THE CONVERT COMMUNITIES OF INDIA.
By W. A. Spicer
In any view of mission work in India, the first thing, naturally, is to consider what has already been attained, and what the results of the methods employed. At the beginning of such a view it must be recognized that so vast a field can not be summed up in a few paragraphs or articles, and that at best an observer can get only a general idea. The latest figures I have seen, and the largest, are given in the following extract from an address by the bishop of Lincoln, England, at a public missionary meeting:— "If we attempt to answer this question merely from the statistical reports as to the number of native Christians, you will see that the ground of our confidence may seem shaken. The figures connected with statistical reports from India are so vast that they hardly leave any impression on our minds. From the great central provinces, which form the interior of the whole country, with a population of more than fifty million (50,256,108), we find a total Christian population of less than forty-six thousand (45,633). If we deduct from these the Europeans and Eurasians, we find left little more than twenty-two thousand native Christians (22,887), or, out of the fifty million, less than one-tenth per cent. It is plain that Christianity has affected this vast area as yet but very little. In Bengal and the States connected with it, with a population of more than eighty million (80,120,199), the total number of Christians is reckoned at less than two hundred thousand (195,167). If from these you deduct the Europeans and Eurasians, the number of native Christians is less than one hundred and seventy thousand (168,867), or less than three-tenths per cent. Of the two hundred and ninety million (290,000,000) which make up the whole population of India and Ceylon, there are less than three millions of native Christians (2,250,000), or again less than 1 per cent." These figures are larger than I have before seen. Getting such a census in India is difficult, as mission records often cover lapsed communities, and by shifting and changing from one society to another, people are often counted twice. But, taken with the great increase in population, it is easy to see that the conversion of India, that we sometimes read of, is not to be realized. But if this percentage represented the living Gospel of Christ, it would be a tremendous leavening power. As such statistics necessarily operate in every country, the figures include many under the head of Christians who would scarcely pass the most elementary examination in the principles of Christianity. One type, one of our workers met in a hospital the other day. The woman was a Christian, but could not tell why, nor what she believed. She was from a country district, and the kindness of a lady missionary had caused her to become a Christian. In times of famine, districts which have eaten the Christian's rice, and so broken caste, have become Christians. While these things give missions opportunities to get at the people, the idea that the work is done by some magical formula, or by some outward ceremony, works sadly against the future teaching of the spirituality of religion. Hinduism has left its stamp too deeply in human nature to be wiped out by a ceremony. In Hinduism a man may commit almost any crime, and still retain his caste; but if he should eat an English biscuit, he would be outcasted at once. So the disassociation of religion from conduct has been made almost complete, and anything that favors the idea that men may become Christians without a complete change in life, and a heart experience of the power of God, is really a hindrance, however much it may appear to offer a temporary advantage. If there had been less haste to get converts, there would be more genuine fruit of missions in India. One can not escape that conclusion. And without at all desiring to criticize in a hostile manner the work of many noble missionaries who have given their lives to India, it is impossible to consider India as a mission field without looking squarely at the principles on which the Christian faith is built up and the manner in which they are propagated. In one large district known as a Christian district, one of our society's agents was some time ago distributing literature. Some were inclined to be excited that the literature teaching the Sabbath and advent truths should be brought into the district. One preacher, however, assured the others that there need be no fear; that none in the district would believe anything unless they were hired to do so. It was a libel on many of his people, no doubt. But it is a fact that in many districts the bond that holds the communities is the money devoted to nursing and holding them. We have, in our own work in India, given the most positive proofs that we (Seventh-day Adventists) are not here on any proselytizing scheme, using the word in that bad sense which it has acquired. But we see that method going on all the time,—people being drawn this way and that, from one society to another, without any real change in life. Many have thought to come to us in the same way, and any society in India may, by a liberal use of means, attract to itself any number of converts, apparently. Spiritually-minded members of the community know these things, and regret them; but it is a fact that the anxiety for numbers drags the societies into methods that are demoralizing the people. Not long ago in a Church of England periodical a missionary wrote that "they were sending out preachers and teachers who did not know the power of salvation, to preach in the villages and bazaars. These, he said, were easily read by the keen non-Christians, who were not slow to see that the preacher was preaching for hire. This led some of the same stamp to decide to become Christians for the sake of the easy employment and help of mission work, and this kind of preacher often hints at this advantage. And the non-Christian of some character, seeing it all, becomes more hardened against Christianity. Thus, this writer declared, they were often bringing in the class they did not want, and driving away the class they wanted. No one should make a general application of this illustration to all, for that would be false; but it is a fact that a tremendous amount of work of this kind is done." I have known preachers who wanted to get on with this society, who said they would be glad to do anything besides mission work, but could find nothing else to do but to preach. I heard the other day of a preacher who regretted that he had become a Christian; but, having become one, he did not know what else to do than to go on preaching the Gospel. In the midst of all this, there is need of the cry being raised that was raised on the banks of the Jordan by John the Baptist in the days of old. The Lord is coming, and the people are not ready for it. From the Hindu and Mohammedan, to the Christian, and even to the European communities of India, there is the need of an awakening, reviving message, that shall connect religion with the life, and demonstrate the power of God to save men. Too often the thought of actual conversion has been put too far off. It is looked upon as a process of slow growth, of evolution. Thus a missionary journal says that Bishop Caldwell has said for us all:— "It is largely, if not chiefly, in the hope of what succeeding generations may become, that we receive and persist in retaining many of our present Christians; and the end justifies us." But the trouble is that, while making people who are not Christians believe that they are, by putting them through the outward forms of religion, the children are receiving an education which does not make this generation stronger than the former, but rather the reverse, I fear, from all that I can see. Another missionary writes on a better key. He says, discussing the ever-burning problem which the societies have upon their hands:— "We have encouraged many who seem good Christians, because of what seemed to be a pressing need, to become teachers, preachers, or helpers in evangelistic work; and our system has also encouraged it; and the result is that we have a great number on our hands who at heart are not in sympathy with this reform movement, but are opposed to it in any form. These are only a burden. God could not give victory to Gideon till his 32,000 were reduced to 300 men. And the Lord can not give us victory in this line if we think to keep, and insist on keeping, our full 32,000, such as they are." The side influences of Christian communities in India are not always in favor of Christianity. Of course it is so in Europe and America, and all the world, to some extent. But we do not count all worldlings as Christians in America or England. We regard them as outside the church, subjects for missionary effort. India has an immense field for a thorough missionary reviving, both among the convert communities and non-professing peoples. The message for these days has power to take people straight out of Hinduism and make them Christians. There is no need to wait for the evolution of generations for the regeneration of the believer11by the Word. That is an axiom of the Gospel, and it is better to have men understand what a convert is than to leave him deluded with the evolutionary idea of the Gospel."