected with him. In loving sympathy they\nshould unite in the serious concerns of their life-work. One of the first\nrequisites demanded from a missionary applicant from the American Board is\nthat he be of a peaceable disposition\u2014able to live harmoniously with\nothers. And it is not only a suggestion that should be heeded by every\nmissionary; it is also a rule which should be enforced by every missionary\nsociety.\n\nEach mission has behind it a history, and, before it, more or less of an\naim and policy. It should be the ambition of every member of that mission\nto study and honour the one, and to be faithful and loyal to the other.\nThe history of most missions in India is precious and full of instruction.\nThey have sainted heroes and most interesting traditions. The missionary\nshould not only study the records of his own mission and draw from them\nevery possible lesson for his life; he should also enter heartily into the\nspirit of the mission and endeavour cordially to bring himself _en\nrapport_ with its highest wisdom, deepest purposes and most cherished\nschemes for the future. It is not necessary that he be satisfied with all\nthat the mission has done; he should also aim, in the spirit of humility\nand of patience, to constitutionally influence his brethren to his own new\nviews and better way of thinking, if he have any. Above all, he should aim\nto conserve rather than to destroy. The blessings of the past should be\nutilized in attaining higher things for the future. Revolutionary methods\nare ill-adapted to add blessing to such a work. It should also be the aim\nof the missionary to so further the work of his mission that it may soon\ncease to be a necessity. A mission, at best, is but a temporary thing. It\nshould constantly aim to so nourish and strengthen the native church as to\nmake itself unnecessary. And it should be the aim of the missionary to\nhasten, with all speed, this consummation.\n\n\n\n\n8. The Relation of the Missionary to the People Among Whom He Lives.\n\n\nHaving entered upon his work and settled among the people of his choice,\nhe must seek to realize the best possible relation to them. This\nrelationship will be a varied one.\n\nHe must be a leader of the Christian community. In India, today, there is\nspecial need for missionaries who are born leaders. The people of that\nland are defective in the power of initiative; but they are most tractable\nand docile. They love to follow a bold and a wise leader of men. And the\nmissionary, from the very necessity of his position, should be able to\ndirect and guide the Christian community into ways of holiness and of\nChristian activity. He is to be a leader of leaders. He should marshal the\nmission agents connected with him in such a way as to lead the native\nChurch into highest usefulness and most earnest endeavour for the\nsalvation of souls.\n\nHe should be strong as an organizer and administrator. In missions the\nword organization is becoming the keyword of the situation. There is no\ndanger of over-organization, so long as the organization is endowed with\nlife and does not degenerate into machinery. The best organized activities\nof today are the most powerful and the most useful. And the missionary\nwill find his highest powers for organization taxed to the utmost in his\nmissionary work. And as an administrator there will be made many claims\nupon him daily. I know of few qualifications that are more essential to\nthe highest success on the mission field than conspicuous ability to\norganize and wisdom to administer the affairs of a mission. Missionaries\nfrequently fail at this point and need therefore to strengthen themselves\nin this particular.\n\nA missionary should be as much the conserver of the good as a destroyer of\nthe evil which he finds among the people. Much of that which he will see\nin India, for instance, will at first, and perhaps for a long time, seem\nstrange and outlandish to him; but let him not decide that it is therefore\nevil. The life of the Orient is built on different lines from that of the\nOccident. Many things in common life, in domestic economy and in social\ncustoms will, and must, be different there from what they are here. Their\ncivilization, though different from ours, has a consistency as a whole;\nand we cannot easily eliminate certain parts and substitute for them those\nof our own civilization without dislocating the whole. Therefore, it is\noften safer and better to conserve what seems to us the lesser good of\ntheir civilization than to introduce what seems the greater good of our\nown.\n\nThe missionary must be careful to distinguish between those things which\nare real, and those which are apparent, evils among the customs of the\npeople. There are some customs, such as are connected with the degradation\nof woman and heathen ceremonies which are fundamentally wrong and must be\nopposed always. There are others which seem uncouth and unworthy, but\nwhich are devoid of moral or religious significance. Of two missionaries,\nthe one who studies to utilize the existing good among the habits of the\npeople will find greatest usefulness. Some waste their time, destroy their\ninfluence and minimize their usefulness by a destructive way of attacking\neverything that is not positively good and beating their head against\nevery wall of custom.\n\nThe missionary should be a prophet to rebuke and to condemn evil. He will\nfind numberless evils on all sides of him\u2014in Church, in general society\nand in individual life among the people. He must not hesitate to use\nconstantly his voice as a protest against all forms of evil. This duty is\nthe more incumbent upon him as there are none among the people to protest\nand to denounce the most flagrant, demoralizing and universal evils of the\nland. One of the most discouraging things concerning the situation in\nIndia is, not the universality of certain evils, but the utter absence of\nthose who dare to withstand them and denounce them as sins before all the\npeople. Missionaries have done more in that land to rightly characterize\ncertain gross evils and to call the attention of the people to them than\nhave any other people in the land. And they have recognition for this. And\nthis prophetic function of the missionary must be exercised with\nincreasing faithfulness for the good of the land and for the purity of the\nChurch of God.\n\nIn that country the missionary must also stand before the people as their\nexemplar. He must represent, not only Christianity at its best, but also\nthe civilization of the West in its purest and most attractive garb. India\nhas always greatly needed such human types of nobility of character to\nencourage and stimulate the people to a higher life. With all modesty and\ndue humility the missionary is called upon just as much to live as he is\nto teach the best that is found in his religion and in the civilization of\nhis mother country. In India, the life of the missionary has spoken more\nloudly than his words. There are millions in that land today, who, while\nthey deny and reject the teaching of the missionary, give him unstinted\npraise both for what he is and for what he has done for the country.\n\nThe testimony of Sir William Mackworth Young, Lieutenant-Governor of\nPunjab is only one of many such;\u2014\u201cI take off my hat to the humblest\nmissionary that walks a bazaar in India,\u201d he said, in a recent public\naddress, \u201cbecause he is leading a higher and a grander life and doing a\ngrander work than any other class of persons who are working in India. If\nthe natives of India have any practical knowledge of what is meant by\nChristian charity, if they know anything of high, disinterested motives\nand self-sacrifice, it is mainly from the missionary that they learn it.\nThe strength of our position in India depends more largely upon the\ngood-will of the people than upon the strength and number of our\ngarrisons, and for that good-will we are largely indebted to the kindly,\nself-sacrificing efforts of the Christian missionary. It is love which\nmust pave the way for the regeneration of India as well as for the\nconsolidation of England\u2019s power.\u201d\n\nThe missionary must never lose this crown of glory in India. He must hold\nit most precious and strive to add to the glory which he thus reflects\nupon his Faith in that land.\n\n\n\n\n\n                              Chapter VIII.\n\n\nMISSIONARY ORGANIZATION.\n\n\nThorough organization of any work is essential to its highest efficiency.\nThe Missionary Department of the work of the Christian Church should,\ntherefore, be well organized. As missionary effort expands, grows in\nintensity and increases in power, it must find a growingly efficient\norganization in order to adequately express itself and to attain further\ngrowth.\n\n1. A thorough Missionary Organization at home is the first requisite in\norder to highest success. Thus only can the missionary work abroad be\nmaintained and fostered; because, by this means only can missionary ardour\nbe kindled in the churches. A Church which is not adequately marshalled\nfor activity in heathen lands will soon become self-centred and will\neasily forget the claims, if not the very existence, of the heathen.\n\nA Foreign Missionary Society of well organized efficiency has, up to the\npresent, been the best agency in the development and furtherance of the\nforeign work of every denomination. And the day does not seem near when\nthis agency can be dispensed with.\n\nThis missionary society should be in close touch with the denomination or\nbody of Christians which has organized and maintains it. It should be\nplastic to the touch and will of its constituency and should seek in every\nway to be at the same time a faithful exponent of the thought and ambition\nof the churches, and a leader and a source of new inspiration and light to\nthem on missionary problems. This society should scrupulously avoid, on\nthe one hand, the danger of too much independence and of a purpose to\nshape the missionary policy of the churches; and, on the other, the\nequally serious evil of dragging, or of declining to move a step without\nthe direct intimation, command or leadership of the churches. There has\nbeen a time in the history of the American Board when the one evil\nconstituted its danger; at the present time it would seem as if the other\ndanger seriously threatened it.\n\nIt is of much importance that the foreign missionary benevolences of a\nchurch should be wisely administered _as a whole_. When different\nmissionary societies of a denomination appeal, as they do at present, to\nour churches for funds to support the missionary cause in foreign lands,\nit is of great importance that moneys received by these different bodies\nshould be appropriated wisely. They should be brought together both for\nunity of results and for economy of expenditure on the mission field. My\nobservation convinces me that, for want of a wise union or correlation of\nour missionary agencies at home the various departments of the work (of\nthe Congregationalists, for instance) on the mission field are very\nunequally supported, and an unwise distribution of the benevolences of the\nchurches follows as a result. A previous, full consideration, by a\ncompetent general committee of finance, in America, should be had of the\nneeds of the various departments of each mission and of the distribution\nof all the funds collected for that mission by the various societies; and\nthey should be carefully distributed in accordance with the urgency of\nthose needs respectively.\n\nThese missionary societies should aim to cultivate in the churches the\nspirit of missions as a _Christian principle_. Advocates of the missionary\ncause strongly feel that the interest of the Church in missionary work\ntoday is too little based upon the real and fundamental principle of\nmissionary work as a necessity of the life of the Church itself, and too\nmuch dependent upon exciting narrative, tearful appeal and poetic romance.\nThe cultivation of the missionary principle and the inculcation of the\ndoctrine of the privilege and beauty of supporting missions, apart from\nany impassioned appeals or tragic events, is one of the _desiderata_ of\nthe Church today. It is a morbid condition of the mind of the Church which\ndemands exciting narrative and hysterical appeal in order to arouse it to\nits duty in this matter; and it also tends to create a standard of\nmissionary advocacy which is neither manly nor sufficiently careful to\nbalance well the facts and data of missionary work as it is found upon the\nfield. There is considerable danger of accepting, today, only that form of\nmissionary appeal which is directed to the emotion and which abounds in\nmental excitement rather than that which furnishes food for sober thought.\nThe consequence is that this advocacy is in danger of becoming a producer\nof more heat than light\u2014of more emotion than intelligent conviction.\n\nThe recent movement towards leading certain churches to take up definite\nportions of the work in foreign lands and to support, each a missionary\nfor itself, has in it much to commend it to our acceptance. It certainly\nhas the merit of definiteness in purpose, work and prayer; and this brings\nadded interest and a growing sense of responsibility to each church which\ntakes up the work. If a man (or a church) finds his interest in missions\nwaning as a principle of Christian activity the best thing for him,\nperhaps, is to come into touch with a missionary or a mission agent on the\nfield. By supporting him or a department of work conducted by him, and by\nbeing kept frequently informed of the work which he is supporting, new\nfuel is constantly added to that missionary interest which thereby\ndevelops into zeal and enthusiasm. The method has apostolic sanction and\npartakes of the simplicity of primitive missionary endeavour.\n\nBut this method should not be too exclusively pursued. It should not\ninterfere with a broader outlook upon missions and a general sympathy\nwith, and support of, the _common_ work. And all of the work should be\ndone through the missionary society which alone can rightly co\u00f6rdinate and\nunify the whole work of the particular mission.\n\nFaith Missions, so called, represent a genuine and a worthy spirit among\nmany of God\u2019s people today. To them the somewhat lumbering business\nmethods of the large missionary organizations savour too much of worldly\nprudence and seem subversive of the deepest Christian faith. They maintain\nthat the old method is one that looks too much to men and too little to\nGod for support. And they also claim that the missionary of such a society\nhas little opportunity for the exercise of highest faith in God both for\nhimself and his work. These new missions, therefore, have come into\nexistence practically, if not really, as a protest against modern methods\nof conducting missionary work. They may do much good if they exercise some\nrestraint upon missionary societies in this matter. Probably it is needed.\nMany believe that there is an excessive tendency among the directors of\nmissionary societies, at the present day, to consider this great\nenterprise simply as a _business_ enterprise, and that, in the committee\nrooms, faith has yielded too much to prudence, and the wings of missionary\nenterprise have been too much clipped by worldly considerations. How far\ntheir reasoning is true, I will not decide. Their claim is not without a\nbasis of truth. The financial embarrassment brings to the Missionary\nSociety today, much more than it used to, discouragement and a halt; with\nthe result that the missions are more than ever before crippled by\nretrenchment and home churches are resting satisfied with smaller\nattainments and are forgetting the old watchwords of progress and advance.\n\n\u201cFaith Missions\u201d are created by and meet the needs of a certain class of\npeople in the church whose spiritual life is intense and who crave romance\nin faith and in life. The missionaries of these societies tire of the\ngreat organizations of the church and are usually men who are restless\nunder any stiff method or extensive system in Christian work.\n\nBut very few such missionaries meet with permanent success. The glamour of\nthe \u201cfaith life,\u201d so called, does not abide with them. Few men have the\nstaying, as well as the supporting, faith of a George M\u00fcller; and yet\nevery missionary in this class should be a hero of faith\u2014a man with that\nspecial gift and power from God which will maintain itself and go on\nworking under the most adverse circumstances. And this is what the\nordinary \u201cfaith missionary\u201d does not possess in an exceptional degree.\n\nAs a matter of fact, \u201cFaith Missions\u201d are decidedly wasteful of means in\nthe conduct of their work. If, in some ways, they practice more economy,\nin other matters of greatest importance, there is deplorable wastefulness.\nFor, they are wanting both in continuity and in wise management and sane\ndirection. As history has shown, they also easily degenerate into very\nprudential methods and sensational forms of advertisement which destroy\nthe very faith which the missions were supposed to express and conserve.\nThere is no less faith\u2014rather is there more\u2014exercised by members of\nwell-organized missions who depend upon God\u2019s supply through the regular\nchannel of a society. For they can give themselves entirely to their work\nof faith and love, confident that God will provide for their wants and the\nwants of their work; while the \u201cfaith missionary\u201d has to devote much time\nin anxious thought and in skillful and dubious methods of appeal to secure\nthe means of support.\n\nOne only needs to look at India today and there study the results of these\ntwo classes of missions in order to see which method is the more\neconomical and the more owned of God.\n\nThe Missionary Boards should keep in close touch and living communication\nwith the missions which they support. The mission to which I have the\nhonour of belonging has not had the privilege, until the last year, of\nreceiving an official visitation from any member of our Board for nearly\nforty-five years. That a society should aim, by its officials in one city,\nto conduct, for so many years, a mission among its antipodes without\nhaving one representative among its directors who has gazed upon that\nland, seen that people or studied on the ground any of its problems, seems\nremarkable, and wants in that sagacity which usually directs us as a\npeople. By frequent visitations alone can such a society expect to be able\nto direct wisely and lead successfully its missions. For, it is highly\ndesirable, both in the interests of the mission itself, of the society and\nof the home churches that at least some of the directors of the society\nshould know personally and well each mission supported through them. At no\ngreater intervals than five years such a visitation should be planned for\nevery mission. I am confident that they would add largely to the\nefficiency of our missionary work and increase the interest of home\nchurches in their foreign work. But such visiting committees should be\nwilling to learn and should not come out with preconceived ideas of what\nought to be done, nor with bottled and labelled remedies for all the ills\nof the mission. Some missions are sore today because of a visitation many\nyears ago, since it was not conceived in the spirit of highest wisdom and\nteachableness.\n\n2. The missions themselves also should be well organized for work. The\nsuccess of a mission will depend, in no small degree, upon the character\nof its organization. In India, today, there is a great variety of\nmissionary organizations. They range from the almost purely autocratic\nones, established by Christians of the European Continent, to the\nthoroughly democratic and largely autonomous ones of the American\nMissions. German and Danish Missions are mostly controlled by the home\ncommittees of their missionary societies. American Missions have a large\ndegree of autonomy in the conduct of their affairs. British Missions\ndivide equally with their home Society the right and privilege of\nconducting their affairs. It is certainly not wise that a committee of\ngentlemen thousands of miles distant from the mission field should\nautocratically direct and control, even to matters of detail, the affairs\nof their mission. The missionaries on the ground should not only have the\nright to express their opinions, but should also have a voice in\nconducting the affairs of the mission for whose furtherance they have\ngiven their life, whose interests they dearly love and whose affairs they\nare the most competent to understand.\n\nNor yet should a mission be entirely free from foreign guidance and\nsuggestion. Too much power given to a mission is as really a danger as too\nlittle power. It is well for a mission that it should have the aid of men\nwho have large missionary interests under their guidance and who are in\nfull sympathy with home churches. The ideal mission is that which, on the\none hand, enjoys a large degree of autonomy in the conduct of its affairs,\nand yet which, on the other hand, is wisely supported and strengthened by\nthe restraining influence, suggestion and even the occasional initiative\nof a well-formed home committee.\n\nThe relation of the mission to its own members should always be firm and\nits authority kindly and wisely exercised. There may arise a serious\ndanger of too much individualism in a mission. A mission which does not\nhave a policy of its own and conduct its whole work in harmony with that\npolicy, and so control the work of each of its members as to make it fully\ncontribute to the realization of its aims, will not attain unto the\nlargest success in its efforts. When each missionary is given absolute\nindependence to develop his own work on his own lines it will soon be\nfound that whatever mission policy there may have been will be crushed out\nby rampant individualism. And when each man is at liberty to follow his\nown inclination and to direct his work according to his own sweet will,\nmission work will have lost its homogeneity. Each section and department\nof the mission will be changed in direction and method of work upon the\narrival of every new missionary; and thus every blessing of continuity in\nwork and of a wholesome mission policy will be lost. I know of missions\n(American, of course) which suffer seriously on this account. I also know\nof other missions which are seriously affected by the opposite difficulty.\nThe mission controls its work so completely, even to its last detail, that\nit leaves to the individual missionary no freedom of action and no power\nof initiative. The mission, in solemn conclave, decides even the character\nand quantity of food which must be given each child in a boarding school\nconducted by one of its missionaries! A control which reaches into such\npetty details as this, is not only a waste of time to the mission itself;\nit seriously compromises the dignity, and destroys the sense of\nresponsibility, of the individual missionary. It takes away from him the\npower of initiative and thus largely diminishes his efficiency.\n\nThe ideal mission is that which gives to each of its members some latitude\nfor judgment and direction, but which has a definite policy of its own and\nsees to it that this policy is, in the main, respected and supported by\nevery one of its missionaries.\n\nIt is an interesting fact, in the study of the missions of India, that the\nAmerican Missions, on the whole, represent the largest degree, both of\nmission autonomy and of missionary individualism. The farther we pass east\nfrom America the more do we see mission autonomy yield to the control of\nthe home society; and the independence of the missionary lost in the\nabsoluteness of mission supervision.\n\nHow far shall missions give the power of franchise to their lady members\nin the conduct of mission affairs? The last few years has seen this\nquestion agitated by many missions. They differ largely in this matter.\nThe Madura Mission has settled the problem by giving to the women absolute\nequality with the men. This, probably, is an ideal solution. But it should\nbe accompanied by a similar movement in the missionary societies at\nBoston. The position at present is anomalous in that mission; for while it\nhas given to both sexes equal rights of franchise and is therefore a unit\nin administrative power, the societies at home which support the general,\nand the woman\u2019s parts of the mission activity are entirely separate from\nand independent of each other. It is not too much to hope that, at an\nearly date, the relations of the home societies may be changed towards\nunity of action, to correspond with the present situation in the mission\nfield.\n\nThe relation of missions contiguous to each other in foreign lands is a\nsubject which is increasingly engaging the thought of all missionaries. In\nthe past, missions of different denominations lived largely isolated from,\nand absolutely indifferent to, each other\u2019s welfare. There was much\nfriction and jealousy, coupled with a readiness to disregard each other\u2019s\nfeelings and a willingness to take advantage of each other\u2019s weaknesses. I\nam glad to say that that era is gradually giving way to a time of better\nfeeling, when sympathy and appreciation, fellowship and co\u00f6peration are\nbecoming the watchwords. During the last few years marked progress has\nbeen seen in India in the line of amity and comity between the Protestant\nMissions of the land. Recently, a large Conference of Christian\nMissionaries was convened in Madras representing the thirty-five\nProtestant Missions of South India. Missions which formerly held aloof\nfrom their sister missions and declined to fraternize in any way with\nthem, came on this occasion and heartily joined in the universal good\nfeeling and desire for fellowship among all. Co\u00f6peration was the watchword\nheard in all discussions at that great Conference; and since that day\nincreasing effort has been put forth to bring several of the more nearly\nrelated of these missions, not only into co\u00f6peration in work, but also\ninto organic unity. For instance the missions of the Free Church of\nScotland and of the Dutch Reformed Church of America have met, through\ntheir representatives, and have perfected a scheme of ecclesiastical union\nand of co\u00f6peration in work. And already expressions of hearty desire have\nbeen made that the missions of the Congregational denominations unite with\nthese Presbyterian Missions in this Scheme of Union. I believe that it\nwill require but a short time for the perfecting of such a union among all\nthese kindred missions. Thus and thus only can we hope to teach to our\nnative Christians the growing oneness of God\u2019s people; and thus also do we\nhope to reduce considerably the expenses of the work in that land. For, by\nthus uniting our forces, we shall be able to reduce the number of our\nspecial institutions for the training of our agency and the development of\nour work. Nothing can further the cause of economy in mission lands today\nmore than the union of mission institutions now built on denominational\nlines and expensively conducted in all the missions. I believe in\ndenominationalism. It has its mission in the world and has done much good.\nBut a narrow, selfish, denominationalism on the mission field, and in the\npresence both of the infant native church and of the inquiring Hindu\ncommunity, is one of the most serious evils that can befall the cause of\nChrist in India.\n\nWe should all pray for the day when all narrowness in this matter shall\nyield to the broadest sympathy, love and co\u00f6peration. And, perhaps, the\nbest way to answer our prayers in this matter is by furthering the noble\ncause of Christian union among the denominations and churches here at\nhome.\n\nThe old illustration, taken from the rice fields of South India, is apt\nand instructive. These fields are small and divided by low banks. The\nbanks serve the purpose of separating the fields of different persons, of\nfurnishing water channels and of facilitating the irrigation. When the\ncrops are young and low every field is seen marked out by its banks. But\nas the crops grow the banks are hidden and we see nothing but one great\nexpense of waving grain ready for the harvest. So, while the useful,\ndenominational banks which have divided us in mission lands are still\nthere we thank God that they are being hidden more, year by year, as the\nharvest of Christian love and fellowship is approaching.\n\n3. The organic structure of a mission in the early stages of its growth is\na very simple thing; as it achieves increasing success the necessities of\nthe situation compel it to add to its efficiency by widening its scope and\nincreasing its functions and multiplying its departments of work. A\nhundred years ago, or less, as the missionary entered virgin soil and\nbegan to cultivate a new mission field, he devoted himself, almost\nexclusively, to the work of preaching the gospel to the heathen. Presently\nthe gospel message found entrance into the hearts of a few and they were\nformed into a congregation. At once he began to train this infant\ncongregation and selected one or more of the most promising of its number\nfor special instruction and initiation into the duties of Christian\nservice. He then took this nucleus of a native agency with himself on\npreaching tours until new accessions to the faith were gained and new\ncongregations established. As the congregations multiplied his work as an\nevangelist had to give way, in part, to his efforts to train an adequate\nnative agency to guide and nourish the growing Christian community. There\nwas also added to this the pastoral care and superintendence of\ncongregations new and old. Later on he felt the need of schools to train\nthe young of his congregations; he also began to realize the value of\neducational work for non-Christians as a means of presenting to them the\ngospel of Christ. Thus a system of schools was gradually established, both\nfor Christians and for non-Christians which not only required his care,\nbut also demanded a force of Christian teachers adequate to this\nincreasing work. So, institutions for the systematic training of teachers\nand preachers had to be established. Under the influence of these schools\nintelligence grew apace and was suitably met and satisfied by a developing\nChristian literature\u2014a literature which met the needs of the Christian and\nheathen alike.