For many years Mr. Budden, accompanied by native Christians, has been in the habit of going to this mela, and I have been happy to help him and his brethren when opportunity has been given to me. A colporteur has been present with his wares, and succeeds in selling at a small price portions of the Scriptures and tracts. An amusing instance of indecision occurred at the bookstall the last time I was present. A man had purchased a Gospel. He came back saying he was told by his people that he would certainly become a Christian if he took that book to his village, and he laid down the book on the stall and asked for his money. The colporteur refused to cancel the sale, and the man was sorely perplexed, reluctant to lose both his money and that for which the money was paid. At last he walked away with the book, the colporteur assuring him it would do him only good.

[Sidenote: PREACHING AT THE FAIR.]

We took our stand at different parts of the mela, and spoke to all willing to hear. Many speedily passed on, but a number remained for some time, as if desirous to know what this new religion was. Now and then we encountered pundits, and if they were at all reasonable we were pleased with their presence and opposition, as a colloquy with them greatly quickened the interest of the people. On one occasion, after skirmishing with some pundits, it was arranged they were to meet us at a fixed hour for discussion. Our Christian party were present at the appointed place and hour, but our pundit friends did not put in an appearance. Our going, however, was not in vain, as we succeeded in getting hearers who listened patiently to what we had to say about the Saviour of mankind. One of our number was a converted pundit of Almora, who spoke to the people in a way I thought eminently fitted to make a favourable impression.



CHAPTER XXIII.

HABITS AND CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE. MISSION WORK AND RETIREMENT.

During our residence in Kumaon we had many opportunities of observing the condition and habits of the people. I have mentioned the new resources opened up to them, and yet it must be acknowledged that many are poor. The population is probably much larger than it has been at any previous period. The holdings are small, and by the division made on the occasion of the death of the head of the household they ever tend to become smaller. There are a number in the Province who own no land, and are poorly remunerated for their labour by their countrymen. I have mentioned the new source of wealth opened up to the people by the canals and cultivation of the Bhabhur. Reference has also been made to the tea-gardens and public works, on which large sums of money have been spent, of which much has reached the people in the form of wages. Thus all classes, both those who have land and those who have not, have been benefited. Indeed, apart from income thus obtained it is difficult to conceive how the people could have been supported. If they do not make progress in material comfort the fault must lie in their want of energy.

Like their brethren in the plains, the people in the hills live chiefly on cereals—the cheaper cereals—and vegetables; but, like most below, including even many Brahmans and Rajpoots, they have no objection to animal food when they get it of the kind they approve, and prepared in the way caste rules require. As to Doms, nothing that is at all eatable comes amiss to them. They have no objection, indeed, to much we should deem uneatable. The Hindus eat the flesh of goats and kids offered in sacrifice. They also eat the flesh of short-tailed sheep, but long-tailed sheep are an abomination to them, as they regard them as a kind of dog. We saw once an amusing instance of the notion of uncleanness attached to this species of sheep. A few sheep were being chosen by a purchaser from a flock. The animals were scampering about, showing, according to their nature, their unwillingness to be caught. Three or four men were engaged in catching them, but one every now and then started back when about to lay his hand on a sheep, exclaiming, "Wuh doomwala hai!"—"It is a tailed one! it is a tailed one!"—as if he would be hopelessly defiled by touching it, while his less scrupulous companions of the same caste said, "You fool! what does it matter? It will do you no harm." They would not have eaten its flesh, but their caste spirit was sufficiently relaxed to allow them to touch it.

I have referred to sanitary regulations issued by the authorities to guard the people against epidemics caused by want of cleanliness. One of these regulations forbids the dwelling together of animals and human beings. On our first visit to the hills in 1847 I came unpleasantly into contact with this dual occupation of the same house. As night was setting in I came to the top of a hill, and from it I could see a few straggling houses at a short distance. I had with me two or three men, who proposed to put up a booth for the night. Unhappily for my comfort, a thunderstorm came on with heavy rain, and the booth was no protection. I was taken to a house a short way off, but on entering it the smell from the animals occupying it with their owners was so strong that it drove me out. I preferred to face the storm to bearing the effluvia of that highland abode. I was told of a little unoccupied grass-shed a mile down the hill. I found the grass so thick and well tied that the rain did not get through, and the entrance was on the lee side. Into this I crept, and slept soundly till the morning, for I was very tired with the long walk of the day.

The new sanitary orders have no doubt done good, but it is difficult to secure compliance with them, though fines are imposed on persons convicted of disobedience. If there had been a reward for informers I could have more than once won it by telling what I had seen.

[Sidenote: NYNEE TAL.]

A very pleasant break during our life at Ranee Khet was a yearly visit paid to Nynee Tal, about thirty miles distant, which had become the seat of Government for the North-West for half the year, and a place of great resort from the plains during the hot and wet months. It has many advantages as a Sanitarium. It is within sixteen miles of the Bhabhur, and has an elevation of from 6,300 to 8,000 feet above the level of the sea. There is a small, beautiful mountain lake, from one end of which one looks down on the plains over the intervening hills; while at the other end, beyond a piece of uneven ground, rises a lofty mountain. There are rather steep hills on either side, but hills with a gradient which admits of houses being built on them. Though so near the plains, this lakelet was till 1842 unknown, except to natives and a few English officials. In that year travellers with difficulty made their way to it, and drew attention to its attractions. We first saw it in 1847, and then it had very few houses. An old General, one of its first residents, told us that one day the preceding year he saw a tiger walking leisurely above his house, and looking down, as if wondering at the change which was coming over the place. Some of the first residents were startled by meeting bears in their walks. Since that time houses have been built on every side, and during the season there is a great population of both Europeans and natives. Four years ago there was a fearful landslip, which carried down a number of houses with it, and buried many under the falling mass.



At the beginning of 1857, the American Episcopal Methodist Church entered on mission work in Rohilkund. When the mutiny of that year broke out, the agents of this church in Rohilkund escaped to Nynee Tal, and from that time they continued to occupy it as a mission station, and also as a sanitarium for their brethren in the plains. The Mission has been efficiently conducted. English services have been maintained during the season. They have been well attended by all classes, and have done much good. Between native servants and shopkeepers from the plains, and natives of the hills, who flock into the place for service and work, there is a large sphere for mission work, and much has been done in the way of both preaching and schools. The Mission has been extended to other parts of the Province, to Gurhwal in the north, to Petorah in the east, and to other places, with manifest tokens of the Divine blessing.

[Sidenote: ANNUAL MEETINGS AT NYNEE TAL.]

With these American brethren we have been on the most friendly terms, and have co-operated with them in every way open to us. We formed an association with them for mutual counsel and help. One result of this association has been the holding of annual meetings in Nynee Tal in autumn, for the benefit of Europeans and natives, and conducted in both the English and native languages, ending with the celebration of the Lord's Supper. These meetings were largely attended, excited much interest, did, I believe, much good, and were very enjoyable. On these annual visits to Nynee Tal we commonly remained a week or ten days, and had much pleasant intercourse with the missionaries and other friends. During several years Sir William Muir, as Lieutenant-Governor of the North-West, was resident for half the year at Nynee Tal, and our special thanks are due to him and Lady Muir for hospitable entertainment.

While, during our residence in the hills, time and strength were mainly given to effort for the spiritual good of our own countrymen and the native population, there were times, especially during the rainy season, when I was much at home; and I was glad to avail myself of the leisure afforded of writing for the press what I hoped might prove, and what I trust has proved, of spiritual benefit to natives and others. During our stay in the hills, in addition to articles for the "Indian Evangelical Review" and other periodicals, I wrote a Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans in Hindustanee, and Essays in English, which were published in book form under the title of "Christianity and the Religions of India." At an early period of my missionary career, at the request of my colleague Mr. Shurman, to whom the work of revising and in part translating the Bible into Hindustanee was entrusted, I transferred the Pentateuch from the Persian into the Roman character, and translated the book of the Prophet Jeremiah, which, revised by Mr. Shurman and Dr. Mather, now forms part of the version. Before leaving India I did a little, at the request of the North India Bible Society, towards the revision of the Hindee translation of the New Testament. On this work a large and very able Committee is now engaged. During my Indian career I have written a good deal for the press—I must acknowledge in a very desultory manner.

Thus engaged in prosecuting our work, years passed on till the end of 1876, when we felt the time had arrived for retiring from the Indian Mission-field. In July of that year I had a severe illness, which laid me aside, and incapacitated me for carrying on mission work with any measure of efficiency. I might have continued at Ranee Khet, and done the work within my reach there, but by doing so the most important part of the work, the work in the district, would have remained undone; and I deemed it best to retire to make way for one who could fitly occupy the sphere. Medical men whom I consulted strongly advised my departure, and the Directors of the Society gave their prompt and kind sanction to our return to England.

[Sidenote: FRIENDLY HELP.]

