ma THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES REPORT OF COMMISSION IV World Missionary Conference, 1910 (To consider Missionary Problems In relation to the Non-Christian World) REPORT OF COMMISSION IV THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE IN RELATION TO NON-CHRISTIAN RELIGIONS With Supplement : Presentation and Discussion of the Report in the Conference on i8th June 1910 PUBLISHED FOR THE WORLD MISSIONARY CONFERENCE BY OLIPHANT, ANDERSON & FERRIER EDINBURGH AND LONDON FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY NEW YORK, CHICAGO, AND TORONTO CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE LIST OF MEMBERS OF COMMISSION . . ix LIST OF CORRESPONDENTS . . . . xi I. INTRODUCTION ...... i II. ANIMISTIC RELIGIONS . . . . .6 III. CHINESE RELIGIONS . . . . -38 IV. THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN . . . -73 V. ISLAM ....... 122 VI. HINDUISM . . . . . .156 VII. GENERAL CONCLUSIONS . . . . .214 CONCLUDING NOTE ..... 275 APPENDIX A BURMA, SIAM, CEYLON . . .281 APPENDIX B BAHAISM ..... 288 SUPPLEMENT: PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION OF THE REPORT ...... 289 GENERAL INDEX . . . . . . 327 INDEX OF CORRESPONDENTS AND AUTHORITIES QUOTED 335 ill 1236177 LIST OF MEMBERS OF COMMISSION Chairman The Rev. Professor D. S. CAIRNS, D.D., United Free Church College, Aberdeen, Scotland. Vice- Chairman ROBERT E. SPEER, D.D., Secretary of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., New York. The Rev. HENRY T. CHAPMAN, Secretary of the Foreign Missionary Society of the United Methodist Church, England. The Rev. W. DILGER, Tubingen, Wiirttemberg, Germany. The Rev. A. E. GARVIE, D.D., Principal of New College, Hampstead, London. The Rev. RICHARD GLOVER, D.D., Bristol, England. Ds. J. W. GUNNING, Director of the Nederlandsche Zendelinggenootschap, Rotterdam, Holland. The Rev. A. B. LEONARD, D.D., LL.D., Corresponding Secretary of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church, New York. Herr Dr. JOH. LEPSIUS, Deutsche Orient-Mission, Pots- dam, Germany. The Rev. ROBERT MACKENZIE, D.D., LL.D., Secretary, The College Board of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., New York. The Rev. E. Y. MULLINS, D.D., LL.D., President, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Ky., U.S.A. x MEMBERS OF THE COMMISSION The BISHOP OF OSSORY (The Right Rev. C. F. D'Arcy, D.D.), Ireland. The Rev. GEORGE OWEN, Professor of Chinese in the University of London. The Rev. J. E. PADFIELD, B.D., Church Missionary Society, London. The Rev. Professor W. P. PATERSON, D.D., University of Edinburgh, Scotland. The Rev. JULIUS B. REMENSNYDER, D.D., LL.D., New York. The Rev. Canon C. H. ROBINSON, D.D., Editorial Secretary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, London. Mrs. G. J. ROMANES of Pitcalzean. Herr Pastor GOTTFRIED SIMON, Rheinsche Missions- gesellschaft, Bielefeld, Germany. Herr Missions-inspektor Pastor J. WARNECK, D.D., lie. theol., Rheinsche Missionsgesellschaft, Barmen, Germany. LIST OF CORRESPONDENTS ANIMISTIC RELIGIONS The Rev. W. D. Armstrong (Regions Beyond Missionary Union), Upper Congo. The Rev. W. T. Balmer, B.A. (Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society), Sierra Leone. The Rev. G. Callaway (Society for the Propagation of the Gospel), Griqualand East, South Africa. The Right Rev. Bishop Cameron (Society for the Pro- pagation of the Gospel), Capetown. Mr. Andrew Campbell (United Free Church of Scotland), Manbhum, India. Miss J. E. Chad wick (formerly of Church Missionary Society), Uganda. The Rev. S. W. Cox (Society for the Propagation of the Gospel), Port Elizabeth, Cape Colony. The Rev. Canon Dale (Universities Mission to Central Africa), Zanzibar. The Rev. W. C. Dodd (Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.), Laos. The Rev. Donald Eraser (United Free Church of Scot- land), West Nyasaland. The Rev. R. S. Fyffe (Society for the Propagation of the Gospel), Mandalay, Burma. 1 The Rev. W. Barbrooke Grubb (South American Mis- sionary Society), Paraguay. The Rev. Fred. Hahn (Gossnersche Missionsgesellschaft), Bengal. 1 The Venerable Archdeacon Johnson (Society for the Propagation of the Gospel), Zululand. 1 The above contributed papers dealing in part with Animism. xii LIST OF CORRESPONDENTS The Rev. Copland King (Society for the Propagation of the Gospel), New Guinea. Mr. Alb. C. Kruyt (Nederlandsche Zendeling Genootschap), Central Celebes. The Rev. R. H. Nassau, D.D. (Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.), formerly of West Africa. The Rev. B. J. Ross, M.A. (United Free Church of Scot- land), Transkei, Cape Colony. The Rev. W. H. Sanders (American Board of Commis- sioners for Foreign Missions), Benguella, Angola. Missionar H. Sundermann (Rheinsche Missionsgesell- schaft), Borneo. Mr. Carl Wandres (Rheinsche Missionsgesellschaft), Windhuk, Ger. S.W. Africa. Heir Missions-inspektor Lie. Joh. Warneck (Rheinsche Missionsgesellschaft), formerly of Sumatra. The Rev. Geo. Whitehead (Society for the Propagation of the Gospel), Burma. 1 The Rev. G.*A. Wilder (American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions), Rhodesia. Missionar Dr. Joh. Winkler (Rheinsche Missionsgesell- schaft), Pea Radja, Sumatra. CHINESE RELIGIONS The Rev. Bishop Bashford (Methodist Episcopal Church in U.S.A.), Peking. The Rev. James Beattie (Presbyterian Church of Eng- land), Amoy. The Rev. Paul D. Bergen, D.D. (Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.), Weihsien, Shantung. The Rev. C. Campbell Brown (Presbyterian Church, England), Chianchefu (Chinchew). The Rev. Pastor Chang (United Free Church of Scotland), Tiehling, Manchuria. The Rev. W. A. Cornaby (Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society), Shanghai. 1 The above contributed papers dealing in part with Animism. LIST OF CORRESPONDENTS xiii The Rev. George Douglas (United Free Church of Scot- land), Liaoyang, Manchuria. The Rev. C. H. Fenn (Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.), Peking. The Rev. Arnold Foster (London Missionary Society), Wuchang. The Rev. J. C. Garritt, D.D. (Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.), Nanking. The Right Rev. Bishop Graves (Protestant Episcopal Church in the U.S.A.), Shanghai. The Rev. R. H. Graves, D.D., M.D. (American Southern Baptist Mission), Canton. The Rev. William Harris, Jun. (Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.), Chieng, Siam. The Rev. I. T. Headland (Methodist Episcopal Church in U.S.A.), Peking. Dr. H. T. Hodgkin (Friends' Foreign Mission Associa- tion), Chengtu. The Rev. James W. Inglis, M.A. (United Free Church of Scotland), Kaiyuan, Manchuria. The Rev. F. P. Joseland(London Missionary Society), Amoy. The Rev. Pastor Paul Kranz (Christian Literature Society for China), Shanghai. Mr. J. V. Latimer (American Baptist Missionary Union), Shanghai. Prof. Lui Gwang Djao (Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.), Weihsien. The Rev. D. MacGillivray, D.D. (Christian Literature Society for China), Shanghai. The Rev. Murdoch Mackenzie, D.D. (Presbyterian Church in Canada), Chengtefu. The Rev. P. J. Maclagan (Presbyterian Church of Eng- land), vSwatow. The Rev. Campbell Moody (Presbyterian Church of Eng- land), Formosa. The Venerable Archdeacon Moule, B.D. (Church Mis- sionary Society), Ningpo. The Rev. Franklin Ohlinger (Methodist Episcopal Church in U.S.A.), Foochow. xiv LIST OF CORRESPONDENTS Dr. G. Olpp (Rhenish Missionary Society), Tungkun. The Right Rev. Bishop Price (Church Missionary Society), Fuhkien. The Rev. Timothy Richard, D.D., LL.D. (Christian Literature Society for China), Shanghai. The Rev. A. H. Smith, D.D. (American Board of Com- missioners for Foreign Missions), China. Mr. Stanley P. Smith, M.A., Tsechowfu. The Rev. C. G. Sparham (London Missionary Society), Hankow. Mr. Phang Tshiung (Presbyterian Church of England), Wukingfu. The Rev. J. Vale (China Inland Mission), Chengtu. The Rev. W. G. Walshe, M.A. (Church Missionary Society), Shanghai. Mr. C. T. Wang (Young Men's Christian Association). The Rev. John Wherry, D.D. (Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.), Peking. The Rev. Henry M. Woods, D.D. (Presbyterian Church in the U.S.), Hwaianfu. JAPANESE RELIGIONS The Rev. J. H. Ballagh, D.D. (Dutch Reformed Church), Yokohama. The Rev. J. D. Davis, D.D. (American Board of Commis- sioners for Foreign Missions), Kyoto. The Rev. J. L. Dearing, D.D. (American Baptist Mis- sionary Union), Yokohama. The Rev. Gideon F. Draper (Methodist Episcopal Church in U.S.A.), Yokohama. The Rev. E. C. Fry (Missions of the Christian Church, U.S.A.), Utsunomiya. The Rev. D. C. Greene, D.D. (American Board of Com- missioners for Foreign Missions), Tokyo. The Rev. Sidney L. Gulick, D.D. (American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions), Kyoto. The Rev. T. H. Haden (Methodist Episcopal Church, South), Kobe. LIST OF CORRESPONDENTS xv The Rev. J. B. Hail, D.D. (Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.), Wakayama. President K. Ibuka (Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.), Tokyo. The Rev. Wm. Imbrie, D.D. (Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.), Tokyo. The Rev. P. G. Kawai (Church Missionary Society). The Rev. Arthur Lea (Church Missionary Society), Gifu. The Rev. Arthur Lloyd, D.D. (American Episcopal Mission), Tokyo. The Rev. R. E. M'Alpine (Presbyterian Church in the U.S.), Nagoya. The Rev. E. Rothesay Miller (Reformed (Dutch) Church in America), Tokyo. The Rev. D. A. Murray, D.D. (Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.), Osaka. The Rev. J. C. Calhoun Newton, D.D. (Methodist Epis- copal Church, South), Kobe. The Rev. W. B. Parshley (American Baptist Missionary Union), Yokohama. The Rev. George P. Pierson (Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.), Hokkaido. Mrs. Pierson (Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.), Hokkaido. The Rev. J. Cooper Robinson (Church Missionary Society), Hiroshima. The Rev. George M. Rowland, D.D. (American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions), Sapporo. The Rev. David B. Schneder, D.D. (Board of Foreign Missions of the Reformed Church in the U.S.A.), Sendai. The Rev. Julius Soper (Methodist Episcopal Church in U.S.A.). The Rev. T. Takahashi (American Baptist Missionary Union), Yokohama. The Rev. C. H Basil Wood, M.A. (Church Missionary Society), Osaka. The Rev. H. Woodward, B.A. (Church Missionary Society), Gifu. xvi LIST OF CORRESPONDENTS ISLAM The Rev. All Bakhsh (Church Missionary Society), Lahore. Mr. B. M. Alkema (Nederlandsche Zendings Vereeniging), West Java. Mr. T. E. Alvarez (Church Missionary Society), Northern Nigeria. The Rev. Herman Barnum, D.D. (American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions), Kharput, Turkey in Asia. The Rev. James Cantine (Reformed (Dutch) Church in America), Muscat. The Rev. A. Duncan Dixey (Church Missionary Society), Kalat State. The Rev. W. H. T. Gairdner (Church Missionary Society), Cairo. The Rev. Malcolm G. Goldsmith (Church Missionary Society), Hyderabad. The Rev. G. F. Herrick, D.D. (American Board of Com- missioners for Foreign Missions), Constantinople. G. W. Holmes, M.D. (Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.), Persia. The Rev. F. E. Hoskins (Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.), Beirut. The Rev. H. H. Jessup, D.D. (Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.), Beirut. The Rev. Phineas B. Kennedy (American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions), Albania. Mr. A. Kruyt (Nederlandsche Zendeling Genootschap), East Java. The Rev. J. A. Lepsius (German Orient Mission), Turkey. Dr. W. R. Miller (Church Missionary Society), Northern Nigeria. The Rev. W. A. Rice (Church Missionary Society), Ispahan. The Rev. W. St. Clair Tisdall, D.D. (Church Missionary Society), Ispahan. LIST OF CORRESPONDENTS xvii The Rev. W. A. Shedd, D.D. (Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.), Urmia. Mr. H. Van der Spiegel (" Java Comite"," Amsterdam), Java. The Rev. Canon Sterling, M.A., M.B., B.S. (Church Missionary Society), Jerusalem. Mr. George Swan (Egypt General Mission), Cairo. The Rev. John Van Ess (Reformed (Dutch) Church in America), Busrah, Turkey in Asia. Mr. J. Verhoeven (Nederlandsche Zendings Vereeniging), Java. The Rev. A. Watson, D.D. (Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.), Cairo. The Rev. George E. White, D.D. (American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions), Marsovan. The Rev. S. G. Wilson, D.D. (Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.), Tabriz. The Rev. J. C. Young, M.B. (United Free Church of Scot- land), Sheikh Othman, Aden. The Rev. S. M. Zwemer, D D. (Reformed (Dutch) Church in America), Bahrein. HINDUISM The Rev. S. H. Ambat (Easier Missionsgesellschaft), Malabar. The Rev. C. F. Andrews (Society for the Propagation of the Gospel), Delhi. The Rev. Graham Bailey (Church of Scotland), Punjab. Mr. J. R. Banerjee, M.A., B.L., Calcutta. The Rev. W. B. Boggs, D.D. (Baptist Missionary Union), Nellore. The Rev. William Bonnar, Rajputana. The Rev. F. S. Braun (Easier Missionsgesellschaft), Bombay. The Rev. W. H. Campbell (London Missionary Society), Gooty. The Rev. Lewis B. Chamberlain (Reformed (Dutch) Church in America), Madanapalle. COM. iv. 6 xviii LIST OF CORRESPONDENTS The Right Rev. Bishop of Calcutta (Society for the Propagation of the Gospel), Calcutta. Mr. G. Sherwood Eddy (Young Men's Christian Associa- tion and American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions), Madras. Mr. J. N. Farquhar, M.A. (Young Men's Christian Associa- tion), Calcutta. Mrs. Ferguson Davie, M.D. (Society for the Propagation of the Gospel), Punjab. Mr. A. G. Fraser (Church Missionary Society), Trinity College, Kandy, Ceylon. The Rev. R. S. Fyffe (Society for the Propagation of the Gospel), Mandalay, Burma. Deaconess E. Goreh (Society for the Propagation of the Gospel), Karwi, Banda. The Rev. O. J. Grainger (Foreign Christian (Disciples) Missionary Society), Jubbulpore. The Rev. Edwin Greaves (London Missionary Society), Benares. The Rev. H. G. Grey (Church Missionary Society), Punjab. The Rev. Henry Gulliford (Wesleyan Missionary Society), Mysore. The Rev. Fred. Hahn (Gossnersche Missionsgesellschaft), Bengal. The Rev. R. H. A. Haslam (Church Missionary Society), Punjab. The Rev. Ch. Hermon (Easier Missionsgesellschaft), Malabar. Professor A. G. Hogg (United Free Church of Scotland), Madras Christian College. The Rev. W. E. S. Holland (Church Missionary Society), Allahabad. The Rev. W. Hooper, D.D. (Church Missionary Society), Mussoorie. The Rev. George Howells, B.A., B.D., Ch.D. (Baptist Missionary Society), Serampore. The Rev. R. A. Hume (American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions), Ahmednagar, Bombay. LIST OF CORRESPONDENTS xix The Rev. W. R. James (Baptist Missionary Society), Calcutta. The Rev. J. P. Jones, D.D. (American Board of Commis- sioners for Foreign Missions), Madura. The Rev. D. L. Joshi (Church Missionary Society), Bombay. The Rev. S. V. Karmarkar, B.D. (American Board of Com- missioners for Foreign Missions), Bombay. The Rev. F. Kingsbury (South India United Church), Madura. The Right Rev. the Bishop of Lahore. The Rev. J. Lazarus, B.A. (Danske Missionsselskab), Madras. The Rev. D. G. M. Leith (Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society), Madras. Mr. Sidney J. Long (Friends' Foreign Missionary Associa- tion), Matale, Ceylon. The Rev. J. J. Lucas, D.D. (Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.), Allahabad. The Rev. Bernard Lucas (London Missionary Society), Bellary. The Rev. Nicol Macnicol, M.A. (United Free Church of Scotland), Poona. The Right Rev. The Bishop of Madras. The Rev. J. Mathers, M.A. (London Missionary Society), Bangalore. Mr. T. H. Messmore (Methodist Episcopal Mission), Pauri. The Rev. John Morrison, D.D. (Church of Scotland), Calcutta. The Rev. N. C. Mukerjee (North India American Presby- terian Mission), Allahabad. The Rev. Canon Nihal Singh (Church Missionary Society), Allahabad. Pandita Ramabai (Mukti Mission), Poona. The Right Rev. Bishop J. E. Robinson (Methodist Episcopal Church in the U.S.A.), Bombay. The Rev. J. Ruthquist (Svenska Missionsforbundet), Amarwara. xx LIST OF CORRESPONDENTS The Rev. A. Schosser (Easier Missionsgesellschaft), Mangalore. Miss de Selincourt (Zenana Bible and Medical Missionary Society), Lady Muir Memorial College, Allahabad. The Rev. Ahmad Shah (Society for the Propagation of the Gospel), Hamirpur. The Rev. J. A. Sharrock (Society for the Propagation of the Gospel), Trichinopoly. The Rev. T. E. Slater (London Missionary Society), Bangalore. Miss A. M. L. Smith (Church of England Zenana Missionary Society), Bangalore. The Rev. F. W. Steinthal, B.D. (Young Men's Christian Association), Calcutta. Mr. Joseph Taylor (Friends' Foreign Missionary Associa- tion), Hoshangabad. The Rev. G. P. Taylor (Presbyterian Church in Ireland), Bombay. The Rev. L. I. Uhl, Ph.D., D.D. (Evangelical Lutheran United Synod of the South), Guntur. The Rev. A. P. Veeraswamy (American Baptist Missionary Union), Ongole. The Rev. H. M. Weitbrecht, D.D. (Church Missionary Society), Simla. The Right Rev. The Bishop of Lucknow. The Rev. E. M. Wherry, D.D. (American Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.), Ludhiana. The Rev. G. Whitehead (Society for the Propagation of the Gospel), Burma. The Rev. W. A. Wilson, D.D. (Presbyterian Church in Canada), Indore. THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE IN RELATION TO NON-CHRISTIAN RELIGIONS CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION THE aim of this Commission, as defined by the Executive Committee of the Conference, has been to study the problems involved in the presentation of Christianity to the minds of the non-Christian peoples. Simple as this task may appear, the endeavour to carry it out speedily reveals how intricate and how comprehensive such an enquiry should be. We have to enquire into the conflict of faiths in the non-Christian lands, the influence of that conflict on the mind oi the missionary, the effect of the whole upon the theology of the Church at home, and the suggestions which it offers for the training of missionaries. The best way of getting at once to the heart of the whole situation seemed to be to ascertain from the body of missionaries what they found on the one hand to be really alive in the non-Christian religions, what had the power of keeping men back from Christ, or of preparing the way for faith in Him ; and on the c ther hand, what were the elements of the Christian Gcspel which had the greatest power of appeal in winning and changing the hearts of men. COM. iv. i 2 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE With the view of discovering the realities of the situa- tion, the Commission issued a list of questions to a large number of missionaries in all parts of the world. These correspondents represented practically all branches of the Christian Church, with the exception of the Eastern Churches and the Church of Rome. The questions sent out were as follows : 1. Kindly give your name, station, and the Church or Society in connection with which you are working. Name the non- Christian religion or religions with which you have to deal in your missionary work, and say with what classes of the population you yourself come into contact. 2. Can you distinguish among the doctrines and forms of religious observances current among these classes any which are mainly traditional and formal from others which are taken in earnest and are genuinely prized as a religious help and consola- tion ? 3. What do you consider to be the chief moral, intellectual, and social hindrances in the way of a full acceptance of Chris- tianity ? 4. Have you found in individuals any dissatisfaction with their own faith on specific points ? If so, give details. 5. What attitude should the Christian preacher take toward the religion of the people among whom he labours ? 6. What are the elements in the said religion or religions which present points of contact with Christianity and may be regarded as a preparation for it ? 7. Which elements in the Christian Gospel and the Christian life have you found to possess the greatest power of appeal and which have awakened the greatest opposition ? 8. Have the people among whom you work a practical belief in a personal immortality and in the existence of a Supreme God ? 9. To what extent do questions of " higher criticism " and other developments of modern Western thought exert an influence in your part of the mission field, and what effect do they have on missionary work ? 1 10. Has your experience in missionary labour altered either in form or substance your impression as to what constitute the most important and vital elements in the Christian Gospel ? 2 ii. What was it in Christianity which made special appeal to you ? Did the Western form in which Christianity was presented to you perplex you ? What are the distinctively Western elements, as you see them, in the miss Inary message as now presented ? Was it the sense of sin whioh enabled you to go behind the Western forms ? If not, what was it ? 1 This question was addressed to foreign missionaries. a This question was addressed to converts to Christianity. The response to this enquiry was most generous. Nearly two hundred sets of answers have been sent in from all fields and from men and women representing the most different types of Christian faith. The Commission desires to express its deep gratitude for this response and its admiration of the high quality of these papers, and the labour which has been expended upon them. The whole character of the correspondence has been such as to show that the writers have been thinking long and deeply on the matters with which the questions are concerned. In addition to these answers, a great mass of printed material, expanding and illustrating the answers, has been forwarded, which has often proved of much value in clearing up points which would otherwise have been left obscure. We have now to indicate the method which we have followed in dealing with the evidence presented to us. It would have been a counsel of perfection to have resolved to print the entire correspondence. It seems to us to contain material of the highest importance for the student of Church History, of Biblical Interpretation, and of Dogmatics and Apologetics, and we can, further, conceive of no better introduction to the non-Christian religions than is provided by these papers, for the students who are contemplating missionary work abroad. It is, meantime, of course impossible to carry out so extensive a plan. The time allowed us is by no means sufficient even for the particular work which we have to do. The Report which we now present has been drawn up under the greatest difficulty in view of the limitation of time, and the exigencies of the Conference demand also that the Report shall be condensed within very narrow limits of space. All that can be done here is to present, in as compact a form as possible, the immense mass of evidence, which in its original form would represent many volumes each as large as the present. But it should always be remembered that in such an abstract statement as this, very much of deep interest and significance in the originals must elude the reader of the abstract. We 4 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE have endeavoured to illustrate the general results by significant quotations. We have very often had to deny ourselves the pleasure of quoting striking passages from many writers who have not been named in view of the necessity of presenting the general results and the total impression. But every paper sent in has been carefully studied, and those from which no special quotation has been made have contributed vitally to the formation of our judgment on the questions discussed, and also to general statements as to the distribution of the evidence on the particular points noticed. We trust that it may yet be possible to bring all the correspondence before the public in some form more worthy of its importance, but, in the meantime, we have endeavoured to make the best of the limitations under which we have done our work. Having been thus compelled to abbreviate the evidence, we have agreed that the main portion of our Report should consist of an abstract of the replies in five sections, corresponding to the five fields of Animistic Religions, Chinese Religions, Japanese Religions, Islam and Hinduism. In order to deal more effectively with the immense mass of material to be studied, the European members of the Commission, on whom, as its Executive Committee, the main burden of the work naturally fell, were divided into five sub-committees the abstract for each section being written in the first instance by the Chairman of the sub-committee of that section. These sub-committees were constituted as follows : Animistic Religions The Rev. Professor W. P. Paterson (Chairman); Herr Missions - Inspector J. Warneck ; Ds. J. W. Gunning. Chinese Religions the Rev. George Owen (Chairman) ; the Rev. H. T. Chapman ; the Rev. Richard Glover. Japanese Religions The Bishop of Ossory. Islam The Rev. Principal A. E. Garvie (Chairman) ; Herr Pastor Gottfried Simon. Hinduism The Rev. Canon C. H. Robinson (Chairman) ; Mrs. Romanes ; the Rev. W. Dilger; the Rev. J. E. Padfield. The remainder of the Report consists of an enquiry INTRODUCTION 5 into the conclusions which the evidence suggests for the attainment of the purpose of our enquiry. The situation in the non-Christian world being such as has been disclosed by our correspondence, the problem for us has been to enquire in what way the thought and the statesmanship of the Church might strengthen the work of the missionary. The first part of the closing section deals, for the most part, with the suggestions which the evidence offers for Christian theology. There is no question more urgent for any religious propaganda than the truth and the purity of its ideas, and, next to living faith, the great want of the age is a living theology. Next to that, perhaps, comes the question of the education and training of those who go forth to propagate those ideas. We have not attempted to go into this in any detail, as it belongs in the main to another Commission. But we have considered the matter in so far as it belongs to our own department, and the conclusions which we have reached are briefly expressed in the final section of our Report. Here, too, we have felt the limitations of time and of space, within which we have had to work, to be a very grave hindrance to the success of our endeavour. The whole evidence is of such complexity, and the questions treated are often of such difficulty and moment, that in the time allowed us, and amid the pressure of our own daily work, it has been impossible to do justice to the great themes which it has been our privilege anew to consider. Moreover, as the work which we have endeavoured to do has never hitherto been undertaken by any Commission, we have had no precedents to guide us. We trust that the tentative suggestions which we have to offer will call other and more competent workers into the same field, who will be able to do fuller justice to an enquiry of so much moment for the future of the Christian Church. CHAPTER II ANIMISTIC RELIGIONS THE form of religion dealt with in these papers is described as Animism. " The theory of Animism," wrote Tylor, "divides into two great dogmas; first, concerning souls of individual creatures, capable of continued existence after the death or destruction of the body; second, concerning other spirits, upward to the rank of powerful deities" (Primitive Culture, i. p. 426). " Animism," says Herr Warneck, " is a form of paganism based on the worship of souls. Men, animals and plants are supposed to have souls ; and their worship, as well as that of deceased spirits, especially ancestral spirits, is the essence of a religion which probably is a factor in all heathen religions." Its chief feature is declared to be a belief in the existence of spirits, which may include a belief, usually very vague, in the existence of a Great Spirit or Supreme Being. The spirits worshipped are usually the spirits of departed ancestors; but worship is also given to nature-spirits, as of the flood, the thunder, lightning, the moon, and to a general class of demons of uncertain origin and without fixed habitation. It may be remarked that several of the missionaries hesitate to apply the name " religion " to this belief and the accompanying rites. "There is no religion in our district," writes one, " simply heathenism." This view, as well as the declaration that such people have no religious observances, arises from the idea that nothing deserves the name of religion which is false and unethical. The missionaries in their ministry have come in contact ANIMISTIC RELIGIONS 7 with all classes of tribal society. Their knowledge of Animism, therefore, is comprehensive, and their opinions are based on wide experience. As more than 60 per cent, of the answers received come from missionaries working among Bantu tribes in Africa, it is well to bear in mind that the Animism of the Bantu peoples forms the chief basis of this report. At the same time the evidence from the Dutch Indies and from British India is of sufficient bulk to form an important independent source. THE RELIGIOUS VALUE OF ANIMISM The profound belief in the existence of spirits, who are regarded as ever capricious, and often malevolent, is in all cases accompanied by an endeavour to secure their favour, or at least to avoid their animosity. Fear, it is expressly stated by several correspondents, is the basis of the Bantu religion. Bishop Cameron of Cape Town says, " The religion of the heathen Kafirs is entirely traditional and based on fear." " The Zulu," says Archdeacon Johnson, " has probably no conception of spiritual con- solation. His actions are dictated by the desire to escape anything more unpleasant than that which has already befallen him." The gloomy outlook of the Bantu Animist is well brought out in a note contributed by M. Junod, which summarises the spiritualistic creed of the tribes of Delagoa Bay : (i) " When a man dies his spirit becomes a god who can bless or punish his descend- ants ; (2) Certain spirits of the departed, generally of a foreign tribe, can take possession of man, and cause a special disease which is treated by exorcism ; (3) A living man has the power of going during the night in a spiritual form, and bewitciiing other people ; (4) Certain animals, and also the human body, have a spiritual essence called ' nura/ which is to be feared when they are killed, and against which protective measures have to be taken ; (5) Certain natural objects, such as the sea, the bush, fire, are more or less personal, and have to be propitiated." It should, however, be added that 8 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE M. Junod thinks that the fears of the Animist are to be traced even more to his superstitions about taboo than to the idea of the spirits of the departed. The Rev. R. S. Fyffe quotes a statement that " the Buddhism of Burma is only a veneer over the Animism which is the real religion of the people " ; and adds that undoubtedly fear of the spirits of the dead and of nature-spirits, and belief in magic and charms, are a large factor in the religious life of Burma. Of the Animism of the Dutch Indies Dr. Joh. Winkler writes : " The Animist must always be on his guard against the ' tondi ' (anima, soul, vitality) of his enemies, against the ' begu ' (the ghosts of the dead), and even against his own ' tondi.' The Animist wor- ships his own soul and gives offerings to it ; he beseeches it not to leave him, or to come back when it has left him in sickness. The sorcerer conjures the ghosts of his ancestors to help men against their enemies and the hostile ghosts of the dead (the origin of sickness and all earthly troubles), and to give them earthly prosperity." Herr Warneck says, " Fear is characteristic of this religion. But this fear is real ; and so are the efforts of the heathen to banish the spirits or to appease them by sacrifices, even to deceive them if possible. About all this they are pathetically in earnest, for fear of un- known powers is the greatest reality, the leading motive of the heathen's religious life." " The animistic heathen," the same writer says, in The Living Forces of the Gospel, " are not only in error ; they are slaves. Fear in various forms tyrannises over the Animist in every situation of life. The vision of the world in which his religiousness is rooted is extremely dark. Even his own soul is a hostile power against which he must ever be on his guard. It is fond of leaving him ; it allows itself to be enticed away from him. . . . The souls of relatives are easily wounded ; and woe to him who even unin- tentionally offends them. Primitive man has to wind his way amid the throng of the souls of the people around him, and must continually bargain or fight with in- visible and sinister powers. To that must be added ANIMISTIC RELIGIONS 9 fear of the dead, of demons, of the thousand spirits of earth, air, water, mountains and trees. The Battak is like a man driven in a frenzied pursuit round and round. Ghosts of the most diverse kinds lurk in house and village ; in the field they endanger the produce of labour ; in the forest they terrify the woodcutter ; in the bush they hunt the wanderer. From them come diseases, madness, death of cattle, famine. Malicious demons surround women during pregnancy and at confinement ; they lie in wait for the child from the day of its birth ; they swarm round the houses at night ; they spy through the chinks of the walls for their helpless victims. The dead friend and brother becomes an enemy, and his coffin and grave are the abode of terror. It is fear that occasions the worship of the departed. Fear is the moving power of animistic religion, in Asia as in Africa." The effort to placate or avert these spirits finds expression in a vast number of observances, e.g. the custom of abstaining from work or pleasure during the first stage of a new moon, the placing of a food supply for the use of the spirits of the dead, the taking of medicines to cleanse from ceremonial uncleanness after death in a kraal, or after a dwelling has been struck by lightning. These rites and observances are now wholly tradi- tional, that is to say, their original basis has been for- gotten, and some of them are regarded as optional, e.g., among the Zulus. But the caveat of one contributor, against extending the meaning of traditional too far, is opportune. Despite these rites and beliefs being tradi- tional, they are on the whole treated very seriously by the Bantus and the other animistic peoples, a fact clearly illustrated by the widespread use of witchcraft, practised to avert sorcery and the enmity of ancestral spirits. " I should not like to distinguish," says Herr Warneck, " between the traditional forms of religion and others which are taken in earnest and expected to offer help and consolation. These religions are based on tradition. Loyalty to the tradition left by the ancestors, and now 10 jealously kept by them is the true practice of religion. . . . The observance of tradition is absolutely earnest." Sacrifice plays a very great role in this connection and the ordeal is common. The presence of any religious help or consolation in animistic beliefs and rites is absolutely denied by the majority of the missionaries, as well as any sense of practical obligation due to a belief in a Supreme God. The failure of Animism to give a satis- factory answer to the soul's cry is strikingly illustrated by the Rev. Dr. Nassau, late of the Equatorial West African Mission of the Presbyterian Church of America. He says, " Their sorrows were blank. I have never heard more desperately desolate utterances than the native phrases of mourning in their funeral wails. The pathos of the wailing has never left me even after I had learnt how much of it was formal, and uttered as a bar to any possible charge of having caused the death of the deceased by some witchcraft-machinations." The beliefs and observances of Animism are dictated by physical necessity alone. It is a physical salvation that is sought after that their bodies may be delivered from the machinations of the host of the unseen world. " They (spirits) are not expected to give spiritual blessings, as we should require them, but only help in temporal distress and material blessings to avert illness, to banish evil spirits, to bless the harvest, to give victory in war, and to secure an abundant posterity. There is no thought whatever of remission of sin or of consolation. Religious- ness is limited to this world " (Warneck). While all agree as to the failure of Animism to provide genuine religious consolation, many point out that these observances and beliefs do bring some comfort in so far as they " create an impression that the angry spirit has been appeased," and provide the worshipper with the satisfaction of having done what he felt to be fitting. To a man in anxiety it was a great relief to know that his " spirit " had come to stay in his village and house, with friendly intentions, and to see by certain ANIMISTIC RELIGIONS 11 signs on the sacrifice that^the spirit was on good terms with him. It would appear that even Animism is not with- out some effect on tribal morality. On the Upper Congo, the superstitious rites have been noticed to act as a restraint on stealing, and the practice of inhumanity. " Superstition," writes the Rev. W. D. Armstrong, " sometimes keeps wrong-doing in check by dread of how departed spirits may avenge themselves. For instance a certain man went mad with sleeping sickness and was very troublesome to his neighbours. They would gladly have put him on one of the islands in midstream, and left him to starve, but superstition came to his aid, and prevented the unfortunate man being maltreated. His neighbours believed that if anything violent were done, his spirit would return to trouble them after death, perhaps in the shape of a crocodile or leopard, or by some evil and unaccountable smell, or mysterious noise, or by sickness. Again in a country where there is no law, and no force to protect the weak, superstition plays an important part in safe-guarding property. The woman who has no power to protect the crop she has sown and tended from her stronger and unscrupulous neighbours, places a branch of euphorbia in a split stick, and plants the stick in the field where her mandioca is growing. . . . The crop is then safe." The Animism of the aboriginal Oraon or Kurukh of Central India appears to be of a higher type than that found among the natives of Africa. The rites and observances would seem to be more systematised. Certain periodic sacrifices are made, e.g., at seed-time to the family demon. Festivals considered indispensable are held at spring-time and harvest. Numerous rites, e.g., of purification, are always observed in connection with a birth, and the prescriptions for the burial of a deceased person are elaborate and precise. Totemism is practised by this people. "They are divided into about twenty septs, each pretending to be descended from a special Totem. These are partly animals, and partly plants, or the 12 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE produce of plants, in one case even a mineral, salt. The flesh or part of the flesh of these animals must not be eaten ; the same rule holds good with regard to plants and their produce. Rice can be eaten by the rice-sept only in a peculiar manner, and likewise salt must be handled in a special way by the sept which bears its name " (Rev. Fred. Hahn). HINDRANCES IN THE WAY OF CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY Herr Warneck says, " The animistic religion is tradi- tion. To be religious means to be true to the tribe's tradition. This, together with the fear of such innova- tions as might vex the ancestors, are generally a chief hindrance in the way of the acceptance of the Gospel. It is also a general opinion that each nation has its own religious tradition. The European may have another, and the natives willingly admit that it is better for him also perhaps that his gods are mightier than theirs. But they say, ' Each nation has its own religion, just as it has its own ancestors, who can never be changed.' In this way they grant the white man's religion to be a good one for him alone. The idea of changing religion is at first an impossible one to the Animist and worshipper of ancestors." (a) Moral Hindrances l The chief moral hindrance may be stated in general terms as the existence of a very low moral consciousness. This manifests itself in various ways. Sensuality is unbridled and unashamed (cf. section (c) below), and a woman is held in very low esteem. There is often no sense of 1 The ideas connoted by the words " Moral Hindrances " and "Social Hindrances" tend to pass into each other, and can only with difficulty, and perhaps with some arbitrariness, be separated. A hindrance regarded by one man as a " moral hindrance " is regarded by another man working in the same field as a " social hindrance." ANIMISTIC RELIGIONS 13 sin : conscience seems hardly to exist. Different corre- spondents state that the virtues of truth, thrift, and purity are unknown. " Immoral as the Animist is," says Warneck, "he does not feel his immorality as such. Not even the cannibal and scalp-hunter who tortures his enemy in the most cruel manner, nor the adulterer and thief, will admit that he is doing wrong." At the same time, his immorality does not create in him an inveterate hostility to Christianity. The same writer continues : " I do not think that men or nations of a low moral state are most inaccessible to the Gospel. It is just there that it is sometimes most readily welcomed. Only one should bear in mind that it is not the moral point of view which strikes such peoples, and brings about a change ; but this is effected through a religious renovation which by and by makes them aware of their immoral state. Therefore moral renovation will always lag behind the religious change ; that is to say, the moral conduct of the Christians may remain unsatisfactory for a long time, and yet we should not doubt the reality of their religious experience." On the other hand, it is right to record a protest that " among Bantu tribes there is a rich folklore which contains lessons of patience, modesty, and wisdom, and which illustrates the voice of conscience in a wonderful way " (Junod). Qualifications of the general indictment are quoted further on (Points of Contact (d)). (b) Intellectual Hindrances Animistic peoples usually stand on a low stage of human development, and intellectual hindrance arises chiefly from that fact. "Animism, being the religious world-philosophy of the earthly minded selfish Batak, is the great hindrance to the acceptance of Christianity " (Dr. Winkler). " The Animist," says Warneck, " believes irrevocably in his fate, chosen once in pre-existence by himself, when his moral character also was fixed. A thief declares with full conviction that he cannot but steal, as his soul once chose to do so. The Animist knows nothing of man's free will. Man is what he is, and even God cannot change him. Such lack of will, based on the belief in fate, is one of the chief hindrances to the Gospel, and to overcome finally the fatalistic faith is one of the last victories of Christianity." It should also be borne in mind that Christianity comes before such peoples as a way of life, rather than as a doctrine. Such people are ignorant, apathetic, indolent, and indifferent. " You may be right, or you may be wrong, but we are not concerned about such matters " (The Rev. G. White- head). A consequence of this indifference is that they are very self-complacent. Owing to their low intellectual state, they have but little sense of natural causation. " Their minds are in a state of bewilderment, and chaos, so that at first it is difficult to make them realise those ideas of harmony and law which appeal to a Western mind" (Canon Dale). It is largely because of the absence of reflection that they are in bondage to super- stition and witchcraft, are a prey to the fear of evil spirits, and find it difficult to believe in the reality of eternal things. The bad example of Europeans, and the superficial imitation of European civilisation, are regarded as intellectual hindrances. On the other hand, it is right to point out that the Christian Bantus are said to show considerable intellectual power. The Rev. W. T. Balmer says that many Kafir candidates can make a better appearance in an examina- tion on Butler's Analogy than young Englishmen trained in a missionary college. Further, one is inclined to attribute considerable intellectualism to the Paraguayan Indians, who have no equivalent for the word faith, and demand a reason for everything. (c) Social Hindrances Among the social hindrances, mention may be made of the immoral customs of all these peoples. " Polygamy is wrought into their entire family, social, and tribal life. A man's ownership of his wives is generally only partial. His family has assisted in their purchase. The family, not the ANIMISTIC RELIGIONS 15 individual, is the communal unit. Though willing to re- sign his own share of claim over them, they are also owned partly by his brothers or uncles" (Dr. Nassau). With almost one voice, the missionaries declare the sexual question to be the greatest hindrance to their work. On reaching puberty, youths and maidens are made to take part in orgies of a most debasing character. No mention is made of widespread polygamy among the primitive peoples of India, but among the tribes of Africa it is an established custom among Bantus without exception. Among the animistic Indians of South America it is allowable to contract temporary marriages till a child is born. Polygamy brings with it many evils, chief of which is the degradation of woman. Women are bought and sold like cattle, and though the custom of buying and selling brides had much to com- mend it in the past, it is now severely to be condemned. When wives are thus married " on trial," they are merely a financial investment, in which not only the husband, but his friends, have a part (Dr. Nassau). Habits of indolence, pride, and drunkenness are en- couraged by polygamy. A man's prestige and import- ance among his fellow-tribesmen are estimated by the number of wives he has. However, it must not be thought that the women are dissatisfied. The fact is that the more wives a man has, the less work each wife has to do. The magnitude of these evil customs is tersely shown forth in the words of Mr. Wilder of Rhodesia. " They (i.e. Bantus) are a people whose national business is polygamy, their national pastime beer-drinking, and their national sport fornication." A hindrance of equal gravity is the social organisation of animistic peoples. Among them the unit is not the individual, but the family or the sept or the clan. " The individual has not yet awakened to consciousness " (Warneck). The organisation of the community is patriarchal or tribal. As a consequence, however much an individual may be dissatisfied with the old beliefs and practices, and however much he may be 16 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE inclined to the new Christian faith, he finds it exceedingly hard to break with his old associations, " so closely interwoven with their social institutions are many of their superstitions and superstitious observances " (Canon Dale). The average custom of the community is the law for the individual. Loyalty to the society, and the desire to follow their fathers, are cardinal virtues with the Burman hillmen, the South American Indians, the Papuans, and the Bantus. Tribal conservatism presents a solid front to the liberalising advance of Christianity. The social life of the tribe in many cases directly fosters the sexual immorality spoken of above. This feeling of solidarity "is a chief hindrance, be- cause it makes the idea impossible for the individual that he should have to choose his standpoint when a new religion enters his life. Such a question has been settled by the tribe in advance. Later on, when a number of distinguished men have be- come Christians, the same feeling of oneness may lead many more to follow them. When asking individuals their reasons for becoming Christian, I often received the answers, ' Because my neighbours did so,' or, 'I have followed the elders" (Warneck). Some missionaries point out that more converts, and those of a better type, are made among tribes that have .lost their cohesion, and become more individualistic. The Rev. C. King refers to the nomadic habits of a tribe as a hindrance. Some discuss the problem created by the socialistic character of the tribal life. " I have often considered," says the Rev. W. T. Balmer of Sierra Leone, "whether reliance must not be placed on other sources of influence than can be immediately set at work by the missionary with his personal message by word of mouth, namely, political, social, commercial, as well as educational. ... It may be that actually the Christianising of these people will be another instance of salvation by ' the remnant.' Certainly were the Africans to come over to Christianity in any large mass as they are, there would ANIMISTIC RELIGIONS 17 not be an end of anxiety or trouble." It appears that those who break the bonds of the organisation become very strongly individualistic. Convivial customs are another great hindrance. They are prevalent, not only among the Bantu tribes, but also among the aborigines of Central India, and the hill tribes of Burma. The African is a being who cannot live alone, and beer-gatherings constitute the great social functions of the people. These are often followed by fighting and quarrels. The vice of drunkenness is not without its econ- omic aspect the cultivation of the grain deforests the land. Considerations such as these induced the Church in Livingstonia to become an abstaining Church, " not by any rule of the missionary, but on the initiative and unanimous vote of the native Christians " (The Rev. Donald Fraser). Bishop Cameron of Cape Town says, "Another social or perhaps rather political hindrance is the idea in the minds of many of the heathen natives that Christianity is a foreign religion, and that the missionaries are in some way or other officers of the British Government. Hence has arisen a reaction in some quarters against European missionaries^ and against Christianity, as a religion in which the natives must always be subordinate to the Europeans ; and the consequent demand for an ex- clusively native Church, ministered to and directed by native pastors alone, which is commonly known as Ethiopianism." DISSATISFACTION WITH ANIMISM AS A RELIGION The animistic peoples of Africa would seem to be in no way dissatisfied with their religion, or are so only in isolated instances. In some of these cases the intelli- gence of the persons concerned would seem to have been above the average. " A few heathen," says the Rev. G. A. Wilder of Rhodesia, " are disbelievers in the whole spirit- worship. They are found among the more intelli- gent who take the trouble to give thought to these things. COM. iv. 2 18 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE Among the persons who are recognised as spirit-mediums, I have met those who admit that there is no power in the spirits such as is attributed to them by the common people. In other words, these men know themselves to be impostors." In contradiction to the general opinion about the Bantus stands the view of a lady missionary in Uganda, who declares that the rapid progress of Christianity and Mohammedanism in Uganda is due to dissatisfaction with the follies of the witch- doctors. The Rev. W. B. Grubb, writing about the South American Indians, says: "The more intelligent Indians are entirely dissatisfied with their faith, because the theories held clash with their keener reasoning. For instance, they see clearly that the arguments in favour of their marriage laws, which are based chiefly upon the necessity of propagating their species, in reality but pander to the craving of the flesh. They are not al- together satisfied with the theories connected with the soul and the cities of the dead. It was argued that many of their other theories might be just as improbable. Still the general lack of will-power and independence of character prevents them from openly cutting adrift from their false surroundings." The Chins (hillmen) of Burma are said to consider their spirit-worship as false and beer-drinking as evil, but do not give them up. With regard to the animistic nations of the East Indian Archipelago, the Rev. Albertus C. Kruyt says, " I have witnessed manifold utterances of people on the hardness of their gods. ' If we fail to do this, the gods will destroy us ; yes, our gods are envious gods.' The utterances express dissatisfaction, but they do not think that this can be changed. ' The gods are as they are.' We often heard complaints like these, ' We bring sacrifices continu- ally ; we always do what the gods command ; but the number of sick people does not decrease ; the same number of people die.' ' The testimony of Herr Sunder- mann is similar : " In general, the people meditate too AMINISTIC RELIGIONS 19 little on religious things. At the most, they see themselves disappointed, and occasionally also speak it out, as when no cure follows upon a complete offering on behalf of sick ones, or no blessing upon a vow performed. Yet this kind of thing is quite quickly again forgotten." Finally, regarding the aborigines of Central India, who are perhaps advanced Animists, the Rev. F. Hahn writes : " They are dissatisfied with the ever-present fear they entertain for malevolent spirits, and on that account long for a brighter religion. They are dissatisfied with the great cost they have to incur on sacrifices and offerings, whenever they are visited with sore affliction. And they are dissatisfied with the consequences of their foolish belief in witchcraft, which is such a terrible source of strife and enmity among them, and makes the victim to suffer tremendously, not only in the loss of money, home and property, but also in the loss of life. There is also among them the general desire to get rid of the oppression which they have to suffer socially at the hands of their Hindu landlords, and the conviction that want of education, of soberness, of morality, has brought them to the condition of semi-slavery. This widespread dissatisfaction with their social condition, the desire for knowledge, for a human-like existence, has proved the principal motive with thousands of the Oraon and Munda people for embracing Christianity." THE ATTITUDE OF THE MISSIONARY The opinions of the missionaries themselves as to the attitude to be adopted by a missionary to the religion of the people among whom he labours, is practically unanimous, whether voiced in Paraguay or Papua, Burma or Sierra Leone. (a) The missionary must study and get to know the native religion. He must strive to understand the native conception of things and the heathen method of thinking. This knowledge he must acquire from the natives themselves through the vernacular to attempt 20 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE it otherwise is to attempt " to hang a ladder in the air." Bishop Cameron describes the painstaking methods with which Dr. Callaway obtained a knowledge of the Zulu religious ideas. " He used to get hold of the natives, the more heathen and uncivilised the better, and ask them questions, or persuade them to tell him stories, connected with their old customs, their history, their folklore, or their religious beliefs. He would make them repeat these two or three times, till he was able to write them down word for word, from dictation in the original Zulu. Then he would ask for explanation of points which he did not understand, and append footnotes, and finally he would translate into English what he had taken down from dictation." But the task of studying heathen religious ideas in this way appears easier than it is found to be in actual practice. Several missionaries say that it is very difficult to reach the actual beliefs of the people, the natives being inclined to conceal from the white man what the white man wishes to know. (b) The whole attitude of the missionary should at all times be marked by sympathy. " He should esteem the heathen's faith as a religion " (Warneck). The religion with which he deals is, he should remember, an effort of fellow-men to grapple with the great problem of existence. " He should understand that he has to do with men groping in the dark after the light, who are waiting in the dim light of stars for the rising of the sun, who are struggling to get out of the mire and to set their feet on a rock " (Hahn). He should adopt a con- ciliatory attitude. " The Christian preacher is the intruder into his hearers' country, an innovator as to social and religious matters, and, humanly speaking, has all the odds against him. He will lose nothing, and he has everything to gain, by recognising the good in the religion of the region, in order to take advantage of any points of contact with Christianity, and preparations for it" (Dr. Dodd). "The missionary should rejoice in every element of truth and goodness that he finds in the ANIMISTIC RELIGIONS 21 religion and in the practice of the people with whom he has to deal, seeing that all truth and all goodness, where- soever found, come through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, however ignorant a person may be of this source. Every religion exists by virtue of the truth which is in it, not by virtue of its falsehood " (Whitehead). He should avoid all contempt, and vehement denunciation, and all overbearing manners. " A missionary," says Warneck, ' ' will never, by breaking idols or entering a sacred place, convince the Animist of the impotence of his gods, for he believes that his ancestors will not take vengeance on the European, who perhaps has mightier gods, but on their own descendants, who permitted such a viola- tion. On such occasions the natives often say, ' The gods, of course, cannot harm you, but they will punish us for it.' ' This does not mean that he must never condemn, but he must temper the vigour of his con- demnation with sympathy. " To lighten a dark room, one does not need to sweep out the dark " (Hahn). " He must be very patient. Seeds need time to take root downwards and grow upwards. A sincere man does not change his beliefs hastily " (Canon Dale). Finally, he should take nothing religious from them without setting something better in its place. " Many evil customs exist to meet greater evils in the social life of the people, and it is dangerous to displace them until you have given them a substitute which they can accept intelligently " (Canon Dale). " The missionary should abstain from any superior aloofness from the native, and as far as possible, without unduly spoiling him, act towards him as to his own countrymen, teaching always that any superiority is the result of environ- ment, educational advantages, and Christian privi- leges, and that the hearts of all are the same in the sight of God" (Grubb). And he must always keep in mind as his guiding principle the fact that he has to commend his message by his own personality (Dr. Nassau). With regard to the personal demeanour of the mis- 22 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE sionary towards the native, Dr. Nassau writes some weighty words : "I have known missionaries who seemed to have come with only a feeling of hard duty to bring the Gospel to dirty, degraded, fellow-members of the human race. They felt a personal antipathy to colour, dirt, vermin, and ugly faces. Unintentionally they showed that antipathy in their manners. The alert- eyed natives saw it. Without at first saying anything disrespectful, they quietly gave them outward obedience. But they never gave them respect, never opened their hearts to them. The teachings of such missionaries fell flat. They filled a certain niche in the roll of station members ; but they never had influence for good. Rather, some of them, by their harsh words or curt manner, brought only evil to the missionary name." (c) As to the crucial question of the attitude to be taken up towards Animism, any difference of opinion that may exist is apparent rather than real. It is held by the majority that there is a modicum of truth in all religious systems, God not having left Himself without a witness in the peoples. " The animistic religions present certain points of contact tor the preach- ing of the Gospel. Remnants of the conception of God are strong enough to offer a basis for the new doctrine. The heathen sacrifices give a splendid opportunity for explaining Christian ideas, as do their misappointed prayers, which betray a need of the soul to grasp something beyond this world. Some rites are especially valuable. The Battak have one, the so-called ' make fly the curse,' adaptable to explain salvation. Heathen fear also offers a point of contact for preaching Jesus as deliverer from fear" (Warneck). The mis- sionary should look for the element of good, should foster it, and build upon it, gently leading on to the full truth, e.g. by developing the best moral instincts, such as the sense of fatherhood. " The most powerful and effective sermon I ever heard preached to a dark degraded company of pagans in the Interior was based ANIMISTIC RELIGIONS 23 upon their idea of sacrifice in fetish worship " (Balmer). Christianity is not antagonistic to the other religions, but a fuller revelation of what the people instinctively groped after. But " the missionary should, of course, never agree so far with the heathen religion that he presents Christian faith as a higher form of their own religion " (Warneck). "If he is too sympathetic (to it), the convert will consider that there is no need for him to resign or fight against what exercises such a hold on his teacher " (Copland King). Some think that in the treatment of what is base and false the missionary should compare the old with the new, making the new the standard, and confute error by showing the full revelation. " In this way, old beliefs, e.g. the belief in charms and incantations, may not at once be broken down ; but the man who is submitting his beliefs one by one to the criterion of the truth is in the position of a man fighting against any other form of unbelief. So long as he retains his standard he can afford to be slow in abolishing his old ideas. When once he sees his way, his renunciation of the falsities of his old life will be more complete and thorough, than if he had taken their evil upon trust and rejected them at the bidding of another mind " (Copland King). Others think that the missionary should condemn the evil and false elements courteously but definitely, and point out wherein the difficulty lies, as well as emphasise what is right, though he should prefer to labour points which lead on to the Christian truth, even if it be by folklore. Others a minority think that the whole of the evil in the religion should be ignored, and as the whole religion of Animism is evil and base, it should therefore be left alone. The Gospel, if lived in native Christian lives, would alter evil customs without the ban of the missionary or the Church. All that is indifferent should be neglected, for there is no need to separate people needlessly from the native deas and customs, where these are not contrary to 24 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE the mind of Christ. " When custom laid on the husband a variety of annoying prohibitions as to what he might eat or do or see during his wife's pregnancy, under pain of fines, I did not require a Christian man to break the prohibition, there being nothing wrong, per se, in it. I did not bring on the Church or the Mission the onus for its infraction " (Dr. Nassau). In all his labours, however, the missionary must never attempt to combine Animism and Christianity. A syncretism is impossible. POINTS OF CONTACT BETWEEN CHRISTIANITY AND ANIMISM To judge from the answers sent in, it would seem that different views are held as to the meaning of the phrase " points of contact " and " preparation for Christianity," some refusing to regard as anything more than analogies what others claim confidently as a preparation. On the one hand we find that some deny the existence of any point of contact, or preparation for Christianity in any of the beliefs and rites of Animism it may be noted that these witnesses find practically no religious content in Animism or grant their existence only to a very small extent, and even then in extremely perverted form. In support of this latter view is adduced in one case the fact of the entire absence of a religious vocabu- lary. ' ' When missionaries first came, there were no adequate words to express trust, faith, holiness, purity, repentance, and many other abstract ideas. Root words, often with very crude meanings, have had to be built upon, and a new and higher meaning attached to them. Missionaries have even had to graft on the true and holy attributes of God to the imaginary ' Nzakomba ' " (Armstrong). Over against that opinion must be set the view of the majority of the contributors, who allow at least points of contact, though some hesitate to apply the term " preparation for Christianity." ANIMISTIC RELIGIONS 25 (a) First may be placed the very widespread belief in the existence of a Higher Power or Supreme Being. " The Bantu tribes of equatorial Africa all believe in the existence of a great spirit good in a general sense " (Nassau). " Certain tribes of Uganda have had a vague idea of a Supreme Creator " (Chad wick). Even amongst the most irreligious tribes of Central Africa there was the " knowledge of the existence of God " (Eraser). The Zulus believe in "a shadowy being who created the world and afterwards abandoned it " (Johnson). The Hottentots knew of the existence of " the unknown God " (Wandres). A similar report is made of the belief of the animistic tribes of Malabar (Dilger), Sumatra (Winkler), and Borneo (Sundermann). The Paraguayans at least believe in a Creator (Grubb). The only exception related is from the North Laos Mission, where Animism has come in contact with Buddhism, and where it is said that no word exists to express the idea of a Supreme God (Dodd) . There is equally general consent that the idea of the Supreme Being is vague, destitute of moral content, and inoperative in practice. " Our people," says the Rev. Donald Eraser, " believe in one Supreme God. But the only thing they know about His character is that He is fierce. He is the Creator, and is above all the forces of the world. But men have no access to Him. No prayers or offerings are made to Him. He brings death into the home. And when a dear one is taken away they say, ' God is fierce.' ' " The vague belief of the Bantu in a Supreme Being has no elevating or purifying influence on his life and character " (Cox). The activities of the Supreme Being are sometimes limited to creation. " He means nothing for the animistic religious life, because here fear of spirits and the resulting cult is the central point " (Warneck). Yet, imperfect as this idea is, missionaries emphasise its importance as suggesting a line of approach to the ani- mistic mind. It supplies a form which it is easy to fill with a rich Christian content, and which makes it possible to represent Christianity as in line with a most precious 26 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE element of their traditional religion that had been foolishly and sinfully allowed to drop into the back- ground. (b) Almost equally widespread is the belief in an after-life, or even in the immortality of the soul. The Rev. W. H. Sanders, a missionary in West Africa, speaks of the natives as possessing the " conviction that on passing from this world into the next, we continue to be thinking, feeling, acting beings." The Paraguayan Indians, however, though believing in the immortality of the soul, " look upon death as a great misfortune, and the present life as the thing above all to be desired" (Grubb). Akin to this belief, and having it as a pre- supposition, is the belief of the hill tribes of Burma in an inevitable judgment to come. But while these animistic peoples have some belief in a personal immortality, it is very weak, vague, and shadowy. Warneck discusses the question at greater length. " There is," he says, " no belief in immortality in the specific sense. Men's spirit after death lingers near the grave for some time, and can there be called up through the medium of his bones or of things the dead used to wear, which therefore are supposed to retain some of his vital power. But when the body is putrified and the bones buried for a second time, the spirit enters Hades. His existence there is not called life. The dead envy the living, and extort sacrifices to improve their own shadowy existence. Nevertheless it is believed that they can bless or harm the living. The animistic religion is chiefly a cult of spirits and ancestors ; the motive of this cult is fear alone, not piety, for the dead will harm the living in many ways, when they are neglected and not appeased through offerings. Therefore the tomb is taken care of, occasionally meals are offered, and for long-deceased ancestors great festivals are arranged. All that, however, is not a belief in immortality. Man is immortal through hi; family. His life continues through his descendants. As long as there are such, and they remember their dead, the latter have a kind of existence' in Hades. When a family dies out the spirits ANIMISTIC RELIGIONS 27 of their dead cease to exist. They could only vegetate as long as they were remembered by their descendants. With memory the phantom of the spirit dies away." Whatever belief in immortality exists among animistic peoples appears to have no influence, except to induce a superstitious dread of ancestral spirits. (c) Several replies give the idea and practice of sacrifice as a point of contact with, or preparation for, Christianity. The Rev. Albertus C. Kruyt writes regarding the natives of the Indian Archipelago : "If a fault is committed against the gods, a buffalo is killed, which has been touched before by all the inhabitants of the village, in order to testify their participation in the sacrifice. There is also every year an ablution of guilt towards the gods." Not unconnected with the idea of sacrifice is the very clear idea of the Paraguayan Indians as to the necessity of compensating for injury or evil done. It can be easily brought home to them that injury done to the Creator of all things is beyond compensation on the part of men, as all things come naturally from Him. This train of thought is used most frequently for the purpose of leading up to the Atonement. (d) Among animistic tribes there is manifested in some cases a rudimentary moral sense and a dim consciousness of sin. We are told of the uneasiness of the East African Bantus after breaking the moral law. We may compare the idea of the aborigines of India that all the unclean and the maimed are excluded from the next world. In one case it would seem that this consciousness has risen "to an idea of sin involving God's wrath, with sacrifice as the only way of escape " therefrom (The Rev. B. J. Ross). The Bantu tribes near Livingstonia are said to feel the need of a mediator between God and man. " In the form of native prayer, the suppliant prayed to his spirit A (a relation) that he would pray to B (the spirit of A's father) that he would pray to C (the spirit of B's father) that he wouldjpray to D (the spirit of C's father) that he would speak to the great God " (Donald Fraser). 28 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE The Rev. A. C. Kruyt of Central Celebes says that the natives believe in a chief deity, " who, with his eye (the sun), sees everything ; he maintains the world ; he knows everything; he punishes incest and perjury; he requites lie and theft. He sends a crocodile to the liar ; a tree destroys the thief ; he punishes incest by long dryness and terrible storms ; his wrath on other tres- passers appears by landslips and dislocations, which sometimes destroy large rice fields." The Paraguayan Indians have a somewhat developed moral sense. " They agree to the last five prohibitions of the Decalogue, though they seldom observe them. They hold that the intention to do evil is evil, and punish for it as much as if the intention had been carried out " (Grubb). (e) The use of prayer to the chief Spirit in cases where all other means have failed, i.e. only occasionally, is regarded by several as a point of contact. " Prayer is used," says Dr. Nassau, " not commonly or generally, not often by the young ; but by the chief of the village, officially at new-moons and other ceremonial occasions ; by the priest-doctor in all religious acts ; and by any adults in circumstances of special difficulty or danger." Dr. Johs. Winkler of the Battak Mission bears witness to the preparation of individuals for the reception of the Gospel. He says, " There were in different districts of the Battak lands, men, who may be called God-seekers, who seemed to have been waiting for the truth of the Gospel." Thus among all nations, however degraded, there are probably some who, more than others, are looking for " the consolation of Israel." THE ATTRACTION AND REPULSION OF THE GOSPEL (A) The Appeal of the Gospel The words of one missionary deserve to be quoted as an introduction to this paragraph : " There is always a danger of the missionary considering that what appeals ANIMISTIC RELIGIONS 29 to him, what he lays most stress on, is what the convert is most influenced by ; and again, the convert may have laid stress on certain doctrines, because stress has been laid on them to him " (King). (a) It would seem that the Christian doctrine of God appeals strongly to the Animist. " The idea of God the Father is easily and readily accepted by the Bantu mind " (Wilder). " The truth of the Fatherhood of God, and of His love and care for each of His children, seems most to appeal to the Zulu mind " (Johnson). " When it has been realised that God is a being personally interested in His children the effect has been astonishing " (Balmer). "The friendship or love of God is the most powerful element of appeal. In the past, the unseen has been peopled with hostile forces at least they seem to be hostile wherever they touch the life of the people " (Callaway). This love is proclaimed to the Animist and received by him as the love of an Eternal Father mani- festing itself in mercy, loving- kindness, and favour to and care for us, His children, and in His gift of His Son. One missionary, however, found that the doctrine of God's love was derided. " The love of God," says Dr. Nassau, writing of the Bantu tribes of West Africa, " was beyond belief." Other attributes and predicates of God also awake a response, e.g. His power and omniscience, His creative work, His overruling providence, His law and order. " In New Guinea the doctrine of God as the Creator of the world seems to exercise a powerful effect on the native mind " (King).' "The message of a living God," says Warneck, " in contrast to the animistic deities who live a self-centred life in heaven, strikes the heathen's heart. It is thought a sweet message that God does not live in unapproachable retirement but is a loving and acting One, dealing with men, blessing or punishing them. His omnipotence proved throughout in face of human distress and demoniac power wins the heathen's heart, and invites him to try this great and good God's help. Soon he will try to come in contact with God through prayer, and 30 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE then rejoices, childlike, when he finds himself heard. Such experience overthrows superstition and fear. This immediate, natural relation to the Almighty, personal God, is one of the loveliest experiences observed in animistic heathen, and is not uncommon." The necessity of beginning by laying a foundation of instruction as to the omnipotence and love of God is acknowledged in striking terms by a missionary working in the Dutch Indies : "I hold first and last that the redemption in Christ is the most important factor in Christianity. But, in animistic heathendom, one neither should nor can begin the proclamation with this, because there the idea of sin is quite other than with us, and the need of re- demption is neither felt nor recognised. One seeks at first to make clear to the people that we have one God who truly cares for all men, and who, if we turn to Him with trust, can and will protect and help us at our re- quest, and that against all spirits and devils " (Sunder- mann). In this connection note may be taken of striking testimony borne by Warneck and others as to the provi- dential responses made to the faith and the prayers of converts. Certainly many of the converts share this confidence. " In old days," said a Kafir, " when we were going to battle we used to be doctored with various charms, but our men got killed all the same. Now we cover our faces with our hands in silence, and we meet with no harm " (Callaway). To others it may seem wiser not to press the doctrine of Providence further than is warranted by the apostolic maxim that "all things work together for good to them that love God." (b) The gospel of redemption by Christ makes a strong appeal, especially in its aspect of deliverance from evil powers. To these spirit-ridden folk, it is not to be wondered that His power over demons should be a welcome tale. " The prospect of becoming free from the fear and service of spirits " is, according to Herr Sundermann, "the greatest attractive force" in Christianity. " That Christ is mightier than the devil ; ANIMISTIC RELIGIONS 31 that demons had to obey His commands ; that He is the deliverer from evil powers ; that He is a helper in time of need," is the truth of Christianity that possesses the greatest power of appeal (Hahn). " A deep impres- sion," says Warneck, " is made by the message of redemp- tion, understood beforehand literally as deliverance from the tyranny of evil spirits, and from the paralysing fear linked to it. Wherever the missionary points out Jesus Christ as powerful to deliver from such tyranny, he will be understood. The redemption from sin and guilt is not a prominent experience at the beginning of a former Animist's Christian life. In my experience," he adds, " the preaching of sin and remission of sin should be reserved at first, and much stress laid upon the message of deliverance. They should be pointed to the living God. The stories of the Bible are the best texts for such mes- sages, because they show God and His dealing with individuals as with mankind, in an inimitable, simple, plastic way. These stories are sufficient of themselves without much comment of the missionary. In listening to them the heathen sees the image of God rise before him, so that there is no need to discuss God's attributes. He sees God's omnipotence, holiness, and love, and draws his own conclusions." " Deliverance from demons appeals soonest, perhaps, of all things in the Christian life " (Dodd). The contributions from Africa do not lay the same emphasis on the attractiveness of this aspect of the Christian salvation, though doubtless it is implied in what is said of the terrors of the animistic view of the world, and the joy experienced in trusting to the power and love of God. (c) There is some ground for thinking that the specific doctrines of the evangelical creed appeal more directly to the African mind than to the heathen mind in other quarters of the world. It has already been indicated that Sumatran missionaries regard the Christian doc- trine of God as making the primary appeal, and find that the Animist has to be educated in a sense of sin, and carried forward to the appreciation of the work of 32 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE Christ as a deliverance from the guilt and the power of sin. To the same effect a missionary writes about the Animist of New Guinea : " Failing to recognise the nature of sin, he fails to comprehend either the infinite gift of the Incarnation, or the absolute necessity of the Atonement. These doctrines are franked to him by his receiving them from the same source as that from which he received the idea of the Creator" (King). The report from Paraguay is similar : " The Old Testament is most necessary and useful teaching for a primitive people, and without it as a foundation it is very difficult to introduce a full gospel " (Grubb). Of Central Celebes it is related " that God's love for sinners in the surrender of His Son is an absurdity to the people" (Kruyt). On the other hand, there are many testimonies from Africa to the effect that the deepest impression is made by the doc- trines of the person and the work of Christ. The sacri- fice for sin and redemption by blood have the greatest power of appeal (Ross). " The preaching of the Cross of Christ affects many, and gives a sense of sin" (Fraser). ' ' The Baganda have hailed with enthusiasm the doctrine of a Saviour willing to die for them " (Chadwick). " What appeals to the Bantu heathen is the Cross of Christ, with its call to repentance, because of its promise, and assurance of forgiveness, and also because it is a solution of the suffering in the world" (Dale). "There is nothing which more certainly arrests the attention of those primitive people than the voluntary death of the Son of God, that men may be forgiven and reinstated in divine favour " (Armstrong). One exception, however, is mentioned. " That Christ Jesus could be willing to die for us was denied. They said simply, ' People don't do that way' " (Nassau). (d) It would also seem that a strong appeal is made by the Christian hope of everlasting life. "The Christian hope," says the Rev. F. Hahn, " to be with Christ after death, to come to rest, to be comforted, to obtain eternal happiness and endless life, appeal powerfully to a people who believe in the future life, but who ANIMISTIC RELIGIONS 33 possess only a dim light, and scarcely comforting notions about it." (e) The actual Christian life is a powerful argument, with its impartial justice, its kindness, and its adherence to truth, its brotherhood, and works of love. The exemplification of this in the personal interest, love, courtesy and devotion of the missionary often opens the way for the Gospel. (/) More occasional are the following : Dreams and answers to prayers, confessions, festivals and the Christian sacraments, the preaching of the sinfulness of sin, and of regeneration, the forgiving of those who trespass against us, the fear of breaking God's law, and the promise of the Gospel to deliver from all evil habits and propensities. (B) Opposition to the Gospel (a) Opposition is generally made to the Gospel on account of its high moral claims or its standard of purity, and in particular on account of its condemnation of polygamy and immorality. (6) Opposition is also provoked by the Christian plea for the improvement of the status of women, by insist- ence on individual responsibility as opposed to tribal unity; by Christianity being regarded as a foreign religion; by the influence of witch doctors, on pecuniary grounds. Warneck also says : " A great hindrance is the love of this life expressly emphasised by the animistic ideas. Religiousness is cultivated in order to profit by it in this life, to get material goods. The Animist is disappointed to find Christian teaching uncompromising in this way. He does not complain of it loudly, but merely refuses such teaching in silence." (c) The only Christian doctrine that is mentioned as awakening opposition is that of the resurrection of the body. " We often get the answer," says Warneck, " ' We believe all you say, but not the resurrection of the body.' This results from the animistic idea about a living min's COM. iv. 3 34 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE soul and a dead man's spirit. In death the soul leaves the body to impart itself to other men or animals as vital power the natives say ' to become wind.' On the other hand, the spirit enters Hades to be a phantom, which is not supposed to have real existence. The idea that a dead man's spirit could get a new body and enter a new form of real existence is impossible to the Animist. Even Christians remain sometimes doubtful as to the resur- rection of the dead." To deal with this topic fully we should have to repeat what has been already said about intellectual and moral hindrances. THE INFLUENCE OF HIGHER CRITICISM It is agreed by all the writers that questions of Higher Criticism and " Modern Theology " exert no influence upon animistic peoples their trust in the word of mis- sionaries is usually implicit and they have had no effect upon missionary work, save in so far as native students of theology are made acquainted incidentally with these matters. Any doubtings and fears that may arise in the minds of the native Christians are due. to the evil in- fluence of the lives of Europeans, or of nominally Christian Europeans who impart such views about the Bible as that it inculcates polygamy. Serious complications, it is stated, are threatened by the rise of numerous sects among the native Christians, with a low moral code, the secessions being justified by appeal to the troubled ecclesiastical history of England and Scotland. Some of the missionaries take the opportunity to claim that Higher Criticism has been and is to the missionary himself a help of the highest value in aiding him towards the elucidation of difficulties, and towards the presentation of a more balanced theology, while the people have benefited unconsciously, by being " saved at the start from assuming positions which afterwards would only be abandoned with pain and difficulty." ANIMISTIC RELIGIONS . 