And They Call This Christian!
By Editor
We clip from the Christian Advocate the following translation of a new Bengali hymn, the "production of a Bengali Christian," "one of the most affecting and popular hymns" of "Babu Rabindranath Thakur, the most eminent of the living poets of Bengal:" I know that when the day breaks the bark of Thy mercy
Will convey me to the other shore of the ocean of Life, O Lord,
I do not fear; I shall go away, singing Thy praise,
And shall stand at Thy eternal gate, O Lord. I know that from age to age, inclosing me with Thy arms,
Thou hast kept me in Thy infinite world,
Thou hast let me be borne from light to light,
And hast led me from life to new life, O Lord. I know, my God, that whether in sin or in holiness, my soul always
Is lying before Thy eyes, O Lord.
Thy hands are always on mine, day and night,
In all paths, or when I go astray, in weal and wo, O Lord. I know, I know, that my life will never be fruitless,
Thou wilt not cast it upon wilds full of the fear of death;
A day will come when, in mercy, Thou in person
Wilt pick it up as a flower, O Lord. Like so much of our New Thought theology, this is Christian with Christ left out. It is Hinduism, with its transmigration of soul, but it is not Christian. The sad thing is that a Christian should call it Christian. It is purely pagan.