I cannot end this account of our life in Kumaon without giving expression to our gratitude for the kind aid afforded us by friends in the prosecution of our work. Among these friends, one of the steadiest and kindest was the cantonment magistrate, Colonel, afterwards Major-General, Chamberlain, who identified himself with the Mission, and was ever ready to do all he could to promote its prosperity. During our lengthened absences from the station in the cold weather, and whenever I could not officiate, he conducted service with the English soldiers, and he was ready in every way within his power to render help. In addition to aid in carrying on the Mission, we received great personal kindness from him and his partner, of which we shall always retain a grateful recollection. He retired to England a short time after us, and within a little more than a year he was suddenly called away—to his own gain, we are sure, but to the grief of all his friends. It gives me a melancholy pleasure to render this tribute to his memory. For steady friendship and most valuable aid our best thanks are also due to Captain, now Lieut.-Colonel, Birney, R.E., the resident Chief Engineer; Robert Troup, Esq., a tea-planter in the neighbourhood; and Mr. Ashhurst, engineer. Among the friends not resident at Ranee Khet, to whom the Mission is largely indebted, are Sir Henry Ramsay and Sir William Muir. Besides the friends I have mentioned, many others contributed liberally to the Mission, without whose aid much which was done must have remained unaccomplished. By the liberal contributions received the operations of the Mission were carried on, and valuable property was created at very little expense to the Society.

We left Ranee Khet at the close of 1876. As we were leaving India with no prospect of returning, we spent two months in visiting different stations, seeing their Missions, and holding intercourse with friends and brethren. In the course of these months we visited Bareilly, Shahjehanpore, Agra, from which we went to see that wonderful deserted city, Futtypore Sikree, with its magnificent tombs, Jeypore, Lucknow, Cawnpore, Allahabad, Mirzapore, Benares, Jubbulpore, and Bombay. At Agra we attended the native service of the Church Mission. The minister who preached was a native who had been educated in our central school at Benares when I was superintendent, and was there led to the knowledge of Christ, though he was not baptized till his return to his native city, Agra. On this tour we saw and heard much which interested us greatly, as it showed the work of evangelization was being vigorously prosecuted with tokens of God's blessing resting on it. We embarked at Bombay in February, and arrived in England at the end of March.

We left India, where we had spent the greater and, I may say, the better part of our life, with feelings I will not attempt to describe. I can only say when we review our Indian life, that while deeply humbled at the recollection of many errors and defects, defects in wisdom, zeal, and love, we are deeply grateful for having been privileged to labour for so many years in the service of our adorable Redeemer, not, we trust, without proof that good was accomplished through our instrumentality; and so long as we breathe, our hearts will steadily turn towards India with ardent love, and with fervent prayer for the spiritual and temporal welfare of its inhabitants.



CHAPTER XXIV.

THE MISSIONARY IN INDIA.

On reviewing these reminiscences I find there are several subjects of interest to which I have only casually alluded, and others on which I have made no remark. My readers will, I hope, bear with me while I detain them by stating facts and expressing views which will make the narrative more complete.

It is unnecessary to describe the office of missionary to the heathen. No one has rightly entered on the office without being deeply impressed by its greatness, arduousness, and responsibility. It is equally unnecessary to describe the qualifications required. No one can contemplate the demands the office makes on intellect, heart, and conscience, on love to the Lord Jesus Christ and love to souls, on wisdom, perseverance, and courage, without exclaiming with the great missionary Paul, "Who is sufficient for these things?" The idea that one unqualified for work at home would do for a missionary abroad is so preposterous that it is strange it should have ever been entertained by the most heedless.

There is, however, a great difference between an office and those who serve in an office. Because an office is great and honourable it does not follow that those who hold it have always the high character it demands. The question may, then, be fairly asked, Are missionaries worthy of their office? I, of course, use the word "worthy" in a relative sense, and I remember our limited acquaintance with the human heart. It must be acknowledged there have been a few, happily a very few, who have shown themselves utterly unworthy of the office, some by lack of intellectual fitness, and others by want of spiritual character and by indisposition to the work. There have been cases of the utter failure of character, but these have been extremely rare. Of missionaries generally it may be confidently affirmed they have been true men. I have a wide acquaintance with the missionaries of Northern India. During our long residence in Benares we saw many of all Societies, of all Churches, as they travelled up and down. Benares is one of the great halting-places between Bengal and the Upper Provinces, and residence there gives many opportunities for acquaintance with brethren. We have the most pleasing recollection of many we have met, and we have followed their course with deep interest.

[Sidenote: MINISTERS AND MISSIONARIES.]

I should be acting in opposition to my settled conviction if I were to speak of missionaries as more devoted to Christ's service, more self-denied, more ready to endure privation than home ministers. This glorification of missionaries, as missionaries, was much in vogue at one time, and is still sometimes heard. Our Master, the Lord Jesus Christ, gives to every one his work, and our devotedness is shown, not by our office, but by the way in which we do the work assigned us. Predilection to a certain sphere, supposed fitness for it, temperament and circumstances, have much to do in indicating to us the sphere our Lord would have us to occupy. Tried by the test of devotedness, as shown in daily life, I have never seen any reason for placing one class of Christ's servants above the other. Among ministers there is, as we all know, a great difference, not only in talent and attainment, but also in love, zeal, wisdom, and endurance—in every quality which their work demands. Similar is the variety among missionaries. There are many degrees of efficiency and, it must be acknowledged, of inefficiency. They, as well as their brethren at home, can go through the routine of their work in a very perfunctory and unsatisfactory manner; while they, too, can consecrate all their powers to the service of their Lord. It would be easy to select from the home field ministers who, in unwearied labour, self-denial, and privation for Christ's sake, greatly excel the ordinary run of missionaries; and it would be equally easy to select from the foreign field missionaries who greatly excel most of their home brethren.

In several respects there is a marked contrast in the position of ministers and missionaries. Ministers labour in their own language, among their own people, amidst home surroundings and associations; while missionaries have to part with loved relatives and to betake themselves to a foreign land, where they have to learn a foreign language, often languages, at the cost of much time and of wearying application, have for years, as in the greater part of India, to bear a severe climate, are called to prosecute their work among a strange, an unsympathetic, and sometimes a hostile people, and, what is felt by family people to be the greatest trial of all, they have to send their children to England, and to live separate from them for years. Some of these trials missionaries share with their fellow-countrymen, who from secular motives go to foreign lands, but others are peculiar to their vocation.

While I mention the trials of a missionary career I cannot forget the trials of ministerial life at home. We should require to shut our eyes to patent facts if we were to ignore the privations many excellent men are called to endure, and the varied difficulties they have to encounter from the character and circumstances of the people among whom they labour, from the peculiarities of our times, and from the abiding qualities of human nature, as it is now constituted. Missionaries are not rich, but they have adequate support, for good or evil are not dependent for it on the goodwill of those to whom they minister, and receive it as regularly as if it came from an endowment. With children sent home for education they have times of great pressure, but much has been done to aid them in meeting this additional expense. Viewed merely as to the comfort of living, and ease of mind as to support, the advantages are not all on the side of the home minister. To counteract the advantages of the missionary's position to which I have referred, it must be remembered the average career of service in India is short—some returning very soon, and others after a few years. Those who return after years spent abroad, and yet in the prime of life, are rightly expected to enter the list of the home ministry; but the work they have left and that on which they are entering are so different, that the mental habits acquired in the one are felt to be a poor preparation for, and often even an obstacle to, efficiency in the other.

[Sidenote: SPIRITUAL CHARACTER INDISPENSABLE.]

In their duties, joys, and trials, ministers and missionaries have much in common. We have to deal with the same human nature, manifesting the same characteristics, though in different forms. We have the same message to deliver. We have the same great end in view, the salvation of those to whom we minister, their restoration to the character and joys of God's children. Whether we labour at home or abroad, we are required to endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ. If we have not entered on our work from love to Christ and love to souls, with an intense desire to spend and be spent in Christ's service, with a belief that He has called us to it, and given us a measure of fitness for it; if we are conscious of being dominated by inferior motives; if we have not delight in our work, even when there is great pressure on both mind and body; if we do not long for the success of our work, it is obvious we have missed our vocation, and it would be better for us to sweep the street, I would say it would be better to walk the treadmill than occupy our position for an hour. This I must say for myself, I am deeply thankful for having been privileged to labour in the foreign field, and consider it the highest honour which could have been conferred on me. With my brethren I have had many trials to endure, some privations to bear, some perils to encounter, but I have never for an hour regretted my early decision to give myself to Christ's work among the heathen. I am sure I here speak the feeling of my missionary brethren.