35 THE INFLUENCE OF CONTACT WITH ANIMISM ON CHRISTIAN FAITH Asked whether their experience in missionary labour had altered in form or substance their impression as to what constitutes the most important vital elements in the Christian Gospel, the unhesitating reply of the mission- aries two who have not replied are probably no excep- tions is " No, save to make broader and deeper their faith." One has gained a deeper sense of the power of Divine grace in enabling men to live purely, and in quickening the individual conscience, and also of the need of prayer for the continuance and growth in grace. Another has felt disposed to lay increasing emphasis on the resurrection of the body, and the judgment by Christ, in the endeavour to combat moral evil. Another has acquired a deepened belief that God is a Spirit, that sin deserves punishment, that the condemnation is that men love darkness rather than light, that our future destiny is determined by this life, that Jesus is our only Saviour. Another has realised the necessity of attending to the economic conditions in which the people live. Another feels more and more the oneness of the Church of Christ, and has become more tolerant of, and respect- ful for, other faiths. The general line of testimony is that experience has deepened the belief of the workers that God dwells among men, that Christ is the only Saviour, and that the Holy Spirit sheds abroad power and consolation in the souls of believers. It is not surprising if in these contributions from the animistic field there is an occasional note of depression. The missionary often carries on his labours in comparative isolation from the sustaining influences of Christian fellowship. He breathes the stifling atmosphere of the lowest type of heathenism. In some cases he finds himself confronted by an unyielding wall of tribal superstition and prejudice, and years pass without visible result. " There is as yet no convert," writes one, " in 36 . THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE my district, and I cannot answer your query." But even those who have seen little outcome of their labours write as men and women who are assured that time is on their side, and that they are fighting a winning battle. One of the most certain facts of the situation is that animistic heathenism is essentially weak through intellectual and moral bankruptcy, and also through self-mistrust ; and that it inevitably goes down before the sustained attack of Christian missionary effort. " At the first contact of heathenism with Christianity," says War- neck, writing of his own field, " the Gospel was decisively rejected : through stubborn labour and patience a few individuals were won, but at the cost of their estrange- ment from their own people. After ten to fifteen years the conversions increased in number, the strong tension between heathen and Christians was relaxed, the attrac- tive power of the Gospel increased ; and, finally, some of the larger communities, districts, and tribes passed over into the Christian camp. To-day, after forty-five years of toil, the country is partially Christianised, and the day is not distant when the majority of the population will break with heathenism, and embrace Christianity. ..." "And this experience," he goes on, "is typical. Missionary effort has run the same course in Uganda, on the Niger, in South Africa, in the islands of the Pacific " (The Living Forces of the Gospel). The Animist, in fact, is waiting for a better faith and a surer hope ; and in the absence of Christianity he has been easily reached on occasion by the apostles of Buddhism or Mohammedanism. Nor is it only that the labourers have promise of an early and abundant harvest. The best of the converts on the soil of uncivilised heathenism, according to the evidence received, represent a beautiful type of piety. They may have much to learn in the school of Christ on the ethical side, but they reproduce many of the notes of the Christianity of the Sermon on the Mount a childlike trust in God, habitual prayerfulness, zeal in God's cause. Their homes are consecrated by family worship ; and among them the Lord's Day comes to its due. And ANIMISTIC RELIGIONS 37 just as many a parent has re-learned religious lessons by coming into touch with the piety of childhood, so it may well happen that the Christianity of Europe is destined to be recalled, if not to forgotten truths, at least to neglected graces, by the infant Churches that are just beginning to live their lives on the basis of the mercy, the commandments, and the promises of God. CHAPTER III CHINESE RELIGIONS 1 THE religious systems of China are Confucianism, Budd- hism, and Taoism. There are also numerous secret sects or societies whose beliefs are varying blends of the above three systems. Demon worship and animal worship are also practised. Mohammedanism has existed in China since the seventh century, and has a following of about twenty millions, mostly in the pro- vinces of Kansu, Shensi, and Yunnan. The religion of the Chinese people is an incongruous mixture of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. This is only possible because there is no reasoned-out system of belief, and none of the three religions is carried to its logical issues. The Confucian morality and social system are accepted by all, and at the same time all, with the exception perhaps of a few scholars, profess belief in Buddhism without any real knowledge of it, while all are saturated with super- stitions innumerable which nourish in the shadow of Taoism. . . . The educated and governing classes are all or nearly all pronounced Confucianists, and some profess contempt for the religion of the vulgar, though they generally have recourse to it in sickness, death, and other calamities ; and the officials as part of their 1 This abstract is simply a summarised statement of the replies from China, being little more than a series of brief quotations, linked together by a connecting word or phrase. Frequently also the quotations are so blended that they run into one another ; as a rule, therefore, only the longer quotations are marked. 38 CHINESE RELIGIONS 39 duty have to worship at the shrines of several idols, mostly Taoist. There are very few of any class who profess exclusive adhesion to either Buddhism or Taoism. The typical and characteristic thought of China is Con- fucian. Her learning and literature, ethical and social systems, as well as her Government, are Confucian, though her popular religious creed and numberless superstitions are mainly Buddhist and Taoist. Ancestor worship is practised by all, and knows no distinction of Confucianist, Buddhist, and Taoist, though it is essentially Confucian, and constitutes the very essence of that system. It is considered by some the real religion of China. The secret heretical sects are many, and some of them have a large following. They are partly religious, partly social, and some of them partly political. Their tenets are mostly adaptations or distortions of the three religions above mentioned. Quite a number of the finest Christians have been drawn from these sects. Running right through the common customs, especially the funeral rites of the people, there is a strain of degenerate Taoism. Fox worship and kindred superstitions, which are no doubt an outcome of it, have a woeful hold ; and, particularly in cases of sickness, a very large percentage of the poorer classes call in demon exorcists. THE VALUE OF CHINESE RELIGIONS Several of the writers remark that it is not easy for a foreigner to distinguish between what is merely formal and what is taken in earnest, while others say that the terms " religious help and consolation " have to be much modified when applied to the religious observances of China. Chinese generally do not seem to take their religious beliefs very seriously. These beliefs are seldom discussed and are loosely held. There is no public religious instruction of any sort, and as the masses cannot read, they are necessarily very ignorant of the tenets 40 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE they are supposed to hold. There is therefore very little intelligent religious belief among the people, with the re-suit that there is an appalling amount of superstition with very little earnest faith. " As far as one can judge by a close observation," writes the Rev. F. P. Joceland, "of the forms and ceremonies enacted, whether in the homes or in the temples, the vast majority are either formal, done out of custom or habit, or propitiatory, either to buy off protection from some feared evil or calamity, or to obtain some needed gift or benefit. I cannot think of any religious observance that can be rightly called a religious help and consolation in the way in which we use such terms. Fear or favour are the twin causes which drive the Chinese to worship. . . . Even the so-called and much-prized ancestor worship is not done for its consolatory influence, nor often out of deep affection for those who have passed beyond, but chiefly lest, if neglected, trouble and calamity should ensue." Some devout souls no doubt find help and comfort in the later Buddhist doctrine of Amitabha and the Western Paradise, and in the all-pitiful, all-hearing Goddess of Mercy, 1 whose many-headed and many- handed image excites their hope. All classes, too, have a comforting though vague belief in the " Venerable Heavenly Father," who is over all and knows all. There is also a very general belief in the efficacy of prayer and other religious exercises, and no doubt those who are really pious derive help and consolation from all the religious beliefs and ceremonies. But for the great majority these tenets and rites are all traditional and formal. The doctrines do not grip the mind or conscience, and the ceremonies are mere forms. Calamities such as sickness, pestilence, flood, and drought call forth much earnest prayer and anxious worship. But the object sought is material deliverance and help ; the spiritual is wholly absent. This, indeed, is the characteristic of 1 One of the common epithets of the Goddess of Mercy is " The thousand-eyed and thousand-handed." CHINESE RELIGIONS 41 Chinese worship at all times. It is not prized for its spiritual help and consolation, but for the material good which it brings in the form of health, wealth, long life, and posterity. Some doubt if the Chinese have any conception of spiritual and disinterested worship. They do not seek help to lead good lives or that they may grow in spiritual grace and knowledge. As heathen worship has so very little to do with con- duct, it is hard to judge of the sincerity and earnestness of the worshipper. Prostitutes have their strumpet goddess and thieves their God, whom they worship and whose help they seek. One writer remarks : "To say that any part of the Confucian system is prized as a religious help and consolation would be misleading. On the other hand, to say that this religion has been mainly traditional and formal in the past would hardly be correct, " though I think it is fast becoming so " (Hodgkin). Among the educated classes the ethical element is much more esteemed than the religious, and all classes are loud in praise of kind deeds and a good life, however little they themselves may practise either. The idea of acquiring merit, too, has a strong hold upon all, and private and public charities are performed with this object very clearly in view. The Taoists publish books giving tables of the numerical value of good and evil deeds, and the fate of each person depends on the side on which the balance lies. There are, however, many devout people among the Chinese who undertake long, wearisome pilgrimages, make self-denying vows, perform exhausting fasts, and other religious rites. Among these many are women. A Buddhist sect known as Vegetarians are usually earnest in their faith and practice. They all abstain from wine and flesh, and many abstain from the more stimulating vegetables such as onions, leeks, and garlic, and some- times even from salt. These people for the most part lead quiet, inoffensive lives. Ancestor worship, too, is a real thing. There can be little doubt that the rites 42 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE connected with this worship, whether in the homes or at family shrines, and especially the annual sacrifices at the graves of their fathers, are highly prized and afford real consolation to all classes (Douglas). HINDRANCES IN THE WAY OF CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY Moral Hindrances The moral hindrances which are common to human nature exist in China as elsewhere. One writer speaks of the " inborn and inbred mendacity " of the Chinese, and many refer to their lying and dishonesty. The sexual vice is widespread, and the thoughts of the people are said to be steeped in uncleanness, so that the Gospel which emphasises purity cannot be popular. Concubinage, too, is general among the well- to-do classes, and bars the way of many to Christ. " The high ideals of Christian purity," says one Chinese writer, " may be considered as moral hindrances." Gambling is so common that the Chinese have been called a nation of gamblers, and the vice holds its victim with a very tight hand. Opium is another terrible evil. One writer says that opium-smoking is the only serious hindrance to the spread of the Gospel in China. He estimates that in the towns sixty per cent., and in the country forty-five to fifty per cent, of the men are addicted to the habit. This may be an overestimate for China generally, yet the lowest estimate makes a huge total of many millions whose evil habit renders the command " Follow Me " extremely difficult. In China, too, there is a materialistic atmosphere. The minds of men are bent on earthly things, and this bent is fostered by the Confucian Classics and their great commentator, Chu Hsi. The love of money is excessive, arid there is a general indifference to religious things. Selfishness and self-seeking are widespread and deadly. Even religion itself is regarded as another form of gain. 43 The Classics are studied and the gods worshipped mainly in hope of worldly benefits. This materialistic spirit is as a barred door against the entrance of the Gospel. In view of the moral condition of the people, there is also an amazing absence of a sense of sin. The ordinary man boldly declares that he has no sin. He has not broken the laws ; has not been in jail. Manifestly the moral standards are low, and do not brand selfishness, impurity, deceit and such-like as sins. Sin is not a coming short of the glory of God, but only open vice and crime. This laxity of moral thought and consequent dulness of conscience make the Chinese generally very deaf to the " glad tidings of great joy." " Racial pride," writes the Rev. John Wherry, " and the deep-rooted belief that Chinese civilisation is superior to that of all other nations in literature, morality, and government, form another hindrance. The Sages of China are the wisest and noblest the world has ever known or ever will know. China, therefore, already has the best, and needs not to learn from another." 1 This view is confirmed in their minds by the " lack of moral qualities in foreign nations as shown by their wars on China, their seizure of Chinese territory, their attempts to divide China, their importation of opium, and the unscrupulousness of their syndicates." Among the minor hindrances may be noted the un- Christian conduct of some professing Christians, Chinese and foreign ; conflicts between Roman Catholics and Protestants ; lack of courage on the part of many who know Christ to confess Him, and the fear of another Boxer rising like that of 1900, when so many Christians were ruthlessly massacred. Intellectual Hindrances Religion is not earnestly studied by the Chinese at the present time. They have grown weary of the 1 Recent events in China indicate how rapidly and unexpectedly th's immemorial conservatism has been broken. 44 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE attempt to solve the spiritual, and with wonderful unanimity have arrived at the amazing conclusion that the "Three Religions" (Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism) are one, so that there is nothing to discuss. Confucianism, too, has bred an agnostic and rationalistic spirit among the literati, and this spirit pervades the common people to a very large extent. China presents the incongruous spectacle of widespread scepticism along with the grossest superstitions. Among the educated the intellectual attitude towards Christianity is agnostic, and the difficulties felt are similar to those felt by agnostics elsewhere. The virgin birth, the miracles, and the resurrection of Christ are obstacles noted by several writers, also the divinity of Christ, which a - Chinese writer says is the greatest in- tellectual hindrance among scholars. The Confucianist is always sceptical of the supernatural, whatever his practice may be. He would fain walk by sight, not by faith. On the other hand, some writers say that the purely intellectual difficulties are few, Confucianism and Buddhism having familiarised the Chinese with the ideas of incarnation, trinity in unity, life after death, and the miraculous (Walshe). Dr. Timothy Richard maintains that " the intellectual difficulties have been largely created by the presentation of the transcendent character of God, while ignoring His immanence in human life, and by presenting God's judicial rather than His fatherly attitude towards sin." Several writers complain of the grievous lack of logic in even educated Chinese, and their consequent inability to appreciate evidence. Argument is largely lost upon them, so that a quod erat demonstrandum is never reached. Then again, "the ignorance of the masses is appalling. Their minds are asleep. Few travel, few can read, and there are no free or circulating libraries. Moreover, the struggle to live is so great that there is no time to think." The only intellectual difficulty of the masses is the diffi- culty of thinking. Many of them pathetically complain CHINESE RELIGIONS 45 that it is useless for them to become Christians, as they cannot read, and could never learn the " Doctrine." With them the only real question is : Are the gods useless, and is the Christian God true ? The Chinese people are innately conservative. With eyes bent on the greater glories of a remote past, and wedded to habits and customs, as well as modes of thought, hoary with antiquity, it is not easy to get a hearing for what seems to them the new-fangled notions of the West. They are apt also to be satisfied with high ethical ideals, while hardly attempting to live them. A Chinese writer, Mr. C. T. Wang, says : " They do not find the teachings of Jesus superior in beauty and grandeur to other teachers, and therefore see no necessity for the introduction of Christianity into China. Yet these same people are conscious of the fact that Christianity produces some marvellous results among the nations, and they would like to secure the fruits without having the tree." The absence of rules in Christianity is more or less perplexing and unsatisfactory to many. Dr. Arthur H. Smith writes : " Confucianism is especially replete with rules of conduct. The Book of Rites is a bewildering network of such rules, at once incomprehensible and intolerable to a foreigner. It is the essence of China. The Confucianist is used to rules, not to principles ; while Christianity has many principles, but few rules. When a Chinese reads the New Testament he finds no rules in it, and is bewildered, probably repelled, by the contrast." The study of the Confucian Classics tends to develop pride and prejudice, which becloud the mind and render it incapable of appreciating Christianity. " Whatever is opposed to the teaching of Confucius is not true. What- ever is outside of it is not important." One Chinese pastor (C. C. Chang) says : " Scholars regard as heresy everything which is not Confucian. They esteem the doctrines of heaven and hell to be un-canonical, prayer and repentance as things of which a self-respecting man would be ashamed. They hold it profane to call God (Shangti) Father. The Incarnation to them is empty 46 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE talk. They do not know who is meant by Shangti in the Classics, and the teaching of Jesus they liken to that of the heretic Micius." The agnostic and non-Christian literature derived from Japan and from the West tend to strengthen this old Confucian attitude. Social Hindrances The social hindrances in China are many and great. The whole structure of society is a hindrance. The family is the unit, not the individual. To think and act as an independent individual is contrary to the current of Chinese social life. It destroys the family harmony and breaks up its cohesion. Idolatry, too, has entered into the very web and woof of society, so that it is very difficult for an individual to rid himself of it and live. The apprentice, the shop-assistant, the wife, as a part of their daily round, have to bow and burn incense before the trade and family gods. Even the mandarins have to worship officially at eight different shrines during the year. The temple is a feature in every village, and idol processions, theatricals, and so forth, are periodic events, and a Christian has to cut himself off from the common current of life in his district. He is a sort of outcast. He is laughed at by some, pitied as a fool by others, and cursed as a renegade by many more. Old friends give him the go-by, and often his foes are those of his own household. " The Gospel," as one writer says, " is not compatible with the traditions and customs of the country, and its acceptance entails all sorts of disabilities." But the Christian's supreme social offence is his re- nunciation of ancestor worship. That worship is the most sacred and revered rite of China, and is common to all classes, from the Emperor downwards. It is the first and great commandment, the corner-stone of society, and the foundation of the family and the State. The agnostic and the indifferent may sneer at the gods and neglect them as far as practicable, but all join in ancestor worship con amore. Personal gratitude and affection, as 47 well as family and clan feeling, unite all in this time- honoured national rite. The man who neglects it seems an inhuman monster, a wretch who has renounced father and mother and ancestors. The renunciation severs him from his family and from his clan, and cuts him off from participation in their common rights. He is an outcast from his own kith and kin. If the convert has living parents who do not share in his new faith, the case is particularly hard for him and for them. They look forward with dread to being un- worshipped, beggar ghosts in Hades, and he has the misery of seeing their disappointment, sorrow, and fear. ' ' Parents, therefore," writes Mr. C. T. Wang, " guard with the greatest care their children from coming under the influ- ence of Christians, lest they should abandon ancestral worship and leave them in poverty and misery in Hades. Children, too, shrink from causing such anxiety and dread to their parents." As may be seen by this extract, ancestor worship is not simply an act of filial homage and affection, nor yet a mere family feast and reunion. It may be these, but it is more. It is generally held that the welfare of the dead depends upon the offerings of the living, and the welfare of the living on the blessings of the dead. With- out this worship, with its accompanying offeringsof money, food, and wine, the dead would be beggars in the nether world ; and without the protection and blessing of the dead, calamity and destruction would come upon the living. While all agree that ancestor worship as now practised in China cannot be performed by Christians, some of the writers moot the question whether a modified worship, in the form, say, of a memorial service, would not be possible among Christians in China. Its entire neglect is a grievous hindrance to the spread of the Christian faith. One writer says : " Were we to compromise in regard to ancestor worship, much of the opposition to our propagandism would disappear." Another and perhaps the greatest hindrance of all to 48 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE the acceptance of Christianity, is its foreign origin. The Chinese are proud of their long past, their mighty empire, their great sages and their colossal literature. They are "heirs of all the ages, foremost in the files of time." The acceptance of an alien creed would be a reflection on their sages and a confession of inferiority. " It would also involve," as Dr. Arthur H. Smith says, " a complete break with the glorious past. For it is felt that if a part goes there can be no stopping the avalanche. Hence Confucianists, once full of mild ridicule for the assump- tions of Christianity, have within more recent years been filled with wild alarm as they see foundations slipping which had been supposed to be for ever unmovable." But Christianity is not only a foreign and barbarian faith, but the religion of those people who have insulted and injured China by making war upon her, seizing her territories, and demoralising her people with opium. Race pride and patriotism both protest against the acceptance of a creed from such a quarter, and label the Chinese who do accept it as disloyal renegades. " Recent, changes," again to quote Dr. Smith, " have only .modified this feeling. In the New China, ' China for the Chinese ' is the keynote. The word foreign is now more opprobrious in some uses than ever before. ' To follow foreigners ' is a depth of iniquity unutterable as judged by the new Chinese. Christianity has always been a foreign religion and is not less so now." Some minor social hindrances are also noted. The keeping of the Sabbath is a very great difficulty for labourers, artisans, and dependents generally, but more especially so for tradesmen, who cannot close their shops for the day without heavy loss and possibly ruin. Many, also, as soon as they think of becoming Christians, are confronted with the grave problem how they are to gain a living, for the acceptance of Christianity often involves loss of employment. The compulsory worship of Confucius in all Government schools and colleges, the disfranchisement of all mission-educated Chinese, and the impossibility of a Christian becoming a Mandarin CHINESE RELIGIONS 49 are all noted by the writers as hindrances to the accept- ance of the Gospel. EVIDENCE OF DISSATISFACTION WITH CHINESE RELIGIONS Except among the smaller sects of Buddhism, " Chinese to-day are not given to earnest religious thought. They have become weary of their own systems, partly because of their inherent absurdities and partly because of their mutual contradictions. Science at present is more attractive than philosophy. But Christianity is stirring up thought, and every convert has discovered some fatal defect in his old creed. The failure of Confucianism to meet man's higher needs, and of Buddhism to meet the ills of existence, are made prominent by Christianity " (Ohlinger). It is rarely, however, that a Chinese becomes a Christian owing to questions of belief. It is not often that a convert is made through dissatisfaction with his old faith. A man comes to a Christian service and early learns that his old gods are false, and the new truths gradually drive out the old. It is not until brought into contact with Christianity that Chinese usually feel dissatisfied with their own faith ; but when they learn the Christian view of God and of the world, they feel dissatisfied with systems which have no clear doctrine of God, no atonement, no forgiveness, and no power of the spirit. With the spread of light, many are becoming dissatisfied with the superstitions and puerilities of Buddhism and the absurd fancies of Taoism. Now and then even newspaper editors pour ridicule on these. "The quiet acceptance also," says the Rev. Arnold Foster, "of Christian ideals by men who remain Confucian, which is going on in several directions, shows a sense of in- completeness." The existence, too, of so many secret, heretical sects throughout the country denote widespread dissatisfaction with the orthodox religions. " All who enter the Christian Church," writes Pastor Kranz, " show thereby their dissatisfaction with their formerjfaith. Some have expressed this dissatisfaction COM. iv. 4 50 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE in literature, as Wang Ping Kun has done in his book published by the Christian Literature Society. One of their chief reasons for dissatisfaction is that their old religion does not help men to get rid of their sins nor give them strength to live a better life." That was the moan of one of Confucius' personal followers two thousand four hundred years ago, and the moan has been repeated by thousands in each generation since, and in other lands besides China : Video meliora proboque, deteriora sequor. " When Christianity is manifested in a life as moral and spiritual dynamic," writes the Rev. J. Beattie of Amoy, " lifting men out of the meshes of evil habits, the Chinese are apt to be astonished and to seek the cause in medicine or magic. A woman once came to a mission doctor asking for some of the medicine which had cured her neighbour's vile temper and evil tongue. Others say that the cause lies in the baptismal water or in the sacra- mental bread and wine." "Another source of dissatisfaction," the same writer continues, "is the want of definite, clear teaching regard- ing the future life. Confucius denies knowledge of the future, and Buddhism and Taoism give no clear guidance. The spirit-world of the Chinese is a dim, dark Hades wherein the souls of the dead largely depend on the dutifulness of the living. Many become Christians in the hope of winning the life eternal." Idolatry still has a strong hold on the masses, but there is a general sense of its uselessness. Its proved futility gives pause to many. The idols are only images of dead men and prayers to them are mostly unanswered. Chinese religion consists largely in praying for " happiness " and for escape from calamity. When these prayers fail there naturally arise dissatisfaction and doubt, and the doubt is growing larger in the light of Christian teaching. Among reading men the spread of Christian literature has awakened "a desire to know more about God and His relation to the universe and man. Is there hope of eternal life ? What are the principles of retribution. CHINESE RELIGIONS 51 and how may the miseries of life and its endless rebirths be escaped ? How may man control the forces of nature instead of being their sport ? How may the stagnation of Islamic countries be avoided and progress be secured ? " (Dr. Timothy Richard). Confucianism is being widely criticised on religious, moral, and political grounds. It gives no hope for the future and no strength for moral living. One Chinese writer, quoting the words of a Chinese friend, says : " Confucianism only teaches men how to talk about duty ; Christianity teaches them how to do it." Young China is dissatisfied with Confucianism because it is the champion of authority. The Emperor is supreme and must be obeyed whether right or wrong. The weakness of China at the present time is also charged against Confucianism, which has failed to keep her strong and has sent her begging to the West. The Rev. W. A. Cornaby of Shanghai states that " Some influential non- Christian Chinese newspapers have lately declared, in a series of leading articles, that China has a number of ceremonial observances but no religion, and that she must get a religion somewhere if she is to prosper. One article has the following words : ' If we read history ; we find that the decadence of the great nations of the past began with their religions and the acceptance of low ideals. China's lack of civic righteousness (official peculation and the like) is essentially a religious lack. No nation can afford to do without a religion ; and to be strong, a nation must have a religion which demands the greatest amount of unselfishness.' " These articles were written by Chinese for Chinese and show a very keen sense of the inadequacy of Con- fucianism as a religion, while Buddhism and Taoism are cast aside as being unworthy of consideration. Dr. H. T. Hodgkin of West China says that " It is certain that the advance of Western knowledge has shaken the confidence of Chinese scholars in the teachings of the Sage. Among the student class this is specially evident. The new science and the scientific view of nature are entering 52 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE into the thought life of the younger scholars and are showing the absurdity of the old Confucian view of nature. More and more the Confucian doctrines are being questioned and re-examined on their merits and not merely accepted on authority." THE ATTITUDE OF THE MISSIONARY All the writers agree in saying that the missionary should treat sympathetically those forms in which religious thought and longing express themselves to the Chinese mind. He should frankly and gladly acknow- ledge whatever he finds in native faiths that is good and true. Christianity should not be presented as a sword that must sever the people from their historic past but as the flower and fulfilment of it (Bergen). There should be, and for the most part there has been, an attitude of open-mindedness and intelligent sympathy towards native religions. Both in tracts and in preaching a basis of common feeling and understanding has been sought, and full credit given to the light the people already possess. To a large extent the Christian missionary must view his work as an endeavour to press back the religious thought of the nation to its original purity in the Chinese classics, taking care, however, lest he commend anew Confucius rather than glorify Christ (Beattie). He must guard also against allowing identity of language to conceal essential difference of thought, and be careful to note identity of thought though couched in different language (Arnold Foster and Stanley Smith). " The Christian preacher," writes the Rev. W. A. Cornaby, " should portray the most notable essentials of the Gospel, with prayerfuless and winsomeness, with an assurance grounded upon personal experience of their value, and let such a demonstration of the truth- in-love be itself his chief argument against error. He should make himself acquainted with, and do the fullest justice to, every item in the religion of his hearers which chimes in with some item in this Gospel, and avoid CHINESE RELIGIONS 53 all merely destructive statements." He should gather up the fragments of original revelation in the old religions and use them as stepping-stones to Christ, " recognising the A6yo ffK&pubKTixog and the anima naiuraliter Christiana" In all there is a soul of good. " The essence of Confucianism " says another writer, " is a high regard for the family and the State. Do not attack it but outflank it, and show how Christianity fulfils the same purpose more perfectly. The essence of Buddhism is sacrifice, self-denial, and care for life. Accept the good and show how, in Jesus Christ, all its best is met and carried to the highest degree " (Joceland). The preacher should rejoice too in the use which the Chinese made of the revelation which God gave to them and which made them superior to others. Christ came not to destroy but to fulfil. On the other hand, indiscriminate praise or censure, acceptance or rejection, is to be de- precated by all calm, candid minds. A supreme need of the missionary teacher is a thorough knowledge of the religion of the people among whom he works. He should find out the elements of truth and error in each, and seek to understand the beliefs and customs of the people. This is no easy task. It is easy to know what attitude to take up, the difficulty is of being so familiar with the tenets and habits of thought of the people as to discuss them intelligently and familiarly. Missionary preaching and literature are becoming in- creasingly persuasive and less polemical and aggressive. The iconoclastic attitude is deprecated, and all abuse of native beliefs and customs is avoided. The missionary tries to remember that he is a guest in a foreign land and strives to be unfailingly polite and courteous. It is noteworthy that the most hostile to the native cults are the native converts themselves, who strike far harder blows at their old faiths than the foreign missionary ever does. It is also a very noticeable fact that the Chinese by no means resent easy, good-natured satire of heathen tenets and customs ; on the contrary, they enjoy it, and 54 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE it is the means of gaining many converts. Nor are they offended by plain speaking. The preacher, if courteous, can show the radical errors of idolatry, and this is more profitable than dwelling on similarities only (Moody ; Garritt). This conciliatory and sympathetic attitude does not mean, however, any hiding or withholding of the truth, or silence in regard to the errors and evils of heathenism. As Bishop Price writes, " The preacher must not become indifferent to the darkness and degradation exhibited so painfully in much of the common religious and super- stitious practices around him. The call to repentance towards God should sound out clearly in his preaching." As a rule the plain and fearless proclamation of the Gospel is the right attitude for the missionary to take in China. He must distinguish also between religious theory and religious practice. He may be sympathetic with the one while necessarily hostile to the other. Our Lord's attitude towards the Samaritans was always sympathetic, while towards their errors it was uncompro- mising. In short the missionary will recognise the work of the Xoyos in every land ; but since the Aoy0 has become flesh he must recognise the truth as it is in Jesus as the standard of all (Arnold Foster). POINTS OF CONTACT WITH CHRISTIANITY Confucianism is the dominant creed of China, and Dr. Ernest Faber, one of the most distinguished missionaries to the Chinese, has summarised the points of similarity which form a basis of agreement between Confucianism and Christianity. This summary is quoted in full by one writer, and contains nearly all the points referred to by the other writers under the head of Confucianism. That summary is as follows : 1. Divine Providence over human affairs and visitation of human sin are acknowledged. 2. An invisible world above and around this material life is firmly believed in. CHINESE RELIGIONS 55 3. Moral law is positively set forth as binding equally on men and spirits. 4. Prayer is offered in public calamities as well as for private needs, in the belief that it is heard and answered by spiritual powers. 5. Sacrifices are regarded as necessary to come into closer contact with the spiritual world. 6. Miracles are believed in as the natural efficacy of spirits. 7. Moral duty is taught, and its obligations in the five human relations. 8. Cultivation of the moral character is regarded as the" basis for the successful carrying out of the social duties. 9. Virtue is valued above riches and honour. 10. In case of failure in political and social life, moral self-culture and practice of humanity are to be attended to even more carefully than before. 11. Sincerity and truth are shown to be the only basis for self-culture and the reform of the world. 12. The Golden Rule l is proclaimed as the principle of moral conduct among our fellow-men. 13. Every ruler should carry out a benevolent govern- ment for the benefit of the people. That many of these points of resemblance are greatly modified in practice need not be emphasised. The remarkable thing is that they exist at all, for this differ- entiates China from any other mission field, ancient or modern. It is a vast advantage to work in a ccuntry where there is a predisposition to reverence the rule of reason and to respect moral instruction. Other writers refer to the recognition in the Confucian Classics of a Supreme Being under the names Shangti 1 The Golden Rule in its negative form occurs four times in the Four Books or Confucian New Testament. In one instance the negative used differs from the negatives employed in the other three instances, and is held to imply spontaneity and bene- volence : " What I don't wish men to do to me, I also wish not to do to men." Ana. v. xi. But is not this reciprocity rather than the golden rule ? 56 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE and Heaven, and to the ancient monotheism of Con- fucianism. " The God of Confucius is still alive," says one writer, " and this is our appeal to China." From this classical teaching has probably sprung the popular notions regarding Lao Tien Yeh, or the Venerable Heavenly Father who is the nearest approach to the true God in thought among the Chinese. The Confucian Classics also imply throughout the existence of the human spirit after death, more especially in ancestor worship, which is essentially Confucian. There are many things also in the writings of Mencius, " the Paul of Confucianism," which seem to be a pre- paration for Christ, though it requires the teaching of the Gospel to bring them out, such as his teaching regarding the Heaven given nature of man, the discipline of sorrow and adversity, the reverence for conscience, the " princely man," the ideals of the kingdom, and so forth (Arnold Foster). This is the positive side. There is, however, a negative preparation. " In Confucianism," writes Mr. Arnold Foster, " there is no doctrine of a Divine love, nor any thought of a God who is love. There is a lack of sym- pathy with the poor, the outcast, and the erring. There is no doctrine of faith as an objective movement of the soul ; no realisation of the weakness of man's will and of moral bias ; no expectation of high moral character in ordinary men ; and learning, not conversion, is the road to virtue. Sins of the heart, too, such as pride, are lightly regarded. In all these and in many other directions there must be a reaction in favour of Christianity." " In the ultimate statement of China's creed, it will be shown how Confucianism is perfected through the Christian religion and that such a statement will be truly Chinese and truly Christian. ' That man by searching cannot find out God ' has been the position of Confucianist and Christian " (Hodgkin). There are several points in Chinese Buddhism which have prepared men's minds for the fuller and clearer teachings of Christianity. Though really atheistic, CHINESE RELIGIONS 57 Buddhism through the deification of Buddha has kept alive the idea of God. Prayer and invocation are the very breath of Buddhism, and it emphasises the injunction " Pray without ceasing." It tells men that in this " sea of misery " they are in urgent need of salvation, so that the " glad tidings of great joy " should fall on understanding ears. The Buddhist doctrine of retribu- tion is very different from the Christian, but it has familiar- ised the Chinese with the thought, fear, and hope of it. While the old Buddhist doctrine of the future life and immortality of the soul are far removed from the Christian, the new Buddhist teaching regarding a Western Paradise, Amitabha and Kwan-yin, approaches more closely the Christian doctrines. The incarnation of the Divine in human form is a common-place of Buddhism, and trinity in unity is a familiar dogma. Buddhism also insists upon self-repression and self-examination, and teaches pity for all living things. " It sets forth the vanity of earthly pleasures, the fear of a just retribution after death, the longing for a happy life beyond, and the prayer-life and devotion of the hermit. Yet all these prove insufficient to give strength for moral living, its own priests being proverbially immoral " (Pastor Kranz). The fact that the Christian preacher and translator in Chinese have largely appropriated Buddhist terminology, shows at how many points Buddhism touches Christianity. Dr. Timothy Richard calls advanced Buddhism " Buddhist Christianity," and says that this form of Buddhism teaches that the Eternal is a model to be copied in wisdom and love, and that a manifestation of this model has appeared among men full of grace and truth. Taoism has reached a great depth of degradation in China to-day ; but in its ancient classical teaching it exalts the passive virtues, defines virtue as a thing of the heart with fruit in speech and conduct, the " three most precious " being compassion, economy, and humility, and teaches that civil government should be for the good of the governed. Tao, from which the system takes its name and which is the subject of its oldest classic, corre- 58 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE spends very nearly with the wisdom of the Hebrew Scriptures. On the other hand, one missionary writes : "I am sceptical of there being any elements in any of the religions of China which present really true points of contact with Christianity. Their definitions of sin and holiness differ radically from Christian definitions. Possibly the superficial and surface resemblances may be used at first as a common ground of approach ; but as soon as the hearer becomes spiritually enlightened and is able to bear it, it must be made plain that the source, aim, and motive of any virtue differ fundamentally as that said virtue is cast in a Christian or non-Christian mould " (Stanley Smith). Bishop Graves says: "To claim for either religion (Confucianism and Buddhism) that it is a preparation for Christianity, if we mean a preparation divinely designed, is questionable. As it appears to me, Christianity goes behind both of them and appeals to the higher nature of man rather than builds upon any founda- tion that they have prepared." THE ATTRACTION AND REPULSION OF CHRISTIANITY The first thing in missionary preaching which strikes and attracts a Chinese is the doctrine of the unity of God, being in strong contrast with the multitude of gods whom he himself worships. Monotheism appeals to him as being eminently reasonable, and he listens willingly to the statement of God's glorious perfections His holiness, righteousness, and love. He is interested, perhaps attracted, while the preacher sets forth this all-mighty, all-seeing, and everywhere-present God as the creator and preserver of all things and the giver of all good. The attraction deepens as he hears of God's fatherhood, His love for all, and providence over all. It is this great doctrine of the Divine unity combined with the Divine love which attracts the immense majority of Chinese. " The thought of an omnipotent God who will do something for me and a Divine Saviour who cared to CHINESE RELIGIONS 59 redeem me these melt and hold many hearts. Chinese are not only as impressible by spiritual truth as we Occidentals are, but often far more so" (A. H. Smith). The fact that Chinese preachers dwell so frequently on the unity and attributes of God in their preaching to the heathen show how attractive these themes are. The beautiful and perfect life of Jesus, His tender forgiving spirit, His love even for His enemies, and His high moral teaching impress all who hear or read the wonderful story. " Many scholars," writes the Rev. C. G. Sparham, " give Him what is from their point of view high honour, and say that He is one of, and perhaps the greatest of, the world's four sages Socrates, Buddha, Con- fucius, Christ." His sufferings, death, and sacrifice for us men make, a strong appeal even to the heathen, while to the Christians the loving, suffering Christ is the power that grips them. " The centre and core, the one unique and supreme element, the Cross," writes Archdeacon Moule, " possesses the greatest and overmastering power of appeal." The Cross, however, is now, as in the early days of Christianity and for the same reasons, an offence, yet now as then it is the power of God unto salvation. On the other hand, the Rev. P. J. Maclagan of Swatow says : ' The character of Jesus has not much place in the primary appeal ; nor has the Cross of Christ, except as the means of procuring forgiveness and so of Heaven." More attractive, perhaps, is Christ as a present Saviour from sin, not from sin as guilt merely, but from sins, evils, vices, especially those which harm men in body and soul, for most Chinese think more of the power of sin than of its guilt. " It is universally acknowledged in China that man's moral nature was bestowed by Heaven, but it is viewed in the light of a stock-in-trade or an initial capital bestowed once for all, since which men have had to shift for themselves, the sages quite satisfactorily, but ordinary mortals very indifferently " (Cornaby). It is notable also that the Chinese never appeal to their gods and Buddhas for moral and spiritual help. Christ, there- fore, as a living power in the hearts of men and as a source 60 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE of moral energy in their lives, comes as a new thought to the Chinese, and the call of Jesus " Come unto Me all ye that labour and are heavy laden " has a strong appeal in it. The Christian doctrine of the indwelling Christ and the power of His spirit to lift men out of their sins and to make them new creatures, possesses the charm of novelty and the inspiration of hope. Bishop Graves says : " It is the power of Christianity to enable men to lead a new and higher life which appeals to the Chinese. That, so far as I can judge, is the side on which it touches them. Once within the Christian Church, the great doctrines of God, of His love as shown in the Incarnation and Atonement, of the new life in Christ, of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit are apprehended by them as they are by ah 1 Christians and become the motive forces of their lives ; but in the first instance it is generally the power of Christianity over the moral life, the point where their own religions conspicuously fail, which leads them to Christ." The good lives of many Christians, their well-doing, patient suffering, upright dealing, love of truth, trust- worthiness, and good conduct generally appeal strongly to those who know them. Above all else a Chinese is reached by meeting a true Christian. The genuine change effected in men by conversion is possibly the strongest argument for Christianity that can be used. In no country is it more true that the exhibition of the true Christian spirit in the life of the disciple is the supreme means of appealing to the heart. The peace- fulness of Christian families, especially noticeable in village life, also appeals strongly. It is a revelation to the non-Christian that discipline and affection can be so blended as they are here seen to be. The brotherhood of man always proves attractive. The sympathy, friendliness, and kindliness of Christianity tend to win those who have never been in such an atmo- sphere. Patience, love, and sympathy are the three elements of the Gospel which reach the Chinese heart. The lack of them in Confucianism is marked, and it is CHINESE RELIGIONS 61 perhaps here that Christianity can most easily make its message felt. The mutual love, confidence, and help- fulness of Christians one to another impress men now as in the early days of the Church. A Chinese pastor writes : " The element in the Christian Gospel which possesses the greatest appeal is its manifestation of the spirit of love. It is this spirit appearing in the lives of Christians in the form of mutual sympathy and helpful- ness, and in the opening of hospitals, schools, and other philanthropic agencies, which above all others appeals to the people." Another Chinese writes : " It is the intelligence, kindness, good-conduct, helpfulness, patience, and strength of Christian people and their manifold philanthropic work for the good of men which make the greatest appeal. The devotion, self-forgetfulness, and self-sacrifice of some Christians make a deep impression. China has no such men and women " (C. C. Chang). There can be no doubt, also, that the wonderful advance of the Christian nations in scientific knowledge and mechanical skill, and their extraordinary strength and prosperity, have greatly impressed the Chinese, and com- pelled their admiration for the religion under whose inspiring influence such marvellous achievements have been attained. A Chinese writer, whose work has been mostly among students, sums up the attractions of the Gospel for that class as follows : " The sacredness of the individual life, the great principle of love, the fatherhood of God, and the universal brotherhood of man, are the elements which possess the greatest power of appeal both in the sense that they have appealed to me, and also that they have appealed to those to whom I have been the messenger." Others mention among the attractions of the Gospel the hope of a future life, and deliverance from the fear of unlucky days and the dread of evil spirits. Another says : " The chief attraction lies in what our Lord Jesus Christ came to do on earth, and in what He commanded His disciples to do" (Luke iv.43; Matt. x. 7) (C.T. Wang). The Chinese ^are tolerant in religious matters, and 62 regard all religions as more or less good, seeing that the aim of all is to inculcate virtue. Several writers say that there is little or no opposition to the doctrines of Christianity ; the opposition is to Christianity itself as being a foreign religion, preached by foreigners and sup- ported by them. Many Chinese suspect that the mis- sionary is a political agent, and that the conquest of China is the real object. These misconceptions are happily passing away. There will still remain, however, the racial and patriotic opposition to a foreign faith and a foreign Saviour. China, it is true, has already in great measure accepted a foreign faith in Buddhism. But Christianity is exclusive. It forbids the worship of the gods, the worship of ancestors, and the worship of the sages. It changes the marriage and burial usages, and upsets many time-honoured customs. It separates Chris- tians on many points from their fellows, and demands many personal and social reforms. In particular, the opposition of Christianity to ancestor worship is resented. That worship is so prominent in the Confucian system and has become so blended with family and clan life that its neglect by Christianity comes as a shock to the Confucianist. A Chinese pastor writes : " That which awakens the greatest opposition is the refusal of Christians to follow the social customs and traditions prevalent around them." One writer says, " The ' intolerance ' of the demands of Christ forms another barrier. There is nothing com- parable in other Chinese religions. Why should Chris- tianity make exclusive demands, they say. Why should it not live in harmony with the other older faiths, or at least with what is best in them ? Let us have an eclectic faith. ' If any man come after me and hate not his father and mother,' ' Resist not evil,' are immoral de- mands ; ' Go and sell all that thou hast,' ' Love your enemies,' are impossible and unreasonable." The divinity of Christ is not readily accepted by those who have withheld that attribute from Confucius, and which, if admitted, would place Christ above all the sages. CHINESE RELIGIONS 63 One of the Chinese writers says : " The thing that has awakened the greatest opposition is the necessity of accepting Christ as divine. I have riot met one student who has found, or has attempted to find, a fault in Chris- tianity or in the life of Christ, but it is an every day ex- perience to hear students argue that it is unnecessary to consider Jesus as divine. They are ready to accept Christianity without accepting Christ as possessing supernatural power. Many are hindered by it, but it is a point which we must insist upon, for in rejecting His divinity we reject the foundation of Christianity " (C. T. Wang). The miraculous in the life of Christ and in the lives of other Biblical characters also arouses opposition among scholars, for the miraculous was one of the subjects about which Confucius never spoke. The assertion of universal sinfulness, including the sages, is distasteful, being in direct opposition to the Confucian doctrine that men are all born good. The Christian emphasis on purity of life, its demand for holiness and truth, make its moral ideals too high, and place them out of the reach of ordinary men, it is said. The humility, self-denial, and renunciation of the world which Christianity calls for are similarly regarded. BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY AND IN THE EXISTENCE OF A SUPREME GOD There is more difference of opinion among the writers of the replies on these two points than on any other. Some hold that the Chinese have a practical though vague belief in a personal immortality and in a Supreme God, while others say that the vague ideas of the Chinese regarding a future life do not^ amount to a belief in a personal immortality, and that their hazy notions re- garding Shangli, Heaven, and the Venerable Heavenly Father, fall far short of a belief in a Supreme God. A considerable number of the writers agree in saying that among the literati there is much scepticism and unbelief 64 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE regarding both immortality and God, and that this scepticism is often found among the common people. Most of the writers refer also to the contradictoriness of Chinese beliefs, which makes it very difficult to discover what they really do believe. One writer says : " The Chinese mind can hold in complete harmony radically contradictory beliefs. Their worship of ancestors, worship at the graves, and their seeming belief in a Supreme Being, all should point to practical working beliefs, but they do not " (Mackenzie). Another writer says : " Chinese life and thought are full of contradictions. A Confucianist ought to be an atheist, but practically he is not, for Buddhism has penetrated to the marrow of Chinese consciousness and supplemented Confucian deficiencies. There is a practical belief in a future life, though the popular saying runs that man dies as the candle goes out. But notwith- standing a multitude of contradictions the Chinese do believe in a Supreme Power, and do believe in a future state in which there will be rewards and punishments having relation to what has been done here " (A. H. Smith). Taoism teaches immortality in a crude form, and to become an " immortal " is the great aim of the Taoists. Buddhism implies it in its doctrine of transmigration. Confucius did not commit himself, and his silence is interpreted as denial, though ancestor worship, which is an integral part of his system, implies it. The resultant confusion is great, and leaves men without a fixed belief. The man who asserts that the spirit ceases with the breath, will yet worship the spirit of his ancestors as still existing. A Chinese pastor writes : " The people have a hazy, half belief only in a personal immortality, and their belief in spirits is also very confused." All writers, however, arg agreed that the masses hold to a shadowy existence after death, in which men will be rewarded or punished according as their life here has been good or bad. This belief finds expression in the representations of the sufferings of the wicked in hell to be seen in many temples, in the warnings and exhorta- CHINESE RELIGIONS es tions of current religious literature, in numberless popular stories, in the customary death and burial rites, in the worship and waning at the graves, and in the offerings of clothes, food, money, and so forth to the dead by re- latives and friends. Annually also, on All Souls' Day, such offerings are publicly made to all the friendless dead. Such customs attest a belief in a future life, though it may fall short of a belief in a personal immortality. There is the same lack of unanimity in the replies regarding belief in a Supreme. God as regarding personal immortality. Some assert the existence of such a belief, others deny it, while the majority give a qualified answer. One writer says : "A Chinese would regard it as the greatest insult to be told that his countrymen had no idea of a Supreme God." Another writes : " Undoubtedly they have, for the farther we go back in Chinese history we meet with phrases implying a Supreme Deity, Shangti (Supreme Ruler) or T'ien (Heaven, having a personal idea). It is rare to find a Chinese who does not believe in a personal Deity." A Chinese writer says : " The Chinese have an almost universal belief in a Supreme God." But the statements on the other side are nearly as strong. A Chinese pastor writes : " Belief in a Supreme God is rare." Another writer says : " Speaking of the modern Chinese student, I should say No. I think his attitude is one of uncertainty. In reference to the Chinese scholar, I should say he has no belief in a Supreme God in the Christian sense, though he has belief in the over- ruling of a certain Providence." Another correspondent writes : " Whether or not the Chinese had in primeval times a belief in a Supreme God, it has been lost or so overlaid that there is now no God in a truly theistic sense." The majority of writers, however, give affirmative though qualified replies : " They have (belief in God) ; I do not mean by this that they have the comparatively clear-cut, confident faith which characterises Christians ; still it is a faith which exercises influence and, therefore, may be termed practical." Among the populace there COM. iv. 5 66 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE are shadowy conceptions of a Supreme Being called the Venerable Heavenly Father, or of Heaven as the arbitrator of right and wrong. In the Confucian Classics, as stated by several of the writers, the terms Shangti (Supreme Ruler) and T'ien (Heaven) are of frequent occurrence, to whom most of the Divine attributes are ascribed and in whose hands are the lives of men and the fate of nations. This august Being has been worshipped by the emperors of China, as High Priests of the nation,, from time immemorial at the Altar of Heaven at each winter solstice and on other great occasions. But, as one writer observes, " it would be difficult to prove that the Chinese ever worshipped Shangti exclusively," There has been always associated with that worship the worship of the heavenly bodies and of the powers of nature, while among the people from ancient times various spirits or gods have been worshipped, the number of which has increased with the centuries, so that now their name is legion. Moreover, the great classical commentator Chu Hsi (1130-1200 A.D.), whose views have been largely adopted by the educated classes, robbed the old terms Shangti and Heaven of personality by denning them as meaning moral law. But all these drawbacks notwithstanding, the opinion of the majority of the writers is that the Confucian Classics, which have always been the chief study of China's scholars, have kept alive the idea of the Supreme Ruler or Heaven, and that somewhere at the back of every Chinese brain there lies a vague idea of Him " who is Lord over all, God blessed for ever more." THE INFLUENCE OF THE HIGHER CRITICISM Higher Criticism has not yet much affected the Chinese ' lurch anywhere, in most places not at all. The Church is in too early a stage to take interest in it. Generally speaking, " Chinese thought at present is engaged in studying the fundamentals of religion, and is not yet in a position to appreciate their further speculative develop. CHINESE RELIGIONS 67 ments." And in cases where the more definite results of modern scholarship have been put before Chinese Christians of scholarly intelligence, they have beenregarded by them as subjects of purely academic interest, in no wise affecting the sacredness of the Scriptures, or the realities of Christian truth. All feel, however, that a time of unrest is approaching. Indeed it has already come. The Higher Criticism is making itself felt among the younger preachers, the theological students, and in some places among the Church members. One writer says : "We cannot teach the Scriptures as our predecessors did. Chinese students are aware of the modern attitude towards the Scriptures. They are the product of the human mind, and stand in the same category with the Chinese Classics. The early narratives are mythical, and Christ is an idealised religious teacher. Our theological students with a smattering of science are in difficulties over Genesis, and one has a suspicion that there is a doubt in their minds that we are keeping something back. The Chinese student likes his doctrines cut and dry, in black and white, with no shading " (Beattie). A Bishop writes : " Questions of criticism of any sort do not greatly affect the Chinese as yet. With the advance of education, the opening of China and increase of travel to foreign countries and residence there for education, it must be expected that such questions will arise. It would be useless to attempt to keep the Chinese in ignorance of the Higher Criticism. More than this, they ought to be able to avail themselves of its ascertained results, of all that is true in it. For a missionary to teach the Bible just as it was taught a hundred years ago is lolly, in the light of all that has been learned about the Bible since. He ought to be able and ready to give his converts, and especially to the ordained men, the very best that scholars have gained by their investigations of the Bible, and not to be afraid of truth. If he is wise, however, his teaching will be positive rather than negative " (Graves). Among the Chinese generally translations of the works of Huxley, Herbert Spencer, Haeckel, Voltaire, and 68 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE others are being widely read, and are producing in China as in Japan an agnostic and materialistic attitude of mind. In Manchuria the danger is more acute, owing to the Japanese occupation of the region. The new learning has adopted as its watch- word " No God," and quotes Huxley and Spencer. This evil is likely to grow and become serious ; but at present it does not much affect missionary work. It will increasingly do so, however, in the future. " Books written by men of science from an agnostic standpoint have been put into excellent Chinese, and are widely read by many who have never thought deeply themselves, and who simply accept the theory of the book they happen to read. I don't think higher critical books have been read much, though I think it is of the utmost importance that we should so present our faith as to make the effect of a knowledge of these theories as little disturbing to the faith as possible. To preach the theory of verbal inspira- tion and the Bible as a text-book of science is to court disaster sooner or later. There is no need to bind on the Chinese a yoke which neither we nor our fathers were able to bear " (Hodgkin). Among the missionaries themselves the attitude towards the Higher Criticism differs much. The older men are mostly untouched by it, and fear its effects on the Chinese Church. Some of them also complain of the " superior " attitude of some of the younger men, many of whom are more or less under its influence. It is feared also that " union " schemes will feel this difference more and more as tune goes on. But a Bishop in North China writes : " We are in more danger of blundering from extreme conservatism than from too great liberalism " (Bashford). THE INFLUENCE OF CONTACT WITH CHINESE RELIGIONS ON CHRISTIAN FAITH With regard to this question, some say emphatically that experience has not modified their convictions either CHINESE RELIGIONS 69 in form or substance, but rather intensified them. " We need no revision of creed, only a fuller baptism of the Almighty Spirit to vitalise our beliefs. The more one studies heathen religions, the more one appreciates the great saving truths of the Gospel " (Woods). One noble veteran writes : " An experience extending over half a century has not either in form or substance altered in the slightest degree my impression that the most important and vital element in the Christian Gospel is that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died for our sins " (Moule). Several others bear like testimony, but space will only allow of one or two more quotations : " My experience has not altered my convictions. Sin, salvation through the Cross of Christ, the resurrection and the life, these are the great things to proclaim to the Chinese " (M'Gillivray). Another writes : " No, I still see as the prime emphasis of the Gospel the need of the individual heart to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, to confess Him before men, and to serve Him in holiness " (Garritt). But in most of the replies there is a confession of change, though it may be only in the form of the message. A Bishop writes: " An experience of twenty-eight years has not altered my impression as to what constitutes the most important and vital elements in the Christian Gospel. I am conscious, however, that what is of subordinate importance has fallen more and more into its proper place. I have also learned to modify the form, though not the substance, so as to present the message a little better than I could at first " (Graves). But the change is not always in the form or content of the message, but in the attitude towards the native cults. One very able and lucid writer says: "No. But twenty-six years' experience has led to a better appreciation of the Chinese standpoint, and I now regard Christianity as the fulfil- ment of much that exists only as a promise in China " (Bergen). In the same strain another writes : " Not in the least ; but my convictions as to the origins of these religions has changed, and my sympathy with their best teaching has broadened " (Vale). This broadening of 70 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE the mind under the influence of new surroundings is well expressed in one of the replies : " Yes. Becoming less a Churchman and more a Christian. Particular tenets of my own Church are falling into the background in view of man's need of Christ. The Kingdom of God is greater than any Church, and Christianity than any Creed " (Latimer). Another writer, while expressing the same general thought, adds a new point of interest : " It is impossible to be long engaged in missionary work without coming to feel that what one first thought of primary importance is really but secondary in value. The Gospel for a world of sin is essentially simple. One has a new sense of the inherent spiritual power of the Word of God when one perceives that it takes hold of the hearts and minds of men and moulds them anew amid a complex civilisation like China " (A. H. Smith). The replies of the majority may be summed up in the words of one : " No change as to central doctrines ; but greater hesitancy in fixing the circumference " (Maclagan). A triumphant note is sometimes struck, as when one writes : " What doubts I may have been troubled with in the days of absorption in science, were laid before coming to China, and every year since 1891 has still further solidified the solidities held in grasp" (Cornaby). INFLUENCES LEADING TO CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY From the answers given to the questions ad- dressed to converts to Christianity, it is clear that the appeal of Christianity differs widely in different cases. Some whose experiences are narrated were brought to Christ through conviction of sin begotten in them through the hearing or the reading of the Gospel. Others were attracted by the promise of forgiveness through the blood of Christ. The call of the Saviour, " Come unto Me all ye that labour and are heavy laden," won some who had been toiling to amass merit. The doctrine of the Divine unity first appealed to some, and of the Divine love as expressed in John iii. 16 to others. CHINESE RELIGIONS 71 The hope of deliverance from the power of sin, of escaping its dread consequences, and of obtaining future blessed- ness was the drawing power in some cases. The exhorta- tions of friends and the good lives of Christians appealed to many. The following are a few sample cases : " I was first a member of the Hunyuen sect and then of the Tsai-li sect. At that time I knew of future retribu- tion and joined those sects in order to escape transmigra- tion by acquiring merit and putting away sin ; yet my heart was not at rest. In 1894 I first heard the Gospel, and read in Genesis that men have original sin through Adam's sin. Hence I saw that the merit acquired by good works was not to be relied on. Afterwards I read the New Testament and knew that the Saviour can redeem from sin. This I believed, but was not then a sincere believer. "My continual thought was the fear of death, and I sought by self-denial to escape death. I studied Buddhist books and consorted with Buddhist recluses, counting the reading of these books and the practice of asceticism to be the accumulation of merit so as to win salvation. This lasted over four years but I did not find peace, and felt as if a heavy load were crushing me. In 1898 I bought copies of Matthew and of Martin's Evidences, not as an enquirer, but for purposes of criticism and controversy. I studied these books daily till, on reading Matt. xi. 28, my heart was moved. Such was the first step in the leading of the Holy Spirit." A scholar well-read in Chinese literature was led to enquire into Christianity by his wife's father becoming a Christian. The first deep impression was made by the entire absence of idolatry and by the doctrine of the one only God. He never felt anything Western in the pre- sentation of Christianity. Miss L was most impressed by the reality of prayer, as being the communion of the soul with God, so different from heathen prayers. She was not troubled by the form in which Christianity was presented, and sees nothing distinctively Western in the Gospel message. 