“The West,” he says, “has to learn from the East, and the East from the West. The questions raised by the Vedanta will have to pass into Christianity if the best minds of India are to embrace it; and the Church of the ‘farther East’ will doubtless contribute something to the thought of Christendom, of the science of the soul, and of the omnipenetrativeness and immanence of Deity.”[16]
But the most encouraging aspect of this question is the present attitude of the mind of educated India towards Christ himself.
Listen to the words of an orthodox Hindu in a recent lecture delivered to his fellow Hindus:—“How can we,” he says, “be blind to the greatness, the unrivalled splendour of Jesus Christ. Behind the British Empire and all European Powers lies the single great personality—the greatest of all known to us—of Jesus Christ. He lives in Europe and America, in Asia and Africa as King and Guide and Teacher. He lives in our midst. He seeks to revivify religion in India. We owe everything, even this deep yearning towards our own ancient Hinduism, to Christianity.”
All former antipathy to, and depreciation of Jesus, our Lord, have given way to appreciation and admiration. They vie with each other in a study of His life and regard Him as the only perfect Exemplar of [pg 358] man. That great land which has never found in its old faith an ideal of life is now finding it in our blessed Lord. This movement towards Him is remarkable. They are enthroning Him in their imagination and are drawing Him to their hearts.
A Braham friend of mine—a devout Hindu, a university graduate, a barrister and a leader of the Hindu community, requested me to purchase for him a pocket copy of Thomas a Kempis' “Imitation of Christ.” He possessed a large copy, but desired a small one which he could carry with him and could use for devotional purposes on his journeys. Some of his friends sought other copies through him. Thus they bought all the copies that I could find for sale in South India. He also asked me to buy for him a copy of Dr. Sheldon's book, “In His Steps.”
I bought four dozen copies and sold all to Brahmans and to native Christians. One of our pastors bought a copy. He soon handed it to a Brahman friend—a government official and a university graduate—requesting him to read it. This he did, and, returning with the book a few days later, he earnestly said—“Sir, why don't you bring us more such books as this. We also want to know more of Christ and to follow ‘In His Steps.’ ”
Indeed, I find a wonderful eagerness among Hindus of culture to know all that can be known about the life and teaching of our Lord, even though they are not prepared to accept his atonement as their salvation. The same fact is true among the common people. There are not a few who believe that the tenth—that is, the coming—incarnation of Vishnu (Kalki avatar) refers to Christ. A Hindu Saivite devotee [pg 359] told me once that they proposed soon to place in their monastery an image of Christ (as they had one of Vishnu) and thus render to Him worship in common with the others. I am confident that Hindus, all but unanimously, would, today, vote to give him a place in their pantheon and a share in their worship, if Christians would accede to this. “Did we not,” they say, “thus appropriate Buddha, the arch-enemy of Brahmanism, twenty-five centuries ago, and make him the ninth incarnation of Vishnu? And why should we not regard Christ, also, as the tenth ‘descent’ of our beloved Vishnu.”
I deem this trend towards Christ, and it is marked especially among the educated in all parts of India, as the greatest encouragement to the Christian worker in that land today.
I care not so much whether they accept our faith in its Western form and spirit, so long as I see them growing in their appreciation of, and devotion to the Christ. Through Him I am sure they will pass on to some outer expression or other of their faith in Him—an expression which will doubtless correspond with their own oriental turn of thought and life.
Conclusion.