I have endeavoured in my reminiscences to give such a representation of a missionary's position and work in Northern India, that home ministers who may read my narrative can have no difficulty in comparing and contrasting ministerial and missionary spheres. It will be seen how varied are the duties devolving on the missionary, and how great are the demands on thought and effort for their proper discharge. They have, in many cases, to attend to harassing and perplexing secular work. A number give their time and strength to teaching, and I know enough of this department to testify that those who give themselves to it in a climate like that of India lead very laborious lives. I have said little of the translation of the Scriptures, and the preparation of Christian books and tracts. This is a department in which there has been much exhausting effort of both body and mind, as all know well who have done even a little in it. In the prosecution of direct evangelistic work the missionary finds much to interest and encourage him, but also much to grieve and depress him, especially if he has a sensitive nature, and has no natural love for debate. Even to those who do not shrink from discussion there is often not a little which is very trying. I have a vivid recollection of times when I have returned from Benares to my home in the suburbs, so wearied in body and grieved in spirit by the opposition I had encountered and the blasphemies I had heard, that I have felt as if I could never enter the city again. But I went again, and perhaps the next time was much encouraged.

Missionaries at the same station are much more closely associated than ministers at the same place at home. The management of the mission, the policy to be adopted, and the respective places to be filled, are under common arrangement and control, subject to the district committee, and through them to the home directors. Many perplexing questions come before missionaries thus associated, and human nature in them must have parted with its usual infirmities, and put on peculiar excellence, if difference of judgment and consequent variance of feeling had never appeared. We cannot plead exemption from human imperfection. It cannot be denied that at times there has been strong diversity of judgment and painful alienation of feeling, when missionaries have too closely resembled Paul and Barnabas in their sharp dispute at Antioch; but it can at the same time be most truly affirmed that with very rare exceptions discord has soon come to an end, and those who have differed widely have become attached friends, as we know Paul and Barnabas did. The normal state of things is that of mutual love, respect, and helpfulness.

Missionaries have also had their differences with the Societies that have sent them out and supported them. The respective position of home committees and foreign missionaries are so different, that a difference of judgment is in some cases unavoidable; but confiding as they have done in the goodness of each other's motives, full harmony has been soon restored. I must be allowed to say of the London Missionary Society, whose agent I was for so many years in India, that my warmest acknowledgments are due to it for all the kindness and consideration shown to me and mine. If I were now to begin my career with my knowledge of the past, there is no Society with which I could so confidently connect myself.

[Sidenote: INTERCOURSE AND CO-OPERATION.]

All have heard of the friendly intercourse among missionaries of different churches. They, too, when near each other have had occasional differences; but with rare exceptions they have been on terms not only of courteous bearing, but of affectionate intimacy. There is nothing in our Indian life to which we look back with greater pleasure than our intercourse with Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist, and Episcopalian brethren. With the Episcopalian and Baptist missionaries at Benares we were on as warm terms of friendship as if they had been members of our own Mission. For many years we were in the habit of meeting weekly with them for the study of the Scriptures, prayer, and Christian communion.

Most Europeans take no interest in missions, look on missionaries as good men engaged in a Quixotic enterprise, and know almost nothing about their work, but still they treat them with courtesy. There are, however, some of our own countrymen who take a deep interest in our work, visit our schools, occasionally attend our native services, and contribute liberally to our mission schemes. These do much to cheer our hearts and promote our success. Again and again my work would have been at a standstill but for the help given me by European Christians, and our intercourse with some has resulted in close and enduring friendship. If persons have a temperament preparing them for friendship, I cannot conceive any position more favourable to its formation and strength than that of a missionary in many of our Indian stations.



CHAPTER XXV.

THE MISSIONARY IN INDIA (Continued).

It has been already stated that missionaries have an income, which enables them to live in a way conducive to the health of themselves and families. Things which would be luxuries at home are necessaries in India, and all they can do is to alleviate the suffering caused by the climate. As missionaries are often more stationary than European officials, both military and civil, and spend much less than they do on horses, establishments, and entertainments, their houses have an air of comfort which is surprising to those who know their income, and has led to much misrepresentation on the part of those who know not and do not care to know what it is.

Not infrequently young men have gone out to India as missionaries with the firm resolve to live to a large extent in the native fashion, and to eschew what they conceive the undue indulgence of those who had preceded them, but the experience of one hot season has generally brought them to another mind. Individuals have adhered to their resolution, and the result in one case I know was insanity, in other cases utter failure of health, and in others speedy death. A band of Germans determined to live, if not in the native style, at least in the simple style of the Fatherland, as to habitation, food, and service, and with scarcely an exception the plan was soon abandoned. The only successful case I have heard of in our day has been that of Mr. Bowen, a devoted American missionary in Bombay. We have had no William Burns, in Northern India at least. I can say for myself, that so far as the mere comfort of living is concerned I should greatly prefer a humble abode and simple fare in England, to the finest house and the most sumptuous fare in the plains of Northern India. It has been maintained by some that our only hope of success lies in our becoming ascetics, and outstripping by our austerities the Hindu saints. In other words, by acting as if we accepted Hindu principles of religion we are to overthrow Hinduism, and win the people to Christ. The proposal calls for no consideration.

Of late a good deal has been said about the substance of missionary teaching. Missionaries as a class maintain and teach the doctrinal views of the Churches whose messengers and agents they are. In these Churches a sifting process has been going on for a considerable time, which has led in some cases to a reversal of belief in matters of great moment, and in a greater number to the modification and softening of views hitherto entertained. Every one must decide for himself how far the sifting has been wisely done, how far chaff and only chaff has been given to the wind, and precious grain gathered into the garner. Missionaries have unquestionably been affected by doctrinal discussion, in a few instances, I believe a very few, to the reversal of some of their former views, in all, perhaps, though in different degrees, to a readjustment of their doctrinal position, to giving more prominence to some aspects of truth and less prominence to others, under the conviction that such is their relative position in the Word of God.

[Sidenote: MISSIONARY PREACHING.]

However much imbued missionaries have been with the views of their respective Churches, their position among the heathen has always led them to the constant and simple presentation of the great facts and doctrines of the Bible. These have been set forth in the manner deemed best fitted to commend them to the understanding, conscience, and heart of the people. Familiar illustrations have been largely used, and elaborate doctrinal discussion shunned. While the missionary finds much in the narratives and teachings of the Old Testament which is helpful to his object, he dwells chiefly on the life of Christ, His deeds, words, living, and holy example; death to redeem men; man's urgent need of such a Saviour, because guilty and depraved; the claims of Christ on His love, trust, and service; the blessedness of compliance with these claims on character and state; the misery and doom incurred by their persistent rejection. How often have I seen the heathen greatly moved by the parable of the Prodigal Son!

The missionary, like the home minister, has to guard against one-sidedness, if he would keep to the Book which he professes to be his standard. The many-sidedness of the Bible, its appeal to man's whole nature, is one of the most marked proofs of its superhuman origin. While it addresses itself continually to man's moral nature, to his sense of right and wrong, while it appeals to his intellect and heart, it also speaks to his fears and hopes. These appeals are made to all, whatever may be their diversity in character and condition. If we were to follow the course of many in our day who condemn appeals to fear, we should be ignoring a large part of Scripture, including many of our Lord's utterances, and at the same time ignoring that fear of hurtful consequences which the Author of our nature has implanted in us as a great means of self-preservation. To hope as well as to fear much is addressed in the Bible, and the missionary who would approve himself to his Master is bound to appeal to both principles, while, like his Master, he makes his constant and main appeal to the higher part of man's nature.

[Sidenote: MISSIONARIES COUNSELLED.]

While the missionary ought to strive to understand the people among whom he labours, and to discover the most promising avenue to their minds, while he ought to commend himself to every man's conscience as in the sight of God, he is not to seek acceptance for his message by accommodating it to the views of his hearers. He knows that between their views and his message there is not only a marked discrepancy, but on many points radical opposition, and the one must be displaced if the other is to be accepted. We have here for our guidance the example of our Lord and His apostles.

I have endeavoured to give a faithful description of the tenor of missionary teaching. It appears many are dissatisfied with it. We are told we must part with our narrow traditional views of doctrine, and become imbued with the larger and more liberal views of our times, if we are to hope for success. In the late Dr. Norman McLeod's "Life" we find him saying, "The chief difficulty in the way of advancing Christianity in India is unquestionably that almost all the missionaries represent a narrow one-sided Christianity." I cannot conceive what could have been his ground for this astounding statement, except his impression—it could not have been anything beyond an impression—that missionaries adhered to the doctrines of the Churches that had sent them out, his own among the rest, and had not followed him in his changes. Every one who comes out with new views, or modification of old views, assures us that success will speedily follow the acceptance and preaching of his phase of doctrine. Some tell us we must preach the moral aspect of the atonement, and part with what has been called the forensic aspect; we must only speak of the love it shows to man, and say nothing of its bearing on the Divine law and government; and then the great cause of so-called failure will be removed. So far as I know missionaries, they accept both aspects of the atonement; they believe both aspects are taught in Scripture, and they are convinced that instead of enfeebling they strengthen each other, while the doctrine thus presented meets man's deepest wants. Others, again, tell us we must preach what is called Life in Christ—the utter extinction of impenitent sinners, while others say this is a shocking doctrine, and we must preach universal restoration. This is no place for discussing the teaching of the Bible regarding the great Beyond, which is at present exercising so many minds. All I will say is that neither in the old views nor in the new is there anything which a Hindu or a Buddhist will accept, while he remains a Hindu or Buddhist. So far as I am aware, all students of Hinduism and Buddhism are agreed that eternal conscious existence, with identity of being firmly maintained, is alien from both systems. They do not hold the doctrine of either eternal happiness or eternal misery. To be extinguished, in the sense of being absorbed into Brahm and losing all conscious personality, is the reward of high virtue, while the wicked have to pass many miserable births before they reach this longed-for goal. With them salvation, liberation, is not deliverance from sin, but from conscious existence. They have both heavens and hells—heavens supernatural in their surroundings but intensely earthly in their character, doings, and strifes, and hells full of everything which is repulsive and painful; but both, after vast lapses of time, will be emptied into the great ocean of being, into the One without a Second. Cessation of conscious existence is not with them the punishment of wickedness, but the eagerly desired consummation of their being, the goal which is quickly reached by the eminently good.