72 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE The Chinese head of a College in North China said that it was the universality of Christianity which appealed to him most. While Confucianism has only a national view, Christianity is concerned for the welfare of all nations. Confucianism seeks to learn about man, Chris- tianity about God and man. A Confucian gentleman was won to Christianity by the hope of having the Holy Spirit dwell within him as a god dwells in a temple. A Chinese pastor who was brought up as a strict Confucianist and taught not to believe in the gods of Buddhism and Taoism writes : " When I first entered a preaching-hall, what I heard was similar to my father's teaching. But what was said regarding a true God in heaven revealed in majesty, wielding power alone, was what my father had not clearly taught me. At once I was as one awaking from a dream, and rejoiced beyond words. I then examined the Confucian Classics, and found many passages which speak of Shangti. I proceeded to read Christian books and the Bible, and so my heart was won." A Chinese Christian worker among the student class writes : " The thing that appeals to me most is the splendid results of the direct application of the principle of love upon the actions of men. It is hard to describe how this wonderful principle of love is exemplified, but one feels it as surely as the magnetic needle feels for the North Pole. As a boy I saw it demonstrated by my parents, who I am glad to say are Christians, endeavour- ing to apply this principle to their conduct. What my earthly father was to me when I was a boy, is exactly what my Heavenly Father is to me while I am on this earth. This knowledge is of supreme value to me in guiding my actions. I have seen again and again that wherever and whenever this doctrine of love is applied it works miracles. There are two other things in Chris- tianity which appeal very strongly to me, namely, its high standard of purity and its power of producing moral courage." CHAPTER IV THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN THE problem which Japan presents to the world to-day is one of profound interest and extraordinary difficulty. An ancient civilisation broken in upon by the full tide of Western knowledge, a nation new-born, a rapidity of intellectual development to which the modern world provides no parallel, a social and national organisation able to withstand and overthrow the might of Russia : what, we may well ask, are the forces behind these wonderful results ? Are we to explain them by any special strength in the religions which nourished the people's life during the long centuries of their country's obscurity ? Or, have we here simply a striking exhibi- tion of what the seed of modern science can produce when it falls on virgin soil of sufficient richness ? The answer to these questions is of importance to the world at large ; it is of surpassing importance to the Christian Church. The ancient religions of Japan are three* Shinto, Confucianism, and Buddhism, with their various sects. Shinto is the indigenous cult of Japan. The word Shinto means the Divine Way. As a system, it is based on ancestor worship ; yet it is not an idolatry, no images appear in its temples. It cultivates the idea of purity, or rather cleanliness. It practises prayer and, in a sense, sacrifice. It is, above all, the religion of loyalty. The central conception of Shinto is expressed by the word Kami, which is a comprehensive term applicable to anything which is high, or above oneself, whether deity 74 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE or emperor or feudal chief. It can even denote elevation in space, as a mountain-top or the hair on the head. In practice, Shinto is the organised expression of Japanese patriotism. Conservatives regard the Emperor as the Kami, and Japan as the Holy Land. They pay a reverence to the Emperor that amounts almost to worship. This reverence extends to the family. Indeed it may be said to extend from the family to the State. In social life the individual is nothing, the family is everything ; and the State is the national, all-inclusive family, with the Emperor at its head. Thus the principle which teaches reverence to parents and ancestors, exalts the Emperor above all. As a cult, Shinto takes shape in ceremonial and in poetical liturgies which are chanted by the priests. It is indeed a system of national ceremonial, and is so regarded by the Japanese. It does not now claim to be a religion in the sense in which Buddhism is a religion, and it offers no direct opposition to other religions. Shinto, it is said, has no moral code. The one principle of this kind which it emphasises is that of Makoto (Truth). Out of this principle developed the system of knightly honour called Bushido, 1 On the other hand, it is maintained, and probably with more accuracy, that the Confucian code, by its greater completeness, has eclipsed the older and simpler Shinto teaching, and that thus has arisen the opinion that the latter did not involve a system of ethics. " Shinto," writes Baron Keiroku Tsuzuki, " is a crystal- ised system of rites for the veneration of the personalities closely connected with our existence and our national history in other words, a systematised and complicated form of taking off our hats before the emblems of our ancestors and national heroes. A Shinto temple is a monument of veneration. The servants of the principal Shinto temples are semi-public functionaries. They do not preach. . . . They have no religious dogmas." "The 1 Professor K. Kume, in Fifty Years of New Jhpan, to whom much of the above is due. RELIGIONS OF JAPAN 75 Department of the Interior has a ' Section of Religion,' but Shinto temples do not fall under its jurisdiction." This statement seems to present rather the direction in which Shinto is moving under modern influences than the historical position of this ancient cult of Japan. Against it must be set the fact that there are twelve officially recognised sects of Shinto, and that all these profess, as cardinal articles of faith, reverence to deities and the observance of precepts handed down by the divine ancestors (see Japan Year Book, 1910, p. 241). Also there is evidence that Shinto priests do sometimes preach, assuming the position of public teachers of religion (Dr. S. L. Gulick). Confucianism is like Shinto in this respect that, while numbered among the religions of Japan, it is not, in the full sense of the word, a religion. It is essentially a system of moral instruction. Nor does it seek to find any religious basis for its ethical teaching. Confucius re- solutely and definitely turned away from all the great religious problems. His maxim was " Revere the gods, but at a distance," meaning that the less men think of the supernatural the better. He was, in truth, a great agnostic teacher of morals, and had in view simply the regulation of ordinary human conduct. Spiritual things did not concern him. His system is essentially secular. 1 Professor Inouye", in his account of Confucianism, admits that it has undergone a great decline since Japan adopted the civilisation of the West, yet he claims that the majority of those who took part in the making of New Japan were Confucianists, and also insists that in separat- ing education from religion Japan is acting on a principle which is essentially Confucian. 2 1 It is important to observe that while the above statement expresses the prevailing view as regards the religious effect of Confucianism, it is maintained by many scholars that Confucius himself was simply protesting against the over-familiarity with the gods which marked his time, and aimed at promoting a genuine reverence towards the Supreme Power of the Universe, to which he always appealed in the great crises of his own life. - See his article in Fifty Years of New Japan. 76 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE ^Buddhism, which was introduced from the Continent in the middle of the sixth century A.D., is the religion of a majority of the Japanese. In contrast with Shinto and Confucianism, it may claim to be a religion in the true sense of the term. And yet there are those who, looking back to the pure Buddhism of primitive times, would describe it as essentially a philosophy, and a philosophy which, to quote the words of Baron Tsuzuki, " recognises nothing superhuman, or, at least, nothing supernatural." But this is not an accurate description of Buddhism as it actually exists in Japan. During the many centuries of its contact with human needs it has assumed forms which entitle it to be termed a religion in the true sense. The most remarkable of all these forms is that represented by the related Shin and Jodo sects. Of these the Shin sect, or Shinshu, is the most active, and the most important from a Christian point of view. Having its headquarters at Kyoto, the ancient capital, and exerting a powerful influence, it is a real spiritual force in the life of Japan. As a theological system it is most remarkable, standing apart in the most distinct way from orthodox Buddhism, and approaching Christianity. The Rev. Arthur Lloyd has given special attention to this development of Japanese religion, and in his various writings and his valuable report to the Commission, expresses the conviction that the teaching of the Shinshu will prove to be a most wonderful and effective prepara- tion for the work of the Christian Church in Japan. The essence of this teaching is the doctrine of the Saving Vow of Amida, " which forms the faith of the most religious portion of the Japanese nation. Amida is the One Buddha, a Being of infinite life and light, without beginning of life or end of days. Countless ages ago, he, out of his mercy, became man his Japanese name being Hozo Biku and in his human form and for man undertook austerities and penances, until he was able as man to return to that glorified state from which he had descended. But, before returning, he registered a vow not to accept his glory until he had worked out RELIGIONS OF JAPAN 77 a way of salvation for mankind an easy way, which should not depend on man's individual exertions. Hav- ing made his vow, he established a Paradise, and decreed "that faith in his name and vow should suffice to enable the greatest sinner to enter and be saved." This system is in strongly-marked contrast to ordinary Buddhism, of which the leading idea may be said to be salvation by works, the painful acquisition of merit by personal exertion, with a view to an ultimate deliverance. Also the conception of Amida is very remarkable. He is spoken of as the Father, the Eternal Being, who originated the law of cause and effect. His supreme characteristic is his mercy. The attitude towards Sakyamuni himself, the historical founder of the Buddhist religion, is also most worthy of note. Alone among Buddhist sects, the Shinshu offers him no worship. " The only reason," says Shinran (founder of the Shinshu), " why Sakyamuni appeared on earth was that he might make known to men the Great Saving Vow of Amida " (Rev. Arthur Lloyd). Out of this teaching has arisen a corresponding change in practice. The characteristic Buddhist asceti- cism has been broken down. " The Shinshu believer, clerical or lay, lives as a citizen of the world, eats as his neighbours eat, marries like them, and rears up children, and says that the home, and not the monastery, is the focus of the religious life." Besides the Shin and Jodo sects, there are five others which number their temples and priests by many thousands, two of them almost approaching the Shinshu in numbers and influence. Altogether, there are over 72,000 temples and over 51,000 priests (see Japan Year Book, 1910, p. 244 ff.). And it is worthy of note that the differences which separate the Buddhist sects are greater than those which divide Christianity (Dr. S. L. Gulick). It is clear that, in Japan at the present time, a vigorous religious life, apart from Christianity, is to be four.d 78 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE only in those developments of Buddhism which have just been mentioned. On the whole the influence of Western knowledge has had a very shattering effect upon the native faiths. Professor Kume declares" that " Buddhism, in spite of its former grandeur, is now practically a mere Coliseum" a magnificent ruin. Yet it is showing a new activity in several ways, especi- ally in works of philanthropy and in missionary effort. As a result there have arisen orphanages, deaf and dumb schools, hospitals, prisoners' aid societies, temperance societies, schools for girls and women. And Buddhist services are conducted in the army, at factories, in prisons, and among the poor. The influence of Christian ex- ample in all this is admitted by Japanese authorities. 1 Japanese religions, it is important to note, are ex- tremely tolerant of one another. They are not mutually exclusive. Indeed, it appears to be usual to profess adherence to more than one, and this tendency would seem to have become accentuated since the introduction of Western ideas. " In what religion then do I believe ? " asks Professor K. Kume. " I cannot answer that question directly. I turn to the Shinto priest, in case of public festivals, while the Buddhist priest is my ministrant for funeral services. I regulate my conduct according to Confucian maxims and Christian morals. I care little for external forms, and doubt whether there are any essential differences, in the Kami's eyes, between any of the religions of the civilised world." This utterance would seem to be a most character- istic presentation of the religious attitude of New Japan. As regards the classes of the population among whom missionary work is carried on, there is a general agree- ment that the highest and the lowest are very difficult of access, but that all grades of the middle and official classes may be approached. Some missionaries work almost entirely among students. The way to the upper and lower classes is, however, gradually opening. 1 Professor Takakusu in Fifty Years of New Japan. RELIGIONS OF JAPAN 79 There is a great danger lest the needs and prospects of missionary work in Japan should be judged too much from the standpoint of the city, and the classes who have received the new ideas from the West. The Rev. C. H. Shortt in his paper (Pan- Anglican Papers, S.P.C.K., London) on The Forces in Japan that Hinder the Acceptance of the Faith, gives a graphic description of a wider field : " Do not be taken in by what you see in the cities. The town temples may seem few and deserted, but Japan does not live in her cities. True, she keeps nearly two millions of her people in Tokyo, and six or seven millions more she crowds in her other large towns, but where are the remaining forty millions ? Climb up any hill and look out over the plain where the rice fields stretch out like a great green lake dotted over with islands. Every wooded ' island ' is a village full of people, and for every hamlet you see there are hundreds which you cannot see, hidden away in the mountain valley or the deep sea inlet. It is a land of villages, for that is where the forty millions live, and amid the pretty thatched houses of every one of them rises the stately roof of the Buddhist temple with its graceful curves. The pretty Shinto shrine is there too, and the utter indifference with which the average villager makes offerings in either or both of these places of worship is a marvel to some strangers. Undenominationalism is strong in Japan. . . . But they are a very religious people, and want to keep on the best terms with the powers above, call them what you please." Mr. Shortt continues : " With people so little bigoted one might suppose that their Christianisa- tion is only a question of time and teachers, and, so far as Shintoism alone is concerned, this may be true. But there are other factors to be reckoned with in the case of Japanese Buddhism, and the chief of these is an enormous body of priests, whose education is exceed- ingly narrow, and whose livelihood is dependent upon the offerings of the faithful." Equally important with Japanese religion is Japanese morality. With its peculiar character, it is probably a 80 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE stronger force. The Rev. P. G. Kawai, in an article in the Church Missionary Review (March 1909), gives the following account of it. In Japan the unit of society is the family. According to the Japanese ideas the family consists of grandparents, parents, children, grandchildren sons and daughters of several genera- tions. In early times it might constitute a whole village or town. Every member of a family, in this wide sense, is in duty bound to help the rest. Each member must be ready to sacrifice his own well-being, if necessary his life itself, for the welfare of the family. Everything gives way before the glory and honour of the family. When face to face with danger or death, a man's first thought is, how it will affect his family. If he be guilty of any disgraceful act it will bring dishonour on the whole family. For example, during the war with China in 1894, a soldier on one of the warships was sobbing over a letter in a woman's handwriting. An officer, seeing him, rebuked him for his cowardice. The soldier stood up and handed the letter to his superior. It was from the man's mother, and was to this effect : " I am so sorry to hear that you did not join in the battle of the Yellow Sea, and that you could not distinguish yourself in any way at Wei-hai-wei. My dearest wish is that you may die for the country, and if you do not fight bravely or die, it will bring disgrace on me and our family." The officer asked the soldier if his family belonged to the warrior class. The answer was, " No, we are fishermen. My father died a few years ago. My old mother is alone at home." This spirit of self-sacrifice for the sake of the family was, and is, the ruling and guiding principle of the nation. The origin of all ideas of duty and of social customs can be traced to it. The Japanese, believing that their ancestors are the creators of their families, feel they owe to them the greatest honour and respect. Family grew into clan, and clan into nation. The Royal Family being the principal family, and the nation, as it were, RELIGIONS OF JAPAN st branches of the same, the centre of ancestor worship for the Royal Family is the same as for the nation. The great fundamental virtues of Japanese life, filial piety and loyalty, have sprung from this root. The moral forces which have thus arisen are as noble as they are mighty. They are the true explanation of Japan's wonderful career. THE VALUE OF THE JAPANESE RELIGIONS Among the classes with whom missionaries mainly come in contact there is a vast amount of indifference. Re- ligious observances are, very largely, traditional customs and nothing more. European agnosticism has had great influence. It came to a congenial climate, for Confucianism is essentially agnostic. The Japanese fre- quently describe their state of heart as regards religion by a word which signifies " coldness," " insensibility." Dr. Hail gives an instance. A man said, " I go before the household gods only once a year." " But," adds Dr. Hail, " I have found many to whom their religion was a help and consolation." Some of the Buddhist sects have cultivated a devotional life of the ascetic type. The Rev. G. Rowland writes : " The one doctrine which seems to be taken most in earnest, and to be most genuinely prized, is that of Enlightenment by contemplation, or an overcoming of the lusts of the flesh, and an attaining to a position where reason reigns in the life." But this is confessedly for the few, not for the many. Dr. Murray says : " Buddhism does have a real hold upon men's minds and conscience as a religion. It doubtless does afford a medium for much help and con- solation to large numbers of simple honest people. But it is not the Buddhism of the books as it is known abroad, but usually a Buddhism that has a god or many gods. The teachings of the Shinshu give real help to many, especially among the uneducated." There are three forms which religious functions take in Japan : the worship in the home, the worship at (he COM. iv. 6 82 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE shrine or temple, and the ceremonies pertaining to the dead. The first two forms are neglected by many. There is little public sentiment compelling observance. In many cases the old people are left to attend to these matters ; or, if some public occasion requires young people to conform, it is to a large extent a mere propriety (Rev. D. B. Schneder). In most Japanese homes there is an altar or a god shelf, sometimes more than one a Shinto shelf, with memorial tablets to departed members of the family ; and a Buddhist shelf, with a small image of some Buddha and there are daily devotions. In the opinion of some missionaries this household wor- ship is highly valued, and brings no small sense of rest and safety (Rev. T. H. Haden). In the case of funerals and the ceremonies that follow them, custom compels all to conform. The various rites and the burning of incense before the dead are par- ticipated in by all. But it is so much of a mere formality that sometimes even Christians see no reason why they should not perform these acts of respect and reverence. Quite recently a Government official, in a lecture, empha- sised this view of Shinto, saying that every Japanese ought to be forced to conform to it, as the question was one apart from religion. It is, in fact, prized as an engine of State for keeping up the patriotic spirit and respect for authority. All Japanese religion is permeated by the principle of ancestor worship. This involves a belief in the exist- ence of the soul after death as an influence among its relatives and friends giving them help in time of need, and also the idea of the duty of the living to comfort the dead, to give them thanks and pay them the honour which is their due. " After death I shall be a spirit pro- tecting my nation as well as my family " is the expression of the faithful Japanese subject (Rev. P. G. Kawai). In this connection it is worthy of note that, since the last two great wars, there has been a revival of Shinto. This is due to the conviction that the living have a special duty to those who died for their country. There is a RELIGIONS OP JAPAN 83 very close relation between these ideas and that religion of patriotism which maintains the doctrine of the divinity of the Emperor and the belief in Japan as a divine country. HINDRANCES IN THE WAY OF CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY Moral Hindrances The moral hindrances are much the same all the world over, but in Japan there are some special features. The accepted standards as regards truthful- ness and purity are very low. Veracity and chastity are recognised as virtues, but they are virtues of a second rank, and sometimes to be sacrificed (Rev. G. Rowland). The Rev. A. Pieters says : " It is almost impossible to make a Japanese boy ashamed of having told a lie. Show him that his lie had in it an element of cowardice or disrespect and he can be made to see the evil of it, but not because it is an offence against the truth pure and simple. Neither do his teachers, for the most part, take any such view. I have known a Christian teacher, in a debating society, get up before the boys and contend that a lie is not morally objectionable unless some other duty is thereby disre- garded." Concubinage is sanctioned by custom, and divorce is easy. Polygamy, in the full sense of the term, does not exist, but prostitution and great laxity in relation to it prevail. Immorality is very lightly regarded. Many missionaries consider this the chief moral hin- drance, and some think that the condition, in this respect, is worse than it was thirty years ago. On the other hand, Miss A. C. Bosanquet, in her paper on Evangelistic Work in Japan (Pan- Anglican Papers), says : " Public opinion is rising. The ' geisha ' are a most difficult class to reach, for many reasons. It is not easy to com- bine work among them (even'ifjopenings^can" be found) with work among other women ^and A girls. They are 84 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE quite apart. It would be a great thing if English visitors to Japan would help by example to strengthen the hands of Japanese reformers. It is a matter of course that Christian converts have nothing more to do with dancing - girls, and even a few leading non- Christians (Prince Komatsu among them, I believe) are making a strong stand against their employment." Most Buddhist priests are supposed to be bound by the rule of celibacy, but it is said that great numbers of them defy the rule more or less openly. Many of them frequent houses of ill-fame, and make no attempt to deny the evil of their lives. Many of the believers in Amida consider sin so engrained that to get rid of it would be impossible. They wish to be saved in sin, and, to this end, turn to Amida. In connection with the subjects which have just been mentioned, it is well worthy of remark that there is a very decided tendency towards a better state of things as regards marriage. " Marriage conditions, customs, and laws have been exceedingly lax in Japan ; but three great forces Philosophy, Government, and Christianity are earnestly engaged in tightening the marriage bond, each conscious of the other's work, yet not taking much apparent notice of each other." So wrote the late Bishop Awdry in his paper on Christianity and Marriage Questions in Japan (Pan- Anglican Papers). " That ' marriage should be the union of one man with one woman on equal terms as long as the two lives last is one of the first principles of practical ethics,' is the statement of the late Mr. Fukuzawa and the school of educationalists, moralists, and philosophers which grew up under his influence." As regards Government action, the Emperor him- self, when the Crown Prince was to be married, ordered a ceremonial to be formulated for marriages in the Royal Family, thus adding a new solemnity to marriage. In several other respects a new seriousness has been created by the authority of the Government. The influence of marriage customs is a matter of great RELIGIONS OF JAPAN 85 importance in relation to missionary work. Family authority counts for so much in Japan that young Christians are often placed in positions of the greatest difficulty. The Rev. J. Cooper Robinson says : " I have found the customs prevailing in regard to marriage a great hindrance to many. Young people of both sexes especially women hesitate to come out and openly confess Christ in baptism in view of the fact that they may shortly be married to unbelievers, in union with whom they feel it would be impossible for them to per- form their Christian duties. To object to a husband selected for her by her parents is regarded as a very serious matter, and in cases where it occurs is often followed by serious consequences." (On the whole question of marriage, see Bishop Awdry's paper, which is quoted above.) The use of intoxicating drinks, especially sake, the native wine, made from rice, is widespread and leads to serious evils. Lying and commercial dishonesty prevail widely. In general, as compared with Christianity, there is, in Shinto, Buddhism, and Confucianism, no strait gate or narrow way. The spirit of commercialism is taking captive the heart of the people. In some respects this is the greatest moral hindrance of all. There is an im- pression that it is impossible to succeed in business if contracts are to be rigidly kept (Rev. T. H. Haden). The passion for money overpowers all scruples (Rev. H. Woodward). Another great hindrance in the way of the full accept- ance of Christianity lies in the pride of the people and their belief in Japan as a country with a divine descent and a divine mission peculiar to itself. The accept- ance of Christianity implies sitting at the feet of Europe and America; and the patriotic Japanese reverses the picture, and sees Europe and America sitting at the feet of Japan. It is a source of great self-glorification for a Japanese to point to any characteristic in respect to which he thinks his nation superior to some Western 86 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE people. In Fifty Years of New Japan there is a con- tinual recurrence to the defeat of Russia. Baron Tsuzuki compares the superstitions of the Russian soldiers with the greater freedom of the Japanese ; and Count Okuma declares that the Japanese rise above the nations of Europe and America in being out-and- out free-thinkers in matters of manners and customs. He glories in the fact that in Japan the State antedates all religions, and that it was only by the protection or toleration of the State that they found their way into the country, contrasting with this the fact that in every European country the Church is older than the State. It seems clear that this national pride is, of all moral hindrances, that which is most characteristic of Japan. Intellectual Hindrances Intellectual hindrances arise partly from the tradi- tional philosophies which belong to the old religions, and partly from modern Western scepticism which has exerted a great influence over the educated. The thought underlying Buddhism is essentially pantheistic, and " even when pantheism seems to have retired from the field it is never far off." Its influence is antagon- istic to the Christian conception of God. The doctrines of Divine personality and of God as Creator become very difficult in a pantheistic atmosphere. The latter seems to many Japanese to involve a belief in God as the creator of evil (Lloyd). Confucianism is at heart an agnostic system. It aims avowedly at diverting attention from spiritual things, and concentrating thought upon the conduct of ordinary life. When the seed of Western scientific materialism came to Japan, it fell upon a congenial soil. The University of Tokyo became the headquarters of a materialistic agnosticism, and even atheism, founded on the doctrine of evolution. 1 It is commonly believed among educated Japanese that Christianity is quite 1 Bishop YSichi Honda in Fifty Years of New Japan. RELIGIONS OF JAPAN 87 discredited in the West. European and American books which attack religion are translated and widely circulated. The doctrines of the Deity of Christ, the Virgin Birth, the Resurrection, and others involving the miraculous or supernatural are denied or treated with contempt as mere superstitions. Social Hindrances Intellectual difficulties such as these are effective principally with the educated, the social difficulties which exist affect all classes and are probably more influential. The main hindrance arises from the extraordinary strength of the social organisation. The individual is always expected to subordinate himself to the family or the community. There is very little sense of personal responsibility. The filial piety and loyalty which find their expression in ancestor- worship constitute a resisting medium of great power. Should a young man become convinced of the truth of Christianity, he, as a rule, finds himself at once confronted with the opposition of his family. Highest in authority, probably, his grandmother forbids, and her prohibition carries with it the whole influence of the social order to which he belongs (Rev. R. E. M'Alpine). As a result of this, the vast majority of converts to Christianity made thus far in Japan have been from among people for whom family restraints were somewhat loosened, either by distance or other circumstances officials, students, clerks, for example. It is extremely difficult for a man living in his native place to become a Christian. Consequently, the farming and merchant classes have been comparatively untouched, and women are hard to reach. On the island of Hokkaido, where the popula- tion consists largely of immigrants from the other islands, Christian work has been more successful than elsewhere (Rev. D. B. Schneder). The Japanese themselves realise the seriousness of this hindrance, and exaggerate its significance. "It is argued," 88 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE writes the Rev. P. G. Kawai, " that Japanese morality as well as religions are patriarchal and national, while Christianity is individual and universal, so that the re- conciliation of the two is impossible. The introduction of the Christian religion into Japan means, according to these men, the destruction of Japanese society and, there- fore, the destruction of the nation. This is due to the misinterpretation and misconception of Christianity on their part, for the Gospel inspires the morality of the community as well as of individuals, as is involved in the idea of the kingdom of God. The possibility of the reconciliation of the two systems, Christian and national, is already proved by the examples of native converts and by the constitution and the code of Laws. But still the strong opposition against Christianity based on this misconception, helped by the fanatic national spirit, is taking hold of the mind of educated people under such influential leaders as Baron Hiroyuki Kato. Baron Kato himself is an atheist. It is one of the most strange features in this country that these so-called sceptics are trying to revive ancestor worship and at the same time to minimise its religious aspects. Some even insist that ancestor worship is not a religion at all." This supposed antagonism between Christianity and the national spirit appears to become most acute in relation to the person and authority of the Emperor. Reverence for the Emperor and for the Imperial ancestors is fundamental in Japanese life and feeling. So far does this go, that it is difficult for a Japanese not to feel that by unreserved allegiance to Christ he is untrue to him- self and to his country. The main body of the popula- tion, especially the governing part, feel that there is something essentially irreconcilable between Christianity and their most sacred traditions. They welcome Christi- anity as a beneficent moral and social force. But when it comes to accepting its fundamental truths as articles of personal faith, they draw back. Even belief in an Almighty God seems to them inconsistent with loyalty to the Emperor. Also., with a strange inconsistency, RELIGIONS OF JAPAN 89 Christianity is at the same time accused of being too individualistic and of being too socialistic. " Official Japan is terribly afraid of socialism." It is not surprising, in these circumstances, that the influence of high official authority (as, for example, in military or educational circles) is very frequently exerted in opposition to Christianity. Nominally, there is religious freedom in Japan, and Japanese public men and writers are apt to boast of the broad principles of tolera- tion which now mark the Government of their country. But this toleration is often another name for the convic- tion that no religion has a right to make an exclusive claim and that religion is mainly a matter of taste. " One of the best-known professors of the Imperial University has said that as there are different sorts of tea so there are different kinds of religion, and each man chooses according to taste" (Rev. H. Woodward). The same professor on another occasion said : " To benefit one's own country involves damaging others. Christianity teaches universal brotherhood and that is destructive of patriotism. I sincerely hope that Christianity will not make much headway in this country." A German military officer attached to one of the garrisons recently remarked to a missionary that it would be a waste of time to try to reach the officers, as conditions rendered their becoming Christians impossible (Woodward). There is a great readiness on the part of many educated Japanese to admit the loftiness of Christian ethical teaching, to speak in exalted language of the greatness of our Lord. It is said: " We do not presume to reject Jesus, but we worship him as we worship other religious geniuses. We even give him the first place." As of old, under Imperial Rome, Christ is offered a place in the Pantheon. His exclusive claim is rejected. This attitude does not make things easier for the missionary, but frequently harder. There is an eclectic movement towards what is sometimes described as a pure ethical religion. This involves, at least, the recognition that religion is necessary as a foundation for morality a 90 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE matter of great importance in a country where religion and morality seem to be very often divorced (Rev. P. G. Kavvai). A very great hindrance to the spread of Christianity in Japan is the apparently very limited influence which it has upon the people of Christian lands and the policies of their Governments. DISSATISFACTION WITH THE OLD RELIGIONS There is a general agreement that the most widely spread cause of dissatisfaction with their own faith among the Japanese is a new sense of the want of spiritual power in their religions. This want of power has become manifest through the influence of the new civilisation. A people awakened to a vigorous life and born into a new world finds that the old faiths have faded into shadows. This is true especially of Buddhism. Many Japanese are becoming keenly conscious of its failure. It has no joyous certainty to offer them, nothing of confidence or hope. The Rev. P. G. Kawai writes : " Gener- ally speaking, dissatisfaction against Buddhism is increasing more rapidly than against any other system, for it is insisted that Buddhism does not fit the Japanese, because it is pessimistic while the people are optimistic. Also some weak points in the Japanese national character for example, a too great readiness to commit suicide are traced to its influence." This weakness in Buddhism is closely connected with its extremely negative character. It offers no positive gospel to the needy soul. The Rev. J. E. Hail puts this very clearly : " Often when a layman asks his priest, ' Does Buddha exist/ the reply will be, if you believe that the Buddha exists, then for you he does exist ; but if you believe that he is not existent, then for you he does not exist. Hence one of the young priests said to me, ' The doctrine of the Christian God is both simpler and easier to believe than the doctrine of Buddha.' Also, with regard to the future life, I have never met a Buddhist nor RELIGIONS OF JAPAN 91 a Shintoist that had any clear hope or faith. The uni- versal answer with them, when questioned concerning the future life, is this : ' One inch before me and all is impenetrable darkness.' That a Christian can meet death without any fear, nay gladly, is to them a great mystery." In connection with this statement of the intensely negative character of Buddhism, it must be remembered that the Shin sect have developed a teaching which can, in a sense, be described as a positive gospel a fact which accounts for its great popularity. The Rev. David B. Schneder gives instances of dis- satisfaction in individuals who have come under his own observation. He writes : " A certain mother recently, who had a sick child, was in much mental distress, and her husband, an intelligent lawyer who reads the Times, sent for my wife to come and teach her Christianity. She soon progressed so far that she was reconciled to whatever might come to her child, whether life or death ; and she spoke of the contrast between Buddhism, which only prays and pleads and writhes in agony for a favour- able rnswer, and Christianity, which says, ' Thy will be done.' " Another is the case of " a prominent physician, the head of a hospital, who recently told me that he wants to become a Christian, so that he can give Christian comfort to those who die in his hospital. He speaks of the blank despair and unspeakable distress of those who learn that they cannot recover, unless they have faith in God. He has noticed the peace and calm of the Christian's death, and he would like to be in a position to impart that peace to those who under his care must hear the verdict that they cannot recover." As the Rev. E. Rothesay Miller puts it : " Buddhism, though professing to be specially taken up with the things of the future life, has no comfort for the sorrowing, and so, in many instances, those who have lost all hope and are cast down with grief come to Christianity with its positive knowledge and its hopes and beliefs. There were many instances of this during the war, and at nearly every 92 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE Christian funeral there are those who listen gladly to the hopes and consolations which they never hear of else- where." The Rev. Arthur Lea writes : " Educated and intelligent men are continually met, the majority of whom have given up their religious beliefs and all of whom are dissatisfied. They object to the unscientific character of their religions, their incomplete moral teaching, their superstitions, the character of the religious leaders, their failure to give any satisfactory solution of the problem of life, and their lack of moral power." The Rev. Gideon F. Draper tells of an instance of another kind : " A man in the lower walks of life, who was a gambler and a drunkard but a believer in one of the many sects of Buddhism, having received the message of life became completely changed, and I have frequently heard him testify as to the powerlessness of his old faith to work any change in his former manner of life." Dr. J. D. Davis gives an instance : " Mr. Okuno, one of the first converts, and for thirty years an earnest worker, spent years in seeking for deliverance from his sins and rest. He went from shrine to shrine and from temple to temple, seeking rest and finding none. But meeting Dr. Hepburn, and hearing of Christ, he accepted Him as the Saviour he had been seeking so long, and became a most devoted and success- ful worker." But cases such as this would seem to be exceptional ; for Dr. Imbrie and President Ibuka write : " It will naturally be asked, Does not a Shintoist or a Buddhist on becoming a Christian often refer to his dissatisfaction with his old faith ? It did not bring him peace of mind ; it did not free him from a sense of guilt ; it did not give him power to overcome sin. But he never expected any such results from his old faith, never looked for them ; what he looked for was not deliverance from sin, or the consequences of sin, but for a partial deliverance from the ills of life now and a complete deliverance hereafter. And the reason was this : he had no consciousness of sin in the Christian sense, nor has he yet any deep consciousness. RELIGIONS OF JAPAN 93 When he grows in grace and in the knowledge of Christ, he will look upon the old faiths with dissatisfaction ; but it will not be a dissatisfaction with them on specific points. They will seem to him only rudiments of the world, weak and beggarly rudiments, compared with Christianity, hardly religions at all." Yet that a very general dissatisfaction, due to the impact of Western thought, does exist, and that it takes the form of a sense of the lack of moral power in the old religions, is testified to by many witnesses. The corrupt lives of many of the priests, and the frauds practised at temples, are often commented on. Also it is being realised that the effort to give moral education apart from religion cannot succeed. Under the present system this effort has been made, religion being carefully excluded. The result has been expressed by Baron Makino, ex- Minister of Education: "The Meiji Government be- lieved that material civilisation was the proper method of advancing the interest of the State and the happiness of the people, and study of science was much welcomed in educational circles, while spiritual and moral training was naturally neglected. The natural consequence is that society has begun to complain of material education, and of the low standard of the student character. The method of education in future, therefore, is to be that of symmetrical development of the whole man, and not merely the supply of intellectual weaklings" (quoted by Rev. P. G. Kawai). The existence of a genuine unrest of soul among the Japanese is indicated also by the springing up in recent times of new sects, more or less, connected with the old cults. The most remarkable movement of this kind is the Tenrikyo, or " Doctrine of the Heavenly Reason," which, within the last forty years, has obtained four million adherents. It teaches that the relation between the numerous deities and man is like that between parents and children. The soul of man is regarded as an emanation from the gods, to whom it returns at death. Although pantheistic in its teaching, this sect is now 94 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE adopting Christian ideas, and is, perhaps, to some degree, a preparation for Christianity (The Rev. J. D. Davis and the Rev. P. G. Kawai). On the whole, then, it is clear that the advent of Chris- tianity in Japan has awakened the sense of spiritual need. It has revealed a power able to reform the life and produce noble character, it has exhibited an influence which can elevate the position of woman and purify the home ; and, in doing all this, it has displayed the in- sufficiency of the old religions (Rev. D. A. Murray, D.D.). THE ATTITUDE OF THE MISSIONARY TO THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN There is a perfect agreement of all missionaries who have dealt with this question as to the necessity of sympathy and understanding in relation to the old religions. Many add their own conviction that the elements of good in all these religions are both extensive and valuable, and may be regarded as preparatory to Christianity. Some go so far as to say that here, as with Judaism, Christ came not to destroy but to fulfil. Courtesy and respect towards all that the Japanese hold, or have held, in reverence are of the utmost im- portance. Ridicule or contempt in relation to the old faiths would at once destroy a missionary's influence. It is, as a rule, better to leave strong statements as to the errors of Buddhism, for example, to the native minister. He can say freely things which in the mouth of a foreigner would be regarded as insulting. It is generally true that the positive statement of the Christian faith and of its lofty principles and splendid hopes will create far more conviction than criticism of the erroneous tenets of the native religions. The truth prevails by its own intrinsic force, and drives out the false. The people are sensitive to criticism, and unless it is backed by authority and power it will only provoke resentment. " There was a long period of vilification and misrepresentation of RELIGIONS OF JAPAN 95 Christianity by the priests, and when Japan gained her first victories over Russia, the general cry was ' Buddhism has conquered Christianity.' The authorities, seeing the danger to Japan's reputation beyond the seas by allowing this, commanded the priests to stop it. The change was wonderful, and ever since then the fashion has been to be tolerant in matters religious, so that to-day any criticism of Buddhism by Christianity is called narrow-minded bigotry. And yet one cannot help feeling that sharp criticism would be the most effective means of breaking down the self-satisfied complacency which is so great a hindrance to the acceptance of a new ideal" (Rev. H. Woodward). The Rev. Dr. Gulick says : " The Christian preacher should constantly take the ground that every good teaching in the native faith is a gift of God, the Father of all men, and is a preparation for the coming of His fuller revelation in Jesus Christ. We should show our real and deep respect for the ' heathen ' religions ; we should take off our hats at their shrines, as we expect them to do in our churches. We should ever insist that Christianity does not come to destroy anything that is good or true in the native faiths, but rather to stimulate, to strengthen, and fulfil it to give it life and real energy. The trouble with the native religions is not that they possess no truth, but that the truth they have is so mixed up with folly and superstition that it is lost : it has no power no life-giving energy." To this strong statement it is extremely interesting to add the following by the Rev. Dr. Wm. Imbrie and the President Ibuka : " There are now, in Japan, Japanese ministers who have been for many years pastors, evangelists, and teachers. Among them are men of ability, sagacity, and education ; men, too, of independence in thought and action, and by no means under constraint to the judgment of their first teachers. Some of them are well read in the Christian literature of the West, and are quite well ir formed as to the new emphasis which is placed upon the elements of truth contained in the non-Christian religions. There 96 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE is a conviction common among them that the non- Christian religions are not wholly of man. At times they think of them and speak of them as a preparation for Christianity ; sometimes comparing them to Judaism, as shadows of the' good things to come." The Rev. R.^E. M'Alpine graphically describes the way in* which he is accustomed to use, in his teaching, the fact that the native religions have something in common with Christianity : " Personally," he writes, " my habit has long been, when such questions arise, to draw two con- centric circles to show the relation of Christianity to Confucianism. The inner one, Confucianism, being entirely enveloped by the Christian circle ; because, so far as I know, the teachings of Confucius, being merely expositions of right human relations, are very good so far as they go. Christianity can willingly accept them all, add a vast deal to them, and^then add the immeasur- able element of the heavenly relations something which Confucius hardly touched. Thereupon I continue, and drawing two intersecting circles, I label one Buddhism and the other Christianity. Here I explain we have some ground common to both religions, and I try to concede to Buddhism all that my conscience will let me. Then my hearers are willing to listen without anger when I proceed to show the points which are not common ground, and where we are obliged to condemn Buddhist teaching and practice." In spite, however, of all this, Mr. M'Alpine expresses strongly his conviction that, while these Oriental religions can talk well, they have no " vivifying power either for this world or for eternity." The Rev. Julius Soper gives an interesting example : " One of our Japanese preachers once in his preaching very adroitly ' turned the tables ' on a Buddhist inter- rupter, and put him to silence by asking him if he really knew what his own religion was, and whether he was really trying to practise its precepts ; ' for,' said the preacher, ' there is not a little good teaching in your religion. If you will study that faithfully and try to RELIGIONS OF JAPAN 97 reduce it to practice, I feel sure you will give Christianity a more intelligent and appreciative hearing, and this effort may be the " Moses " to lead you to Christ.' " The Rev. P. G. Kawai urges, with deep insight, that the Christian preacher should remember that in all human nature and in all religions there are elements of good which are gifts of God, and that, if they are despised or forgotten, it is impossible to reach the hearts of the people, for then the truth is presented in a way which has no connection with the past. The truths which already exist in the consciousness of the people should be linked with those higher truths which are revealed in Jesus Christ. The Rev. E. C. Fry points out that de- structive work upon the native religions is being rapidly done by negative forces which substitute nothing, and that the work of the missionary should therefore be essentially constructive, building upon every good and true conception which is already fixed in the popular mind. It is important to remember, while thus dwelling upon the sympathetic attitude which the missionary should adopt, that it would be a serious mistake to carry sym- pathy so far as to convey the impression that Christianity claims no more than to be on the same level with other religions. On this the Rev. D. B. Schneder says : " Among my personal friends there are some Buddhist and Shinto priests. I enjoy these friendships, which are profitable and instructive to me. I also attend the funerals of friends that are conducted according to the Buddhist or Shinto ceremonies. I think an attitude of respect and friendliness is good. Only, the missionary ought to stand steadily and consistently on the position that Christianity is the absolute and final religion." POINTS OF CONTACT BETWEEN CHRISTIANITY AND THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN There is almost universally among the people of Japan a dim perception of some Supreme Being or COM. iv. 7 98 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE authority. To those who have been influenced by Con- fucianism, it is Ten or Heaven ; to the Buddhist, it is the Buddha, or Amida ; to the Shintoist, it is the Kami. The Rev. P. G. Kawai says that " the idea of a personal God, though in an imperfect and polytheistic way, is given to the people by Shintoism more distinctly than by any other of the religions of the Far East (not includ- ing Christianity of course)." The same writer mentions three doctrines of Buddhism which seem to him to be a preparation for Christianity. First, the belief in a future life. Though the survival of the individual person is denied theoretically, it is admitted for all practical purposes. So far is this true that it may be said that belief in the future life has been learnt by the Japanese from Buddhism. Secondly, the Buddhist believes in the law of causality. Thus reward or punishment, as the consequences of good or evil conduct, are recognised, and so a foundation is laid for ethical religion. Thirdly, the idea of salvation is found amongst the Buddhists. This applies especially to the Shinshu, whose doctrine of the saving vow of Amida has been described above. The conception of Amida may be somewhat indefinite, and the salvation which he gives may be generally imagined as a deliverance from suffering rather than from sin, yet it is certainly true that here is a doctrine which must be regarded as a very valuable preparation for the Christian doctrine of salvation through Christ. The Rev. Arthur Lloyd considers that the origin of this creed may be Christian. " The earliest date that can be assigned to any of the books containing the doctrine of Amida is A.D. 147, the year when the doctrine reached China, not, from India, but from Central Asia. If it is Christian, it is Gnostic. Amida has a spiritual son Avalokitesvara, incarnate again and again, on errands of mercy from his Father as Sakyamuni, for instance, and again as Christ (as many a Buddhist will acknowledge) in divers forms and persons. He has an attendant, Seishi, in whom resides his wisdom, and the three form a Trinity whom the Amidaist will recognise as claiming his worship." RELIGIONS OF JAPAN 99 " Be its origin what it will, here is a faith so wonderfully like Christianity that it is difficult to resist the inference that it was, in the Divine Providence, intended as a praeparatio evangelica for the Gospel in Japan. It is theological, it recognises man as a sinner, it preaches the Gospel to the poor, and it has a salvation by Faith in a Saviour who has done everything for the soul." The controversy regarding salvation by " another " and salva- tion " by one's self," " Tariki " and " Jiriki," is of long standing in connection with the Amida theology. The Rev. E. R. Miller thinks that its significance in relation to Christianity may easily be exaggerated that too much is made of the resemblances and the differences are too much forgotten. In relation to all this the Rev. Dr. Imbrie and President Ibuka add the warning that " the gods of Buddhism are all purely subjective creations of the mind, as subjec- tive as the angels of Gnosticism : mere personifications or apotheoses of what is craved for by the heart of Buddhism. In Christ God has revealed Himself in history. Amida is only a cry for light : Christ is the light of the world." Further, " At times in Buddhism it seems as if pantheism were giving way to theism. Amida, Kwannon, and many others are conceived of as persons. But the con- ception of supernatural beings called gods falls far short of the conception of the Infinite Eternal Unchangeable God which is vital to Christianity, and without which any religion is anti- Christian. If there are those who hope to discover in Shintoism or Buddhism much that is compar- able with what is found in Judaism as points of con- tact with or preparation for, Christianity, they will be disappointed ; and if there are any who think to find in the non-Christian religions of the world great truths that will complement Christianity they will not find them in Japan." This statement is important, as it stands in very striking contrast to the opinions of the Rev. Arthur Lloyd and others, which have been noted above. The idea of purification, as it exists in Shintoism, 100 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE has associations which may prove preparatory to the Christian conceptions of spiritual cleansing and atone- ment. The Rev. Albertus Pieters writes : " Shintoism has much to say about defilement, which is primarily physical, but is transferred also to the moral sphere. This is the nearest approach to our idea of sin, and pervades the whole system. Such uncleanness requires various methods of purification, by water, by salt, and by fire. I have often seen men stand naked in the water pouring buckets of water over their heads and reciting prayers as a religious ceremony. For the whole nation the ceremony of purification is performed by the Emperor by deputy once a year. This is called ' the Great Purification,' and clearly involves the idea of a great High Priest and of Intercession. When one approaches a Shinto temple he is sure to see in the court before the shrine a laver, generally of stone, to which the worshippers go to wash their hands before prayer." The moral teachings of the native systems are often very useful to the missionary. He can appeal to them to prove to men their sinfulness and need of salvation. " When I am talking to a Buddhist," writes Dr. Hail, " and wish to produce in him conviction of sin, I take the commands with which he is familiar and quote them to him. The ten commandments of Buddhism are as good as the ten commandments given through Moses, to produce in a man the impression and the conviction that by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. For by the law is the knowledge of sin. When I want to reach the same end with a Confucianist I use the law of the five duties growing out of the five relations.'"' The five duties are benevolence, righteousness, con- sideration, wisdom, and truth. Here, however, Con- fucius stops and does not give us any answer to the question as to " Heaven " with whom we have to do. And for those who offend against Heaven it has no word of hope. It is here we may take up the revela- tion of God in Christ and lead the Confucianist out into RELIGIONS OF JAPAN 101 the light of the knowledge of that Heaven that is " long- suffering, slow to anger, forgiving iniquity, transgres- sion, and sin." It is worthy of note that the five relations of Con- fucius referred to above are those of Ruler and Subject, Father and Son, Husband and Wife, Brother and Brother, and Friend and Friend ; and that the five duties, or virtues, are sometimes rendered, Humility, Righteous- ness, Propriety, Knowledge, and Faith (Rev. J. Soper). Mr. Soper adds that the idea of Love, as taught by Christ, was foreign to the thought of Confucius. " His teach- ing was self-protection pure and simple. It lacked the altruistic spirit, as shown in his negative rendering of the Golden Rule, which is sometimes called the Silver Rule : ' Do not unto others what you would not have others do to you.' This is still more definitely set forth in one of the maxims attributed to Confucius : ' Do good to them that do good to you, but deal justly with those who injure you.' Another way of saying, ' An eye for a eye, and a tooth for a tooth.' ' While there is thus a great body of ethical teaching to which appeal can be made, the " idea of sin is very defective, and seems to lack the notion of an offence against God, a violation of the Divine W T ill ; but still they have an idea of sin that may be used as the starting- point for the Christian doctrine " (Rev. T. H. Haden). On the other hand, " the form which the sense of duty or obligation takes is almost wholly that of duty to a person, or to the family, or the nation. It is not allegi- ance to ethical principles in the abstract. This is depre- cated by many, but it seems to me," writes the Rev. D. B. Schneder, " that because of this habit of mind the feeling of duty to God, which is after all fundamental in Christian morality, may become even stronger in Japan than elsewhere." This personal element in the idea of duty as under- stood among the Japanese is closely connected with the spirit of loyalty which is so characteristic of their national genius. The spirit which animates their 102 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE splendid patriotism, which inspires all their sentiments in relation to the Emperor, and which shows itself in the code of knightly honour which distinguished the old Samurai, reveals a quality of character capable of great things when enlisted in the service of Christ. In connection with this side of the national character, it is worthy of note that the Japanese are capable of a high degree of self-sacrifice and appreciate the nobility of it ; and are therefore able to feel the force of the great appeal which the self-sacrifice of the Cross makes to the heart of man. Another element in Japanese religion, which is closely related to that personal loyalty which has just been mentioned, is the reverence paid to ancestors and departed heroes. The Rev. S. L. Gulick says : " The so-called worship of ancestors can easily be Christianised, and should be maintained in this form as a valuable national asset." It is certainly possible to imagine a transforma- tion of it into the Christian idea of the great Communion of Saints, which binds the seen and the unseen in one vast fellowship. It is perhaps from this source that the Japanese derive their universal belief in the existence of the soul. The Rev. Arthur Lea writes that he has frequently questioned children on this point, educated and uneducated, and many who had never come under Christian influence, and in no case has he found a child without the knowledge that he possessed a soul. Pure materialism is, apparently, only found among those who have learned it from Western teachers. While the existence of the soul is thus recognised, its immortality is not distinctly held. In the stricter and more scholarly forms, Buddhism teaches that, when a man dies, the sum of his merits and demerits is weighed, and a new being comes into existence as the result. This is not a personal transmigration, but an entirely new creature. At the same time, when one dies, the family, after the burial, worships the departed spirit, and make offerings to it in their houses. At an annual festival, the Bon Matsuri, the spirits of the dead are RELIGIONS OF JAPAN 103 supposed to return to their homes, and offerings are made for them, or rather to them, and feasts prepared, and a table set for each of the departed. After three days the spirits are supposed to depart, and the family accompany them on their way for some distance (Rev. J. B. Hail). This worship of the dead and feasts for the dead are universal. Buddhist, Shintoist, and Confucianist all practise these things. The Shin and Jodo sects of the Buddhists believe in the paradise of Amida, where those who have faith in him go after death. But this is only a halting- place on the way to the extinction of personal existence. There is a common belief that at death the soul enters either Gokuraku (Paradise) or Jigoku (Hell). This implies an existence after death of some kind. In almost every house ancestral tablets are found, and before' these, on certain occasions, prayers are offered. If the prayers are offered by Shinto priests they are addressed to the spirits of the departed ; if by Buddhist priests, they are offered for the departed (Rev. Dr. Wm. Imbrie and President Ibuka). But with all this there is a profound scepticism. Prayers are offered with such expressions as "If Thou dost exist." When questioned, the universal answer is " One inch and all is dark." Also, the doctrine of existence after death is described as Hoben, that is, an expedient. Dr. Hail says, " In the absence of my brother one year I was called upon to lecture on System- atis Theology. I was not able to find a word in Japanese that answers to the word persona or person. He adds, " A sense of personal responsibility is lacking," and sums up in these words, " Theoretically at least, there is both a belief and a disbelief in the existence of the soul after death. But, so far as I have any knowledge, the people of all classes universally are without hope. All is dark ahead." Dr. J. D. Davis writes to the same effect : " The ideas of the people in regard to personal immortality 104 and a personal God are very dim. . . . The writer, during thirty years' teaching of theological students, has found it one of the most difficult things in his teach- ing to get his students to grasp fully and clearly what a distinct personality is." Ideas of immortality are therefore exceedingly vague, if they really exist at all. That, in some sort, there is a popular belief in the soul's survival of death, is however beyond question. It was mentioned above that a dim perception of some- thing supreme in the universe may be traced everywhere in the religious consciousness of Japan. It is, however, strongly affirmed by many that this perception is not to be regarded as faith in a Supreme Personal God. Buddhism, in its ancient form, is practically atheistic. The modern sects are polytheistic. Shinto is a deifica- tion of departed men. Confucianism advises its adherents not to think about spiritual beings. Its " Heaven " probably means very often little more than " Fate." Pantheism is generalty latent in Japanese thought. " Still very often, with the simpler minds, it is not at all difficult to bring them to an understanding of, and belief in, a Supreme God. I think, in my experience, I have found the idea of a Supreme moral ruler to be an easier road to that belief than the idea of a Creator" (Rev. D. A. Murray). THE ATTRACTION OR REPULSION OF THE GOSPEL FOR THE JAPANESE The Appeal of the Gospel The replies which deal with this question would seem to lead to the conclusion that there is no essential element in Christianity which cannot become supremely attrac- tive when rightly presented to a mind prepared to receive it. The great fundamental truths seem, however, to possess the greatest persuasive power. To many, the Unity and Sole Sovereignty of God come with extraordinary force, and produce a profound RELIGIONS OF JAPAN 105 conviction. Mr. Kanzo Uchimura, in his vivid and delightful diary, tells of the effect which the great Christian monotheism had upon him when first he grasped it. "I was taught that there was but One God in the universe, and not many over eight millions, as I had formerly believed. The Christian monotheism laid its axe to the root of all my superstitions. All the vows I had made, and the manifold forms of worship with which I had been attempting to appease my angry gods could now be dispensed with by owning this One God ; and my reason and conscience responded ' yea ! ' One God, and not many, was indeed glad tidings to my little soul." The Rev. P. G. Kawai gives the following statement of the truths which possess the greatest power of appeal : " The fatherhood of God, the high estimate of the in- dividual soul, the uniqueness of the personalit}? of Jesus Christ and His redemptive power, the doctrine of the Divine immanence, and the high ideal of Christian life and its purity." The purity and sweetness of the Chris- tian home, and the elevation of the status of women, and, in general, the social side of Christianity, have great influence. The principles of love and brotherhood are recognised widely as a great advance on the corre- sponding teachings in other systems. The spiritual nature of Christian worship and prayer appeals as some- thing new and attractive to the higher minds. The cer- tainty of the great Christian hope for the future as con- trasted with the vague anticipations of the Japanese religions, and this as based on a fact, the resurrection of our Lord, proves its power in the East as in the West. Christ as the model and source of character exerts a strong attraction for many. The Rev. R. E. M'Alpine observes that the English word " character " is now most popular in Japan, and is understood in any audience without translation. Some parts of our Lord's teaching have shown a very special power to touch the heart and to attract. Such, for example, are the parable of the Prodigal Son, the 106 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE invitation, " Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest," and the Sermon on the Mount. The Rev. D. A. Murray says : " In my experience I find that the Gospel as salvation from sin, especially from the power of sin, is just as appropriate and makes just as strong an appeal to men as at home. Depict to men, in a sympathetic manner, that they are sinners, and make the picture as black as you can, and they will approve of every word, and, if you can show them con- clusively that there is a power in the Gospel of Christ that will enable them to overcome and get rid of sin, you make an appeal that will take hold of them in the most powerful way. . . . The Japanese, as a rule, have high ideals, and if you can convince them that Christ will lift them up towards those ideals it is a strong appeal." The Rev. Tateo Takahashi writes : " Many people are astonished when they see people reformed in their lives." The moral and spiritual power of Christianity, when truly exhibited, is irresistible. Many testify to the fact that the Cross of Christ retains its ancient power to draw the souls of men. In Japan, the idea of self-sacrifice is highly developed. But the Japanese conception contrasts strongly with the revela- tion of Divine self-sacrifice in Jesus Christ. " The idea of an inferior suffering or dying for his superior is innate in the mind of Japanese loyalty, but the idea of a superior suffering or dying for an inferior is something outside of their thoughts, but when once entertained the force and beauty of it appeal to the Japanese mind " (Rev. E. R. Miller). It is perhaps, to some degree, a qualifica- tion of this statement that the Amida theology contains certain hints and foreshadowings of Divine mercy showing itself in sacrifice. The reply of Dr. Imbrie and President Ibuka to the ques- tion with which we are now dealing is of special interest. They write : " Some years ago there was a feeling more or less marked that Christianity had proved itself to be a power for good in moulding the civilisation of the West ; RELIGIONS OF JAPAN 107 and that it might be expected to work similar results in Japan. Thus Christianity appealed to many, in this general way, on national grounds. Accordingly, it was accepted by many ; by some superficially and by some in reality. This motive is still operative, but it is by no means so much in evidence as it once was. The great majority of those who accept Christianity are at first attracted to it by some apparently incidental cause. They are not consciously, earnestly, anxiously seeking for light ; and it is hardly too much to say that they are never burdened with a troubled conscience towards God. What happens is this. They are struck by the ethical teachings of Christianity ; they read a Christian book ; they hear a Christian preacher ; they have a Christian relative, friend, acquaintance, or teacher. Thus, in some way or other, they are brought under Christian influence, and see of hear something that attracts their attention. From this point they go on step by step. They read the Scriptures, they associate with Christian friends, they attend Church, they begin to pray. If they have a mental struggle, it is not because they cannot loose themselves from their old religious faith, for their old faith as re- ligious had but slight hold upon them. The struggle is either ethical or philosophical, or both. Ethical, because Christianity calls for a changed life, and may mean a break in the family ; philosophical, because their thinking has been polytheistic, pantheistic, or agnostic. At last the time comes when they acknowledge to themselves that their convictions are Christian, feel that they should confess their belief and do confess it. Then they begin their pilgrimage, often to fall and some- times never to rise again. 'Two ministers of the Church of Christ in Japan were recently asked as to their first acceptance of Christianity ; and their replies will serve to illustrate what has now been said. One of them replied, ' The first thing that attracted me to Christianity was the grandeur of the Christian conception of God Infinite, Eternal, and yet Personal. That led me to think more and more of Christianity, and Christ was 108 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE Master of my heart before I knew it.' The other replied, ' I was walking with a friend, and we were talking of the Restoration. Both of us belonged to the party of the Shogun. We felt then that a great injustice had been done and we were bitter over it. It seemed to us a mystery that such a thing could happen. Presently my friend said, " It was the will of God." That made a deep impression on me the thought of a God controlling the history of nations and it led me to consider more attentively the teaching that we were receiving regarding Christianity. My mind was especially attracted to the Sermon on the Mount, and in particular to the words, " But I say unto you, Love your enemies." That made a still deeper impression upon me ; and so I went on.' Both were asked, Had you any consciousness of sin ? and both replied, ' None at all.' " All the evidence goes to show that the truths of Christianity are grasped gradually, one after another, as conscience is awakened and experience develops. One of the two pastors, whose statements have just been given, was asked not long ago, " Can you distinguish in your experience between Christ and the Holy Spirit ? " He replied, " I was taught to distinguish between them, and in my theology I have done so. Now I am coming to distinguish between them in my experience. I am coming, when I sin, to feel that there is a Presence within me that is grieved." He also said, " The order of Christian experience in Japan is given in the words of Christ to Paul : ' I send thee to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith in me ' : ' (Rev. Wm. Imbrie, D.D., and President Ibuka). Dr. Hail gives some remarkable examples which show the effect which is sometimes produced by the influence of the character and teaching of our Lord. " Honda was a Confucianist. He was a graduate of Fukuzawa's school in Tokyo, and had set up a school RELIGIONS OF JAPAN 109 on his own responsibility. After a conference with him one day, at my suggestion, he bought a copy of the Bible and began to study it. He said to me when afterwards he applied for baptism, ' When I first read the New Testament, I thought, " This Jesus is a sage. Of course he is not the equal of Confucius, but he is worthy to rank as a sage." Then I read again and again the life and teaching of Jesus as recorded in the Gospels, and compared them with the life and teaching of Confucius. Confucius did not fall in my estimation. On the contrary, the more I studied him the more I admired him. But Jesus constantly rose. His teaching and character took hold of me. He increased, until I was forced to the belief that, while Confucius is a sage, Jesus Christ is God, and I want to dedicate my life to His service.' ' Another instance is equally remarkable. " A priest of the Ikko Shin sect of the Buddhists at Minabe came to me to know what book or books he ought to study in order to overthrow Christianity. I told him that if he wanted to strike an enemy to kill him he must know his strong and weak points ; that, if he truly wanted to strike Christianity to kill it, he had best first make a thorough study of it, and after he knew it, he would be able to know where and how to strike. He took my advice. After three years of honest study he gave up his temple, and asked to be baptized. I asked him how he came to wish for baptism. His reply was as follows : ' I studied Christianity for the sake of finding fault with it. After a thorough study of Christ and His teaching I have not been able to find a single fault, but Christ has pointed out a thousand faults in me, and now I want to dedicate myself to him for my whole life.' " It is worthy of note that the prevailing opinion, among missionaries who have touched on the question, is that an initial consciousness of sin is not usual in cases of conversion. Some exceptional instances are given, but, as a rule, true conviction of sin does not arise until a later stage of Christian experience is reached. 110 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE Mr. Pieters gives, among several very interesting replies, one from a young man of great intelligence and good social position, which shows deep psychological insight. In this case, the first impulse towards Christianity seems to have come from sheer joy in life. " I sought some one to whom to render thanks, and I found God." It was only after a long and serious illness that, says the writer, " I came out into a clearer day. It was about ten months after I became an enquirer that I advanced to the knowledge that I was a sinner, and that all men are great sinners before God." Opposition to the Gospel As to the elements in Christianity which have awakened the greatest opposition, the subject is partly dealt with in what is said above about the chief hindrances to the Gospel. The " bigotry " of Christianity, as it is often termed, that is, its exclusive claim to human allegiance, is, by a general consent of all the authorities, the objection that is most frequently urged against it. Baron Keiroku Tsuzuki puts this very strongly in his article in Fifty Years of New Japan. He contrasts the tolerance of Japanese religions with the intolerance of Christianity, and traces the latter to its monotheism. " Monotheism " he writes, "is an essentially j exclusive religion. . . . History shows us that the contact of one form of monotheism with another is followed by terrible conflict, and very often by bloodshed. Not only is Christianity exclusive and narrow-minded towards other religious beliefs, but even one sect of Christians is much more antagonistic to and exclusive of other sects of the same religion than Buddhism is of Christianity." The Rev. H. Woodward writes : " The thought as to whether a religion is true or not seems as yet to find little acceptance with the Japanese ; the most important question for them being whether it fits in with their customs, or what benefit it will bring to their country." This attitude of mind is closely related to their tolerance. RELIGIONS OF JAPAN 111 The fact then that Christianity asserts the absolute supremacy of the Almighty God, and that it presents the claim of Christ to the allegiance of every human soul, creates inevitable difficulty. Thus the faith of Christ comes into conflict with the characteristic loyalty of Japan which regards the Emperor as Divine nay, as the highest of all divinities. To place God above the Emperor is regarded as disloyal and anti-national. About the year 1890 there set in a reaction towards national as distinct from cosmopolitan ideals. This is clearly set forth by Bishop Yoichi Honda and Mr. Yakichi Yamaji in their account of Christianity in Japan. 