\n\nMoreover as he studied the physical condition of the surrounding people he\nwas appalled by the prevalence of disease and the inadequacy, yea, even\nthe evil, of the system of medical treatment which obtained there; and so\nhis heart was drawn out to the need of making some provision for modern\nmedical aid. As the community continued to grow and the number of young\npeople multiplied, in church and congregation alike, he became impressed\nwith the need of organizations whereby this latent youthful power might be\nconserved, increased and utilized for the Glory of God.\n\nIn this way the primitive missions of the past have actually developed\ninto the powerful organizations of the present. One must study, on the\nspot, one of the larger missions of India today in order to appreciate\nwhat a complicated organism it is. He then will see how it has sent out\nits ramifications into all departments of life and of Christian activity.\nIt has laid its hands, in organized power, upon every department of\nChristian work which can be made to contribute to the furtherance of the\ncause of Christ in that field. In this way have come into existence the\nfollowing departments, which are represented in more or less fullness in\nall the missions of India today.\n\n\n\n\n(_a_) The Evangelistic Department.\n\n\nThis, as we have seen, is the oldest as it is the most fundamental, of all\norganized missionary activities. And it should retain its prominence in\nmissionary effort. It was pre\u00ebminently the method of Christ. He was the\nHeavenly Messenger proclaiming that the Kingdom of God was at hand. He was\nfirst of all the great Preacher; \u201cand the people everywhere heard Him\ngladly.\u201d The missionary of the Cross never feels that he is more directly\nin the footsteps of his Master than when he is preaching to the unchurched\nand Christless masses. There is to this work a joy and an exhilaration\nwhich are peculiarly its own, even though it is a work fraught with\nphysical weariness. I have felt, in the prosecution of this work, more\nsatisfaction than almost in any other. Not that I regard it as the most\nsuccessful form of labour. It is not. Even as a direct evangelizing\nagency, I believe that it must yield precedence in India to school-work.\nThe faithful Christian teacher is now a more successful evangelist in that\nland than the preacher himself. And yet the preacher reaches and offers\nlight and gracious opportunity to the more benighted and the more\nneglected members of the community. Without making special choice of any\nfavoured class he sows broadcast the seed, preaches the divine Word,\npraying that the Lord himself, who also preached to the common people,\nbestow his richest blessing upon the labour which he has done in his name.\n\nThis work of preaching Christ to those who know him not, must be carried\non by missionaries and agents. It is usually the custom to expect that\nevery mission agent shall devote some of his time in visiting neighbouring\nvillages and in gathering the people together and in presenting to them,\nin all simplicity, the message of salvation. Frequently these teachers,\ncatechists and pastors take with them some of the members of their\ncongregations to help them, by song and by the influence of their\npresence, to present their message effectively to the people; and thus the\nChristians also receive a most useful training in this elementary part of\nChristian service.\n\nFrom time to time special itineracies are conducted by a band of mission\nagents who will spend a week or more in traversing a whole region,\npreaching in every village and street as they pass along their journey.\nThese itineracies are conducted in various ways, but are always most\nhelpful in the evangelization of the district.\n\nSome of the best organized missions are adding emphasis to this work by\ndevoting missionaries specially to the conduct of it. These men gather\nbands of native preachers around them who spend their time and strength in\npreaching and in disseminating gospel truth in the neglected regions of\ntheir fields.\n\nTheological seminaries also give a part of their time to this excellent\nwork. The seminary, with which I am connected, gave, during the year 1900,\nfive weeks to village work. Teachers and students travelled hundreds of\nmiles among the villages of the neglected part of the field and carried\nthe message to more than 50,000 people. This was not only a joyful\nservice, it was also a most helpful experience to the young students while\nundergoing their theological training.\n\nBut, as the native Church, in a mission, grows in numbers and in\nintelligence, the work of evangelism becomes its special duty. If the\nChurch does not enter, with added joy and power, into this department of\nits work; and if it does not voluntarily assume, with ever increasing\nfullness, this form of Christian activity, there is something radically\nwrong about it. It should be the prayer and purpose of the missionary that\nevery church and congregation established by him become a centre of\nevangelistic power, whence will radiate divine light and heat into\nadjacent hamlets and villages. I am glad to say that, so far as my\nobservation goes, the native Church is undertaking this work with\nincreasing zeal and with a growing impulse from within, rather than by\npressure from without. In the Madura Mission, through the Home Missionary\nSociety and its auxiliaries, and through the organizations of the native\nwomen, at least eighteen men and women are being supported for this\nespecial work of evangelism. And the number of members of churches, who\nengage voluntarily in this work, is every year growing.\n\nThe character of this preaching is a matter of importance. In India it\nshould be, largely, if not exclusively, constructive rather than\ndestructive. Forces destructive to a belief in Hinduism and its numberless\nsuperstitions have multiplied wonderfully in that land during the last\nfifty years. So that there is no necessity, today, that the Christian\npreacher spend any of his time in attacking the errors and evils of the\nancestral faith of the people. He should give himself to the more\nagreeable and blessed work of imparting the living truth of the Gospel in\nall directness and simplicity. The destructive agencies of the\ncivilization, knowledge and religious institutions of the West have\naccomplished their work and have made straight the pathway of the Gospel\nMessenger into the mind and heart of the people. Thus, it is not the abuse\nof the old, but the exposition of the new, faith which should occupy the\ntime of the preacher to Hindus today. It has been my own custom, and I\nalways urge it upon my students, to avoid the temptation of attacking\nHinduism, and to preach a simple Gospel of salvation.\n\n\n\n\n(_b_) Pastoral Work.\n\n\nThe rapidly increasing number of churches and congregations has added much\nto the pastoral duties of a mission. Formerly missionaries themselves\nacted as pastors and shepherded the flocks in the villages. Even today\nsome of the German missions have missionary pastors. But this is now\nexceptional. Missions generally have learned that, for native\ncongregations, native pastors are essential. They not only are better\nadapted, by nature and by training, to meet the needs of the native\nChurch; they are also the only ones that are within the range of the\nfinancial possibilities of self-support. And self-support must be ever\nheld before the church as a high future blessing and duty of the Christian\ncommunity.\n\n        [Illustration: Theological Students With Their Families.]\n\n                 [Illustration: Group Of Madura Pastors.]\n\nAnd yet the day when the pastoral work can be effectively and\nsatisfactorily done by the natives themselves has hardly arrived. Few\nnative pastors today, and much fewer catechists, are competent, both on\nthe score of character and of independence, to wisely direct the affairs\nof their people and to efficiently preserve church discipline. This is a\nsad confession to make; but truth compels me to make it\u2014a truth emphasized\nmore than once by long experience among them. A few years ago a church\nwithin my jurisdiction wished to expel a leading member whom it knew to be\na godless man. He had become a curse to the community, and nothing but\nexcommunication seemed wise or possible. I visited the church for the\npurpose of assisting the pastor in the administration of the Lord\u2019s Supper\nand of studying the general condition of the church. And we attempted,\ncongregationally, to discipline this member. The church was asked to vote,\nin case it thought wise, to excommunicate the man; but not a hand was\nraised. The matter was further explained to them, and all those who were\nin favour of his expulsion were requested to raise the hand. Again not a\nhand was raised! The pastor, thereupon, explained the situation by stating\nthat the people were afraid of the man and dared not vote against him even\nthough he was not present. The pastor was himself equally timid in the\nsituation. Thereupon I asked those of them who desired that _I_ should act\nin this matter _for the church_ to raise the hand; whereupon every hand of\npastor and people was immediately raised; and I fulfilled their wish by\nexcommunicating, in their name, the evil member!\n\nThis may or may not be Congregationalism; but it illustrates the fact\nwhich I am now dwelling upon, viz.: that for the present, both pastor and\npeople are unequal to the severe duties of church discipline. Every month\nthe missionary is confronted with similar situations which reveal to him\nthe necessity of his presence as a superintending pastor and the urgent\nneed of his wisdom to direct the affairs of the church, his firmness to\nput an end to many impossible situations, and his inspiration to tone up\nand give backbone to pastors and other agents connected with him. It\nshould not be forgotten that, while the infant community connected with\neach mission has many admirable traits of piety and of character, it is\nstill the victim of great weakness in matters of purity, of fellowship and\nof Christian peace. So that if the Church is to be preserved from many\nintolerable evils and brought into the noble traits of a Christian\ncharacter which will impress itself upon the non-Christian community there\nmust be firm guidance, stern repression of evil and wise inspiration to\ngood on the part of the native pastoral force under the bracing influence\nof missionary guidance. To those who are conversant with the condition of\nthe native Church in India there is a supreme conviction that its greatest\ndanger lies in the irregularity of the life of its members and in its want\nof firm discipline and the preservation of purity rather than in the\nfewness of accessions from heathenism. Hence the importance of the work of\nshepherding Christ\u2019s feeble flock in that land. The training of suitable\nnative agents for this work is a duty of paramount importance; and the\ntraining must be continued through their life by the presence of the\nmissionary to guide, restrain and inspire.\n\n\n\n\n(_c_) The Educational Department.\n\n\nIn large, well-organized missions, the educational department is now\nperhaps the most important and all-pervasive. As a mission grows, this\ndepartment usually develops more rapidly than any other of its organized\nactivities. This work is divided into three classes:\n\n\n\nSchools for Non-Christians.\n\n\nThese are especially established with a view to reaching and affecting the\nnon-Christian community. They have developed wonderfully during the last\nhalf-century and hold an important place in the economy of missions. They\nrepresent the leaven of Christianity in India. They are pre\u00ebminently an\nevangelistic agency. They furnish excellent opportunity to present Christ\nand His Gospel of salvation to a large host of young people under very\nfavorable circumstances. These institutions are of two classes\u2014primary\nschools in villages and high schools and colleges at centres of influence\nand culture.\n\nThey have been the object of attack from men of narrow missionary sympathy\nand of limited horizon. These men claim that money expended on such\ninstitutions is a waste of mission funds. But they have failed to\nrecognize the significant fact, which I have already mentioned, that these\ninstitutions undoubtedly furnish the best opportunity for missionary\nevangelistic work. And I fearlessly maintain that more conversions take\nplace, and more accessions are made, through these schools than through\nany other agency, apart from the Christian Church itself. Not a few of the\nvillage primary schools become _nuclei_ to Christian congregations, which\nflourish and develop into Christian churches. And through the higher\ninstitutions some of the best and strongest members of the Christian\ncommunity have been won from Hinduism. All this, apart from the fact that\nthese institutions perform an unspeakably important function in the\ndissemination of light throughout the whole Hindu community and in the\nleavening of the whole mass of Hindu thought and institutions. The good\ndone by this class of institutions is beyond computation in that land.\n\n\n\nSchools for Christian Children.\n\n\nIt is the worthy ambition of every mission and missionary to train the\nchildren of the Christians so that they may rise, not only in\nintelligence, but also in social life and position. Under this class of\nschools the native Christian community is being rapidly developed and\neducated, so that it is already in advance of any other community in\ngeneral literacy.\n\nAmong these schools for Christians are industrial institutions for the\ntraining of boys and girls in manual labour. At the present time there\nseems to be a growing tendency to magnify this department of work. These\nschools are given to training in carpentry, blacksmithing, weaving,\nbrass-work, rattan-work, etc. The Germans have entered more fully into\nthis effort than any other missions in India. But they are not loud in its\npraise as a department of _mission_ work. It certainly has both merits and\ndemerits which we shall consider later.\n\nDuring the last decade a few missionaries have launched out upon a new\nenterprise in the shape of Peasant Settlements. One object of these is to\ntrain the poor and improvident members of the community, especially the\nsocially submerged classes, to habits of thrift, economy and independence.\nIt is also conducted as a philanthropy for the purpose of raising the\npeople socially and industrially through new methods and forms of\nagriculture. This movement is still in its infancy.\n\n\n\nTraining Institutions for Mission Agents.\n\n\nIt is the duty of every mission to train for itself an efficient class of\nmen and women who shall conduct all the departments of missionary work and\ngradually relieve the missionary of many of his duties. These schools are\nof many kinds corresponding with the various classes of agencies required.\n\nThis may be illustrated by the institutions now found in the Madura\nMission. Nearly every one of the twelve out-stations of that mission has a\nboarding school for Christian boys and girls. The best students who\ngraduate from these schools, especially those who are deemed worthy to\nbecome future candidates for mission service, go to Pasumalai and to\nMadura for further, and professional, training. At Pasumalai young men may\npass through the High School and even the college department. They are\nthen placed in the normal department, to qualify them as teachers, or in\nthe Theological Seminary, to prepare them as preachers and pastors. So,\nalso, girls are placed in the Madura Girls\u2019 High and Training School and\nare there qualified for one of three grades of teachership. Or they may be\nplaced in the Bible Woman\u2019s Training School where they receive a\ntwo-years\u2019 course of training for work as Bible women.\n\nThe only class of agents which is not trained by the Madura Mission is\nthat of medical assistants. I trust that the mission\u2019s desire for funds to\nestablish this work also may be gratified and that thus we may have the\nmeans of training suitable agents for every department of our missionary\nwork. No mission can be complete unless it has some means of furnishing\nitself with an efficient agency to conduct all departments of its\nactivity.\n\nThe only danger connected with the excellent educational department of\nwork is, lest it should outgrow and overshadow all other departments. This\ndanger is at present manifesting itself in some missions. It is an\nattractive form of work which allures the missionary; and, for several\nreasons, he yields to the temptation of emphasizing it out of proportion\nto its relative value and gives more time and money to it than a wise\nplace in mission economy demands. The ideal arrangement for a mission\nwould seem to be to keep well in front its evangelistic and pastoral\nendeavour, and to utilize all forms of educational work with a view to\nstrengthening and furthering these. It is true that certain missions, like\ncertain individuals, have a special genius or talent of their own; and\ntheir highest success will depend upon their following that bent. For\ninstance, the Free Church of Scotland, in South India, has shown eminent\nability and taste in the work of education. It has met with distinguished\nsuccess in that line of effort, and its college for boys and high schools\nfor girls in Madras bear testimony to its eminent success in this\ndepartment. In evangelistic work it has thus far neither shown much\ninterest nor large aptitude. The Wesleyan Methodists, on the other hand,\nare born evangelists and find their chief success as preachers of the\ngospel. Each mission should not only consider its field and its claims and\nneeds, it should also study its own corporate gift and bent and then\nstrive to develop its work mainly upon those lines which are most\ncongenial to it.\n\n\n\n\n(_d_) Literary Work.\n\n\nThe creation and circulation of a healthy Christian literature has always\nbeen recognized by our missions as a work of paramount importance. While\nnot many missionaries have devoted themselves exclusively to this work,\nyet not a little has been accomplished in it by the missions. If not much\nthat is original and brilliant has issued from the missionary pen; and if\nit stands sadly true that too few have seriously undertaken this work; it\nis nevertheless a cause of thanksgiving that Christian truth has been\nextensively expounded and defended by them, and that they have sent forth\nfrom the press a continual stream of blessing to all the people.\n\nIn India, three strong societies aid the missions by engaging directly in\nthe production and dissemination of Christian literature. These are the\nBible Society, the Tract Society and the Christian Literature Society.\nThese institutions have spent large sums of money in the translation,\nrevision and circulation of the Holy Scriptures and in the furnishing of\nfresh, readable and informing tracts and books in explanation,\nillustration and defense of Christianity. The far-reaching results of the\nwork of these societies no one can adequately estimate. The need of this\ndepartment of work is not only great, it is growing annually. Missions\nfeel this keenly and are unwilling to depend entirely upon the above\nmentioned societies. Each mission of any importance has one, or more,\nprinting establishments with which it can prepare and issue tracts and\nbooks of its own, and whereby it may present special truths and teachings\nwhich seem to it urgently needed by its people. Through these presses the\nmissions publish also 147 newspapers and magazines for the special use of\nthe Christian people and others. In this way forty-one printing\nestablishments, employing no fewer than 2,000 men, are utilized by the\nProtestant missions of India in the production of healthy literature for\nthe furtherance of the cause of Christ in that land.\n\nIn this department two special classes are kept in view. The growing\nChristian community must be provided with suitable books in the\nvernaculars. Books devotional for the mass of Christians, and text-books\nfor the students in our professional schools, and helpful books of\ninstruction for the large body of Christian agents are needed. All these\nmake an increasing demand upon the literary fertility of writers and\nauthors on the mission field.\n\nThere is also a growing demand, and an urgent need, for good books adapted\nto the non-Christian community\u2014such tracts and books as can present to\nthem, in an attractive and convincing way, the special truths and the\nsupreme excellence of our faith. The number is annually increasing, both\namong native Christians and in the non-Christian community, of those who\ncan read and whose taste for books is growing.\n\nThis method of approach to the mind of the people has peculiar advantages\nof its own. The prejudices connected with Christian instruction, as it\nproceeds directly from the lips of the teacher or preacher, does not exist\nin connection with tracts and books. These printed messengers of truth and\nsalvation quietly and effectively do their work in the silent hours of the\nnight and in the secret recesses of the woods or of the solitary chamber.\nAnd this message is the more effective because it may be read and pondered\nmore than once, until its truth grips the soul in convicting and saving\npower.\n\nThe power of the printed page, as a Christian messenger in India, is\nsecond to none at present; and its influence will multiply mightily as the\nyears increase. Missions and individual missionaries should enter more\nfully into this work; none needs increasing emphasis more than this; and\nnone has larger hopes of pre\u00ebminence in the great work of India\u2019s\nredemption. Missionary societies also should devote more men, than in the\npast, to the creation of a strong Christian literature.\n\nAnd even where missions are too weak to publish anything of their own and\nare unable to write books or tracts; there is a wide field of usefulness\nopen to them in a thoroughly systematic and energetic work of distributing\nthe existing literature produced by the great societies. In some missions\nthis work of circulating Scriptures and Christian books has been reduced\nalmost to a science and has become an exceedingly efficient help to the\ncause in those districts. Other missions have yet to learn the importance\nand blessing of this activity.\n\n\n\n\n(_e_) Medical Work.\n\n\nThis department of missionary effort has a wide sphere of usefulness.\nThough not so urgently necessary now as in former times in India, owing to\nthe ubiquitous and efficient Government Medical Department, it is\nnevertheless popular and very useful. This is specially so when the whole\nwork and its agency are brought into full subjection to the Christian, as\ndistinct from the purely humanitarian, motive. No other department is more\ncapable of being utilized as an evangelizing agency; and in many missions\nits influence is thus widely felt. Everywhere its aid to other departments\nof mission work is much appreciated through its ability to gain friends\nfor our cause among those who would otherwise be inimical; and in\npreparing the hearts of many to receive spiritual help from the Great\nPhysician. No fewer than forty hospitals, besides many dispensaries, are\nconducted by Protestant missions in India today. Many of the medical\nmissionaries give their whole time to this work; others conduct the\nmedical as only one of the departments of their missionary activity. To\neach method there are advantages and disadvantages; though, perhaps, the\nmedical missionary finds greatest usefulness when he gives himself\nentirely to his profession as physician. But, in that case, he needs\ntenfold caution lest the distinctively missionary idea of his life-work\nshould be subjected to, or lost in, the professional and the humanitarian\nspirit.\n\nMedical work for women and children finds in India today perhaps its most\nurgent call. There is more need and suffering among them than among men.\n\n\n\n\n(_f_) Work for Women.\n\n\nFrom the first, missions have not neglected woman. She has been their\ncare, and her conversion and elevation their ambition. But, in recent\ntimes, much has been added to this. Not only have separate and definite\nforms of work been opened _for_ women; organized work _by_ women in their\nbehalf has suddenly taken high rank and attained considerable popularity\namong Christian peoples. Under Women\u2019s Missionary Societies fully 1,000\nladies have come to India and are giving themselves exclusively to work\nfor their Indian sisters. All forms of effort are undertaken in their\nbehalf. Assisted by an army of thousands of native Bible women, Zenana\nworkers and mistresses, these ladies perform their noble service. Hindu\nhomes are daily and everywhere visited, and the seed of Christian life and\ntruth sown; thousands of non-Christian girls and young women are\ninstructed and initiated into the mysteries of Bible truth and Christian\nlife; and Christian womanhood is being developed, more rapidly indeed than\nChristian manhood, into a thing of strength and beauty. In the town of\nMadura alone thirty-one Bible women have access to 1,000 non-Christian\nhomes where Bible instruction is gladly received. Another staff of\ntwenty-one Christian workers instructs daily, in five schools, 500 Hindu\nand Mohammedan girls. Also a High and Training school for Christian girls,\nwith 256 pupils; and a Bible woman\u2019s training school, with seventeen\nstudents, complete this organized work for women in that town. From it, as\na centre, seventeen other women visit and work in seventy-two different\nvillages and instruct 1,005 pupils. No work at present is more important\nor finds more encouragement than this organized activity for women.\n\n           [Illustration: A Junior Christian Endeavor Society.]\n\n               [Illustration: A Village Christian School.]\n\n\n\n\n(_g_) Work for the Young.\n\n\nOurs is pre\u00ebminently the age of youth\u2014the time when the importance of work\nfor the young is fully appreciated, and when manifold activities are put\nforth by the Christian Church in their behalf. During recent years such\nactivity has been extensively introduced into mission fields. In India at\npresent, Y. M. C. A., Y. W. C. A., Y. P. S. C. E., Epworth League,\nSunday-school Union and a host of other less-known organizations for the\nyoung have established themselves and are working with much enthusiasm. In\nformer years little was done for the young of the infant Christian\ncommunities. The old Oriental idea that young people are of no account,\nand that effort in their behalf is hardly worth while, obtained in India\nuntil recent years. The consequence was that the children of Christian\ncongregations were neglected and allowed to absent themselves from\nChristian services and to grow up in ignorance and heathenish darkness. As\na result of this many of these boys and girls, when they grew up into\nmanhood and womanhood, reverted to heathenism; and many flourishing\nChristian congregations of the last generation became defunct. It is now\nunderstood, with increasing distinctness, that the permanent success and\ngrowth of a Christian congregation, as of the whole Christian community,\ndepends more upon the effort which is exercised in behalf of the young\nthan upon any amount of labour lavished upon those of maturer years.\nHence, more activity, of an organized type, is being wisely put forth in\nbehalf of the children and of young people. The more plastic, responsive,\ntenacious mind of the young takes in more readily, appreciates more keenly\nand clings with more persistence to religious instruction and inspiration\nimparted to it than does that of the older members of the community. The\nChristian worker thus finds earlier and greater fruit to his labour among\nthe young than among the old. Any enthusiasm imparted by him to the young\npeople is also, sooner or later, apt to be carried by them to the older\nmembers of the congregation or church. The hope of the Church in India\nlies in the young people; and that missionary, or native agent, who can\nbest organize the young into useful forms of outgoing Christian activity,\nwill do most for the Church of the present and future. And, while so\nexcellent an agency as the Christian Endeavor Society is available for use\nin this line of work, the missionary need not be discouraged, but may feel\nconfident that he has within his power an organization rich in promise of\nblessing to his whole community.\n\n\n\n\n(_h_) Organizations for the Special Activities of the Native Christian\nCommunity.\n\n\nEvery mission should encourage all forms of wise and necessary\norganization for the furtherance of the highest life of the community\nitself. And this chiefly with a view to developing self-dependence in the\ncommunity. These organizations will be naturally divided into two classes.