Let missionaries by all means listen to what is said in favour of new views, let them modify or change their views if they think they see scriptural authority for the change, but I am profoundly convinced no shifting of our doctrinal position will secure success. Looking over the whole field of foreign missions since the end of last century, it is undeniable that God has done great things by them, for which we have abundant reason to be glad; and we know the teaching by which the desert has in many places blossomed as the rose. New phases of doctrine have yet to win their triumph. We must look in another direction for a greater degree of success—to more unreserved devotedness to Christ on the part of both missionaries and those who send them out; closer communion with Him; a higher degree of attainment in the mind which is in Him; a more persuasive deliverance of our message, and a larger effusion of God's Spirit.

[Sidenote: THE HEART'S OPPOSITION TO THE GOSPEL.]

The great obstruction at home and abroad to the acceptance of Christ as the Saviour is moral obtuseness, a dormant conscience. Our Lord's words throw a steady light on man's neglect of the great salvation, "They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick." Till men know they are sick, and recognize the deadly nature of their sickness, there will be no application to the Great Physician. In addition to the indurating effects of sin everywhere, the people of India have been for ages so drugged, I may say, with pantheistic and polytheistic teaching, that if man's moral nature had been destructible it must have been destroyed ages ago. Happily it can not be destroyed. Perverted, stupefied, dormant, though it is, it still exists, and to it we can therefore address the message of Heaven, while we look up to God to make it effectual by the teaching of His Spirit. When man knows himself to be a sinner, when he knows what sin is, then, and only then, whether in India or in England, he casts himself with joy into the arms of the Saviour.

I am surprised when Christians speak as if only a modification or a new statement of doctrine was required in order to achieve full and immediate success, as if they had never read such passages as "The carnal mind is enmity against God;" "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God;" as if they were ignorant of the facts by which these statements are so amply and mournfully attested; as if they had never heard of One who appeared, as ancient sages longed to see, clothed with perfect virtue and dwelt among men, and was yet rejected and crucified by them; as if they knew nothing of His apostles, who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, and yet had to lament over many hearers to whom their message was the savour of death unto death. Musing over the controversies of the day, the wish has often arisen in my mind: Would that the nature of sin was not kept so much in the background! Would that it was seen in its offensiveness to God and injuriousness to man—persistently daring high Heaven, while corrupting, degrading, disquieting, and ruining man! Would that the scriptural view of sin and sinfulness, which receives such ample confirmation from human experience and history, was more considered in the adjustment of doctrine! All readjustment in which the nature and effect of sin is not kept steadily in view must lead to serious error—error which misrepresents God's character and government, is inconsistent with facts meeting us on every side, and must prove most hurtful to man. I am convinced that while on some points there has been progress, and wise modification of doctrine, on the subject of sin the theology of former days was truer to Scripture and fact than the theology of our time.

[Sidenote: "IN MEMORIAM."]

I cannot conclude these remarks about the Indian missionary without mentioning—and I can do little more than mention—the names of loved fellow-labourers who rest from the toils of earth, and have entered into the joy of their Lord above. A feeling of sadness and yet of thankfulness comes over me, as I see before my mind's eye brethren of our own Mission with whom I was associated—Buyers, with his intimate acquaintance with the native languages, his large knowledge, and his kindly disposition; Shurman, the keen, impetuous, plodding German scholar, whose great monument is his translation of the Old Testament into Hindustanee; Mather, first of Benares and afterwards of Mirzapore, one of the most enterprising and devoted missionaries ever sent to India, whose peculiarity of temper and urgency with new plans led in his early years to unpleasantness, but who, when well known, was one of the truest and kindest of men, with whom for many years we had an intimate friendship, and whose memory and that of his excellent wife we shall always revere; and Sherring, one of the most amiable of men and most pleasant of colleagues, a man of marked attainments, and an indefatigable worker. The agents of other missions at Benares call for affectionate mention. I have in an early part of my reminiscences spoken of Smith, the founder and for many years the sole agent of the Baptist Mission at Benares, a quiet, diligent, Nathaniel-like man. This mission had for years George Parsons, a man of large linguistic attainments, of most amiable, meek, and devout character, than whom it would be difficult to find a more conscientious labourer. The Church Missionary Society was highly favoured in having had for a long period at Benares two men, Smith and Leupolt, who, in their respective departments, had, I believe, no superiors in India. For many years Smith, with resolute perseverance and great efficiency, often with severe strain on both body and mind, prosecuted evangelistic work in the city and the surrounding neighbourhood. No man was better known and more highly esteemed by the entire community. He had success to cheer him in the form of persons avowing themselves the followers of Christ, but the number was so small that he was often greatly depressed. I cannot doubt that by his ministry seed was sown in many minds which will yet bear fruit. During our later years in Benares, Fuchs was one of the agents of this Mission, an excellent biblical scholar, a diligent labourer, who required only to be known to be loved and esteemed, with whom we had much pleasant and profitable intercourse. He was suddenly called away in the midst of his usefulness, and in the prime of life. I have been confining my remarks to the departed; but I must mention two who survive—warm-hearted Heinig, of the Baptist Mission, now set aside by age and infirmity, after a long life of great toil in the service of Christ, and our greatly-loved friend Leupolt, of the Church Mission, who is still doing good service now in England, and was for many years the fellow-labourer of his friend Smith. His name and work at Benares will last for many a day.

Our departed brethren had their imperfections; who of us are without them? But I can truly say that in their general character, work, and bearing they were the messengers of the Churches to the Gentiles and the glory of Christ.

Looking beyond our Benares missions we remember a number of faithful labourers, whom we knew and loved, who have joined the majority, such as the learned and kindly Owen, the venerable Morrison, the apostolic Ziemann, and many others besides. I do not use these terms in a conventional sense, but as justly applicable to the men. Those I have named laboured, and others have entered into their labours, men worthy of all esteem, love, sympathy, and help.



CHAPTER XXVI.

NATIVE CHRISTIANS.

Native Christians form so large and varied a community that right views of them can be obtained only by those who consider its component parts.

In Southern India there are thousands calling themselves Syrian Christians, still more frequently Christians of St. Thomas. Either the Apostle Thomas or some of his spiritual children went to India, and founded a Christian Church. Down through the ages the descendants of these first converts have clung to the profession of Christianity, and have kept up their connexion with their fellow Christians in Western Asia. They have the peculiarities of hereditary Christians exposed to a corrupting moral atmosphere, and possessing limited means of spiritual improvement. We are told that they have made great progress through their intercourse with European missionaries.

In Southern India and Ceylon there is a large body of native Christians, the descendants of the many baptized by Xavier and his companions. Every one who has read the life of Xavier knows how widely he opened the door of the Church; with what facility, to use his own favourite expression, he "made Christians." Many speedily relapsed into heathenism, but a sufficient number remained steadfast to form a large community, and their descendants are reckoned by tens, rather hundreds, of thousands. There is not—at least there was not a short time ago—any reliable census of their number. Protestant opinion of these native Christians is very unfavourable. It may be prejudiced, and yet it has been expressed by persons who have come into contact with them, who know them well, and who would shrink from doing injustice. Many facts have been stated in support of an unfavourable estimate. The Abbe Dubois condemned them as a scandal to the Christian name, and other Romanists have joined him in confirming the testimony of Protestants.

In Travancore and Tinnevelly, in the far south, there are large native churches, in connexion with the Propagation, Church, and London Missionary Societies, composed of Shanars, a people outside the Hindu pale and greatly despised by them, with a sprinkling of caste people. When whole villages come over to the profession of Christianity, we generally find a few who may be regarded as true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, with limited knowledge but genuine faith, while the many, though favourably impressed, simply assent to the action of their friends and neighbours, and are little changed except in name. They are on the way to a happy change by having come under new and elevating influences.

All over Southern India there are native Christian churches, the work of conversion having proceeded in some cases gradually, individual by individual, while in other cases numbers have been admitted at the same time.

[Sidenote: THE CONVERSION OF NON-ARYAN TRIBES.]