1 A decisive instance is the case of Mr. Uchimura, a Professor in the First Higher School, Tokyo. A convinced and conscientious Christian, he hesitated to bow before the picture of the Emperor, on the ground that in this case bowing was equivalent to worship. This occurred on the Imperial Birthday in 1890. He was accused of lese- majeste and exiled from educational work. This created a popular feeling that Christianity is disloyal and un- patriotic. In 1892, Mr. Okumura, another teacher, declared that there is no distinction of nationalities in the eyes of philanthropy. These events led to the publication by Dr. Inouye of an essay On the Conflict between Religion and Education. He contended that Christianity is anta- gonistic to patriotism, as it advocates love to all and places God and Jesus Christ above the Emperor and parents. The argument was ably answered from the Christian side, but the general opinion sided with Dr. Inouy6. This movement had, it is to be feared, a very definite effect in cooling many who had been drawn to Christianity. While the suspicions founded on national feeling were thus gathering, there also entered very strong influences from Western unbelief, affecting especially the educated classes. Objections are constantly made against the miraculous elements in the life of Christ, and against doctrines which involve the supernatural. Baron Tsuzuki 1 See Fifty Years of New Japan. 112 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE sums up the position in these words : " That, in spite of the best efforts of missionaries, Christianity does not make a marked progress here is simply due to the fact that the higher and educated classes are not prone and receptive to the miraculous and supernatural. Kow can it be otherwise when Western missionaries preach us blind faith in the sanctity of the Bible, and the conse- quent acceptance of all the miracles contained therein, while Western teachers and professors preach us the supremacy of reason, the necessity of scrutiny, and dis- belief of anything supernatural." l These are strong words, and are evidently written in all sincerity. They clearly speak of what exists. They may well cause many searchings of heart amongst those who are praying and working for the extension of Christ's Kingdom in Japan. THE INFLUENCE OF MODERN THOUGHT, AND ESPECIALLY OF THE HIGHER CRITICISM, IN JAPAN When, after the Great Restoration, Japan entered on that path of reform which led her to her present great position in the world, a new spirit seemed to take posses- sion of her, a spirit of intellectual adventure. As a result there foUowed an eager desire for novelty, and a great amount of spiritual unrest. The Rev. Arthur Lloyd writes : " The Japanese is by nature a higher critic. He has reformed his whole national life in accordance with the most up-to-date ideas that he could find, and he is fully convinced that whatsoever is old-fashioned is necessarily antiquated and useless. The appeal to antiquity is absolutely nothing to him. As an instance of how far modern Western thought influences the daily thought of Japan, I will mention the case of one of my university colleagues Professor of Comparative Religion who is proposing this next term to give a course of lectures on Modernism, and who applied to me to procure him the loan of a complete set of Father Tyrrell's writings." 1 See his article in Fifty Years of New Japan. RELIGIONS OF JAPAN 113 Dr. Imbrie says, " There are few developments of modern Western thought that do not very soon find their way to Japan just now the talk is about pragmatism and works on theology and philosophy out of accord with historical Christianity are widely read by both Christians and non-Christians." The Rev. T. H. Haden gives an interesting account of the present position in the sphere in which his work is carried on : " The higher criticism, in the technical sense of the words, is known to most of the native preachers and to many of the more intelligent laymen, and they spread it abroad. The higher critic exists in all his varieties, from the sane, devout con- servative-progressive to the most radical. Often the more radical he is the more noise he makes. And so with other developments of Western thought. They are known here almost as soon as they appear in the West. There are always some to read the latest in theology, sociology, philosophy, and the rest, and make them known through the press and from the platform. Herbert Spencer was the fad some years ago ; now a thing has to come from Germany to be worth much." Bishop Yoichi Honda in Fifty Years of New Japan gives a graphic account of the movement which produced this result. Up to about 1888 Christianity made wonder- ful progress. But from about 1884-5 there entered a strongly Unitarian influence. Mr. Knapp of the American Unitarian Association, and Mr. Otto Schmiedel of the Mission Soeaety of the Tubingen School, came to Japan in 1887. In 1890 the magazine, The Unitarian, was started, and another, the Shinri (Truth), as an organ for pro- pagating the higher criticism. This movement shook the Japanese Church to its foundations. For at the same time a movement took place within the Church in the same direction, questioning the inspiration of the Bible and asking for a revision of the Creed. Some doubted the doctrine of the Trinity, others objected to that of Redemption, and still others jeered at the dogma of the Virgin Birth. '/ As a result, " faith became colder from that time onwards among Japanese Church members. COM. iv. 8 114 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE The more intellectual class valued less and less the creed of the Church to which they belonged, and the progress of the Church during the period which has elapsed since then has presented hardly any feature worthy of note." There is much testimony in substantial agreement with these rather disheartening words. The Rev. S. L. Gulick writes : " For over ten years (1890-1900) these higher critical problems so absorbed the thought of the pastors and so shook their confidence in the Gospel that little aggressive work was accomplished." Others also refer to the spiritual depression which prevailed during those ten years. One effect of this movement was to create an impression that the missionary is " behind the times with his reading and studies," and that the Christianity which he teaches is no longer believed in the West. However painful such a result may be, it is clear that it should serve as a force to drive home a very important lesson as regards the equipment of the missionary and the methods and spirit of his work. Even those who speak most strongly as to the injurious effect, for the time, of the critical reaction against the faith, look forward to the future with hope and confidence. The Rev. T. H. Haden writes that, in spite of the dangers, " on the whole, I rather think there will be more on the credit side of the account than on the debit. In Japan, as elsewhere, it is really a part of the great scientific move- ment of the age in which we live, which at bottom is seeking to know the truth and nothing but the truth. The Japanese are seeking to prove all things and hold fast that which is true. They are going to fall into some errors of their own, no doubt, but they will probably avoid not a few that the West has fallen into. This critical attitude is producing an intelligent, independent type of Christian that knows what he believes and why he believes it. On the whole, the preachers are saner and more cautious than they were a dozen years ago." The Rev. Dr. Murray, while regretting that the movement has had the result of sweeping away some that were once RELIGIONS OF JAPAN 115 earnest preachers and leaders, believes that the final result will be good. He says, " The Japanese have got to face and settle these questions, and they have got to settle them themselves and from the standpoint of their own peculiar dispositions and tendencies. I have faith enough in the power of the truth and the leading of God's Spirit to believe that they will be settled on the right side, and, when so settled, the Church will be in an immeasurably stronger position than it could be by merely loyally holding to the traditions which it had been taught." The Rev. D. B. Schneder writes : " It is not good policy to strive by all means to keep the results of criticism from the people ; nor is it good to keep flaunting them before the people. Just an honest and impartial presentation of the truth, with emphasis on the positive, saving elements of the Gospel, is what is needed. When this course is pursued there is nothing to fear from the higher criticism at least if it be not of the extreme type. The kernel of the Gospel is what touches the Japanese, and they do not care much about secondary questions." The Rev. C. H. Basil Woodd holds " that nothing is so well calculated to stem the alienation of the educated classes from the Christian faith as an attitude on the part of Christian teachers, whether native or foreign, at once reverent and humble, but at the same time frankly welcoming the revelation of God's mind and will coming to us through the study of history and nature, with a willingness to modify older thoughts in the light of newer thoughts." It is evident that in Japan, at the present time, there is an extraordinary welter of ideas and tendencies. Un- belief in every form atheism, agnosticism, materialism appealing to modern science for its credentials, contends with the old pantheistic and polytheistic faiths, and with the recently introduced Christianity. It is not sur- prising that, as the Rev. E. Rothesay Miller tells us, "most educated men are agnostics." "Perhaps," writes the Rev. George P. Pierson, " in no place on earth 116 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE do so many ' teachings of men ' meet together for the confounding of the people as in Tokyo, capital of the Far East and port of entry to Asia from the West." Count Okuma describes the condition of things in the following remarkable words : " Japan at present may be likened to a sea into which a hundred currents of Oriental and Occidental thoughts have poured, and, not yet having effected a fusion, are raging wildly, tossing, warring, roaring." " The old religions and old morals/' he writes, " are steadily losing their hold, and nothing has yet arisen to take their place." " A portion of our people go neither by the old code of ethics and etiquette nor by those of modern days, while they are also disinclined to conform to those of foreign countries, and such persons convey the impression of neither possessing nor being governed by any ideas about morality, public or private." When a man who stands foremost among his con- temporaries can thus describe the condition of his people, it is no wonder that many signs of alarm can be detected among the leaders of Japanese opinion. The moral degeneration and mental despondency among students of both sexes in Tokyo drew from the Minister of Education a very strong statement in 1906. Nor is there any sign that the philosophised forms of ethical instruction which have been imported from the West are proving efficacious. It is reported that the late Mr. Fukuzawa, whose influence as a leader of thought was almost supreme in Japan, and whose agnostic attitude towards religion was well known, said before his death that he had felt it " a great loss that he had lived his life without religion, and that he would recommend Christianity to his friends without any hesitation" (Rev. P. G. Kawai). The Rev. C. W. Shortt, in his paper (Pan-Anglican Papers) on Forces in Japan that Hinder the Acceptance of the Faith, says, " There is among the leaders of the nation a large party composed of men who are thoroughly dissatisfied with the present outlook, even alarmed at it ; and, though not themselves necessarily Christians, would gladly see the country adopt the faith," RELIGIONS OF JAPAN 117 In the face of such conditions, it is not surprising that Dr. Imbrie should give the opinion that " the real conflict which Christianity in Japan has before it is practically the same conflict which it has to wage in Europe and America : theism against pantheism and agnosticism ; and the Christianity of the New Testament against the Christianity which reads into or out of the New Testament " whatever it pleases. This being so, Dr. Imbrie urges the importance of providing books of the right sort in Japanese. Such books " should be written clearly, calmly, judicially, and with knowledge ; and their purpose should be to set forth and establish the truth rather than to maintain all that may have hitherto been held to be true." Also, considering what the Rev. E. C. Fry justly calls " the plastic condition of Christianity in Japan," we find ourselves prepared to accept the statement of the Rev. Dr. D. C. Greene that " in the Christian Church in Japan will be found much the same variety of opinion on the subject (of the higher criticism) as in most of the larger Churches in Europe and America." THE INFLUENCE OF CONTACT WITH THE JAPANESE RELIGIONS ON CHRISTIAN FAITH As might be expected, the replies under this head vary according to personal idiosyncrasy. Some are very emphatic in asserting that no appreciable change of attitude towards the Christian faith has been caused by experience of missionary work. Others testify to a greater readiness to distinguish certain great essentials from the external and more accidental elements in our traditional Christianity. Among the latter some go much further than others. The Rev. George Rowland writes : " The dogmas of theo- logians, as such, have now little place in my thinking, and the most important and vital elements in the Christian Gospel seem to me to be few in number and simple in fact. Peter's confession, ' Thou art the Christ, 118 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE the son of the living God,' and the young lawyer's summary, ' Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, and thy neighbour as thyself,' . . . seem to me to comprise the vital and important." The Rev. Gideon F. Draper says, " I am more deeply impressed with the importance of making Christ the great centre of all thought and teaching, and that the questions which divide the Christian Church are human in their origin and hence very second- ary. ... I have deeply felt the unimportance to the Japanese of much of that upon which the Churches at home insist." The Rev. Arthur Lloyd writes to the same effect : " My life in the East, whether as a missionary or other- wise, has taught me the need of simplicity in faith and practice, and I have found myself shedding quite a number of things which twenty-five years ago I should have considered as being of very vital importance. But amongst the things I have shed, I have not found it necessary to include any of the articles of the Apostles' or Nicene creeds, or my belief in Christianity as the supreme and perfect revelation of God to man." " I have learned," he adds, " that no one nation or race (not even the Anglo-Saxon) has a monopoly of Christian faith or grace, and that a divided Christianity, which is a disobedience to the spirit of Christ's prayer, can never do the greatest things for God. I have learned that God has nowhere left Himself without witness, and I am trying to discover that witness here in Japan." Mr. Lloyd describes himself as having been " changed from a more or less straight-laced Anglican to the nonde- script Christian " that he is now. In his first lecture on " Shinran and his work," Mr. Lloyd expresses more fully the nature of this change. He has set himself the task of making " a new and perhaps dangerous missionary experiment " an experiment for which, he evidently feels, no Church would make itself responsible the effort to conduct Japanese Buddhists through Shinshu theology to Christ. And thus he describes his position : " In the old days of Japan when a Samurai was about RELIGIONS OF JAPAN 119 to imdertake some doubtful enterprise which his clan could not be expected readily to endorse, he would cut himself off from his kinsmen and become a ronin. Then, if he failed, he failed, and the clan took no harm : if he succeeded, he returned in triumph to his feudal lord, bringing with him the fruits of his victory. It is quite good to be a ronin for Christ's sake. If I fail, I fail, and the faithful will disown me, though I myself shall hope to be saved ' so as by fire.' If I succeed, my work will bear its fruit, and the result will be ad majorem Dei gloriam." The conviction which inspires Mr. Lloyd's evangelical adventure the conviction, that is, that God has not left Himself without witness among the heathen is shared by many missionaries who, like him, have been led to it by their experience. Dr. Murray, for example, says, " I think most missionaries come to have a different conception of the meaning of the word ' heathen/ and of the possibility of God's grace extending more widely than they had previously supposed. At the same time, they come to have a truer conception of the helplessness of the world without Christ." Mr. Gulick testifies to " the growing feeling that God has been at work in the Orient long before Christian missionaries arrived, and that Christianity is but completing the work begun and carried on for millenniums." Finally, many say that their experience has led them to an appreciation of the supreme importance, as com- pared with everything else, of the great central truth of Christianity. " In brief," writes the Rev. J. L. Bearing, " if I find one who is ready to admit that he believes in Christ as the Son of God, and very God, and that he is resolved to change his life according to His teaching, I shall have but little trouble to get on with him." " I feel," says Mr. Haden, " more strongly than when I came to the mission field, the absolute supremacy of Christianity as a religion. Jesus Christ, and He alone, has seen and declared God, and supplies the most compelling motives to loving 120 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE obedience to Him. To believe Jesus is to believe God : to know Jesus is to know God : to be in harmony with Jesus is to be in harmony with God : and to be in harmony with God is to have eternal life." INFLUENCES LEADING TO CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY Are Western Forms a Hindrance? This question has been already considered under the heading of " The Attraction of the Gospel," so far as influences arising from Christianity itself are concerned. The answers given under this heading agree sub- stantially with all that is stated there. It is worth noting here, however, that the question as to what it was in Christianity which made special appeal and so led to conversion, and the question as to whether any Western element gave trouble, were found very perplexing in many cases. The Rev. C. H. Basil Woodd says, " I submitted this question to several of the Christian schoolmasters in my school men of tried Christian character. They all answered frankly that they were unable to writedown, or formulate, any answers. They did not understand what was meant by references to ' Western form, Western elements,' in the teaching of missionaries who teach from and with an open Bible in the hands of all." The Rev. Dr. Murray, who submitted these questions to a number of students, thinks " that the idea of Christianity per- plexing native converts by the Western forms is a good deal overdone by theorists." Mr. Pieters, who also obtained replies from several converts, writes still more strongly to the same effect. It is remarkable that some interpret " Western " in a good sense, and give as the most important instance the fact that Christian teaching is positive in contrast with Eastern thought, which is negative. " The most Western thing/' one writes, " is the observance of the Sabbath," and the statement finds an echo in several other replies. RELIGIONS OF JAPAN 121 On the whole the answers under this heading give the impression that in Japan, as elsewhere, Christianity is proving its universality. The great essentials of the faith rise above all the barriers of race and custom. It must be remembered, also, that the Japanese have been accustomed all along to a great variety in the expression of their religious life. The Rev. T. Takahashi, Pastor of Gifu Church, writes : " The so-called Western forms do not present themselves as Western forms. Whilst recognising that the Bible contains much that is similar in form to what is found here in the Far East, the fact that we have three religions with more or less different forms of expression prepares us to expect and accept what may be thought peculiar in the Christian religion." There is, however, another side to this question. Dr. Imbrie writes : " There are those who hold that the Christianity of Japan will be quite a different thing from that of the West. But, when it comes to definite- ness of statement, what is said amounts practically to this, that the Christianity of Japan will retain the ethical elements and dispense with the supernatural." " There is not much more probability that Christianity will run this course in Japan than that it will do so in the West. If it does, it will be chiefly because the Japanese mind is so very receptive of things Western." Again, there are others who refer to the Western elements with a view to distinguishing what is fundamental in Christianity from what belongs to Western systems of theology and Western Churches. These hold that " the Churches in Japan should not be bound by the Confessions of Faith of the Churches of the West, which are really elaborated systems of theology : if for no other reason, because they are not in harmony with each other and are symbols of division." CHAPTER V ISLAM THE VARIOUS TENDENCIES IN ISLAM ISLAM is unlike the other religions dealt with in that it is later in date than Christianity, and Mohammed, while honouring, claimed to hold a higher place than Christ. While this religion borrowed not a little both from Judaism and Christianity, it cannot be regarded as merely a corrupt form of the one or the other. In the lands of the Near East it has partly supplanted, and partly reduced to subjection, Christian Churches. Accordingly the Rev. W. H. T. Gairdner entitles his account of this religion Tlie Reproach of Islam. It is probably this circum- stance which accounts for the fact that Islam offers the most bitter opposition to, and provokes the most severe condemnation of, Christian missionaries. Islam challenges the claim of Buddhism as well as Christianity to be the universal religion ; it professes to have a creed for all mankind. It is missionary in its efforts ; and its spread is not altogether due to the sword which it is ready to wield on behalf of the faith. It stretches its sway from Turkey in Europe to Farther India, and from Central Asia to the West Coast of Africa. It is not altogether uniform in character through the whole extent of its influence. In India, Islam has not been able to maintain itself in its original form, but has been in many respects assimilated to Hinduism. When Islam has been imposed on uncivilised races as in Sumatra and Java, the older religion, Animism a belief in a multitude of spirits and a practice of magic has still 132 ISLAM 123 a decisive influence on the real piety of the common people. Apart from these local variations, however, Islam at an early period in its history suffered a schism, and assumed two types. The orthodox and traditional doctrine (Sunni) is professed by the greater part of the Moslem world ; but in Persia there is dominant the heretical doctrine (Shiah). The difference is partly political and partly theological. The Sunnis recognised the choice of the community as determining the succession to the founder's position of authority ; the Shiahs asserted the principle of heredity, and accordingly rejected the first four Caliphs, and insisted that Ali, Mohammed's son-in- law, was alone his rightful successor. Rejecting the Caliphs recognised by the rest of Islam as " Vicegerents of the apostle of God," they give their reverence only to Ali and his descendants, whom they entitle the " Twelve Imams." There is disagreement also as regards the authority of the Koran, the Sunnis being more legalist, and the Shiahs more liberal. The Shiahs admit the ideas of incarnation and atonement, which are quite foreign to orthodox Islam. The deaths of Hasan and Husain, the successors of Ali, are regarded as atoning ; and some of the Shiah sects have even developed theories of in- carnation ; one of these goes as far as to worship Ali as God. The twelfth of the Imams is believed to be still alive, and his appearance as the Imam Mahdi is expected. This belief assumes a peculiar form among the Babis. This Imam must have a door (bab) of communication with his people, and the founder of this sect, Mirza Ali Mohammed of Shiraz about 1843-44, claimed this function. He later advanced even a higher claim, that he was an incarnation of the Divine Reason. He was executed in 1850 ; but a similar claim was made by his successor, Baha Ullah (Splendour of God), and is accepted by his disciples, the Bahais. As this sect has great influence in Persia, it deserves closer study than it has as yet generally received. " Although Bahaism," says the Rev. William A. Shedd, Urumia, " makes its protest 124 in a more open way than some others, I do not think that it represents a profound dissent from the principles of Islam. Bahais defend the prophet and the Koran from objectors. . . . The motive of Bahaism is, I think, a desire to conform the law of Islam to modern conditions, and not to do away with legalism. It represents dis- satisfaction with the social teachings of Islam and not with its theological conceptions." " The Bahais," says the Rev. Walter A. Rice, Ispahan, " believe that their manifestations have superseded all previous manifesta- tions and revelations just in the same way as they suppose that Christianity superseded Judaism and was itself superseded by Islam ; it being admitted that each of these was the true religion and way of salvation for its own age." " Bahaism," says Dr. G. W. Holmes, " pre- sents a great many points of contact with Christianity, but it cannot be considered as in any sense a preparation for it, unless it serve, to some extent, as a solvent to Moslem bigotry and prejudice. On the contrary, Bahaism looks on Christianity as an intermediate stage in a universal religion, of which the revelation of Baha Ullah is the supreme fulfilment." " The Bahai accepts the Incarnation, but only as an incident in what he considers the more profound doctrine of reincarnation ; he accepts all that is taught in the Scriptures concerning the Son of God, but only that he may exploit Him in the greater glorification of Baha Ullah whom he identifies with Him, in his essence." (See further Appendix B, p. 288.) The most thoroughgoing mystics are the Sufis in Persia, who, while professing Islam, are really pantheists. They aim at union with God by absorption and loss of person- ality, and seek by forced interpretations of the Koran to secure its authority for their peculiar views. " The incoherent but most interesting mass of dissent usually called Sufiism," says the Rev. William A. Shedd, "is a protest against the exclusiveness of Islam, its literalism, its legalism, and the bare transcendence of its conception of God. It emphasises over against these the truth of all religions (one God manifesting himself ISLAM 125 in many ways), the mystical interpretation of sacred books, the spiritualising of the law, and even its practical abrogation for those who reach a certain height of spiritual culture, and the divine indwelling in the prophets, in the Imams, and even in lesser leaders." Within orthodox Islam itself the mystical tendency is represented by the dervish (dervish, poor) orders, who correspond to the begging friars of the Middle Ages. By peculiar practices, such as "howling," " whistling," "dancing," they seek a more intimate knowledge of, and at last absorption in, God. The repetition of the name of God is held to be of special efficacy. These religious exercises are called the Zikrs. " In Egypt, the very heart of orthodox Islam," says Mr. Swan, Cairo, "it is almost impossible to find a house from whence you will not hear very frequently the sound of the Zikr. This is true of town and country." He adds that " nearly every Mohammedan belongs to one or other of the dervish sects, and it is only a very small proportion of the Ulama (men learned in Moham- medan law) who consider the Zikr to be Bid' a (schism). " Each dervish is under the guidance of a spiritual director " (marshid). Mention must be also made of the Wahabis, a reforming Sunni sect, who reject saint-worship, seek to restore Islam to its earliest form, but assert the right of private judgment in regard to the Koran and tradition. One of their peculiarities is the recitation of the ninety-nine " Excellent Names " without a rosary. In Albania a large part of the Mohammedan popula- tion belongs to the sect called the Becktashis, whose creed is secret, and who have little outward form of worship. An interesting instance of a fusion of Mohammedanism with Christianity is afforded by the Kuzzel-bash Kurds. " The Government claims them as a Moslem sect," says the Rev. Herman N. Barnum, Harpoot ; " but they are not Moslems. They profess to be followers of Ali, son-in-law of Mohammed, but they differ radically from the Shiahs of Persia, the real followers of Ali. Although 126 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE they have circumcision, they render only a nominal allegiance to the Koran, while they reject the five daily prayers with their ablutions, the Fast of the month of Ramadan, etc. They pray extemporaneously, according to circumstances. Some of them say that they accepted the name of Ali as their leader to deceive their conquerors into the belief that they were Moslems of the Shiah faith, that they were originally Christians, and that they really worshipped Christ under the name of Ali. There are the remains of churches and monasteries among them, and some of their villages still bear Christian names." The religion of the Druses in Syria is a blend of the doctrines of the Pentateuch, the Christian Gospel, the Koran, and Sufi allegories. From this survey it is apparent that general state- ments about Islam must be always accepted as subject to modifications in particular cases. Islam embraces so many races that racial tendencies have asserted them- selves, introducing variety into the unity of its confession of Allah as the only God and Mohammed as his prophet. THE VALUE OF ISLAM AS A RELIGION What is traditional and formal in the doctrines and forms of religious observances in Islam cannot be dis- tinguished, still less separated from what is taken in earnest and genuinely prized as a religious help and con- solation. For it is in meeting the outward requirements of the religion that God is generally sought. There can be no question, that the ceremony is regarded as an opus operatum, and as meritorious, irrespective of the moral quality of the believer. Religion and morality belong to different realms. If the prescribed practices do not impart much comfort, yet they do bring self- satisfaction, so widespread is the consciousness of possessing in Islam the best religion. " Prayer, fasting, pilgrimage to Mecca," says Miss Anna M. L. Smith, Bangalore, " were often performed by women as well as ISLAM 127 men with real earnestness, as duties well-pleasing to God, and with satisfaction to themselves, but I do not remember meeting with any who appeared to find much consolation in such acts. On the other hand, I have seen such genuine resignation to the will of God, and patience in suffering among some of the poorest when circumstances made the performance of ' religious duties ' impossible that I felt God had revealed to them something of His love, not through any words of the Koran, or through doctrines of Islam, but through His Spirit." Of the Egyptian peasant the Rev. W. H. T. Gairdner, Cairo, holds that, " the real belief in a God above him gives him a definite view of life, a settled view which carries its own peace with it. Whether in a way that is fatalistic, or one that approaches to Christian resignation, that belief in an Almighty God, in whose favour he is, makes him not anxious with regard to the morrow and his daily bread ; resigned under affliction ; apparently confident as to the eternal future. Further, in the case of a good-hearted Moslem, this belief gives him a sympathy with, and a preference for, virtue, as far as he sees it, and conceives it." Genuine consolation is derived by some Moslems from the thought of God's presence, His providential care, His justice and the compensation hereafter for wrongs suffered or trials endured, His wisdom as softening their fatalism. The belief that as " God is merciful," He will readily forgive is a " consolation," but it " can hardly be called a help to a religious life, for an appeal for pardon, even with the dying breath, is sufficient to secure it " (the Rev. Herman N. Barnum). " A genuine source of help," says the Rev. William A. Shedd, " is that faith in Mohammed as the last of the great prophets and the mediator of the present dispensa- tion. The picture of Mohammed and the conception of his character and life are largely legendary and vague, but the faith in him has a wonderful vitality." This may be regarded as an instance of the need felt of a human mediator with God. To the same spiritual longings is probably due " the faith in religious leaders who possess 128 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE a personal authority not dependent on the proofs adduced for their teachings nor resulting from any religious organisation, but ultimately resting on a supposed close relation to the divine nature and power." In Islam the belief in saints is widespread, and has a potent influence on the religious life. " The prayers of many a Moslem (in Egypt at least)," says the Rev. W. H. T. Gairdner, " to our lady Zainab, or some other great local saint, are made with more unction, more real personal uplift, than any invocation of Allah." It is in mysticism that the religious life of many Moslems finds its highest expression. Not only does Sufiism in Persia seek union with God by absorption in God, but even in Egypt among the dervish sects this is the aim. ' ' Though the orthodox Moslem, like the Pharisee of old, whom he resembles very closely," says Mr. Swan, Cairo, " finds very considerable satisfaction in the punctilious performance of the requirements of Islam, and also infinite consolation in his fatalistic belief in the sovereignty of God, yet I think the mass of the people turn to the Zikr (i.e. the mystic practices of the invoca- tion of God) in their attempt to meet the higher needs of their religious natures." Among the Shiahs " another belief of very strong power is the faith in the saving virtue of sufferings, especially the sufferings of the Imams " (the Rev. W. A. Shedd). " The point which speci- ally appeals to the hearts of Shiahs," says the Rev. W. A. Rice, " is the sufferings of the house of Ali, especially Husain and his family. The latter particularly is an affecting story, and the yearly recitals of it, the miracle- plays in which the tragic scenes are re-enacted, keep alive the devotion to Husain and the keen memory of his sufferings and supposed wrongs. If the missionary speaks of the Christian religion as presenting a Saviour, the Shiah will not unlikely reply, ' We too have a Saviour, namely, Husain, who suffered for his peopie.' ' From these statements it will be evident that while multitudes in Islam seem to be content with its creed, code, and ritual, yet there are many who seek a satis- ISLAM 129 faction which it cannot give in beliefs and practices that from the standpoint of Moslem orthodoxy must be re- garded as heretical. The beliefs in incarnation and atonement, the mediation of saints, and the mystic absorption in God are not native to the religion of Mohammed, but they are congenial to the souls of many Moslems. They seem to afford a comfort and a help which the deistic theology, the legalistic piety, and the eudaemonistic morality of the orthodox faith do not offer. It must be added, however, that it is exceedingly difficult for a missionary to discover with certainty how much or how little their own religion may mean to them when he is seeking to convert them to another faith. Suspicion and distrust will seal their lips as long as they are antagonistic ; and as soon as they have begun to assume a more friendly attitude, more receptive and responsive to the new faith, their standpoint has already so far changed that it is practically impossible for them with absolute accuracy to analyse their own spiritual condition prior to such a change. DISSATISFACTION WITH ISLAM AS A RELIGION While a deeper satisfaction of the religious need is sought in these ways, yet probably Moslems begin to feel any offence in their religion only when they come into contact with Christian missionaries. Those who feel dissatisfaction with their own faith are composed " of two very distinct and opposed classes," says the Rev. G. F. Herrick, Constantinople. " First, there are many Turks who have lost all faith in Islam, but who have no leaning whatever to Christianity as a religion. Western civilisation, the material progress of Europe, has strongly attracted them. They are materialists or agnostics. There is another and much smaller class of Turks, and Moslem Albanians, who are dissatisfied with Islam and with Mohammed, and who see in the Gospel and in Christ what promises to satisfy their soul hunger. These men keenly feel the contrast between the life and later pro- COM. iv. 9 130 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE fessed revelations of Mohammed, and the life and teaching of Christ. But an Oriental has grown up with the con- viction of the duty of concealing his deepest convictions from too prying eyes, and these men, widely scattered, are known to but a very narrow circle of friends." The last sentence of this quotation indicates the difficulty of discovering the extent of, and the reasons for, the dis- content with their own religion among Moslems. With this caution, we may try to indicate the general tenor of the reports of missionaries on this matter. " Many Moslems are dissatisfied with Mohammed as an ideal of character. They are perplexed with the inconsistencies of his life and teaching " (the Rev. S. M. Zwemer, Arabia). His relations to women especially present a moral difficulty. That Islam fails to exert any patent moral influence over those who profess it is frequently acknowledged. " Almost all Moslems in declaring the perfection of their code," says the Rev. Herman N. Barnum, Harpoot, " also declare that in practice it is almost invariably disregarded, and they speak of this as one of the signs of the approach of the end of the world. They sometimes say to the missionaries, ' You are better Moslems than we, for you practise what you preach, but we do not practise.' " A comparison of the moral code of Islam with that of Christianity increases the dissatisfaction. The moral scandals of Islam polygamy, facility of divorce, and slavery are keenly felt by some. In Sumatra, divorce was scarcely possible when heathenism was the religion ; the divorce of a daughter under the Mohammedan law excites the indignation and the disgust of her parents. Here, too, the attempt to break up tribal custom, and to substitute for it the Moslem law, provokes grief and anger. " Some fair-minded Moslems have complained to me," says the Rev. H. H. Jessup, " of the heavy yoke and the utterly unsatisfying burden of the pilgrimage to Mecca, declaring that Mecca is the most immoral city in the world, and that they came away, feeling that they ISLAM 131 had gained no good whatever." How widely spread is this feeling of moral revolt, it seems impossible to say, but it may be expected that as the Christian ideal comes to be more fully known, and as Christ Himself is more clearly presented to the Moslem world, there will be a growing awakening of its conscience. But an awakened conscience very soon seeks for atoning grace. " The chief point on which such enquiring minds find these old faiths empty and unsatisfying, is that it provides no way of redemption from the power and penalty of sin. Kamil, a young Moslem convert, declared that the atoning work of Christ was the first ray of light he had received, and he embraced Christ as his Saviour with all his heart. He felt that he was a sinner, and needed a Saviour, and he spent his brief life in preaching to Moslems the unsearchable riches of Christ " (the Rev. H. H. Jessup, Beirut). The Shiah belief in incarnation and atonement already mentioned, though heretical, shows that orthodox Islam does not provide adequately for this deep human need. A brief yet full statement of the reasons for dissatisfaction with Islam is given by the Rev. W. St. Clair Tisdall, Ispahan. " Those who come to us as enquirers do so because they are conscious of a want which Islam does not satisfy. It does not satisfy the heart. They soon find also that it has no evidences worthy of the name. They say too that it does not give them peace or happiness at the prospect of death. Of course, it does not encourage purity of heart or life. When Moslems get to know what sort of a man Mohammed really was, they not unfrequently find it impossible to believe in his claims. Moreover, though belief in the unity of God is so simple and so completely in accordance with reason, yet thoughtful men find it impossible to rest in a tenet which leads to panthe- ism, if it is not developed in the direction of Christianity. The history of Sufiism, Bahaism, etc., shows this. Such men find that a legalistic religion does not even satisfy the intellect." Many Moslems are being impressed by the fact that 132 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE Christianity and civilisation go together. Rev. P. B. Kennedy, Albania, quotes the saying of a Moslem, " Wherever Christianity goes, there goes civilisation, but there is darkness where Mohammedanism prevails." The educational work of the missions in Moslem lands is exercising a deep and wide influence, for the care for the culture of the people thus shown is in such marked contrast to the ignorance and indifference of their own teachers. The political humiliation of the Mohammedan powers, and the political superiority of the Christian nations severely test faith, as the kingdom Mohammed is held to have promised his followers is distinctly one of this world. History seems to be offering a contra- diction to the pretensions of Islam. This dissatisfaction with Islam does not mean, however, a readiness to embrace Christianity. The effort is being made to purify Islam so that it may enter on its contest with Christianity with greater hope of success. Self- criticism is being chosen as the way to self -recovery. " Like all the other well- organised religions of the world," says Mr. Swan, Cairo, " Islam is at the present very busy seeking to purify itself in the light of Christianity. ... In the local Arabic Mohammedan press, articles are directed against divorce, the Mohammedan religious law, Moham- med's right to be a lawgiver, Zikrs, saint- worship, etc. Many of these things that are being said by Mohammedan writers in conservative Mohammedan papers, are so strong that if we had dared to say them, we would probably have brought ourselves into conflict with the Government." We may expect a neo-Islam, as there is a nee-Hinduism. The awakening of the national consciousness in Moslem lands, and the beginnings of constitutional government in Turkey and Persia, may probably prove a hindrance to Christian missions. This neo-Islam will appeal to patriotic feeling, and the removal of those features in the piety and morality of Islam that are now an offence may give it in this altered form a new lease of life. Even when the old religion in any form is altogether abandoned, among the educated classes many are likely to turn to ISLAM 133 materialism and agnosticism rather than to Christianity, unless the Christian faith can make an effective appeal to the freshly stirred thought and the newly awakened life. HINDRANCES IN THE WAY OF CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY In spite of this dissatisfaction with Islam, which is likely to grow with the advance of education, civilisation, and political liberty in Moslem lands, there are many and serious moral, intellectual, and social hindrances in the way of a full acceptance of Christianity. Moral Hindrances As regards the moral hindrances we must in fairness distinguish between moral defects which are due to " the natural corruption of the human heart " and those which can be directly traced to the doctrines or practices presented in the Koran and by tradition. As regards the first class of moral offences we must not hold Islam itself directly responsible for them, but we are, nevertheless, entitled to ask the question whether the religion offers to the Moslem believer such restraints on sin, or such constraints to virtue, as will effectively counteract his natural sinful tendencies. It has already been mentioned that there is widespread in Islam a divorce between morality and religion. A man may be devout and yet vicious. He may perform the ceremonial requirements of the religion, and be satisfied with himself, and yet feel no impulse to pure and holy living. Some of the beliefs of Islam may be regarded as likely to produce such an effect. Most Mohammedans as well as the pagans in Northern Nigeria are described as showing " a total lack of appreciation of the nature of sin, of a moral law of itself holy, not a mere arbitrary ' thou shalt ' and ' thou shalt not.' It is not merely that they love sin and sinful pleasures, but that the intrinsic hatefulness of all sin, its opposition to righteousness, does not appeal to 134 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE them. ' I have broken a rule, I shall be punished,' says he ; but, ' My Father's heart is grieved,' ' I have lost His fellowship,' ' I have fallen,' ' my character is unsatisfactory,' is never his thought" (Mr. T. E. Alvarez and Dr. W. R. Miller). A legalist religion does not promote the higher morality. The thought of God lacks moral influence, for His will is conceived as an arbitrary will, decreeing not necessarily what is inherently right, but whatever He pleases. The mercy of God even may encourage moral laxity, as no moral condition of penitence is connected with His pardon. The fatalism of the religion also hinders a sense of moral responsibility, for God is the source even of the evil. The moral ex- ample of Mohammed is no inspiration to holiness. " The Mohammedans believe that a wrong done to a Moham- medan is a sin, but that when a wrong is done to an unbeliever it is not a sin" (Rev. P. B. Kennedy). Many moral evils result from the polygamy, concubinage, and laxity of divorce which the Moslem law sanctions. The low position of woman, as determined by the law, must also be reckoned a moral hindrance. There are two evils which prevail among the nominal Christians with whom Moslems come into contact, drinking and prostitution, to which they are specially fond of pointing as proof of the moral inferiority of Christianity. They ignore the patent fact that the Christian religion itself in no way sanctions these evils, and that it is only those who are Christians but in name who indulge in these sins. Intellectual Hindrances On the borderland between the moral and intellectual hindrances is the Moslem's pride in his own religion, in the Arabian language as the language of heaven. As one of the intellectual hindrances, may be regarded his belief in the infallibility of the Koran, which is not only placed above the Gospel, but in comparison with which even the Gospel does not count. Some of the arguments used to prove the superiority of the Koran to the Gospel may ISLAM 135 be mentioned. The Koran is the pure word of God ; the Gospel contains history as well. In comparison with the Koran the New Testament is poor in myths and legends. The Koran is more distinctly a law than the Gospel. The Bible is placed on the same level as the Hadith or tradition, those later writings which are not actually to be regarded as holy books. The Bible, though it came from Heaven in its original form, is now corrupted. Proofs of such corruption are these : Noah, a prophet according to the Old Testament, sinned ; so did Lot ; wine is allowed ; worst of all the prophecies about Mohammed have been left out. With such argument it is difficult to deal, as there is no historic sense to which appeal can be made. Three of the doctrines of the Christian faith cause difficulty to the Moslem mind. The fundamental tenet of Islam is the unity of God, and the doctrine of the Trinity appears to him to teach tritheism, to be a relapse into the polytheism from which the prophet rescued his followers. Accordingly some of the missionaries desire very cordially a careful re-statement of the doctrine of the Trinity, so as to throw into prominence the unity of the Godhead, and thus to meet this reproach. It is urged also that a metaphysical construction of the Trinity which does not show the vital relation of the doctrine to the religious life will not be effective to overcome the rooted aversion of the Moslem to any teaching which even appears to come in conflict with the fundamental article of his creed, the unity of God. " The first point then to be seized is this, that contact with Unitarian, deistic Islam forces the Christian Church to work out again her theology experientially. And so the ' Moham- medan question ' may possibly be as life from the dead to the Christian Church itself. . . . Christians who preach the Trinity must know the secret of the Trinitarian life, else they in turn will be as futile as those have been who claimed to embody ' orthodoxy ' itself. . . . Islam then forces us to find the Trinity in our heart ; and it forces us to find the Trinity in the heart of God " (Rev. W. H. T. 136 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE Gairdner in Pan-Anglican Papers, S.D. 4 h. pp. 1-3). The divine sonship of Jesus is also a difficulty, as the Moslem cannot conceive the Incarnation unless carnally, and his doctrine of God absolutely excludes the recognition of any such relationship. The Koran repeatedly con- demns the blasphemy that God can have any issue. " The history of the Crucifixion too is a great stumbling- block. Men cannot understand how, if Christ were God, He could die, and cannot get over His cry, ' My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ? ' In the opinions of most Moslems death and corruption are synonymous terms, or the same thing ; therefore, to quote the Scripture, ' Thou shalt not surfer thine Holy One to see corruption ' is practically to say that Jesus Christ did not die " (Rev. J. C. Young, Aden). The Moslem doctrine of God makes the Cross an offence. " The dominance of the idea of power in these thoughts of God leading to the exclusion of the idea of love and sacrifice " makes " the apparent weakness of self-sacrifice such a stumbling-block " (Rev. Canon Dale, Zanzibar). The doctrine of the Cross is rejected because it seems " to imply impotence to inter- vene on the part of God." It may be admitted that the objectors to Christian doctrine are some tunes sophistical, but there can be little doubt that for minds trained in Moslem theology these Christian doctrines present real difficulty. These difficulties involve so vital an issue for Christian theology itself, thatthewriter of this abstract, who formany years has been engaged with the problems of Christian theology, may be excused if he ventures to add his own reflections. Apart altogether from the difficulty which the doctrine of the Trinity presents to the Moslem mind, it seems to him supremely necessary that the unity of the Godhead should be emphasised, and the tendency towards tritheism in popular Christian speech, due to the use of the word " person " in an altogether different sense from that intended by the framers of the ecumenical creeds, should be as far as possible checked. This can be done by giving the doctrine a historical basis, a religious ISLAM 137 content, an experimental verification. Closely con- nected with this difficulty is that presented by the divine sonship of Jesus. That the term is not intended to express physical generation, but personal relation of dependence, affection, and submission of Christ to God must be insisted on. Probably it is desirable that the metaphysical relation should more frequently be described in the term of the Fourth Gospel, the Word of God, and the term Son should receive its content from the historical life. The doctrine of the Cross must be more fully and clearly presented in its moral significance. The glory of Christ's moral triumph in His self-sacrifice may be asserted against the prejudice that the Cross is a sign of weakness. The moral laxity encouraged by the belief in God's mercy in Islam may be corrected by emphasising the truth that the Cross shows God's judgment on, even in His forgive- ness of, sin. Social Hindrances The outstanding social hindrance is the manifold per- secution to which Christians are exposed in Mohammedan lands. The political changes in Turkey and Persia will, it is. to be hoped, remove this difficulty and result in religious liberty. But even in Moslem lands under Christian government converts have much to suffer from relations and neighbours. When the native chiefs, as in Sumatra, are Moslems, they can inflict very great hard- ships on converts. A sect which gives a place of honour to Mohammed, and so outwardly conforms to Islam, may be tolerated, but not conversion to Christianity. In India the social isolation of the Christian missionary from his converts places Christianity at a disadvantage as compared with Hinduism, which has closer social relations with Islam. THE ATTITUDE OF THE MISSIONARY TO ISLAM Islam does not meet the soul's deepest needs ; there are signs of discontent ; but the hindrances to the 138 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE removal of this discontent and to the satisfaction of these needs are great. How important then is it that the missionary should approach those to whom he desires to discover the treasure they seek in the attitude which will best commend his message to them ! A condition of avoiding the worst and adopting the best way of approach is this, that the missionary to Islam should get a thorough knowledge not only of the Koran and the traditions that are common to Islam, but also of the land and the people among whom his lot is cast, so that to the Arabs he may be an Arab, or to the Persians a Persian. The first he can and should acquire even before he leaves home, the second only by actual contact with those for whose conversion he labours. Where, as in Sumatra, the Mohammedan movement is recent, a knowledge of the paganism which has been supplanted is desirable. The missionary has to learn that there is a great difference between Islam as it is described in the books he studies, and Islam as it dwells in, and rules over, the soul of the Mohammedan. " The Christian teacher," says the Rev. S. M. Zwemer, Bahrein, Arabia, " should first of all thoroughly know the religion of the people among whom he labours. I think ignorance of the Koran, the traditions, the life of Mohammed and the social beliefs and prejudices of the Mohammedans which are the result of their religion, is the chief difficulty in work for Moslems. It is absolutely necessary for any one who preaches the Gospel to the Mohammedans to receive special training. It is impossible to use the same sermon or same manner of personal dealing with Hindus and Moslems. This is true in a special sense of Islam, as it is of the Jews, because the Mohammedan religion protests against the Christian faith and is in that sense anti- Christian. Hinduism, Confucianism, and Buddhism have nothing to say in regard to Jesus Christ. They leave Him out. Islam denies His incarnation, His atonement, His death on the Cross and His deity." The Christian mission- ary to Islam must not only commend, but also defend his Gospel. The practical difficulty of securing such a ISLAM 139 competent knowledge is pointed out, and a practicable remedy is suggested by Mr. Swan, Cairo. " Islam is such a vasty deep to fathom, that the poor missionary who must of necessity plunge into the depths of Arabic study in his first years on the field can scarcely be expected to gain anything but a mere rudimentary knowledge of the religion. It would appear to me that the best remedy for this would be preparation of the missionary at home, preparatory to his coming out, and perhaps some courses which he could attend during his furloughs. There seems to be no reason why the Societies should not combine in providing these courses of study." This knowledge must be accompanied by, and have its motive in, sympathy. " Next to a thorough knowledge of Islam," says the Rev. S. M. Zwemer, " the missionary should cultivate sympathy to the highest degree, and an appreciation of all the great fundamental truths which we hold in connection with Mohammedans. He should show the superiority of Christianity both in doctrine and in life by admitting the excellencies of doctrine and life in Mohammedanism, but showing how Christianity surpasses them. While the missionary should be careful not to offend needlessly, compromise will not win the respect of Moslems. A loving and yet bold presentation of the distinctive truths of our religion has never in my experience done harm." A fuller and most suggestive analysis of what this sympathetic attitude involves is given by the Rev. W. A. Shedd, Urmia. " A sym- pathetic attitude in religious matters implies first of all a readiness to learn from others truth which we have not apprehended ; and I fully believe that in our contact with Orientals we can find something to learn. It implies also a readiness to put the best construction possible in honesty and truth upon the practices and doctrines of the non-Christian religions. While all this is to be said as to the Christian attitude, it is also true that the preacher has a purpose, and that is to preach a Gospel, deliver something new and true. In order to do this he will need to know the points of agreement in order to 140 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE find as broad a basis for discussion as possible ; but his real aim will be rather to find points of divergence. This purpose is not destructive but constructive. So far as^the old faiths are true, they should of course be con- firmed ; so far as they are defective, the erroneous should be removed." Dr. Shedd also emphasises the importance of dealing not with the abstract Islam of the books but with the concrete Moslem, conditioned as he is by his race, sect, environment, individuality. One writer maintains that sympathy means " treating other religions as less perfect revelations," and supports this view by quoting the words of Max Miiller : " Other religions are languages in which God has spoken to man and man to God." But most of the missionaries desire to emphasise more strongly the uniqueness of Christianity. One insists that the missionary should see in Christianity the only truth, beside which all non-Christian religions are only falsehoods. Even when this conviction is held as regards Islam it has to be admitted that it has taken over several truths of Christianity, even if in a defective form (Herr Simon, Sumatra). Islam presents a difficulty offered by no other religion. It cannot be regarded as anticipation, however defective, of the Christian Gospel, a promise to which Christ gives fulfilment. It is not only later in point of time, but it has also borrowed from Christianity as well as from Judaism, degrading what it has borrowed, and it claims the right in virtue of its superiority to supersede and supplant Christianity. Probably the form of Christianity with which alone Mohammed was familiar was itself so degraded that we must not regard his distortions of Christian truth as wilful, nor must we assume that had Islam at its beginning known Christ as we do now it would deliberately have rejected Him. Yet there are indications that some of the missionaries to Islam find it difficult to overcome the sense of antagonism which this hostile relation to Christianity provokes. This difficulty is vigorously expressed by Mr. Gairdner. " It cannot be treated like any other (religion) ; it baffles more than any ISLAM 141 other, for it is more difficult to concede to it what is gladly conceded to other religions that appeared before Christ, that they in some part prepared and prepare the way for Him. How can that which denies the whole essential and particular content of the message be said to prepare for Him, or to be a half-way house to His kingdom ? For that is what Islam does. Other religions know nothing of Christianity ; one and all they came before it and speak of it neither good nor evil. But the whole theory of Islam is that it, the latest sent of all religions, does not so much abrogate Christianity with its Book, as specifically and categorically deny both as wilful corruption and lies " (The Reproach of Islam, pp. 311, 312). But, if the Hegelian terminology be excused, we may say that just because Islam is the antithesis to the thesis of Christianity, a synthesis is possible not by a com- promise between Islam and Christianity, but by bringing to clear expression the many common features which still remain ; and by showing how these common features are found in a truer form in Christianity than in Islam. "Admit the truths which we hold in common with them," says the Rev. H. H. Jessup, Beirut, " and then show wherein then: system is deficient. Moslems agree with us in holding to the existence of God, His works of creation and providence ; an abhorrence of idolatry ; the inspiration of the Scriptures ; the exalted and sinless character of Christ, and the certainty of a day of judgment. What we need to insist upon is that man is a sinner and under condemnation, and needs a Saviour. When a Moslem feels this his intellectual difficulties generally vanish." Thus, while the common features are recognised, the Moslem will not be simply confirmed in his faith, but convinced that Christianity can offer him something Islam has not. In the conduct of a discussion it is urged by several experienced missionaries, although the opinion is by no means held by all, that the errors of Islam should not at first be attacked, but by courtesy and consideration con- fidence should be secured, and that only when friendly 142 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE relations have been established can there be a profitable controversy on points of difference. In this love and patience are essential, as often the Mohammedan dis- putant is not really an enquirer after truth, but, con- vinced of the truth of his own religion, is only desiring a dialectic victory. The missionary must be on his guard, and not allow the discussion to degenerate into a war of words. There are marked differences of opinion among experienced missionaries as to the arguments to be employed, and it is impossible to offer any wide generalisation. Kindly sympathy, candour, courtesy, and prudence ; these seem to be the qualities specially required for discussion with Moslems. THE POINTS OF CONTACT BETWEEN CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM Owing to the historical dependence on Christianity of Islam, the points of contact, to which reference has already been made, are not nearly so significant as they would be in a religion which had no historical connection with Christianity ; for in that case any resemblance would show that in the religious thought and life of mankind there is an underlying unity at least of need and tendency. The common elements have not remained unchanged; there has been a transformation, one is entitled to say for the most part a deformation, in Islam. So marked are these differences that the points of contact are in many cases a hindrance to, rather than a preparation for, the acceptance of Christianity. While the unity of God is affirmed as a fundamental article of the creed, the character of Allah is so different from that of the God and Father of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ that one might doubt whether the God of Islam and the God of Christianity were the same. The conception of God is base, unholy, and to the Christian unutterably repugnant. " God is a magnified Setebos, an Eastern monarch glorified, stern, arbitrary, hating and loving together, choosing and damning, the creature ISLAM 143 of caprice, marked by no holy love or justice. We have therefore to break down all ideas of God ingrained in Moslems, and this is the hardest task we have " (Mr. T. E. Alvarez and Dr. W. R. Miller, Nigeria). God is the Creator of evil as well as good in man. In Sumatra it is believed that God helps the magician (the possessor of supposed divine power) in his criminal attacks. While the orthodox conception of God in Islam tends to Deism, to an undue emphasis of divine transcendence, the divine immanence is recognised in Persian Moslem thought with even a tendency towards pantheism. This is the common opinion at least ; but Dr. Shedd expresses a doubt. "It is my impression that Persian Moham- medans have more faith than other Mohammedans in the divine immanence as well as in the divine tran- scendence. And yet, although pantheistic quotations can be made from the poets and pantheistic sentiments are heard, I do not think that the tendency is pantheistic." Closely related to the recognition of divine immanence is the belief among the Shiahs in incarnation. " The attempt to supply the idea of incarnation ... is made in various ways, by the doctrine of the Imamat and by the veneration paid to sheikhs, pirs, and other religious leaders. It is found in the teaching of the Bahais as to their leader Baha Ullah. In a modified and inchoate form it seems to be almost the cardinal doctrine of the religion of the Kurds in their veneration of their religious sheikhs. With many the Christian doctrine of the Incarnation is a stumbling-block mainly because it de- clares our Lord to be uniquely divine and postulates one Incarnation alone ; or perhaps I should say one mani- festation rather than Incarnation, for similarity of language here conceals a wide difference in conception " (the Rev. W. A. Shedd). A high place is accorded to Jesus in Islam, even although he is assigned a position lower than that of Mohammed. " Many of the truths in reference to the Lord Jesus Christ acknowledged by Mohammedans, may be profitably used to make the point clear that, even on their own 144 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE (unconscious) showing, Jesus possessed characteristics which entitle us to consider Him greater than any other prophet, and so prepare the way for the acceptance of His divinity, (i) His birth and coming foretold. (2) His miraculous birth without a human father. (3) His title in the Koran, ' A Word from Him ' (God). (4) His unique relation to the Holy Spirit. (In the Koran it is said three times that Jesus was strengthened by the Holy Spirit, i.e. Gabriel : in the Gospel that He descended on Him) ; (5) His miracles ; (6) His power of foretelling future events ; (7) Resurrection ; (8) Ascension (most Mohammedans say that Jesus was not crucified and did not die; others say that He died for a short time and was then raised by Gabriel to the fourth Heaven) ; (9) Second Coming, as one of the signs of the end of the world to destroy Antichrist, etc." (Rev. W. A. Rice, Ispahan). Additional points are : " (10) Jesus' birth from the chosen and purified Mary ; (n) Jesus' freedom from the defiling touch of Satan at His birth, to which all other children are subject ; (12) His title in the Koran, ' a Spirit from Him' (God)." The value of this common recognition of Christ must, however, not be overestimated, as He is always subordinated to Mohammed, Allah's prophet. Islam has the conception of Revelation, but this is so unlike the Christian conception, at least as determined by modern scholarship, that the Christian missionary has as much, if not more, to correct than to confirm. " The Moslem belief," says the Rev. W. A. Shedd, " has no place for progression or culmination, or for the human element in the process in any vital sense in revelation. The essence of revelation in the Moslem view is not self-revelation on the part of God, nor is it redemption of the human race by God, but it is the giving of a law. The essence is thus profound, but nevertheless the belief in the fact of revelation through special organs and to a less extent the ideas of authority are valuable. The acceptance of the Old Testament prophets, the peculiar honour paid to Our Lord, and the acceptance of the Sacred Books of the Jews and Christians are very ISLAM 145 important preparatory elements, in spite of many quali- fications and denials. ' ' The great difficulty in commending the Bible to Moslems is that they regard the Koran as the last and perfect revelation, hold a mechanical theory of verbal inspiration, and maintain that whatever in the Scriptures contradicts the Koran must be a falsification of the original text. " On the side of morality, sin, and human nature," says the Rev. W. A. Shedd, " Islam is not only deficient, but contains much that is positively harmful. While there is an echo of the Old Testament teaching that man was created in the image of God, and hence a glimpse of the nobility of human nature, the force of the conception is lost and clouded in false psychology. Shiah Islam, too, asserts the reality of choice in the human will, and hence gives another fundamental element of value. The proper idea of morals is obscured by the basing of authority in the arbitrary will of God and not in His nature, and the idea of a moral standard or ethical ideal is lost in the idea of law, i.e. definite and arbitrary commands that are the norm of right and wrong and the essence of revelation. On the other hand, valuable elements are the emphasis on the cardinal virtues, the direct accountability of man to God for his deeds, and the noble equality of all men in the sight of God." As objectively the law of Islam lacks any regulative principle such as the law of love in the Old Testament, so subject- ively there is no clear representation of righteousness of character, for a man is held righteous when he has more or less kept a number of single commands. As there is no deep sense of sin, so there is no earnest desire for atonement. Orthodox Islam does not know any sacrifice unto the forgiveness of sins. But the heretical Shiah doctrine does. Here " the hope of salvation," says the Rev. W. A. Shedd, " is not in free forgiveness or in the works of the law but in the expiatory sufferings of the Imams and in the intercession of the saints." That the resemblance is not so clear as it appears, and that therefore the belief is not a help but a hindrance to COM. iv. 10 146 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE Christian faith, is the conclusion of the Rev. W. A. Rice. " The idea of Husain's voluntary death was not that of propitiation for sin, but of self-sacrifice for his people, as he himself said when setting out on his last fatal journey, ' How can I forget thy (Mohammed's) people, since I am going to offer myself for their sakes.' . . . But I cannot regard these things as a valuable preparation for Christianity. They make the idea familiar, they testify to the heart's needs ; but inasmuch as they also claim to satisfy them in certain ways, which are national, popular, Oriental, and easy for them to assimilate, I doubt whether they make the believers in them any more willing to substitute our teaching for their own." While orthodox Islam shares with Christianity the belief in human immortality, and has a very definite doctrine of heaven and hell, there are some exceptions among Moslems. Many of the Sufis in Persia are said to be pantheists, and expect the extinction of the per- sonality and the absorption of the soul of man in God ; but on this point there is conflict of testimony. The Rev. W. A. Shedd states : " I have met no Persians who seemed to me to have lost in pantheism practical belief either in personal immortality or in a personal God." In Turkey some who have gained 'a smattering of European education regard agnostic ideas ' about a personal God and personal immortality as signs of superior intelligence (The Rev. H. W. Barnum). From the assertion that women have no souls in some circles is deduced the conclusion that there is for them no personal immortality, and this is advanced as an excuse for greater sexual laxity. The sensuousness of the conception of heaven and hell lessens and lowers the value of the belief in immortality. Only one missionary states that this belief acts as a moral restraint. There is in Islam generally a great indiffer- ence as regards the future life, as the dominant fatalism leaves all in God's hands. Some of the missionaries find one of the nearest points of contact in the Moslem's " hatred to all forms of idolatry and even its semblance," and draw the practical conclusion ISLAM 147 that " Protestant missions are far more likely to be effective than Catholic." On the general question, whether Islam can be regarded as a preparation for Christianity, Herr Simon of Sumatra probably expresses the more general opinion in the words, " Islam is not a preparation for Christianity, and it is easier to build on a strange soil than first of all to tear down old buildings, which are so firmly set together that they offer an unsurmountable obstacle to demolition." The Rev. G. F. Herrick, Constantinople, expresses his own view, in which he is not quite alone, to an alto- gether opposite effect. "It is my own firm conviction that, when Christian life, as Moslems see it, is pure and unstained, the sound and permanent conversion of Moslems to Christianity will be found more rapid and of greater fruitfulness than that of heathen peoples. This is not, I think, the common opinion or expectation." THE ATTRACTION OR REPULSION OF THE GOSPEL FOR ISLAM As might be inferred from the statement of the agree- ments and differences of Christianity and Islam, Chris- tianity both attracts and repels Islam ; and it is of primary importance for us to discover which elements in the Christian Gospel and the Christian life possess the greatest power of appeal and which have awakened the greatest opposition. It is the unanimous opinion of missionaries that the greatest attraction of Christianity is Christ Himself, and that all the features of His life, teaching, and work, in greater or lesser degree draw Moslems. The Rev. W. A. Rice gives a summary of " the special points that appeal : (a) His surpassing dignity and glory, as shown by His imposing genealogy and lofty title of Rehullah (Spirit of God), whereas, e.g. Moses was only the speaker with God and Mohammed His messenger ; (b) the story of His life and work ; (c) His love and compassion ; (d) His words and teaching ; (e) His crucifixion and resurrec- 148 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE tion ; (/) His second coming ; (g) His intercession in heaven ; (h) sundry points the ' many mansions,' the privilege of prayer to Jesus, the universality of the Gospel ; the lofty spiritual character of the Gospel." There are other points of appeal connected with Christ's sacrifice and salvation such as the good news of an atoning Saviour, the prospect of rest for the soul, faith in Christ as the secret of spiritual strength and power, and the Christian's joy in life and peace in death. Emphasis is laid upon the Cross of Christ as the attractive power in Christianity. " The element in the Gospel," says the Rev. S. M. Zwemer, " which possesses the greatest power of appeal to Mohammedans is the union between the mercy and the justice of God, as shown in the Cross of Christ. When properly presented, this doctrine is not only absolutely novel, but compelling to any Moham- medan who feels a sense of sin. In order to awaken a sense of sin, which, I believe, is the first essential in all missionary effort, I have found the wonderful ethical standards of the Sermon on the Mount and of the Life of Christ to attract and convince. It is not necessary to compare Mohammed and Christ. If we present Christ as He is in the Gospel, the contrast is so evident that the comparison is made by the Mohammedan himself." Next to Christ and His Cross may be mentioned the Bible as awaking the reverence of Moslems. The Rev. W. A. Rice quotes the following sayings of Moslems about the Bible : " It is God's book," " a wonderful book," " contains beautiful teaching," " full of instruc- tion and inculcating a high moral tone," and " appeals to the heart." The Pauline doctrine of justification by faith is said to be specially valuable in showing the difference between the Koran as law and the Gospel as grace. The proof of a continuous progressive revelation of God, culminating in Christ, offers the basis for the argument that Islam must be a step back. The Christian life of the missionary, the Christian ideal of marriage with its elevation of woman, and the beneficent activities of Christian missions are also potent ISLAM 149 influences. It cannot be denied that the more advanced culture and civilisation and the political superiority of the Christian nations compel attention and provoke enquiry. Much in the statements regarding the elements in the Christian Gospel and the Christian life which have awakened the greatest opposition has already been anticipated in dealing with the intellectual hindrances to the acceptance of Christianity. The doctrines of the Trinity, the divine sonship of Jesus, his sinlessness and Cross, all excite antagonism. As in Islam the emphasis is laid on the exact observance of certain rites, the Mohammedan objects on the one hand to the lack of ceremonies in Christianity, and on the other to the greater prominence given by it to the moral demands, which to the Moslem conscience appear excessive. He opposes bitterly the demand " that a man's religion must be spiritual and internal rather than external and cere- monial, e.g. that the fast, the pilgrimage