\n\n_Those Which Promote Self-Government._\n\nThe Christian Church in the mission field should be organized\necclesiastically and administratively in such a way that it may\nultimately, and as speedily as may seem wise, become entirely\nself-governing. Every mission should aim to so teach the people that they\nmay control and conduct successfully their own affairs. It should\nestablish a Church which sends its roots deep into the soil of the land\nand which will become, in the highest sense, indigenous. One of the\nnecessary evils of missionary life is the early Western control and\nguidance of everything. I should like to see the day, when the native\nChurch can establish that polity which is most congenial to its taste and\nrun its affairs independently and on Oriental lines, in such a way as to\nwin more effectively the people of India to Christ. The question is\nsometimes asked,\u2014\u201cMust our Congregational missions bind, to our\nCongregational form of ecclesiastical government, the people whom they\nbring over from heathenism? Must our church polity, in the mission field,\nbe Congregational, or Presbyterian, etc., regardless of its adaptation, or\nwant of adaptation, to the people?\u201d The affirmative answer has usually\nbeen given by all societies (and wrongly I think) to this inquiry; and\nthus every denomination transplants into heathen lands, with renewed\nemphasis, not only its own peculiar shibboleths of doctrine; it also\nexalts to a heavenly command the government and ritual which it\nrepresents.\n\nMissions in India are conscientiously endeavouring, with varying degrees\nof wisdom and success, to lead forward their people in the line of\nself-government. But both love of power and a conviction of the inability\nof the infant Church to wisely control its affairs, combine to render this\ntransfer of power from the mission to the native Church a very slow\nmatter\u2014more slow than seems wise to many besides the leaders of the native\nChurch themselves. It is a significant fact, in India today, that the\nMethodist missions, by their compact organization, are able to, or at any\nrate do, confer more ecclesiastical and administrative power upon the\nnative Church than any other mission; while Congregational missions\u2014the\nleast organized\u2014are the most backward in this matter. A study for the\ncauses of this would be instructive.\n\n_Those Organisations Which Promote Self-Extension._\n\nOne of the first things that a mission should do, after gathering the\nChristian community, is to organize, in the community, such activities as\nare outreaching and self-extending. In the Madura Mission there has been\nfor many years a Home Missionary Society whose aim is to help support weak\nchurches and also maintain a force of evangelists to preach to\nnon-Christians. It is the society of the native Christians\u2014supported and\nlargely directed by them. It has created, maintained and increased the\ninterest of the people in furthering the cause of Christ.\n\nMany such societies exist in India today and they render valuable service\nin keeping before the mind of the people the deepest characteristics of\nour faith and the highest privilege of a Christian community\u2014that of\noutgoing love, and self-extending enthusiasm.\n\n_Those Organisations Which Further Self-Support._\n\nHow extensively should the idea of self-support be at present urged upon\nthe native Christian community? This is a question which we will discuss\nlater on. There is no question however but that every mission should so\norganize its benevolences that the infant Church may, at as early a date\nas possible, cease to seek support from a foreign land; and that it\ncultivate at the same time a spirit of self-denial and of self-reliance.\nThe poverty of the people is, and will long remain, a serious barrier to\nthis consummation. But the evil of poverty may be counterbalanced by a\ncareful system whereby the benevolent feelings, generous impulses and the\nsense of obligation of the people are conserved, strengthened and made\nfully effective. This matter should not be left to haphazard or to\nspasmodic appeal. Every Christian, even the poorest, should be so directed\nand inspired in his benevolence that he may effectively contribute to the\nworthy object of self-support.\n\nThese three _desiderata_ of the native Christian Church\u2014self-support,\nself-propagation and self-government\u2014are to be desired above all other\nblessings by the missions and should be sought with a persistence and a\nwell-organized intelligence, which will mean advance and ultimate success.\nWhen these three have been attained, missions, with all their expensive\nmachinery, may gladly disband and feel that their end has been\naccomplished and that they are no longer needed.\n\n\n\n\n\n                               Chapter IX.\n\n\nPRESENT DAY MISSIONARY PROBLEMS.\n\n\nEvery age has its own problems to solve; and so has every department of\nlife. The problems which belong to missionary life, method and work are\nmany. The permanence and future success of the missionary effort of the\nChurch of God depends upon the wise solution of these problems. Nowhere is\nthis more manifest than in India. In that land Christian effort for the\nconversion of the people has been made for many centuries by numerous\nnationalities and Christian communities with varying success or want of\nsuccess. Unwillingness or an inability to thoroughly confront and master\nthe deep problems of the field, the work and the people, with a view to\nadapting Christianity to them has largely been the cause of the slow\nprogress of our faith in that land. Successive efforts by the Greek, the\nSyrian, the Romish and the Protestant Churches have not been prolific in\nmarked and permanent results, simply because they have not adequately\nstudied the novel and strange conditions of the land and the best methods\nof presenting Christ and His truth.\n\nWe need in India, today, highest wisdom in order to establish worthy\nmissions, and to conduct them in the right and best way so as to attain\nresults commensurate with the resources of the kingdom and of the great\nKing whose we are and whom we preach.\n\nThe missionary problems of today are many.\n\n1. The initial and preliminary question as to the right of the Christian\nChurch to send forth its missionaries, and to establish its missions in\nheathen lands.\n\nThis question is now raised by many. They ask it because they believe in\nthe integrity of the doctrine of evolution. \u201cWhy do you not,\u201d they say,\n\u201cleave those non-Christian peoples to work out their own salvation through\na natural evolution of their own faiths? Let those old crude religions\npass into something higher through the natural process of evolution rather\nthan resort to the cataclysmic method of over-throwing the old and\nintroducing a faith that is entirely foreign. Why not let the process of\ngrowth work out its own results even though it takes a long time for it?\u201d\n\nThis objection to our work is modern and thoroughgoing. Of course it is\nequally pronounced against supernaturalism in all its forms and\nramifications. It would be futile to reply to this by appealing to the\ncommand of our Lord to go and disciple all nations. It is enough to remind\nthis objector that the doctrine of evolution admits that the highest\naltruism is a part of the evolution process. And if that is so, then the\nhighest Christian altruism must find its noblest exercise in the work of\nbringing, by Christians to non-Christians, those ideas and that life which\nthey deem the best and of which those outside of Christ stand in urgent\nneed. The highest evolution of our race has been, and ever must be,\nthrough that Christian altruism which will not rest until the noblest\ntruth and the fullest life are brought to all the benighted souls of our\nrace. Is not this the last message of evolution to us at this present? And\nis it not identical with the last commission of our Lord to His\nfollowers\u2014to go and disciple the nations? And while it is the function of\nChristianity to maintain the evolution principle of the survival of the\nfittest, it does this by indirection\u2014by seizing upon the most unfit and\nunworthy and making them fit to stand before God and worthy to enjoy the\nlife eternal in all its glory.\n\nMoving a step forward we come to,\u2014\n\nAnother problem kindred to the one mentioned\u2014one which concerns the aims\nand the results which should animate missionary endeavour.\n\n2. What shall a man or a mission entertain as a motive or as an aim to be\nattained and as results worthy of achievement in missionary work?\n\nThis question also is based upon and will cover very largely the character\nof the work accomplished.\n\nThere are two distinct and separate motives and aims impelling Christians,\nat the present time, to missionary effort. They are, in the main, an\nemphasis given, respectively, to each of Christ\u2019s two final commands to\nhis disciples upon earth.\n\nIn the first instance his last commission to his followers to go and make\ndisciples of the nations is taken as the watch-word; and this has always\nmeant thorough, patient, all-inclusive effort for the redemption and\nelevation of all the races of the earth.\n\nThe other class has taken as its watch-word our Lord\u2019s last utterance upon\nearth\u2014\u201cYe shall be My witnesses.\u201d \u201cWitness-bearing\u201d has become to them the\nexpression of the Church\u2019s great duty to the world.\n\nThere is a great difference between these two classes of aims and motives,\nand they are associated with two classes of theological thinking.\nAccording to the former theory the Kingdom of our Lord, under the\ndispensation of the Holy Spirit, is to spread in regenerating power and\ntriumphant efficacy until all the nations of the earth shall come under\nits sway. This is a great and arduous undertaking. The planting of this\nKingdom in heathen lands and the discipling of those people until the\nChurch of God shall have become a living and a self-propagating church in\nall the regions of the earth is a work of ages, worthy of the combined\neffort of heaven and earth. And this consummation will surely take place.\nGod has promised it; Christ\u2019s work involves it; the Holy Spirit came into\nthe world for its realization. They who entertain this belief are\nChristian optimists. No reverses can daunt them; no opposition can\ndiscourage them. They lay broad and deep the foundations of their work and\nlabour patiently but hopefully for the great and final consummation.\n\nThose, on the other hand, who are pessimistic as to the triumph of the\nKingdom of Christ under the dispensation of the Spirit, maintain, with\nexclusive emphasis, the Christian duty of witness-bearing. They claim, in\nDr. Pierson\u2019s words, that our mission to the heathen world should be one\nof diffusion and not of concentration; that we should bear witness\nconcerning Christ to the people who know Him not and then pass on to\nothers, rather than remain to expand, to convert, to train and to\nestablish living churches. They maintain that our duty is pre\u00ebminently to\nbear witness to Christ, that we have no responsibility for the conversion\nof the people and for the building up of strong churches.\n\nThis claim that it is the duty of the Church to herald the good news of\nredemption to all men as speedily as possible apart from the expectation\nthat they will accept it: does not commend itself to me either upon\nScriptural grounds or upon grounds of reason.\n\nThe idea of preaching the gospel to the heathen \u201cfor a witness,\u201d in the\nordinary acceptance of that term, does not constitute a worthy Christian\nmotive. Dr. W. N. Clark well analyzes this thought in the following words,\n(page 53, in \u201cStudy of Christian Missions\u201d),\u2014\u201cAt the outset, there is one\nmotive, often, though not necessarily, associated with the theory of\nheralding, that must be rejected as no Christian motive. It is often held\nthat in this rapid work the gospel is not to be preached mainly in order\nthat it may be believed unto salvation, but rather \u2018for a witness,\u2019\u2014which\nis taken to mean \u2018for a witness against,\u2019 the hearers when they meet the\njudgment of God. The hearing of the gospel marks a turning-point, both in\nexperience and destiny. When once men have heard the gospel, they will be\nsaved if they believe, and justly condemned if they do not. Only a few\nwill be saved by the missionary preaching; the elect will be gathered out\nof the mass, and the many will remain indifferent. But the blame of their\nruin will be upon themselves, not upon God or the Christian people; and it\nis to insure this result that the gospel is preached to them for a\nwitness. But this is no _Christian truth_. Such teaching cannot truly\nrepresent the motive of God the Saviour. We must maintain that God acts in\ngood faith in the offers of His grace, or Christianity becomes a delusion.\nWe must preserve our own good faith also in conveying the offer of grace,\nor our hearers will rise in the judgment to condemn us. No allowance\nshould be made for any such unchristian motive in our plans for Christian\nmissions, and we must hold no theory of missions that implies it.\u201d\n\nMoreover the view is thoroughly pessimistic, so far as this dispensation\nis concerned, and fails to realize the power and the glory of Christian\ntruth and of the kingdom of Christ as inspired by the Holy Spirit. A\ntheory of missions which is pessimistic at the core can hardly be a safe\nor an inspiring one.\n\nIt should be remembered also that missions are not an end in themselves.\nThey should aim at making themselves unnecessary by the establishing of\nvigorous churches which shall become self-extending and indigenous in all\nthe lands of the earth. The hope of missions, and the hope of the world\nthrough missions, lies not, ultimately, in the missions, but in the\nchurches which they establish. Therefore they should be well established\nand patiently developed. The Church of God must take up its missionary\nwork with a full appreciation of its supreme greatness and difficulty. Let\nit not be supposed that it is called simply to \u201cbear witness.\u201d This\nheralding of the gospel of Christ, is only a part, and indeed a small\npart, of the great duty of the Church to the world. It is also\nspecifically, and with greater urgency, called upon to _disciple_ the\nnations\u2014to bring them into full possession of saving truth and into joyful\nacceptance of, and life in, Christ.\n\nLet us not delude ourselves with the idea that this work is easy, that we\ncan pass over it lightly or that we have no responsibility for the\nconversion of the world. As I have preached for the first time to a\nheathen village I have felt that my obligation to its inhabitants for\ntheir salvation was thereby increased rather than fulfilled. There is no\ndoubt that Christian missionaries realize today as never before the\ngreatness of the task set before God\u2019s people to _disciple_ the nations.\nThe obstacles to it and the conflict which it involves seem greater than\never. The romance of missions has largely given way to sober work and the\nrush of battle has been succeeded by a great siege. This is pre\u00ebminently\nthe condition in India today. Let us not forget this in our missionary\nenterprise lest we lose courage by the way. But let us also remember that\nit is _God\u2019s_ work. He is pledged to bring it to its ultimate triumph, and\nHe will do it. He will fulfill His promise and give to His Son the heathen\nfor His inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for His\npossession.\n\n_This_ theory of missionary work is the only one that has produced, and\ncan maintain, all the present organized activity of the missionary Church.\nThe aim of the manifold activities and various departments of missionary\neffort, as witnessed in India today, can be nothing less than the ultimate\nconquest of that land for Christ through the establishment of a living, an\never-growing and self-extending Indian Church there.\n\nLet us now consider some of the problems which specially exist in India.\n\n3. THE CASTE PROBLEM.\n\nThe caste problem has been, and continues to be, the most troublesome and\nobtrusive among all the questions which confront missions in that land. It\nis a more serious problem\u2014more pervasive and intense\u2014in Southern than in\nNorthern India.\n\nThis is radically different from social problems in all other lands, in\nthat it traces its source to, and gathers its authority from, religion. It\nenforces all that it sanctions by the most compact and relentless\nreligious system the world has known. It maintains that men have been\ncreated into a great number of castes or classes from none of which can\nthey, by any possibility, pass into another. In whatever social stratum a\nman is born there must he live and die. It is impious for him to attempt\nto evade or to violate this heavenly classification. His interests and all\nhis rights are confined to that one caste of his birth. It is sin for him\nto marry out of it or, in any way, to transgress his natal compact with\nit. Neither added wealth, growing culture, a new ambition, nor anything\nelse can enable him to change his caste. All the forces of religion are\ndirected, like a mighty engine of tyranny, to bind him to it.\n\nThis sentiment of caste, after millenniums of teaching, of rigid\nobservance and custom, has become even more than second nature to the\nHindu,\u2014it has grown into a sweet necessity of his life, from whose claims\nand demands he neither expects nor desires relief. To the ordinary Hindu a\nchange of caste would be as unexpected, yea as impossible, as his sudden\nchange into the lower brute, or into the higher angelic, kingdom.\n\nWhen Christianity was first established in India the problem of the\nadoption or the rejection of caste by the Christian church had to be\nfaced. It was rejected by the earliest Christian community in India; for\nwe find no traces of it in the Syrian church on the coast of Malabar\ntoday. Even caste titles, that dearest remnant of that system to all other\nnative Christians in India, have entirely disappeared from that community.\nIt is a great pity that the history of that victory over caste has not\nbeen preserved as a lesson and a heritage to later Christians.\n\nThe Romish Church, which next invaded India, unfortunately despised the\nSyrian community, sought no instruction from its history, made a friend of\nthe caste system and adopted it in all its hideousness. It did not wait to\nconsider the terrible fact, so patent to all at present, that Hinduism and\ncaste are convertible terms\u2014that one cannot cease to be a Hindu who\nmaintains the caste system in its integrity. Its intention was, no doubt,\ngood in its way. It was an effort to make an easy way out of Hinduism into\nChristianity and thus to swell the tide of incoming converts. But,\nunfortunately, the path was made _too_ easy; the narrow gate was\nsufficiently enlarged for the Hindu to enter with his burden of heathen\nprejudices and superstitions, and it soon became the highway of\ninsincerity and hypocrisy. Moreover, the Romish Church has found, to its\ncost, that an easy way from Hinduism to Christianity is an equally easy\npath to return. A man who carried much of his Hinduism with him into the\nChristian Church was easily drawn back by the remaining old ties and\naffections. The consequence is that, while Romanism has made large inroads\nupon Hinduism in some places, it has only been for a time; and the\nback-sliders have been as numerous as the new converts; so that Roman\nCatholicism has made little net progress in India for many years.\n\nThis alliance which Christianity made, four centuries ago, with caste was,\nthus, a fatal one. It gave also a clue to the earliest Protestant\nmissionaries\u2014a clue which they, in a weak moment, decided to follow. For,\nthe first Danish missionaries also made a sad compromise with this monster\nevil. I presume that this may be regarded as a continental failing of that\nday, when in Europe class differences were great and almost\ninsurmountable. Human rights and individual liberty were not held so\nsacred, or so scrupulously defended, in Europe in those days as they are\nin Anglo-Saxon countries today. Otherwise any alliance by the Church with\nthe caste system would have been an impossibility in India. Even today\nsome Protestant missionaries from the European continent are found in\nIndia who defend the adoption of the caste system by the Christian Church.\nHow different would have been the attitude of the Protestant Church\ntowards this heathenish institution had men of the Anglo-Saxon type of\ntoday rather than Continentals of two centuries ago started its work in\nSouth India! In any case, the attitude of compromise assumed towards the\ncaste system in those early days has led to interminable evil and to\nconstant trouble in the Christian Church in that land.\n\nAfter caste had first found admission as a friend and then was discovered\nto be an uncompromising enemy to Christian life and principles, much\neffort was made to expel it. Nearly all Protestant missions now denounce\nit, root and branch, and preach against it, and in various ways try to\ncheck and to cast it out. But with no great success thus far. The false\nstep taken at the beginning has cost the Church terribly. Today in South\nIndia more than nine-tenths of all Protestant native Christians, while\nthey seek an alliance only among Christians, nevertheless marry not on\nlines of Christian affinity so much as on Hindu caste lines. It is not\noften that we find a man among common Christians who has courage and sense\nenough to seek a match for son or daughter outside of the limits of that\ncaste to which he and his people belonged in Hinduism. This custom is\nfound not only extremely inconvenient and troublesome to them; worst of\nall, it perpetuates, in the Christian fold, the old heathen lines of\ncleavage. And thus life in the Christian community is still running\nsomewhat in the old channels of Hinduism and largely preserves those\nsocial distinctions of the past which should have been buried with them at\nbaptism and forever abandoned.\n\nUnder these circumstances what should missions do? What should be their\nattitude towards caste spirit and customs? Through former misapprehension\nand neglect the evil is in the Christian Church and exercises a potent\ninfluence. How shall it be overcome or expelled? Some believe in the\n_laissez faire_ method. They maintain that, if left to itself for a time,\nit will die out, or the general spirit of Christianity will naturally\ndrive it out. The spirit of caste is not exorcised in that way. So long as\nit is perpetuated by marriage affinity, the source of the whole evil, and\nby habits of eating together on caste lines, it will not diminish very\nmuch or cease to torment the Church. A century of such waiting, in some\nmissions that I have known, finds the evil not much diminished. It is only\nin those missions where it is attacked and constantly denounced and its\nterrible evils exposed, that progress is evident.\n\nThat which can do speedy and sure work, in the destruction of this evil in\nChristian missions is inter-caste marriage. And through this I am glad to\nsee that increasing good is wrought. Missions should in every way\nencourage and put a premium upon marriages among their members from\ndifferent castes. They should teach frequently and emphatically that\nmembership in different castes does not constitute a prohibited marriage\nrelationship; but rather does it furnish the best ground for marriage. In\nthis way, and in this way only, will this wretched caste feeling speedily\ndie a natural death and Christians come to marry, eat, sympathize, love\nand live on Christian, rather than on Hindu, lines. A mission which does\nnot improve every opportunity to show its hatred of the caste system and\nto antagonize it positively and persistently can find no peace; nor will\nit find any permanent prosperity. Missions are feeling this increasingly\nand are acting accordingly.\n\n4. SELF-SUPPORT OF MISSIONS.\n\nEvery mission seeks, as its ever-present ambition, to attain unto\nindependence from all outside financial aid and a thorough self-support of\nits own institutions. We await the day, and believe in its no distant\ncoming, when a large number of mission churches will entirely support\ntheir own institutions. Indeed there are now many churches, on mission\nground, that have grown into self-dependence and that maintain, at their\nown expense, all those normal forms of work that are connected with\nChristian activity.\n\nThe question is frequently asked,\u2014how far shall missions place before\nthem, as the supreme and immediate aim, the self-support of their separate\nchurches? Among missions and missionaries there are two tendencies in this\nmatter. One class, represented by the Church Missionary Society Mission in\nTinnevelly, place all moneys received from their mission churches into one\nfund, and from this fund they pay the salaries of the pastors and\ncatechists, so far as possible. Bishop Sargent told me that he did not\nthink any church should be allowed to directly support its own pastor lest\nthey consider that thereby they had a right to exercise authority over\nhim! That mission, therefore, and for other reasons also, has relegated\nthe direct question of the self-support of each church into the limbo of\nthe undesirable. In the American Madura Mission, on the other hand, the\nresponsibility is urged upon every individual church to support its own\nspiritual instructor; and all rules and methods are directed towards\nemphasizing and enforcing this. Self-support thus becomes, in that\nmission, its ever-present cry and the growing ambition of its every church\nand congregation. And the progress of the Church and of the mission is\nlargely measured by this standard.\n\nThe self-support of a mission, as such, is a question which is not looked\nupon with the same urgency, or with the same idea of importance by all\nmissions, or by all missionaries. One party, for instance, would make\nself-support the supreme end; everything else must be subordinated to it.\nNothing should be undertaken, they say, which is not within the means and\nthe desire of the people to support. For instance, they maintain that the\nsalary of all mission agents and the support of mission institutions must\nbe pecuniarily within the means of the Orient and within the limits of its\nambitions. I ought to say that no mission, to my knowledge, carries out\nthis principle in its integrity, although there are some missionaries who\nurge it and proclaim it at all times.\n\nThe other party believes that the principal duty and highest privilege of\na mission, as such, is not immediately to seek self-support or to pare\neverything down to the capacity of the people to give; but to push forward\nthe work energetically; with economy indeed, but regardless of expense,\nknowing that vigour and enterprise and a strenuous Western energy today\nwill be both amply rewarded in results and will also set a pace for the\nnative Church in coming years. They therefore seek the best trained agents\nregardless of the immediate ability of the people to pay their salary. And\nthey establish schools and hospitals and various other institutions which\nare altogether beyond the present ability of the Indian Church either to\nfound or to maintain.\n\nWe must not forget that self-support, _entire_ self-support, is possible\nin any mission from the very first day of its organization, if the mission\nonly makes this paramount and has the boldness of its convictions to shape\nits work according to the offerings of the people. And there are some\nadvantages to that method. Many of the best missionaries have often felt\nthat they would like to try that system in India. Bishop Thoburn, while\nmaintaining that it would be impossible to radically change the method of\nan old mission, expressed the conviction that it might be well to\nestablish in India a new mission on the basis of complete self-support\nfrom the beginning. This, doubtless, was the Pauline method; and it\noperated well under the then existing circumstances in those lands. And\nhad our missions in the East been established and conducted by the Orient\ninstead of the Occident they would have had adequate patience to pursue\nthe method of self-support _ab initio_. But as we are of the West,\nWestern, our missions must partake of the characteristics of our nature;\nand be imbued with that energy, push, impatience for results which\ndistinguish us in everything. I am sure that neither the churches at home\nnor their missionaries abroad are prepared to limit their efforts by the\npoverty, slowness and apathy of the East, and thus perhaps delay for\nyears, or generations, the results which, through the expenditure of more\nmoney, they possibly might reap today. The method which missions have\nadopted is the western method, characteristic of our haste and strenuous\nspirit, and partaking of the evils incident to that spirit and method. It\nis, on the whole, perhaps the best method that can be used and fully\nrealized by us.\n\n5. MISSION EDUCATIONAL WORK.\n\nIn connection with the increasingly important department of mission\neducational work in India not a few perplexing questions arise. We have\nseen that this department has conquered for itself general recognition as\na legitimate part of missionary effort.