Among the non-Aryan tribes, the Kols and the Santhals, occupying the hills and forests of Central and Eastern India, a great work has been done during the last thirty years. Thousands have been brought into the fold of the Christian Church. In habits, character, and condition, these tribes bear a considerable resemblance to our rude Teutonic ancestors, and they have been brought to the profession of Christianity in a somewhat similar manner; with this difference, that they have not been headed by chiefs in the reception of baptism, and in many cases commanding it. The first converts were the direct fruit of mission labour; their number increased, inspired by zeal they told their countrymen the treasure they had found, and called on them to share it with them. Many listened to their words and accepted their message. The work thus spread from village to village, and from hamlet to hamlet, till it extended to parts of the country never visited by a missionary, and included many who had never seen a missionary's face, in some cases who had never seen a white face. A very dear friend and enterprising missionary, the late Rev. William Jones of Singrowlee, made his way through a wild roadless country to the border of the Kol region, and came to a hamlet where the people were startled by the appearance of a European, as they had never been visited by one before. Though from difference in language their intercourse was limited, they understood each other sufficiently to discover, to their mutual delight, that they had a common faith. The general character of a community formed of a rude people, emerging from fetish and demon worship, can be readily supposed. I suspect the converts made by the monk Augustine and his companions had not a little in their character and conduct to show the pit from which they had been taken; and yet that was the dawning of a day for the Anglian and Saxon race in our country for which we have abundant reason to be thankful. There is no doubt much imperfection in Kol and Santhal converts, but we may well anticipate for them a far less clouded day than that which dawned on our forefathers when Augustine went to them.

In Bengal there are two large native Christian communities, one in Krishnagurh in connexion with the Church Missionary Society, and the other in Backergunje connected with the Baptists. In both cases the conversion of individuals has led to numbers avowing themselves the followers of Christ. Where conversion is thus what may be called collective rather than individual, there may be in some a high degree of spiritual life, but the majority simply go with the stream. It will be observed that in the statistics of some missions so many are represented as baptized, so many members of the church, so many adherents, the last class often outnumbering the other two. These adherents openly declare their abandonment of idolatry, attend public worship with more or less regularity, call themselves Christians, and are called Christians by others. They may be described as in the outer court of the temple, from which not a few from time to time enter the inner.

In the great Presidency cities, Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras, and their immediate neighbourhood, the native churches connected with Protestant Missions are comparatively small. The members of these churches differ more widely in social position, mental culture, and I think I may add spiritual character, than any other native churches in India. Some of the members are highly educated, have acute and disciplined minds, and have an intimate acquaintance with our language and literature. Individuals among them have made sacrifices by becoming the followers of Christ, of which the only adequate explanation is that they have come under the power of an all-controlling faith, of the faith which gives the victory over self, the world, and the devil. Persons more established in the faith of Christ than some of these are, more thoroughly assured that He is the Son of God and the Saviour of the world, I have never met. In these churches there are degrees of culture and social standing, till we come to unlettered persons in the humblest rank of life, some of whom are, I doubt not, as genuine Christians and as devoted to the Saviour as their brethren of higher social standing and larger mental attainment.

[Sidenote: THE NATIVE CHRISTIANS OF NORTHERN INDIA.]

I now proceed to speak of the native Christians of Northern India, with whom for many years I have been closely associated, and of whom I can speak with a measure of confidence.

In the North-Western Provinces, as in other parts of India, we have different classes that go under the name of native Christians. Most drummers of native regiments have been Christians, in the sense that they have been baptized persons. Many are descendants of Portuguese, who have gradually become mixed with the lower classes of natives, and cannot, except by dress, be distinguished from them, their hue being often darker than that of the people. These Portuguese descendants are numerous all over India, in the South very numerous, and hold very different positions in society, but those I have known in the North have been mainly of the drummer class. To these have been added a considerable number of natives, the waifs of native society, who have attached themselves to European regiments as camp-followers, not a few of whom have so separated themselves from their own people that they have found it convenient to profess the Christian faith. I have known individuals of this class who bore a good character, and were regular in their attendance on public worship. We had a number of them in our native Christian congregation at Benares, and we had for years a weekly meeting in their quarters. I cannot, however, speak highly of them as a class, either as to intelligence or goodness. Not a few went to a place of Christian worship only on Christmas Day, or on the occasion of a marriage or baptism, and their general conduct was no honour to the Christian name. Yet these people are proud of being ranked as Christians. We had a striking illustration of this at Benares. A person died, the son of an English colonel by a Muhammadan wife. I knew the man well. He often called on me, and was eager for discussion. He continually avowed himself a follower of Muhammad. He was never seen in a place of Christian worship, and was often seen in the mosque. When he died, the relatives of his mother made arrangements for the funeral; but the drummers and Christian camp-followers gathered in numbers, went to the magistrate, and claimed the body on the ground that the man had been baptized in infancy. As the result of inquiry it was found that at the father's instance he had been baptized, and on this account the body was made over to the Christians, who carried it to the grave in triumph, as if they had achieved a great victory for their faith, the chaplain of the station reading the funeral service. The native Christians connected with the different missions in Benares for the most part kept aloof.

I have already spoken of orphans and their descendants, and need say nothing more about their character. They form a considerable portion of the native Christian community in the North-West.

[Sidenote: UNWORTHY ADHERENTS.]

All our missions have had accessions from both Hindus and Muhammadans, but chiefly from Hindus. I heartily wish I could say all have joined us from right motives. This I cannot say. It is undeniable that persons have joined us from unworthy motives, some because they have broken with their brethren, others who are pressed by want in hope of support, and others again in anticipation of a life of less toil if they can get under the wing of a missionary. There have even been individuals who have made it a trade to be baptized, who have told most plausible stories, have hung on missionaries for a time, and have then set out in quest of new pasture. They remind us of the wild Saxons, who submitted to baptism again and again that they might obtain the white dress given on each occasion to the baptized. Some missionaries have been far more ready than others to administer baptism, but as a rule they have examined candidates closely, have made all possible inquiry, and have baptized them only on obtaining what appeared satisfactory evidence of sincerity. Some who proved most unworthy manifested the greatest apparent earnestness, possessed a considerable degree of knowledge, and were hailed by us as a valuable accession. I narrowly escaped baptizing a man who turned out the leader of a band of thieves. He came to me professing an ardent desire for baptism, paid frequent visits, made marked progress in knowledge, and was well spoken of by persons who said they knew him; but circumstances occurred to bring suspicion over him, and he suddenly disappeared. Long afterwards we found out that he was a leader of an infamous following.

To give one of many illustrations of the way in which persons try to connect themselves with us, I may mention that one day a well-dressed native, mounted on a good horse, rode up to my door. On coming to my room he told me he had come to be baptized, as he was convinced Christ was the Saviour of the world. He was urgent for immediate baptism. Life was uncertain, he might die at any hour, and how could he know he was safe if he did not come under the wing of Christ? I told him if he believed in the Lord Jesus Christ it would be well with him, whether baptized or not, and that I could not baptize him till I should make inquiry and know more about him. It occurred to me that he had a motive for such urgency which I could not discover. I sent for one of the most judicious of our native Christians, and begged him to find out what the object of the man was. He took him away, and soon returned to tell me he had got it all out—that the man had had a violent quarrel with his relatives, and had vowed to bring disgrace on the family by becoming a Kristan—a Christian. I recalled the man, and told him he must come to me from another motive and in another temper, if I were to baptize him. He rode away, and I never saw him afterwards.



CHAPTER XXVII.

NATIVE CHRISTIANS (Continued).

I suppose there is no community of any extent that has not unworthy members, persons that may be called its excrescence and blots, who have increased its size, as a tumour increases the size of the body, but are actually its weakness and disgrace. Such were the unworthy persons of whom I have been speaking. Very different is the general character of the native Christians connected with the various missions in Northern India. Some of our converts have made sacrifices, by avowing themselves the followers of Christ, to which persons in our country are never called. They have literally left father and mother, houses and lands, wife and children, for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ. Whatever may have been the position of our converts, they have, as a rule, parted with much which is highly valued by their people. Caste standing, even when the caste is not considered high, secures many advantages, and is greatly prized. Its loss is deemed a dire calamity, and this loss our converts are called to endure. They join a despised and hated community, are called vile apostates, and are charged with the most sordid motives. I have heard the charge advanced against converts who, to my knowledge, had left their place in native society under the power of the profound conviction that Christ was entitled to their hearts and lives, though the conviction required of them the most painful sacrifices, and exposed them to the bitterest reproach. During my first years at Benares, one of the catechists of our Mission was a Brahman, who had been baptized by Mr. Ward of Serampore. He was stripped of the property to which he was the heir, of which the annual rental, according to an official document, was 5,000 rupees (L500), because he could not perform the funeral rites of his father. His income as catechist was small, but I often heard him charged with the lowest mercenary motives by those who knew not, and did not wish to know, anything about his antecedents. He bore the charge patiently, deeming it an honour to be reproached for his Master. He was far from being a perfect character, but no cloud ever seemed to come over his belief that Jesus was the Saviour of the world. When he was on his death-bed I asked him if he regretted the life of comparative poverty and of great reproach he had led because he had become a Christian. He tried to raise himself on his pillow, and said with an energy that startled me, "If I had a thousand lives, I would give them for Him who died for me." In reference to him and others, the remark was often made by our hearers, "We are willing to listen to you—you are a good man and have kept to your religion; but we do not wish to hear these, for they are apostates."