to Mecca and other Mohammedan forms of a self-righteous ritual must be given up as nothing worth, and the demand for personal chastity and monogamy " (Mr. T. E. Alvarez and Dr. W. R. Miller). What we regard as an excellence of Christianity that it is a religion, not of the letter that killeth, but of the Spirit that giveth life, is to the Moslem a defect. " Christianity is alleged to be very deficient and imperfect as compared with Islam," because " the Gospel contains no code of law, civil and criminal ; it contains very few definite precepts ; it has no ceremonial ordinances and observances ; it has no set prayers " (the Rev. W. A. Rice). The old problem which Paul deals with in Romans xiv., the treatment of the " weak " by the " strong," re-emerges in the relation of the Christian missionaries to those whom they desire to win for Christ. Some of their preachers offend the Moslem conscience. " Christians," it is objected, " are unfaithful in practice to revealed truth, as e.g., in not observing the Sabbath, or circumcision, and eating pork and drinking wine, and eating things strangled " (the Rev. W. A. Rice). It is 150 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE urged by at least one writer that Christian liberty should to-day as of old be limited by Christian love. "It is also very important in presenting the Gospel and living it before Mohammedans to show that while the Gospel of the Christians disregards outward purification and emphasises the purity of the heart, Christians as such are taught by their Scriptures to observe all laws of hygiene and cleanliness of the body. This is a delicate subject, but I have found after long intercourse with Moslems that their idea of our ceremonial uncleanness is on the part of many a real hindrance to their acceptance of our doctrine. I would go a long way in meeting Mohammedan prejudices, for instance, in abstaining absolutely from wine and swine's flesh as well as in matters of dress and ablution to win my Moslem brothers. I think that most mission- aries to Moslems have erred in this direction " (the Rev. S. M. Zwemer). Another obstacle which is likely to become formidable in the future is political. There is a growth and a spread of Pan-Islamic hopes among the Moslem peoples under Christian rule ; and the association of Christianity with the foreign yoke which they desire to cast off may be very prejudicial to its progress among them. The conclusion of the whole matter seems to be, how- ever, that what when first heard excites opposition may on being better understood exercise an attraction. Even the Moslem to whom Christ crucified is foolishness and weakness can be brought to discover that He is the wisdom and the power of God unto salvation. A philo- sophy and a theology dominated by the Cross as much as the devotional life of the Christian is, may yet bring the Moslem to confess " that Almightiness itself sets limits to Almightiness, that what is power in the moral category may spell weakness in the physical, yet that nevertheless the weakness of God is stronger than the strength of men ; nay, that the weakness of a God voluntarily, and in His nature's depths, limited by the ethical holiness and the ethical needs and wants of His sinning children, is stronger than the unconditional ISLAM 161 Almightiness of a physically Omnipotent God " (Rev. W. H. T. Gairdner in the Pan-Anglican Papers, S.D. 4 h. p. 8). THE INFLUENCE OF THE HIGHER CRITICISM ON ISLAM Missionary enterprise is confronted to-day with a problem that did not at all concern it a century ago. At home the " higher criticism " has divided Christian opinion. On the one hand are genuine evangelical believers, who have heartily welcomed what their studies have compelled them to regard as assured results of a legitimate method of study as confirming their belief in a real progressive revelation of God to man. On the other hand, there are earnest Christian men who dread this whole movement as an assault not only on the out- works but even the citadel of their faith. The facility of intercourse all over the world has made it impossible to keep this issue altogether out of the mission field. In discussing the effect of this and other developments of modern western thought on missionary work, we must clearly distinguish its influence on the missionaries, and on those to whom they offer the Gospel. Among the less cultured Moslem peoples this modern western thought exercises no appreciable influence ; in India, as might be expected, it is being distinctly felt, as also in Egypt ; in Turkey and Persia less so. The intellectual habit of the Mohammedan, which lacks all historic sense, and his deeply rooted belief in the verbal inspiration of his Koran and of the sacred books present an initial obstacle to the rapid spread of the " higher criticism." There is, how- ever, an opposition of educated Moslems to Christianity, which freely uses the weapon thus put into its hands. In Persia an apostate Christian, writing books against Christianity, makes the most of the discrepancies of the Gospels and the difficulties of the Biblical genealogies. The Egyptian press, the influence of which extends to Arabia also, used with great diligence the discovery of the Code of Khammurabi. The " Babel and Bible " 152 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE controversy did not escape the notice of Mohammedan teachers. In India the higher criticism is welcomed as a sign of the retreat of Christianity ; and the argument is advanced that it is absurd to lose home and friends by conversion to a religion, which even cultured Protestants have proved to be false. The Moslem in India is, however, generally less receptive of such ideas than the Hindu, for if he cares for his own faith, the more intelligent he is, the more he dreads the application of the same method to the Koran. The denial of the virgin birth of Christ he cannot but regard as an attack on the Koran which teaches it. Some of the missionaries feel that the method of criticism may be effectively directed against the Koran, so that by the disproof of its claims, the authority of the Bible may, on grounds that stand the test of criticism, be established. Among the uncultured peoples, science is an ally of the Gospel in dispelling superstition. Among the cultured, some of the missionaries recognise it will be impossible to ignore questions of Biblical criticism, as, if not discussed from the Christian standpoint, they will be presented in an anti- Christian spirit. The attitude of the missionaries themselves on this question is divided. Some of the older missionaries are hostile, and seem even to resent the acceptance of any of the critical views by the younger men. A few welcome the higher criticism as, on the one hand, affording a correc- tion of the mechanical views of inspiration current in Islam, and as, on the other, giving support to the concep- tion of a progressive revelation, culminating in Christ, an effective weapon to be used against the Koran. The general impression which the statements of missionaries leave is this that the problem has not reached as acute a phase in the mission field as it has at home. THE INFLUENCE OF CONTACT WITH ISLAM ON CHRISTIAN FAITH So much is said to-day of the necessity of a restatement of the Gospel that one would suppose that missionaries ISLAM 153 in the field in contact with conflicting systems of belief would have keenly felt the need ; but the general im- pression of the answers given in regard to the effect of missionary experience on the personal conception of the Gospel is that, apart from changed emphasis on this or that doctrine, the Christian faith of the missionaries has not to any extent been, in substance at least, affected. There seems to be much less theological unrest among missionaries in Moslem lands than among ministers at home ; and their practical view of the need of adapting the Gospel to the mind of the East is much less drastic than the theoretical view of scholars at home. Some of the missionaries admit that their doctrine of inspiration, as also their theory of atonement, has been modified by their missionary experience. Mr. Swan, Cairo, testifies : " No change as to the substance, only a great deepening of the conviction that what are known as the great evangelical truths are those which alone can fully meet the world's heart-need. As to the form, one's constant desire is that with growth of experience of the eastern mind, there should be concurrent growth of the power of presenting the message in eastern form." The Rev. W. H. T. Gairdner, who has already been often quoted, appears to have given special consideration to the problem of the effect on our western Christian theology of close contact and severe conflict with Islam, and comes to the conclusion that, while the doctrine of the Trinity sums up the Christian Gospel, it must be presented in a spiritual and ethical, rather than a metaphysical form. " I see more clearly, however," he says, " that the Holy Ghost must be represented always, as in vital and essential connection with the Incarnate One, that He must not be preached as simply another Person of the Trinity ; as the Spirit of God (simply) proceeding from the Father ; but that the spirit, if not the letter, of the Filioque version, must be ever and always preached, and the truth upheld by lip and life, that to us at least, dispensationally, the Spirit of God is the Spirit of Jesus." The writer of this abstract of the replies may venture to put this 154 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE conclusion, which he heartily endorses, in his own words. The Christian experience and the Christian character, as the Spirit's present work, must always be related to the historical revelation of God and redemption of man in Jesus Christ our Lord. INFLUENCES LEADING TO CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY The statements by Moslem converts of the reasons for their conversion show that Christ draws men to Himself in different ways, and that Christ Himself is not felt to be western or eastern, but as universal as is man's need of Him. A thorough and loving study of the people and of their speech will enable a missionary so to present Christ that He is Himself seen, and, when seen, draws men to Him. As Christianity has its roots in a Semitic religion, even as Islam itself has, there is likely to be less sense of strangeness for a Mohammedan in the life of Christ than there is for a Hindu or a Chinese. Only one of the converts complains of a western feature in the Gospel as presented to him. " That which made special appeal to me in Christianity," he says, " was the lives of the missionaries. . . . The most attractive feature was the provision made by Christianity for a personal salvation. ... At school and college, I con- sidered it a foreign religion, and consequently did not want to have anything to do with it, but through an Egyptian evangelist, I came to realise that Christianity was not western, but eastern. ... I consider the almost exclusive preaching of the doctrine of salvation, and re- demption by Christ's death on the Cross, to be a distinctly western feature, and altogether unintelligible to the Mohammedan mind without previous preparation. I think there should be far more telling of the story of Christ's life. ... I was at the time the Egyptian evangelist spoke to me feeling terribly that I could not live up to the requirements of Islam." It has to be observed that it is only in orthodox Islam that the idea of redemption through death would appear a distinctly western feature. ISLAM 155 As has already been mentioned, Persian Islam could better understand it. In this, orthodox Islam betrays its artificiality as a religion ; for the almost universal rite of sacrifice shows that the Cross meets a deep-rooted and widespread need of the soul of man. Another convert testifies that it was the power for holy living that Christ promises, which led him to Christianity. " The powerful preaching which encourages men to repent and to live a life without reproach and to be perfect before God called me to the better way. The help promised by our Lord, and His command, ' Fear not, I have overcome the world,' led me to accept Chris- tianity. It was not only the sense of sin, but also the desire to know the truth and to be freed by its knowledge, the desire to worship God in the highest and best way, which opened to me the portals into His Temple and His service." These two instances may suffice to show that everywhere Christ can prove Himself the Saviour of men from sin unto God. It may require such Christian teaching as will awaken the sense of sin and the longing for fellowship with God to discover to the Moslem soul its own deepest need before Christ can be welcomed as alone fully meeting it ; but it can be only by helping men to realise the depth of their need that the missionary can prepare men for a recognition of the greatness of Christ's grace. CHAPTER VI HINDUISM IN attempting to consider what distinctive message the Christian missionary has to give to Hindus, we are met by the initial difficulty that Hinduism is at first sight not one religion but many, and that it possesses no kind of creed nor any body of formulated doctrine. The word Hinduism covers a number of religions which are apparently inconsistent with and contradictory to each other. " Hinduism is so vague and comprehensive that it admits of any additions and subtractions without getting outside the pale of the Hindu faith. The number- less sections and schools represent as many distinctions and often contradictions ; the pantheist, the polytheist, the theist and the atheist, all claim to be good Hindus, and are recognised as such" (F. W. Stein thai). It should not be forgotten, however, that with all the apparent confusion, there is really a general ethos char- acteristic of Hinduism. " The prevailing thought of India," says Mr. Slater, " has been pantheistic." " The prevailing ideal of Hinduism," says Mr. Dilger, " is that of redemption from the evil of the world, or moksha through union with the Deity, which is conceived of as attainable in three ways by wisdom (jnana), devotion (bhakti), or works (karma)." Beneath all the outward difference of cultus, there is thus an inward unity and ideal, although here also the measure of conviction and definiteness of conscious belief varies according to the region and the individual. " It is a mistake," says Mr. Mathers, " to regard the religion of the Hindu as one religion. The religions of India have had 156 HINDUISM 157 great variety of origin, and great variety in develop- ment, and at present display great variety in belief and ritual. But all the religions that are termed Hindu are unified consciously in the thought of the thinking classes, and semi-consciously or implicitly in the faith and worship of the common people, by that form of highly speculative and mystical religion which has been termed the Higher Hinduism. This, historically, has had its origin in the pure nature-worship of the Vedas, and has passed through various stages until at present it is found as a highly speculative and introspective type of piety amongst thinkers, and as a curious mingling of the highest philosophical thought with the practice of unmeaning and superstitious ritual amongst many of the more intelligent classes of the people." The only out- ward bond which binds Hindus together is the observ- ance of caste. Caste, however, is observed by many who cannot strictly be called Hindus, for amongst those who observe caste in the South of India, " there are many millions who are classified as Hindus who lie between (Aryanism or) Brahmanism proper and animism. Their blood sacrifices, their propitiation of devils, their worship of goddesses and not gods, and then: idolatry point more towards animism than Brahmanism. At best, India was very imperfectly converted by the Brahmans. The great mass of Sudras and outcastes know nothing of, and are very slightly influenced by Hinduism" (J. A. Sharrock). The Report of the London Conference of Missions in 1888 contained these words : " Remember one thing that the lower castes or the outcastes from whom the bulk of our Christians in South India have been drawn are not Hindus. When you have converted thousands upon thousands of these, you may not have touched Hinduism " (T. E. Slater). In view of a situation so complex, to " preach the simple Gospel " to the 207 millions who are classified in the census as Hindus, is a task the difficulty of which becomes more apparent to the missionary as his own knowledge and experience increase. There is no other religion or group of religions which needs to be so 158 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE carefully studied by the missionary who would interpret aright the Christian faith to its adherents. There is no country other than India where the ignorance and mistakes of the missionary are likely to produce such harmful results. " It often seems to me," writes the Bishop of Lahore, " one of the most singular things in the history of God's providential working in the world, that the evangelisation of India has been entrusted primarily to England the ideals, the characteristic virtues, the temperament, and entire outlook on life differing as widely as possible." During the last few years, doubts have been raised as to whether Missionary Societies have been justified in devot- ing a large measure of time and attention to colleges and high schools throughout India which are attended by higher class Hindus, but the existence of which does not apparently result in the conversion to Christianity of more than the minutest fraction of their scholars. It is interesting to note that the missionaries from whom reports have been received are practically unanimous in urging that these schools and colleges should be maintained. We proceed to attempt a brief summary of the replies which have been received to the several questions. The missionaries from whom replies have been received represent all the chief Missionary Societies working in India other than those connected with the Roman Church. Some of them are engaged in schools and colleges, where they come in contact with high-caste Hindus ; others are engaged in medical and evangelistic missions, in which they are specially brought into contact with the lower castes. THE VALUE OF HINDUISM AS A RELIGION The Bishop of Calcutta writes : " The question is asked, Can you distinguish between what is carried on for the sake of compliance with rule and tradition and what is prized for the help and consolation which it supplies ? My answer is, I can distinguish these as the end and the HINDUISM 159 means ; but while the vulgar treat as the main object what the inner few regard as means only, it is impossible to define the degrees of importance which these latter attribute to the system of observance, of which the bearing on spiritual results is often so obscure." Again he writes : " The best Hindus value much more than any other part of their religion the doctrine, and as they believe the opportunity, of union with Deity. An excellent point in their creed is this, that they do not postpone the prospect of this elevated state to another life, or to conditions now unattainable, but firmly hold that it is a present experience." The faith that this unity with the Divine can be attained by the way of knowledge is held by comparatively few. It is, as it were, the esoteric view of the educated classes. The doctrine that this redemption is to be attained by the way of bhakti, loving devotion to the Divine essence or to the Divine Being, on the other hand appeals to very many. The origins of this view lie far back in the history of Indian religion. It is one of the three great ways of attaining the goal of redemption from the evil world. The term is found in the Bhagavad-Gita about the Christian era. It seems probable that the influence of the Christian teaching regarding faith may be helping to bring about the increasing prominence that is now being given to bhakti in Indian religious thought. "During the last few generations it has grown stronger than ever, owing to direct and indirect Christian influence, and is among the educated classes the strongest religious force, laying all emphasis on the subjective element and being characteristically regardless of the historical reality of the object of devotion " (F. W. Steinthal). The practice of bhakti is largely insisted on by Indian theism, and is, undoubtedly, a living religious force of great moment. In Western India writes another : " The most valuable influence in the direction of theism is that exercised upon the great body of the people by the poems of Tukaram. It is certainly an inward re- ligion, and emphasises, as all the line of saints and poets 160 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE to which it belongs does, the method of bhakti or ' loving faith ' as the true way by which to draw near to God. I have seen a good old man, one of the most learned and devout of all the Hindus whom I know, come from the place of his devotions, where he had been singing the songs of Tukaram, with his eyes suffused with tears " (N. Macnicol). The book which, above all others, appeals to the de- votional instincts of Hindus, and which to very many of them appeals almost as the Bible appeals to Christians, is the Bhagavad-Gita. This poem, which dates from a period before the Christian era, is familiar to educated and uneducated alike, and no missionary can hope to understand popular Hinduism who has not studied its teaching with minute care. It gives the most attractive exposition of some of the fundamental conceptions of Hindu philosophy and of the way by which final satis- faction is to be attained, though it is very noteworthy that, while the philosophy is essentially pantheistic, the form of worship presented centres round a divine-human helper, and is therefore the best preparation in Hinduism for the Christian Gospel, since it reveals the hidden craving of the human heart to possess a humanised God, which can only be satisfied in Christ (T. E. Slater). In the Bhagavad-Gita, Krishna is represented both as the absolute divine essence, Brahma, and as a personal Being to whom sacrifices and prayers are to be offered. The poem teaches that every action of life should be performed " without attachment," and that there should be no desire on the part of any man to see any fruit what- ever of his actions. Mr. Andrews of Delhi writes : "I have noted no less than twelve new editions of the Bhagavad-Gita in the past year. If any book to-day may be called the Hindu gospel, it is this. The book has had an extraordinary growth in popularity in recent years. It is now a living book, a book which very many Hindus use devotionally and prize for its spiritual help and consolation. There is no subject more likely to draw a large audience than an HINDUISM 161 exposition of the Gita by some Swami." Again he writes of the Ramayana poem : " This epic has an extraordinary influence. If the Bhagavad-Gita is the gospel of the educated Hindus to-day the Ramayana and the Mahab- bharata are their Old Testament. From these they get their ideals of character and of Hindu religious life. Above all, from these they get their ideal of Hindu woman- hood, and learn their devotion to their mothers and wives, astypesof the perfect woman Sita. The chastity of homelife among the best Hindus is due in the main to the extremely beautiful picture of Sita in the Ramayana. Just as the Old Testament heroes colour almost unconsciously every Christian child's ideals, so the heroes of the Ramayana and Mahabbharata colour those of every Hindu child, whether educated or illiterate. They represent the best popular side of Hinduism, and are distinctly living forces of to-day, especially the Hindi Ramayana." " It has been well observed," writes the Rev. Dr. Hooper, " and it is increasingly borne in upon the mis- sionary, the longer he lives among them, that the ' Rama- yana ' of Tulsi Das is indeed the Bible of those Hindus in North India who do not know Sanskrit, as the Bhagavad-Gita is of those who do know it. Both of these books are listened to with intense interest, and evoke the most heartfelt devotion to Rama and Krishna respectively." Amongst the uneducated classes there are few religious observances which can be described as altogether formal and useless. " One cannot hear an unhappy old woman cry before a daubed red stone with the cry of her heart, " O God, help me,' without realising that the utterance of her need itself has a religious value and brings a return to her spirit " (N. Macnicol). HINDRANCES IN THE WAY OF CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY " The chief hindrance," writes the Bishop of Calcutta, *' to the acceptance of Christianity is everywhere the COM. IV. 1 I 162 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE same, ' the corruption that is in the world through lust/ It is with this that the conflict lies. The various so-called religions are helps, so far as they tend to reveal or to heal that corruption hindrances, so far as they are a screen, more or less consciously held up, between the human conscience and the demands of the Truth. What is good in a non-Christian religion is often set up as a screen ; the better it is, the more fit it is to be alleged as a reason why a hearing should not be given to the more imperative but similar demand which Christianity makes." Moral Hindrances The chief moral hindrance to the acceptance of Christianity is the general absence of any real sense .of responsibility and therefore of sin. " To the Christian the idea of sin, as the wilful transgression of the law of God, lies at the very root of his whole conception of man's relation to God. On the other hand to the Vedantist, sin, as the Christian conceives it, has no real existence, and men who are themselves parts of the divine essence are, by their very nature, incapable of sin. A Vedantist, like the late Swami Vivekananda, is quite logical in declaring that it is a libel on humanity to speak of men and women as sinners " (Bishop of Madras). " The absence of sin-consciousness," writes another, " is the saddest fact in India. Wrong-doing as a great moral offence against God, for which I am morally re- sponsible, does not lie as a burden. My failure is my fate ; this absence of sin-consciousness prevents the Hindu crying for salvation. He is unaware of having anything special to cry for " (D. G. M. Leith). Yet here, also, so wide and so varied is the field of Indian religion that we have weighty testimony also to the presence of a conscious- ness of sin in many, even though these may be but a small minority of the whole. This is seen in the many expiatory pilgrimages to sacred shrines, and in expiatory sacrifices, and also in the inner experiences of converts to Christianity which have been recorded in their biographies and else- where (Dilger). On the other hand, the evidence is HINDUISM 163 clear that one of the greatest hindrances to the progress of Christianity is found in the general absence of this sin-consciousness. In most instances it is the knowledge of Christ which creates the sense of sin. " In early Vedic times sin and sacrifice were household words in India, and the Hindu whose mind has not been completely blinded by subsequent pantheistic teaching, has, more or less adequately, the sense of sin, which gives character to so much of the popular religion, and whose penalties, at any rate, become real in the doctrine of Karma and transmigration. But except in some higher moral teaching, which may perhaps have been due to a Christian source, such as that of Tulsi Das, the great religious reformer (and contemporary of Shakespeare), the Hindu idea of God does not contain the thought of any holy and gracious Will from which forgiveness of sin, and deliverance from moral evil, may be looked for. The Gospel of Christ enlightens the conscience as to its great need, and is a message of salvation" (T. E. Slater). Another hindrance, which may perhaps be described as a moral hindrance, is caused by the eating of flesh of the cow by Christians. Apart altogether from religious beliefs, the cow is regarded in India as a domestic animal, and kindness and affection is lavished upon it such as is lavished in England on a pet dog. The fact that Chris- tians kill and eat cows in very many cases creates an aversion to Christianity which nothing can ever remove. Several of the writers who have come into closest touch with Hindus express the belief that a resolve on the part of missionaries to refrain from eating beef would remove a serious obstacle to the acceptance of the Christian faith by Hindus. One writes : " Many of the habits of us British, including all missionaries, are unclean in the eyes of the Indians, and the thought of it is a hindrance in the way of the spread of the Gospel. We kill that we may eat, and, most horrible of all, we kill and eat the cow. It is difficult to fathom the depth of the Hindu prejudice against us on this account. It would greatly mitigate the general prejudice against mission- 164 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE aries if we could say that as a class we strictly abstain from eating the flesh of the cow" (W. Bonnar). "Our worst crime in the eyes of the Hindus," writes another, who has had a long experience in North India, " is pro- bably cow-killing " (Canon G. H. Westcott). " It is interesting to note," writes another, " that the parable of the Prodigal Son, even for an educated Hindu, is robbed of half its beauty and effect on account of the mention of the killing of the calf. That one word in Christ's teaching has been the greatest stumbling-block to many, just as the wedding at Cana and the command to drink wine in the Eucharist are a terrible stumbling-block to the Sikh " (C. F. Andrews). Social Hindrances The great social hindrance is the existence of caste. '" A man may think what he likes, he may, to a large extent, say what he likes, but he may not transgress the innumerable tyrannies of the elaborated social system which are embraced under the word caste." One missionary is prepared to advocate the temporary recognition of caste and the baptism of those who are not prepared to abandon caste, but the others are unanimous in their belief that caste is Hinduism and Hinduism is caste. The disastrous results which have followed the recognition of caste by Roman Catholic missionaries afford an object-lesson of the danger of attempting any compromise with the essentially anti- Christian principles which caste involves. In some villages in South India are to be seen two, or even three, separate churches, for as many different castes, built by Roman Catholic missionaries, the result being that so- called Christian converts are indistinguishable in any important respect from the Hindus. Speaking of the influence of caste amongst the educated Hindus in North India, Mr. Andrews writes : " Caste is only very slightly weakened in its central stronghold, marriage. The mere eating and drinking and touch value are passing away, but the marriage observances are scarcely showing any HINDUISM 165 signs of weakening. Reforms within the castes are numerous, e.g. inter-marriage between sub-castes, en- couragement of late marriages, etc., but caste is still the real Church of Hinduism. It has its Church office- bearers, its Church councils, its Church discipline, its Church meetings, its Church moral code. If among Hindus at the very top there is a certain amount of emancipation, on the other hand, enormous additions are being built up from below new buttresses of caste as it were out of the great mass of non-caste or out-caste Hinduism. Tribe after tribe, and community after community, are gaining a step in the social-religious ladder by forming themselves into new castes. They achieve this by means of a fiction of race origin invented by some needy Brahmin priest, by the common agreement to forgo animal food, to boycott widow re-marriage, late marriage, inter- marriage with other tribes, and by the undertaking to feed Brahmans, etc. This process of new caste formation has been going on far more rapidly since intercommunica- tion has become more complete. Isolated districts did not realise, as it were, their unorthodoxy and low degree till they came into closer touch with more civilised and higher caste Hindus and heard the secret of caste re- spectability. Thus it would be far more true to say that railways had been building up caste, than to say that they had been breaking it down. It cannot be too clearly stated that it is quite possible that ordinary eating and drinking and touch regulations may vanish and yet caste may remain as strong or even stronger than before, entrenched behind marriage regulations. It is a living and growing system, not a dead and effete thing. . . . The Brahmo-Samaj has broken with caste altogether. But they are now scarcely reckoned as Hindus, and their numbers are almost insignificant, though their moral influence is very great. The Arya-Samaj has not yet made much headway against caste. Their popularity is in a great measure due to their not wholly breaking with caste marriage-customs, and there is a tendency with them, as with many earlier movements, to sink back 166 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE again into the caste system after the first reform enthusi- asm has passed away." Another social hindrance is a direct consequence of the existence of caste. " Since a man by becoming a Christian is outcasted, it follows that systematic evangelistic effort has always to be directed upon the Hindu community from the outside. Even the Hindu convert is, in a sense, a foreigner, a member of an alien community. And being treated as such, he tends to become such. Nothing is more regrettable than the degree to which the Indian Christian community is outside the real India. Indian Christians of the second or third generation commonly know less of the living inwardness of Hinduism than does the foreign missionary" (Edwin Greaves). Intellectual Hindrances The greatest of all intellectual hindrances to the acceptance of Christianity is the ignorance of the great masses of the people. This, of course, can only be removed by the growth of popular education. Next to this is no doubt the widely diffused influence of pantheistic ideas, with the resulting lack of moral earnest- ness. Of specific intellectual difficulties, etc., the Bishop of Lahore writes : " One cause which operates strongly is the mental habit of occupying at the same time two separate and incompatible hemispheres of belief. This is illustrated by the remark of an intelligent student who said, ' I am a believer in western science in college, while at home I hold my traditional beliefs.' This habit makes it easy for a Hindu to embrace so much of Christian truth while holding to his ancestral form of belief, and to see no contradiction or incompatibility in so doing." Another intellectual hindrance is caused by the historical character of the Christian faith. The same writer says : " History is of course to the Hindu caviare, and a faith presented to him as based on facts of history, out of which directly arise its fundamental truths, is at the outset seriously handicapped." Another writes : " Intellect- ually the greatest hindrance is undoubtedly the lack of HINDUISM 167 historical sense and of sense of reality. The only reality to the Indian mind is spiritual life ; facts are but casual phenomena. A thought is of more value than a fact, an illustration as valid as an argument " (F. W. Steinthal). Yet another writes : "To the Hindu it seems impossible to find a sure foundation for the eternal truths of religion in the accidents or incidents of time. History belongs to the realm of the unreal and illusory ; and the unreal and the evanescent are not worth recording." " Is it possible," they ask, " that our faith in God should be made to depend upon the veracity of an historical fact occurring many centuries ago ; and that our salvation should be staked upon it ? " (T. E. Slater). " History is to them phenomenal limitation ; to seek the foundation of the whole world's salvation in a par- ticular fact nineteen hundred years ago, is an absurdity and arrogance against the religious life of the rest of the world, and is looked upon as an expression of the gross and unspiritual way in which the materialistic West deals with spiritual matters." The very truth which Hinduism contains is sometimes misinterpreted in such a way as to form an obstacle to a belief in Christianity. Thus the Bishop of Calcutta writes : " The spiritual tendency of the higher Hinduism and the moral precepts of Buddhism are by being so used (that is as a reason why a hearing should not be given to the more imperative but similar demand which Christianity makes) among the chief intellectual hindrances. I have found every recognition of what is good in Hinduism eagerly grasped at, not as a reason for submission to the moral law, but as an argument to prove that Christian teaching need not be listened to. ' Buddhism is quite like Christianity,' ' Hinduism has in it all that is good in Christianity.' These propositions are, I feel sure, with the people I refer to, the chief intellectual hindrance." The conception of a suffering God is another serious intellectual hindrance. " In Hinduism a suffering deity is altogether unknown. Christ on the Cross is constantly misunderstood by the people of the East. In the myriad 168 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE incarnations of India not one fails to be triumphant, and not one of them is found to suffer seriously for man " (J. P. Jones). The Hindus have a keen sense of retributive justice. Their doctrine of Karma corresponds, albeit in a most imperfect manner, to the Christian doctrine that " what- soever a man sows that shah 1 he also reap." They have therefore great difficulty in believing that the death of another, although He be an incarnation of God, can in any degree mitigate the consequences of human action. Several of the replies speak of the harm which has been done to the Christian cause in India by the crude repre- sentation of the sacrifice of Christ, as though a material sacrifice could act as an equivalent penalty and could free mankind from all the consequences of sinful action. Thus one writer says : " The Christ has been preached very largely as a material sacrifice once made for all, or, as a Christian theological preacher has said here, the finite punishment of an infinite being is equivalent to the infinite punishment of a finite being. This the ethical ideas in their conception of law rise up strongly against " (A. G. Fraser). DISSATISFACTION WITH HINDUISM AS A RELIGION The higher caste Hindus seldom express dissatis- faction with their own religion until they have definitely become Christian. Many afterwards admit that they had for years been groping in the dark in a vain effort to find peace and assurance. The lower castes are often ready to acknowledge that the worship of idols is worse than useless, but they are held back by the influence of caste from becoming Chris- tians. As a general rule converts are drawn to embrace the Christian faith not merely by dissatisfaction with their old religion, but by the positive attractive character of the new. It is after they have become Christians that their dissatisfaction with their former religion becomes in- HINDUISM 169 tensified. One writes : "I have hardly ever met with any whose first realised need was that of salvation from the curse and guilt of sin ; this is to my mind a distinctly later experience, but I remember several cases of young men who, by the purity of Jesus' character and the lofty ideal of His moral teaching, have come to realise that their own religion has nothing to compare with this, and no power to deliver from the bondage of sin. In many cases the first dissatisfaction with the Hindu faith arises, however, not because it cannot save them from sin, but because it does not give them, or at least has not given them, what it promises the true knowledge of God and realisation of the desired oneness with Him " (F. W. Steinthal). The Bishop of Madras (who worked for many years in Calcutta) writes : " Among individual Bengali stud- ents in Calcutta the most common form of dissatisfaction with their own faith consisted in its failure to help them in moral struggles. It was very rare to come across any deep-seated dissatisfaction on purely intellectual or doctrinal grounds. In almost every case that I can remember the ground of dissatisfaction was purely moral. A young student had his conscience stirred by the moral teaching given to him, and began to try to lead a higher life, especially to fight against the sin of impurity which was so sadly common amongst the university students. When he found that his own faith gave him no help, he was naturally led on to search after some higher moral power." Of the Panchamas or outcastes of Southern India he says : " The contrast which Christianity offers between the belief in God as a loving Father and their own fear of devils comes home even to the most ignorant and degraded. The story of Venkayya, who started a mass movement amongst the Panchamas in one of the districts of the Church Missionary Society's Telugu Mission, shows, however, that even amongst the degraded Panchamas there are sometimes yearnings after a higher truth. ... He lost faith in the village deities and in idolatry 170 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE during some period of trouble in his own family. He then composed the following prayer, which he said daily for about two years : ' O God, teach me who Thou art, show me where Thou art, and help me to find Thee.' After a time he went down to Bezwada, and there sat by the banks of the river Krishna and saw the people bathing in the sacred waters. A Hindu came and asked him whether he was going to bathe. He replied that he had lost faith in these things and was seeking for the true God. The man told him that there was a Sahib living on the hill who would tell him what he wanted to know. Venkayya went with some of his companions and there found the missionary, who told him the story of our Lord's life and death and resurrection. He at once recognised the God for whom he had been seeking. He was baptized and became an ardent evangelist. A few such instances as these are found in all parts of the Telugu country. We can only attribute their faith and spiritual insight to the direct influence of the Holy Spirit." It is, however, comparatively seldom that mere dissatis- faction with the teaching or practices of Hinduism predisposes Hindus to accept Christianity. :< They will admit that practices followed by many classes of the population are to be deprecated, but this can always be set down to popular ignorance or to the corrupting influence of evil times and evil men. Hinduism is so amorphous a religion and so encyclopaedic in the varieties of worship and practice that it includes within itself, that it is easy to condemn very much that calls itself by that name while satisfying oneself that much still remains that is excellent. It is difficult to specify any one thing that is absolutely vital to Hinduism, dissatis- faction with which would mean dissatisfaction with the whole system. Thus a Brahman would rail at the Brahman's claims and privileges and the evil they have brought, without thereby implying any religious dis- satisfaction " (N. Macnicol). Another writes : " Running through the whole range HINDUISM 171 of Hindu thought there seems to be a deep pessimism : the longing is not for life, more life, more abundant life, it is taken as beyond argument that personal exist- ence must necessarily involve unrest and pain, and that the goal, therefore, to strive after is deliverance from personal and conscious existence, and absorption into the ocean of being" (E. Greaves). " According to the teaching of the Upanishads the fountain of Hindu philosophy the world is a maya world, a world of illusion, shadows, appearances, while Brahma, the one only reality, lies behind. . . . Be- cause they do not as yet ' see the highest,' or do not love it when they see it, life seems to many a bitter dis- appointment and a cheat. It has always been more or less a heavy burden, a vexing riddle, a dream illusion ; but now, with the first glimmerings of light, they find themselves more than ever working in the dark, and though unconsciously working out their own destiny, .the end is not recognised and vision is distorted" (T. E. Slater). THE ATTITUDE OF THE MISSIONARY TOWARD HINDUISM The replies, one and all, lay emphasis upon the necessity that the missionary to Hindus should possess, and not merely assume, a sympathetic attitude towards India's most ancient religion. They emphasise, too, the need of prolonged and patient study, in order that sympathy may be based upon knowledge and may not be the child of emotion or imagination. More harm has been done in India than in any other country by missionaries who have lacked the wisdom to appreciate the nobler side of the religion which they have laboured so indefatigably to supplant. "It is a reasonable demand," writes a missionary in Calcutta, " to any man who tries to tackle so difficult a problem as that of changing other men's faith, that he should know what he is talking about, not only his own religion, but also that which he desires to lead the people away 172 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE from. To study Hinduism is the first duty of any missionary among Hindus, if he will ever gain their respect and confidence. It is not an easy matter, and is not done in a few months or years. . . . But within some years one can at least get so far that he has firm ground under him and knows where he puts his foot. The first part of the study is the history of Hinduism, its origin, de- velopment, principal schools and sections, chief literature, essential doctrines and ceremonies. Much of this can be learned and should be learned at home. . . . But even when a missionary has got some hold on the intri- cacies of practical Hinduism, in its mixture of philosophy and ceremonialism, in its innumerable connections with almost every detail of human life, he may still be an outsider if he has not mastered the third and most essential part of his study, the religious life of the in- dividual. Below the strange forms and hardly intelli- gible language, lies life, the spiritual life of human souls, needing God, seeking God, laying hold of God, so far as they have found Him. Until we have at least reached so far that under the ceremonies and doctrines we have found the religious life of the people, and at least to some extent have begun to understand this life, we do not know what Hinduism really is, and are missing the essential connection with the people's religious life. When, however, this has been reached, or at least aimed at, there will be no difficulty in agreeing to the second demand, that every missionary should respect the old religion of the people he is working among. Crude as its forms of worship may be, abominable as the practices connected with it often are, directly hostile to Christ and Christian truth as its doctrines may appear, yet it is the expression of the highest and divinest in the people's life, the remnant of God's image, the search for the living God. . . . Under favourable conditions of general culture I have met among Hindus and Brah- mans as deep, genuine, and spiritual a religious life as is found amongst most Christians ; their faith is sincere, though wrongly directed " (F. W. Steinthal). HINDUISM 173 " We are sent," writes another, " to preach Christ, not to criticise other faiths. As far as possible we ought to let our presentation of the Christ stir the people themselves to criticism ; even if our criticism could be faultlessly accurate and expressed in perfect taste and temper, it would never by itself bring a soul to Christ. . . . Christ's own attitude to Judaism ought to be our attitude to other faiths, even if the gap be far greater and the historical connection absent " (J. N. Farquhar). The missionary to the Hindus is confronted with a twofold problem. He wants to preach Christ as he has himself apprehended Him in his innermost soul, and at the same time he wants to avoid offering to those to whom he desires to appeal a merely western presentation of the universal Christ. A professor in a University college in South India writes : " What we desire to see is not simply Christianity in India, but an Indian Christianity. We want to bring India face to face with . Christ and let Him compel her to make her own surrender to Himself. At first sight this seems to imply that we must not advocate any of our own religious beliefs, but content ourselves with telling the historical story of Jesus. But another line of thought leads to an opposite conclusion. We want to effect the religious re-awakening of India, and only by uttering that which is to himself a gospel, can any man hope to make a spiritual impression upon others. Now our Gospel is not a mere chronicle, but an interpreted Jesus, a Christ. The New Testament narratives themselves set us the example of presenting not a mere Jesus, but the Christ. We must, therefore, present Jesus to India in terms of our own interpretation of Him. . . . Thus we seem faced with the dilemma of having to choose between telling India a story which will make no religious impres- sion upon her, and importing into India a ready-made scheme of theology of a western cast " (A. G. Hogg). The same writer goes on to urge that, though the mis- sionary must begin by preaching Christ in the light of his own experience and ^of his own best thinking, his 174 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE outlook and his interpretation of God's revelation in Christ will become gradually modified by the new light which will come to him amidst his eastern surroundings. Another writer says : " The older attitude of contempt and hostility has very largely disappeared from the missionary propaganda in India, but there is still much room for greater sympathy and less destructive work. The presentation of the truth, of which the error is a perversion, is the best confutation of error. In dealing with the higher forms of Hinduism, this principle is even more important. In our quick perception of the false emphasis we often fail to perceive the true emphasis. In our realisation of the contrast to Christian doctrine, we often fail to realise the underlying reality " (B. Lucas). The Christian apologist has frequently cause to urge that those who do not view his faith from a sympathetic standpoint are incapable of appreciating its significance. The apologist for Hinduism or any other religion may urge the same plea. The Christian missionary, therefore, who desires to supplant or rather to transfigure the religion of a non-Christian people needs to prepare himself for the task by long-continued and sympathetic study of the faith of those to whom he desires to appeal. " An unsympathetic student of the gospels inevitably misinterprets them, and the same is true of an unsym- pathetic study of other faiths. The question really lies between understanding and misunderstanding them ; and no one can understand his own religion properly who knows nothing of other faiths, while it has been ignorance of systems of our own that has led many to regard them as inventions of priests, or snares of the devil. And in making our study it must be borne in mind that we do not know religions any more than persons till we have seen them at their best, that it is the highest form which gives the clue to the crudest beginnings. " We must ever remember that religious beliefs and practices, however they may appear to us, and though HINDUISM 176 they may be themselves false and foolish and harmful to those who hold* and observe them, are yet held in all sincerity by the people and represent a spiritual heritage sacred and dear, and have come to them through a providential guidance and evolution " (T. E. Slater). The Bishop of Lahore writes : "I accept unreservedly the modern position which insists on sympathy as the greatest of all requisites in a Christian apologist approaching those of another faith." Again, speaking of the general attitude of Englishmen, including missionaries, towards Indians, he says : " With abund- ance of kind feeling for, and unsparing labour and self- denial on behalf of, Indians Indian Christians more especially the missionaries, except a very few of the very best, seem to me to fail very largely in getting rid of an air of patronage and condescension and in establish- ing a genuinely brotherly and happy relation as between equals with their Indian flocks, though amongst these there are gentlemen in every truest and best sense of the word, with whom relations of perfect equality ought easily to be established. What I mean was well put by a missionary in an address to missionaries given some years ago in Lahore. He said it was very nice to see pictures of missionaries with their arm perhaps round the neck of some convert, or in loving brotherly attitude of some kind, but he noticed that it was always the Englishman's arm which was round the Indian's neck, never the converse position." The Bishop goes on to make a practical suggestion, which might be acted upon with reference to Indians resident in Britain as well as in India. He says : " If we could get into the way of, with perfect naturalness, exactly as we treat English friends, asking them more frequently to stay with us in our houses, and genuinely make friends of them realising in how very many things we have to learn from them, and how large are the contributions which they can bring into the common stock this I believe would do more than almost anything. 176 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE else to draw us more closely together again, and it would be to the non-Christian world an illustration of boundless potency and effect, of the unity into which our races can be brought within the body of Christ." Once more, speaking of the " inconceivable injury " done by want of courtesy, kindness, and tact, the Bishop says : "I can think of one or two men, priests in our own Communion perfectly genuine hearty bluff men who might very likely do admirable work in one of the Colonies amongst our own kinsfolk, where their want of refinement, breeding, and good manners would not be so much noticed, but who for Indians are simply impossible people, outraging the Indian instincts of courtesy and good manners at every moment of their lives and ' widening the gulf ' in the most appalling way. For men of this type, be their essential honesty and desire to serve our Lord what it may, we have no place whatever in India." Along with this universal insistence on thorough and sympathetic understanding of Hinduism at its best, there goes also the unanimous expression of the absoluteness of the Christian revelation. Nothing in the whole range of the Indian evidence is more striking than the emphasis with which both these principles are maintained. The writers are keenly alive alike to the necessity of doing the fullest justice to the religions of India, and, on the other hand, of conserving the supreme place of Christianity as that which absolutely supersedes Hinduism by absolutely fulfilling all that is noblest in the ancient faiths. The answers vary in the emphasis which they lay on these two principles, but both are firmly held by all. Typical of this variety are the answers of Mr. Dilger and Mr. Lucas. The former writes : " Sometimes Hindu conceptions of the Godhead, of sin, or of salvation are valuable means of elucidation by contrast, and most important of all, I believe the Christian preacher should bear witness that the salvation and the truth as it is in Christ Jesus can alone satisfy the craving of their souls for liberation (moksha). But HINDUISM 177 I would always try my best to do this in a conciliatory way. . . . Most emphatically do I believe that it is a fatal mistake so to approximate the Christian conception of God to the level of the vague mystical monism of the Vedanta, that the ethical personality of God is nearly lost. If we are to preach such a monism, the Hindus might well ask why we should come all the way from Europe or America in order to preach to them what they possessed already in their religious and philosophical literature. ... It would be a great pity if we Christian missionaries, by too close an approximation of Christian truth to the Hindu philosophy, should give rise to such an adulteration of the Christian Gospel." Mr. Lucas writes : " We have come to enable these people to put away childish things, but they can only be put away by replacing them with worthier things. To effect this, you must show that the new truth and the new manifestation are not a loss but a gain. The missionary should never be an iconoclast. . . . He cannot possibly fulfil, however, unless he looks with sympathy on what his pupil has drawn, and sees what was intended rather than what has been accomplished. The rough drawing which confronts him may be grotesque and even hideous, but no wise teacher will ever ridicule it. He will first of all try to see what the pupil has tried to represent, show him that he understands what is meant, and then help him to produce some truer presentation." The emphasis in these answers is different, but there seems no real difference in principle. POINTS OF CONTACT BETWEEN CHRISTIANITY AND HINDUISM There is a very general agreement as to the elements in the religion of India which may be regarded as a prepara- tion for Christianity. These, as might be expected, vary in importance. Instances given by a number of writers are the Hindu conceptions of the Divine Trinity, the avatar, sacrifice and ritual of various kinds. But there COM. iv. 12 178 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE are two conceptions above all which have prominence in the answers as forming a true preparation in Hinduism for Christianity, the conception of bhakti, devotion or saving faith, and that of salvation, as moksha or redemp- tion from the world. There is an interesting difference of opinion in the evidence as to whether the most im- portant point of contact is to be found in the persistent theistic movements which through all the centuries have arisen as a protest against the pantheism of the orthodox schools of thought, or in that pantheistic teaching itself. " From a doctrinal standpoint," writes Mr. Andrews of Delhi, " the most important prce-paratio evangdica is to be found along the lines of Hindu theism. This theism may be traced back probably to the Rig Veda and has had a remarkable development and history. There are two clear lines " i. Philosophical Ramanuja, Ramanda, etc. " 2. Devotional Chaitanya, Kabir, Nanak, Tukaram, Tulsi Das, etc. "The doctrines of bhakti and of the avatar, in connection with the devotional line, have been perhaps the most important contribution of Hinduism which touches Christianity on its doctrinal side. " The whole field of Hindu theism needs working over by missionaries, and its treasures need bringing to light. At present it is far too little understood or appreciated. " The Vedanta philosophy does not present so fruitful a field of comparison and approximation. It may, however, correct crude western (a) transcendent ideas of God, (6) individualistic ideas of human personality, (c) creationist theories of the universe, and lead to a more balanced and complete Christian philosophy. In this way it also may be a true preparation for Christianity as a corrective of the West." The legitimate successors of these theistic movements are found to-day in the Brahmo-Samaj and the Arya- Samaj, which have come out from orthodox Hinduism on the basis of a pure theism. Deeply characteristic of this theistic strain in Hindu HINDUISM 179 religion is the idea of salvation through bhakti or faith in God and devoted love to Him. Reference has already been made to this idea and to its close affinities with one of the cardinal ideas of Christianity. The similarity has obviously greatly impressed the mind of our missionaries, and the references to this as a true preparation are very frequent and emphatic. This doctrine has, in some cases, proved to be a manifest preparation for an acceptance of the Christian faith. " The way of bhakti or ' loving faith ' has often been corrupted and is related to some of the most degraded as well as the most elevated phases of Indian religious life. Inasmuch as they lack an object of their faith and devotion that constantly purifies and exalts the emotions called forth by it, as Christ does for the Christian, the tendency towards sensuousness and violence constantly makes itself apparent. With them the object of devotion is largely its own creation, and hence the wayward and often sensuous forms it tends to assume. Nevertheless, this stream of bhakti, devious as its course has so frequently been, forms the main stream of the religion of India and that which has the closest relation to Chris- tianity. Its characteristics are belief in a personal God, union with Him as the condition of blessedness, and faith as the means whereby that union is attained. It is also generally associated with a belief in avatars or incarnations, as is indicated in a famous passage of the Bhagavad-Gita (iv. 7) and in the following passage from Ramanuja, the philosopher of this school. ' As He (the supreme Spirit) is a great ocean of boundless grace, kindness, love, and generosity, He assumed various similar forms without putting away His own essential God-like nature, and time after time incarnated Himself in the several worlds, granting to His worshippers rewards according to their desires, namely, religion, riches, earthly love, and salvation, and descending not only with the purpose of relieving the burden of earth but also to be accessible to men even such as we are, so revealing Himself in the world as to be visible to the sight of all, 180 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE and doing such other marvellous deeds as to ravish the hearts and eyes of all beings high and low.' This attitude in India has seldom attained to a full and conscious monotheism, though that is often implicit in the worshipper's devotional spirit " (N. Macnicol). Besides this conception of bhakti, great emphasis is laid by several of our correspondents on the idea of moksha or redemption from the evil world as forming a vital preparation for Christianity. This conception runs through the various schools of theistic thought, and it is also one of the great generative ideas of the orthodox pantheistic philosophy of Hinduism, of which Vedantism is the classical form. While the method of liberation may differ in different schools of Indian thought, so that one prescribes that of Devotion (bhakti), another that of Knowledge, and a third that of Works, all are agreed in setting this moksha before them as the goal of all their efforts. The following quotation from Mr. Dilger may be compared with that from Mr. Andrews given on page 178. <( The most important prcefiaratio evangelica in Hinduism is the Hindu doctrine of Liberation] (moksha, mukti). From the time of the Upanishads down to the present day the people of India long for and aspire after libera- tion, i.e. the salvation of their souls in union with the Supreme Being. It is, indeed, conceived by them as deliverance of the soul from the sufferings and pains of transmigration and as union with the pantheistically conceived Godhead, details which the Christian mis- sionary cannot help regarding as erroneous and quite inadequate to the deeper wants of the human soul. But the main idea is most valuable as a preparation for the Gospel of salvation, as a point of contact between Chris- tianity and Hinduism, and as a means of elucidation by^contrast. As a matter of fact, I know nothing more effective in arousing the interest of a Hindu audience than the Gospel presented as a message of moksha, i.e. of salvation by communion with God." This doctrine is no less central in the orthodox pantheistic philosophy of Hinduism, of which the Advaita system of Sankara is HINDUISM 181 the classical form, than in the theism which seeks to attain it by faith in a personal God. While thus both Indian theism and philosophy furnish fruitful points of contact with, and preparation for Chris- tianity, there are others who take the view that they are both alike fulfilled and superseded by Christianity. Of these, Mr. Farquhar of Calcutta may be taken as a typical representative. He points out that the long succession of reforming theisms in India has arisen from the fact that the denial of true personality to the Supreme Being de- stroyed the possibility of true worship and of prayer. The theistic reformers have thus had behind them the undying and most sacred instincts of the human soul. But these theisms, it is further argued, have failed because they have chosen as the objects of their worship individual gods of the traditional Pantheon. Each is but an individual of a class, a personality whose character is known, and who is thought of as one god among many. The addition of a personality of this type to the concept of the unknowable Brahma would never produce the Supreme Personality of true monotheism. The Vedant- ist was quite right in rejecting such a theory. The Brahma of the Upanishads is the barest suggestion of God, but, so far as the conception is positive, it is good and right. Brahma is incontestably universal and supreme, but Vishnu remains a particular personality whatever you do with him. The same is true of Siva and all the others. Thus both the theisms and the philosophy of India have suffered from one fatal defect. Hinduism has never succeeded in conceiving of the Universal Personality which is the central conception of Christian theism, and which provides the one possible synthesis and harmony of the age-long divisions of Hindu thought and religion. Mr. Farquhar holds that both the theisms and the Vedanta thus provide many points of contact with Christianity, inasmuch as each represents, however imperfectly, a side of the truth which the other ignores, and that, in fact, Christianity is the norm and synthesis of all these severed but living elements in Indian religion. 182 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE " There is no contradiction between the concept of the universal incomprehensible Brahma and the concept of the Universal Personality whose will is the order of the universe. The positive elements in the concept of Brahma are unity, universality, reality, and intelli- gence ; if, within that rather sketchy metaphysical out- line, there now appears the universal person whose will forms the moral order of the world, the old idea is in no way disturbed or weakened, but receives the rich moral content necessary for its completion. God is still one, still universal, still the mind of the world, while He has become much more, for He is now the basis of the moral as well as of the intellectual order. Thus the early philosophy of India realised a conception of God of the highest truth and value, and held to it faithfully through all storms and changes. The theistic reformers attempted a hundred times to fill this lofty truth with a content that would make it the centre of all religion, but the very fact that each new leader projected a new scheme is all the proof that is needed that no scheme has proved satisfactory. The true but incomplete concept of the Upanishads and the long search of the theists both find their completion in the God of Christianity." Thus, while some of our correspondents find the pre- paration for Christianity in the orthodox pantheism of India, and others in the theistic revolt against it, others find the preparation in both. A worker amongst educated Hindus in Calcutta writes : " The longing for mukti, the soul's deliverance from the sufferings and illusions of earthly life, and in its deeper form from the curse of self and self-will, has, even in its pantheistic corruption with its denial of human and divine personality, the true ring in it of the human soul's cry for an abiding life without the sorrows and sins of selfishness. Likewise the idea of samadhi, oneness with God, is often used of a more metaphysical absorption, but still has in it the true longing for fellowship with the living God." Again he writes : " The Hindu trimurti (Brahma, Vishnu and Siva) is very different from the HINDUISM 183 Christian conception of the Trinity, yet it prepares the way and, to a great extent, removes the objections to this doctrine. Better points of contact and positive pre- paration may be found in the actual religious life of the present day Hindu. A reference to the daily confession of sin in every Brahman's ritual is both of historical and practical value on a point where it is most difficult to find connection, because of the defective consciousness of sin as a moral reality. But the deepest and most direct preparation is to be looked for in the growing bhakti movement with its strong emphasis on the sin- cerity and spiritual character of the individual's de- votional surrender to God. It expresses itself in many false forms, and leads more often to ecstatic trances than to a personal relation to the true God ; most of its followers worship that they know not, yet we have here an attempt on the part of the individual to break through all cere- monialism and intellectualism and to worship in truth and in spirit, which cannot but prepare the way for the true revelation" (F. W. Steinthal). While emphasis is thus laid upon the vital elements of truth, alike in Vedantism and in the theistic movements, our correspondents point out also that these elements are so trammelled in the limitations of Hinduism that they can never come to maturity without a break with the whole environing world of thought. The comparative failure of theistic movements is due to the preconceptions of Hindu religion from which they have never been able to free themselves. " All Indian thinkers have been shut up within the presuppositions of Karma and trans- migration, and therefore none have been able to conceive God as a free personal spirit, prior to the world and independent of it, and using it to suit his own ethical purposes. Thus in each case when the attempt was made to form a monotheistic theology all that was attempted was a re-arrangement of the Hindu Pantheon. There was Brahma (the impersonal) behind all. . . . " The final proof that it is impossible to create a true monotheism within Hinduism may be found in the posi- 184 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE tion of the Brahmo-Samaj, which is a truly monotheistic movement. Had it been possible to have this movement within the bounds of Hindu thought and Hindu society, there can be no doubt that the leaders, who are most anxious to prove themselves the true heirs of the spiritual inheritance of India, and to conciliate Hindus in every possible way, would not have gone outside the Hindu camp to establish their society as they have done" (Farquhar). Even in those more thorough-going forms of theism which arose from contact with Islam, we see the power of the environment dragging down the higher tendency. Thus, for example, one of the most hopeful protests against idolatry and in favour of monotheism was that made by Nanak, the founder of the Sikh religion early in the sixteenth century. To-day, however, in the golden temple at Amritsar, the Granth, i.e. the sacred book of the Sikhs, is accorded a reverence which can scarcely be distinguished from idolatry. It is fanned by priests all day long, and offerings of flowers are brought to it by the people. It is interesting to know that there is some hope that a reform movement may develop in the Punjab, the object of which would be to lay renewed emphasis upon the monotheistic teaching of Nanak. The same trammelling effect of the presuppositions of Karma and transmigration which is seen in Indian theism is seen also in Vedantism. There is much to be said in favour of the contention that the great positive belief of Hinduism, that man represents part of the Divine Being into which he can hope to become perfectly absorbed, originated in an unconscious protest against the pessimism which was itself the inevitable outcome of the fatalistic teaching contained in the doctrines of Karma and trans- migration. The attainment of perfect union with the Divine Being provided the only hope of emancipation from the despair which is the logical result of these beliefs (Hogg, Karma and Redemption). On this view Vedantism is conditioned throughout by the passionate desire to escape from the terrific coil of misery and indignity which is expressed in the con- HINDUISM 185 ception of Karma and transmigration. Hence there has resulted a negative and pessimistic conception of God, which, however speculatively impressive, is too bare for the spiritual needs of the soul. What is needed to deliver the Hindu mind from this entanglement ? The writer who has dealt most fully with this whole conception of Karma and transmigration (Hogg) has suggested that a better result would have been obtained by our enquiry if, instead of asking what elements in Hinduism present points of contact with Christianity and constitute a preparation for it, we had asked, " Where can one most readily create in the Hindu consciousness points of contact with the Christian consciousness, and thereby prepare the way for an Indian type of Christianity ? " He believes that the true method is not simply to destroy critically the Karma basis of Hindu pantheism, but to awaken dissatisfaction with its individualist ideals of redemption, by the quickening of the desire for social and philanthropic reform. He writes : " For the quietistic temper, or for a spirit disillusioned with life, and longing for a release from the whole system of finite existence, Hindu religious philosophy may provide a satisfying creed. But let the strenuous mood be awakened, let there arise dreams of a life consecrated to a large endeavour for a reformed social system and regener- ated human race, and you have there a temper which cannot ultimately find religious satisfaction in anything but Christianity." " What it would be desirable to attempt would be to produce an intensification of Hindu discontent with life ... to intensify to a point at which the gospel of emancipation would cease to appear an adequate relief from the burden, and some gospel re- solving their deeper discontent would come to be desired." " Inspire the Hindu mind with the sense that its ideal is too narrow, that its attainment leaves the world too full of misery and wrong, and you have prepared the way for the Kingdom of God." Suggestive in this connection is the remark of the Rev. L. B. Chamberlain : " The inadequacy of Hinduism to 186 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE renovate the social system, to satisfy the soul, and to raise the nation, is being realised generally and acknow- ledged occasionally. The social reform propaganda is the outcome of dissatisfaction with Hindu teachings and customs." In some respects the most important point of contact with Christianity is " the unquestioning belief in the supernatural." The Hindu has no doubt as to " the existence of superior beings, another world, a life hereafter, rewards and punishments ; though the belief in these things may be vague, yet no one thinks of doubting them. The fact that every one among orientals takes these things for granted furnishes for us a prepared way of approach. We do not need to spend time in arguing for the existence of the unseen and eternal." Mr. Lucas sums up much which has been said above : " In answer to your question as to the points of contact between Christianity and Hinduism I should put first and foremost the spiritual view of life as opposed to the materialistic conception of the West. Though the quality of this spiritual view may be very deficient, and though it may contain much which is erroneous, yet there can be no question that, in Hinduism, religion is, and has always been, the supreme concern of the Hindu mind. The belief that the things which are seen are temporal, while the things which are not seen are eternal, is deeply ingrained in the Hindu temperament. Then I should say that the conception of the oneness of God, though essentially pantheistic and bound up with polytheism, is nevertheless a great religious asset, destined to be of immense value for the future of Christianity in India. Pantheism in India is more theistic than panistic, if the expression may be allowed. The conception of the'Divine, that is, is more in evidence than the conception of the All. Again, the conception of incarnation, though pre- senting very marked defects and misconceptions, is nevertheless not a foreign idea. This conception is also associated with the idea of Divine action for the good of HINDUISM 187 humanity, and bhakti and the bhaktimarga again have marked affinities with the Christian conceptions of loving devotion on the part of man, and grace on the part of God. Though the idea of salvation (i.e. moksha) is always associated with the conception of re-birth, yet there is also connected with it an earnest longing and passionate desire for union with God. These are a few of the out- standing features, but a sympathetic mind will find very much in Hindu religious ideas which anticipates fuller expression in Christianity." THE ATTRACTION AND REPULSION OF CHRISTIANITY The writers of the replies on Hinduism, almost without exception, witness to the unanswerable appeal which the life and character of Christ make to Hindus. It is the influence which this positive appeal has exerted during the past century, and the results that it is even now pro- ducing, which justify the hope that India will one day become a Christian country. Although, as Bishop Caldwell of South India used to say, " there is a great gulf between assent and conviction, and a still greater gulf between conviction and action," nevertheless the willing assent which is given to the claim made on behalf of Christ to be the ideal man will sooner or later lead on to the acceptance of His claim to be the Lord and Saviour of India. " The elements which appeal most to the Hindu mind," writes a missionary of long experience in Southern India, " are the sinless life of Christ, His sublime teaching, and the sacrifice of Himself for the good of man. All the ideas of forgiveness, gentleness, and patience displayed in the Gospel, as for example in the parable of the Prodigal Son, appeal to them, being consonant with their own con- ceptions of what is good and right. The Hindu greatly resents our insistence on the exclusive and catholic claim of Jesus Christ as the Saviour, and only Saviour, of the world. ' You may preach for a week,' said a Brahman to me, ' on the excellence of Christ and Chris- 188 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE tianity, and we will hear you gladly, but when you say that Christ is the only Saviour, and that Christianity is superior to Hinduism, then we will not listen to you ' " (J. A. Sharrock). " The most powerful appeal," writes another, " and the greatest element of power, is the personality of Christ Himself. The story of Christ is the greatest asset we have got " (A. G. Fraser). The same witness to the attractive power of the character of Christ is borne by an Indian Christian professor who writes : " As to the things which have the greatest appeal, the character of Christ is the first thing. It is wonderful to think how tacitly the