\n\nBut there is a serious conflict ahead, in the not distant future. And this\nis in part owing to the attitude of the Government Educational Department\nand of the local governing bodies towards mission institutions. There is\nno concealing the fact that most of the English officials of the\nEducational Department in India deem mission schools the most serious\nrivals to, and regard missionary educators as quasi enemies of, their\ndepartmental schools. These men have recently assumed, and are\nincreasingly assuming, an attitude of jealousy, if not of hostility, to\nmission institutions, chiefly because of their strength and excellence as\nrival schools, and partly because of the Bible training which is imparted\nto all the students of these schools\u2014a training with which those officials\nhave no sympathy and which they are wont to regard as an educational\nimpertinence.\n\nMissions must expect that the jealousy and the antagonism of that\ndepartment will increase. It is true that the great State Educational\nDespatch of 1854 and later enunciated government policy, declare that it\nis not the purpose of the government to establish schools of its own,\nexcept where private bodies fail to do so; and that it is its purpose to\nencourage, so far as possible, private institutions. But the general\ndeclaration of the Imperial and Provincial governments is one thing and\nthe purpose and ambition of its Educational Department a very different\nthing. Departmentalists find it to their interest to strengthen and\nincrease government schools at all points; and as the funds appropriated\nfor educational purposes are inadequate for all schools they seek the\nlion\u2019s share for their own, and grudgingly give an ever decreasing quota\nto mission institutions. It will be an ill day for missions when the\nEducational Department and its schools will become sufficiently strong to\naffect the policy of the general government as against private, and in\nfavour of government schools.\n\nAnother fact, of equal significance, is the attitude of District Boards\nand Municipal Commissioners towards the schools of Mission Bodies. Nearly\nall the members of Local Boards are native gentlemen. They see the large\ninfluence of mission schools, scattered as they are through their\ndistricts and towns, and they regard them as Christian propaganda and as\nevangelizing agencies; and it is but natural that, under the impulse of\ntheir new nationalism and of their interest in a Neo-Hinduism, they should\nbe jealous of mission schools which are the rivals of their own indigenous\nand growing institutions. And as they have the power of the purse and make\nand withhold grants to different schools at their pleasure; and as all the\nsubordinate officers of the Educational Department are natives and are not\nin full sympathy with mission schools; it can be easily seen how our\nschools are doomed to suffer through an ever decreasing government aid\ntowards their support.\n\nThus, there are two problems, in this connection, which will confront us.\nOne is the question whether it be worth while for missions to conduct\ntheir schools entirely at their own expense, _i.e._\u2014without any government\naid. This problem must be faced ere long; and it means either the\ncurtailing of this department of work or the expending of a very much\nincreased sum of money upon it.\n\nThe question may also be urged upon us, more speedily than we anticipate\n(indeed it has been raised already), whether any schools aided by\ngovernment shall be allowed to be used as religious propaganda. In other\nwords, whether mission schools shall enjoy the privilege of teaching the\nBible to all non-Christian students in attendance, even against their\nwill. This question is exercising the mind of not a few natives and others\ntoday; and it is claimed that the present practice is contrary to the\nRoyal Proclamation of Religious Neutrality in the land. There is some\nreason for this contention; and, under increasing religious rivalry and\njealousy, it may, at an early date, lead to a crisis in mission schools.\nAnd the problem may confront us as to whether we are prepared to continue\nall our schools for non-Christians under conditions which make it\nimpossible for us to give Bible, or even any religious, training in them.\n\nAnother serious problem, in this same connection, is whether missions\nshould conduct, to any extent, educational work apart from other indirect\naims and purposes. In other words, how far, if at all, should a mission\ngive itself to the work of education, _per se_, and not as a Christian\ntraining or as an evangelizing agency.\n\nMany at present maintain that education\u2014_general_ education\u2014is in itself a\ngood and a blessing which it is the business of a mission to impart,\nindependent of any direct religious instruction or spiritual training\nwhich might be given through it. They maintain that mission funds should\nthus be used for the intellectual advancement of the people apart from\ntheir Christianization. The majority, however, would claim that a\nmission\u2019s educational work should be conducted only so far as it can be\nthe medium of communicating religious truth, or only in so far as it can\nbe made a direct auxiliary to the Christianizing of the land. This class\nwould claim that no work should be undertaken by a mission which does not\ncontribute to the Christianizing of the people as a result distinct from\ntheir progress in civilization. And it is here that these two classes of\nmissionaries take issue with each other. It is an important difference in\nthe conception of the Church\u2019s work in heathen lands. As I shall consider\nthis later I only call attention to it here.\n\nAnother matter, of no little consequence in this connection, is that of\nthe amount of educational privilege which a mission should furnish to its\npeople. President Stanley Hall has recently maintained that, even in this\ncountry, many are educated who should not be. They should, he says, be\nleft to the hoe and shovel. He claims that not a few are, through\neducation, spoiled for usefulness in the lowest sphere of manual labour\nfor which they were by nature designed; while they are also disqualified\nfor the highest sphere of service and life. If this be true in America it\nis doubly true in India. Many young men and women in that land have had\nlavished upon them the blessings of education to an extent that was\nunprofitable both to them and to the cause. They have received an\neducation and training which not only carried them away far outside the\nsocial realm for which they were intended by nature; it also left them\nincapable of doing the higher thing for which they were intended by the\nmission.\n\nThere is adequate excuse for this in the early stages of mission progress.\nThe greatest need of a mission is a good, strong, native agency. And in\nits desire to furnish this agency the mission, as well as the individual\nmissionary, eagerly seizes upon every boy and girl who shows any signs of\npromise as an applicant to be trained for missionary service. This same\nambition to develop, in intellectual power and in civilizing progress, the\nyoung of an infant Christian community so that they may adorn our faith\nand give an honourable status to the community leads many a mission to\nexpend upon the education of its boys and girls more than it will in its\nlater and more mature stage of growth.\n\n6. THE INDUSTRIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEM.\n\nDuring the last two decades there has been a marked and strong tendency in\nIndian missions, as in the home churches which support them, to still\nbroaden the scope of missionary effort by adding to its directly\nspiritual, and to its educational and medical, work, schemes for the\nindustrial, economic and social advancement of the people. This broadening\nof the conception of the work of the Church in missionary lands is a most\ninteresting study. Less than a century ago nothing that was not directly\nand intensely spiritual in its character was regarded as, in any sense, a\npart of missionary effort. To preach the Gospel to the heathen, to\nestablish and to train Christian churches and to develop and direct a\nsuitable native agency\u2014this embraced the whole work of the mission.\nAnything beyond this was considered illegitimate. Subsequently the medical\ndepartment was introduced,\u2014chiefly because of the example of Christ\nHimself as the Great Healer. Soon the educational work was begun, as a\nnecessity in its elementary stages, and it gradually grew until it has\nreached its present manifold character and large proportions. Then a few\nmissions began to touch the industrial problem and to establish schools\nfor the training of boys and girls in manual labour. Today that work is\nfinding much increased emphasis, and missions are beginning to take up, in\nall seriousness, Peasant Settlements as a means of lifting the people\neconomically, and of training them to habits of industry, and to found\nvillages as separate Christian communities. Schools for the blind and for\ndeaf mutes also have been established. In fact all forms of philanthropic\neffort have now practically been adopted by the missions of India as\nlegitimate forms of their activities. Indeed, it is extensively\nproclaimed, what has long been strenuously denied, that missions are not\nfounded simply to Christianize but to civilize and to elevate in all\nmatters pertaining to soul, mind and body, the people among whom they are\nestablished.\n\nThis is a broad question and an issue of fundamental importance. It\nbelongs to the very concept of missions and is largely a question of aim\nand purpose. The trend of the times is doubtless in favour of the broader,\nhumanitarian, philanthropic, civilizing purpose of missions as against the\ndeeper and more exclusive, spiritual and Christianizing end.\n\nIt seems to me to be a question whether missions are ready for this\nchange.\n\nIt is also a very serious problem whether, in the mission field, this\nmodern tendency to extend and broaden out is of the spirit of Christ and\nis a passion to do good unto men in every department and sphere of their\nlife; or whether it is a degeneracy\u2014a drifting away from the lofty and\nexclusive purpose of soul-winning and soul-saving down towards the lower\nplane of earthly blessing and general philanthropy. There is certainly a\nsense in which this widening of missionary endeavour is a part of the\nbroadening of the Christian life of today and is in harmony with the\nmultiplication of the agencies of the Church at home for the general\nbetterment of the people and for preparing them for the highest blessings\nof our faith; and as such it is both commendable and encouraging.\n\nOn the other hand I know of no temptation that is pregnant with greater\nevil to missions, at the present time, than that connected with this\nmultiplication of what may be called the lower activities of missions. The\nspiritual work of a mission must ever remain its principal work if it is\nto succeed in the highest sense. It is also the most difficult work. It\nbears with it, often, serious discouragement to the worker. And in times\nof discouragement it is a very easy thing for a missionary, and for a\nmission, to relax effort at this point and, as a compensation, to seek\nlarger results on the lower planes of social and industrial activities and\nhumanitarian and philanthropic effort. These lower forms of activity are\nexceedingly absorbing and distracting; and when a mission enters\nextensively into them it usually means, and, I would almost say,\n_necessarily_ means, a withdrawal of time and energy and of interest from\nits highest spiritual work. A man or a mission has only a certain amount\nof strength and money to devote to his work; and if this is increasingly\nand extensively expended upon the lower forms of philanthropic effort, the\nhigher, spiritual purposes and endeavors must suffer.\n\nThe Basle Lutheran Mission of South India has done more industrial work\nthan any other mission of that land. But the industrial department grew so\nrapidly and became so absorbing that it was found necessary to make a\nseparate \u201cmission\u201d of it. It has flourished as a commercial enterprise and\nis self-supporting. But the leader of that mission informs me that its\nblessings are questionable, in that it tends to demoralize the people and\nrenders little or no aid to their spiritual work.\n\nWhile I believe that a certain amount of endeavour, by a mission, for the\ntemporal good and social betterment of its people is legitimate and\ndesirable, extreme care should be taken, in the present early stage of\nprogress, lest this form of activity become prominent or dominant; and,\nabove all, lest it, in any way, interfere with the conviction concerning\nthe supreme importance and prime urgency of the spiritual training and\ngrowth of the people. This class of work can very easily, by changing the\npeople\u2019s ideas of a mission\u2019s aim and purpose, demoralize them. It can\nalso, with equally fatal facility, transfer the interest of the missionary\nfrom the higher to the lower realm of work, and thus become a curse,\nrather than a blessing, to him. If the work of missions is to be broadened\nthe greatest care must be exercised lest this breadth be secured at the\nexpense of depth of spiritual purpose and power, and height of spiritual\nlife and experience. I must confess that this new movement, in the present\nstage of the progress of missions, brings to me as much fear as it does\nhope. For, while I see reason for taking up such work, I know also the\ndemoralizing influences that so naturally and easily follow it. A mission\nthat allows itself to be secularized, by giving too much emphasis to these\nsocial and civilizing agencies, becomes inevitably paralyzed as a\nspiritual force in its field; and woe be to any mission that gains\nanything at the expense of its spiritual paralysis.\n\n7. MISSION ADMINISTRATION.\n\nThe question of administration is an exceedingly important one to every\nmission. How wisely are our missions organized for large economy of money\nand effort and for highest efficiency? Could not missions unite, for\nmutual counsel and wisdom, as many officers of our societies at home now\ndo; could not missions learn more from one another in this most important\nrespect? The annual expenditure of more than one million dollars on\nmission work in South India alone is in itself a large trust which\nrequires great care and breadth of wisdom. Hitherto not much has been done\nby the many missions of India to learn from one another the wisest methods\nof administration. There is remarkable diversity and even contrast among\nthose missions in the methods of conducting their work and in the\nadministration of their affairs. This is, in no small part, due to the\ndifferent peculiarities of the several nationalities which conduct the\nmissions; it is also in part due to their denominational affinities. But,\nby growing familiarity with one another\u2019s methods and by more appreciative\nstudy of the same, much could be learned by these missions which would\ntend to increasing uniformity of administrative method, efficiency of work\nand abundance of results.\n\nAnother question of perennial interest, in this connection, is that of the\nextent to which native Christians should be allowed to participate in the\nadministration of the affairs of a mission. The training of some of the\nhighest members of the native Christian community in the responsibility of\nmissionary administration is a serious duty of every mission. The day must\ncome when the whole administration of the Christian work carried on by\nmissions will be in the hands of the native community itself\u2014when\nmissions, as such, shall have accomplished their work and shall be\ndisbanded. What is being done by our missions today to make that\nconsummation possible and desirable at the earliest moment? Most missions\nmaintain that Indians should have nothing to do with the administration of\n_foreign_ funds. Is this a wise position to take? Is it consonant with the\nbest training of the highest native Christians for future control? In\nother words, what administrative preparation is being made by the mission\nfor the incoming of an indigenous, self-governing Church?\n\nIt is true that Indian Christians will not, for a long time, be able to\nrender much assistance to the missions in this line. But if they are to\nbe, at any future time, capable of undertaking the responsibility of the\nwork they must be trained for it; and this training must be conducted with\npatience by the mission. If they are now wanting in independence and poise\nof character and breadth of horizon, these can come to them only through\nan extended training. And it is the duty of missions to give this training\nto them.\n\nThere is danger that missions cling too tenaciously to their right to\nrule. Power is sweet to the missionary no less than to other men.\n\nI am glad to say that progress is made by missions in this matter. Slowly\nbut surely the native Christian is entering into their counsels and is\nfinding increasing opportunity and responsibility there.\n\n8. PROBLEMS CONCERNING NEW CONVERTS.\n\nThere are many interesting and important questions connected with the\nreception of new converts into the Christian fold in India. Some of these\nhave a growing interest to the Cause and have found an important place in\nmissionary discussion. I shall refer to only a few of them.\n\n(_a_) _Shall polygamous converts be received into the Christian Church?_\n\nIn Hinduism polygamy (more especially, bigamy) is not uncommon. It is\npermitted and indeed fostered by that faith and is legalized by the laws\nof the country. As our faith makes increasing inroads upon that religion,\nnumbers, and yet never a large number, of those who have two or more wives\nwill accept our teaching and, with all earnestness, seek admission into\nour Christian communion. What shall we say to such? How shall we meet them\nand their desire? This question has, in a few cases, been sent to the\nsocieties at home, the missions seeking from them advice and guidance.\nFrom America the instruction has been received against receiving any such\ninto the Christian Church. This is natural enough from a country which is\nconfronted by the Mormon question. But the problem has its Eastern bearing\nwhich is not understood in the West and which has led missionary bodies in\nIndia almost invariably to decide in favour of receiving such into the\nChristian fold.\n\nIn the consideration of the problem many things must be kept in mind. None\nmore important than the claims to a cordial welcome from the Church of any\nman who, in true faith and Christian earnestness, seeks admittance. If it\nbe demanded of the man that he put away all but one of those wives taken\nin heathenism; then we ask whether it is Christian, or even just, to cast\naway one to whom he was solemnly and religiously pledged according to the\nlaws of the land and with whom he has been linked in love and harmony for\nyears and from whom he has begotten children? And if he is to put away one\nor more of his wives, which one shall it be? Shall it be the first wife?\nCertainly that would not be Christian. Or shall it be the second wife who\nis the mother of his children and whom he probably married at the request\nof the first, who was childless, in order that he might raise seed unto\nhimself? It is not easy, on Christian grounds, to decide such a problem as\nthis; nor is it very Christian to put a ban upon any woman who, in\naccordance with their religion and their country\u2019s laws, has formed this\nsacred alliance with a man and has lived with him for years. Nor can it be\nright to brand with illegitimacy the children born of such a wedlock.\n\nI would not allow such persons, received into the Christian Church, to\nbecome officers of the Church. But I cannot see why there may not be an\nhumble place in the Church of God for such and their families.\n\n(_b_) _Should the baptism of a person, in any case, immediately follow his\nconfession of Christ?_\n\nThis question does not pertain to those who live in Christian communities\nand within the circle of Christian light and influence. It refers mainly,\nif not exclusively, to those who accept Christ under the influence of\nChristian teaching at heathen festivals and who may live far away from\nChristian communities. In North India, some of those who have accepted\nChrist under these circumstances have received immediate baptism and have\nbeen sent back to their villages professing Christians. At first sight\nthis seems unwarranted and unwise. Men who have received and made an open\nconfession of Christ under these circumstances have not likely received a\nsufficient knowledge of our faith, or attained an adequate familiarity\nwith its truths; nor have they been grounded in its principles and life,\nsufficiently to warrant us in the hope and assurance that they will\ncontinue this life in their heathen homes and do honour to our cause and\nthe name of Christ which they have professed. And yet who are we to decide\nadversely upon the application of such a man who may find, or think he\nfinds, in that public occasion the only opportunity of making an open\nconfession of Christ? And what right have we to conclude that he will not\nstand firm to his pledge and promise if we are convinced that it is made\nin all sincerity and earnestness, and if we are convinced that the man has\nreally accepted Christ as his Saviour? Or, more properly, what ground have\nwe to believe that the Holy Spirit cannot carry on to perfection the work\nthus begun by Him in the heart of such a man? And was not this method of\nimmediate baptism that of the Apostolic Church, even though many thus\nbaptized subsequently denied their new faith?\n\nThere are, doubtless, cases of this kind where baptism cannot be refused\nby the minister of God\u2014where it is even imperative and may prove a\nblessing to the heathen audience as well as to the new convert. And yet,\nthe ordinary method of delay and careful scrutiny and training should\nstill be adhered to as a normal method of the Church in heathen lands. It\nis the safest way to lead to a healthy and a strong Church.\n\n(_c_) _Another question frequently asked is that concerning secret\nbaptism._\n\nShall a missionary, at any time and under any circumstances, secretly\nbaptize such as are anxious to make confession of Christ, but are debarred\nby family opposition, or by similar causes, from public baptism? This\nproblem frequently arises in connection with work for heathen women. Under\nthe influence of the work of a Bible woman, or a lady missionary, a woman\nmay abjure her faith, accept Christ as her Saviour and yearn for baptism.\nBut to be baptized publicly and to confess Christ before her people openly\nwould inevitably result in her being driven from home, separated from her\nchildren and people, and robbed of all opportunity to influence them in\nbehalf of her newly found faith. Moreover, by this public confession she\nis deprived of all family support and becomes a helpless dependent upon\nthe mission for her daily bread. The question rises whether such a woman\nshould be quietly baptized and thus left to pursue her way in her own home\nand with her family as a pledged, but secret, follower of the Lord. There\nis much to be said in favour of, as there is against, such a baptism. Many\ncontend that such an acceptance of Christ would be unworthy and would be\nrobbed of its saving power. But such are not conversant with Hindu life\nand some of its terrible conditions. Some would maintain, perhaps with\nmore wisdom, that it would be better not to baptize such, but to encourage\nthem to believe that they are accepted of Christ and to treat them in\nevery way as Christ\u2019s own disciples.\n\nAnother problem in this connection is as to the right or wisdom of an\nunordained lady missionary to administer this initiatory rite to such\nwomen converts. This question, of course, will be largely decided in\naccordance with the ecclesiastical connection of those who consider it.\nThere is a growing number of persons who believe that it would be well\nthat ladies be authorized to administer this rite under such\ncircumstances.\n\n9. Another problem is connected with the revival of thought among the\npeople of India whom we seek to bring to Christ.\n\nThis revival is really the result of western influence\u2014largely the product\nof Christian teaching and activity in that land. In its last analysis it\nis therefore not to be deplored, but rather to be welcomed. At the same\ntime this new awakening seems to be, for the present, connected with a\nreactionary and a militant spirit. It speaks in the interest of a new\nnationalism and a false patriotism which extols everything Eastern simply\nbecause it _is_ Oriental. Its aggressiveness is manifest even in America.\nWe are becoming familiar, in this country, with the yellow-robed Hindu\nmonk who has probably been trained in a Christian mission college and who\ntalks Hinduism with a strong Christian accent. Though he has violated a\nperemptory command of his ancestral faith in crossing the seas; and\nthough, of necessity, he daily tramples in this land the whole decalogue\nof Hindu life and ritual, he feels competent to champion Hindu philosophy\nhere! And he seems to find a coterie of admirers and quasi disciples in\nthis land of light and privilege! Recently an old classmate of mine\ninformed me, with all solemnity, that Eastern thought is now invading the\nWest; and that he himself had become a theosophist! I have, since hearing\nthis statement, travelled considerably over this country and confess that\nhis statement does not seem so absurd as at first I thought. For, I have\nseen the recent phenomenal spread of Christian Science and of other\nvagaries with which we are too familiar in this land. What is Christian\nScience but the subtle, evasive idealism of India unequally yoked to a\nform of Christian truth and ritual. What is theosophy, but the stupefying\nphilosophy and the benumbing metaphysics of the East, clothed in its own\ngarb of Oriental mysticism and senseless, spurious occultism. It is a sad\nreflection upon our Western life that so many people who fail to find rest\nin the divinely inspiring teachings of Christ, sink into the depths of a\ncredulity which will accept the inanities of Madame Blavatsky and the wild\nassumptions of Mrs. Eddy. Let these people go out to India and live there\nfor years to see how Hindu thought and teachings have, for three\nmillenniums, worked out their legitimate results in the life of the\nteeming millions of that land. Let them observe the debasing immorality,\nthe hollow ceremonialism, the all-pervasive ignorance and superstition\nwhich rest, like a mighty pall, upon that people and which make life mean\nand render noble manhood impossible. The situation in India reminds one of\nthe legendary house built upon the banks of Newfoundland. The foundation\nwas completed when a dense fog swept over the place and rested upon all.\nAfter the superstructure was built and finished the fog lifted and it was\nfound, alas, that the building was erected some two hundred yards away\nfrom the foundation, and rested upon nothing! Whatever one may say about\nHindu thought and philosophy as a basis of conduct, that people have been\nliving for many centuries in the dense fog of ignorance, superstition and\nceremonialism; and their life has been unworthy and debased because it\nrested upon nothing.\n\n                   [Illustration: A Brahman Gentleman.]\n\n                    [Illustration: Swami Vivekananda.]\n\nBut there is another form of this awakened Eastern thought which invites\nour attention and which concerns the missionary work not a little. It\nappears there in a reactionary form among men of culture and leads many of\nthem to turn away in hearty disapproval from our faith. They are\nwonderfully drawn towards Christ, our Lord. His praises are in their\nmouths, and they eagerly study his example and life. They claim him as one\nof the East and, therefore, as one of themselves. But these same men will\nhave none of Christianity, because it is, as they say, of the West,\nWestern. One of their number recently wrote an article under the following\ncaption:\u2014\u201cWhy do We Hindus Accept Christ and Reject Christianity?\u201d He\nclaims that they reject our faith because it is \u201cnot Christianity but\nChurchianity\u201d; that is, it savours of the Western Church more than it does\nof Christ. There is a great deal that is false and foolish in this\ncontention; and yet it has an element of truth in it. We, of the West,\nhave not realized, perhaps we never can fully realize, the great width of\nthe gulf which, in thought and life, separates the Occident from the\nOrient. Hence we have in part failed in the duty of adapting our faith, in\nthought and ritual, to the taste and inherited bias of that people. We\nforget that they and we usually approach things temporal and spiritual\nfrom opposite sides. They are deeply mystical and poetic, while we are\nobtrusively practical and meanly prosaic. Thus the Western colouring and\nemphasis which is given to our faith in that land can neither be\nappreciated nor approved by the educated Hindu. Even native Christians are\nbemoaning this fact. I shall never forget the eloquent appeal which the\nHon. Kali Churn Banerjee, a leading native Christian in that land, made\nbefore the Bombay Missionary Conference, begging the missionaries to cease\nemphasizing, as he said, \u201cadjectival\u201d Christianity and to dwell more upon\n\u201csubstantive\u201d Christianity before the people of India. It is a sad fact\nthat we carry there our Western shibboleths, our antiquated controversies,\nand our sectional jealousies. Most of these are not only unintelligible in\nIndia; they weary the people and largely bury the essentials of our faith\nfrom public gaze and appreciation.