Our First Acquaintance with India by GEO. F. ENOCH

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 30, 1908

Our First Acquaintance with India

By GEO. F. ENOCH

GEO. F. ENOCH

AFTER a long journey of nine weeks, we landed November 15, at Bombay, the “Gateway of India.” The harbor is large, and the docks are excellent. We were soon ashore, and found ourselves plunged into a current of humanity, seemingly endless, dressed in almost every possible way, and some hardly dressed at all. Bombay is a busy center of nearly one million souls. At one’s first introduction to India, the idea of quantity is crowded in upon him from every side.

Brother J. S. James had come to meet us, with the report of the decision of the recent committee meeting, which recommended that we locate on the west side, suggesting Poona, one hundred seventeen miles from Bombay, as a possible location. But this suggestion was not to be carried out. Before the west side should become our home, we were destined to pass through some experiences that would try our souls. Not that there was nothing to do, nor any open doors to enter; but rather, before the Lord allowed us to settle down, he was to give us a little broader glimpse of India’s great need. Our hearts have been mightily stirred by this brief glimpse, and we would pass on to the readers of the REVIEW an account of a few of the things we have seen and heard.

The way closed up so far as Poona was concerned, and it seemed best that my family should stay a time with the family of Brother James, at Bangalore, while the matter of location was being definitely settled. This decision took us across the Western Ghauts, through three hundred miles of pure Marathi territory. There are about eighteen million people speaking this language. Those we saw were of good physical appearance. The Marathis occupy quite an important page in India’s history. They were among the first of the Aryan people to come into west India. When the English subdued the country, they found this nation one of the most stubborn to conquer. It was while fighting against them that the Duke of Wellington learned some of the lessons of war that afterward helped him in his wars in Europe.

When we reached Bangalore, and had time to look carefully into the situation, two openings were so pressing the hearts of those in charge of the work in India, that it was not easy to decide what to do. West India, with its eighteen million Marathi people and ten million Gujarati, demanded immediate attention. South India, with its Dravidian languages, divided into four principal groups, having more than fifty million people to hear the message, was also loudly calling; and one could not with only human wisdom tell which call should just now be answered.

In South India there are the Tamils, one of the most interesting people of India, numbering nearly seventeen million, with a very ancient civilization, and a literature antedating the birth of Christ. Among these are the Christian Sabbath-keepers of whom the REVIEW family has heard already. There are also many of these over in Ceylon. Just north of the Tamil country is a people speaking another Dravidian tongue—the Telugus. They number more than twenty million. Among them in recent years Christianity has made great strides. Thousands have accepted Christ—so many that the missionary societies have been taxed to the utmost to care for them. It is true that the quality of many of these converts leaves much to be desired; yet this success shows that there is a wide-spread interest there. No steps have yet been taken to put a representative of the third angel’s message among them. Then on the southwest coast, in one of the most beautiful parts of India, so far as tropical verdure is concerned, live the Malayalam people, numbering seven million, and speaking a language closely related to the Tamil. They are interesting, because among them were the first Christians in India. No one knows just when or how Christianity first gained a foothold here. Tradition has it that one of the twelve—St. Thomas—was the gospel messenger who first bore the tidings of the Saviour’s love to India’s shores. In the Madras Presidency, near the city of Madras, is a place called St. Thomas Mount, where it is claimed that this disciple lies buried. By a strange irony, he who in his lifetime was known as the doubting disciple, is destined to have his name to the present day associated with “doubtful” tradition. It is not certain that he ever came to India.

One difficulty in the matter is the lack of any written records dealing with the first centuries in a way that can make us certain of the facts. There are faint traces that make us think that at one time the knowledge of the true Sabbath was among these people. However this may be, it is certain that the first Christianity in India came from Syria, and the first knowledge of Jesus Christ was brought in the language of the Syriac translation of the Bible. I was interested in reading of the first meeting between these Syrian Christians, as they were called, and an educated Protestant missionary. The Syrian Christians had met only the Roman Catholics; and as their worship was much purer, and they had been very badly treated by the Romans, they were very suspicious of this first Protestant missionary, and would not listen to his reading from the English Bible. They claimed that their version was the most ancient, and therefore the most accurate, and would not consent to listen to anything that was read out of the English.

Finally the missionary suggested that some chapter be selected, and be translated from each language into the Malayalam for comparison. The chapter was also translated from the Greek, a copy of which the missionary had with him. I believe that the native Christians selected the third chapter of the Gospel of John. The translation proved entirely satisfactory.

Another interesting incident in connection with the Malayalam country is the fact that Joseph Wolf visited this country previous to 1844, and preached the doctrine of Christ’s second coming, stirring up great interest. He seems to have taught a number of the local preachers, inspiring them with his great enthusiasm, insomuch that for years after he had left, the message of the second advent was preached with great power among these people. We are sorry to have to record that as yet there is no representative of the third angel’s message here. It is interesting to add that among the Tamils, Telugus, and Malayalams, are one half of all the native Christians of India.

Bangalore, India.