grandeur of this character is admitted on all hands : His meekness, purity, selflessness, and forgiving spirit. The quarrel is with Christians and Christianity, not with Christ " (N. C. Mukerjee). Reference has already been made to the conspicuous lack of historical perspective and of any appreciation of historical facts amongst Hindus. This accounts for the comparatively weak appeal which the historical facts, on which the Christian Faith rests, makes to them. " Psychology, specially racial and national psychology, when further developed will no doubt prove a valuable help in mission work and in the training of missionaries. It is but what we might expect that the historical element of the Gospel does not appeal strongly to the Hindu mind. The fact of Christ, the reality of His human life, the actuality of His miracles, of His sufferings, of His death and resurrection, which are of such attractive power to the western mind, do not make any such impression on the Indian. Fact and imagination are to him of equal value. What appeals most to the Hindus, at least to the educated man, is distinctly the ideal side of the Gospel : it is the character of Jesus more than His historical personality; the purity and loftiness of His moral teaching more than their practical application; and the realisation of loving communion with God more than the restoration of the broken relationship. It is a great privilege to read the Sermon on the Mount for the HINDUISM 189 first time with a spiritually minded Indian. To him it is not a code of morality or an exposition of Christianity's relation to Judaism ; it is a revelation of a new ethical vision, giving life a new meaning and higher value. The possibility of such a type opens their eyes to a new world ; they are drawn, not by the message of forgive- ness, which, if they think of it at all, appears to them quite natural, but more by the prospect of power to overcome temptations in their own life. The Psalms appeal much to them, and so do Thomas a Kempis, Brother Lawrence's Practice of the Presence of God, and others of the older or newer Christian mystics, which come much nearer to their hearts than most of the modern devotional literature " (F. W. Steinthal). " By far the most striking fact that I have observed," writes another, " is the power of the Sermon on the Mount. In the conversion of almost every great and leading Christian of the North it was the Sermon on the Mount that gave the impetus " (see the lives of Father Goreh, Dr. Imad-ud-Din, etc.). " I believe the pure, ideal, ethical picture of Jesus Christ in the Gospels is, to the educated Hindu, the greatest of all attractions to the Faith " (C. F. Andrews). The Rev. Dr. Hooper supplements this opinion in an interesting way. He writes : " The moral law of Christ in the Sermon on the Mount appeals most to the ordinary Indian mind ; but to the Vedantist and to all inclined to mysticism, St. John's Gospel appeals far more than any other part of Scripture ; indeed they say they under- stand it better than we do." A missionary in Rajputana (W. Bonnar) writes : " The elements of the Christian Gospel which possess the greatest power of appeal are (i) the love of God, the eternal Father. While Hindus do not know God as the Father, yet when that truth is presented to them they readily apprehend it. ... The parable of the Prodigal Son, too, is perhaps of all the most successful presentation of the truth. (2) The beautiful life of the meek and lowly Jesus, who wrought such wonderful works, the friend of 190 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE the poor and needy, who spent His life in doing good, and in the end laid it down, a sacrifice for sinners. (3) The sure hope of a never-ending life on the other side of death, in which there will be no sin, no sorrow, no pain, no suffering of any kind, a life of joy and peace and rest. (4) The purity, truth, and goodness manifest in the lives of real Christians, for they can distinguish the true from the false. If even a fair proportion of our nominal Christians, European and Indian, were true followers of the Lord Jesus, reflecting His gentleness and goodness, what a mighty spiritual power they would be in their quiet and unostentatious lives." Speaking from the standpoint of long experience as a missionary and evangelist, another writes : " The Fatherhood of God is the doctrine which, above all others, lays hold of an audience, and I think that all classes of people feel this doctrine more or less, though to the metaphysical Vedantist it doubtless seems inconsistent with his conception of God as the Absolute, the Unrelated, the Passionless." On the one hand there is the clearest testimony to the power of appeal which the Cross has, as the crowning revelation of the Divine grace. This is common to nearly all the witnesses. They admit that even in this simple form the message of the Cross creates antagonism in some, as conflicting with the whole Karma system of merit and recompense, which is one of the great pre- suppositions of Indian religion. But on the other hand, to those who are dissatisfied with the whole conception of merit the message of the Cross comes with all its ancient power. Beyond this agreement as to the power of the fact of the death of Christ as the manifestation of the forgiving love of God, there is considerable diverg- ence as to the theory of the Atonement. The views of some may be best expressed in the words of a missionary in the South of India (the Rev. W. B. Boggs) : " I believe it to be true of India, as of all other lands, that the Gospel truth which really possesses the greatest power of appeal is that of the sin-bearing Saviour, the condemned HINDUISM 191 sinner's substitute, laying down his life as a ransom for men because God loves them." The prevailing testimony, however, is that forensic views of the atoning death of Christ do not attract but rather repel the Indian mind, and that this repulsion is by no means confined to those whose minds are held captive by the Karma system, which is incom- patible with the whole conception of Divine grace. The Rev. W. Dilger writes : " The chief moral and intellectual hindrance in the way of Hindus is not the Divinity of Christ but His Cross, or the doctrine of Atonement and Justification through faith in Christ crucified, which is diametrically opposed to the Hindu doctrine of works, and their compensation in transmigration (Karma). But I would state it as my firm conviction that to throw this specifically Christian truth into the background in favour of other doctrines more palatable to the Hindu mind would be no gain, but an irreparable loss to the cause of Christian missions in India. I do not, however, mean to imply that ' the word of the Cross ' should be presented to the people of India in the terms of the theory of vicarious punishment, as set forth by Arch- bishop Anselm of Canterbury." So also says Principal Howells : " The doctrine of the Atonement is sometimes set forth in a way that is difficult to reconcile with the Fatherhood of God, and I have heard strong objections urged against it on that ground. But the opposition I have observed is due more to the crude way in which the doctrine is stated, than to the doctrine itself." The distinction here drawn is made even more explicit by many of our correspondents, and is implied in the great majority of papers. " What can be said about the doctrine of the Cross ? Much depends on the manner of presentation of the doctrine of the Cross. Thrust it forward in the fashion of those who revel in its material and commercial aspects in what they are pleased to call ' the offence of the Cross,' but which others might regard as the offensiveness of the representation of the doctrine of the Cross, and it doubtless raises 192 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE opposition on the part of the thoughtful. But my experience is that when put forward in the breadth of its meaning and implication it commends itself to some . . . though it seems to compromise God's dignity so greatly " (E. Greaves). Canon Westcott writes : " My experience is that the doctrine of the Atonement has to be carefully taught in connection with its sacrificial aspect. I believe that the substitution theory, as it has been called, positively repels the Indian from the Christian faith. The law of Karma has taught him, in an exaggerated degree, that sin is punished and that the offender cannot escape from it." The drift of the evidence here as a whole is that the Indian mind, when it is able to escape from the trammels of the Karma concept, finds life and light in the revelation of Divine love in the Cross of Christ, but does not naturally theorise it in the juridical terms of the theology of the western Church. Dealing with the elements in the Christian Gospel which awaken opposition amongst Hindus, Mr. Slater writes : " With regard to the contrasts between Hinduism and Christianity, it is only necessary to emphasise the fact that it is the supreme claims of Christ as the one and only Saviour, the one Mediator between God and man, and that faith in Him is necessary to salvation, and that in none other is it to be found that it is these exclusive and uncompromising claims of the Gospel which always arouse the greatest opposition. For Hindus claim to be more tolerant, and believe that there are many roads all leading to the same city ; many mediators and many incarnations, as God manifests Himself in different ways in different lands and ages. ... To the Hindu there is no false religion, but every faith earnestly believed in is true for the believer, and yields the results needed for his higher evolution, and he cannot understand and utterly denounces the ' compassing sea and land to make one proselyte.' ' " No doctrine of Christianity," writes Mr. James, " incites so much opposition among Hindus as its exclusiveness. They are quite prepared HINDUISM 193 to give a place to Christ in their pantheon, and worship Him as reverently as any of their own gods. What they resent is that He is the only Saviour, and that there is no salvation without Him. That is to say, they would accept Christ if He would unchrist Himself." Another ground of antagonism is brought to light by a worker among educated Hindus, who writes : " An aspect of Christian teaching which meets with special incredulity is the idea of one life, and after that the judgment. Even though Hindus may, perhaps, not hold transmigration as a living belief, the ' one life system,' as I have heard it called, appears to strike their imagina- tion as utterly incongruous with the vast issues at stake. The incompatibility of the idea of creation with the fact of the presence of evil in the world is another constant objection. The absence from average Christian teaching of any adequate treatment of the problem of unmerited suffering is a cognate difficulty. Both difficulties are frequently felt by the Christian consciousness, but the expedient of passing them by as mysteries will not do in a land where there exists a cut-and-dried theory of suffering " (A. G. Hogg). The "one life theory," to which reference has just been made, is mentioned as a ground of offence to Hindus by several writers. Thus another writes : " The doctrine of one human life which Christianity emphasises does not suffice for the Hindu mind. The teaching of the reincarnation of the soul of man is one of fundamental importance to the Hindu. This is connected with the doctrine of Karma. If a man must eat the fruits of all his deeds, if he is to work out his own salvation, it will require many earthly existences in order to achieve this great result. That the soul of man should in one brief human birth qualify itself for an eternal existence in heaven or hell, with no hope of reprieve or change, seems to him a doctrine unworthy of belief, and I know no doctrine in our faith which finds greater difficulty of access and hospitality to the Hindu mind" (J. P. Jones). More than one writer refers to the opposition to the Christian faith which is aroused by the insistence COM. iv. 13 194 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE on the doctrine of eternal punishment, which was a prominent characteristic of the preaching of missionaries a generation ago, and still characterises the teaching of a certain number. One writes : " Few causes have prejudiced the Hindu mind more, and aroused fiercer opposition than the traditional view of the final destiny of the wicked their eternal separation from their Maker especially when stated in its extreme dogmatic form, an appeal being made to the Bible. One of the commonest questions is this, 'Is an eternity of happiness or misery after death compatible with the duration of one brief earthly life ? ' The traditional view, however honestly held, should never be placed in the forefront of missionary teaching " (T. E. Slater). The same writer draws a comparison between the Alexandrian teaching of a divine logos which preceded the teaching of the Christian faith and the Hindu teaching of Brahma or the Divine essence, and makes a helpful suggestion in regard to the attitude which the Christian missionary may assume in face of the Hindu belief that this Divine essence is essentially impersonal. He writes : " In order to appeal intelligently and convincingly to the religious nature of the Hindus we must seek to connect our great message with India's religious past, and present it, not as something foreign to their thought, but as the completion of what they them- selves have been earnestly seeking for. In seeking to do this should we not show that, while our God must be eternally personal in His nature, yet to the world the impersonal has, ever been becoming the personal, the Divine ever finding fuller expression till it reaches its fulness in the Christian incarnation, when God, as Son who had been impersonally immanent in the world as the Divine idea or logos, became personally present and active in its life. This at least we know, that the world was not sure of the nature of personality till Christ appeared. Such a view throws considerable light upon the pre-Christian religions, and specially on Hinduism, where an impersonal conception of the Absolute is at the root of its thought, while at the same time the mind has been ever struggling HINDUISM 195 to realise the personal : and it may further explain to its adherents why Christ did not appear till the fulness of time had come. . . . The Hindu passion for unity demands a rational connection of the whole scheme of things, and it is the abrupt entrance of God into the world that seems to be out of harmony with the Divine mode of working, and so staggers the Hindu mind." Referring to the moral obstacles which are the most serious obstacles to the spread of the Christian faith, another writes : " The great hindrance is the natural tendency of the human heart to resist the Divine claims and to escape from the requirements of the Divine law. Men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil, and the refusal of Christianity to make com- promise with evil habits and evil customs calls forth opposition and arouses resentment " (W. H. Campbell). The Bishop of Madras points out that the doctrine of the brotherhood of man is at once an attractive force and a cause of offence to Hindus : " One of our oldest and most respected Bengali clergymen in Calcutta, who was a Brahman convert, told me that the first step towards his conversion was hearing part of the Sermon on the Mount read out by a Christian preacher in the streets of Calcutta. The doctrine of the brotherhood of man is in itself calculated to make a very powerful appeal to all classes in India, but unhappily it does not find sufficient concrete embodiment in the life of the Indian Church. The brotherhood of Mohammedanism has been a powerful means of winning over hundreds of thousands of the lower castes of the Hindus in North India, especially in East Bengal. The brotherhood of Christ would have a still more powerful influence among the same classes all over India if only the doctrine were made more of a reality within the Church itself. At the same time, undoubtedly, the catholic brotherhood of the Christian Church provokes the greatest opposition among the higher castes of Hindu society. It brings it into violent conflict with the powerful system of caste." There are many doctrines of the Christian faith to which 196 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE the Hindus listen with the utmost tolerance and which arouse no opposition as long as their acceptance does not appear to involve any change of conduct or life. " Opposition arises, not in regard to doctrine, but in the relation of doctrine to life. The doctrine of the father- hood of God and the brotherhood of man finds ready acceptance in the mind. It is only when the attempt is made to apply that to practical living that real opposi- tion arises. In the same way the conception of the oneness of God never arouses opposition : it is only when its acceptance involves the neglect of idol worship that the opposition becomes pronounced " (B. Lucas). BELIEF IN GOD AND IMMORTALITY It has frequently been suggested that although Hinduism is undoubtedly pantheistic, nevertheless a large proportion of Hindus entertain a practical belief in personal immortality and in the existence of one supreme God. Dr. G. A. Grierson, who drew up the report on Indian religions for the last Government census, main- tamed that a very large number of Hindus, especially in North India, as the result of the teaching of Tulsi Das, have a real and practical belief that after death they will pass into the hands of a personal God and will enjoy conscious immortality. None of the replies which have been sent in endorse altogether the views expressed by Dr. Grierson, though the answers to the question which was asked are of a varied nature. According to popular Hindu philosophy " there is a supreme essence, Brahma, which is neuter, impersonal, and unconscious. From this essence is evolved the personal Brahma (masculine) the Ishwara or Lord. But as everybody and everything goes back ultimately into this impersonal essence, we can scarcely say that Hindus believe in a supreme God. In the Bhagavad-Gita, Krishna is re> presented both as the absolute essence Brahma and as a personal God to whom sacrifices and prayers are to be offered. The Hindu, the leading Indian paper in HINDUISM 197 Madras, declared in a religious article that ' the Hindus have never sunk so low as to believe in a personal God.' " A worker amongst educated Hindus, after pointing out that Hinduism provides no hope of personal rela- tionship after death and no possibility of a personal relation to God except by identification or absorption, and that therefore Hindus cannot be said to have any practical belief in personal immortality, goes on to say, " There is among the educated classes a definite and growing tendency to a more or less clearly denned theism, with a personal conception of the one true God and a personal relation between Him and man. This is beyond doubt due to Western literature and philosophy in general and to direct Christian teaching, but with the unequalled, absorbing, and all-embracing faculty of Hinduism there is little doubt that this tendency will make itself gradually felt also in other spheres of India's religious life, and thus help to break down the great hindrance which the pantheistic conception always will be to the establish- ment of Christ's kingdom, both morally and spiritually " (F. W. Steinthal). Another from Southern India writes : " The Hindus are perhaps the strongest believers in the immortality of the soul whom the world has ever known. But they do not believe in a personal immortality. The soul at its beatification passes on, like a drop of water to the mother ocean, into the Absolute Soul. It loses all separate identity." A writer from Poona, in Western India, made an attempt to elicit answers to questions as to God and immortality from the simple country people amongst whom he was working. He writes : " During a tour of several weeks among the Western Ghauts, I made a point, in order to test this matter, of questioning representatives of all classes of the peasantry in regard to their hope for the future only twice did any one indicate belief in future personal re- sponsibility to a personal God. In the case of men and women, old and young, outcaste and cultivator, I found 198 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE that the future presented an endless vista of re-births in regard to which they were completely ignorant and therefore completely indifferent. ... I do not think that it is too much to say that the consequence of this belief generally is indifference to the moral fruits of righteousness, an indifference in fact to all that lies beyond the grave, as complete as if there lay nothing beyond it " (N. Macnicol). Another worker amongst educated Hindus in North India writes, in answer to the enquiry as to a belief in a Supreme God, " The Vedantists strive to think the unthinkable an impersonal God. There is more and more, however, a tendency to get round to a theistic position. Some are possibly approximating to the neo-Hegelian position of God becoming conscious in humanity. It is very difficult to get any well-defined view of the Vedantic position, or rather positions. Gener- ally speaking the God of the Vedantists is rather the basis of all that is, than God in any true sense of the word. There are some, however, who claim to be Vedantists who believe in a personal God. The masses of the people are polytheists, and yet I grow more and more disposed to think that there lies in the background of their minds a vague sense of one Supreme Being, who is above all and personal, and not unmindful of the affairs of men. This is not a settled conviction, however, so much as a vague, dim feeling " (E. Greaves). A German missionary who has worked on the coast of Malabar quotes some of the proverbs in common use as evidence that the people have, or at least once had, a belief in one supreme and personal God. He writes : " We meet with this conception again and again in the proverbs of the people, e.g. ' To the helpless God is helper,' or ' Can God ever forget anything ? ' It is my firm conviction," he adds, " that this belief reaches far back into the time before Malabar was invaded by Brahmanism " (Wilhelm Dilger). Amongst educated Hindus there is comparatively little yearning or desire after a personal immortality. HINDUISM 199 Thus one writer says : " Personal immortality is not a clear, definite, and prominent thought. In teaching In Memoriam I have been surprised to find how little sympathy there is with Tennyson's passionate desire for a personal and individual reunion with HaUam " (C. F. Andrews). Speaking of the more general belief in Hindu immor- tality as distinguished from the Christian doctrine of personal immortality, Mr. Slater writes : " The belief in immortality, according to Burnouf, was never inter- rupted for a moment in India. It appears prominently in the earliest Vedic hymns, and becomes more elaborate in the Brahmanas. It is found in connection with the memory of the Pitris, or ancestors of the worshippers, who are regarded as still existing, and are invoked for succour. It manifests itself still in the Sraddha ceremony, or offering to a father's spirit, a duty incumbent on every Hindu son. (The Sanskrit word for son, puira, literally means one who delivers from hell.) Recognition of friends in heaven is expressed in words used at the obsequies of the departed, ' In heaven where our virtuous friends enjoy blessedness, having left behind them the infirmities of their bodies, may we behold our parents and our children. . . .' Lastly the belief in transmigra- tion which enters into the whole genius of Hindu philos- ophy, witnesses to the conservation of spiritual agency and the continued existence of the soul in a future life." The Hindu position in regard to a belief in a personal God is summed up by another thus : "All believe in a supreme God. But He is It. Theoretically they stoutly deny any ultimate distinct Deity. Practically they step into the consequences of theistic modes of thought. Their whole conception is hopelessly con- fused. All will affirm their belief in Parmeshwar. Many will freely and instinctively speak of ' it ' and theoretically affirm Pantheism" (W. E. S. Holland). 200 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE THE INFLUENCE OF THE HIGHER CRITICISM The majority, which includes all who are at work among the student class, are disposed to welcome the " higher criticism " as removing difficulties of Christian apologetic and as leading to a deeper understanding of the nature of revelation. On the other hand, there is a minority which looks upon the " higher criticism " with much suspicion, and predicts evil from the advance of its methods, primarily among the missionaries them- selves, and secondarily among Indian Christians. But to a very considerable extent this divergence of opinion disappears on close examination, as it is seen in the main to rest upon differing conceptions of what is meant by " criticism." There is practically no trace in the evid- ence of sympathy with criticism of an anti-supernaturalist kind, and it is clear, to a very considerable extent, that this is the type of the " higher criticism " which has awakened the antagonism of those who oppose it. The following citations represent the main drift of the evidence. Mr. Fraser, who is in touch with Hindu and Buddhist students in Ceylon, writes : " The higher criticism is, I believe, doing a great deal of good in paving the way for the evangelisation of the world. To begin with, it is affecting the missionaries and giving them reasonable answers to the difficulties which are always being brought up before one, such questions as ' How did God, who is not tempted, tempt Abraham to human sacrifice ? ' The conception which has been growing in the missionary body of the Bible as a history of revelation is of tre- mendous value in meeting these new faiths out here. It clears away a great deal of unnecessary scaffolding. Moreover, it simplifies the preaching of the Gospel. As to the attack on Christianity, Ingersoll, Haeckel, and others are being translated and given away in the streets. But I do not think that they do much harm. Most of the trouble that arises from these things is confined to timid Christians." HINDUISM 201 One who has had long experience both of educational and evangelistic work describes thus the attitude which he adopts in dealing with the stories contained in the early part of the Old Testament. He says, " Personally I find the Bible admirably fitted for instructing the Indians in their present childlike state. I preach, e.g. the story of the Fall just as I find it in Genesis, not because I think it scientifically or historically correct, but because it is the best way of presenting the matter to my hearers' minds ; whereas the scientific way would be quite unintelligible, and hence, far less effective, in their present state of knowledge " (J. A. Sharrock). If the destructive criticism of certain well-known German writers be included in the expression " higher criticism " there can be no doubt that its spread in India is to be strongly deprecated by those who are interested in the spread of the Christian faith. The influence exerted by these writers, though non-existent in very many districts, is considerable in others. Thus a missionary who worked in the Southern Mahratta country in the Bombay Presidency, writes : " The names of the representatives of Western materialism and monism, as Schopenhauer, Haeckel, and others are very well known in the district in which I was working. Haeckel's Weltrdlsel were appreciated as arguments against Christianity, though the Indians would not like to accept Haeckel's genealogical tree of man, which speaks of man as a highly developed monkey. In one village we were asked whether it were true that we belong to the monkey caste. Some years ago much excitement was caused among the educated classes of our district by the Babel-Bibel lecture of Delitzsch. Immediately after the lecture was delivered it was translated into Marathi and a widely circulated paper brought it into every corner of the district. I sent a reply to the editor, but it was rejected" (F. S. Braun). A worker amongst educated Hindus in Calcutta urges the need of giving some instruction to those who are being trained to become missionaries, which may 202 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE prepare them to meet the difficulties which may be raised by students of the higher criticism in the mission field. Thus he writes : " The daily newspapers and monthly periodicals make it so easy to follow the modern development of Western thought that it is out of the question that any problem dealt with in the press should be unknown among the educated classes. . . . We are all indebted to the modern researches for a truer view, deeper understanding, and clearer insight, not only into many details but into the whole life of the Bible. The more we learn ourselves the better we are able to unfold the riches of the book, both to Christians and to Hindus. The historical development of God's revela- tion of His dealing with Israel and with individuals, the relation between the subjective receptivity and objective revelation, the historical character of the biblical facts in their certainty and limitation, God's use of human agencies and means in the psychological and sociological development, should be a help in mission work, and no Missionary Society should withhold this help from the new missionaries in their training institutions at home " (F. W. Steinthal). Another writer who has had large experience in dealing with university and college students, writes : "So far as Hindus are concerned I have found the vagaries of ' higher criticism ' a negligible factor. It is only right to add, however, that my own freedom from annoyance by higher critical objections is not surprising, seeing that the more important critical difficulties are always brought out by myself in my teaching. The publica- tions of the rationalist free press seem to be largely read, as indeed is natural in view of their cheap price an absolute pre-requisite of wide circulation in India." The Bishop of Madras writes : " The growth of the higher criticism of the Bible is tending to bring out into very strong relief the truth of the Christian doctrine of inspiration in opposition to the mechanical theories of inspiration held both by Hindus and Mohammedans. The higher criticism has also cut the ground from under HINDUISM 203 a large number of shallow objections to Christianity, based upon the scientific or historical inaccuracies of the Old Testament, which have been spread broadcast throughout India by cheap agnostic literature from Europe and America. The vague tendencies of thought included in the term ' the new theology ' have, I think, exercised an injurious effect on missionary work among the educated classes by fostering the idea that a belief in the Divinity of Christ is no necessary part of the Christian faith, and giving the impression that orthodox Christianity is becoming antiquated. Every vague influence of this kind serves as an excuse to the educated classes in India for their natural disinclination to face the claims of Christianity. For this reason it is important that the questions raised by the higher criticism should be carefully studied by missionaries in India. Where a rigid and mechanical theory of inspiration is taught, the effect of the higher criticism is often most unsettling both to Christians and non-Christians, tending as it does to weaken, if not to destroy, all reverence for the Bible as an inspired book." Mr. Andrews of Delhi writes in a similar strain : " For the Christian apologist to take the reactionary position against higher criticism and modern Western thought would appear to me fatal in dealing with edu- cated Hindus. On the other hand the acceptance of higher criticism is understood, and is regarded as implying honest frankness and true liberalism. The stress on the ethical and spiritual in the Bible and the ' educational method ' of revelation is appreciated. The philosophy of history thus set forward strengthens the Christian position and does not weaken it, and gives a recognised place for Hindu religious thought and life in past ages." Another who is in close contact with students in North- ern India, writes : " The Arya-Samaj makes much capital out of the conflict over higher criticism, and uses the statements of extreme critics. On the other hand a moderate critical position offers a complete defence against their attack. Difficulties over which the advo- 204 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE cate of the older view has to contend strenuously and often, and, to our seeming, ineffectually, melt out of sight before a moderate critical position. They simply do not appear" (W. E. S. Holland). Professor Rudra, the Indian Principal of St. Stephen's College, Delhi, writes : " The opposition of the Church to the results of higher criticism weakens the message of the Christian Church and its authority." A missionary in South India makes the following pregnant suggestion : " The ' higher criticism ' as an attitude of mind, as a process of discernment, has hardly touched India. They have not yet begun to apply it to their own religion. I can conceive of no greater revolu- tion in Hindu thought and in the Hindu religion than that which must overtake it when the leaders of that people resort to the methods of ' higher criticism ' and apply them readily to their own writings." More than one writer urges the great importance of producing cheap literature in Indian languages which would deal with the difficulties raised by the books issued by the rationalistic press. The suggestion is made that a certain number of European and Indian mission- aries should be set apart for this work who should be free to devote their whole time to translating or adapting some of the books that are already available in the English language (J. P. Jones). Another writer (Nicol Macnicol), urges the necessity of the preparation of literature on the points of contact and contrast between Christianity and Hinduism, which should endeavour to do for the India of to-day what the mediating Alexandrian literature of the early centuries did for Hellenism. THE INFLUENCE OF CONTACT WITH HINDUISM ON CHRISTIAN FAITH In reply to the question Has your experience in missionary labour altered, either in form or substance, your impression as to what constitute the most important HINDUISM 205 and vital elements in the Christian Gospel ? the answers vary considerably. Some are conscious of no change whatever. A missionary of experience in Southern India writes : "I cannot conceive how any alteration in form or substance is possible. Our duty is to contend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered to the saints." Most of the writers say that the substance is essentially the same but that the form and especially the perspective have changed very considerably, and that the changes have been all in the direction of centralising and simplify- ing faith in the living Christ. Some say that there have been considerable changes, both in form and in substance. The following answers are typical. A venerable missionary of the Church Missionary Society writes : " Work in India has not altered greatly my views of Christian truth. It would have done so much more, if I had not been compelled to think out a good many problems before I went to India. Contact with Hinduism has, however, forced me into a more determined opposition to pantheism, and a greater sense of the vital importance of the belief in freewill. More- over, my increasing perception of the fact that the majority of those who do hear and reject the Gospel reject it without any clear understanding of it, has greatly con- firmed my personal conviction that in the great majority of cases death does not finally seal the fate of a person." A distinguished missionary of the London Missionary Society, since departed, wrote : " My experience in my work has not materially altered my views as to what constitute the great essentials of the Gospel of Christ. The great central fact of Christianity, the fact of the Incarna- tion is, and must be, the basis of all Christian teaching. Browning's words ' I say the acknowledgment of God in Christ, Accepted by thy reason, solves for thee All questions in this world and out of it, And has, so far, advanced thee to be wise,' express what I feel to be the true attitude of the mis- sionary face to face with the aspirations and needs of a 206 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE non-Christian people. The historical facts of the life of Christ must be presented, but the great thing is to bring home to the people the fact of a living, present Christ, the revealer of God, the Saviour from sin, the all-loving, all-powerful friend and helper. The theories which seek to explain the great central facts of Christianity appear of altogether secondary importance when one is brought into touch with people whose ignorance of the facts keeps them from attaining to a knowledge of God, and to .union with Him, but the facts themselves gain an ever-increasing significance and value. There are some of the doctrines of Christianity which at one time seemed to render faith more difficult, which practical experience has placed in an altogether new light. The most notable is the doctrine of the Trinity. In view of the notable failure of Indian monistic thought to retain the idea of the Divine Personality, or even to retain an idea of God with any positive content, this doctrine is seen to be not merely an aid to, but a necessity of faith. Experience of mission work has also driven me more and more back on the great fundamental fact of the Divine Supremacy. ' It is God who worketh in us.' His plans never fail. His will must be accomplished, and He is Infinite Love, so there is no room for doubt, or fear of failure." The Principal of a College in Bengal writes : " My views have changed very considerably both in form and sub- stance. My experience in India has made me realise very deeply that the one vital element in the Christian Gospel is Christ Himself. Our philosophical theories, and our theological dogmas, can be very largely paralleled in Hinduism, but Christ cannot in any real and vital sense. I have increasingly felt that my concern as a Christian missionary is not with Christianity as a religious system, but with the presentation of the Personality of Christ as the supreme revelation of the redeeming love of God. This is the one Gospel that India needs. I am far from thinking a theological system useless, but I feel strongly that no attempt should be made to impose on Eastern Christianity any theological system worked out by Western HINDUISM 207 theologians. Eastern theology in my judgment will be more on the lines of the Gospel of St. John than the Epistle to the Romans." One who is a teacher at a large college writes : " When I came to India I was little interested in the historical basis of Christianity, being ready to surrender to criticism any particular alleged facts of the New Testament narratives even the Resurrection itself provided only that the general impression yielded of Jesus' personality was not affected thereby. I had not been long in India, however, before a radical change began to be effected in the tendency of my thinking. As I worked among the students and read Hindu books, I became more and more imbued with the conviction that, in relation to Hinduism, there were two things which were for Christianity dominant and fundamental. The one was that God was the active will, self-expressed in history in reaction upon the wills of men with a culminating expression in Jesus Christ. The second was a clearer perception than before that it was the very essence of Christianity to break, root and branch, with the conception of human merit, as either a directing or a restraining influence upon God's treatment of man. God always treats men better than they deserve, and bestows on every man, however undeserving, the very greatest gift that he is spiritually capable of benefit- ing by. Over against the Hindu idea of Karma, that is the essential message of Christianity. ... In order to remove all obscurity from the thorough rejection of the standpoint of merit, I think the emphasis in the doctrine of reconciliation should be transferred from the death of Christ to the Incarnation." Another writer says : "I have been a missionary for nearly thirty-five years. I am most grateful to my God that both study and missionary experience have greatly altered both the substance and form of my convictions as to what constitute the most important and vital elements of the Christian Gospel. At first I imagined that I knew in large measure nearly the whole of the Christian Gospel. Now no word of Scripture seems to me 208 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE more inspired than that of the great Apostle ' I know in part and I prophesy in part.' Gradually I have grown into a much fuller conception of God as the Father of all spirits, and of His way of dealing with both His Christian and non- Christian children, of the essential Christ-likeness of His attitude toward every man, and of the effective universality and activity of His Holy Spirit. These larger convictions give me greater hope and joy and power as one of God's chosen messengers in intercourse with brother men to give them the Christian interpretation of our God, and to expect results, because I now realise better that the Holy Spirit is preparing them to receive, and me to give His message, and that He will do what He can in the following up of that message. The humbling yet inspiring realisation of the marvellous patience of my Heavenly Father toward me in my dulness and sin in not sooner learning what He was teaching and doing for me through manifold privilege, makes me more patient and hopeful in trying to bring brother men into the blessedness of Sonship to our Father, through taking the help of the Lord Jesus Christ." A missionary in South India writes : " The chief change of which I am conscious is the conviction that the essence of the Christian Gospel is not dogma and theology, but a distinct and unique spirit. I do not mean that dogmatic theology is either unimportant or unconnected with the spirit. The missionary who has no definite theology will very soon cease to be a missionary. Experience, however, has taught me that you can replace Hindu error by Christian truth without thereby replacing the Hindu by the Christian spirit." A missionary working on behalf of the London Missionary Society in South India writes : " Years of work amongst a large community of Christians who came from the lowest and most ignorant classes of Indian society have impressed upon me the extreme importance and value of the Sacraments as a means of grace." A missionary working among students in North India writes : " The ' sacramental ' view of the Christian faith HINDUISM has become deeper and more prominent to me through my missionary experience ; at the same time it has become wider and more all-embracing. To put this in another form, I now look at all human life and human history more from the central standpoint of the Incarna- tion. I think more of the extension of the Incarnate life in wider and wider reaches of humanity, till all is summed up in Christ Himself. This is my continual and central thought, rather than starting primarily from the death of Christ as consequent on the Fall, and regarding the saving of individual souls from the punishment due to sin as the one great objective, and viewing all human history as one great mistake, as it were, one great calamity with one single narrow method of remedy and reconciliation. I hope that the ' exceeding sinfulness of sin ' has not become obscured to me, nor the greatness of the Sacrifice of Redemption. But the thought of the Atonement has widened, and I view it now more in the light of the Incar- nation than I did before. ... I find that the mystics, especially those of the Middle Ages, bring me more help in understanding Hindu thought and reshaping my own, than books of a more formal type. The De Imitatione has become specially dear to me. . . . Again the Catholic side of Christianity (I do not mean its dogma, but its ethos) appeals to me now, as it did not in the past, the daily Eucharist hallowing every act of the day and trans- figuring all life and nature, the joy of piercing through the outward ... as through a veil, into the eternal (which the outward dimly expresses) and finding new visions of Christ there, in one's Christian friends and students, in one's Hindu friends and students, in human history, in literature, in art, in nature, all this, and with it the consecration of all these (with their own special gifts and treasures) to Christ, to make up His Complete- ness. ... I am not so anxious, for instance, as in the past, to define the Divinity of our Blessed Lord, though it is to me more than ever before the centre of thought. The Greek theology appears to me, in its later stages, especially to have gone too far in definition, and Latin COM. iv. 14 210 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE theology still more narrowly to have defined and confined the Faith, which should have been left more wholly a matter of heart and moral apprehension than a matter of intellect and logical reasoning. I should not condemn any one who said he did not wish to define his belief in the Divinity of Christ, but who could from his heart say with the Apostle Thomas, ' My Lord and My God/ or with Simon Peter, ' Lord to whom else should we go ? Thou hast the words of eternal life.' . . . Again, I now find the anima Christiana in Guru Nanak, and Tulsi Das, and Kabir (according to St. John i. 9) in a way I never did before, and I cannot use the word ' heathen ' as I used to do. I seem to lay stress on the ethical following of Christ and the practice of the Christ-like, as the supreme criterion, far more than I did in earlier days, and the picture of Christ in the Synoptic Gospels as He accredits and approves this person and that, not as belonging to God's chosen people, but as being humble, devout, sincere, unselfish (see such passages as Matt, viii. 10; xv. 28; xxv. 37-40; Luke x. 33-37). ... I should add that a whole field of the New Testament has been opened to me, and the Book reads like a new Book with regard to the great critical question here in India of racial unity within the Church. The history of the Apostolic age, the foundation of Catholic as opposed to Judaic Christianity, the life struggle of the Apostle Paul for racial unity and brotherhood on terms of equality and freedom all this has gained a vividness and a colour and glory which has made, as I have said, the New Testament a new book to me. I can hardly describe the different eyes with which I now read its pages. And this root principle of Christianity now dominates my ideas of human society past, present, and future. ... In many ways I feel that the change which has been produced in me by my experience in the mission field is still proceeding. The pendulum is still swinging, sometimes back to the older thoughts, sometimes forwards. I have tried to put down as unreservedly as possible the point which I now seem to have reached." HINDUISM 211 INFLUENCES LEADING TO CONVERSION The answers to the last question are somewhat meagre. Many of the native Christians deprecate the presentation of Christianity in Western forms, but are unable to offer any suggestion as to the direction in which changes might be made. It would appear to be the case that it is not the Western form of Christianity, but the Western char- acter of the missionary, which creates the difficulty. The following are specimens of the answers received : A Brahmin convert, who is also a university graduate, in reply to the enquiry " What was it in Christianity which made special appeal to you ? " wrote, " Every man has in the depths of his being an ever-increasing hunger to grow out of the degraded moral life that he lives, into a better life which he pictures before himself. Now, as we set ourselves with all determination and might to do this, we begin to have the sad experience of the infinite diffi- culty of doing it, and we become keenly anxious to know whether there can be some power from above, which will take us with its hands and undertake to mould us. Along with this we are also equally anxious to know whether there can be a way for the blotting out of our sinful past. In Christianity, or rather in Christ, we behold our God becoming the promise of both unto us, whereas in Hinduism with its Karma and transmigration which is no mere head-doctrine for the Hindu, but the very atmosphere and breath of his religious understanding both these are negatived. Indeed, for a Hindu to arrive at the status of having fully surrendered his head and heart to the acknowledgment of this power, and of this blotting out of the sinful past, is a new life, a resurrec- tion to him." (Forwarded by A. Schosser.) An Indian pastor in South India writes : " Dissatisfied with my ancestral religion, Hinduism, I turned to the New Testament to find whether Christianity would satisfy me. The Sermon on the Mount and some of the parables struck me as unique. What finally helped me to accept Christ as my personal Saviour was the sense 212 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE of my sins, Christ's claim to save men from their sins, and the testimony of Dr. Pentecost to the fact that Christ had forgiven him his sins and had saved him. The doctrine of predestination as believed by the ultra- Calvinists perplexed me sorely, but the Western form of Christianity did not prevent me from accepting Christ as my Saviour" (F. Kingsbury). Pandita Ramabai writes, in answer to the first part of this question, " The teaching of Christ exemplified by His holy life and His love for sinners ' The Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost ' this teaching, unlike all the teachings of any religion with which I had come into contact, captivated me at first. I did not recognise in the Christian religion any form either Eastern or Western. Having lost faith in my ancestral religion, I was seeking something which would satisfy the cravings of my heart after religion. The deep desire for salvation and freedom from the bondage of sin was created in me by the power of the Holy Spirit through the word of God, which made me ready to accept this great salvation, although it was presented to me by non- Brahmans." An Indian Professor at Allahabad writes : " It is very difficult to analyse one's conversion, but I believe the sudden dawning of a new relationship to God, through Christ, as implied in the word Saviour, somewhat explains it." He adds, " I would be willing to speak of Western and Eastern Christianity in a matter like the division into denominations and Church government, etc., but so far as Christian truth is concerned there is only one type of Christianity and that is the New Testament and Apostolic Christianity" (N. C. Mukerjee). Canon Nihal Singh, a missionary in North India, writes : " The teaching of our Lord in the Sermon on the Mount made an especial appeal to me when I was a Hindu. The death of our Lord on the Cross and His prayer, ' Father, forgive them ; for they know not what they do,' also made an especial appeal to me. It was the sense of sin that forced me to accept Christ as my Lord HINDUISM 213 and my Saviour. Nothing else brought me to the fold of the Great and Good Shepherd but the sense of sin, for first I became a Brahmo and then a Yogi, but I found no remedy for my sins to be wiped out, but the Lord Jesus Christ, who shed His blood for me, and in His blood I found the pardon for my sins and reconciliation with my God." Very interesting is the story told by the Rev. R. A. Hume of the experience of a Brahman who is now an instructor in a theological seminary. What led him to Christ was not dissatisfaction with self, nor desire for personal salvation, but pain at the injury to the national life of India through the divisiveness of Hindu caste. His intense love of his country made him long for a religion which would unite all Indians. At first he thought of Mohammedanism and studied it, but with it he was dissatisfied because its teaching and much of its history depended on compulsion. Then he thought to develop an eclectic religion. He retired from the world to a mountain to think out the evolution of a new religion for India. Later, on a railway journey, he met a European, who handed him a New Testament, and asked him to study about Christ. The teachings and character of Jesus, which he found in the New Testament, and, later, inter- course with Christians, led him to make the Lord Jesus his Guru. So he became a Christian because he believed that, through the teachings and power of Christ, his beloved India might become purified and united. This patriotism gives him a unique power over educated non-Christians. CHAPTER VII GENERAL CONCLUSIONS WE have thus endeavoured to set before the Conference the general result of our enquiry into the living forces of the Gospel and the forces of the non-Christian religions. We come now to the second part of our task. The spiritual situation being such as is here disclosed, how can the living forces of Christianity be strengthened by Christian thought and by Christian statesmanship. We take, first, the problem of theology What bearing has the evidence here presented upon the task of Christian thought ? The first suggestion that naturally arises from the study of that evidence is that we have here much that casts light on the New Testament period and on the early centuries of the Christian Church. The whole New Testament literature and much 'also of the patristic literature is dominated by the missionary aim. The men who wrote it were engaged in the same work as our correspondents ; the same ideal shone before them, and similar practical conditions were around them as they thought and as they laboured. They, too, were in the heart of a great battle between the living forces of Chris- tianity and the death and life forces of the non-Christian religions of their day. They, too, were grappling with the sway of the immemorial past over the minds of their enquirers and converts, seeking by all the resources of prayer, of thought, and of love to lift them out of the maelstrom of the world of custom, prejudice, and unbelief to the Rock of Ages. Thus it is not too much to say that it is only in the light of such thoughts and experiences as 214 GENERAL CONCLUSIONS 215 our correspondence has disclosed that the inner course of the New Testament thought can be fully understood. We have not here to do with a scholastic theology wrought out of general conceptions in the study, but with a living world of spiritual thought which gradually emerged out of the faith of the first disciples under the strain of the conflict with the powers of Judaism and paganism. Modern historical analysis has made this perfectly clear. We can trace the process step by step in the writings of the Apostles and their followers. We can see how the doctrines of the grace of God were developed in the conflict with the legalism and nationalism of the Jew ; and how the doctrine of the person of Christ came to its fulness in the conflict with early Gnosticism, which again was the product of Eastern theosophy and Hellenism. We can see how the whole Apostolic view grew out of the twofold endeavour of those first missionaries of the Church to meet what was deep and true in the other religions, and to guard against the perils which arose from the spell which these earlier religions still cast upon the minds of those who had been delivered from them into the larger life of the Gospel. Thus it was under the pressure of these spiritual labours that the latent riches of the Divine salvation were brought to light. The Apostles were driven back on their memories of the Lord, they were driven into closer fellowship with Him, they were cast upon the undiscovered riches of the Divine power and wisdom and love, because the opportunities and the dangers of their task taught them the insufficiency of all their past discoveries of Him. New faith is always born out of new emergencies, and it was simply because the Apostles faced the great emergency, and were driven back by it upon the undiscovered in God, that we have a Christian theology at all, that we have those great dis- coveries of God in Christ which mark out the broad out- lines of truth within which all vital and progressive Christian faith must move. The historic peculiarity of the present situation is that, after long neglect, the Church is once again facing the 216 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE emergency. The ages which flinched from facing that emergency were necessarily shut off from the full privileges which in the Divine order come from facing a world task which is a duty, and which is yet utterly beyond the power of the Church in herself to fulfil. This failure to face that task saved them from the pressure of that extremity of need which is God's opportunity of revela- tion. To-day we stand in that extremity once more, and it is that fact which gives so pregnant a meaning to the testimonies which it has been our privilege to study. They disclose in all its depth the spiritual needs of the human soul, just as the Apostolic writings disclose the spiritual needs of Jew and Greek. The same tremendous discipline of life and death, the same pressure of the world on the soul of man as produced Judaism and Hellenism, has produced the religions of the Animistic races, of China and Japan, of Islam and of India. Differ- ent as they all are in so many ways they are one in this, that they all seek to surmount the pressure of the world around them by union with the higher though dimly known spiritual world. In truth the parallel between the work of our mission- aries to-day and the work of the New Testament writers is even closer than such a generalisation suggests. It seems clear that in the New Testament age there had come with the decay of the ancient State religions a great resurgence of primitive Animism. In reading Herr Warneck's study of the Animism of the East Indian Archipelago one is reminded at every turn of the striking chapter in the Expansion of Christianity entitled " The Conflict with Demons," in which Harnack has described the struggle of primitive Christianity with the unseen and yet potent forces of evil in the world of that day, and, whatever explanation we may give of the phenomena, it is clear that they were closely akin to those which we find recorded in the Gospels and the Acts and Epistles as antagonistic to Christ and His Spirit. Further, the great conflict of the Apostolic period was with Judaism, which was essentially legalistic in its whole conception of the GENERAL CONCLUSIONS 217 relations between God and man. We have here in prin- ciple, therefore, the same conflict as that which our missionaries are waging to-day in the countries of Islam, which, as Kuenen has said, is essentially " the kernel of Judaism transplanted to Arabian lands." Most striking of all is the parallel between the all- pervading Hellenism, which conditioned all the labours and the thought of the later years of St. Paul and St. John, and, in a still greater degree, the labours and the thought of the Fathers, and the Vedantism which our missionaries are facing to-day in Poona and Madras and Calcutta. Different as Platonism and Vedantism are in many important respects they are alike in the deep distinction which they draw between the earthly and the spiritual, the sensuous and the ideal world, and in the emphasis with which they assert the supreme reality of the things of the Spirit and proclaim that true life can only be found therein. But if the general spiritual situation and the special historical conditions of the missionary of to-day are so closely akin to those in which the Apostles and the Fathers laboured, the conclusion is inevitable that the thoughts of either period must have much light to cast on the other. If we could find the true method, it would surely be possible at once to illuminate the New Testament from these modern experiences, and, on the other hand, to win new counsel and new inspiration from the sacred writings and from the venerable example of the Fathers for the missionary problem of to-day. Such an endeavour cannot be carried out under the limitations peculiar to our work. We can here only offer a few suggestions preliminary to a fuller enquiry. What then does this evidence suggest for that theology which is vital alike for the Church at home and the Church abroad ? It has seemed to us necessary for the accomplishment of our work that a beginning at least should be made with this enquiry. The success of the missionary enterprise depends in the last issue, not on numbers, nor on wealth nor on organisation, but on the 218 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE forces of the Spirit. What is needed is a living faith, and a living faith demands a living theology. It will be found, we believe, that each of the great world fields has its own contribution to make to the great world problem, its own suggestion to the Church at home. ANIMISTIC RELIGION The correspondent who has most minutely discussed the pathology of animistic religion, Dr. Joh. Warneck, alike in his volume Die Lebenskrdfte des Evangeliums and in a valuable paper written in answer to our list of questions, lays much emphasis on the fact that throughout the East Indian Archipelago the truth in the Christian Gospel which makes the first and most powerful appeal is that of the unity and omnipotence of God. His testimony is confirmed in this by other papers from the same region which expressly corroborate the witness of his volume ; and also by the independent testimony of Mr. Campbell Moody from Formosa, where the popular religion is largely of an animistic cast, in his volume The Heathen Heart, and also in a communication which he has addressed to us. The same testimony comes from Herr Hahn, who labours among an aboriginal people in India, and from other regions. In these cases it seems to be the monotheism of Christianity that at the first forms its greatest power of appeal. It may seem strange that truths which to us are so elementary, as the unity and omnipotence of God, should come home with such kindling power to the hearts of men. But the analysis of the religious experience of converts given by Warneck and Moody, and corroborated by satisfactory evidence from China, India (hill tribes) and Central Africa, and in a remarkable way by recent independent testimony from Korea, makes the reason plain. To the animist the world is peopled by many unseen beings, who are envious of the living, and who, unless propitiated, strike them with disease or calamity. The whole life of the GENERAL CONCLUSIONS 219 animist therefore lies under an incubus of terror. He may propitiate some, but he cannot propitiate all. Ancestor worship is at best a palliative but not a full deliverance, and therefore there arises an intolerable division of life. Hence the message of one Almighty God comes as good tidings of great joy. Because God is One, it is possible now to escape from the unbearable division of life which polytheism entails, and, because He is Almighty, He can protect the worshippers from every foe and lift them above doubt and fear. Have we not here a clue to the rapid spread of Islam among the animistic peoples ? The climax of the Christian Gospel, according to Warneck, is that this God is love, He has not only the power but the will to protect His worshippers. The love becomes real, it becomes possible to realise it through Christ. The picture which is drawn of the relief and abounding gladness which this brings the animist is profoundly impressive. The spell of the reign of terror is broken, and the new life at first is a jubilee of liberty and joy. But at first there is little sense of sin, little of the deeper experiences of inner redemption and the deeper joys of moral victory. He goes on to a fuller faith in Christ, and a deeper sense of the love of God in the light of the cross and resurrection of His Son, and so wins access to the full Christian life. But the Battak convert retains the simplicity of his earlier faith. He takes all his earthly troubles to his great Protector and Father, as well as his inner conflicts. He believes profoundly in prayer and, Warneck tells us, his faith is often strikingly verified. God proves Himself a reality within the world of nature and circumstances to the appeal of childlike faith. Warneck's whole account of the sense of emancipa- tion which characterises the Christian experience of the Battak people is strikingly like that which we find depicted in the earliest Christian records. So, too, is his further statement, that this early fervour of faith 220 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE is often accompanied with very imperfect moral attain- ment, quite in consonance with what we find in the Epistles, where warnings against the gravest moral offences lie side by side with the highest ideals of the Christian as already risen with Christ. The lesson of the whole is that ethical teaching is almost entirely powerless until the religious nature is touched, that the earlier animistic view of the constitution of things has to be broken and dislodged and supplanted by the monotheistic view before power comes to live the new morality. The whole analysis is deeply suggestive for Christian theology. It raises the question whether the Christian Church in civilised lands is using sufficiently the elemental truths of Revelation the unity, the omnipotence, the omnipresence and the availability of God, as the Protector and Deliverer of His children, the hearer and answerer of prayer not only in the soul's inner experiences but in the outward environment of circumstances. This is admittedly the view of Hebrew religion as expressed in the Psalter. Is not the entire Psalter, for instance, rooted in a conception of God and the world more akin to that of the simple faith of these converts from heathendom than to that of our con- ventional Christianity ? And, what is an even more momentous question, is it not fundamentally the same conception which underlies our Lord's entire teaching as its presupposition and ground, and which comes to light in His conception of prayer and His summons to tranquillity and freedom from fear and care as essential virtues of the Christian life ? These questions, if followed out, carry us to the very roots of things. Is the ordinary theological view of nature as a closed system, sporadically broken on rare historic occasions, really philosophically sound or religiously sufficient ? Is there no better way of formulating the relations between God and man and the world, which will at once do justice to the scientific and the religious view of nature, than that which prevails at present in Christian theology ? Does the working compromise between science and faith which we have GENERAL CONCLUSIONS 221 inherited from the apologists of the eighteenth century give room for the full religious conception of the world which underlies all Christian morality, and which is essential for the vitality of Christian faith ? Has not the Ritschlian system made here a real contribution to the solution of the whole problem by its insistence on the deep distinction between the religious and the scientific views of the world and its refusal to blend them together in a premature synthesis ? It is doubtful if the traditional eighteenth century view, when we think it out in the light of modern science, leaves room for the freedom either of man or of God. Has not Butler given us a pregnant suggestion for a deeper view in that weighty passage in the Analogy (II. 4, 3) in which he suggests that all supernatural events, if fully under- stood, would be seen to be illustrations of the workings of unknown laws ? And may not the operation of these laws be conditioned by that which is fundamental to the spiritual life, the possession and degree of faith ? These are questions which can only be touched on here, but which are certainly raised by the account of the Christian experience of converts from Animism which Herr Warneck has given us alike in his report and in his volume. CHINESE RELIGIONS The correspondence which we have received from China, although it comes from all parts of that great Empire, is remarkably uniform in tone. From all quarters, from missionaries and from Chinese Christians alike, there comes the testimony that the thing which China needs to-day beyond all else is moral power. She has possessed for ages a noble system of morality of which she is justly proud, but the general complaint is that there is no power to realise it, and no inner impulse of life driving her beyond it in quest of higher ideals and the power to realise them. We have here exemplified on the vast scale, in a great and ancient 222 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE civilisation, the same principle which Warneck discovers in the experience of the obscure nature peoples among whom he has laboured, that in the long run the impelling and creative power in morality is found only in religion, that the powers of moral life in nations depend on the depth and breadth and purity of men's convictions as to the living God. What, then, is the condition of the religions of China ? What are the really living forces which sustain the traditional morality ? We gain the general idea from the evidence that so far as the educated classes are concerned two of the three great religions are practically moribund, and that though they still have a hold on the fears of the masses they have little real vitalising power, except for certain nobler elements in their pantheon and mythology, such as, for instance, faith in the all pitiful, all hearing goddess of mercy, in Amida Buddha, and in the Western Paradise. With Confucianism, which contains and perpetuates the Ancient Religion the case is somewhat better, for here we have conserved the idea of the Supreme Heavenly Being who is recognised as above all, and who sustains the moral and providential order of the universe. But we gain from the evidence the idea that the strongest religious force in China is the immemorial ancestor worship, which is still a great factor in the life of the people, and which owes much of its power of resistance to the way in which through the ages it has become inwoven into the very texture of Chinese society, so that for a man to become a Christian is well nigh to become an outlaw. This ancestor worship seems to be the element in Chinese religion from which much of the motive force of the national morality is derived, and which in great measure therefore has given to Chinese society the extraordinary tenacity which has enabled it to weather the storms of five thousand years. Still another factor in the religious situation is the existence of powerful sects which have left the ancient religions, out of discontent with their spiritual insufficiency. It is significant that from these, in considerable measure, GENERAL CONCLUSIONS 223 the Christian Church has been recruited, but these, of course, form a relatively small proportion of the popula- tion of the Empire. Taken as a whole the religions of China as they exist to-day have nothing very distinctive to suggest to Christian theology, such as we shall find in Islam and in Hinduism. Much that has been said under the head of Animism as to the power of the Gospel of the unity and sovereignty of God applies here also, for there is very much in the ancient Chinese religion which greatly resembles that religion which Warneck describes as prevailing in the East Indian Archipelago, the con- ception of one shadowy supreme being, the pantheon of native Gods, the swarm of minor spirits and the worship of ancestors. But in China the whole has been purified and lifted to a much higher plane by the development of civilisation and the rise of great moral teachers. In general, the struggle of Christianity in China to-day seems not to be with any very earnest and formidable religious thought which represents a serious attempt to grapple with the mysteries of life and death, but the resisting forces appear to be rather the universal resisting forces of moral laxity and religious indifference, reinforced by national pride in the past, and the lawful and profound resentment which China feels on account of her treatment by the nations of Christendom. Slowly but surely this resistance has been yielding to the power of the Gospel, and all over the vast Empire Christian Churches have been growing up, and taking an ever firmer hold upon the people. On the bare ground of what has already been done the Church has great reason for thankfulness and encouragement. But has she not still more abounding reason for gratitude as she realises the vast importance of this work as preparatory for what lies immediately before her ? She has won all over the Empire points of vantage and bases of operation for one of the greatest spiritual conflicts of human history. Twenty years ago no human being could have imagined the situation in China to-day. It is tme that for a considerable period the most 224 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE far-seeing of our thinkers and statesmen have been deeply impressed by what has been called " the yellow peril," the incalculable consequences for Western civilisation which must result from the industrialising of China and the entrance of her enormous population as an efficient factor into " the great industry " of the world. No one dreamed that the change could have come so suddenly, or concerned himself with the intellectual and spiritual results which must needs follow in China herself in the wake of economic transformation. But now the contented isolation in which China has enwrapped herself for ages has been suddenly invaded by the modern world with its organised " great industry," its science and its terrible armaments. It is matter of common knowledge that to-day China is in the throes of revolution, seeking with feverish haste to learn the new knowledge and to reorganise her educational system. Under the intellectual tutelage of Japan, China seeks to follow the example of the Island Empire. That deep and widespread religious change must follow upon such a revolution is surely clear. The industrialis- ing of China must mean not only the creation of new means of transit and communication, the development of latent natural resources, the training in new technical methods of commerce and warfare of her swarming population, but it must mean also the spread of Western learning and science, and its diffusion throughout the masses by popular education, with all the inevitable corroding and destructive effects upon the ancient religions ; a process accelerated by the shifting and redistribution of population with all the decay of local worships and family loyalties which this involves. It is clear that if China holds on in the new paths, we have before us in these impending changes in her inner life one of the greatest movements of history, affecting nearly one-fourth part of the human race, and fraught with immeasurable consequences throughout ages and centuries yet to be. Now it cannot but be that if this process goes on her ancient religions are doomed. What GENERAL CONCLUSIONS 225 power of resistance have they against the new know- ledge ? Can modern science with its conception of nature endure the cosmology which goes along with ancestor worship, with the popular pantheon, with the superstitions of Animism, with the magic of Taoism ? To ask the question is to answer it. Who can believe that such an alliance could endure ? For a while there may be the present bizarre blend of old and new spells performed at the launch of ironclads to ward off Demons and so forth but this can only be transitional. The old must triumph again or must disappear as the mammoth has disappeared or as a vagrant iceberg must melt in a tropical sea. What will take its place ? There is no more formidable question before the Christian Church to-day than this. The great danger ahead is that the naturalism and agnosticism of the West may find here a congenial soil. The secular and positive temper of the race and its tendency to agnosticism regarding the spiritual world, as manifest in its greatest teachers, its easy tolerance and blend of three such incompatible religions as the Ancient Faith, Buddhism and Taoism, all these things raise the fear that if China goes fairly adrift from her religions she may ally herself with naturalism. What power of resistance is there in her own religions to prevent it ? Could ancestor worship hope to maintain its ground against so formidable an antagonist ? An appeal might be made to positivism as showing how room might be made for ancestor worship on a naturalistic basis. But the nerve of ancestor worship lies in the conception that the ancestor still exists and is dependent in the unseen world on the rever- ence of his descendants, and that in turn he can control their destiny (see Chap. III. p. 47 and de la Saussaye, Lehrbuch der Religions-geschichle, vol. i. p. 72, etc.). It is this, in fact, which gives it any claim to be called a religion. But for such a religion there is no room in naturalism with its reasoned negation of disembodied spirit. But if ancestor worship must needs disappear before naturalism, have Confucianism, Buddism, or COM. iv. 15 226 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE Taoism the needful resisting power ? The evidence, as we have seen, does not support that view. Far from being able to sustain so grave a coming emergency they seem unable to meet the needs of the present day. What then can avert the appalling spiritual disaster of this great race going over to naturalism ? Nothing in the nature of a dramatic and formal apostasy is here contemplated, but simply the gradual weakening and fading of the ancestral faiths, the decay of the temples, the increasing formalism of the worship, the growing secularity of life, and the increasing materialism of the many, becoming explicit in the conscious naturalism of the few. Who can measure the tragedy of such a climax ? With all their deficiencies the ancient relig- ions have maintained the vast structure of Chinese society for five thousand years. All history shows that without religion no civilisation can live. No man can tell the evils and the sorrow to China, and not to China alone but to the whole human race, that must follow the decay of religion throughout this great Empire. It would be far better for China to keep the religion that she has than to discard it for materialism and atheism. There is only one force that can prevent this disaster, and that is the power of Jesus Christ. Have we not in Him that Divine reconciling Word which can reunite and vivify all the divided elements of truth in the religious consciousness of China, that heavenly light which can kindle the smoking flax of need and of feeble aspiration into a burning flame of faith to God and love to man ? Is not the worship of particular deities a protest by the heart of China against the bareness and coldness of the abstract conception of " Heaven " as sufficient for the religious needs of the soul ; and on the other hand is not the conception of " Heaven," which is over all, a persistent witness that no particular deities can ever satisfy the craving of the soul of China for an absolute Lord of all, by faith in whose absolute sovereignty life can be unified, regenerated, and made master of all the power of ill, and so " overcome the GENERAL CONCLUSIONS 227 world " ? And has not this fatal division of the religious consciousness of China led inevitably to that vast growth of superstition which only a strong ethical monotheism can destroy ? Have we not in the Christian Gospel that which fulfils on the one hand all that is movingly taught in the beautiful legend of the Goddess of Mercy and the compassion of Amitabha for weak and suffering men, of the yearning of the human heart for a " Heaven " that can lay its glory by and stoop to earth for the sal- vation of man ; and fulfils also that which is sought after in the conception of " Heaven" by its message of " God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth " ? Is not even the spiritual need revealed in ancestor worship fulfilled in the revelation of Him, "from whom every fatherhood in heaven and in earth is named, the ancestor and father of all," to whom all are bound in filial bonds and through kinship with whom all men are brethren ? Is not the whole Confucian morality fulfilled and superseded in the new law ? Is not, therefore, the whole confused cloud world of Chinese religion shot through and through with broken lights of a hidden sun, which is coming forth in splendour to run a new race in the heavens ? Shall all this wealth of fulfilling truth in Christ Jesus be lost for want of faith to receive it ? Does not that depend in large measure on whether the Church has faith enough to present it with convincing power ? Here is the very core of the problem of the future in China. It has been truly said by a distinguished modern thinker (Eucken) that the real strength of naturalism lies, not in the argumentative case for it, but in the weakness of the spiritual life in the hearts of mankind. The converse truth is that the one great foe of naturalism is faith, its undying antagonist in the great duel of time. When faith fails, naturalism is the one alternative theory and practice, and when faith triumphs there is no place left for naturalism. Is it not then the conclusion of the whole matter that what this great race needs above all else is that elemental faith which is surer of eternity than of time, 228 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE and which draws from those exhaustless fountains so great a vitality of love for men that morality ceases to be a law because it is the very breath of life ? But how shall such a faith come to her unless it be reawakened hi the Church ? Elsewhere there is no hope whatever. No man can say that the policy of Christendom towards China has been inspired by faith working through love. Nor can we look to Governments, or to the mere contact of East and West through industry or commerce or literature or science for the spiritual force which the emergency requires. Such contact may de-spiritualise the life of Christendom instead of spiritualising the life of China. It is the Christian Church alone that can meet the emergency. The one gleam of Christian idealism which has come to China from the West through all the rapacity and violence of national policy has been the missionary enterprise. Here she has at least seen something of the faith that can remove mountains and the love that never faileth. But has there as yet been that demonstration of the supreme might and reality of the Eternal which can alone break the slumber of her past ages ? Who can say that even yet we have within the existing Church the spiritual force for which the present emergency calls ? If the views which have been above expressed are sound, we have before this present generation one of the greatest perils and one of the greatest opportunities of human history. Early Christianity faced a similar hour when it came out of its mountain home in Judaea into a world in which the old faiths were dying or dead, and from the first it grasped the truth that its mission was to preach the Gospel to all that world of dying faiths and decadent moralities, and so to live its own life in Christ, that through the Church the Spirit might have free course to fashion a new humanity. As compared with the numbers, the resources and the organisation of the Church to-day, the Church of old was but a feeble thing when it adventured forth into the great arena GENERAL CONCLUSIONS 229 of the Empire to win it for God. But in quality, in its faith in God, in Christ, in the Spirit, in the power of prayer, in its love and in its unity, its life was of a nobler tone. It was able, therefore, to believe in victory and so victory came, however partial that victory might be. The force which will win China cannot be different from the force which won the ancient Empire. Hence the key to the problem must lie in some change in the quality of the spirit of the Church, some deeper understanding of the Father, some closer union with Him through the Son, some more intimate fellowship with one another through the power of the Spirit. History tells how the ancient emergency was faced, and how in new discoveries of God the Church rose above its impotence, and laid the foundations of Christendom. So only can the Church of to-day rise out of its divisions and comparative impotence, and deliver this great race from taking the path of tragedy across the unknown seas. Never surely was richer freight derelict on the great waters of time. JAPANESE RELIGIONS The situation in Japan is in certain respects akin to that in China, and in others is very different from it. Here, too, we have at the foundation a primitive native mythology and ancestor worship, and superimposed upon it we have the Confucian morality and Buddhism in its northern and also in its sectarian form. But the whole picture of the religion as seen in the correspondence is sharper in outline and brighter in colour. The Japanese papers with practical unanimity dwell on the intense patriotism of the people of Japan, and indicate that this is at the roots of the revival of Shinto. There is no indication of anything answering to this in the corre- spondence from China. An interesting light is cast on the nature of this patriotism by some of the papers which speak of the extraordinary control which the social system of Japan exerts upon the individual. Throughout 230 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE life the individual seems overshadowed by the family, and the family by the State. Converts, one writer tells us, are mainly drawn from men who under industrial pressure have migrated from their own district and escaped from the surveillance of their kindred thereby. The culmination of the system is seen in the practical deification of the royal house. We are told that prom- inent Japanese teach that Christianity is opposed to the genius of Japan because it teaches that there is a heavenly authority higher than that of the Mikado, and because in its teaching of universal love it is opposed to the patriotic desire for the aggrandisement of his race which every true Japanese should feel. It is clear that in their whole way of looking at things we have a survival of the antique view of the State, before it had emerged from the most primitive form of society, and before human personality had emancipated itself from the trammels of tribalism. The student of classical and also of feudal history will constantly recognise parallels to the spirit of that history in the ethics of modern Japan, in the dominance of society over the individual, the worship of ancestors, the deifica- tion of the ruling house, the predatory conception of patriotism and the subordinate position of woman, which are all notes of Japanese morality and religion. But what makes the situation in Japan so extraordinary is the retention of this antique world of thought, along with the eager acceptance of Western methods and ideas. Western constitutionalism, philosophy, science, and technical and military art have all been assimilated by this singular race, and a great system of popular education is diffusing these ideas throughout the entire mass of the people. The result is a strange blend of the primitive and the modern. It is as if Lacedaemon had been suddenly reorganised on American principles. But along with the really positive and progressive elements in modern culture there have come, also, the negative forces. Naturalism and agnosticism have found a congenial ethical soil and have captured many of the makers of GENERAL CONCLUSIONS 231 New Japan, and of the rising generation. In many cases a strange compact has been struck between naturalism and the ancient religion and ethics, between Shinto and Confucianism on the one hand and agnosticism on the other. The position of the Christian missionary is thus exposed to attack at once from the armoury of the immemorial past on the one hand, and from the newest and rawest form of modern naturalism on the other, while against him there is always the steady pressure of the power of the world, the flesh, and the evil one. His task is thus one of no common difficulty. But our corre- spondence leaves on the mind of the reader no trace of discouragement. There is in it rather an element of adventure and expectancy of great things to be done for God and man in this Island Empire of the East, an abounding sense of life and hope. Nor is this on a sober estimate of the facts in any way surprising. Strong as is the present coalition of spiritual forces against Christ- tianity, in the nature of the case it cannot endure. By the very nature of the situation Japan, like China, must press on in the path of industrial and commercial progress which she has entered. She must, therefore, continue to educate her people. For the development of her industrial and military technique she must develop her knowledge of science. As the world of modern knowledge grows within her border and is diffused throughout the masses of her people, and as she enters the comity of modern peoples, the world of ancestor worship, of myth and legend, must vanish away. The ultimate danger here, as in China, is that the natural- ism of the West may here find a congenial soil. That which makes the coming conflict in Japan of such in- calculable importance is the intellectual lead which she has deservedly won in the Far East. The mere fact that thousands of Chinese students are to-day at work in Tokyo is of profound significance. There is perhaps no spiritual position in the missionary world of to-day of such strategic moment as the Island Empire of Japan, no labour so full of destiny as the labour of the men 232 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE and women who are seeking there to lay the foundations of the City of God. They do well to be expectant and confident, for they know that nothing can sustain Japan on her path of progress save the faith which possesses them and which they preach. The Confucianism which is professed by the cultivated classes has been tried for more than two millenniums in the land of its birth. It has no doubt played a great part in the maintenance of social order, but it has never yet proved itself capable of generating the spirit of progress. It looks backward rather than forward. What is good in it is taken up into Christianity, and endued with a new and mighty motive power. It seems clear from our correspondence that the orthodox Buddhism of Japan is practically effete. Sectarian Buddhism seems in more hopeful case, by virtue, it would appear, of certain Christian elements which it has assimi- lated on its journey eastward. But the real destiny of Japan lies with the Christian Church. Here, as in China, the westernising of the culture of the people, and the growth of industrialism, must mean the destruction of the cosmologies with which the ancient religions are bound up, and the decay of the older forms of society and family life. Sooner or later the issues here, as in China, must be fought out between naturalism and Christianity. It is clear from the evidence that naturalism has already obtained a strong vantage ground. One of our corre- spondents tells us : " Most educated Japanese are agnostics." And in a recent authoritative volume, Count Okuma tells us that " the old religions and old morals are steadily losing their hold, and nothing has yet arisen to take their place." " A portion of our people go neither by the old code of ethics or etiquette, nor by those of modern days, while they are also disinclined to conform to those of other countries, and such persons convey the impression of neither possessing nor being governed by any ideas about morality, public or private." Destruction of their old world of faith and ethics is inevitable. The industrialising of Japan must mean GENERAL CONCLUSIONS 233 in the long run the transformation or revolution of the stationary order of society with the inner world of primitive beliefs and morals which correspond to it. Can materialistic thought supply anything to take their place, which can sustain the order and the progress essential to society ? The evidence of history is against this view, however loudly it may be asserted. It is no answer to point to individuals who have shown a lofty public spirit without faith in the unseen. In such a matter we have to look at masses rather than individuals, and at centuries and millenniums rather than decades. And we look in vain for great national histories in which the common life has not been schooled and sustained by religion. But if it be so, and if the truth that it is so can be demonstrated to Japan, may it not be that the very patriotism which leads her now to cling with such loyalty to her ancient religion may lead her on to the faith which can alone meet her true necessity ? For, again, it is matter of history that the free institutions of the West which Japan has adopted are the creation of the Spirit of Jesus. They may be shown to have their deep historic roots in the Christian con- ception of personality, which, again, is rooted in the Christian conception of God and man's primary relation and free right of access to Him. In the end of the day the only power which can use free institutions for noble issues is the power which has created them, the only power which can sustain nations in the arduous path of true progress is the power of the Spirit. " Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." Here only can that mediating influence be found which can deliver the individual from the tyranny of society by setting him in direct and intimate relation with the living God, and emancipating him through faith from the bondage of men ; while, at the same time, it transforms the lawless and anti-social selfishness of the individual into willing service of the commonweal through love to his fellow-men. Already Japan owes far more to Jesus Christ than she has realised, but it is surely the 234 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE destiny of a nation so rich in love of country and heroic tradition of loyalty to discover that in Him are hidden all the riches of social as of individual life. That so great a prize as the Island Empire may be won for Christ, it behoves us to ask carefully what can be done to win it. As the apostles of old set their minds to the winning of Asia, of Greece, and of Rome, so should the mind of the Church be set to this problem. With the view simply of initiating such a discussion we content ourselves with suggesting one or two thoughts which arise naturally out of the evidence before us. In view of the animistic element which forms the substratum of religion alike in China and Japan, what has been said under that section applies here also. In view further of the large element of religion which is common to China and Japan much of what has been said with reference to China applies also to the spiritual situation in the Island Empire. This is especially true of what has there been said as regards the need for a re-birth of elemental faith in the unseen. The mind of the farther Orient, unlike the mind of the nearer East and of Southern Asia, seems to tend to positive and realistic habits of thought. Belief in the unseen came more easily to the Hebrew and the Arab, and comes more easily to India, than it does to China and Japan. Hence as we forecast the future and ask what is the first need of all, we must say it is the new birth, the being born into the ever present, though unrealised, eternal world by the power of the Spirit of Truth. The more we realise this need for these great races, the more we shall realise our own need of it, and of " the transformation of values " which it will bring with it. In other words they and we alike need a new discovery of God. The next need is for some clear understanding of what the religious history of Japan discloses as its peculiar spiritual necessities. We trust that in the evidence pre- sented to the Conference there may be found material for such an enquiry and for the answer to it in the Christian Gospel. We confine ourselves to noting one lesson GENERAL CONCLUSIONS 235 suggested by that evidence. In none of the great world fields is there manifest so keen a desire as in Japan to learn and to assimilate everything that is most recent in Western science, criticism, and philosophy. This is even more conspicuous in Japan than in India, as the realistic temper of the Japanese is here more in sympathy with present tendencies in Western thought than is the specu- lative and mythical mind of India. " The Japanese," we are told, " is by nature a higher critic. A professor is seeking a copy of Father TyrrelTs book in order to give lectures on Modernism." " At present there is much talk about Pragmatism." Even if we make all abatements for the limitation of such interests to a comparatively small class of educated men, the plain lesson of all this is that the victory of faith which we seek in Japan demands a courageous and thorough facing of all the outstanding problems of theology and criticism. Christian thought must vindicate Christian life. Moreover, the standard of theological training of our missionaries must be high. The spiritual policy of the Church must be broad and courageous. Even though we concede that there may be something superficial in this passion for being up to date, it none the less compels us to consider our methods. Our business men will draw a similar conclusion if they find Japanese commerce availing itself of the latest scientific and technical methods. Japanese military science has taught the War Offices of Europe a number of unexpected lessons. Shall we be slower to recognise the bearing of this eager receptiveness to new light on our methods and ideals in theology ? We have infinite reason for gratitude as we remember what the increasing faith of the Church has achieved already, in China and in Japan as in other lands. But the sudden widening of the horizon and the emergence of a new world of peril and opportunity is surely a challenge to deeper faith and more strenuous grappling with the outstanding problems of religious thought, as well as more earnest consecration of the life. There is assuredly more in God and in truth, and in that Gospel which is the truth of God, than we have 236 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE yet attained. It is out of the " residual phenomena " in science that all the new discoveries come. So in the world of faith it is out of the problems of to-day that the Church of to-morrow will win the hidden treasures of life and victory to the honour of the Name which is above every name. BUDDHISM In passing from China and Japan to Islam we are conscious that our Report must needs be defective in that it has taken only incidental account of Buddhism. The communications which we have received are almost wholly concerned with lands in which the Northern type of Buddhism prevails, which is in many respects far divergent from the Buddhism of the text -books and of classical tradition. Neither in China nor in Japan does it seem to form the ruling influence in the national life, although in both countries it has contributed im- portant elements to their religion. It is hoped that in future enquiries of the same kind, fuller material will be provided for a scrutiny of the Southern Buddhism, which approximates more to the primitive type, and that on the basis of this fuller material the defects in our present enquiry may be made good. We have a few papers of great interest and utility from the Southern Buddhist lands, but we have felt that these were too few in number to warrant a formal induction, such as our enquiry presupposes in all other cases. ISLAM The reports from Moslem lands have a strongly- marked individuality of their own. The religion of Islam stands out in them with much greater distinctness and power of resistance than is the case in any of those hitherto discussed. They indicate very clearly how closely akin in certain respects is Islam to the Judaism of the New Testament, and illustrate the truth of Kuenen's saying, already quoted, that " Islam is the kernel of GENERAL CONCLUSIONS 237 Judaism transplanted to Arabian soil." There is in both the same transcendent way of conceiving of God, the same legalism, the same forensic way, in fact, of viewing the whole relations between God and man, the same external type of piety. If further proof were needed of the disastrous results which legalism produces in the sphere of religion, the history of Islam supplies it in tragic and abounding measure, and vindicates thereby on the ample scale of history the spiritual insight and prescience of the Apostle of the Gentiles, " the great pathologist of Judaism." It is true that Islam is something more, as well as something less than Judaism. Judaism has maintained an incomparably higher standard than Islam in all matters relating to the position of woman and the life of the family. It is true that the laws of Judaism relating to marriage and divorce come far short of the Christian ideal ; but none the less it is true that it has in the main conserved the ethical gains of the captivity and maintained in its practice a far purer standard of famly life than that of Islam through all the ages and lands of its dispersion. It has followed the spirit rather than the letter of its ancient religion. But here Islam has been poisoned at its very springs by the example of its founder. Its apologists may plead that the new faith represented a higher standard in this matter than that which prevailed in " the ages of ignor- ance " before him. But the fatal element in Islam is that by its claim to finality and absoluteness it has sought to fix the Prophet's standards as valid for all ages and lands, and by physical force has dragged down races and lands which had attained a higher level in their ideals of womanhood and the relations of the sexes. Our corre- spondence reveals this as the great moral plague spot of present-day Islam which taints its whole life, defiling its very language, and rendering it difficult for missionaries to convey the elemental ideas of the Christian revelation, the Fatherhood of God and the Sonship of Christ to Moslem 238 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE minds without creating worse misapprehensions of their real meaning. The whole evidence, in fact, brings out the fundamental religious importance of the Christian ideal of womanhood. If it be lowered or unrealised in any age, from the resulting degradation of the family, the whole religious currency is debased, and it becomes impossible to conceive of God in terms of the dearest and most sacred relationships. Have we not here new light cast on our Lord's words, " Blessed are the pure in heart : for they shall see God " ? The reasons of that superiority of Judaism to Islam are plain. It has drawn its inspiration from the glorious springs of " pure religion and undefiled" in the Psalter and in prophecy and in the history from which they sprang, whereas Islam has drawn its life from the spiritual genius of its Prophet alone. But, on the other hand, Islam is something grander than the religion of scribe and Pharisee and dreamer of Apocalypse. That religion could never have laid hold on so vast a variety of human beings and types of social and national life as have been won by Islam. Mohammed is a far greater figure than any Rabbi ; more noble in his attainment and more tragic in his partial failure than any Rabbi, except Judaism's greatest son. So if in some things he sinks below the level of the Rabbis, in others he far transcends them in his profound sense of the splendour and power of God and the impassioned poetry of his utterances about Him. It is only just to remember that there is much in Islam which eludes the historical analogy which we have drawn, and that it teaches the compassion and mercy of Allah for weak and sinful men, as well as His absolute sovereignty, eternal decree and awful judgment seat. There is truth even in the plea that Islam is legalism only when the poetry goes out of it, and it is because of this larger and more spiritual element in Mohammed that it has nurtured noble types of character, spirits purer than the Prophet's own, and that religious movements have arisen within it and come out from it, of a humaner ethos GENERAL CONCLUSIONS 239 and a purer piety. Yet, it cannot be denied that the legal element in Islam is strongly marked, and certainly it is emphasised in our correspondence. Now, as we know, the key to the whole inner evolution of the Apostolic period is the emancipation of Christianity from Jewish legalism. It will be strange, therefore, if the conflict between the living forces of Islam and the living forces of Christianity has not something to teach us of the inner meaning of the New Testament, and if that in turn has not something to teach as to the secret of success in that conflict. Again, it must be said that such an enquiry cannot be undertaken here, but certain, points may be noted. (i) The study of the pathology of Islam which lies before us in our correspondence illuminates much in the Pauline teaching. We are taught how the hard legalism of Islam results in spiritual pride in some and in others in a deep discontent with the exile from God, which is the doom of man " under the law." They tell us how in Sufism and in the remarkable and imperfectly understood Bahai movement, which is spreading so widely in the nearer East, and in the practice of the Zikr in Egypt, that longing for a more vital union with God than can be won through the Law, has broken the iron bands of Moslem orthodoxy. Here, as elsewhere, the importance of the study of the sects comes to light, for each of them is a revelation of the weak places in the traditional religion. The Judaism of the New Testament reveals the same twofold result of legalism, and it is in conflict with it that the Pauline Gospel is developed. The one half of it is the denial of every vestige of human merit, and the ascribing of salvation to the forgiving love of God alone. The Law has been utterly abolished by the death of Christ, and every dream of merit is therefore rooted iri illusion. Pharisaism is thereby in principle destroyed. But this is only one half of the Gospel. It meets the need of those who seek for closer union with God than the Law can give, by the promise of the Spirit, of vital union with God through Christ. The whole negative polemic 240 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE of the Apostle is simply preparatory for that which to him is the central and ruling truth of new creation and life through the Spirit of God. A new world of life has broken in upon the world of sin and death. The Re- surrection has constituted the new aeon of the spirit. The purely ethical interpretation of St. Paul's teaching as to the Christian's death to sin and resurrection to holiness is certainly not an adequate interpretation of what he actually says. The whole structure of his teaching implies that the death and resurrection of the Lord have a cosmical meaning, that they have closed one aeon and opened another. Into the fulness of life of that new aeon of the Spirit the Christian enters through faith and baptism. Already he is " risen with Christ " into " that new and stupendous environment." He is like a sleeper awakening to the light and music of the morning, he " feels through all his earthly dress bright shoots of everlastingness." In a word, he has become a sharer of the very life of God. There is no sphere of New Testament interpretation in which the labours of scholars have of late contributed so much to theology as here, and it is very interesting to note that the conflict with Islam has led more than one of our correspondents to desiderate something which they think is not fully expressed in the creeds or in traditional theology. Here, in truth, is the fatal limitation of Islam, that even at its highest it can never meet the primal need which is the master force of all religions, the hunger for union with God. Its very defect at this point may perhaps lead us to a deeper understanding of the latent riches of the Christian faith. (2) Yet another thought is suggested by the evidence. The strength of any religion is measured by its concep- tion of God. The Moslem idea of God is in many vital respects repellent and reactionary to a Christian. Allah is a despot and not a Father. Yet He is at least a real power, the only real power in the world. There is a simplicity and grandeur in the Moslem conception of God, His unity, His omnipotence, and His absolute GENERAL CONCLUSIONS 241 sovereignty, which we must recognise. Admitting the truth of all that has been said by the critics of Islam as to the defects of this idea, its inhumanity, its sterility, its negation of human personality, still the question suggests itself : Have we in our modern theology and religion sufficiently recognised what Islam stands for, the unity and the sovereignty of God ? Here is a religion which has vitality in it. It can still rouse depths of fanaticism in its followers. It is a great and formid- able force in the world in a sense in which other religions are not. May it not be that this is not wholly due to the concessions which Islam makes to the natural heart of man, but that in its profound sense of the sovereignty of God it cherishes something which is eternal, something which is vital to Christianity, and which, it may be, is obscured in our modern versions of it ? Here the Bible and Islam are entirely at one. Modern Christianity believes in a strictly limited monarchy of God. To the Bible and the Koran alike there is but one God and there is none beside Him. Here we are in the region of the unfathomable. It is clear that the conclu- sions which Islam draws from this first principle are impossible for any Christian. Sovereignty without love is a mere horror, but does not love without sover- eignty mean mere disorder and tragedy and a division of life which carries us back to polytheism. The whole vitality of Christian faith springs from the conviction that the absolute Sovereign is the absolute Love. Conversely, apart from this primordial truth, it is im- possible to explain the determining place of faith in the Christian life as that which overcomes sin and which overcomes the world, and so potentially shares in the omnipotence of God. So, with reference to the unity of God, Islam has grasped a truth which is vital to all true religion. It has been truly said that in spite of all the difficulties which the actual condition of the world places in the way of belief in the Divine omnipotence, none of the great religions have ever been willing to deny it, but have always found their power to lie in its COM/ iv. 1 6 242 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE affirmation. 1 Of this principle, Islam affords a striking illustration. The same is true of the Divine unity. Monotheism is essential to the unifying of the human soul and to its victory over the world. Here, too, Islam has conserved a truth of the first importance. It is clear that one of the main difficulties which the earnest Moslem has with Christianity is the belief that the doctrine of the Trinity compromises this monotheistic faith. On the other hand, the history of dogma makes it clear that one of the main forces in the shaping of the Catholic doctrine was the desire to conserve monotheism, the other main factor being the desire to conserve the absolute value of Christ as God manifest in the flesh. The entire mass of evidence from all the fields brings out the vital necessity for missionary work of the latter truth, the absoluteness of the Christian revelation. Everywhere this is what arouses opposition, but every- where it is what wins men. But the correspondence from Moslem lands suggests the enquiry whether in our tradi- tional constructions of the doctrine of God or in our representations of it we have been careful to bring out the essential monotheism of Christianity, its faith that God is one, and that there is none beside Him, or whether we have sometimes tended to a tritheism which fatally divides the spiritual life of the soul. "It is only a high Christ ology," writes one who knows the field well, " which can really meet the moral and spiritual needs of the Mohammedan world, but many of the best missionaries among the Mohammedans have felt that we have often made ourselves misunderstood, and that certainly our faith is misunderstood among the Mohammedans, who disbelieve in the reality of our monotheism." If it be so, surely the misunderstanding is calamitous indeed, for if Christianity is not monotheistic, it is nothing at all. 1 Tiele, Gifford Lectures, ii. 93 : " It suffices for us to note the fact that man's religious consciousness has invariably caused the rejection of every system which limited the Omnipotence of God in order that His holiness, righteousness and love might be preserved intact." GENERAL CONCLUSIONS 243 (3) If comparison with Islam yields matter here for our religion and theology, so surely does the study of the conditions under which Islam came into being afford matter for heart-searching to Christendom. Islam is the one religion now existing which explicitly rejects Christianity, the one religion which has refused the revealed truth. This inevitably determines the attitude of the missionary to it. He sees a lower morality and religion giving themselves out to be higher than the Revelation which he knows to be absolute truth. Hence the antagonism which our correspondence here reveals is stronger than we find it to be almost anywhere else. Is it not in this peculiarity of Islam, that its faithful profession involves rejection of Christianity, that we also find the true explanation of the fact, which seems thoroughly proved, that while acceptance of Islam often raises the animistic races to a higher level, it renders them far less open to Christian influences than before. The very spiritual force which has raised them to the level of monotheism commits them to rejection of Christ, the lawful spiritual prestige which it has won in their hearts acts as a veto on further advance. When, however, we enquire into Mohammed's rejection of Christianity, we find that he never had anything but the most perverted idea of what Christianity really was. The Christianity which he rejected was of a very debased type, half polytheistic in its theology, superstitious in its worship, and with a sacred history encrusted with puerile legends. He had evidently never read the New Testament, and his conception of Christ is largely derived from the Apocryphal Gospels. It is not, therefore, historically just to say that Mohammed rejected Christ. Supposing that to-day there were to arise a great religious genius among the peoples of the Congo, suppose that all that he knew of Jesus Christ was what he could learn from those representatives of His who condoned the policy of King Leopold, would it be just to say of the religion that he founded that it rejected Christianity ? Nor can we say that this is a matter of mere historical 244 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE interest. Our judgment on the point must inevitably condition our whole attitude to the religion. For in truth the Moslem rejection of Christianity to-day rests upon that fatal misunderstanding of what Christianity is which is revealed in the Koran. From this it follows that all the forces of modern historical science and criticism are fighting for us, for they are fighting for the removal of that ignorance. The impact of the modern world upon Islam must sooner or later break up that age- long delusion. We cannot, of course, maintain that there are not within Islam powerful forces of evil which are entrenched behind this misunderstanding and which will remain when it has been destroyed. Still, here is the vulnerable point, a point which is not found in other religions. Meantime it remains tragically true that had the Church of Syria been faithful to its Master the reproach of Islam had never lain upon Christendom. The thought has sombre consequences. It may be that in the Africa, the China, and the India of to-day new religions are maturing which in like manner will be " anti-christian," and stand in future centuries as a barrier in the way of the winning of the world. HINDUISM We come now to the field which is by far the richest of all in suggestion, the field of Indian religions. It is impos- sible here to give any adequate idea of the remarkable character of the situation in India which our correspond- ence has disclosed. On the one hand, it is clear that the impact of a century of Western thought and science and missionary work has produced a deep impression on the educated minds of India. There has been a great resurgence of Hindu feeling and thought, an awakening of the religious ideals of the past akin to the revival of paganism in the Roman Empire in the early days of Christianity. With this religious revival of Hinduism the political movement has coalesced, and is reinforcing it with wealth and with all the resources of popular propaganda. Many GENERAL CONCLUSIONS 245 of the ablest minds among our missionaries have set themselves to meet this formidable alliance, in a sustained effort to express Christianity in such terms as could be understood and taken home by the Indian mind. The faith, the courage, and the ability of this enter- prise are deeply impressive. The contact between the minds of the missionaries and this religion with its three thousand years of history has come at a moment in the course of theology when Christian intelligence has been deeply stirred by the problems raised by science and historical criticism and the rise of Comparative Religion. The parallel between the labour of thought which is going on in India to-day, and that carried through by the Alexandrine Fathers is very remarkable. Indeed, at every turn one is reminded of the first meeting of Christianity and Hellenism in this meeting between Christian thought and the strange blend of a crude, popular polytheism with a deep and subtle esoteric philosophy which is found to-day in India. The resemblance is increased by the fact that the Vedantism of the educated classes, like the Brahmo Samaj, is deeply tinged by Christian influences. We gain the impression from our correspondence that Vedantism in one or other of its forms is a more formidable and all-pervading influence than either of the theistic Samajes. Yet they also are forces to be gravely reckoned with. They carry on in modern India the persistent theistic revolt of centuries against the prevailing pantheism. They come under the general principle which our enquiry has sug- gested to us, that the sects of the non-Christian religions are deserving of the closest study as revealing the weak places of the traditional religion, the points at which it has failed to meet the national consciousness of what religion should be. But the Pantheism l of India is far 1 Exception has been taken by competent scholars to the use of this term as applied to Indian thought. It has, however, been retained, as the term commonly used and as sufficiently accurate for the purposes of our enquiry. For a reasoned defence of the term as applied to Indian thought; see Principal Caird, Faiths of the World. On the other side, vide Deussen, Greaves, etc. 246 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE more deeply rooted in the immemorial past, and has spread over the whole land and throughout all classes of society in a way which the others have not done, though the great succession of theistic reformers shows also that there has been a steady protest against it throughout the centuries. What are the general conclusions to which the evidence points ? (i) The whole mass of evidence bears witness to the evils wrought by the system. The history of India is one long proof of the inadequacy of Pantheism to meet not only the religious but the moral and social needs of man. A religious system must be judged by its moral and social results. This is an axiom for all who believe that religion is the fundamental thing in human nature. " The tree is known by its fruits." This is true everywhere, but it is especially true of India, where the problems of religion have for thousands of years been the supreme concern of the greatest minds. Our correspondents trace the manifold ills of Indian life, the immense outgrowth of mendicant asceticism, the petrification of society in the caste system, the abuse of child-marriage, and the manifold hardships of widow- hood to the same deep root as that which is manifest in all the infamies of popular idolatry the defective conception of God, the turning away of the human heart from its Father in mistrust and in fear, the unbelief which is the root of all sin. The pathological analysis is convincing and complete. (2) But our correspondence discloses too the deep sense of many of these critics that in that immemorial thought of India there lie hidden profound and vital truths. Nothing in these remarkable papers is more worthy of note than their combination of what to the superficial observer seem contradictory elements, their penetrating judgment of the evils of Hinduism and their generous and profound appreciation of that in it which is true and eternal. In no other field have we found this latter element in the same degree. Tragic and mysterious as has been the course of the religion of India, the impression GENERAL CONCLUSIONS 247 left on the mind by study of the evidence is that no other non-Christian religion approaches this in the gravity or in the depth of its endeavours after God. Apart from other considerations this seems established by the fact that, while from all the other fields we have received communications of the highest order, in none other is there evidence of such striving of the general mind of our correspondents as here. This is evidenced alike by the number, the length, and the whole tone of the communications. It is clear that in India to-day the mind of the Church is profoundly stirred, and is flung back upon the hidden depths of the Christian revelation in a way which is very impressive. It is possible that here we may see, ere long, movements of Christian thought and life of far-reaching and noble result for the progress of the Kingdom of God. The standpoint of the 'writers, their conviction that the religion which they are seeking to displace is a revelation of deep wants of the human spirit, their conviction that the Gospel contains the answer to these wants and that they must find that answer all these con- victions are essentially the same as those which animated the minds of the Apostles and their successors. Modern New Testament scholarship substantiates this at every point, and warrants us in saying that if St. Paul and St. John were alive in the India of to-day they would be leading in this common labour, sharing in its hopes and inspirations, and sharing, too, in its formidable dangers. For that such a labour has its grave hazards who that is familiar with the history of the Church can doubt ? Whether we accept Harnack's reading of the course of dogma and of the formation of the Church, or regard it as a grave and misleading exaggeration, it is clear that it was, in the first instance, through the endeavours of the Church of the early and later ages to conciliate the non-Christian world of that time, by accepting and using and trans- forming its thought, its superstitions, and its usages, that there entered into the Church alien and dangerous elements 248 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE which poisoned its life at the very springs, and cost it untold sorrows and agonies ere they were expelled from its faith. It may be that the warning of history is still needed in our modern world and in the India of to-day. But whether it be so or not, the task which has been assumed in India with all its risks must be undertaken and resolutely carried through in the strength of faith in the living God. Nor need we doubt that the conditions already exist by means of which the task can be carried to a successful issue. We are to-day, in certain vital respects, in a far stronger position than were the earlier missionaries and leaders of the Church. We have the lessons of history to teach us a wise caution. But we have more. The great movement of historical criticism of the sacred writings which marked the nineteenth century has, no doubt, brought with it much incidental unsettlement. Naturalism has often perverted the use of the historic method in such a way as to discredit it in the eyes of Christian men. But none the less out of the vast common labour of scholars on the sacred writings there has come a great and enduring result which may prove of priceless advantage to the Church in the task which lies before her in India and throughout the world. Few things are more striking in the Indian replies than the constant reiteration of the answer that one of the most potent of the living forces of Christianity in winning men is the historical Jesus of the Gospels. How much of the consciousness of the glory of the Jesus of history we owe to the labours of the historical movement of the last century is a commonplace of theology. But the continuation of that realistic movement is by no means confined to the Gospels. Learning much from the patient labours of science in the field of nature, the historical scholarship of our day has set itself resolutely to cast aside pre- conceptions and to determine the actual thought of the Old and New Testaments, of Judaism, of Hellenism, and of the Fathers. This scrupulous, steadfast labour, while still in process, has already yielded certain assured GENERAL CONCLUSIONS 249 results. It has, for instance, made it utterly impossible for any modern man to use the allegorical methods of antiquity whereby the sacred writings could be moulded into any form which the supposed necessities of theology' and apologetics demanded. It has given us a far clearer idea of what fundamental Christianity is, which should safeguard us from entangling alliances and compromises with the non-Christian faiths and philo- sophies of the world. Should we not find in these slow and hardly won results of history a Divine provision for the emergency of to-day, a true praeparatio evangelica for the victory of the Kingdom of God ? If it be so, once again the conclusion suggests itself how urgent is the need for the most thorough training of our missionaries abroad, even more than for our teachers at home. What are the suggestions for our theology which arise out of all this thorough and systematic comparison of the religious mind of India with the mind revealed in the sacred writings ? It is impossible here to do more than touch upon one or two central points; but these furnish abundant material for long and prayerful thought. The central point in Hinduism in the view of many of our correspondents is its conception of redemption from the world through realisation of unity with the Supreme Being. Here we reach the very core of Hindu religion and philosophy in its highest form. There are here two points which, for our purpose, it is of the highest importance to note ; namely, that salvation consists in being redeemed from the world, and that this salvation is attained through realisation of unity with the Supreme Being. How do these compare with the Christian ideas of redemption and communion with God ? (i) We have been accustomed to speak of redemption from inward sin as the Christian ideal, but is not this an inadequate account of the New Testament revelation ? The ideal of that revelation is certainly greater, it is redemption from the alien sin within and from the evil of 250 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE the world without, which are always viewed by all the New Testament writers, without exception, as standing in the closest organic relation with one another. " The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life." Here it would seem Indian religion has something to teach our current conceptions of Christianity as to what is certainly one of the fundamental conceptions of Chris- tianity, which views the Kingdom of God as consisting not only in inward deliverance from the power of sin, but ultimate deliverance from everything that cripples and depresses the entire life of man. The true nature of that Kingdom is perfectly revealed in our Lord's absolute victory over sin, but also in His great deeds of life, 1 and in His final victory over death ; it is very imperfectly revealed in His followers because of the immaturity of their faith and love ; but one day it will reach its fullest consummation in the life of absolute sinlessness, and absolute blessedness in the life eternal. The intense feeling of the misery and indignity of the present lot of man, and the passionate desire for escape from these limitations which have characterised the highest religious thought of India, are surely closely akin to that tragic pessimism of Judaism which formed the atmosphere in which our Lord grew up, and to which at last He came with His Gospel of radiant hope and abound- ing vitality. Have we of the Western races, with all our technical mastery of the natural world, not lost some- thing of that deeper sense of the utterly unsatisfying character of the whole nature life of the world, which can alone enable us to understand the optimism of the Gospel ? Here, surely, in this dissatisfaction with " the world," we have a primitive New Testament idea. It is here that Indian religion surpasses all other non-Christian religions. " Though we were to win all you are seeking," her sages seem to say to the Animist, the Confucian, and the Moslem, " we should still be unsatisfied." Is there not something 1 See Dorner, System of Christian Doctrine ; Illingworth, Divine Immanence ; Orr, Christian View of God and the World ; A. B. Davidson. Old Testament Theology ; F. D. Maurice, Life, vol. ii. GENERAL CONCLUSIONS 251 here deeply akin to St. John's saying : " All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, they are not of the Father, but of the world," and to the constantly recurring thought of St. Paul that " our citizenship is in heaven " ? Shall we ever recover the daring optimism of the early days, until we have more deeply understood the pessimism out of which it sprang ? Are we not in danger of forgetting the radical supernaturalism of Christianity ? The most recent movements of historical criticism of the New Testament have reinforced with telling effect the view that primitive Christianity was supernaturalist through and through. The discovery of the Jewish Apocalypses which formed the popular literature of our Lord's Day has cast a flood of light on contemporary ideas, and through them on the New Testament, and in particular on the Gospels. No doubt this material has often been used in a one-sided way, but none the less it has made it clear that our Lord viewed His Kingdom as essentially redemption from the evil world by means of union with God, and therefore that that Kingdom was in its very essence supernatural. The consequence of this is very grave for those who think that the supernatural in the Gospels is something accidental rather than essential, something which can be eliminated without mutilating the picture. The issues for Christian theology of this most recent movement of New Testament interpretation have hardly as yet been fully realised. Modernism, as re- presented by the Abb6 Loisy and Father Tyrrell, has used it on the one side to destroy the view of Christianity taught by Harnack and Liberal Protestantism. But the most striking use of this material has been made by Julius Kaftan, 1 who has in two remarkable articles in the Zeitschrift fur Theologie und Kirche, 1908, expressly shown its bearings on the problems of Comparative Religion in general and on Indian religions in particular. 1 An account of these articles and a very striking and suggestive criticism of them by Prof. A. G. Hogg will be found in the Madras Christian College Magazine, 1909. 252 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE On the other hand there is assuredly a wide divergence between the Hindu conception of the world and the Christian. To Hindu thought the world is mere illusion, and redemption is to be won by man's realising his identity with the one reality. The Christian conception of the world is that it exists in order to be transformed by com- munion with God. The Hindu conception of redemption, although in theory it implies union with the All, is in practice intensely individualist, and throughout the ages has withdrawn from the service of their fellow-men and from the humanities of the home innumerable ascetics, who might have been the prophets and -saints and re- formers of their day and generation. Religion has been divorced from ethics and social service. This individual- ism of Hindu religion its failure to provide a religious motive for constructive social effort goes far to explain the fatal conservatism of evil custom, of caste, of child- marriage, of the wrongs of womanhood. The conception of the Hindu inevitably sanctions acquiescence in the existing order. What need to change it when all is illusion, what need for revolution or reform of a system which with all its defects holds society together, when man's real interest lies beyond ? But it is the very essence of Christianity that faith worketh by love, and that true redemption from the inner sin and outward evil of the world can only be reached through the common faith and love of all, each spirit nurturing the inner flame at the common altar, each son and daughter of the household of faith returning from fellowship with the common Father and Lord in the force of the common Spirit to transform the world. The divergence here is profound. Yet, when all is said, there is surely deep truth in the Hindu conviction of the nothingness of the world in comparison with God. If we must choose, it is better to believe that God is all and the world nothing, than to believe that the world is all and God nothing, which is a view widely prevailing to-day in Christian lands. No Christian holds this latter view either in theory or practice. Yet have not both our Christian theory and practice GENERAL CONCLUSIONS 253 become deeply tinged with the prevailing naturalism of the West ? Have we not lost something of that profound sense of the absolute sovereignty of God over both man and the world which lies at the very heart of all our Lord's teaching, and without which, as all history shows, nothing great has ever been achieved in religion ? Does the modern Christian regard God as absolutely free to do anything to answer his faith or discipline his unbelief ? Does there not rather rise up in his mind the sense of a vast intervening system of nature, rigid and opaque, which, whatever we may say, is the final efficient governor of the actual world ? The endeavour is made, it is true, to find room for God by saying that He made this closed system, and that one day He will break it and cast it away. Meantime, while the outer world of nature and circumstance are determined, the inner world of spiritual experience is under freedom. But can this compromise be accepted by any consistent philosophic thought ? Is it really satisfactory to science ? And, what concerns us especially here, is it adequate to the primordial religious needs of man ? Does it leave room for the Biblical idea of providence, God dealing through nature and circum- stance with the free and changing spiritual experience of His children ? Does it leave room for the Biblical idea of prayer ? Is it really a view which would have been toler- ated by our Lord ? Does it conserve the freedom either of God or of man ? If it fails to do this, is it consistent with the genius of Christianity ? Such are some of the questions raised by our correspondence. Have we nothing then to learn of the riches of our own faith from the un- compromising idealism of India ? Have we not in those undiscovered riches that which alone can satisfy India's need ? Are there not here in this tragic history great spiritual forces running to waste which, if they could be turned into the one true channel, would fertilise the whole spiritual life of mankind ? (2) We come now to the other element in the central conception of the Indian religion union with the Supreme Being. Here again we can hardly emphasise too 254 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE strongly the deep divergence between the Hindu and the Christian ideal. Apart from the sustained and in- domitable revolt of the great Indian theistic reformers a revolt continued down to our own day in the Samaj movements the stream of Indian thought has run in the channels of pantheism. The religious thinking of India has never been able to retrieve that fatal moment in its religious evolution when Vedic religion lost its opportunity of rising to a true theism. 1 Hence its con- ception of the supreme good is absolute absorption in the Supreme Being, the loss of personality in the impersonal All. The bubble breaks in the stream, the river is lost in the sea. Profoundly different is the Christian con- ception, for at the very heart of it, determining all else, is the personality of Jesus Christ. The more the disciple draws near to the Father through the Son, the more vividly personal does his life become, and the more vividly personal becomes the Father. Yet when this is said, have we expressed the full Christian idea or met in its heart and fastness the spiritual need of Hinduism ? Is it the Christian idea that, as it attains its end in personal life, the soul finds itself severed from God by a gulf which becomes ever deeper and broader with each new advance, as personality becomes ever more definite and mature ? This is certainly not the view of the New Testament, and the thought of Christianity has long moved beyond such Deistic conceptions. Sonship implies a primal kinship of nature between man and God, however defaced the image of God in man may have become, and all true Christian teaching recognises further that the whole spiritual life of the Christian man is continuously sus- tained by the Spirit of God. But has Christian theology as yet grasped in its depth and fulness the New Testament teaching of the Holy Spirit as " the life of God in the soul of man " ? Comparative Religion is bringing out with ever greater clearness and fulness the truth that all religions are fundamentally " a prayer for life " (Sabatier). 1 See a very interesting article by N. MacNicol in the Indian Interpreter, April 1909 The Theism of the Rig Veda. GENERAL CONCLUSIONS 255 The conception of life varies, but it is always life that is sought by the worshipper. It is this deep inextinguishable thirst that is behind India's search for union with God, even although that desire and that revolt from the world in its negative form may sometimes have led her to express her thought in terms that seem to imply a quest for death rather than life. What she really seeks is participation in the very life of the Eternal, above the flux and reflux of the world of illusion, in the passionless calm of Brahma. Have we fully realised the immeasurable value of the idea of the Holy Spirit in the light which Comparative Religion, and in particular in the light which India, casts on the inner nature of the religious aspiration of man ? Much labour has been expended in discussion on the place of the Spirit in the life of God. But we still wait for any thorough understanding of the place of the Spirit in the life of man. We have an abundance of popular devotional literature on the subject, a great mass of unassorted and dimly understood psychological data, and the most recent research in New Testament thought has yielded also much that is of the greatest moment which has not as yet been assimilated by theology. Finally, the progress of Comparative Religion is setting the whole theme in a new light. But with the whole problem the mind of the Church has never yet grappled as it has done with the other great themes of the Christian Faith the Person of Christ, the work of Christ, the Church, and the Sacraments. It is true that the mystical element in the Christian religion has been more or less recognised throughout the whole history of the Christian Church, and in some parts of the Church much more than in others ; but has it ever had so great a place in our religious life as it has in the New Testament, or as it should have in the light which Comparative Religion brings ? Can anything meet and satisfy that unresting desire for unity with God which is manifest in the higher Hinduism, except the full riches of eternal life of which St. John speaks as the present possession of him^who 256 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE believes in the Son ? It is very notable that in our Indian correspondence the Fourth Gospel comes to its own, as well as the later Epistles of St. Paul. It may be that here there will be the richest result of all, that, whether through the Christianised mind of India or through the mind of the missionary stirred to its depths by contact with the Indian mind, we shall discover new and wonderful things in the ancient Revelation which have been hidden in part from the just and the faithful of the Western world. Yet in such an enterprise of discovery we must keep ever in view the distinction between Christian mysticism and the mysticism of India. The mysticism of Christi- anity presupposes the historical revelation. There could have been no Pentecost had it not been for the life, death, and resurrection of the Son of God. Union with an impersonal Absolute has in it no regenerative power. At the utmost such a union can only furnish an anodyne for care and sorrow. It is distinctive of Christianity that the Revelation of God as absolute love and purity in the Cross, and as absolute power in the Resurrection, had to be accomplished before the Spirit was given. But we may say further, that when that revelation had been made, and when it had been realised by the common faith of the Church, Pentecost became divinely inevitable. The dykes of human resistance were broken at last and the encompassing, waiting, besieging sea of the Spirit rushed in. At last .the living Father through the Son had found receptive men, and therefore " the Spirit was given." Henceforward believing men and women knew that po union with such a God could be too close and too steadfast. Their true life was " hidden with Christ in God," and all true progress therein was progress within the absolute revelation. Such being the standpoint of Christianity, we proceed to inquire if the thought of India has any help to give us in developing its latent riches. Redemption from the world, according to one type of Indian religious thought, is to be attained by bhakti, heartfelt trust and love toward GENERAL CONCLUSIONS 257 the Supreme Being, a trust which cuts through the web of Karma, and delivers him who practises it from its strangling folds. The striking resemblance of this con- ception to the Christian idea of faith and its power is obvious. The resemblance and the suggestion for Christian thought which it contains has much prominence in our correspondence. Perhaps there is no point of contact more important than this, none that better deserves further scrutiny along the lines of our enquiry. Wherein does bhakti resemble and wherein does it differ from the Christian conception of faith ? A careful enquiry as to this problem might do much to fling light not only on Hinduism, but on the unrealised in Christianity. We shall not, however, enter into this enquiry here, but proceed to the suggestion for Christian thought afforded by another strain of Indian religious thought. Redemption from the world, according to Vedantist thought, is attained purely by the individual realising his oneness with the Universal Being. Everything turns upon an alteration of the spiritual vision. When by concentration and absorption in the Eternal a man attains to true insight, the world is seen to be mdyd illusion, and as a result of that subjective perception there comes objective redemption from its bondage. It is not merely that the enlightened one learns to ignore the chains that bind him : he finds himself not bound the chains non-existent. The bondage was a very real ex- perience, and just as real now is the experienced freedom, for in and with his new direct consciousness of the Eternal the whole phantasmagoria of time and sense and desire loses its sway. Redemption thus depends entirely on the individual's surrender of a false stand- point. The Supreme Reality, the impersonal soul of all things, changes not. Its immutability is the very con- dition of man's deliverance. Now is there not a deep spiritual suggestiveness in this Vedantic conception ? God always was God, the soul (aiman) always was the soul. But through a defect in the apprehending in- dividual, this satisfying soul could not figure in his ex- COM. iv. 17 258 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE perience except under the limited and distorted forms of the world of sense. Yet the soul was always real, and always ready to be itself in and for every man who should break free from ignorance and self -deception, and attain the standpoint of true spiritual enlightenment. Have we not here, beneath all the fatal error of this Vedantic view of things, a recognition of something which, whether we have fully realised it or not, is funda- mental to the Christian view of faith ? The closeness of the parallel is liable to be disguised from us by the wide difference between the conceptions employed by the Vedantist and the Christian. For the former, God means the inscrutable essence of things. For the latter, God means the personal Being and Will at the heart of things. To the former, therefore, the practical proof of union with God must be abstraction from life, to the latter victory in life. Yet is there not between the Vedantist and the Christian an agreement as striking, perhaps, as even their profound divergence ? The epoch-making condition which is to yield to the one release from the world, to the other victory in it, is by both believed to be the result of an inward change in the attitude of the soul. The Vedantist calls it knowledge, meaning thereby the mystic's vision ; the Christian calls it faith, meaning the assured insight of personal trust and love. Both lay the blame of all that is ungodlike and truly tragic in it upon something in man himself. Or is this too sweeping a statement so far as the Christian is con- cerned ? Is it, or is it not the view of the Christian revelation, that there is no limit to the efficacy of the Spirit of God in the life of man save the measure of faith in those who receive it, that all limitation and delay arise from the imperfect receptiveness of the Christian Church, and of the human race, that God is unchanging in His spiritual bounty to the soul of man, that in Him is no variableness, that His gifts and calling are without re- pentance ? Or is this too sweeping a statement ? Does the hindrance to the victory of the Kingdom rest, hi the last issue, with man or with God ? Here surely is a GENERAL CONCLUSIONS 259 question which touches the very springs of life, the very soul of religion. What is implied in the promise of the Spirit of God to the Christian Church ? How far can we count upon God to sustain and transform us ? How near can we come to Him within the conditions of time ? How far is it true that He is still literally creative in His world whenever and wherever He finds faith ? Are there in Him undreamed of resources of life awaiting simply the rise of faith, as the riches of nature throughout immemorial ages remorselessly awaited the discovery and developments of the scientific calculus, and then, when the true method had been discovered, poured themselves in bewildering opulence at the feet of man in one crowded century of time ? When we set ourselves to explain the difference between the amazing vitality of the early Church and the com- parative impotence of the Church of our own day, three possible explanations suggest themselves. The first starts from existing facts, and endeavours to explain the early records in the light of present attainment. It holds that what we have in these early records of super- natural life and power is an idealised account of phen- omena not materially different from what exists to-day. The facts behind the records have been transfigured by the imagination of the historian, and it is the duty of the Church to pierce through the veil of legend to the prosaic realities, and adjust its life and aspiration to them. The norm of judgment is the Church as we know it, from which in truth the actual life of the heroic age could not have differed in any material degree. This view holds firmly to the constancy of the spiritual environment, but measures it by the existing state of the Christian life. The second view is that these records of the first hundred and fifty years of the Church's life are in substance true history. The contrast between the spiritual exaltation and achievement of that age, and the comparative de- pression of our own, lies in the fact that for wise and good reasons God has straitened the early gift of the Spirit and put us under a more rigid .and limited dispensation. 260 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE This view holds, therefore, that the environment has been changed. The third view, like the second, holds to the truth of the records, but explains the difference between the early centuries and our own by saying that, while God remains unchanging in His grace, the Church has failed to comply with the primal conditions of its reception, that faith has gradually become depressed, and so has lost the expectancy which is the condition of all spiritual achieve- ment. The first view need not here be considered, in spite of its prevalence in our modern world, and in spite of its apparent simplicity and strength, for, as our corre- spondence discloses, the entire missionary enterprise of our day proceeds upon a different understanding of the ways of God with men. The plain facts are that this view is not a missionary view, that the work which it is doing in the field abroad is, for all practical purposes, negligible in any survey of the field. Thus, while this view demands consideration from Christian thought, it lies outside our present sphere of enquiry. The real choice for those who believe in the missionary ideal lies between the other views. That there are difficulties in the way of the third view which to many appear insurmountable cannot be denied. To begin with, there is the intellectual difficulty of whole-hearted belief in the supernatural in a world of law and order. It seems incredible that so great an age of the Spirit should ever return, that character should again be exalted to such heights, or thought dilate to such a degree, or that through faith and prayer such inroads upon the realm of sin and death and tragedy should be made again within the world of time. The practical difficulty is even greater than the intellectual. We have much to be thankful for in the progress of the Gospel, the victories over sin and suffering wrought by Christian love, the assurances of an ever- present, overruling Providence and of a God who hears prayer, which come to us from time to time as we go GENERAL CONCLUSIONS 261 upon our way. But in the extreme slowness with which good causes go forward, the failures of enterprises under- taken in the most ardent faith and love, the tragedies of circumstance which befall the most earnest Christians, the apparent failure of prayer, we have warnings given us against overstrung expectations. With all our strivings the early prime does not return. We have done our utmost, and yet God delays His manifestation. It seems safer to accept the facts and to assume that for His own inscrutable reasons He has set our lot on a lower plane, and that He desires us to contract our hopes within those limits which He has appointed. The dangers of the other course are that, in rebelling against that inscrutable Will, we imperil by our failures the measure of faith which men still have in that far-shining manifestation of His power and grace which He has given -us in that early age of the Spirit. Much can be done within the straitened limits which He has set. Let us do what is practicable within these limits, and leave the rest to Him. The third view, while recognising the weight and force of these admonitions, maintains that, as regards the intel- lectual difficulty, consistent thought must recognise that there is no real difference in principle between the second vie wand its own, that the objection from natural uniformity applies j ust as much to the residues of supernaturalism which are maintained by those who hold that second view, as to its own more thorough-going supernaturalism ; and that to yield to naturalism at one point means to yield all along the line and to eliminate from the life of faith belief in the supernatural in the New Testament, belief in the New Testament teaching about the power of prayer to change the course of events, the power of the Spirit to change the heart of man, the freedom of the Divine Providence to meet man's needs, and ultimately human freedom itself. It faces the difficulty as to the failures of prayer to over- come the remaining sin and tragedy in the Christian life, by maintaining that the common faith and love of the Church is so far below the common faith and love of early days that the individual who shares in that common 262 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE depression cannot, with all his striving, attain as yet the ancient summits, and that the true remedy for such failure lies not in abandoning the enterprises of faith as hopeless and charging their failure upon God, but in flinging all his energies into the task of rousing the slumbering life of the Church, and awakening it to a new community of faith and love, and in pressing on from that new level to new personal attainment. It argues that the idea of God having straitened the spiritual environment of resource, has no foundation in revelation, which everywhere assumes that believing men may count upon the Spirit of God with the same assurance as they repose upon the unchanging moral order and the unchanging Providence of God. It maintains further, that the very conception of such a momentous change in the spiritual environment, has the gravest consequences, that at the moment when the spiritual environment thus became contracted, the obligation to win the world must have contracted too, and that we can therefore no longer fairly use the New Testament standards of duty as the basis of our missionary appeal ; and, finally, it urges that if God without warning thus limited the spiritual environment He may at any moment without warning still further contract it, so that the enterprises of faith and duty which are incumbent upon us shall no longer be incumbent upon our children, that the whole conception, therefore, introduces an inconstancy and unsettlement into the spiritual life which must be as fatal to any high and enduring achievement of spiritual service as the shattering of the constancy of nature would be to the work of civilisation. It pleads, finally, that whether it is recognised explicitly or not, the whole missionary movement of the past century rests upon a different foundation, that it began with Carey's " Expect great things from God : Attempt great things for God," and that its progress hitherto has been measured by the degree of its expectancy, which again has depended upon the depth and strength and grandeur of its idea of God. GENERAL CONCLUSIONS 263 It may be argued that it makes little practical difference whether we choose the second or the third of these views, that no matter whether we ascribe our comparative impotence to the inscrutable wisdom of God or to the unbelief of man, we must all accept the inevitable and go on as best we may on the lower plane. But if we will think the matter out, the difficulties of this view will be seen to be greater than those of any other. If the limitation be of God, then the only right and safe attitude must be one of trustful submission ; it is spiritually perilous in the extreme to hope or pray for what is against the Divine will. If, on the other hand, the delay in the coming of the Divine Kingdom be due to a lowering of the common faith of the Church, a lapse of ages of time, a lapse as wide as the Christendom of the modern world, if around us to-day in the unseen lie all the illimitable potencies of the Divine Spirit which lay around the first ages, awaiting only the rise of a generation stronger in faith and love than our own, then clearly the one true attitude for the Church is to confess its historic sin, and gird itself to the most resolute and strenuous endeavour and prayer that the benumbing mist of our common unbelief may be dispelled, that the redeeming will of God in Christ may have free course in blessing the entire life of man. Moreover, since " faith worketh by love " the true aim of the Church must be to recover its ancient unity of Spirit, that* instead of division, there should arise new love and charity and unity throughout the whole household of faith. It is true that all Christians believe that such increase of faith and love is essential to the life of the Church, but it must be clear that in the third view the motives for seeking such a renewal are immensely enhanced. Is this enhancement of motive lawful, or are these hopes vain, wandering fires, leading men astray from the paths of spiritual wisdom and sanity to false views of the constitution of the world, and the resulting false ideals of the Christian character, and at last to the 264 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE inevitable disenchantment and reaction which must follow the belief of illusion ? If it be so, it is surely vital to the true life of the Church that it should clearly recognise its limitations, lest it waste its energies in fruitless collision with the adamantine order of the world and in rebellion against the will of God. On the other hand, if the third view be true, we are attributing to the inscrutable will of God innumerable temporal and spiritual ills which are in truth contingent on our cherishing thoughts of God which are unworthy of His goodness, wisdom, and power, just as in earlier ages men ascribed to God and the order of nature which He has ordained, innumerable temporal ills which were in truth contingent on man's ignorance of science, and just as men, alike in ancient and modern times, have attributed to Him innumerable social ills with their resulting tragedies of disease and sorrow and sin, which are in truth contingent on the low moral attainment of humanity. In that case the whole thought of God is being lowered and darkened by a false theory of His ways with men. The difference between the two views is thus not superficial, but radical, for at the heart of it there lies a different conception of God, and a different ideal of the Christian life. We do not deem it part of our duty to examine here the difficulties of both these theories or to pronounce between them, but the whole question raises such deep and far-reaching issues, and rises so clearly out of the evidence, that it is necessary to state the problem, and ask that it should be reconsidered by Christian thought in a more serious and thorough fashion than has as yet been attempted. Is the spiritual environment of Divine resource around us to-day the same as it was in the early ages ? If it is not, how are we to vindicate the constancy of the spiritual order, so as to conserve our faith in the unchangeable- ness of God, and our belief in the power of prayer, and in the permanency of the missionary duty ? How are we to use the New Testament ideals of duty, if the early GENERAL CONCLUSIONS 265 world of privilege has been contracted or withdrawn ? What warrant have we for expecting greater things from God ? If we have none, what ground have we for attempt- ing greater things for Him ? These and kindred questions must be faced if we are to go to the roots of things. On the other hand, if those who believe that the spiritual environment is the same as of old, and that all things are still possible to those who believe, are to com- mend their view to the mind as well as to the heart of the Church, there are grave and arduous problems of thought before them, with which as yet they have not grappled with the thoroughness which then- cause demands. They must show that their view does not depend upon isolated passages of Scripture, but that it is deeply grounded in revelation, that it is an essential part of the organic whole of Christian truth. They must face the task of reviewing the existing conceptions of faith, of miracle, of prayer, and of the Christian ideal in the light of their conception of the Holy Spirit. They must fully meet those difficulties which have weighed in particular with those who maintain the first of the three views which have been enumerated, and who share their own view as to the constancy of the Divine order ; and they must show that the trenchant supernaturalism of then- own view is consistent with the constancy of nature, and the efficiency within its own sphere of the calculus of science. If this view is to be anything but a pious opinion, it must welcome all new knowledge not only of the constitution of nature, but also of the constitution of the human mind, must come out into the great open field of modern knowledge and naturalise itself in the modern religious world by the thoroughness and courage of its thought, and the persistent vitality of its faith. We have dwelt on these three views, not only because the question rises out of the evidence, but because the general situation disclosed by the correspondence indicates that the issue involved will in all probability soon become a matter of pressing moment. By the very fact that the Church is once more facing 266 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE its duty to the whole world, it has been led by the provi- dence and the Spirit of God into circumstances which are taxing its resources to the uttermost. Hitherto the work has been advancing gradually, and slowly and imperfectly the resources of the Church have been developed to meet that need. But suddenly the whole situation abroad has been changed, and almost without warning we find ourselves in a new world of incalculable peril and opportunity. The unique character of the present Conference is a witness to the Church's sense of that new situation. We are being compelled to re- consider the whole question of our resources and the possibilities of their development. We need more men and women missionaries, and we need more money, and we need better organisation, and we need many other things. Everywhere the question of our resources is coming to the front. But there is surely common agree- ment that behind all these things there is an incom- parably deeper need. Behind all questions of quantity lies the incomparably more momentous question of quality. Nor is it simply the spiritual quality of our missionaries that is the crucial point ; it is the spiritual quality of the Church which is behind them, the spiritual temper of the great masses of the Christian commonalty, their faith, their love, their hopes, their enduement with the Spirit of God. The question arises and presses for an answer, whether at this moment the Church possesses the spiritual resources for the emergency which has so suddenly risen upon her, or whether, like Israel in the days of the prophets, her existing spiritual attain- ment is not sufficient for the great world emergency which has broken upon her. If it be so, the whole question of the latent resources which await her in God must needs speedily become a matter of absolutely vital moment. The inner necessities of the case must ere long raise anew the question which we have stated, and it seems right that we should anticipate it here, and ask for such a reconsideration of it by the best thought of the Christian Church that wise and spiritual guidance GENERAL CONCLUSIONS 267 may be given. We may surely hope for enduring results from such a labour, for the problem arises from the Church having faced its duty to the world. We are therefore back once more in the ancient condition. Duty has led us into extremity, and extremity casts us upon God. The whole course of events is thus leading us back to Him in whom is the absolute revelation of the Father, and through whom alone we can realise that union with God through the Spirit which the nobler thought of India has sought with such desperate resolution for three thousand tragic years. We have thus surveyed the entire evidence which has come before us from the five great fields of the missionary enterprise. In the main, and for the sake of clearness, we have limited our review to the enquiry of the bearing of this evidence on the progress of Christian thought. This limitation has compelled us to omit much that is of the highest importance and interest, which we trust will in some other form find its way to the Christian world. But there are two very notable points in that evidence which may be noticed in this place. The first of these is the practically universal testimony that the true attitude of the Christian missionary to the non- Christian religions should be one of true understanding and, as far as possible, of sympathy. That there are elements in all these religions which lie outside the possibility of sympathy is, of course, recognised, and that in some forms of religion the evil is appalling is also clear. But nothing is more remarkable than the agree- ment that the true method is that of knowledge and charity, that the missionary should seek for the nobler elements in the non-Christian religions and use them as steps to higher things, that in fact all these religions without exception disclose elemental needs of the human soul which Christianity alone can satisfy, and that in their higher forms they plainly manifest the working of the Spirit of God. On all hands the merely iconoclastic attitude is condemned as radically unwise and unjust. 