\n\nThe question returns to us with a new emphasis today,\u2014How much of our\nWestern Christianity can we eliminate and how much must we retain in order\nto present to that people the gospel in its simplicity and saving power?\nHow much of our modern Christianity is the product of Western thought,\ninterpretation and life, and how much is of the very essence of Christ\u2019s\nmessage? We have yet much to learn and are to be overtaken by many\nsurprises in this matter, I believe. God forbid that we should rob our\nmessage of one tittle of its essential truth. But may He enable us to\ndiscriminate more and more, and lead us to cease encumbering our gospel to\nthe East with such unessential thought and ritual as are suited to us but\nnot to them.\n\nI doubt whether we of the West can accomplish this\u2014it can be _fully_ done\nonly when the Christian Church in India shall have become indigenous and\nstrong, and, when freed from Western influence and leadership, it shall do\nits own thinking and shape its own ritual and ceremonial on Eastern lines.\nThen indeed shall we behold that welcome and mighty movement which will\ndraw completely the culture of India into the Christian Church. Then also,\nand not until then, shall we begin to see the Indian Church contributing\nher share to the Christian thought and life of the world. We, of the proud\nWest, are prone to think that our type of life is all-embracing and that\nour religious thought is all-satisfying. Nothing can be more fallacious or\nmore injurious than such a conceit. The East is the full complement of the\nWest. In life and thought we are only an hemisphere, and we need the East\nto fill up our full-orbed beauty. The mystic piety of India will correct\nour too practical, mundane view of things. The quiet, passive virtues\nwhich find their perfect realization in that land we must learn from them\nto accentuate in addition to the more aggressive and positive virtues of\nthe West. All this is to take place in the no distant future. The Kingdom\nof Christ in the East is to reach out its hand to the West and both, in\nmutual helpfulness, will co\u00f6perate in bringing this whole world to Christ.\nThen shall we see a universal kingdom and the beginning of the fulfillment\nof the blessed vision in which \u201cthe kingdoms of this world have become the\nkingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and He shall reign forever and\never.\u201d God hasten the day.\n\n\n\n\n\n                                Chapter X.\n\n\nMISSIONARY RESULTS.\n\n\nWe are occasionally compelled to read and to hear detailed and emphatic\nstatements about \u201cthe failure of missions.\u201d An increasing number of our\ncountrymen spend their vacation days in hurried trips through mission\nfields. They are so impressed by glimpses of the strange life and\ninstitutions of the Orient that they have neither time nor inclination to\nstudy and appreciate the missionary work and organization which everywhere\ninvites their attention. They return home absolutely ignorant of the work\nwhose power, prevalence and progress they might easily have learned on\ntheir travels, and they are wont to hide that ignorance behind the\nemphatic assurance that \u201cthere was nothing to be seen\u201d of missions; and\nthey soon convince themselves, and not a few others, that what they did\nnot see was not worth seeing or was, perchance, non-existent. I have long\nlived on one of the great lines of travel in India and have sorrowed over\nthe fact that hardly one in ten of our travelling countrymen (and many of\nthem members of our home churches too) turn aside for a moment from gazing\nupon Hindu temples to study the important work which our mission is\ncarrying forward in that city and district.\n\nEven the friends of missions should learn what constitutes missionary\nsuccess.\n\nIn South India there is found a mission which counts its converts only by\nthe hundreds. It is known in Christian lands only through the severe\ncriticisms which have been heaped upon it by some good Christian men\nbecause it is an educational mission.\n\nAnd yet I sincerely believe that that abused mission is doing a work not\ninferior to that of any other mission in India for the permanent growth\nand highest achievement of the Kingdom of God in that land. Its leavening\ninfluence upon Hindu thought and institutions is hardly surpassed by that\nof any other mission. In the wonderful turning of the educated classes of\nIndia towards Christ, and the acceptance of him as their Ideal of life,\nthat mission has a position of power. Many of the native Christians of\ngreatest influence, culture and character in South India trace their\nconversion or highest efficiency to the work and influence of that\neducational mission. The best educated pastor in the Madura district came\nfrom and was trained by that mission; as also its highest and best\nChristian teachers received their final course of training and discipline\nthere.\n\nThat mission is largely ignored and even despised by the too common\nstatistical reckoning of results and success. And yet the illustrious name\nof Dr. Miller, the leader of that mission, will be cherished in India and\nin the world a century hence as a chief among those who were instrumental\nin bringing that great people to Christ.\n\nThe mighty and unparalleled revolution which is going on in India at\npresent, as a result of missionary work, is not to be tabulated in our\nstatistical reports. The deepest currents of those great moral and\nspiritual forces of the India of today are not found within the realm of\nfigures. They defy tabulation; and yet they bring to the keen Christian\nobserver in that land more encouragement, because they have more\nsignificance, than all the facts and figures usually found within the\ncovers of an ordinary mission report.\n\nA great deal of the discouragement and pessimism about missions today is\nborn of this statistical craze.\n\nLet us therefore take a broad view of the work of our missions and study\nsome of the results achieved\u2014results which are almost entirely the harvest\nof the labours of the last century.\n\nThese results are threefold.\n\n1. PRESENT MISSIONARY APPLIANCES.\n\n(_a_) Protestant missions in India have created a plant and have developed\nappliances which are not only an assurance and a prolific source of\nencouragement for the future; they are also monuments of the industry and\nwisdom of those who have passed on, and definite signs of God\u2019s guidance\nof, and blessing to, the work.\n\nIn the first place, consider the buildings and other property erected and\nowned by the missionary societies and utilized for the maintenance and\nfurtherance of their work in that land.\n\nFew people realize the enormous store of wealth which is thus treasured in\nthis elaborate mission plant. Nor can they appreciate the equivalent of\nthis in terms of moral efficiency and spiritual power in the regeneration\nof India.\n\nThe thousands of acres of land and the many thousands of substantial\nedifices erected and dedicated to the cause of Christ in connection with\nthese missions represent an investment of at least ten million dollars;\nand this money not only represents the generosity of Christians in the\nWest, it also includes the self-denying offerings of Indian Christians,\nwho from their poverty have given liberally to build up the cause which is\ndear to their hearts.\n\nMission educational institutions are housed in a legion of substantial and\nbeautiful buildings ranging, from the massive imposing structures of the\nMadras Christian College, downward; churches there are of all sizes and\narchitectural design, from the magnificent and beautiful stone edifice\nwhich accommodates its thousands and which was erected by the Church\nMissionary Society in Megnanapuram, Tinnevelly, down to the unpretentious\nprayer-house of a small village congregation. A host of suitable buildings\nfor hospitals, presses and publishing houses, residences for missionaries\nand native agents, school dormitories, gymnasia and lecture halls; Y. M.\nC. A. and other societies\u2019 buildings\u2014all these represent that power for\nservice, incarnate in brick and mortar, which is invaluable and even\nindispensable to the great missionary enterprise in that land.\n\n(_b_) Nor must we overlook or fail to estimate adequately the results\nachieved in the form of a Christian literature. Though our Protestant\nmissions have not cultivated, as extensively as they should, the press and\nthe publishing house as a missionary agency, they have not been insensible\nto their power and have utilized extensively the printed page.\n\nIn the first place a translated and a well-circulated Bible has been the\naim and pride of our missions from the beginning. The humblest native of\nthat land can find, in his own vernacular, the Word of God, and read for\nhimself the message of God in Christ Jesus to his sin-burdened soul. Who\ncan realize the work involved in all this, or the achievement which it\nrepresents?\n\nThen the Christian hymnology of India is already a rapidly growing power.\nEvery important vernacular has one or more Protestant Christian hymn\nbooks, which reveal to what a large extent our faith has inspired and made\nvocal the praises of Zion in that land. Nearly all of these Christian\nhymns in South India and many in North India are the compositions of\nnative Christians and manifest considerable poetic power and high\nsentiment. Though many of them are worthy of translation, only two have\nthus far found place in our American hymn books. One is a Tamil hymn\ncomposed by Yesuthasan, catechist, and translated as below by Rev. E.\nWebb,\u2014\n\n1. Whither with this crushing load\nOver Salem\u2019s dismal road,\nAll thy body suffering so,\nO, my God where dost thou go?\n\nCHORUS:\u2014\n\nWhither Jesus goest thou,\nSon of God what doest thou,\nOn this City\u2019s dolorous way,\nWith that cross, O, Sufferer say?\n\n2. Tell me fainting, dying Lord,\nDost thou of Thine own accord\nBear that cross, or did thy foes\n\u2019Gainst thy will, that load impose.\u2014CHO.\n\n3. Patient Sufferer how can I\nSee thee faint and fall and die,\nPressed and peeled and crushed and ground\nBy that cross upon thee bound?\u2014CHO.\n\n4. Weary arm and staggering limb,\nVisage marred, eyes growing dim,\nTongue all parched, faint at heart,\nBruised and sore in every part!\u2014CHO.\n\n5. Dost thou up to Calvary go,\nOn that cross in shame and woe,\nMalefactors either side\nTo be nailed and crucified?\u2014CHO.\n\n6. Is it demon thrones to shake,\nDeath to kill, sin\u2019s power to break,\nAll our ills to put away,\nLife to give and endless day?\u2014CHO.\n\nBesides this there is an ever-growing mass of Christian literature in all\nthe vernaculars used by our missions; and this is becoming increasingly\navailable as a power for the uplifting of the people who are, in growing\nnumbers, learning to read. Beyond almost every other appliance for the\nChristianization of that people there stand high in usefulness and\npervasive influence these books, tracts and magazines of the missions; and\nthe aid which they furnish to all Christian workers in that land is beyond\ncomputation. Missionaries may go and come, and mission policy may change,\nbut this Christian literature will quietly and mightily work out its own\nbenign results throughout the land, enlightening the people and appealing\nto the best that is in them.\n\n(_c_) In like manner the missionary educational institutions, which cover\nthe whole land as a great network, are a noble product of missionary\nideals and efforts in the land. They are in themselves an achievement\nwhich not only has cost millions of rupees for its creation and\nmaintenance, but is also the product of some of the best thought and\nhighest wisdom of many choice spirits during the last century. These\nschools constantly furnish to the Christian Church in India, for\nintellectual upbuilding, for moral guidance and for spiritual\nregeneration, nearly a half million of the brightest youths of the land.\nThese institutions are the product of a century of endeavour; and it can\nbe truly said that without them the Protestant mission of India would be\nshorn of much of their power and more of their promise.\n\nIn the present organized activity of missions there stands nothing in\nhigher esteem than these institutions for what they have done in the life\nboth of non-Christians and of Christians alike.\n\n(_d_) In connection with missionary activity in that land one of the most\nencouraging, as it is also the most monumental, of results, is the large\narmy of well-educated and thoroughly equipped men and women who have been\ntaken from among the people and have been trained and placed as their\nleaders and guides.\n\nPerhaps 20,000 such (there are 10,550 in South India alone) are at present\ngiving all their time and strength to the spiritual training of the\nChristian community, to preaching to non-Christians and to the instruction\nof the young in the schools.\n\nIndia is to be brought to Christ and his religion, not through the efforts\nof the foreigner, so much as through the life and activity of men and\nwomen of the soil. They are to be the essential factor in the future\nprevalence and in the character of our faith in India. Therefore it stirs\none to deepest emotion to behold this mighty army of native workers, who\nare praying and working daily in that land for the conversion of their own\npeople and for the upbuilding of the Christian community in all that is\ncharacteristic of our faith. As I have been permitted, for years, to train\nand to send forth into that great harvest field young men to preach the\ngospel of Christ and to guide the churches and congregations into\nspiritual truth and life, I have felt that it was the highest and best\nopportunity that could be granted to any missionary worker in that land.\nThis work of training an adequate spiritual agency is occupying the\nserious thought of all missions. There are 110 theological seminaries and\nnormal training schools in the country; in these, 4,305 students, of both\nsexes, are undergoing training.\n\nMany of the agents now employed are men and women qualified to clearly\nexpound the truths of our faith to believers and unbelievers. They are\nwell fortified against attack as rational defenders of Christianity and\nare prepared to remove doubts which may arise in the minds of sincere\ninquirers and wavering believers. Not all of them are such as we could\nwish in intellectual equipment or in strength of character. But the\npoorest of them are gradually being replaced by better ones; and the\nintellectual, moral and spiritual tone of the whole force is constantly\nimproving. The ordained native clergy are a body of men who are rapidly\ngrowing in efficiency and power. There are 406 of them in South India\nalone\u2014nearly as many as there are ordained missionaries in the same area.\n\nA comparison, in South India, between this force of 406 native pastors and\nthe 585 native priests of the Romish Church shows how well, relatively,\nthe Protestant Church of South India is supplied; there being one native\npastor to every 1,500 of the Protestant community, while the Romish\npriests are only one to every 2,000 of their community.\n\nSome of these pastors are university graduates, and all are men of good\nprofessional training. They are faithful workers and are increasingly\nworthy, and enjoy the confidence, of their missionary associates. Among\nthe native agents of our Protestant missions in South India alone there\nare about 100 university graduates, 200 First in Arts (the degree granted\nafter two years of college work) and 600 university matriculates. This\nthorough utilization of a strong, cultured, native agency is one of the\nmost striking results of the last century\u2019s work in that land. And it is\nthe more remarkable in the case of the women, since a generation ago\nhardly any of the weaker sex were in mission employ, while today the\nmissions of South India alone employ 3,000 of them. It is practically the\ncreation of a mighty and most faithful and devoted agency in one\ngeneration.\n\nWhat may we not expect from this great army of native brethren and\nsisters, as they shall continue to grow in numbers and in general\nequipment, and as they shall be filled with the Spirit of God and be fully\nused by our Lord in the redemption of their own people!\n\n2. THE NATIVE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY.\n\nRecent statistics give the total number of Christians in British India as\n2,923,349. This is a growth of about 640,000 in ten years, four times more\nthan the rate of growth of the whole population. And yet there are people\nwho tell us that the kingdom of our Lord is not coming in that land!\n\nCENSUS OF CHRISTIANS IN INDIA, MAY 2, 1901.(12)\n\nTotal of all denominations   2,923,349\nEuropean and other races       258,990\nNatives                      2,664,359\n\n_Total Returned._ _Natives._\n\nAnglican                              453,612     305,907\nBaptist                               220,863     216,743\nCongregationalist                      37,876      37,313\nLutheran and allied denominations     155,455     153,768\nMethodist                              76,869      68,451\nPresbyterian                           53,829      42,799\nFriends                                 1,309       1,275\nRoman Catholic                      1,202,039   1,122,378\nSalvationist                           18,960      18,847\nSyrian                                571,327     571,320\nScattering                            131,210     125,558\n\nOf the above number of Christians 2,664,359 are natives of India. This is\nan increase of over 630,000, or about thirty-one per cent, of Indian\nChristians during the last decade. And during this time the general\npopulation of India has increased only about two and one-half per cent.!\nAnalyzing this aggregate of all Christians we find that 970,000 of them\nare native Protestant Christians. This represents an advance of sixty-four\nper cent, during the last ten years in that community; while the Romish\nand Syrian native Christian communities have gained hardly three per cent,\nin the same time. Thus it will be seen that the rapid progress of our\nfaith in that land of the East depends almost entirely upon the remarkable\nadvance of Protestantism among the people of India. This is certainly a\nresult most encouraging to Protestant Christian workers in that land. That\nthis decade\u2019s growth is not abnormal is attested by the fact that the\nnative Protestant Christians of India are more than ten times what they\nwere fifty years ago.\n\nIn view of the fact that the whole Christian community of India is only\none per cent, of the total population, one may be inclined to feel\ndiscouraged. And yet if the relative growth of the whole population and,\nsay, of the Protestant Christian community for the last decade be\nmaintained for one hundred and thirty years more, the whole population\nwill be found Christian of the Protestant type.\n\nThese figures indicate the magnificent development of our work in that\nland. And when we remember the splendid equipment and wonderful modern\nappliances of the missionary organizations of today we can easily believe\nthat, even within another century, Christianity will become the prevailing\nfaith of India.\n\nA large number, in our Christian community, has been gathered through mass\nmovements, where certain castes and classes have, in large bodies, sought\nthe blessings of our faith. In Tinnevelly, for instance, the Shanar caste\nwas early influenced by Christian workers; and, as they are a very\nclannish community, many thousands of them have embraced the Christian\nfaith and have been wonderfully transformed and elevated through their\ncontact with it.\n\nOne of the most marvellous manifestations of the power of the Gospel is\npresented today in that district by this people, who, under missionary\ninfluence and Christian training, have risen from great depths of\nignorance and social degradation until they stand among the highest of\nthat land in intelligence and in the spirit of progress. Most of the\nChristians of Tinnevelly belong to this once despised class and are, in\nmany respects, full of vigour and enterprise.\n\nIn the famous Telegu Baptist Mission we find a similar movement. That\nAmerican Mission laboured for twenty-five years without much\nencouragement. After those years the outcastes of the community began to\nappreciate the advantages of our faith and to apply for admission into its\ncongregations. It gathered them in by thousands until it has become by far\nthe largest mission in the country. It represents nearly one quarter of\nthe whole Protestant Christian community of India.\n\nDuring the last few years a similar movement has overtaken the American\nMethodist, and other missions in North India. Many thousands of the\ndepressed classes, within its area, have sought a refuge from their ills\nand a Saviour for their souls in the Christian fold; so that it taxes all\nthe energies and resources of the mission to keep pace with the movement\nand to instruct adequately, in Christian truth, these ignorant masses who\nflock unto it. Bishop Thoburn says that more than 100,000 of this class\nare now waiting to be received into their community; but that their\nmission has not the men or means to instruct them.\n\nIn other missions, also, reports are being received of similar movements\nnow going forward on a smaller scale. Some missionaries of these fields\nhave written to me stating that the only limit to the growth and\ndevelopment of their missions is that of men and money wherewith to\ninstruct and properly direct the people who come seeking for light and\nhelp.(13)\n\nIn the great majority of missions, however, growth has been general and\nnormal; people have come as individuals and as families, separating\nthemselves, after much thought and prayer, from those who are dearest to\nthem upon earth, and passing through a sea of tribulation and persecution\ninto the Christian life.\n\nIt has been claimed by Hindus, and by some others, that Hinduism is a\ntolerant faith\u2014that it does not resort to persecution. In one respect this\nis true. As we have before seen, it will permit its members to hold any\ndoctrine and to accept any teaching that they please. It has no punishment\nnor even a voice of disapprobation to its member who is a rationalist, an\natheist, or a Christian so far as acceptance of such belief or non-belief\nis concerned. And, so far as conduct is concerned, a man may be a\nlibertine, a robber or a murderer, and yet maintain his religious status.\nBut when it comes to the violation of caste rules it is very different.\nHinduism will tolerate anything but caste insubordination. So that when a\nman, in becoming a Christian, severs his connection with his caste and\nbecomes, socially, an alien to his people, then Hinduism steps in and\nbrings to bear upon him all the bitter penalties of caste infliction, and\npersecutes him in a thousand social ways such as make life a burden unto\nhim. The engine of caste is the most complete and mighty instrument of\nreligious persecution the world has known, as many thousands of our native\nChristians have learned to their bitter cost.\n\nWhen a man decides to become a Christian there is very little opposition\nto this purpose among his people so long as his decision involves only his\nbelief, conviction and private devotion and prayer. But when it leads him\nto a public confession of Christ and to baptism, which is regarded as his\nrenunciation of caste rules, affinities and obligations, then all the\nspite of caste tyranny is showered upon him. He is boycotted thoroughly.\nNone of his caste people, not even his own Hindu family, will eat with\nhim. The family and caste washerman is no longer permitted to serve him;\ntheir barber will not shave him, and the blacksmith, carpenter, mason and\nother village servants decline to render him their wonted service. So that\nhe is absolutely helpless. It requires a very strong man to face all this\nkind of annoyance and deprivation, and to stand firm in the new life upon\nwhich he has entered and continue loyal to the new faith which he has\nembraced.\n\nIt must be admitted that such rigours of persecution are not carried out\nin all cases at present. Though this is the spirit and method of caste,\nyet the influence of home ties and family affection and the social\nposition and influence of a new convert may be such as to mitigate this\npublic opposition to his Christian decision. But the engine of persecution\nis there, always ready for use.\n\nThe question has often been asked as to the motives which animated those\nof our Christian community who denied their ancestral faith in order to\nbecome Christians. In this land many have an idea, in some cases expressed\nbut in many unexpressed, that most of the Christian converts in India are\nwhat are denominated \u201crice Christians.\u201d This charge against the adherents\nof our faith in that land is as unworthy as it is untrue. That some\nembrace our religion and take upon them the name of Christ from unworthy\nmotives we know\u2014perhaps this is a thing not confined to India. But it has\nalways been a surprise to me, not that so many, but that so few, join our\nmissions from worldly or unworthy motives. For they soon learn that the\nmissionary of their district is a friend of the poor and the oppressed;\nand they are constantly suffering from the injustice and the rapacity of\nBrahmans and of other members of their own faith who are above them.\nOutside of slavery there are few people who are subject to grosser\ninjustice at the hand of men of wealth and of power than are the poor,\ndown-trodden people of India.\n\nMost of them are also groaning in the deepest pit of poverty. Poverty is a\nrelative term. As compared with India, America knows absolutely no\npoverty. The poverty of India is crushing, over-whelming. When we remember\nthat according to government statistics, the average income of a man for\nthe support of his family in India is less than $1.50 a month we get a\nglimpse of what abject poverty means.\n\nAnd when we further remember that, during many months and seasons of his\nlife, even this is partly denied him, owing to frequent droughts and other\nunpreventable evils, we know in part how an unsatisfied craving, and\npinching distress overwhelm a large proportion of that population.\nGovernment statistics show that one-fifth of the population are in a\nchronic state of hunger.\n\nAnd yet I heartily bear testimony that comparatively few of our people\nhave become Christians in order that they might receive physical and\ntemporal blessings. We dare not say that this motive does not exist; but\nwe are confident that in three-fourths of our converts it is not the\nprevailing or the dominant motive. There is a soul-hungering and a\nheart-thirsting in India such as are not in any way satisfied by their\nancestral faith. And Christianity appeals to the people increasingly as a\nsoul-satisfier and as a power of God unto salvation; and they more and\nmore realize this fact and are impelled more by that motive than by any\nother in transferring their allegiance from Krishna to Christ.\n\nAnd even when some do come with prevailingly low and sordid motives and\nseek to be enrolled as members of the Christian community, we dare not\ndiscourage or deny them; because we hope soon, after they have united with\nour community and have placed themselves under Christian instruction, to\nimpart to them loftier conceptions of life and of truth. And even should\nwe fail to reform them and to give them worthy views of our religion and\nof their relationship to it, we entertain the hope that their children\nwill become worthy and genuine Christians. Many of the best and most\nhonoured members of our community, today, are the children and\ngrandchildren of very unsatisfactory Christians of the past.\n\nI might say here that missionaries are being frightened less and less by\nthe charges so frequently made, by those who know the situation least,\nconcerning the unworthy motives of those who become Christians. Indeed, to\nbe frank, the question of motives is, in my opinion, one of very little\nconsequence, save as it may involve down-right hypocrisy or gross\ndeception.\n\nOrdinarily we do not expect, from a people who have been brought up in so\nselfish and so debasing and sordid an atmosphere as that of the common\nHindu of today, a highly spiritual, or a purely ethical motive in becoming\nChristians. If such be the prevailing motive, or even if we are convinced\nthat it is not absent, we are satisfied. Nor can there be anything wrong\nif a man in India seeks alliance with Christianity in order to better his\nearthly circumstances. This may mean a purpose to secure an education and\nthe blessings of civilization and culture for his children; or it may\nreveal a desire for relief from injustice, or protection from gross\ntyranny; it may signify merely a vague hope that, by becoming a Christian,\nthe general circumstances both of himself and family will be improved.\nThere is nothing intrinsically evil in any of these ambitions nor in\nseeking Christian affiliation largely with a view to obtaining these,\nprovided always that there is also a conviction of the moral and spiritual\nexcellence of our faith and of its ability to satisfy the soul\u2019s need. And\nthis we may generally assume in a man who voluntarily severs his\nconnection with the faith of his ancestors, and from a religion which was\na part of his own deepest life.