In all communities there are so many varieties, that the most successful attempt at characterization on the part of those who know them well can only claim an approach to correctness, and must be received with deductions. Those who look at a community from a distance, who know only a few individuals, perhaps know none at all, but judge from what they hear from others, and these deeply prejudiced, are sure to form a very false estimate. When speaking of our native Christians, I have the advantage of long and intimate acquaintance not only with those of our own Mission, but with those of other missions in Northern India, and I think I should understand them better than many who have the most superficial and partial knowledge of them, perhaps do not know them at all, and yet speak of them in depreciating terms.

[Sidenote: THE CHARACTER OF NATIVE CHRISTIANS.]

I cannot speak of our native Christians, even of those who have made great sacrifices, as possessing a lofty character, as marked by signal excellence. We learn from the Epistles of the Apostle Paul he found much which was faulty in his converts, and we need not wonder at the faults which are too manifest in ours. Is there any home minister who is not tried by the conduct of some of his people? Is there any minister or missionary who has not frequent reason to be dissatisfied with himself? Indian missionaries are sometimes sorely tried by their converts. All around is a low moral tone. Slight, inadequate views of sin prevail. Truthfulness is praised, but little practised. Our people breathe a tainted atmosphere, and by becoming Christians they do not escape its deleterious effects. While these defects are frankly acknowledged, truth enables me to state, without any misgiving, there is much in our people which is very estimable. Observe their daily life, go with them to their respective businesses, and you will find them with few exceptions diligently pursuing their vocation, and honourably supporting their families. See them at their homes; you will be gladly welcomed, and you will generally find them striving to have everything clean and tidy, and as comfortable as their means permit. You will find the Bible and a few Christian books on their shelves, and you will learn that family worship is largely observed. When conversing with them you are often impressed with their manifest sincerity, with their gratitude for having been brought into the fold of Christ, with the honour conferred on them by bearing His name, much reproached as they are on account of it, and with their desire to walk worthy of their profession. See them in the house of God, cleanly clad, and as they engage in the different parts of the service you are struck with their devout appearance. Observe them in their intercourse with each other, and you will find much of mutual kindness and helpfulness. Observe them in their intercourse with Hindus and Muhammadans, and you will find that instead of hiding their Christian profession, and being ashamed of it, they glory in it. I have said that missionaries are tried by their converts. I ought in candour to add that converts are sometimes tried by missionaries. Their training has been so different from ours, their position is so different from ours, that it is very difficult for us to understand them thoroughly; and so far as we fail to understand them, we fail in sympathy and in right action towards them.

[Sidenote: FAITHFULNESS TO THE DEATH.]

The native churches passed through a fiery ordeal in the Mutiny of 1857, and came out of it in a way which reflected great honour on their Christian constancy. Even those who had the most favourable opinion were not prepared for the readiness shown by them to part with all, to part with life itself, rather than part with their Lord. I cannot say how many were put to death, but we know that thirty-four were killed on the Parade-ground of Furruckabad by order of the Nawab, and seven or eight perished at Cawnpore. In Foxe's "Book of Martyrs" there is not a more striking instance of witnessing to the death for the Lord Jesus than was manifested by Vilayat Ali, in the Chandnee Chauk of Delhi, when, surrounded by infuriated Muhammadans calling on him to recant or die, he declared Christ to be his Saviour and Lord, and when falling under the swords of his enemies uttered with his last breath the prayer of Stephen, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." The account is furnished by a witness of the scene. There were defections, but if our view be confined to Christians connected with the different missions they were remarkably few, fewer, it is affirmed, than those of Europeans and East Indians. One whom I knew well, though he was not of our Mission, apostatized to save his life, and died most miserably, abandoned by his new fellow-religionists, and tenderly watched by those whom he had left. Full details of the conduct of the native Christians in that terrible crisis are given by Mr. Sherring in his book, "The Indian Church during the Great Rebellion." This book had, I believe, a considerable circulation when it was published, but like many other good books it has passed into oblivion. The information it contains was furnished by persons intimately acquainted with the facts, and is very valuable as proving the genuineness and constancy of native Christian piety. It gives more insight into the real character of the native Christian community than can be obtained by perusal of large volumes full of ordinary mission details. The friends of missions would do good service by seeking its republication.

The loyalty of the native Christians to the British Government, as well as the constancy of their Christian faith, was strikingly shown throughout the Mutiny. This loyalty was maintained amidst much fitted to discourage it in the conduct towards them of Europeans, both official and non-official.

We have seen native Christians in joy and sorrow, in trial and temptation. We have been present at their death-bed, and have heard their words of hope and trust when entering the dark valley. We have had abundant reason to regard them with esteem and love. With many we have had pleasant intercourse, and from our intercourse with some we have received intellectual and spiritual profit. At one time there was a small band of highly-educated native Christians at Benares connected with the different missions. It gave us great pleasure to have them now and then spending an evening with us. They were always ready to start some important subject, and their remarks were stimulating and instructive. I remember more than once our remarking, when they went away, Could we have had a more pleasant and profitable evening if our European brethren had been with us? At the great Missionary Conferences which have been held in recent years the native Christian brethren have taken a prominent part, and both intellectually and spiritually they have been found worthy of standing abreast of their brethren from Europe and America. It must be acknowledged there has been a difficulty at times in adjusting the exact relationship of these highly-educated native brethren to their missionary friends, and there has been in consequence unpleasant jarring; but amidst differences Christian principle has asserted its uniting power, and their ordinary bearing is that of mutual esteem and love.

It may be said, "If native Christians as a community deserve the character you have given them, how is it that people from India speak so much against them?" The explanation can be easily given.

[Sidenote: ALLEGED FAILURE OF CHRISTIANITY.]

There is no part of the mission-field, the South Seas, Africa, the West Indies, China, as well as India, from which persons have not come affirming that the so-called converts are changed in name only; that they are no better than they were, and in many cases worse. Do we not find analogous cases nearer home? It is often said of professors of religion—very truly of individuals, very untruly of the class—that they are less worthy of trust than avowedly worldly persons. Large communities remarkable for religious zeal, like the people of Wales, are condemned in the face of favourable evidence which seems well authenticated. Persons have even stoutly maintained that Christianity itself has been a failure in its moral influence on the nations. Want of sympathy and antipathy blind the mind to facts, and lead to most erroneous judgments. The great majority of Europeans in heathen countries have no sympathy with missions, and have neither the knowledge nor the spirit indispensable to the formation of a correct judgment. They hear a loose report of converts from persons who in turn have been told by others what they say, and the report is at once believed and circulated. They have, perhaps, met an unworthy native bearing the Christian name, and he is regarded as a fit representative of the entire community.

It is a common opinion among many of our countrymen in India that Hinduism is as good for Hindus as Christianity is for us, and they cannot conceive why a person should leave the one for the other except from sinister motives. When speaking on one occasion with a lady who regularly attended church, and no doubt deemed herself an excellent Christian, about a native gentleman of high rank, whose kindly temper and courteous demeanour we were both praising, I said, "Would that he were a follower of our Saviour!" She looked surprised, and said, "Do you think so? He is, I think, a better man by remaining as he is." So strong is this feeling with some English people, that a native who calls himself a Christian is regarded by them as on that account a suspicious character. I know a well-educated native Christian who applied for a Government situation. He had good certificates; they were sent in, and when the official to whom he applied came to know he was a Christian—he knew nothing more about him—he threw them aside with the word "namunzoor," "not accepted"—the technical term for "rejected." One result of this English dislike to native Christians is that natives have told me that none but missionaries and a few associated with them wished them to become Christians; that English people generally wished them to remain Hindus. It can be conceived how great is the stumbling-block thus put in our way. A Church of England missionary of great experience once said to me, "Would that there were no Europeans near us! We might then hope for progress." I am not to vindicate the remark. I mention it to show the effect on the mind of a devoted missionary by English hostility to the conversion of natives. On every side, from European as well as from native society, there is every worldly obstacle to their embracing the Gospel.

[Sidenote: GOVERNMENT OPPOSITION TO THE GOSPEL.]

