and civilization, and it has harnessed to its car all that is great and glorious in the human race." The sure word of prophecy tells us that the religion of the Bible, which has had such a glorious and victorious career, will eventually bring all the nations of the earth under its beneficent sway. "For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.' "So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, For he shall come as a rushing stream, And again, "Surely as the earth pusheth forth her tender shoots; And as a garden maketh her seed to germinate: So shall the Lord Jehovah cause righteousness to spring forth, And praise, in the presence of all the nations." In conclusion, I cannot help thinking that if the people of India were converted to Christianity, they would become one of the greatest and noblest nations on the face of the earth. With a population of upwards of two hundred and fifty millions, infinitely diversified in their capabilities, inferior to no people in physical or mental energy, India requires only the life-giving influence of Christianity to rouse herself from the torpor of ages and to lift up her head among the nations. Physically, some of the Indian races are as strong as any race in the world; and intellectually, I may say of them what Milton said of his countrymen,—“a nation not slow and dull, but of a quick, ingenious, and piercing spirit, acute to invent, subtle and sinewy to discourse, not beneath the reach of any point the highest that human capacity can soar to."§ What they want is moral and spiritual energy; and that can be supplied, not by mere political progress or *Habakkuk ii. 14. +Isaiah lix. 19 (Revised Version.) Isaiah lxi. 11 (Lowth's Version.) § Areopagitica, p. 44, Clarendon Press Edition. intellectual improvement, but by the vivifying power of the religion of the Bible. Some of my educated countrymen have somehow got the idea that Christianity does not inculcate patriotism. The idea is quite groundless. It is true that Christianity, which enjoins universal love, does not advocate that spurious patriotism, too often exhibited by the Greek and Roman patriots, which seeks the aggrandizement of one's country at the expense of another; but it is eminently favourable to the growth of that true patriotic spirit which is consistent with right, truth and justice. The Bible makes honourable mention of those Jewish patriots and heroes who delivered their countrymen from servitude and couquered for them the Promised Land; and records with admiration the exploits of those noble spirits who fought the good fight of truth and righteousness. Of some of these worthies the Apostle Paul speaks eloquently in the following passage" And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthah, of David also and Samuel, and of the Prophets, who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again; and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover, of bonds and imprisonment: they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword; they wandered about in sheep-skins and goat-skins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; of whom the world was not worthy."* It is also a mistake to suppose, as some of my educated countrymen do, that Christianity produces a craven, cowardly spirit. It is * Hebrews xi. 32-38. true Christianity inculcates humility; but true humility is not inconsistent with the bravest and loftiest spirit, a fact abundantly proved by the history of every Christian country, and of which we lately had a beautiful illustration in General Gordon, the hero and martyr of Khartoum, who was gentle as a lamb and brave as a lion. The Hindu races of India have some excellent features in their character. Besides the qualities already mentioned, they are distinguished for the mildness of their disposition, the gentleness of their manners, their resignation to the ordinations of providence, their sobriety, and their patience under suffering. The Muhammadan races, too, have their good qualities,-their pleasing politeness, their indomitable energy, their lofty bearing, their high sense of honour, and their spirit of independence. Nor are the aboriginal races, whom their Aryan conquerors drove to the hills, wanting in engaging attributes, as their docility, their simplicity, their truthfulness and their courage, have been noted by every one who has come in contact with them. Were all these races, the Hindu, the Muhammadan and the aboriginal, fused together and moulded by the plastic power of Christianity, and their distinctive national characteristics elevated and purified by its spiritual energy, they would form a united nation the like of which the world has not yet seen," a noble and puissant nation," to use the sublime language of Milton, "rousing herself like a strong man after sleep and shaking her invincible locks," or like "an eagle muing her mighty youth, and kindling her undazzled eyes at the full midday beam, purging and unscaling her long abused sight at the fountain itself of heavenly radiance."* *Areopagitica, p. 49. XI. CHRISTIANITY AND HINDUISM. PART I. No European can have resided any length of time in India without having formed some estimate of the religion generally prevalent amongst the people, the religion commonly called Hinduism, or the worship of Siva and Vishnu. He cannot also have failed to form some opinion respecting the relation of Christianity to Hinduism. I think I may safely say that I have enjoyed particularly good opportunities of arriving at a correct judgment, for during the more than forty years that I have been resident in India I have been an attentive reader of Hindu books, and have always had my eyes and ears open to see and hear what was going on amongst the masses. Hindus, therefore, might perhaps like to know the estimate I have formed. I recognise in Hinduism three elements which have contributed in various degrees to make it what it is. First, there is the merely human element, which manifested itself in beliefs and practices that appear to be the legitimate outcome of Indian human nature. As instances of this merely human element in Hinduism, I might adduce its deification of natural forces and phenomena, its worship of heroes and heroines, its localisation of God in temples and idols, its representation of God as a human king, with human needs, passions, and tastes, to be worshipped with the ceremonial usual in a Hindu palace, its elevation of caste distinctions to the rank of a religious obligation. In these particulars, I think, no candid Hindu can fail to see in Hinduism the existence of an element merely human. I recognise also in Hinduism a higher element, an element which I cannot but regard as divine, struggling with what is earthly and evil in it, or what is merely human and though frequently foiled or overborne, never entirely destroyed. I trace the operation of this divine element in the religiousness-the habit of seeing God in all things and all things in God-which has formed so marked a characteristic of the people of India in every period of their history. I trace it in the conviction universally entertained that there is a God, however diversely His attributes may be conceived, through whom or in whom all things are believed to have their being. I trace it in the conviction that a religion—a method of worshipping God-is possible, desirable, necessary. I trace it in the conviction that man has somehow become sinful and has separated from God, and that he needs somehow to be freed from sin and united to God again. But especially I trace it in the conviction I have found almost universally entertained by thoughtful Hindus, that a remedy for the ills of life, an explanation of its difficulties and mysteries, and an appointment of a system of means for seeking God's favour and rising to a higher lifethat is, a Veda, a revelation-is to be expected; nay more, that such a revelation has been given; the only doubt which suggests itself to the Hindu mind being, whether the Indian Veda is the only true one, or whether God may have given different revelations of His will to different races of men at different times. I trace the same element also in the important place occupied in Indian classical literature by moral and religious disquisitions and in Indian popular literature and common life by moral and religious maxims. I cannot hesitate to recognise in such movements of mind as these, though outside the pale of Christianity, the results of an impulse from above, seeing that in human society, and especially in the domain of morals, we may always and everywhere see a Divine. Purpose working itself into shape. As a Christian I have been taught to believe that God's Spirit " strives" with all men, even with bad men, for their good,* and that even in the times in which the densest ignorance prevailed "God left Himself not without a witness, in that He did good, giving men rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling their hearts with food and glad • Gen. vi. 3. |