\n\nNor should the deep ignorance of many of those who become Christians lead\nus hastily to conclude that, because they know so little about our faith,\nthey therefore are unable to appreciate or enjoy any of its spiritual\nblessings. I have often been surprised to see how many very ignorant\nChristians, and those who greatly try our patience at times, both by their\nstupidity and their crooked lives, nevertheless often reveal beautiful\ntouches of a genuine faith and of a most direct and simple trust; and they\nstand nobly firm under the most trying and worrying persecution which\nHinduism knows too well how to inflict upon those who desert and deny it.\n\nIt has often been charged, with a view to discredit missionary effort in\nIndia, that the converts gathered into the Christian fold have been from\nthe lowest social stratum, and not from the higher and ruling classes of\nsociety. Even if this charge were entirely true, I can see in it nothing\nreflecting upon the success of our cause in that land.\n\nIt has, indeed, in all ages and lands, been the normal process of\nChristian conquest, to gather in the lower classes first. It is not by\nfiltering downward but by leavening upward that Christianity has been wont\nto enter and to transform nations. As this was the initial method in\napostolic days, so has it continued through all the history of the Church.\nIt has been by the weak and despised things of the world that our Lord has\nbrought to nought and then won the mighty. It is so in India. Perhaps\nthree-fourths of the native Christians of that land are from the non-Aryan\ncommunity\u2014from the aboriginal classes over whom the sway of Hinduism is\nless complete than it is over the Aryan races. This is doubtless one\nreason why two-thirds of all the Christians of India are found in Southern\nIndia\u2014among the Dravidians, who, as we have seen, are more the children of\nDemonolatry than they are of Brahmanism. And yet, let it not be supposed\nthat the Turanians of the South are far inferior to the Aryans of the\nNorth; or that the salvation of the so-called \u201caborigines\u201d of India, of\nwhom there are more than sixty millions, is unworthy of our highest\nambition.\n\nNeither let it be thought that Christianity has not made glorious inroad\nupon the middle classes and even upon the highest class in that land\u2014the\nBrahmans. It is true that, thus far, not very many of that high and\nhaughty caste have openly professed Christ. It is equally true, however,\nthat some of the best members of our Christian community are converted\nBrahmans. The Indian Christian community is proud of such men as the Hon.\nKali Churn Bannerjee, Dr. K. M. Bannerjee, Rev. K. C. Chatterjee, Rae Maya\nDas and the Hon. N. Subramanien, not because they were Brahmans, but\nbecause they have consecrated to the Lord all their distinguished ability,\nand because they excel in their possession of Christian graces.\n\nThese names, and many others like them, reveal the growing power that our\nfaith is wielding over men of position in that land. At the coronation of\nKing Edward, in London, twenty representatives of the Indian Christian\nChurch were present. Of these, six are ruling princes; perhaps the most\ndistinguished of them is Sir Harnam Singh Ahluwalia, K. C. I. E. He is a\nman of culture\u2014\u201ca true representative of educated India.\u201d\n\nHe was entrusted by the Indian Christians to convey their address to the\nking upon the occasion of his coronation. Sir Harnam Singh\u2019s usefulness\nand success largely depend upon the support, which he receives, in all\ngood things, from his wife, Lady Singh, who is the daughter of Rev. Golak\nNath.\n\nThe devout Henry Martyn, nearly a century ago, with mingled discouragement\nand yearning, declared that to see one Hindu a real believer in Jesus\nwould be something more nearly approaching the resurrection of a dead body\nthan anything he had yet seen. The illustrious Jesuit missionary, the Abbe\nDu Bois, mourned that, even after a long period of faithful work, he\nbelieved he had seen no genuine convert to Christianity in that land. How\nwould those two great friends of India rejoice today were they to see the\nglorious harvest which Christianity has been permitted to gather during\nthe last century from that great people! And among the best of them are to\nbe seen not a few representatives of the haughty Brahman caste and also\nmembers of the crushed and despised outcaste Pariah community.\n\nIt is well to remember that it has been the ambition of missionaries in\nIndia, not so much to gather in numerous accessions from the social and\nintellectual aristocracy of the land, as to create out of the Indian\nChristian community, however degraded may have been its origin, an\naristocracy of character and of true culture. And in this they have\nachieved remarkable success. For the native Christian community is being\nmost rapidly transformed in these respects. Remember, please, the\ncondition, previous to their embracing our faith, of those outcaste people\nwho now constitute three-fourths of the Christian community. They were not\nonly socially ostracized, and therefore wanting in all traits of manly\nassertion, of independence and of self-respect. They were also in deepest\nignorance. Not five per cent, of them could either read or write. Moreover\nthey were under serious religious disability. Though nominal Hindus, they\nhad no right to enter purely Hindu temples nor to approach in worship any\nstrictly Hindu deity. The most sacred of Hindu religious books were denied\nthem, and the most cherished of Hindu rites and ceremonies they were\ndeemed totally unfit to observe.\n\nAll that they could claim was permission to appease the demons of their\nancestral worship. I have seen these outcastes, who, while absorbed into\nHinduism, nevertheless live constantly under its ban. They erect fine\nhalls and shrines in Brahmanical temples, but are not permitted to enter\nthem after the day of their dedication to Hindu worship. Hinduism has\nnever declined any pecuniary offerings from these despised ones; and yet\nit has never deemed it its province or duty to impart its religious\nblessings to them. It has denied to them instruction, comfort and\nsalvation. Is it a wonder that most of the people were almost on a level\nwith brutes so far as thoughts of the highest interests of the soul are\nconcerned? These are the people whom Christianity has delighted to rescue\nfrom their thralldom and to build up in religious thought, ambition and\nspiritual blessings.\n\nIt has applied itself to the task of raising them from their low estate.\nIt has erected buildings for their instruction. In most cases its\nprayer-houses have been daily used as schoolhouses where the young have\nbeen instructed; so that today this community stands distinguished among\nthe other communities in the land for its intelligence.\n\nFor example, the total number of Christian youth in mission schools in\nSouth India is 62,000\u2014two-thirds of them being boys and one-third girls,\nwhich represents a percentage to the total of school-going-age of 68.7 for\nboys and 33.7 for girls; and this while, in the general community, only\ntwelve per cent, of those who are of an age to be at school are attending\nschool. Among the Brahmans only is literacy more common than among Indian\nChristians. And even that caste, which has for thirty centuries\nrepresented the cultured aristocracy of India, must look to its laurels;\nfor, though their males are pre\u00ebminent in culture, the females are as\nilliterate as any class in India, only six in 1,000 being able to read. In\nthe Christian community, on the other hand, the women are not far behind\nthe men in the race for culture. It is therefore not difficult to prophesy\nthat the day is not far off when the Indian Christians, among whom both\nsexes find equal opportunity and inducement to study in the schools, will\noutstrip the Brahmans and stand pre\u00ebminent as the educated and cultured\nclass of India.\n\nThis is as true in the higher as in the lower grades of education. There\nare today living 418 native Christian graduates of the Madras University.\nLast year twenty-seven of these Christian youth received the B. A. degree\nin that Presidency alone, and the only three Indian ladies who have seized\nthe difficult and much coveted prize of Master of Arts from that\nUniversity are Christians. These facts are significant and reveal the\nmarvellous progress made by this once despised community.\n\nAs to the character of these Christians the testimony of Sir Alexander\nMackensie, a distinguished Anglo Indian statesman of large experience, may\nbe of interest:\u2014\u201cThe advance made (in missions) during my time,\u201d he says,\n\u201chave been substantial and encouraging, and it is my firm belief that the\nday-spring of still better things is very close at hand, while the simple\nfaith and godly lives of many native Christians, might put all, or most of\nus certainly, to the blush.\u201d\n\nIt may be well to add emphasis here to the position of woman in the native\nChristian community as a direct result of mission endeavour in that land.\n\nThe new womanhood of the infant native Christian community has begun to\nimpress itself upon the land. There are nearly five hundred thousand women\nand girls connected with the Protestant missions of that country today.\nThey are being trained for, and introduced to, new spheres and\nopportunities such as the women of India never dreamed of before.\nThousands of them are engaged as teachers and as Bible women. Some\npractice medicine; others adorn and cheer the homes, beautify the lives\nand strengthen the work of pastors and preachers, of teachers, doctors and\nother professional men. They grow into the full bloom of womanhood before\nthey leave their school training; and they go forth well equipped\nintellectually, morally and spiritually for the manifold duties of life.\n\nThe last few years have not only helped the Christian women of the land,\nas a class, they have also brought into distinction many of them who are\nworthy to stand among the eminent women of the age and world.\n\nThe first of these, both on account of the remarkable career which she has\nled and of the noble work which she is performing, is the well-known\nPundita Ramabai. Herself a Brahman widow, who lost her father in the\ntender years of childhood and who subsequently entered into the joys and\nblessed power of a Christian life, she dedicated herself to the work of\nredeeming her unfortunate Hindu sisters from their sad lot. To this noble\nwork of philanthropy and of heroic Christian service she has given herself\nabsolutely; and through distinguished administrative skill and a\ntriumphant faith she has achieved marvellous success. Beside her\nwell-known institution for child-widows at Poonah\u2014the Sharada Sadan, which\nthe writer visited and greatly admired\u2014the recent famine inspired her to a\nnew effort to save the waifs and orphans of that region. So that, today,\nshe has under her care more than two thousand of the unfortunate ones of\nher own sex whom she is not only protecting and wisely training for worthy\npositions in life, but is also bringing forward into the joys of a true\nChristian life. Few women, in any land, have found a more useful, or more\nhonourable, career than this noble woman of the East. She combines, in a\nrare degree, large capacity for work, the highest sanity in her methods\nand the deepest love for those whom she has given her life to bless.\n\nThe Sorabjis, also of Western India, have achieved distinction beyond most\nnative Christian families. Mr. Sorabji was one of the few Parsees who have\nembraced Christianity. One of the daughters of the family, the widow of an\nEnglishman, lives in London and has delighted the Queen by her exquisite\nrendering of Persian songs. One sister is an artist, whose paintings are\nexhibited in Paris and London. One is a surgeon of distinction. It was\nanother daughter of this family who was the only representative of her sex\nfrom the Orient at the Parliament of Religions in Chicago. The most\ndistinguished of these seven sisters is Cornelia Sorabji, the barrister.\nHer graduating paper on \u201cRoman Law,\u201d at Oxford, was classed among the best\npapers produced by the pupils of that famous institution. She is the first\nlady barrister of India, and is not only a powerful advocate, but also a\nbrilliant writer, as her book and her articles on the woman question in\n\u201cThe Nineteenth Century\u201d amply testify.\n\nToru Dutt, of Calcutta, one of the brilliant young stars of India, was\nversed in French, German and English. At twenty-one she published \u201cA Sheaf\nGleaned in French Fields.\u201d It is a skillful and able English translation\nof the works of famous French authors. She and her sister, Aru, were\nremarkably talented. It is sad that she, who was so full of intellectual\nbrightness and so beautiful in Christian life, should have been taken away\nby death in the bloom of life.\n\nMiss Goreh is the only Indian Christian who has thus far added to our\npopular English hymnology. Her beautiful hymn:\n\n\u201cIn the secret of His presence how my soul delights to hide;\nOh, how precious are the moments which I spend at Jesus\u2019 side.\nEarthly cares can never reach me, neither trials bring me low;\nFor when Satan comes to tempt me to the Secret Place I go,\u201d\u2014\n\nhas been a blessing to many in this land of ours.\n\nMrs. Sattianathan of Madras (the wife of a distinguished Indian Christian)\nwas another bright young woman who showed marked evidence of talent as an\nEnglish writer. Her books, descriptive of the life both of Hindu and of\nIndian Christian women, have had deservedly large popularity. They created\nin many of her friends a hope for even greater results from her. But,\nalas, these hopes were soon shattered by her sad and premature death.\n\nThe second Mrs. Sattianathan, herself an M. A. of the Madras University,\nhas entered upon a brilliant career as a writer, and has established the\nfirst English monthly magazine for her Indian sisters\u2014a magazine which is\nfull of attractiveness and promise.\n\nThese ladies are only a few of those who illustrate the ability, devotion,\nbeauty and promise of the women of India. Such are pre\u00ebminently the hope\nof that country.\n\nIt was while looking upon one of these Indian Christian ladies that the\nlate Benjamin Harrison, Ex-President of the United States, remarked that\nif he had spent a million dollars for missions and had seen, as a result\nof his offering, only one such convert as Miss Singh he would still have\nconsidered his offering a most profitable investment.\n\nThese women are creating their own opportunities and will, ere long,\nachieve much in all the ranks of life and especially in their own peculiar\nsphere of womanly activity and influence. Woman will do more for the\nprogress and development of the country than the sterner sex, as she has\nhitherto done more than he to conserve and dignify the past. And it is\nsafe to conclude that the womanhood of India will discover its chief glory\nas it now finds its largest opportunity in Christianity. And I may add\nthat the mission of Christianity to, and in behalf of, the women of that\nland may almost be called its chief mission, as the results which it has\nachieved, and will yet achieve, in this line, will constitute its chief\nglory.\n\nAt large centres the Indian Christian community is already beginning to\nfeel its power and is organizing in behalf of its own highest interest.\n\nThe \u201cMadras Native Christian Association\u201d is perhaps the strongest\norganization of the community. It unites hundreds of the best members and\ngives them a corporate existence and furnishes opportunity to render\narticulate the ideals, ambitions and needs of the Christian community. It\nhas recently undertaken several enterprises of importance, such as _The\nTwentieth Century Enterprise and the Indian Christian Industrial\nExhibition_. It discusses, with much sanity, the most serious problems of\nthe community and creates a worthy sentiment which will increasingly\nspread until it reaches the remotest parts of the country.\n\nAll this tends to show that the community is growing conscious both of its\nstrength, its responsibility and its opportunity.\n\n                [Illustration: Rev. S. Sattianatha, LL.D.]\n\n                [Illustration: Mrs. S. Kruba Sattianatha.]\n\nFor the furtherance of this purpose weekly and monthly magazines, both in\nthe English language and in the vernaculars, are being conducted by them.\n_The Christian Patriot_, the best organ of the community, is published in\nMadras, is conducted with much ability and represents the best sentiments\nof its constituents. It has done much to develop the consciousness of life\nand power in the community and has always urged worthy ideals upon its\nreaders.\n\nThe seriousness with which all the native Christians of India regard their\ncalling and the gratitude with which they enjoy their faith is clearly\nattested by their offerings.\n\nPerhaps nothing can render more satisfactory reply to those who charge the\nnative Christians with worldly motives than to show how far they deny\nthemselves in behalf of their faith. In other words the benevolence and\nofferings of the native Christians may be taken as a fair test of their\nsincerity and of their spiritual appreciation. It is a good test in any\nland. I have said that they are very poor. A few years ago I investigated\ncarefully the economic conditions of the most prosperous and largest\nvillage congregation of the Madura Mission. I discovered that five rupees\n(that is $1.66) was the average monthly income of each family of that\ncongregation. And that meant only thirty-three cents a month for the\nsupport of each member of a family! We have congregations whose income is\nless than this. And yet, the Christians of that mission contributed over\ntwo rupees (seventy-five cents) per church member as their offering for\n1900. For all the Protestant Missions of South India the average offering\nper church member during 1900 was one rupee and nine annas (fifty-two\ncents). For South India this represented an aggregate sum of R 248,852\n($85,000) or about seven and one-half per cent, of the total sum expended\nin the missions during that year. An American can easily realize how much\nthis offering is as an absolute gift; but he cannot realize how much of\nself-denial it means to that very poor people; nor how large an offering\nit is as related to the best offerings of our home churches today. If our\nAmerican Christians contributed for the cause of Christ a percentage of\ntheir income equal to that of the native Christians of India they would\nquadruple their benevolence. And if, in relation to their income, the\nChristians of India contribute four times as much as the Christians of\nAmerica, in relation to their real ability, after supplying the most\nprimitive needs of their bodies, they contribute a hundred times more than\ndo their brothers and sisters in this great land of luxury and abundance.\nWho in America, today, in contributing to the cause of Christ, denies\nhimself a convenience or a comfort; yea more, who on that account fails to\nmeet the craving of bodily appetite? And yet there are many Christians in\nIndia who suffer in both these respects in order that they may add the\nwidow\u2019s mite to the treasury of the Church and their loving offering to\nadvance the Kingdom of the Lord.\n\nIn this way the infant Christian Church of India, in its poverty of this\nworld\u2019s goods, is revealing a wealth of spirit and a richness of purpose\nsuch as are worthy of emulation in Christian lands today.\n\nThe organized effort of the Indian Church for self-extension is rapidly\nmultiplying. Every endeavour is put forth to train them out of that spirit\nof dependence which is one of the necessary evils incident to modern\nmissions.\n\nIn nearly all well organized missions in India are found, as we have\nalready seen, Home Missionary Societies, which are conducted and\nmaintained by the people, and which constantly direct their thoughts to\ntheir privilege to further the cause of Christ in their own land and among\ntheir own people.\n\nWork by the young for the young, also, is being conducted with increasing\nprevalence, zeal and success throughout the land.\n\nIndeed, all departments of a healthful, normal life and activity are\nvigorously prosecuted on mission territory with a view to imparting to the\nChristians, not only a knowledge of the highest type of Christian\naltruism, but also for the purpose of making them partakers of the same.\n\nAnd the Indian Christian community at present, notwithstanding all its\nfaults and weaknesses, which I would not conceal, furnishes us much\nencouragement as a product of past effort and as a growing power which is\nto be used by God in the speedy upbuilding of his Kingdom in that great\nland of the East.\n\nThere are, indeed, not many forms of organized Christian activity\nconducted by Indian Christians themselves\u2014apart from Western missions.\nThere are some, however, which are worthy of note and commendation. Such\nare Pandita Ramabai\u2019s Mukti Mission for Widows; Miss Chuckerbutty\u2019s\nflourishing Orphanages; Mrs. Sorabji\u2019s High School for Women; the\nGopalgange Mission started by the Rev. M. N. Bose, and Dr. P. B. Keskar\u2019s\nOrphanage and Industrial School at Sholapur.\n\nRecently a novel enterprise was inaugurated in the American Mission,\nJaffna, Ceylon, in the form of a Foreign Missionary Society, which sends\nforth, to a region in Southern India, its missionaries to carry the gospel\nof Christ to the non-Christians of that place. It is chiefly conducted and\nsupported by the young people of the mission and is prophetic of a\nmovement which will, ere long, spring up throughout India as a result of a\ngrowing sense of responsibility and opportunity among the Christians of\nthat land.\n\nIt is with no spirit of boasting that I wish to dwell upon the share which\nAmerica has had in producing these results. Other people have done in some\nrespects, better than we. But there is no doubt that India is much\ninfluenced by our land. America has, for a century, lavishly given her\nsons and daughters and expended her wealth for the salvation of India. Her\nsacrifices have not been in vain. None have found more hearty response\namong that people than the American Missions. Among the many Protestant\nMissions now at work in that Peninsula less than one-fourth are American;\nand, yet in connection with these missions have been gathered and are\nfound nearly one-half of all of the Protestant Christians of that land. In\nSouth India the mission which has found much the largest success in\ngathering converts is an American Mission. In North India, again, one of\nour missions stands pre\u00ebminent in the multitude of its Christians, and\nanother, in the excellence of its educational power and leavening\ninfluence. In Western India, also, America stands first in the\nacknowledged power and pre\u00ebminence of one of its missions.\n\nIn the organized movements for the young, America again stands conspicuous\nin that land. As we study the wonderful activity exercised by Protestant\nChristianity in behalf of India\u2019s youth, we are at once impressed by the\nleadership of American workers as we are by the American methods used.\n\nThe finest Y. M. C. A. building in the Orient is mostly American, both in\nconception and in the organized energy and princely offering which made it\npossible. It stands today in the city of Madras, as one of the noblest and\nthe most beautiful tributes of western Christian enterprise to that great\nland.\n\nThe only theological seminary which has been adequately endowed for the\ntraining of Protestant Christian workers in India, is an American one.\n\nPerhaps the best, because the most sane and enterprising, Christian weekly\nnewspaper in the land is American.\n\nThe only Quarterly Review conducted in that land by Protestant Christians\nwas founded by an American.\n\nAnd, in the same line, it is interesting to note that American presses and\npublishing houses are multiplying and are exercising an ever-widening\ninfluence in the redemption of that country.\n\nSo largely have all these American agencies been used for the furtherance\nof Christian truth and light; and so much have they been welcomed and\nappropriated by the people, that it may well be spoken of as \u201can American\nInvasion.\u201d\n\nThe Bishop of Newcastle, England, referred to this in his last annual\nsermon. \u201cSo far,\u201d he says, \u201chas America realized the need of winning India\nto Christ that a hundred years hence, if the last thirty years\u2019 proportion\ncontinue, India will owe its Christianity more to America than to Great\nBritain and Ireland combined.\u201d These words are no less significant in\ntheir truthfulness than generous in their appreciation. England has been\nentrusted with the work of leading that great people of the Orient,\npolitically and socially, into a larger and higher life. This, by a\nstrange Providence, has been entrusted to her in consequence of her\nconquest of that people seven thousand miles away and seven times her own\npopulation. So also has America been favoured with a fair share of\nopportunity and of influence as the moral supporter of England in this\nunique and unprecedented work. And, while England by the nature of her\ncompact, or conquest, is somewhat handicapped in this task, so far as her\nreligious influence upon the people is concerned, America has free access\nand ample entrance into the heart of the community because of her\ndisinterested and unrestrained relationship to them.\n\nHer voice to India has always been the voice of a constraining altruism.\nAll her endeavours in that land have been the outgoings of a world-wide\nphilanthropy and of Christian self-denial. Therefore, she has been free\nand unencumbered in all her ambitions for the uplifting of that people;\nand she has found the heartiest response and warmest appreciation from\nthose whom she has sought to bless. Consequently, that noble band of 1,000\nof her sons and daughters, who are today giving themselves to the\nsalvation of India; and the one million dollars sent forth annually to\nmaintain her work in that land, are fruitful in the highest good and in\nthe richest result in all parts of the land.\n\nWhile all this means a great achievement, it means also, and pre\u00ebminently,\na stirring opportunity. The widest door of opportunity is open to America\namong her antipodes in that historic land. Christian effort can nowhere\nelse find heartier welcome or results more encouraging and telling in the\ngreat gathering of eastern nations into the Kingdom of our Lord.\n\n\n\n\n\n                               Chapter XI.\n\n\nMISSIONARY RESULTS\u2014(CONTINUED)\n\n\n1. THE LEAVEN OF CHRISTIANITY.\n\nOur Lord compared his Kingdom to the mustard seed which grew into a tree.\nThis wonderful growth and development of his Kingdom we considered in the\nlast chapter. He compared it also to the leaven which was placed in the\nmeal and which leavened the whole lump. We shall now consider the\nleavening or assimilating work of his Kingdom as at present witnessed in\nIndia.\n\nIf a man were to ask me, \u201cwherein do you find the most encouragement as a\nChristian worker in India?\u201d I would doubtless reply:\u2014not in the Church and\ncommunity gathered by the missions, but outside of the Christian fold, in\nthe institutions, and among the non-Christians, of the land. It is not in\nthe fields already harvested (though much of joy and promise we certainly\nfind there), but in the fields whitening for the harvest, that we see the\nlargest hope for the ultimate conquest of that great people by Christ.\n\nThere are in India, at present, a thousand results, movements and\ntendencies which, to the thoughtful, watchful, Christian worker, bespeak\nthe rapid coming of the Kingdom of Christ, even though their testimony is\nnot heard through mission statistical tables, and though their activity is\nfound mostly outside the visible pale of the Church.\n\nI appreciate the fact that, when we begin to consider these results which\nlie outside the life and organization of the Christian community, we need\nmuch discernment and discrimination, lest we ascribe to Christianity alone\nan influence and an efficiency which it only shares with Western thought\nand civilization. But it is not only impossible to separate these forces,\nin our endeavour to estimate the share of each in the results achieved;\nwestern thought and civilization, both in their origin and development,\nare themselves as much the product as they are the expression of\nChristianity; so that we need not hesitate much in ascribing to our faith\nall the results which the combined energy of these have produced in that\nland.\n\nAnother discrimination is here necessary. In the last chapter we dwelt,\nalmost exclusively, upon Protestant missionary activity and results. These\nwe were able to measure chiefly through the concentrated activity and\npublished statistical reports of Protestant Missions. But, in considering\nthe more indirect and general results there achieved we must not forget\nthat they must be ascribed to all the Christian agencies at work in that\nland. I believe that Protestant Christianity is much the largest Christian\npower among all the forces that make for the redemption of India. And yet\nit would be presumptuous and unjust not to recognize the strenuous\nactivity and pervasive influence of Roman Catholicism in the land. I am\nconvinced that that great historic Church, with all its errors and false\nmethods, is nevertheless a positive and a mighty power in the\ndissemination of Christian thought and principles in India. In the results\nwhich I am about to mention, this and all other Christian agencies have\nhad their share.