At one time there were obstacles to the profession of Christianity which do not now exist. When India was being brought under the sway of England, our rulers regarded the Gospel as a disturbing and threatening element, which ought to be carefully excluded. Long after the Christian feeling at home had forced open the door, the Gospel was treated as an intruder to be in every possible way thwarted and disgraced. In illustration of the opposition the Gospel had to encounter, I quote a few sentences from a recently-published volume, "Asiatic Studies, Religious and Social," by Sir Alfred C. Lyall, K.C.B., the present Lieutenant-Governor of the North-West Provinces:—"We disbursed impartially to Hindus, Mussulmans, and Parsees, to heterodox and orthodox, to Juggarnath's Car, and to the shrine of a Muhammadan who had died fighting against infidels, perhaps against ourselves." "The chief officers of the Company in India were so cautious to disown any political connexion with Christianity that they were occasionally reported to have no religion at all." "Up to the year 1831 native Christians had been placed under the strongest civil disabilities by our regulations.... Converts were liable to be deprived not only of property, but of their wives and children; and they seem to have been generally treated as unlucky outcasts, with whom no one need be at any trouble of using any sort of consideration." We are told that they were even forced by Government order to pull the car of Juggarnaut, and severely punished if they refused. According to a parliamentary paper of 1832, "our interference extended over every detail of management: we regulated funds, repaired buildings, kept in order cars and images, appointed servants, and purveyed the various commodities required for use of the pagodas." Under home pressure this state of things has gradually given place to neutrality, which, if impartially maintained, is I suppose the only policy open to us in the peculiar circumstances of India.

I have already said there are very unworthy persons bearing the name of native Christians. To judge our Indian churches by these is as unfair as to judge English Christians in India by Englishmen, of whom, alas! there are many, soldiers and others, who are notorious for drunkenness and licentiousness. We have even English beggars in India, wretched men, who have drifted out of the army, railway, or other department, and who disgrace our name. Strong men have come whimpering to my door, to whom I have given help, and I have seen them a few hours afterwards—I remember one case well—rolling in the bazaar in beastly drunkenness. It would be as fair to take these men as a specimen of English Christians, as to judge native Christians by persons bearing the name while they disgrace it.

The very acknowledgment of missionaries about the imperfections of their communities, about the utter hollowness of some individuals, has been turned into adverse testimony. In the recent meeting at Exeter Hall to welcome the Madagascar missionaries, Messrs. Cousin and Shaw, Mr. Cousin, in the course of his very interesting address, said that much of the Christianity of the Malagash was "purely nominal and utterly worthless." I should not at all wonder if some day I found this brought forward as a missionary's acknowledgment that the Christianity of the Malagash is purely nominal and utterly worthless, and that missions in Madagascar, as elsewhere, had been a failure.

[Sidenote: THE SUPPORT OF NATIVE CHRISTIANS.]

The support of native Christians has sorely tried and perplexed missionaries. They have been desirous, on the one hand, of holding out no inducement to persons to join them from unworthy motives; and on the other they have felt that persons thrust out of their caste and employment, and not infrequently from their family, had claims on help, with which every Christian feeling bound them to comply. Persons able to work have never been allowed to live in idleness, but the difficulty has been to find suitable work. In some missions, when persons have shown an aptness for domestic service they have been trained to it. In a number of missions trades have been started, and have been carried on for a longer or shorter period, with more or less success; but, as a rule, the relation of employer and employed does not accord well with the relation of pastor and people. The difficulty continues, and will no doubt continue, but it is decreasing every year. When travelling down through Northern India in 1877 we found Christians in every place at which we stopped, and we learned they were supporting themselves in various modes, in printing offices, bookbinding establishments, railways, and public offices. A number were in domestic service. I wish fewer were thus employed. When anything goes wrong in a house the Hindu and Muhammadan servants are sure to blame the Christians; masters and mistresses look for more from them than can be reasonably expected, and they no doubt are apt to fall into the well-known and objectionable habits of the class. The more capable of the native Christians, the higher in character and education, are for the most part employed as teachers, catechists, and native preachers. A few have risen to responsible and lucrative positions in civil life. A native Christian from Bengal held for some years, to the great satisfaction of both Europeans and natives, the office of Postmaster of Benares. He and his wife were members of our native church. Another member of our church for a time was the Inspector of Post-offices in the Benares district.

I believe in every mission in the North-West native Christians contribute regularly to the support and diffusion of the Gospel, and, considering their means, their contributions are liberal. I remember hearing years ago of a native church in Calcutta agreeing, without a dissentient voice, to give a month's salary for the erection of their new church building—an act of liberality which has been seldom equalled in our country.

Much has been said about the compound system, as it has been called;—Christians living together apart from the heathen, and in most cases in the immediate neighbourhood of the missionary's residence. Much has been said, I think unjustly, in condemnation of this arrangement. It is not the hot-bed, which it has been called, in which robust Christian character cannot be produced. Native Christians, thus living together, hold constant intercourse with the heathen in the business of life, and are at the same time saved from the peculiar trials and temptations incident to living among Hindus and Muhammadans. So far as native Christians make their light to shine, it will be well seen by the heathen though their dwellings be apart. One great advantage of living in a mission compound, near the place of worship and the missionary's residence, is that wives and children can regularly attend public worship, and can come under the teaching of the missionary, and especially the missionary's wife, as otherwise they could not have come. For a time we had quite a number of native Christians in our compound at Benares, who paid a small rent for their houses, and went out every day to attend to their respective callings. If they had lived in the city I cannot conceive how mothers and children could have attended worship as they did, or how my wife could have taught the children and held constant intercourse with the women. Because living in the compound, it does not follow that they are dependent on the mission for support. There is nothing more desired by missionaries than that their people should maintain themselves, by their own exertions. Living among the heathen is often indispensable—it is so increasingly with our native Christians; but where circumstances admit, I think great advantages result from Christians living near each other and near the mission church. In our own country, are not favourable surroundings sought for the young and the inexperienced?

[Sidenote: PROGRESS.]

When I look back to the beginning of 1839, when I landed in Calcutta, and compare the native Christian community of that day with what it is now, I am struck with the great change which has taken place. If we confine the term to those connected with missions, they were then a mere handful. Now they are considerable in number, and they have become a recognized and appreciable portion of native society. They are increasing in number, though not so rapidly in the North as in the South, and are becoming rooted in the land. The largest native Christian community in the North-West is, I suppose, that connected with the missions of the American Episcopal Methodist Church in Rohilkund and Oude. It is largely composed of Muzbee Sikhs, a people much despised by both Muhammadans and Hindus. Of late the Salvation Army has entered on the campaign against Hinduism and Muhammadanism. Its organ boasts largely of success, but its statements have been strongly questioned by persons acquainted with the facts, on whose warm attachment to the cause of Christ full dependence can be placed. A well-known missionary of the Episcopal Methodist Church in Oude has been lately pursuing the tactics of the Salvation Army. Accompanied by a band of native Christians, he has been entering villages and towns with song and drum and tambourine. The people in crowds have gathered round him. He and his brethren have preached Christ to them, have urged them to accept Him as their Saviour, and have given on the spot baptism, chin—the mark of the Christian Church, to any avowing their readiness to become Christ's disciples. Time will show how far the work is genuine. Perhaps we old missionaries have been too slow in administering baptism. Of this I am sure, that nothing is more fallacious as the test of success than the number of persons baptized—so different is the opinion held by missionaries regarding the qualifications required in order to baptize. Native Christians are more self-dependent than they were, and are receiving a healthy impulse from feeling that they must push out for themselves. They have to contend against much which is adverse and hurtful, but without indulging too sanguine hopes we may firmly anticipate for them a brighter and better future than their past has been.



CHAPTER XXVIII.

THE PEOPLE AMONG WHOM WE LABOUR.

MUHAMMADANS.

All over Northern India—I may say all over India—we find the followers of Muhammad. They are very unequally distributed. In some districts they form the majority, in others their number is very small, while in the cities they abound. There is among them all the variety of station which might be expected in a community composed of millions, ranging from princes, wealthy landholders, and great merchants, down to labourers and beggars. There is among them all variety of culture, from profound learning in a narrower or wider groove, down to utter illiteracy and gross ignorance. There is also variety of character, many leading notoriously wicked lives, while others are noted for goodness, and are honourable and useful members of society.

Looking at the Quran and the Bible, one might suppose there is a close accord between them, as both assert the unity and sovereignty of God, both condemn idolatry, and in both the same names continually meet us, such as Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, David, Solomon, and our Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, however, in India, as elsewhere, Muhammadanism has shown itself intensely hostile to the Gospel. The reason is apparent. I think it is difficult for any one to read with candour the Quran on the one hand, and the Bible, especially the New Testament, on the other, without perceiving the marked contrariety between them, notwithstanding their agreement on some points.

A true follower of Jesus Christ, one imbued with the spirit of His teaching and bent on the imitation of His example, cannot fail to cultivate holiness of heart and life, to cherish a humble, lowly temper, to look on all with love, however unworthy of love their character and conduct may be, and to promote their good in every way within his power. A follower of Muhammad, so far as he is imbued with his teaching, regards God with profound reverence as the Sovereign of the universe, deems homage to Him most due, looks with indignation on the worship of idols, attaches immense importance to outward rites and services, glories in Islam, pays comparatively little attention to inward excellence, and sees no need for a change of heart. As a worshipper and servant of Allah, following the precepts of the Prophet of the later age, he deems himself the spiritual aristocrat of the race, and looks down with scorn on all outside the pale of his community, whom he is in some cases bound to put to death, and in all cases to subject to degrading conditions, so far as he has the power. However wicked his conduct may be, as a worshipper of Allah he is sure of more tender treatment in another world than that which awaits Christians and idolaters. Thus the typical Muhammadan is one who scrupulously observes the laws of Islam, goes through his devotions with all the regularity of a soldier on drill, fasts at the appointed season, gives alms to the poor, attends to all prescribed rites, and at least once in his life goes on pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina. Outward religiousness, pride and self-righteousness, are his distinguishing characteristics.

