THE INFLUENCE OF THE BIBLE IN INDIA.
FROM an article on “The Change of Front in India,” by Rev. Jacob Chamberlain, M.D., D.D., in the Missionary Review, we take the following extracts:— “In February, 1861, I met a venerable Brahman pilgrim, who told me of his sixty years of pilgrimages—of twice ten thousand miles—to every sacred shrine in India, all made on foot and begging his food by the way. ‘And yet,’ said he, sadly and with disappointment—‘and yet the burden of sin is just as heavy as when, a young man, I started on this quest. O, sir, does your Véda tell how I can get rid of this burden of sin, and be at peace with God?’ One sees no such pilgrims now. “Then hook-swinging and spike-walking and self-torture and immolation were real verities. Yearly the shrine of Juggernaut saw its throngs of a hundred thousand devotees, from hundreds or thousands of miles of toilsome pilgrimage, and thousands gripped the long cables, dragging the ponderous car of Juggernaut, while devotees were throwing themselves beneath its wheels. “Now all is changed. Britain’s sway, indeed, has put a stop to torture and immolation, but the waning faith of the people in their religion has been putting a more effective quietus to the ancient order of things, until recently Juggernaut’s priests issued the dismal wail that not enough pilgrims came to pull the car around its annual outing, and scarce were they able, with all the coolies they could hire, to move it back to its home. “The throngs of devout worshipers, making toilsome journeys, with costly gifts, have ceased. Lessening multitudes now go, indeed, but by train, with more or less comfort, to many of the shrines, and perfunctorily engage in some of the less irksome ceremonies, but little or none of the religious spirit is seen. “Then the rich endowments of the temples were yearly increased by the liberal gifts of those who believed they could thus buy release from sin. Now myriads of temples are slowly going to ruin, and a wail comes up from the priests of the most noted shrines at the smallness of the offerings, while the people are openly accusing the priests of squandering in voluptuous licentiousness the revenues from the endowments of the pious dead. But let us note Hindu testimony upon this point. “One hundred of the chief residents of Tirupati, the most noted shrine of southern India, signed and sent a memorial to the viceroy of India, in May, 1894, calling his attention to the desperate condition of Hindu religious endowments in general and of those of Tirupati in particular, and praying that government would provide more efficient means of safeguarding the interests of such endowments.” “It seems now to be the profound conviction of all thoughtful Hindus that Hinduism as it now exists, as it was when Christian missions began their campaign in India, as it has been for the last thousand years, must go. ‘The staunch, orthodox Brahman editor of a vernacular newspaper’ is quoted by The Missionary, London, as taking this gloomy view of the situation:— “We entertain no more any hope for that religion which we consider dearer to us than our life. Hinduism is now on its death-bed, and, unfortunately, there is no drug which can be safely administered to it for its recovery. There are native Christians nowadays who have declared a terrible crusade against the entire fabric of Hinduism, and many men of splendid education are also coming forth, even from our own community [Brahmans], who have already expressed a desire to accept Christianity; and should these gentlemen really become, first, Christians, and then its preachers, they will give the last death-blow to Mother Hinduism. This terrible crusade is now carried on by Christians with a tenacity of purpose and a devotion which in themselves defy failure. “But while all thoughtful Hindus seem to agree that Hinduism, in its modern form, at least, must go, they are not, by any means, agreed as to what shall take its place. All agree in fighting aggressive Christianity. They have even borrowed Christian tactics, and have formed in many cities of India ‘Hindu Tract and Preaching Societies,’ and are issuing millions of pages of tracts attacking Christianity, and scattering them broadcast. Some of them are of a most blasphemous character, and filled with grossest falsehood. Others are simply designed to arouse Hindus to a sense of their danger.” “There are three distinct trends of thought on the part of those who unitedly oppose aggressive Christianity. One party seeks to resuscitate Vedic Hinduism, to purge modern Hinduism of all its undesirable later accretions, and restore it to its pristine purity. But no two agree as to what its ‘undesirable accretions’ are, nor as to what the ‘pristine purity’ should consist in. Some say that it must be monotheistic and without caste. Others wish to retain a few of the more popular gods, and to keep up caste distinctions. There seems at present no prospect of an agreement as to what this ‘revival of Hinduism’ should consist in, tho there are multitudes of preachers of such a revival. What will be the outcome of this no one can say.” “The second trend is toward the acceptance of a Christianity without Christ—that is, the accepting of Christ’s teachings as a system of morality, without accepting the name of Christians, and without admitting Christ to be divine. They would simply add Christ, with his inimitable life and teachings, to their pantheon, but remain Hindus or non-Christians all the same. To this end the Aryya Literary Society in Calcutta, composed of non-Christian Bengali gentlemen, we are told, ‘are now engaged in translating the Bible into classical Bengali. They have asked and obtained the assistance of representative men of the Christian communities, lest anything should appear in the translation which should make it antichristian in tone.’ “The third distinct trend is toward agnosticism, and this I regard as the most portentous trend of all, for it exists not only among those who openly so avow themselves, but untold numbers who for social reasons ally themselves with some one of the other parties, have really thrown themselves into blank and cheerless agnosticism; and the number is increasing faster than we know. “There is, however, in spite of all the above-mentioned opposition, an unquestionable undercurrent tending toward evangelical Christianity. There came to me secretly in my tent, when out upon a tour, a native gentleman, high in office, in caste, in social position, wishing to have a private conversation with me on the claims of Jesus of Nazareth to be the Saviour of the world. After a somewhat extended conversation he said to me, in substance:— “Sir, I am not a Christian. I am still regarded as a devout Hindu. I still perform enough Hindu ceremonies to avoid suspicion, but in my heart I dare not deny the claims of the Bible. I see the power of Jesus Christ in the lives of his followers so distinctly that I can not deny his divinity. He must be divine or he could not work such a change in the lives of those who become his disciples. He is not yet my Saviour. Caste, wealth, position, family, all hold me back; but even now I never allow him to be spoken against in my presence. I have long been reading the Bible in secret. The more I read of Christ, and ponder over his life and teachings, and the power to conquer sin, which comes from embracing his religion, the more do I feel that in the end I shall have to accept him, at any cost, as my personal Saviour; but how can I do it now, and bring ruin upon my family? “There are more such than we have any idea of. The surface currents so often fail to tell what the deep-sea movements are.”