\n\nSome of these activities, indeed, _seem_ to come directly from none of the\norganized agencies of Christianity in the land. But they are only\napparently so. They are among the thousand subtle influences which work in\na quiet way in the minds and life of the people and which suddenly, from\ntime to time, break upon our sight through their results. An illustration\nof this kind occurred not long ago. It is said that one of the vernacular\nversions of the Gospels accidentally fell into the hands of a Mohammedan\nMoulvi, or teacher, in North India. It had been prepared and published by\nthe Bible Society. The Mussulman read the book with eagerness, chiefly\nwith a view to find new arguments against the divinity of our Lord and the\nheavenly source of our faith. But, as he read, he was so impressed with\nthe wonderful narrative and the unique beauty of the character of our\nLord, that he surrendered himself to him as his Saviour and found in him\npeace and rest. Sometime later he met a Hindu fakir, named Chet Ram, who\nwas earnestly in search of the truth. The Mohammedan convert joyfully told\nhim of his newly found Saviour and gave him his copy of the New Testament\nthat he might find for himself the same blessing. The Holy Spirit carried\nthe Gospel message of life into his heart also, and he accepted Christ and\nat once began to preach him unto his friends and neighbours. This work he\nperformed faithfully; and he gathered around himself many who accepted his\nfollowing, short creed;\u2014\u201cI believe in Jesus Christ the Son of Mary and in\nthe Holy Ghost and in the Father to whom prayer should be made and in the\nBible through which salvation is to be received.\u201d Chet Ram died some time\nago; but there are today found, scattered through the villages of North\nIndia, thousands of his followers who subscribed to his brief creed and\nwho always carry upon their persons a copy of the Scriptures. So far as I\nknow, these people have never come into contact with Christian workers,\nbut have been led simply through a study of God\u2019s Word, under the guidance\nof God\u2019s Spirit, unto Christ the Saviour of the world.\n\nIt is one of the most encouraging facts connected with Christian influence\nin India that one so often and unexpectedly meets its manifestations in\nindividual life and institutions. Suddenly he comes across little streams\nof influence whose source may be unknown, but which do a great deal\ntowards fertilizing thought and producing a harvest of religious results\nthroughout the land.\n\nThe general subject of the influence of the West upon the East has been\nrecently raised in the very interesting and thought-provoking book on\n\u201cAsia and Europe\u201d by the English writer, Meredith Townsend. He stiffly\nmaintains that the West never has, and, probably, never will, seriously\nand permanently influence the East in thought and life. While there is a\nsemblance, yea an element, of truth in his contention, so far as the past\nis concerned, it fails to apply to the India of the present and must fall\nfar wide of the mark in the future. Many years have elapsed since the\nauthor of \u201cAsia and Europe\u201d left India; and he is not conversant, at first\nhand, with the mighty revolution which is taking place there at present.\nHe fails, for one thing, to appreciate the wonderful influence of modern\nscientific discovery as a unifier of all peoples and as the handmaid of\nwestern life and thought and of Christian conquest. I need refer only to\none of these modern agencies\u2014the telegraph. The election of Mr. McKinley\nas president of the United States was known to me in India before it was\nknown to nine-tenths of the population of this land.\n\nThe calamity which recently befell Galveston, Texas, was not only known to\nHindus, the very next day; the price of cotton went up in South India\nvillages as a consequence of that sad event. The generous offerings\nrecently contributed in America for the famine sufferers in India were\nactually distributed to them in food the next day after they were offered!\nCan these things, and a thousand like them, which enter into the every-day\ntransactions of East and West, have no permanent influence upon the\nrelations of these once remote but now neighbouring people? Isolation has\neverywhere given way to intercourse and mutual dependence; and that means\ncommunity of life and thought which produces fundamental action and\nreaction.\n\nUnder these new and marvellous conditions the former \u201cmental seclusion of\nIndia,\u201d so unduly emphasized by Mr. Townsend, is rapidly yielding and must\nutterly pass away. It will, however, not pass away simply because of the\ninfluence of the West upon the East, but rather because of the mutual\naction and reaction of East and West. The East will approach the West\nbecause, to a large extent, the West will have learned to appreciate, and\nto draw in sympathy towards, the East. Herein lies the secret of the\nfuture oneness, or at least of the communion, of the two great\nhemispheres.\n\nIndia is, therefore, in this matter, facing today such conditions as never\nbefore existed there; and these are to further considerably the work of\nrevolution which our religion is bringing to pass in that land, and which\nsuch pessimists as Mr. Townsend are wont to ignore.\n\nThat keen philosopher and high authority upon India, Sir Alfred Lyall, is\nright in his anticipation when he claims that India \u201cwill be carried\nswiftly through phases which have occupied long stages in the lifetime of\nother nations.\u201d\n\nConsidering, then, the leavening influences and the general results of our\nfaith in that land we shall see them in many institutions and departments\nof life.\n\n(_a_) In laws which the government of India has enacted during the last\ncentury.\n\nThere has been a steady conflict between the enlightened government of the\nwhite man and the inhuman customs of the people of that land. The\nChristian sentiment of the members of the government, and of other\nChristians outside of that circle, has ever rebelled against and sought to\nput down the grossest evils which obtain there.\n\nAnd the fact which we need to emphasize here is that these evils have been\ndirected and protected by Hinduism itself and are an integral part of its\nceremonies and teachings. Whenever the government has sought, by\nlegislation, to do away with these inhuman rites and customs it has been\nbitterly opposed by Hinduism and has been met by a general uprising of its\nfollowers against what they have called religious interference and\npersecution. Thus the suppression of Thuggism was a definite attack upon a\nreligious institution, for the Thuggs never committed a murder, save as a\npart of their worship of the goddess Bhowanee to whose service they had\ndedicated themselves and to which the blood of the innocent traveller (as\nthey thought) was the most welcome sacrifice its devotee could offer.\nHence the difficulty which faced the government in bringing these\nreligious murders to an end.\n\nSuttee was also regarded as a high type of religious devotion. For the\nwidow to immolate herself upon the funeral pyre of her dead husband was\nnot only the supreme test of wifely devotion, it was also pre\u00ebminently the\nhighest religious act possible to her; and it brought to her a future\nbliss which was painted in glowing and attractive colours by the sacred\nbooks of her faith. It was not strange, therefore, that the State\nhesitated, for a long time, to abolish by law this hideous custom, whereby\nin the year 1817, for instance, two widows were burned daily in the Bengal\nPresidency alone.\n\nIt was in the face of extensive protest and threats by orthodox Hindus\nthat the government abolished it. \u201cPrevious to 1857, 150 human sacrifices\nare said to have been annually offered in Gumsur, a city in East Central\nIndia; and the abolition of that horrible custom raised such a storm of\nopposition among the Hindus that an eight years\u2019 war was the result. More\nthan 2,000 victims were rescued from sacrifice and handed over to the care\nof the missionaries.\u201d In like manner infanticide was encouraged for\ncenturies in the land as an act of religious devotion which was possessed\nof great efficacy. In the name of religion and with the promise of its\nhighest blessings mothers were led to feed the crocodiles of the sacred\nGanges by throwing to them their own infants.\n\nIt seems hardly possible that human beings could regard the prohibition of\nthat inhuman and unnatural act as a piece of injustice and an interference\nwith the rights of conscience. And yet it was so regarded!\n\nNot fewer than twenty laws have thus been enacted in that land, during the\nlast century, with a view to putting an end to religious customs which\nrobbed thousands of people, annually, of life itself and deprived many\nthousands more of the most elementary and inalienable rights of human\nbeings. So it has become penal to do any one of the following things, all\nof which were regarded as expressions of the highest religious devotion\nand were committed with the sanction of the ancestral faith and under the\ninspiration of its benediction: to burn widows; to expose parents to death\non the banks of the Ganges; to offer up human sacrifice; to murder\nchildren, either by throwing them into the Ganges, or by the Rajpoot\nsecret method of infanticide; to encourage men to throw away their lives\nunder temple cars and in other ways of religious devotion; to encourage\nvarious forms of voluntary self-torture and self-mutilation; to outrage\ngirls under a certain age.\n\nHow much hath the Spirit of Christ wrought in that land during the century\nby saving the lives of millions of poor innocent creatures from the\nravages of a savage faith and an inhuman religious devotion!\n\nThus, in India today the laws protect the people, old and young, from the\nold murderous customs of its religion, and gives a sanctity to life and a\nprotection to the innocent and a check to the mad, suicidal tendency of\nthe religious fanatic, such as India never before knew. And all this has\nbeen done in the teeth of their religion and notwithstanding the\npersistent cries and protests of the religious leaders of the people.\n\nI have already mentioned the fact that the obscene and the impure have in\nmany ways been fostered by that faith, and that the government has thus\nfar been unable to find courage to apply to religious temples, symbols and\nrites that legislation which it has enacted against the obscene in\nliterature and in the ordinary life of the people. And yet, we are\nencouraged to find there this anomaly today,\u2014that men, for translating and\npublishing obscene portions of the Hindu scriptures, have been punished in\naccordance with this law. The day will, doubtless, soon come, it must\ncome, when this legislation against obscenity will be enforced without\nexception in favour of temple cars and sacred objects and rites.\n\nIn reference to caste observance the State has been more courageous and\nhas absolutely ignored class distinction among its subjects. No one who\nhas not lived in the East can realize how radical and important this\npolicy is in that land of class distinctions based upon religious\ninjunction and revelation. It seemed absurd and unrighteous to that people\nthat the august and sacred Brahman and the unclean and outcaste Pariah\nshould be regarded as equal before the law, and that a pauper should\nenjoy, with a prince, the same protection and blessings from the State.\nRegardless of immemorial custom and religious injunction, the government\nhas become the great leveller\u2014it has ignored entirely, in all the rights\nand privileges which it has to confer, every caste distinction and class\nprivilege and disability which Hinduism had created and sacredly\nmaintained for centuries. And it adheres stiffly to its Christian\nprinciple of the equal rights of all its subjects.\n\n(_b_) Moreover, Hinduism itself is being gradually transformed under the\nsearch-light of a present Christianity.\n\nNot only has it been compelled, from without, to give up some of its\ninhuman practices, it has also voluntarily, from very shame, relinquished\nsome of its grossest evils.\n\nThere is a very interesting conflict now going on in Hinduism\u2014between the\nultra-conservatives and the progressives. This latter class is composed\nalmost entirely of men who have been educated in mission and government\nschools, and who have been influenced by Christian light and life.\n\nI do not expect much from a Christianized Hinduism any more than I do from\na Hinduized Christianity. And yet we cannot be unmindful of, nor\nungrateful for, that growing sense of shame which leads that faith to\nconceal, if not to abandon entirely, some of its worst crimes against man\nand to adorn itself in such a way that it may not too violently shock the\nsensibilities of a people who are living under the growing light of a\nChristian civilization.\n\nThis is what the ancestral faith of India is now intent upon doing, at\nleast so far as the changing situation compels. The influence of educated\nHindus upon the pundits and other religious guides of the land is\nincreasing annually, and is steadily in favour of religious reform and of\na broad and enlightened interpretation of Shastraic deliverances upon\nreligious customs. For example, a few years ago, sea voyages were strictly\nprohibited to all Hindus. No exceptions were allowed and excommunication\nwas the inevitable penalty for the violation of this religious injunction.\nToday hundreds of Hindus, impelled by an ambition for the best education\nand for a broad culture, annually travel to England and to other foreign\nlands. Though some of those men are punished for their temerity in defying\nthis sacred injunction of their faith, it is remarkable how many pundits\narise to defend such travel and to reduce the opprobrium which overtakes a\nsea-travelled man. Indeed, every year adds to the ease with which such a\nman can avoid punishment for going abroad.\n\nUntil recently, Hinduism had no way of reinstating a man who had deserted\nhis ancestral faith and had thereby broken caste. Today this subject is up\nfor discussion, and many of the religious leaders are pointing to passages\nfrom their Scriptures which justify such a reinstatement and are showing\nmethods by which it can be effected. In consequence of this not a few\nback-sliding Christians have recently found an open door to reenter their\nancestral faith. This is an important move; but I doubt whether it will\ncause Christians to lose any converts save those who are not sincere and\nwho would therefore be better outside than within the Christian Church.\n\nA generation ago few Hindus in the villages of the land would fail to\ndefend polytheism and idolatry as an essential part of their faith. At\npresent the Christian preacher, as he travels among these same people,\nfinds universal assent to his declaration concerning the unity of God. I\nhave hardly met one villager in the land who maintains today that there\nare really \u201cgods many.\u201d Polytheism is not defended but explained away, and\nidolatry, it is claimed, is only an accommodation\u2014a kind of religious\nkindergarten\u2014for the sake of the very ignorant, and \u201cfor women and\nchildren.\u201d But of course, pantheism is the Hindu\u2019s conception of the\ndivine unity.\n\nWhenever an educated Hindu defends his faith, in an argument with a\nChristian, he never quotes as scriptural authority the more recent\nwritings of their faith\u2014the Tantras and Puranas, which are the storehouse\nof legend and myth, of myriad rites and customs and are the refuge and joy\nof the orthodox and conservative pandits;\u2014he discards these and falls back\nupon the most ancient writings, which are the exponents of nature worship\nand of vedantic philosophy. Or he will extol the Bhagavat Gita, which is\nan eclectic attempt to unify and approve the conflicting philosophies of\nBrahmanism.\n\nIn these, and in many other ways, Hinduism finds today new presentation\nand defence. It is not the thing it used to be. And yet in matters of\nfundamental importance it is and will remain unchanged. In some respects\nthese changes make that ancient faith less vulnerable to attack. In the\nwords of Doctor Robson,\u2014\u201cThe influence of Christianity upon Hinduism has\nbeen rather to strengthen its rival by forcing it to abandon certain\npositions which weakened it, and bringing it more into accordance with\nnatural religion. But Hinduism remains the same. The contest is coming to\nbe between the ultimate principles of the two religions, and these are\nirreconcilable.\u201d(14) Yes, it will be a good day for Christianity when the\ngreat contest is thus narrowed down, and when the deepest teachings of the\ntwo faiths will be placed in clear and simple juxtaposition.\n\nOne serious source of danger in this controversy lies in the Neo-Hinduism\nwhich interprets Hinduism in the light of Christian truth and modern\nthought. Hindus formerly maintained that the teachings of Christianity\nwere false. Now they tell us that most of its truths were taught by their\nown faith even before the Christian era! Through the allegories of their\nShastras, and under the guidance of the fertile imagination of that\nEnglishwoman, Mrs. Besant, they find equally the best Christian truth and\nmost recent results of modern scientific discovery taught by their ancient\nscriptures! Mrs. Besant has even discovered that the ten incarnations of\nVishnu are based on strict evolution principles and follow that order.\n\nShe claims, indeed, that many of the most recent discoveries in the\nphysical universe were anticipated and promulgated three millenniums ago\nby Hindu rishis. This of course is a method of insanity which will soon\ngive way to a newer craze. For the present it helps to evade or confuse\nthe issue in certain minds; but as it is in itself a substitution of\nnonsense for argument and reason it will not long deceive any one, not\neven the poor Hindu.\n\nAnd just as, under the present Christian r\u00e9gime, Hinduism is rapidly being\ntransformed, no less truly does the Mohammedan faith undergo change. There\nis a new Islam arising in India. That faith cannot be preserved in its\nrigid integrity under the \u00e6gis of a Christian government; therefore in\nIndia the faith of the great Arabian prophet has undergone marked\ntransformation during the last century and a half. Its religious leaders\nthere are rationalists who scrutinize and criticise the Koran with the\nboldness of the higher critics of the Bible. They both urge that the Koran\nhas no permanent authority on moral questions, and also insist upon\nprogress in all religious matters.(15)\n\nThis young Mohammedan party of progress have found a vigorous leader in\nJudge Amir Ali Sahib, a brilliant writer, who hesitates not to explain\naway or antagonize all those teachings of his faith which lie athwart the\npath of progress and enlightenment.\n\nHe avows, in his book on \u201cThe Spirit of Islam,\u201d that his purpose is to\nassist \u201cthe Muslims of India to achieve intellectual and moral\nregeneration under the auspices of the Great European Power that now holds\ntheir destiny in its hands.\u201d \u201cThe reformers,\u201d he further writes, \u201care\ncongratulated that the movement set on foot is conducted under a neutral\ngovernment.\u201d Thus a Mussulman writer declares that the highest reforms can\nbest be conducted under a Christian government!\n\nAll this is illustrative of that leavening influence of our faith as it\ncomes into contact with and permeates the spirit and teaching of these and\nother religions of that land.\n\n(_c_) Another marked result of Christianity in that country is seen in the\nattitude of many thousands of Hindus who live contiguous to the Christian\ncommunities found there.\n\nIn the first place we see it among the common people. I have already\nreferred to mass movements which have largely helped to strengthen the\nChristian Church in the past. Those movements have only just begun; they\nwill continue and increase in the land. Day by day Christianity is\ncommending itself to the people in a thousand ways. In times of famine,\nwhen the old religious leaders of the people\u2014the Brahmans\u2014render no help\nand manifest no sympathy, yea more, are as rapacious as ever, the loving\nsympathy of Christians there and in far off lands, and their outgoing\ncharity and their substantial help to the famine stricken and the\nsuffering\u2014all this does not fall in vain upon the susceptible mind of the\npeople.\n\nThis work of Christianity in uniting the world through brotherhood and\nsympathy seems wonderful to a people who are crushed and robbed by the\nwretched divisiveness of their own terrible caste system. They recognize\nalso the truth and the life which Christianity presents in contrast with\nthe debasing idolatry and the senseless, all-pervasive ceremonialism which\nhaunt them.\n\nIt is not surprising therefore that we see, not only certain mass\nmovements towards our faith but also, on the outskirts of the Christian\ncommunity in every district, a growing number of doubting, halting\nones\u2014those who have done with their ancestral faith and who are attracted\nby the religion of Christ, but who are so much afraid of the terrible\ndemon, caste, that they dare not openly accept Christ and unite with God\u2019s\npeople through baptism. They linger on the outside, hoping for some great\ntide of influence to come, soon, to carry them, without persecution, into\nthe kingdom. Their attitude of mind is encouraging, and the missionary\nhopes for the day which will furnish the strength and opportunity for this\ngreat host of weak and doubting ones to make its decision for Christ and\nto enter, in ever-increasing numbers, into His Kingdom.\n\nI have come into daily, close touch with many men and women of this class.\nThey, at the same time, encourage and exasperate one. They give evidence\nof the strong influence of our faith upon them\u2014they have ceased to visit\nHindu temples, they decline to worship the family and tribal gods, they\nlose no opportunity to denounce the idolatry and superstitions which have\ndebased them, and they always speak to their friends a warm word for\nChristianity and often attend its meetings in their village. But there\nthey continue to stand. They are the slaves of caste fear and of social\ninertia. While, however, they stand and wait they often say the word and\ngive the encouragement which enable others to accept Christ openly and to\nenter the Christian fold.\n\nThey are also always glad to send their children to our schools and are\nwilling to have them instructed in the truth and guided into the life of\nour faith. They often contribute towards the support of Christian pastor\nor teacher, and in various other ways evince their sympathy and reveal\ntheir intellectual assent.\n\nFor instance:\u2014In Tinnevelly there is a hall built by such a Hindu to\ncommemorate the late Queen Victoria, in which lectures and entertainments\nare held. Christian ministers are frequently asked to pray at these\ngatherings; and former years have witnessed requests by the donor for\nprayer, from well-known ministers and bishops. Such appreciation of\nChristian worship is very pleasing, particularly as the proprietor is a\nmember of a committee that has the oversight of nearly 300 Sivite temples\nin the district.\n\nThey also show their appreciation of the medical work of Christian\nmissions. In the city of Madura stands one of the finest hospitals in the\ncountry. It is the property of the American Board, but was erected, at an\nexpense of $14,000 by members of the orthodox Hindu community as a\nmonument of their appreciation of the mission physician and of their\nconfidence in the mission and its work.\n\n(_d_) Another marked feature of the religious life of India, at present,\nis the existence there of several new cults or religions. They not only\nadd picturesqueness to the religious situation, they also reveal the\nunrest of the people and their desire for something better than the\northodox faith of their fathers furnishes them.\n\n              [Illustration: Sacred Tank In Madura Temple.]\n\n        [Illustration: Hospital For Men, American Madura Mission.]\n\nHaving become dissatisfied and disgusted with their ancestral religion,\nthey are striving in every possible way, short of being Christians, to\nseek for something better and higher. This is what we should expect. In\nthe many schools and colleges of the land the subtle metaphysics of the\nEast is supplanted by the modern philosophy of the West; their own\nbewildering ancient rules of logic are replaced by the more rational\nprocesses of the West. So that every university matriculate and graduate\nof India is today crammed with ideas, and trained in methods of thinking,\nwhich make a belief in practical Hinduism and in much of its philosophy an\nimpossibility, if not an absurdity.\n\nThus we see in that land today a number of movements and organizations\nwhich are a protest against orthodox Hinduism and are carrying the people,\nin thought and sympathy, from the past to the present, from the old to the\nnew. Most of these movements are merely half-way houses between Hinduism\nand Christianity. They are with faces more or less turned towards the\nlight and possess the progressive spirit which, in some cases, cannot fail\nof landing their members, at no distant date in the Christian fold. For\ninstance, we have in western India the _Prartanei Somaj_ (prayer society);\nin north India the _Arya Somaj_ (Aryan society), and in Bengal the _Brahmo\nSomaj_ (society of God).\n\nThese are healthy movements, away from a general, old-fashioned view of\nreligious things. Take, for example, the Brahmo Somaj. Though not as large\nin membership as the Arya Somaj it represents more culture and power.\nNearly all the members are men of education and of western training, and\nrepresent much more influence than their number (4,000) would suggest.\nTheir new faith is an eclecticism. It has adopted a little of Hinduism and\nof Buddhism and of Mohammedanism and a great deal of Christianity. The\nmovement, especially that progressive branch which was under the\nleadership of Protab Chunder Mozumdar, is largely Christian in drift and\nspirit. Mozumdar accepts Christ, though not in the fullness of belief in\nHis divinity or in His atoning work; nevertheless with an amount of\nappreciation, affection, devotion and loyalty not met even among many\nWestern Christians today. His book on \u201cThe Oriental Christ\u201d is full of\nappreciation and reveals a wonderful knowledge of the eastern Christ from\nan Eastern standpoint. I shall not be surprised to see the members of this\nsociety landing, at an early date, through a full confession of Christ, in\nmembership of the Christian Church.\n\nIn the meanwhile it is disappointing to find this organization divided,\nalready, into so many mutually antagonistic sects. It is also a reason for\nregret that Mozumdar, who is a man of great culture, intelligence and deep\nspiritually, has recently relinquished the leadership of the movement.\nHaving retired to the Himalayas, he communicates his reasons in these\ntruly oriental, pathetic and pessimistic words:\n\n\u201cAge and sickness get the better of me in these surroundings, I cannot\nwork as I would\u2014contemplation is distracted, concentration disturbed,\nthough I struggle ever so much. These solitudes are hospitable; these\nbreadths, heights and depths are always suggestive. I acquire more spirit\nwith less struggle, hence I retire.\n\n\u201cMy thirst for the higher life is growing so unquenchable that I need the\ntime and the grace to re\u00ebxamine and purify and reform every part of my\nexistence. The Spirit of God promises me that grace if I am alone. So let\nme alone.\n\n\u201cThe rich are so vain and selfish, the poor are so insolent and mean, that\nhaving respect for both I prefer to go away from them.\n\n\u201cThe learned think so highly of themselves, the ignorant are so full of\nhatred and uncharitableness, that having good will for both I prefer to\nhide myself from all.\n\n\u201cThe religious are so exclusive, the sceptical so self-sufficient that it\nis better to be away from both.\n\n\u201cWhere are the dead? Have not they too retired? I wish my acquaintance\nwith the dead should grow, that my communion with them should be\nspontaneous, perpetual, unceasing. I will invoke them and wait for them in\nmy hermitage.\n\n\u201cWhat is life? Is it not a fleeting shadow, the graveyard of dead hopes,\nthe battlefield of ghastly competitions, the playground of delusions,\nseparations, cruel changes and disappointments? I have had enough of\nthese. And now with the kindliest love for all, I must prepare and\nsanctify myself for the great Beyond, where there is solution for so many\nproblems, and consolation for so many troubles....\u201d\n\nThis seems an unworthy ending to a very worthy life. And yet a movement\nwhich has created two such men as Chunder Sen and Protab Mozumdar is a\ncompliment to Christianity and has a mission before it. But it must\nundergo many changes ere it can exercise a commanding influence in the\nland.\n\nA much more popular movement is the Arya Somaj. The recent census reports\n40,000 members of this organization. If Brahmo Somaj represents the\nworking of that Hindu mind which has been imbued with European culture and\nChristian thought towards a solution of its religious doubts and problems;\nthe Arya Somaj represents a strong Theistic movement springing forth out\nof Hinduism itself. This latter movement is possessed of unwonted vigour\nand has a future before it. The founder of this Somaj was Dyanand\nSarasvati, a Brahman who was born about the year 1825. He was a man of\nmuch thought and of deep religious interest. He was entirely ignorant of\nthe English language. He broke with orthodox Hinduism after reading the\nChristian Scriptures. And yet he also attacked the character of Jesus. He\naccepted the Hindu Vedas as Scriptures, but interpreted them so freely\nthat he was able to find in them all that he desired of religious reform.