[Sidenote: THE LICENTIOUSNESS OF MUHAMMADANS.]

Much has been said about the sensuality of Muhammadans. The sanction given by Muhammad to polygamy and extreme facility of divorce has borne bitter fruit. His own example has had a depraving influence. He alleged, indeed, a special Divine sanction for the dissoluteness of his later life, but this has not deterred his followers from thinking they could not go far wrong in imitating him. In addition to these facilities for a life of sensual enjoyment, the teaching of the Prophet in reference to female slaves has had a most depraving effect on family life. The Hindustanee expression for libertine, profligate—luchcha—is, I think, more frequently applied to Muhammadans in Northern India than to any other class of the community. It must be confessed, however, there is so much licentiousness among other classes—not only among Hindus, but I am grieved to say among many from our own land, soldiers and others—that I can scarcely join in declaring Muhammadans sinners in this respect above all others. There is this difference between the licentiousness of so-called Christians and Muhammadans, that in the teachings of the Gospel, while no unnatural restraint is laid on those who accept it, the strongest motives are brought to bear on them in favour of purity of heart and in opposition to licentiousness of life; while in the teachings of the Quran, amidst severe condemnation of the gratification of unlawful desire in some forms, there is much, if not to encourage, at least to give every facility for a life fatal to personal and domestic purity, a facility of which the adherents of Islam have largely availed themselves.

While agreeing with the views generally held by Christians regarding the teaching of the Quran and its influence in the formation of character, I cannot join in the sweeping condemnation of the Muhammadans which I have sometimes heard, as if they were one mass of corruption. In the middle and lower classes in Northern India we are told, by those whose testimony can be trusted, monogamy is the rule. Many lead a quiet, orderly life, with the domestic affections in full play which beautify and gladden the home. A Muhammadan writer, who may be supposed to know his own people, tells us that polygamy is getting out of favour, and that a strong feeling has set in in favour of a man having only one woman to wife. Among them there are undoubtedly persons of high character, whose bearing would do honour to the adherents of a far higher creed. I have conversed with some who seemed to me set on knowing and doing the will of God, who showed, so far as I could obtain an insight into their character, a reverent, earnest, humble temper, as if they had come under the power of the few passages, occurring here and there in the Quran, which inculcate spirituality of mind and love to all men, and as if they had in a measure escaped from the externalism so prominent in that book, and from its hard, fierce, bitter tone towards all who refuse to receive it as a revelation from heaven. With two Muhammadans I was for years on as friendly terms as I could be with any whose belief and practice differed so widely from my own. As to courteous, kindly demeanour, they were all that could be desired. I had many an earnest talk with them on the highest subjects, and I was struck with the apparent candour with which they listened to all I had to say. They read with evident interest books I gave them, and in the case of one such an impression was made that I hoped he was coming to the acknowledgment of Christ as his Lord and Saviour; but after going to his Moulvies he kept to Muhammad, though with manifest misgiving.

[Sidenote: MUHAMMADAN OPPOSITION TO THE GOSPEL.]

While I cannot join in the sweeping condemnation of Muhammadans, I must acknowledge my experience accords with that of my missionary brethren regarding those with whom I have come ordinarily into contact. When I have been speaking to a company of Hindus, and have apparently secured their attention, I have been sorry to see a Mussulman coming up, as past experience had prepared me for the immediate introduction of such questions as the Trinity, the Sonship of Christ, His propitiatory sacrifice, and not infrequently the eating of pork. I have done my best to stave off such untimely discussion, and to keep to the subject I was teaching, but in not a few instances my audience has been broken up by the new-comer insisting on being heard. During my long missionary career I have had many discussions with Muhammadans in public and in private, in some cases conducted with a calmness and fairness which promised good results; but in still more numerous cases with a readiness on their part to resort to the veriest sophistry, and fly from one point to another, and with a love of disputation which led to wrangling, and could accomplish no good. The controversy between Christianity and Muhammadanism has been carried on by the press as well as by oral discussion. In this department the late Dr. Pffander, Sir William Muir, and Mr. Hughes of Peshawur, have done excellent service.

It might be supposed that as Muhammadanism is so near to Christianity that it may almost be called a Christian heresy, and as we have in consequence much common ground, we might expect to find its adherents more accessible than Hindus to the Christian missionary. The opposite is the case, furnishing another illustration of the fact that no religionists are so antagonistic to each other as those who most nearly approximate. At the present time all over the world, Popery, under the conduct of the Jesuits, is far more hostile to Protestant missions than any form of heathenism.

It ought to be mentioned to the credit of Muhammadanism that it arose as a protest against polytheism and the worship of idols. This protest it has maintained down to our day. Not even a religious symbol is allowed to appear in their places of worship, and hence the marked contrast mosques present not only to Hindu temples, but to Christian churches.

Muhammadanism is a proselytizing religion as well as Christianity. During my Indian career I have heard of a convert now and then from Hinduism in the North-West, and very occasionally one from Christianity; but these accessions have been very few. In Bengal, on the other hand, it appears that during the last thirty or forty years a great number of low-caste people have been drawn into the Muhammadan ranks, many of them small farmers, who think that by belonging to a large and influential community they can the better contend with the landlords. It is said that the change is simply one of name and ritual.

The accessions from Muhammadanism to Christianity have been very few; but some of the best converts in the North-West belong to this class.

[Sidenote: HINDUS AND MUHAMMADANS IN CONTACT.]

For centuries Hindus and Muhammadans have been near neighbours in India. In the ordinary course of life they have had much intercourse with each other, and have exerted a strong mutual influence, the Muhammadans, especially of the lower class, having become in a measure Hinduized, while the Hindus of the lower class have become, if I may use such a word, in some degree Muhammadanized. I believe the stricter Muhammadans are of pure Mogul and Pathan descent, while the more lax are the many who at different times have been drawn or forced into Islam. Our Muhammadan servants speak continually of their caste, have many Hindu notions, and follow many Hindu practices. Low-caste Hindus, on the other hand, are prominent in some Muhammadan processions. Both Muhammadans and Hindus, as a rule, are satisfied with their respective position, as assigned to them by Allah or Fate, have no repugnance to each other, and no wish to disturb each other.

So far, however, as Muhammadans and Hindus are imbued with their respective systems they must be antagonistic; and their antagonism, though generally latent, every now and then breaks out into fierce strife, which but for the interposition of Government would lead to civil war. Early in this century there was in Benares a pitched battle between them, when they assailed each other with the utmost fury, and were separated by military force. All have heard of a recent conflict in Southern India, where blood was shed and property destroyed. About thirty years ago Oude was threatened with the outbreak of a war between the parties. There have been recently conflicts in Rohilkund on the occasion of processions, which but for prompt interference would have led to disastrous results.

[Sidenote: MUHAMMADAN REFORMERS.]

Of late years a reforming party has arisen among the Muhammadans with both political and religious ends in view. This party painfully realizes the loss incurred by their fellow-religionists on account of their neglect of the English language, and their failure to accommodate themselves to their new masters, thus allowing the Hindus to get in advance of them. They consequently discourage exclusive attention to Arabic and Persian literature, and advocate the cultivation of English. A few of this class have come to England to prosecute their studies, but for the many who must remain in their own land an institution has been opened at Allygurh, in the North-West, in which provision is made for imparting a liberal education. It cannot be expected that Indian Muhammadans can have a strong liking to the English Government, but this reforming party wishes to reconcile itself to the new order of things, and to identify itself with our rule so far as the Quran permits. In religious belief these reformers range from strict orthodoxy to rank rationalism. Their leader is an able and ardent advocate of Islam, though he has thrown off what he deems unauthorized and hurtful accretions, and many of his followers no doubt agree with him. A Bengalee Muhammadan, a graduate of Cambridge, has published a book entitled "The Life of Muhammad," which is saturated with rationalistic views. I cannot suppose he stands alone in his rationalism, but I have no means of knowing to what extent his views are shared by others. The whole party is the antipodes to the Wahabees, the extreme Puritans of Islam, who aim at following strictly the instructions of the Quran and the Traditions, and wage war to the knife against Christians and idolaters. Between the Wahabees and the reformers there is a very numerous party—it is supposed the great majority of Muhammadans—who have little sympathy with the strictness of the former, but as little with the looseness of the latter, who in their opinion are sacrificing Islam to their ambitious and selfish views. Between the reformers and those who cannot advance with them there has been sharp controversy, and there is no prospect of its coming to an end.