\nHe vigorously opposed caste.\n\nThe following are some of the principles of the Arya Somaj:\n\n1. God is the primary source of all true knowledge.\n\n2. God is perfect in all His attributes and should be worshipped.\n\n3. The Vedas are the books of true knowledge.\n\n4. The caste system is a human invention and is evil.\n\n5. Early marriage is prohibited.\n\nThe movement has assumed the aspect of a sect of Hinduism. But some of its\nfundamental contentions are so directly antagonistic to most cherished\ninstitutions of Hinduism that it is a mighty disintegrator of that\nreligion in the land.\n\nIt must be confessed that the Arya Somaj is, in its present spirit,\nanti-Christian. It champions the cause of home religion in the East as\nagainst the aggression of the great rival, Christianity. But the teachers\nof our faith in India find encouragement equally in the hostility of this\nmovement and in its co\u00f6peration in a common attack upon modern Hinduism.\nAny movement, that effectively calls the attention of the people to the\nweakness and defects of its ancestral religion, cannot fail, in that very\nprocess, to invite their attention to the claims of its rival,\nChristianity.\n\nThe chief function of all these movements is to reveal the general\nreligious interest of the people. Indeed, they forward greatly the spirit\nof discontent towards the ancestral faith. And while they do this, they\nthemselves furnish a no more satisfying or soul-inspiring substitute. And\nin this way they emphasize the need of a new faith and draw the thought of\nmany to the new supplanting religion of the Christ. Chunder Sen, even\ntwenty years ago, declared that, \u201cNone but Jesus, none but Jesus, none but\nJesus is worthy to wear this diadem, India, and He shall have it.\u201d Yes,\neven through such movements as the Brahmo Somaj, Christ is winning India\nfor himself.\n\nThe educated classes of India are largely permeated and influenced by\nWestern thought. They may not be inclined to join any of the reform\nmovements which I have mentioned; but they are now thinking on absolutely\ndifferent lines from those of their ancestors fifty years ago. The\ndissemination of Western literature, and especially the conduct of so many\nChristian schools have done more, perhaps, than any other thing to create\nan intellectual ferment and to produce a revolution of thought in all\nparts of the land.\n\nOne cannot unduly emphasize the importance of Christian schools in India.\nThe government schools and the Hindu institutions of learning are\nacknowledged to be the hot-beds of rationalism and of unbelief. They not\nonly furnish no religious instruction to the youth, they too often give\nthe impression that all religion is a mere superstition and is unworthy of\nbeing taught.\n\nTo such an extent is this trend and influence observable that the\ngovernment experiences much concern, coupled with an expressed, though\nvague, desire, that this evil be arrested by the introduction, into all\npublic schools, of some method of imparting at least the fundamental\nprinciples of religion. But to discover the method of accomplishing this,\nwithout violating the principle of religious neutrality, seems beyond its\npower.\n\nIn the meanwhile mission schools have a grand sphere opened to them on\nthis line. They are not only a common agency, with governmental and all\nother higher institutions, in the work of undermining and destroying vain\ncredulity and the whole brood of superstitions which are legion in India;\nthey are also a positive and constructive force in the impartation of\nthose principles of morality and teachings of religion which will ennoble\nlife here and hereafter. And in this connection it should not be forgotten\nthat all mission schools\u2014higher and lower\u2014enjoy unlimited opportunity to\nteach, daily, to all their students God\u2019s Word and to apply its principles\nand its saving message to the minds of the half million students who are\nbeing trained by them.\n\nI desire to emphasize again the importance of all these schools as the\nmost potent agency, apart from the native Church itself, in the\ntransformation of the thought and life of India. It is a noteworthy fact\nthat the only statue erected to a missionary in India was that recently\nunveiled by the Governor of Madras in the city of Madras to Dr. Wm.\nMiller. This noble missionary educator has wrought mightily, through his\ngreat institution in Madras, for the upbuilding of Christian truth in the\nminds of Christian and non-Christian youth alike. And this statue is a\nunique tribute of gratitude from his \u201cold boys\u201d\u2014most of them still Hindus,\nindeed\u2014to the man who has been instrumental in opening before them the\nbroad vistas of Western thought and of Christian truth and life. But more\nenduring than marble will abide the blessed results which he and his\ncolabourers have wrought in the thought and life of the more than 2,000\ngraduates who have been educated by them. Of these there are 1,800 who\nrepresent the Hindus of thought and culture in South India at present.\nSuch is the influence of one Christian school.\n\nIf the work of the thousands of village Christian schools is more humble\nin its aim it is much more pervasive in its reach, and it marvellously\ndirects thought and inspires life in remote villages.\n\nTwelve years ago I opened one little primary school in a small unlettered\nheathen village. Ten bright Hindu boys sought instruction at the hands of\nthe devout old Christian teacher placed there. Today these boys have grown\ninto manhood and, with one or two exceptions, have entered into the\nChristian life and have been formed into a Christian congregation. They\nare not only intelligent, but firm and beautiful in their new-found\nChristian hope. Moreover, the whole village is permeated with Christian\ntruth and it resounds with the appeal of our faith. In this way have come\ninto existence many of the best and strongest congregations of the\nChristian Church in India.\n\nBut, to return to the educated class in India. We have considered already\nits attitude of mind towards the supplanting religion of Jesus.\n\n                [Illustration: Madras Christian College.]\n\n                 [Illustration: Bombay Railway Station.]\n\nTheir opposition to Christianity, as it is now presented to them, I can\nappreciate. They are beginning, for the first time, to think seriously and\nphilosophically about religion. They are, more than ever before, impatient\nwith their past, and annoyed with the inadequacy of their present faith.\nIt is not strange if this feeling is shown in their attitude towards the\nonly supplanting faith. In this matter they are on the way to light and\ntruth. The under-current is strongly right and in the direction of an\nenlightened and an enlightening religion. They are more earnestly in quest\nof truth than ever before. Moreover it is not substantive Christianity,\nbut adjectival Christianity\u2014the too Western type of our faith\u2014which\narouses their antagonism. And I must again express my belief that, before\nChristianity is to gain universal acceptance by the people of India, it\nmust be dissociated from many Western ideas and practices which seem to us\nessential even to its very life. When we learn to forget our antecedents\nand prejudices and to study well the Hindu mind and its tendency, then\nperhaps shall we be prepared to present a Christianity which will commend\nitself universally to that land. The Rev. G. T. E. Slater in his new book,\nwisely emphasized this same need.\n\n\u201cThe West,\u201d he says, \u201chas to learn from the East, and the East from the\nWest. The questions raised by the Vedanta will have to pass into\nChristianity if the best minds of India are to embrace it; and the Church\nof the \u2018farther East\u2019 will doubtless contribute something to the thought\nof Christendom, of the science of the soul, and of the omnipenetrativeness\nand immanence of Deity.\u201d(16)\n\nBut the most encouraging aspect of this question is the present attitude\nof the mind of educated India towards Christ himself.\n\nListen to the words of an orthodox Hindu in a recent lecture delivered to\nhis fellow Hindus:\u2014\u201cHow can we,\u201d he says, \u201cbe blind to the greatness, the\nunrivalled splendour of Jesus Christ. Behind the British Empire and all\nEuropean Powers lies the single great personality\u2014the greatest of all\nknown to us\u2014of Jesus Christ. He lives in Europe and America, in Asia and\nAfrica as King and Guide and Teacher. He lives in our midst. He seeks to\nrevivify religion in India. We owe everything, even this deep yearning\ntowards our own ancient Hinduism, to Christianity.\u201d\n\nAll former antipathy to, and depreciation of Jesus, our Lord, have given\nway to appreciation and admiration. They vie with each other in a study of\nHis life and regard Him as the only perfect Exemplar of man. That great\nland which has never found in its old faith an ideal of life is now\nfinding it in our blessed Lord. This movement towards Him is remarkable.\nThey are enthroning Him in their imagination and are drawing Him to their\nhearts.\n\nA Braham friend of mine\u2014a devout Hindu, a university graduate, a barrister\nand a leader of the Hindu community, requested me to purchase for him a\npocket copy of Thomas a Kempis\u2019 \u201cImitation of Christ.\u201d He possessed a\nlarge copy, but desired a small one which he could carry with him and\ncould use for devotional purposes on his journeys. Some of his friends\nsought other copies through him. Thus they bought all the copies that I\ncould find for sale in South India. He also asked me to buy for him a copy\nof Dr. Sheldon\u2019s book, \u201cIn His Steps.\u201d\n\nI bought four dozen copies and sold all to Brahmans and to native\nChristians. One of our pastors bought a copy. He soon handed it to a\nBrahman friend\u2014a government official and a university graduate\u2014requesting\nhim to read it. This he did, and, returning with the book a few days\nlater, he earnestly said\u2014\u201cSir, why don\u2019t you bring us more such books as\nthis. We also want to know more of Christ and to follow \u2018In His Steps.\u2019 \u201d\n\nIndeed, I find a wonderful eagerness among Hindus of culture to know all\nthat can be known about the life and teaching of our Lord, even though\nthey are not prepared to accept his atonement as their salvation. The same\nfact is true among the common people. There are not a few who believe that\nthe tenth\u2014that is, the coming\u2014incarnation of Vishnu (Kalki avatar) refers\nto Christ. A Hindu Saivite devotee told me once that they proposed soon to\nplace in their monastery an image of Christ (as they had one of Vishnu)\nand thus render to Him worship in common with the others. I am confident\nthat Hindus, all but unanimously, would, today, vote to give him a place\nin their pantheon and a share in their worship, if Christians would accede\nto this. \u201cDid we not,\u201d they say, \u201cthus appropriate Buddha, the arch-enemy\nof Brahmanism, twenty-five centuries ago, and make him the ninth\nincarnation of Vishnu? And why should we not regard Christ, also, as the\ntenth \u2018descent\u2019 of our beloved Vishnu.\u201d\n\nI deem this trend towards Christ, and it is marked especially among the\neducated in all parts of India, as the greatest encouragement to the\nChristian worker in that land today.\n\nI care not so much whether they accept our faith in its Western form and\nspirit, so long as I see them growing in their appreciation of, and\ndevotion to the Christ. Through Him I am sure they will pass on to some\nouter expression or other of their faith in Him\u2014an expression which will\ndoubtless correspond with their own oriental turn of thought and life.\n\nCONCLUSION.\n\nThus, whether we look at the growing Christian community and its many\ncheering features of life and of activity; or whether we study the\nnon-Christian community and all the social and national institutions of\nthat land, we find large encouragement and a rich assurance of the speedy\ncoming of the Kingdom of our Lord.\n\nNearly a century ago\u2014the very time in which America, through the America\nBoard, sent its first missionaries to that great land\u2014the Directors of the\nEast India Company placed on record their sentiments in the following\nwords:\n\n\u201cThe sending of Christian missionaries to our Eastern possessions is the\nmaddest, most expensive, most unwarranted project that was ever proposed\nby a lunatic enthusiast.\u201d This was, at that time, the conviction and the\nconfession of the English rulers of India. It was the voice of unbelief\nand the declaration of defiant opposition. How different the attitude and\nthe words of Sir Rivers Thompson; the Lieutenant Governor of Bengal, near\nthe close of that same century. \u201cIn my judgment,\u201d he says, \u201cChristian\nmissionaries have done more real and lasting good to the people of India\nthan all other agencies combined.\u201d Certainly, a no more competent witness\nthan he, and a no more conclusive evidence than his, could be desired.\n\nIn my compound in South India, for a quarter of a century, a date palm\ntree grew and flourished. Years later a seed was carried by a bird and\ndropped at the foot of this palm tree. It was the seed of the sacred _boh_\ntree. It also sprouted and its slender, subtle shoot wound round the\nsturdy palm. Every year it grew higher until it finally towered above the\ndate palm; and the higher it grew the more its winding stem thickened; and\nas it thickened it began to tighten its grip upon the other tree. That\ngrip, so weak and innocent at first, soon became to the palm tree a grip\nof death. For every day so added to the encircling power of the _boh_ tree\nthat, about three years ago, it completely enshrouded and killed the palm.\nToday that _boh_ tree stands alone, indicating, by its spiral form, where\nthe unfortunate palm found its death; and it stretches forth its beautiful\nbranches in rich verdure and in welcome shade to all who seek refuge from\nthe heat of the tropical sun.\n\nThis is only a parable of the struggle which is witnessed in India today.\nFor many centuries the tree of Brahmanism has flourished. It covers that\nwhole land. But at its very root has been sown the seed of God\u2019s Word and\nthere is growing out of it, in its beauty and strength, the sacred tree of\nour Faith. Already it has the old tree in its almighty grip. The work of\ndeath is progressing and the final issue is sure.\n\nBut it will not transpire in a day. The victory will come, is now coming.\n\nBut the resources of Hinduism are legion, and its strange fascination, to\nsome extent, continues. India, which is increasingly becoming Christ\u2019s in\nthought and ideals, will become his in worship and ritual, when his name\nshall be heard in every home throughout the land. But we need patience;\nand the grand result to be achieved is worthy of the noblest endurance and\nof the most patient waiting.\n\nChristian workers in that great land are faithfully labouring and\nhopefully waiting until the fruitful branches of the sacred tree of\nChristianity shall have spread over the whole land, so that its shade may\nbe the refuge of all souls in distress and its fruit shall abound for the\nhealing of all the nations of India.\n\nThe resources and the agencies of our Faith, which are now utilized for\nthe furtherance of the truth in that land, are already wonderfully varied\nand potent; but they are also increasing annually in prevailing power as\nin bewildering variety. Every Christian drawn from Hinduism and added to\nthe fold of Christ becomes, in himself, a force to draw and to win others\nto Christ. This power has already become the main agency in the growth of\nthe church, and its efficiency is to grow in geometric ratio as the years\nincrease.\n\nThe great need of India today is the power of the Holy Spirit of God. His\npeople must bring themselves much more into subjection to his Spirit, that\nthey may, the more fully, be the vehicles of His grace to others and the\nchannel of His power in the land. The dangers of God\u2019s Church are, and\nwill pre\u00ebminently be, dangers from within rather than from without. It is\nHinduism, godlessness and sin within which must be fought with an eternal\nvigilance and an uncompromising hostility. And for this a larger baptism\nwill mean a mighty fire of God kindled in the whole Church such as will\nburn all its dross and consume all opposition. And then shall we speedily\nwitness the great desire of our heart\u2014a happy, prosperous India, because\nit will be Emmanuel\u2019s land\u2014a part of the great Fold of Christ.\n\nThis consummation is as sure as God\u2019s own promises, for, in all his work,\nthe missionary is not only encouraged by results achieved and by\nassurances given, but also by the double promise of God. First he has the\npromise of the Father to the Son:\n\n\u201cAsk of me and I will give to thee the heathen for thine inheritance and\nthe uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.\u201d The Son _has_ asked\nand is seeking the possession of the earth; and in the confidence of his\nassurance he exclaims, \u201cAll authority is given unto me in heaven and in\nearth.\u201d And, to his waiting disciples, he adds, \u201cGo ye therefore and make\ndisciples of all nations.\u201d And with this all-embracing command he coupled\nthe all-satisfying promise, \u201cLo, I am with you always, even unto the end\nof the world.\u201d Amen.\n\n\n\n\n\nINDEX.\n\n\nAdministration, Mission, 264-286\n\nAdvaitha, 82\n\nAgency employed by Hinduism and Christianity, 89\n\nAgents, Mission, 304\n\nAims of the Two Faiths, 87\n\nAmerican Effort in India, 179, 329\n\nAmerican Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, 180\n\nAmerican Push, 187\n\nAmir Ali Sahib, 345\n\nAnglo-Saxon Effort in India, 172\n\nAppliances, Missionary, 300\n\nArmy, The, 44\n\nAryans, 15, 289, 316\n\nArya Somaj, 313, 315, 349, 351\n\nAsceticism of Hindus, 120\n\n\u201cAsia and Europe,\u201d 335\n\nAtchison, Sir Charles, 191\n\nAustralian Effort, 177\n\nAvatar, 79\n\nBanerjee, Kali Churn, 295, 316\n\nBanerjee, Dr. K. M., 316\n\nBanerjee, Surendra Nath, 51\n\nBaptism\u2014shall it be administered immediately upon confession? 290\n\nBaptism\u2014shall it be administered secretly? 291\n\nBaptism\u2014shall ladies administer? 292\n\nBaptists, American, 292, 309\n\nBarth, 69, 82, 94\n\nBasil Mission, 285\n\nBenevolence of Native Christians, 225\n\nBesant, Mrs. Annie, 344\n\nBhagavada Gita, 96, 124\n\nBhakti, Doctrine of, 76\n\nBible\u2014Influence of, 90\n\nBible, Translated, 178, 301\n\nBowen, Rev. George, 202\n\nBr\u00e2hm, 84\n\nBrahmo Somaj, 349\n\nBuddha, The, 59\n\nBuddhism, 54\n\nBurma, 181\n\nCanadian Effort, 188\n\nCarey, William, 173\n\nCaste, 26-107, 124\n\nCaste and Government, 340\n\nCaste in the Church, 131, 171, 270, 271\n\nCeremonialism, 121, 122\n\nChaitanya, 65\n\nCharacter of Native Christians, 320\n\nChild Marriages, 25, 154\n\nChristian Community, The, 307\n\nChristian Science, 293\n\nChristian Schools, 354\n\nChristianity and Hinduism Contrasted, 80\n\nChunder Sen, 150\n\nChurch Missionary Society, 174\n\nClarke, Dr. W. N., 267\n\nClimates of India, 14\n\nComparison of present and past Methods of Work, 188\n\nComparative Religion, 209\n\nContrast of the two Faiths, 88\n\nContrast of the two Races, 46\n\nConverts\u2014from what Social Strata? 315\n\nCo\u00f6peration among Missions, 238\n\nCoronation Address of Indian Christians, 86\n\nCredentials of Hinduism and Christianity, 183\n\nDanish, 173\n\nDemonolatry, 63\n\nDenmark, 168\n\nDirection of Missions, 234\n\nDiscipling the Nations, 266\n\nDress and Food of the Missionary, 199\n\nDu Bois, The Abbe, 200, 201\n\nDravidians, 15\n\nDrink Evil, The, 42\n\nDuff, Alexander, 175\n\nDutch, 178\n\nDutt, Toru, 322\n\nEast and West, 297\n\nEast India Company, 176, 180, 360\n\nEastern Thought, 141\n\nEconomic Conditions, 18\n\nEconomic Problems, 282\n\nEducated Classes and Christ, 357\n\nEducated Classes and Western Thought, 353, 356\n\nEducation, 27, 193, 248, 277, 280\n\nEducation of Christians, its Extent, 281\n\nEmancipation of Woman, 159\n\nEnglish Missions, 175\n\nEschatology, 75\n\nEthnic Faith, 109\n\nEuropean Effort in India, 178\n\nEvangelistic Department, 242\n\nEvolution, 264\n\nExclusive Spirit of Christianity, 108\n\nFaith Missions, 231\n\n\u201cFailure of Missions,\u201d 298\n\nFairbairn, Dr., 121\n\nFamily Life, 24\n\nFamine, 21\n\nFatalism, 122\n\nFrederick IV, King, 168\n\nGautama, 59\n\nGod, Doctrine of, 81\n\nGoreh, Miss, 322\n\nGovernment, The Educational Department of, 278\n\nGovernment of India, 37\n\nGovernment Service, 34\n\nGrain of India, 15\n\nHall, Stanley President, 281\n\nHaskell-Barrows Lectureship, 186\n\nHarris, Lord, 187\n\nHarrison, Ex-President Benjamin, 323\n\nHeavens and Hells of Hinduism, 88\n\nHindu Character, 125, 128\n\nHindu Joint Family System, 24, 133\n\nHinduism, 62\n\nHinduism Conservative, 107\n\nHinduism an Ethnic Faith, 109\n\nHinduism\u2014is it Tolerant? 310\n\nHinduism Transformed, 341\n\nHistory of Christianity in India, 163\n\nHopkins, 69\n\nHumility necessary to the Missionary, 213\n\nHymnology of India, 302\n\nIdeals of the Two Faiths, 101\n\nIdeals of the Hindu, 118\n\nIncarnation, 72, 94\n\nIndependent Work of Indian Christians, 326\n\nIndividualism in Missions, 236\n\nIndustrial Mission, 179\n\nIndustrial Problems, 282\n\nInfanticide, 158\n\nInfluence of Woman in India, 148\n\nInter-caste Marriages, 274\n\nIrrigation Schemes, 22\n\nIslam, The New, 345\n\nJaffna Mission, 182\n\nJones, Sir William, 82\n\nJordanus, 166\n\nJudaism, 55\n\nJudson, Adoniram, 181\n\nKali, 66\n\nKalki Avatar, 78\n\nKarma, 92\n\nKipling, Rudyard, 212\n\nLanguages, 16\n\nLast Commission of our Lord, 265\n\nLaws of India Changed, 337\n\nLeaven of Christianity, 332\n\nLeipzig Lutheran Mission, 178\n\nLength of Missionary Service, 203\n\nLex talionis, 111\n\nLife of the Missionary, 197\n\nLiteracy, 27\n\nLiterary Work, 252\n\nLiterature, Christian, 301\n\nLondon Missionary Society, 174\n\nLove\u2014a Missionary Qualification, 213\n\nLyall, Sir Alfred, 63\n\nMacedonian Cry, 219\n\nMackensie, Sir Alexander, 320\n\nMadras Native Christian Association, 324\n\nMadura Mission, 182, 325\n\nMagna Charta of Missions, 180\n\nMahabarata, 144\n\nMahratta Mission, 181\n\nMan, Doctrines concerning, 85\n\nManu, Code, 108\n\nMarriage among Hindus, 156\n\nMartyn, Henry, 174\n\nMass Movements, 308, 346\n\nMatheson, Dr., 70\n\nMcKinley, President, 336\n\nMedical Work, 255\n\nMetempsychosis, 97\n\nMethodist, American, 184, 309\n\nMiller, Dr. William, 299, 355\n\nMills, Samuel, 179\n\nMission Administration, 286\n\nMission Agents, 304\n\nMission of Great Britain in India, 45\n\nMission Enterprise as a Christian Principle, 230\n\nMission Schools, 29, 277\n\nMissionary, The, 193\n\nMissionary and the Mission, 222\n\nMissionary and Missionary Societies, 219\n\nMissionary Appliances, 300\n\nMissionary\u2019s Attitude towards the Non-Christian World, 215\n\nMissionary as an Organizer, 224\n\nMissionary Organization, 228\n\nMissionary Results, 298\n\nMissionary Societies, 228\n\nMissionary Success\u2014What is it? 298\n\nMohammedanism, 56, 345\n\nMoral Standards of Christianity and Hinduism, 110\n\nMorality and Piety, 135\n\nMotive of Missionary, 215, 265\n\nMotives of Christian Converts, 312\n\nMozumdar, Protab, 350\n\nMuir, Sir W., 191\n\nM\u00fcller, Max, 67\n\nMultiplication of Missionary Activities, 284\n\nNational Congress, 34\n\nNative Christian, 126\n\nNative Christian Character, 130\n\nNative Christian Community, 307, 318\n\nNative Christian Women, 320\n\nNative Church and Evangelism, 244\n\nNative Officials\u2014Their Attitude Towards Mission Schools, 279\n\nNative States, 39\n\nNeo-Hinduism, 344\n\nNewcastle, Bishop of, 330\n\nNew Converts, 288\n\nNew Religious Movements in India, 348\n\nObscenity in the East, 126, 340\n\nOfferings of Native Christians, 325\n\nOpium Traffic, 42\n\nOrganic Structure of a Mission, 240\n\nOrganizations of the Native Church, 259\n\nOriental Christianity, 296\n\nOrigin of Hinduism, 70\n\nPant\u00e6nus, 164\n\nParseeism, 57\n\nPassive Virtues of India, 127\n\nPastoral Work in Missions, 245\n\nPath of Works, 121\n\nPatience, an Equipment of the Missionary, 212\n\n\u201cPatriot, The Christian,\u201d 325\n\nPax Britanica, 44\n\nPeople of India, 15\n\nPersecution, 309, 315\n\nPessimism of Hinduism, 89\n\nPhysical Features of India, 13\n\nPhysical Fitness of the Missionary, 194\n\nPlato, 90\n\nPlutscho, 167\n\nPolitical Condition of India, 31\n\nPolygamous Converts, 288\n\nPoverty of Christians, 312\n\nPoverty of the Land, 19\n\nPrakriti, 85\n\nPrartanei Somaj, 349\n\nPreaching to the Heathen\u2014Its Character, 245\n\nPrepossessions of a Hindu, 116\n\nPresbyterian Mission, 182\n\nProblems, Missionary, 263\n\nProblems Concerning New Converts, 288\n\nProducts of Christianity and Hinduism, 114\n\nProfanity, East and West, 126\n\nProgressive Spirit of Christianity, 108\n\nProperty of Missions in India, 300\n\nProtestant Christian Effort, 166\n\nProvincial Governments, 39\n\nPuranas, 94, 105, 343\n\nRailroads in India, 22\n\nRamabai, Pandita, 321, 327\n\nRamanuja, 66\n\nReactionary Spirit in India, 293, 295\n\nReligions of India, 54\n\nReligious Instruction in Mission Schools, 280\n\nReligious Mendicancy, 20, 120\n\nReligious Toleration, 54, 109\n\nRest and Recreation for Missionaries, 195\n\nResults, Missionary, 298, 332\n\nRevival of Thought in India, 293\n\nRight of the Christian Church to Send Missionaries, 264\n\nRivers of India, 14\n\nRobert de Nobilibur, 167\n\nRobson, Dr., 72, 344\n\nRoman Catholic Effort in India, 165\n\nRoman Catholics and Caste, 271\n\nRural People, Hindus a, 18\n\nSaivism, 64\n\nSakti Worship, 66\n\nSalvation Army, 176, 200\n\nSanskrit, 16\n\nSattianathan, Mrs., 323\n\nSchools for Christian Children, 249\n\nSchools for Non-Christians, 248\n\nSchools, Mission, 303\n\nSchultze, 169\n\nSchwartz, 170\n\nScottish Missions, 175\n\nSelf-Extension of the Native Church, 260\n\nSelf-Government of the Native Church, 32, 259\n\nSelf-Support of the Native Church, 261, 274\n\nSell, Dr. E., 345\n\nSerampore, 173\n\nShanars, 308\n\nSherring, Rev., 171\n\nSikhism, 61\n\nSin, Hindu and Christian Conception of, 89\n\nSingh, Sir Harnam, 317\n\nSita, 145\n\nSlater, Rev. G. T. E., 357\n\nSocial Life in India, 23, 26\n\nSorabjis, The, 322\n\nSoul, Doctrine of, 86\n\nS. P. C. K., 170\n\nS. P. G., 172\n\n\u201cSpirit of Islam,\u201d 345\n\nSpirituality of Hinduism, 74\n\nSpiritual Qualifications of the Missionary, 210\n\nStatistics, Religious, 55\n\nStrachey, Sir John, 159\n\nStudy of Christian Missions, 267\n\nSupreme Soul, 86\n\nSurvival of the Fittest, 264\n\nSyrian Church of Malabar, 165\n\nTamil Bible, 178\n\nTantras, 105, 343\n\nTaxation in India, 40\n\nTelegu Baptist Mission, 309\n\nTheological Seminaries, 244\n\nTheology of the Missionary, 205\n\nTheosophy, 293\n\nThoburn, Bishop, 185, 206, 277, 309\n\nThomas, St., 163\n\nTinnevelly Mission, 308\n\nToleration, Religious, 310\n\nTownsend, Meredith, 335\n\nTraining of the Missionary, 204\n\nTranquebar, 167\n\nTriad, Hindu, 65\n\nTuranians of South India, 316\n\nUniverse, Doctrine of the, 84\n\nVaishnava Sects, 65\n\nVaishnavism, 65\n\nVasco da Gama, 166\n\nVedantism, 67\n\nVernaculars of India and the Missionary, 208\n\nVicarious Atonement, 73\n\nWebb, Rev. E., 302\n\nWifely Devotion, 145\n\nWilliams, Sir Monier, 85\n\nWilson, Dr., 176\n\nWitness Bearing, 266\n\nWomen of India, 143, 147, 151, 320\n\nWomen of India, their Disabilities, 152\n\nWomen in Missionary Organization, 237\n\nWork for Women, 256\n\nXavier, 166\n\nYesuthasan, 302\n\nYoga, 93, 119\n\nYoung, Work for the, 185, 257, 329\n\nYoung, Sir William Mackworth, 227\n\nZiegenbalg, 167\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES\n\n\n    1 Some of these, doubtless, are only well-developed dialects. Many\n      other, more imperfect, dialects might be added to this total.\n\n    2 The extensive famines of the last few years have reduced this\n      increase to two and one half per cent. during the last decade.\n\n    3 This subject is treated more fully in later chapters.\n\n    4 The rupee is at present one-third of a dollar.\n\n    5 Nearly all these Buddhists live in Burma which is included in these\n      statistics because it is now politically a part of India.\n\n    6 According to the census of 1901 there were 2,923,349 Christians.\n\n    7 \u201cThe Religions of India,\u201d p. 562.\n\n    8 \u201cThe Religions of India,\u201d p. 288.\n\n    9 \u201cThe Religions of India,\u201d page 83.\n\n   10 Sir John Strachey\u2019s \u201cIndia,\u201d page 311.\n\n   11 I speak vaguely because it is hard to definitely declare what a\n      missionary society is.\n\n   12 The returns for Congregationalists do not include the members of the\n      London Missionary Society Missions,\u2014these being, apparently,\n      included among the \u201cScattering.\u201d\n\n   13 See Toronto Convention Report of Student Volunteer Movement, p. 378.\n\n   14 Hinduism and Christianity, page 248.\n\n   15 See Dr. Sell\u2019s article, \u201cThe New Islam,\u201d in _Contemporary Review_,\n      August, 1893.\n\n   16 \u201cThe Higher Hinduism in Relation to Christianity,\u201d page 291. This\n      valuable book has only just been published after my manuscript was\n      written.","title":"India's Problem, Krishna or Christ","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":96322}