268 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE But, along with this generous recognition of all that is true and good in these religions, there goes also the universal and emphatic witness to the absoluteness of the Christian faith. Superficial criticism might say that these two attitudes are incompatible, that if Christianity alone is true and final, all other religions must be false, and that as falsehoods they should be denounced as such. Against that criticism we may, in the first place, set the massive fact that the great weight of evidence before us shows that these witnesses do not feel this contra- diction. Deeper consideration of the facts indeed leads us to the conviction that it is precisely because of the strength of their conviction as to the absoluteness of Christianity that our correspondents find it possible to take this more generous view of the non-Christian religions. They know that in Christ they have what meets the whole range of human need, and therefore they value all that reveals that need, however imperfect the revelation may be. This very charity and tolerance, on the other hand, makes more impressive the agreement as to the absolute- ness and finality of Christ. Nowhere is the slightest support found for the idea that Christianity is only one religion among others, or that all religions are simply different ways of seeking the one Father, and are there- fore equally pleasing in His sight. One massive convic- tion animates the whole evidence that Jesus Christ fulfils and supersedes all other religions, and that the day is approaching when to Him every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord to the glory of God the Father. GENERAL PRACTICAL CONCLUSIONS We come now, in closing our Report, to consider briefly what can be done by the statesmanship of the Church to meet the situation disclosed by our correspondence. There is one conclusion which is backed by the whole mass of evidence, and which must impress itself on every GENERAL CONCLUSIONS 269 careful reader with convincing force. This is the need for a thorough and sympathetic knowledge of the non- Christian religions by those who labour among them. Many of our correspondents speak feelingly of the in- calculable harm which has been done in the past by the want of this ; of the harm which has been done even by faithful and devoted men who, in this respect, were im- perfectly equipped ; the wholly unnecessary alienation and misunderstanding which have thereby been created and to-day form a barrier to the progress of the Gospel. It is sometimes said that this knowledge can only be acquired upon the field. It is, of course, indubitable that deep and intimate acquaintance with the realities can only so be acquired. But this is not the point which we are considering. The thing which is necessary is that before a man goes out to the field he can, and he should, learn a standpoint and a method and such a knowledge of the inner nature of the religion as will keep him at the outset from calamitous mistakes which he may rue all his days, and which may form the basis on which the other kind of knowledge may be reared. Adequate training in the home colleges will greatly facilitate the acquisition of that deeper knowledge. Moreover, we are assured by one of our ablest and most accomplished correspondents that it is extremely difficult to acquire an adequate know- ledge of the religion amid the pressure of actual work. Much time is spent in the acquisition of the language, and by the time that this is acquired the missionary is already caught up into the pressure of work in an often under- manned station. He always intends to master the system, but too often the years pass and time is lacking. Had he possessed the initial knowledge it need not have been so, and all the work of his life-time would have been stronger. The conclusion is surely inevitable that provision should be made for thorough teaching in Comparative Religion in all our colleges and training institutes. A new instru- ment of spiritual culture and propaganda has been put into the hands of the Church by the progress of this science, and it is surely a plain duty to use it. General training 270 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE then in Comparative Religion should be provided in all colleges. Lectureships on special religions should also be instituted by endowment and by co-operation, and missionary specialists should be enlisted for this purpose. The ideal of providing every missionary with a thorough grounding in the best that is known of the religion amid which he is to labour should be steadily held before the Church. The suggestion has been made, and it seems well worthy of consideration by the Conference, that provision should be made in our colleges for the training of missionaries in the art of teaching. The ordinary training in homiletics seems hardly sufficient for the peculiar conditions under which the missionary must labour. The teaching function is different from that of moving an audience which has already been instructed in the elements of Christian truth. An expert who has studied the entire correspondence has expressed the con- viction that the errors which in past times have hindered the presentation of Christian truth would in large measure have been avoided had missionaries been trained in the art of teaching an art which has, as one of its first principles, the finding of the true point of contact with the hearer. The suggestion seems, in any case, well worthy of consideration. Our theological courses, it is true, have been planned on another system and to meet different practical conditions than that which these suggestions imply, and it may be difficult to recast them. But by steady and wise readjustments the end may be attained, and we submit that the evidence which this Commission has accumulated demonstrates the necessity. A further incidental result may well be that a larger number of our students may be expected to volunteer for foreign work when the subject is thus brought before them through the medium of Comparative Religion. It may be objected that in any case only a fraction of the students in any college contemplate service in the mission field, and that it is unwise to subordinate the interests of the many to the few. But we do not in any way suggest the institution of separate curricula for the home and GENERAL CONCLUSIONS 271 foreign ministry. We submit that the whole course of the enquiry is against such isolation, that either field yields invaluable results for the other. We trust that the evidence which we have submitted substantiates the conclusion that it is in truth impossible adequately to teach either theology or apologetics without provision for instruction in the nature and history of the religions of the world, for these reveal the elemental and eternal need of man to which the Gospel is the Divine answer. The absolute religion can only be fully understood in the light of the imperfect religions, if religion is a practical matter at all, and theology other than a mere abstract science. We submit further that there is urgent need for special work in the foreign field on the lines which have been indicated in our enquiry. Such a monograph as that of Herr Warneck is not only of much value for the student of Comparative Religion, but must greatly facili- tate the labour of all missionaries who labour in the Animistic field. What has been done by him for the religion of the East Indian Archipelago should certainly be done for every one of the great world fields. The living forces of the non-Christian religion in each field ought to be measured and set in clear relation to the living forces of the Christian Gospel, and the points of contact and contrast brought out in clear relief. When a missionary shows special aptitude for ttnVkind of work, he should be set apart to do it. Even where circum- stances do not allow of this, it should be steadily kept in view as part of the necessary duty of the Mission, in view of its value for the instruction of those who con- template labour in that field. It is eminently desirable that in each field there should be competent monographs available for the missionary student, written from the practical standpoint, but thoroughly trustworthy also from the scientific point of view. 1 The study of such 1 The Commission has been glad to learn since the Conference that in response to this suggestion a work on the Animism of the Bantu races by Rev. H. A. Junod, Saint-Blaise, Neuchatel, Switzer- 272 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE manuals by the student might take the place or supple- ment the work of the lectureships referred to above. In this connection we would repeat what has been once or twice incidentally referred to in the course of this Report, that it is extremely desirable that more attention should be given to the study of the sects in the non-Christian lands. The peculiar interest of these minor divisions lies in this, that they reveal the points in the traditional religions where the religious conscious- ness has felt itself unsatisfied. Careful study of these and comparison with the traditional religions would be of great value in many ways. The evidence indicates that it is often from these sects that the Christian Church derives many of its earliest and best converts, inasmuch as they often include the most earnest and spiritually gifted of the people among them. Moreover it is probable that some at least of these sects will exert a momentous influence on the religious evolution of the lands in which they have appeared. This may happen in two ways, either by their expansion into powerful independent types of religion or by their reacting on the older religions in the direction of Reform. Both alternatives are illustrated by the history of Protestantism. We have found of peculiar interest in this connection Mr. Lloyd's study of Amida Buddhism in Japan, and the references to the Hindu reforming Theistic sects in all periods of the history of Hindu religion down to the present day, and to the Bahaism and Sufism of Islam. There is here a most promising field of study which as yet is but very imperfectly cultivated. We further suggest that missionary conferences, such as that with which our Commission is connected, should pursue the lines of enquiry which have here been opened up, and should thereby call into the service the great majority of missionaries who have no time for the land, is in preparation. Reference may also be made to a book just published by Herr Gottfried Simon, a member of the Commission, on Islam in the Dutch East Indies, entitled Islam und Christenthutn, im Kampf urn die Eroberung der animistischenHeidenwelt. Martin Warneck, Berlin, 1910. GENERAL CONCLUSIONS 273 specialist work which we have indicated above, but who are qualified for it, alike by aptitude and the education of circumstances. By such recurring surveys of the field, results of great value may be reached by the accumulation of important facts and the checking and testing of results. Such periodic and systematic enquiry would, we believe, in time yield abounding fruit for every department of theological study, as well as most valuable instruction and suggestion for those who con- template work in the foreign field. We would suggest in particular that in the interests of Christian theology and apologetics the enquiry which we have endeavoured to make in these pages should be further prosecuted. Comparative Religion is being used by many to-day in a negative interest with the view of proving that Chris- tianity is only one among other religions. We are per- suaded that its results lead to precisely opposite conclu- sions, and that rightly used they will fling abounding light on the undeveloped elements in the Christian, religion. ^ . If the correspondence which we have received from the five great fields could be made accessible to students in the fulness of its detail, its colour, and vitality, we believe that its value would be universally recognised. Whether we have been able to transmit this impression within the limits of space and of time given us we cannot say with any confidence. We are very conscious that the bare abstract which has alone been possible does nothing like justice to the remarkable interest and power of the correspondence which it has been our high privilege to study. Finally, we cannot conclude the review of these reports from the field of action without recording the deep and solemn impression which they have made upon our mind. The spectacle of the advance of the Christian Church along many lines of action to the conquest of the five great religions of the modern world is one of singular interest and grandeur. Vexilia regis prodeunt ! But at least as remarkable as that spectacle of the COM. iv. 1 8 274 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE outward advance of the Church is that which has also been revealed to us of the inward transformations that are in process in the mind of the missionary, the changes of perspective, the softening of wrong antagonisms, the centralising arid deepening of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the growth of the spirit of love to the brethren and to the world. Once again the Church is facing its duty, and therefore once more the ancient guiding fires begin to burn and shine. CONCLUDING NOTE ( Written after the Conference) The Commission has received from a number of sources communications bearing upon various matters in its Report, for which it desires to express its thanks to the writers. These communications, for the most part, bear upon details in those sections which contain an abstract of the evidence received. These have been all carefully considered, and in many cases the writers will find that their suggestions have been used in the final form of the Report. A few of the criticisms sent in writing and expressed in the discussion are more general in their character, and on these the Commission thinks it may be well to add a few words. Regret has been expressed at the omission of any adequate treatment of Southern Buddhism. In that regret the Commission shares to the full. By some oversight it has received only four communications from missionaries working in the fields where it prevails. These are papers of great ability and interest, but in consequence of the fewness of their number, they do not afford a sufficiently wide basis of fact to make induction satis- factory. It would have been easy to have ignored this, and to have ventured upon generalisations which might have had a plausible appearance of security, but it has seemed better frankly to confess the imperfection of the Report at this point, and to express the hope that in further investigation special attention be given to this field. At the same time it has been thought right to insert in an appendix a summary of the four papers received in order to give some idea of the whole. As might have been expected, it is from the Indian 275 276 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE field that we have received the largest number of sugges- tions. By far the greater number of these are on matters of detail, and to a considerable extent these have been incorporated in the text of the Report. Two writers have expressed disagreement with the general view of the drift of Hindu religious thought which is taken in the concluding chapter. " The Vedanta Philosophy," writes one, " is a hypnotic poison lulling men into a dangerous sleep from which there is no awakening. . . . The praise of the Vedantist Philosophy by German and Indian philosophers has been the cause of an increasing opposition of Hindus to the Gospel. As Vedantism, so Hinduism, leads men away from God. . . . A religion like Hinduism cannot be regarded as a prepara- tion for Christ, and its philosophy, even at its highest, is unable to prepare His coming. The word of Christ, ' I have not come to destroy, but to fulfil ' cannot be applied to Vedantism or Hinduism." It is entirely true that Hinduism cannot be spoken of as a preparation for Chris- tianity in anything like the same way as the Old Testa- ment is such a preparation. No such view has ever been contemplated by the Commission. The analogy suggested in the Report is not with the Old Testament, but with Hellenism, which assuredly had the basest elements in it side by side with nobler things. It had its beautiful but poisonous mythology, its corrupt sexual morality, its cruel system of slavery as well as its noble philosophy. Yet the presence of this base and cruel side of Hellenism did not prevent St. John nor the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews from using its highest categories of thought, and transforming them through the vital power of the Spirit. Whether the higher Hindu thought and religion, the ideas of redemption from the world, devotion and union with the Supreme Being, are capable of such a use must of course be a matter of individual opinion and of common experience. A less drastic view of the true attitude towards Hinduism has been expressed by one friendly critic, who was invited to express his views more fully than the limits of the discussion in the Conference GENERAL CONCLUSIONS 277 allowed. Mr. Monahan has sent us a letter which it seems desirable to quote at some length. " I absolutely and most heartily accept the position that in a study of comparative religion the only fair, not to say safe thing, is to compare the best with the best, the worst with the worst, and the general average with the general average, where one has opportunity of fairly estimating it. I alsp go heartily with the Commission in almost every word of the general conclusions. In estimating the elements in Hinduism which have most suggestion for theology, which will enable us most fully to bring out the latent riches of the Gospel, you inevitably, and quite properly for the purpose in hand, sought for that which is noblest in the system and put it in the place of emphasis. Now what I meant by saying that the Hinduism I have had to do with is different from that of the Report, is this. That which you indicate by a single sentence or by a brief paragraph is the element of Hinduism which bulks largest in one's actual contact with it from day to day, the Hinduism that crushes soul liberty and deifies human lust. I do not wish you to think that I complain of the Report for not illustrating this base side of Hinduism. That would have been an unsavoury and profitless task. But as practical campaigners we must recognise what the salient facts of the moral situation are. There is much that must be destroyed before that which is best can be fulfilled. Much rubbish has to be carted away before the foundations of the city of God can be firmly laid in India's life. " A man who living in India failed to recognise her pathetic search for God and belittled her lavish devotion would be blind indeed. But as one who has sought to help individuals to a knowledge of Christ, one is again and again painfully impressed with the ignoble side of Hinduism. One has seen tender, earnest seekers after truth, affectionate and pure women longing to follow Jesus Christ, simply battered and crushed by the cruelty of a system which is tolerant of thought to a remarkable 278 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE degree, but absolutely intolerant of action which would give reality to that thought. One has seen in the public thoroughfares indescribably obscene representations on temples and idol cars. One has had the privilege of friendship with men who had obtained their freedom at grievous cost. Is it any wonder that to them Hinduism is something that provokes disgust and horror, not something that awakens sympathy ? For the reason indicated above it often happens that the European missionary has a truer understanding of Hinduism at its best than those native Christians who have been born and bred in it, but have been outcasted on account of baptism. In all our appreciations of Hinduism we must strive to do full justice to the native Christian position, which views Hinduism in a much less roseate light. You rightly condemn the ' merely polemic and iconoclastic attitude.' It is one that I abhor. But I repeat there are things to be broken down before we can build up. There are chains to be smashed that souls may go free. There is an accursed thing which passes for religion, towards which the only healthy attitude is that of Israel's prophets, not sympathy but moral indignation, and whether we break with our own hands or not the brazen serpent, we certainly need to call it by its right name, Xehushtan. Was not Dr. MacEwen right when he stated that this has in fact been the attitude of the most successful missionaries in all ages of the Church's history ? It certainly is not ' merely iconoclastic,' but it does give weight to a side of missionary effort, which, while perfectly compatible with the constructive ideals of your Report, seems to have received less consideration in the Conference than it deserves." We gladly give this statement the publicity which it deserves, as we are in full agreement with it, and welcome it as supplementing the Report. ThatReport is throughout concerned with one main purpose the suggestion which the non-Christian religions give for the bringing to light of the latent riches of the absolute religion. It, therefore, inevitably deals almost entirely with the nobler side of GENERAL CONCLUSIONS 279 the non-Christian religions. To follow any other course within the limits of space allowed to the Commission would have simply defeated the whole purpose of the enquiry by the introduction of matter not relevant to its main purpose. The Commission sees no reason to depart from the view presented in the Report. But it has in no way been blind to that side of Hinduism which Mr. Monahan's letter emphasises, though it has devoted much more space to the nobler aspects of Hinduism than to its baser side. All down through the history of Christian missions, from the very earliest days, there have been two types of thought on the question of the relation of the Gospel to existing religions the types exemplified in Tertullian and in Origen the one dwelling most on the evils of those religions and the newness of the Gospel ; and the other seeking to show that all that was noblest in the old religions was fulfilled in Christ. This duality of type goes right back to the very beginnings of Christianity, and is found in the New Testament itself. It seems quite clear that both types are necessary to the complete- ness of the Christian idea. There is no real contradiction between them. There is no reason whatever for Christian propaganda unless the missionary has something new to proclaim ; but it is equally certain that there is no basis whatever for the missionary appeal, unless the missionary can say, " Whom therefore ye worship in ignorance, Him declare I unto you." We would suggest that no man can really penetrate to the innermost heart of the higher thought of Hinduism unless he antagonises the manifold evils of its popular religion : and on the other hand, that no man can success- fully attack its evils unless he has a true and sympathetic understanding of its nobler thought and life, and so is able to build up as well as destroy. Finally, in closing its work, the Commission desires to express its great indebtedness to all those who, by criticism and suggestion on details and on principles 280 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE alike in the discussion and in written communications have helped so materially to make the Report less im- perfect than it would otherwise have been. Its members are conscious that very much yet remains to be done to complete their enquiry, that in fact only a beginning has been made. But they take farewell of their enquiry at this time with a deep sense of their privilege in having been permitted to make it, of gratitude to their many correspondents whose thoughts and prayers they have been privileged to share, and of faith and hope toward God that a new day of His power and love is already dawning in the world. APPENDIX A BURMA, SIAM, CEYLON 1 THE work of our correspondents 2 is among Buddhists mainly. The Burmans are more strongly Buddhist than any other people (Whitehead). Buddhism is, however, largely supplemented by fear of the spirits of trees and rivers called Nato, and by belief in magic and charms (Fyffe). In Siam, the religion is Buddhism, corrupted with spirit-worship (Harris). Mr. Fraser in Ceylon comes in contact with Buddhism, Hinduism, and a little Moham- medanism. In Burma the missionaries who have sent returns come in contact mainly with the poor, cultivators, small traders, etc. In Siam, Mr. Harris works among all classes. Mr. Eraser's pupils in Trinity College, Kandy, are drawn on the whole from the upper classes. THE VALUE OF BUDDHISM AS A RELIGION Burma The Buddhist's declaration of his own religion is in the words " I worship the Buddha, the Law, and the Order." The average Buddhist grasps very little of what we in the West know as Buddhism. The image of Buddha has become an object of worship. This is sometimes denied, but the fact that definite powers are ascribed to certain images shows that there is a large amount of real idolatry. The worship has real devotion in it, though the ever-present element of gaining merit is always there to mar the devotion. It is marred too by the purposeless attitude of mind which is characteristic of the Burmese. It is common, for example, to see the worshipper break off his devotions in order to light a cheroot a great contrast to the Mohammedan at his prayers. The Buddhist commandments give a high ideal of conduct, but supply no motive such as Christianity supplies for obeying them. 1 (The information received by the Commission was insufficient to allow of a chapter being devoted to Southern Buddhism. A summary of the material received is given in this Appendix. See P- 275)- 2 Mr. A. G. Fraser, The Rev. R. S. Fyffe, The Rev. George White- head, The Rev. Wm. Harris, junr. 281 282 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE The " Order " which is presented as an object of worship means the Buddhist monks. They are regarded, not as priests, but as a higher order of beings. Yet the entry or exit, to or from the Order, means often little more than a change of clothes. On the other hand, many monks remain in the Order all their lives and are on the whole, true to its rules. Some monks do really useful educational work. Many are undoubtedly lazy, but laziness is not regarded as a sin. Offerings to the monks are accompanied by an astonishing amount of ostentation. In all this the main object is the gaining of merit. For the same purpose many acts of public utility are performed. Such are the building of pagodas, monasteries, bridges, the digging of wells, etc. A curious instance of the unreality which sometimes attaches to this principle is the trade in caged birds at the Arracan Pagoda at Mandalay. They are sold that the good Buddhist may acquire merit by setting them free. The birds are probably caught again and kept for the same purpose. The fear of Hell is freely worked on as a motive for works of merit. The entrance to the Arracan Pagoda is surrounded with pictures of the tortures of Hell which might have been taken from Dante. As to moral results, it is impossible to deny that Buddhism has had a real effect. The absence of the love of money is a characteristic of the Burman. He prizes kindliness above money. He is often really generous. There is also a genuine capacity for devotion. This account of Buddhism is due to the Rev. R. S. Fyffe. In Burma the desire to reach Nirvana is only very partially felt. No race of people enjoy life like the Burmans, and, at the same time, it is held to be quite impossible for sublimary mortals to gain Nirvana. On the other hand, the doctrine of Karma is genuinely felt and believed. This doctrine often proves a consolation, or rather a reconciling force in time of suffering, and also a wonderful stimulant of good works (Whitehead). In conjunction with all this, there is a great deal of spirit-worship. This was the original worship of the people. They became Budd- hists in obedience to a royal command. The census commissioner, in his report on the last census, says that the Buddhism of Burma is only a veneer over the animism which is the real religion of the people. This is probably too strong. But it is in Burma as in other Buddhist countries Buddhism cannot stand alone (Fyffe). Siam Of Siam, the Rev. Wm. Harris writes, " The Laos are an illiterate, ignorant people. . . . They are but little concerned with the spiritual side of Buddhism. The consolations of Buddhism are mainly negative the hope of escape from future evil." In N. Siam, Buddhism is honeycombed with spirit - worship. Here the thoughtful are placed in a great dilemma. Buddhism teaches that the spirit-worshipper has no merit. On the other hand, they APPENDIX A 283 dare not forsake the spirits for fear of vengeance. The observance of Buddhism is more or less formal. The propitation of the evil spirits is one of the most real things of daily life. In S. Siam there is very little spirit- worship (Harris). Ceylon Of Ceylon, Mr. Fraser writes, " The majority of my pupils are almost entirely ignorant of the tenets of their own faith. Amongst the Buddhists, materialism and a material view of life have a much greater hold than in England. . . . Their religious observ- ances are very few, often none, but their religious desires seem less. . . . There is no knowledge amongst them of their sacred books, and there are only, in the whole school, something like three or four boys, or one per cent., who are genuinely interested in their own faiths." HINDRANCES IN THE WAY OF CONVERSIONS TO CHRISTIANITY Burma In spite of the high teaching of Buddhism, the moral standard is very low. Thieving, bribery, and lying seem to be indigenous to the soil. It is very hard to find a man of principle. It may almost be said that marriage in our sense of the word does not exist. Husband and wife separate on the smallest pretext. The women of Burma are said to be the freest in the world. Possibly they are. But there are few men who would not sell their daugh- ters for 20 to any European or Eurasian who chose to offer it. The sympathy with Buddhism at the expense of Christianity, so frequently expressed by Europeans and Eurasians, is often the outcome of conduct towards the women of Burma which Christianity does not allow. It will be seen from this that insist- ence on the Christian law of marriage is an important part of the Gospel to be preached in Burma (Fyffe). The failure of Christians, native and European, to come any- where near the Christian standard of living is a serious hindrance ( Whitehead). Missionaries to Buddhists should be total abstainers, should neither shoot nor fish, and other things being equal (an important clause) should be unmarried (Whitehead). Apathy is a very serious hindrance. The attitude of the Bur- mans is very often this : " You may be right, or you may be wrong, but we are not concerned about such matters " (White- head). The chief intellectual difficulty is that intellects are generally so inert that no attention can be won for questioning about religous matters. Indifference is the chief enemy (Fyffe). The apparent injustice and inequality in the world and the problem of pain cause difficulty to some of the more thoughtful (Whitehead). Social hindrances are not very great, yet they exist. The purdah and its restrictions are absent from Burmese life, so also are the restrictions of caste. There are no social distinctions but those given by wealth and position under government (Fyffe). Yet the Christian Burman suffers from a mild form of ostracism 284 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE in connection with the native festivals and other social gatherings (Whitehead). Also, Buddhism and nationality are often held to go hand in hand (Fyffe, Whitehead). The Burman is essentially strong in emotion and passion, and weak in will power (Whitehead). Siam The chief moral hindrance is the social evil. Marriage ties are weak, and divorce is prevalent and results from the most trivial causes. There is great and wide-spread laxity in the relations between the sexes. The principal intellectual difficulty is ignorance. The mental inertia of the average Laos is almost insuperable. The chief social hindrance is the fear of a certain loss of social position by the adoption of the " foreigners' religion." A man must choose between political preferment and Christianity. Yet there is little real persecution (Harris). Ceylon The idea of Karma, or an impersonal law behind everything, is deeply rooted in the Buddhist mind. The conception is carried to its logical conclusion and therefore there is a strenuous denial of the possibility of forgiveness. Hence strong opposition to the preaching of Christ. The sacrifice of the Cross is interpreted in the crudest way, as a material sacrifice. This the ethical ideas in their conception of law rise up strongly against. The chief moral hindrance is the exacting ethical code of Chris- tianity. Socially, there are many difficulties. Many rent land from richly endowed Buddhist temples. Rent is often paid in service, and many of these services are impossible to Christians. The sons of chiefs expect large revenues from trusteeship and other duties connected with temples. This they lose if they become Christians. Again, there is growing up a national feeling against Christianity as a foreign religion. Also, missionaries and other Christians are isolated from the people by a richer mode of living. The Theosophical Society makes the utmost use of these things, and there are many European Buddhists in Ceylon employed in anti-Christian propaganda (Fraser). DISSATISFACTION WITH BUDDHISM AS A RELIGION Burma Rev. R. S. Fyffe quotes the case of a school teacher, who has since shown himself a really saintly man, who had for years been seeking peace in the Buddhist system, but could never obtain it. " The human heart cries out for forgiveness of sin, and Buddhism has no message for this ultimate need of mankind " (Fyffe). Many Burmans object to the worship of the monks, and say that there is no true " brotherhood " now. Many also object to the worship of images and pagodas (Whitehead). APPENDIX A 285 Siam Rev. William Harris reports dissatisfaction on account of (i) the uncertainty and insuperable difficulties of the merit-making system and its failure to bring peace, and (2) the life of bondage to evil spirits. Ceylon Mr. Fraser has frequently found dissatisfaction among Budd- hists ( i ) from the doctrine of Karma, as affecting the meeting of loved ones after death. Buddhism gives no certain hope. (2) Mr. Fraser has often heard the desire for Christianity expressed on the ground that it is a power to keep from sin. There appears to be also a longing for a personal God. At great festivals it is now a common thing to see on transparencies such words as " God bless our Lord Buddha," carried in procession by the priests. Further, there is a desire to believe in Love at the heart of all things. Devout Buddhists are giving more atten- tion to the coming of the Mittrya Buddha. The Mittrya Buddha is to be the incarnation of Love as Gautama was of Wisdom (Fraser). THE ATTITUDE OF THE MISSIONARY The first duty of the missionary towards the religion of the people among whom he labours is to know it. He must know it in theory and in practice. And if he is to know it thus he must have studied it sympathetically, and looked carefully for its good points (Fyffe, Fraser). The missionary should rejoice in every element of truth or goodness that he finds in the religion and in the practice of the people with whom he has to deal (White- head, Harris). It should not be his desire to create a slavish imitation of our Western form of Christianity. In Burma we do not wish to destroy the picturesque, if ineffective, pagoda, but to plant the Cross upon it (Fyffe). Yet there can be no lowering of the Christian Standard. The claim of Christ is supreme. It is this supreme claim which causes opposition (Fyffe). Mr. Fraser is strongly of opinion that " in an educational institu- tion where Christians are being turned out, they should be well trained in the fundamentals of the faith of their own people as well as in those of Christianity. They should know the points of contact and the fundamental differences, that they may be strong both for defence and for attack." He adds, " No average European missionary will ever be able to preach the Gospel with the background of the old faith always in view. . . . His convert ought to be able to do so and should be carefully trained up to it." POINTS OF CONTACT WITH CHRISTIANITY In the abstract Buddhism seems to have many points of contact with Christianity the noble example, the beautiful precepts of the law, the contrast between the whirl of existence and the perfect peace, the great renunciation made by Gautama, etc. 286 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE yet, in practice, the Buddhist and Christian systems refuse to harmonise (Fyffe). At the same time, all these elements of truth can be used to prepare the way for Christianity. In Burma a reforming sect has arisen in latter days, which has produced a considerable number of Christians. They refuse to worship or support the monks and they do not worship images (Fyffe). The Buddhist idea of sin differs widely from the Christian. It rests upon the unalterable nature of the injury which results under the law of Karma. " As surely as the wheel of the cart follows in the footsteps of the bullock (and this is much more surely than Westerns would imagine, for bullocks are always driven in pairs), so surely shall the reward of every deed or word or thought follow a man " (Whitehead). In animism there is a belief in an eternal and all-good God, the Parent of all mankind, from whom came all man's blessings, and (very secondarily) there is a belief in a judgment to come which no man can avoid (Whitehead Burma). THE ATTRACTION OR REPULSION OF THE GOSPEL The Theism of the Gospel comes often as a new light. The Gospel goes on to declare the love of God shown in Christ, and to proclaim the forgiveness of sin through Him. It is this that wins the religiously-minded men (Fyffe, Whitehead, Harris, Fraser). The story of Christ is the greatest asset we have got (Fraser). The presentation of Christ as the light of the world seems to appeal to many (Fyffe). A crude presentation of the Atonement does harm (Whitehead, Fraser). Mr. Fraser notes that now in Ceylon at the Buddhist festivals they talk of the incarnation of Buddha and his immaculate conception. In other words, they see the power of our doctrine of Christ, the Incarnate God, tempted in all points as we are, able to sympathise and to save. The greatest opposition is aroused by the exclusive claim of Christ, already noted. In Siam, Mr. Harris writes, that the little opposition which has been met with sprang from " resentment at the supplanting of the ancestral religion by a new and foreign faith." BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY Theoretically, according to Buddhist teaching, there can be no personal immortality, as the Buddha expressly denied the reality of the " ego " or personality. So again the idea of Nirvana escape from the whirl of existence " the great peace " is indis- tinguishable from death, or cessation. Yet the human instinct is too strong for these theoretical teachings, and the ordinary belief is the doctrine of transmigration, and the hope of Nirvana becomes very like that of the uninstructed Christian for Heaven " The Buddhist firmly believes in Karma and that it is he, and not another, who shall reap the reward of his doings, for good or evil " (Whitehead). Of Ceylon, Mr. Fraser writes " Immortality is not believed in with any certainty, though there is a belief in a future life which offers no attraction or assurance." APPENDIX A 387 As regards belief in God, Buddha is the supreme being for Buddhists. They know of spirits and deities, but all inferior to the Buddha. Practically he is regarded as a god, and the supreme God, but theoretically Buddhism knows no such person. Strictly, Buddhism is atheistic (Fyffe). The Buddhist feels after God. " The teaching about the Eternal Father and His love is the strongest appeal to the Buddhist, and the point on which he feels most doubtful about his own religion " (Whitehead). Mr. Fraser writes, " God, to every Hindu or Buddhist I have met, seems nebulous ; they have no firm conviction one way or another." THE INFLUENCE OF THE HIGHER CRITICISM In Burma the influence of modern criticism of the Bible is not felt (Fyffe, Whitehead). Real trouble is caused by western attempts to revive Buddhism. The Burman, despite his religion, is not a student nor of a philosophic turn of mind. Yet he is aware that many Europeans do not profess Christianity, and is sometimes led to think that they are becoming Buddhists whole- sale (Whitehead). Mr. Harris reports that, in Siam, modern questions do not arise, the people are too ignorant to comprehend tnem. On the whole, the opinion seems to be growing that the influence of the Higher Criticism will ultimately be for good. Mr. Fraser describes " The conception which has been growing in the mis- sionary body of the Bible as a history of revelation " as of very great value in dealing with other religions. He adds that " it clears away a great deal of unnecessary scaffolding " and " simpli- fies the preaching of the Gospel." THE INFLUENCE OF CONTACT WITH BUDDHISM ON CHRISTIAN FAITH The answers given to this question are prevailingly negative. Mr. Fyffe writes, " We have constantly to remind ourselves that we are teaching babes in Christ, but all the more it is personal love and power of which they need to be told, and this, I believe, is the same everywhere." Mr. Fraser expresses his strong belief in the importance of " preaching the Incarnation as a picture of the eternal Love of God " ; also in the preaching of the Cross and of the true humanity of the Christ, the Christ " who was tempted in all points and yet who is always to us the Revelation of God and never separate from God." Mr. Whitehead writes, " One feels more than people at home can do, the real oneness of the Church of Christ as it stands opposed to the non-Christian world ; but I do not know that my experience has materially affected my own beliefs, beyond perhaps giving one a better appreciation of the work of those not of my own Communion." Missionary experience has clearly the effect of concentrating attention on the great essentials of Christian faith and practice. BAHAISM A LADY who attended the Conference, and who is a personal friend of Abbas Effendi, was not satisfied that the statements in the Report with regard to the views of the Bahais are entirely accurate. After bringing the matter to the attention of the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Commission, she wrote to Abbas Effendi asking the following questions : 1. Is it right to speak of the Bab and of Baha Ullah as mani- festations, or as incarnations ? 2. Do the Bahais teach the doctrine of re-incarnation ? 3. Did Baha Ullah claim to " supersede " the revelation of Jesus the Christ ? 4. Did Baha Ullah claim to be greater than Jesus the Christ ? She obtained the reply which is given below. It is printed here as an authoritative statement by their present leader of the views held by the Bahais. 1. The Bahais believe that the incarnation of the Word of God, meaning the changing of the nature of divinity into humanity, and the transformation of the infinite into the finite, can never be. But they believe that Baha Ullah and the Bab are manifesta- tions of a universal order in the world of humanity. It is clear and evident that the Eternal can never be transient, neither the transient Eternal. The transformation of nature is impossible. Perfect man, manifestation, is like a clear mirror, in which the Sun of Reality is apparent and evident, reflected in its endless bounties. 2. In the teaching of Baha Ullah, the re-incarnation of the spirit in successive bodies is not taught. 3. Baha Ullah has not abolished the teachings of Christ, but gave a fresh impulse to them, and renewed them ; explained and interpreted them ; expanded and fulfilled them. 4. Baha Ullah has not claimed himself to be greater than Christ. He gave the following explanation, that the manifestations of God are the rising points of one and the same Sun, i.e. the Sun of Reality is one, but the places of rising are numerous. Thus, Reality is one, but it is shining upon several mirrors. 28? PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION OF THE REPORT At the Meeting of the Conference, on Saturday, i8th June 1910 COM. IV. 19 Considerations of space have made it necessary to abbrevi- ate the speeches made in the Discussion. In doing this, the attempt has been made to preserve everything that sheds fresh light on the subjects considered in the Report. In some instances the speeches have not been well reported, and this has necessitated the omission of certain sentences. It has not been found possible to send the report of the speeches to those who delivered them for their revision. 291 PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION OF THE REPORT Rev. Professor D. S. CAIRNS, D.D. (United Free Church of Scotland, Aberdeen), introducing the Report, said : Mr. Chair- man, and fellow-members of the Conference, in presenting this Report I do not intend to go in any detail into the matter before you. I shall ask you to take the Report as read. I think we shall better get into the real heart of the matter, and better utilise the time before us, if I confine myself now almost purely to an endeavour to facilitate the discussion, with the view of leaving time for Dr. Speer to sum up the discussion at the close. We cannot be too grateful for the criticisms which have been sent in. They undoubtedly reveal points in our Report which will require to be supplemented and some which will require correction. But I think that there are one or two points on which there is some slight misunderstanding of the general position taken up in the Report, and in order to prevent the discussion from wandering into lines that perhaps there is no need for it entering, I wish to endeavour to remove one or two of these misconceptions. I should like to say, in the first place, that the evidence ought to be printed in full. We had some 170 or 180 papers, some of great length, and one of 150 quarto pages, and I cannot help representing at this point that although we have done our best with that material, there is a great deal that we have been unable to bring before the Conference. The material is so rich that one of our difficulties was to know in what way to handle it. Now we might have contented ourselves in the closing chapter with a bare abstract of the chapters on the different religions, a bare summing up, but it seemed better to adopt a different plan, since after all every reader of the Report can do that for himself. Then we might have endeavoured to apply the leading idea of the Report to all the evidence, but considerations of space and time prevented that also, so that the method followed was that presented in the Report before you. The question was asked, What suggestion has all this mass of evidence for the bringing to light of latent elements in the Christian Gospel ? Inevitably 292 DISCUSSION 293 in our endeavour to illustrate a question like this, a great deal of matter contained in the correspondence does not come to light. We must ask you to assume that we do not intend our closing chapter to be anything like a complete discussion of the matter. It necessarily has to omit many matters which would have been discussed had it been possible. That, I think, disposes of certain difficulties felt by some who have sent in criticisms. I take, for instance, the field of India. The objection has been taken that we have said very little about the popular religion of India, that we have confined ourselves in the main to dealing with Vedantism, and it has been suggested that Vedantism is the theory of a very small proportion of the population of India. I should like to say that we found it . exceedingly difficult it is very difficult for outsiders to get at the real state of matters in India. When one attempts generalisations it is very difficult not to get contradictory opinions, which will not fit into the scheme, but at the same time the evidence before us pointed to the fact that this Indian Pantheism is a far more deeply rooted and widespread thing than is indicated in that particular objection. I turn, for instance, to Dr. Richter's History of Indian Missions, and I find it stated there that not only among the educated classes, but throughout the uneducated as well, there is diffused everywhere this Pantheism, this type of religious thought, which finds its clearest expression in Vedantism, and I am bound to say that a study of the three large volumes of material which I have received from all parts of India, in my judgment, confirms Dr. Richter's statement. That, however, is a point on which I earnestly trust we shall have complete information given to us as the discussion proceeds. Then, again, I should like to say that the reason why this particular question was asked, " What suggestion have these religions of the non-Christian world to offer us in developing the latent elements of Christianity ? " the reason why that was chosen was the fact that the evidence impressed us in the profoundest way with the sense that the whole position of affairs abroad is at the present moment one of extraordinary opportunity and extraordinary peril, and inevitably we were set considering not only what spiritual resources there might be in the present possession of the Christian Church, but what resources might be latent in the Christian Gospel for the meeting of that emer- gency and that peril. The evidence itself therefore suggested a particular question which determined the presentation of the evidence. I should like to say, in closing these brief introductory remarks, that it appears to me that the situation in which we stand face to face with the non-Christian world at the present moment is something like the spiritual situation which confronted Israel in the days of the rise of the great prophecy. Israel had been getting on comfortably enough with its traditional religion. 294 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE It had been living its life on the inherited faith, and was able after a fashion to hold its own amid the perils and labours of the day, but suddenly there arose from the Eastern horizon the tremendous power of the empires of the Euphrates. A shadow fell upon the whole of Israel's life. It was instinctively felt by the spiritual leaders that in the traditional religion there must be more than they had already attained. There must be reserve spiritual forces which would enable the chosen people to meet the new and formidable adversary which had arisen, and we see in the long and illustrious succession of the Hebrew prophets, the endeavour of the spiritual leaders of Israel to meet that new emergency by the broadening and the deepening and the intensify ing of the nation's sense of the living God. We know that the nation survived only because of the labours of these prophets. Does the evidence not disclose that we are face to face to-day with a new and formidable situation which is too great for our traditional thoughts of God ? As we read these Reports we seem to be looking into the great workshop of history. We discern the forces at work which make nations and make religions. We see the clash of the great historic religions ; we see the forming of a new world. Something very vast, something very formidable, something very full of promise and wonder is there, if we have the eyes to see it. But inevitably the question arises, Whether the Church has within itself, resident within it, the forces to meet this great emergency ? Is it equal to the providential calling ? Here is the very heart of the whole matter, the one great question of Destiny. When a man goes up to a spiritual situation for which his past life has disqualified him, the inevitable result is tragedy. If he is ready for it, if he rises to it, if he dominates it by the power of the living God, he moves up to a higher zone of life and attainment. Is not the Christian Church at this moment face to face with a similar situation on a vast scale ? Are we ready for it ? Do we not need the broadening and deepening of all our conceptions of the Living God, the deepening and liberating of all our thoughts of what He has done for us in Christ, of what by His Providence and His Spirit He is ready to do for us in this day of destiny and trial ? Do we not above all other things need the intensifying of the sense of the living God ? For us this can only mean a new discovery of God in Christ. It is this motive that has set us on our quest, this search for the hidden riches of God in Him. We are persuaded that in the religions of the world we have the utterance of human need, and that the answer to that long need and prayer of humanity is found in the Lord Jesus Christ and His Spirit. The pressure of the whole world situation then brings us back to the very sources of the Faith, back once more to the early dawn, and to Him Who is the ancient, the eternal God from Whom we came, and in Whom we live and move and have our being. DISCUSSION 295 ANIMISM Rev. A. G. MACALPINE (United Free Church of Scotland, Livingstonia) : All will agree that if the missionary receives a welcome at all on first arrival among a pagan people, it is rarely in the first instance for the sake of the message which he has come to preach. More often it is the money or barter goods which he must bring, wherewith to purchase the necessaries of life, that form the first attraction. Or it may be the help or protection he is supposed to be able to render that wins him favour. The truths of Christianity are so new, and so unex- pectedly greater than the heathen's best hopes, that it is difficult for the heathen at once to receive them or even to understand a little of what they mean. But the following are some of the teachings of Christianity which have made the earliest and most effective appeal to the Animistic peoples living on the western side of Lake Nyasa : 1. That it is possible for men to have personal dealings with God. If the heathen worship of the spirits was in the distant past conceived by these people as a means of getting at God through the spirits, that idea has long since been lost, and their thoughts now travel to nothing and to no one beyond these spirits of their fathers. Christianity comes with the uplifting message, satisfying to their instinctive need, that it is God Himself, our Father in Heaven, who careth for us, " giving us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness." To this Divine Father we may directly tell all our needs ; He will most surely hear ; and in His Fatherly wisdom and not according to caprice Himself give an answer. 2. This Divine Father loves us His children, and love is of His very nature. No heathen ever prays to the spirits without at the same time offering a gift or sacrifice of some kind. Why ? Sometimes perhaps from reasons of gratitude, but almost in- variably in order to propitiate the spirits, who are mostly con- ceived of as maliciously inclined. 3. The Christian offer of salvation. How and why do many of those heathen come near to Jesus as their Saviour ? Not in the first case perhaps do they come to Christ for pardon out of a sense of the guilt of sin. What do these heathen know of sin ? There is no word for sin in their languages. They know what a crime is against their social laws, but that can be paid for, atoned for, easily, by some form of payment in money, goods, or slaves. The moral offence, the guilt of a sinner before God, they do not realise. But they are sensible of the trouble and difficulty and pain in their lives, which they commonly attribute to their evil spirit, who has them as much in its power as a master has his slave. And how could a slave help himself and free himself from a cruel, tyrannical master. In one way and one 296 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE way only he might flee to another master, to whom, of course, he became a slave, but if this same master was strong enough to resist the other's claim, he would not render him up to the one from whom he had escaped. So, while the heathen may little appreciate at first I say, at first what sin is and thus fail to take in what we mean by salvation and Saviour, his heart is yet drawn to this strong deliverer, this new master who is able to save him from the evil one, " who will not hand him back to that old cruel power in his life, if he trusts and obeys him." 4. In regard to the law of God we are called on to obey, there is much that makes strong appeal to the heathen heart. Taking e.g. the second table of the Law, there is much there that finds ready assent from them. 5. The change of character which Christ works in those whom He possesses, makes also powerful appeal to the heathen mind. 6. Fear is one of the leading characteristics in heathen life. The joy of the Christian life as seen in their neighbours who are converts to Christianity powerfully impresses the heathen mind. 7. The last Gospel truth of which I shall speak is the hope of eternal life. It appears true to say that there is for the heathen little fear in death. He believes that death is not the end of him, but that his spirit shall still live in that great village, as he calls it, the city of the dead, whose inhabitants far outnumber those of any city or country he has yet seen. But if there is little fear in a heathen's death, neither is there any true hope. The other life is not greatly different from this, and no better. He will be with his fathers, and with the great chiefs of whom he has heard. But it is the Gospel which offers the Father's house, where our King and Brother is preparing a place for those who love Him, whom also He will come again and receive unto Himself. Pastor J. R. CALLENBACH, D.D. (Holland) : All of you, or almost all of you, will agree with me if I say that Animism is not the infancy of religion but its corruption. If it were the infancy of religion we could let it alone to develop itself. As it, however, is the corruption of religion, we, who come to the animistic people as Christian healers of spirit and mind, have to study Animism as a doctor studies illness, in order that we may understand the ani- mistic method of thinking. Now I find in the Report that is before us that Animism is described as worship of souls. That is a true statement, but it does not contain the whole truth. Researches made by Skeat on the Malay Peninsula, by missionary Kruyt in Celebes, and by other distinguished missionaries in the Malay Archipelago, show us that the natives in these regions use two words, nearly always translated by soul though widely differing in meaning. One word means what we call the soul, namely, the spirit, the ego of man. The other word means something not spiritual but material and impersonal, permeating all nature, DISCUSSION 297 men, animals, vegetables, minerals. This word should not be translated by soul but by another word. I venture to suggest soul matter. Now the religious observances of these animists have mostly to do with soul matter. They are to be kept that they may hinder the going away of it. Priests and priestesses know the formula by which it is to be brought back if part of it has escaped from the body. Head-hunting, therefore, is not a mere cruelty or a proof of braveness, but it is one of the foremost means to provide a man and his family with the necessary soul matter, if one has too little. This side of Animism I do not find in the Report and it is my firm belief that it is necessary to keep this side in view, if we will penetrate into the method of thinking of these animists. Now the question arises, what truths in Christianity make most direct and effective appeal to the animistic people ? The ani- mistic faith if faith it may be called I spoke of will best be de- stroyed by education and medical work. Only we have to bear in mind that not destroying but upbuilding is the missionary aim and purpose. Now I should say nothing is so efficient to this aim as to tell them in the plainest way the stories and parables of the Gospel. We so often hear them that we do not always realise the influence they have on man's mind the hold they lay upon his soul. I will not try to give you a theory how to bring these words to the animistic mind. I only will tell you how Mr. Kruyt did it practically. In the district where he worked in Celebes were two clans, the To-radjas and To-bebatos, who were enemies for years. Now Mr. Kruyt one day told the To-radjas: Once a To-bebato was lying on the highway sorely wounded. A man of his clan came along and said : He is not of my village and went on. Another came along and said : He is of my village but not of my family, and went on. Then a To-radja came and took him to his house and fostered him. " That is impossible," they all cried out, " that never happened." " You are right," Mr. Kruyt answered, " it is impossible here. But in the country I came from the people once were so bad that they drank beer from the skulls of their enemies." " We never were so bad as that," all cried out. " And yet," he went on, " in my country the good thing that I have said is possible, and the same thing will happen here." " Then our hearts must have changed ? " one man said, and gave by his saying the right word for conversion to Mr. Kruyt, and the best occasion to preach the Gospe). That I call bringing the truth of Christianity to the soul of the people. Dr. T. JAYS (Church Missionary Society) : In reading the Report as it deals with animistic religions it seems to me the Commission has made the very common mistake of generalising from particular instances. It is no doubt due, as Professor Cairns has said, to the immense amount of material. I cannot help 298 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE feeling that there is not enough from those who have been working in West Africa. I think a great many very different answers would have been given, and would have modified seme general statements that have been made. It has been suggested that the people will not admit wrong-doing. My experience is that they will admit wrong-doing. They will answer directly, when you ask them whether a thing is right or wrong. One man is spoken of as being an exceedingly reliable authority, because that man has gone and asked questions, written them down in the language, and then got interpretations on difficult points. If you ask cate- gorical questions you will get categorical answers, and you will get the answer that they think you want. In this way you will rery often get quite a wrong impression. I am quite certain that the only way to find out these things that the people them- selves are ashamed of, and do not care to tell you, is to simply wait and watch, and the longer you wait and watch the less you seem to know. Rev. LARS DAHLE (Norwegian Missionary Society) : I have been a missionary for eighteen years in Madagascar amongst people chiefly animistic in their creed, although not entirely so. In passing I may make a remark that I think it is rather difficult to say where you have only to deal with animistic peoples ; most of them, as in China, for instance, have mixed it up together. When I came out to Madagascar before I had had any experience of matters, I thought I would ask a good master the first mis- sionary, the apostle Paul how he did it. I found that on several occasions in speaking to a large population he began by putting forward very strongly the righteousness of God, the Resurrection, and the responsibility connected with it. I have obtained ex- perience in Malagasy that nothing would be more likely to arouse them, and to stir them, and to bring them to think of the religious question than just this question of the resurrection day. As an animistic people they think a good deal of the spirits of the dead, of their ancestors, and they pray to them and expect help from them in their difficulties of life. They have not the idea of the resurrection of the body and the combination of the body and soul, and their appearance before a righteous God to give account of all their actions. I therefore say that although there may be different kinds of occasions for connecting heathen thoughts in the different animistic nations, I think this one point about the Resurrection and the Judgment would prove to be one of the best points by which you can come nearest their consciences and make them feel the great responsibility and necessity of trying to get into the right position to God. Rev. C. H. MONAHAN (Wesleyan Methodist Missionary in South India) : I want to say first that I have been profoundly impressed DISCUSSION 299 by the work that has been done by Dr. Warneck in the scientific study of Animism in Battak, and I very much wish some one would do a similar service for the Animism of South India. Now, the thing which has impressed me more and more is, firstly, the variety of motives which influence the people, and secondly, that they are generally the motives which as young missionaries we do not expect. I knew one man who was drawn to inquire about Christ and who became a sincere disciple out of consideration for the decent disposal of his corpse. He felt that the decent burial of the dead amongst Christians was a matter that was worthy of consideration, and as he was anxious that his body should be suitably disposed of he began to enquire from the catechist about our religion and became eventually a sincere Christian. That is the point of view from which he approached the question. Of the various motives that Dr. Warneck has brought forward, that which is perhaps most impressive in my own field is the certainty of the Gospel. When you question these animistic peoples about their religious practices, the answer you generally get is this " Our fathers did it and we do it." When you begin really to argue they are at sea regarding the great certainties of life and death. I have asked many of them, " What do you think of the future ; what do you expect in the future ? " They answer, " What do we know." Consequently they are profoundly im- pressed with the fact that the Christians, however immature they may be, are confident in the presence of death. Let me now give a word of criticism on the Report. The Hinduism which you have got on the Report is not the Hinduism which bulks largest in daily life. It reminds me of a saying of Coleridge that this is a kind of bread that cannot be made out of ordinary wheat. Let me say that if we are to release the best that is in the life of India the ordinary every-day Hinduism has got to be broken, and I am, in this sense, an iconoclast. Missions-Inspector JOH. WARNECK (Rhenish Missionary Society, formerly in Sumatra) : The knowledge of the animistic religions is of the greatest importance for the missionary worker, not only because a great deal of the non-Christian world in Asia and Africa belongs to this type of religion, but because we find remnants of this primitive religion also in the great religions of the East, and even in Europe, wherever Christ has not become the king of the spiritual life of men. We are beginning now to study this type of religion more carefully than formerly. It is a study of the greatest interest, which surprises the student by the observation that even the primitive heathen feel the need of making for them- selves an almost philosophical conception of the visible and in- visible world. I hope that the important material gathered by our Commission will tend to increase the zeal for this study among missionaries. We acknowledge in animism, as in all other re- 300 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE ligions, a search of the human soul after God, but we observe likewise that there are other powers working powers of evil. Heathenism is materialistic. It has lost God ; it is without God ; far from God. All of us who have worked among animistic peoples have a deep experience of this fact. The animistic heathen are slaves of fear. Whether the spirits they fear are real or not, the fear regarding them is a dreadful reality. This power of heathenism must be known, but it cannot be overcome by study and scholarship, important as these may be, but by prayer and by strong faith in the power and love of God. On the other hand all missionary workers have by the grace of God a vivid experience of the power of the Gospel which is able to overcome the power of heathenism. In the mission field there are great forces at work, mortal forces of heathenism and living forces of the Gospel. We observe in missionary work at the present time the greatest wonder that exists in the world, except the Incarnation of God in the person of His Son. It is the con- version of men hitherto seeking only the lowest things of the earthly life, men to whom the first message about God's love sounds ridiculous and absurd, men who, though they are can nibals and wicked, do not admit that they have done any sin or wrong. This is what makes the missionary task so dear, so great ; to see how the Gospel of Christ brings absolutely new forces to bear upon these earthly minded people. I saw in Sumatra among the wild Battak tribes that the preaching of the Gospel really delivered these poor slaves from their fear, that they became free, joyful, thankful men. Then I saw that they experienced in their sinful life the presence of the living, almighty, loving God ; that they came into a real deep communion with our Father in heaven. The reality of this communion is proved by their living faith, which often makes us ashamed, and likewise by the sincerity of their prayers. In connection with this communion with God they learn to fight against their sins and the national vices. Of course, they cannot in a moment overcome them. The progress is often slow, but they struggle with their old sinful nature and it is for the sake of their communion with God that they begin this battle. From the same source comes another Christian gift the hope of the life to come. This aspect of the Gospel startles the heathen when they hear it for the first time, and according to my experi- ence it is the last blessing of Christ they receive. But all of them whose power is Christ learn to hope, and when they are dying it appears that the hope oi everlasting life with Christ makes them tranquil and even glad to leave this world. We cannot expect that those aspects of the Gospel which are the most important and sweet to us make the first impression upon the heathen. Our Lord and Saviour is so rich. He has so many blessings for us, that it does not matter which of them appeals to the soul at first. It is of great importance for all DISCUSSION 301 missionaries among the different animistic nations to observe carefully which part of the Gospel is the most needed there, and that should be emphasised first in our preaching. Therefore, we require a careful study of the heathen mind and of the effect of the Gospel on that mind. It is my conviction that Christ is not only the Saviour for all mankind, but that He has a special gift or blessing too for each nation according to its special wants and needs. And so, if we consider the effects of the Gospel on the different heathen peoples, we see with astonishment and joy that Christ grows greater and greater, and all kinds of men find in Him what they need and seek. THE RELIGIONS OF CHINA Rev. LI. LLOYD (Church Missionary Society, Foochow) : In my answer to the question what are the elements of the Gospel which appeal most strongly to the Chinese people, I wish to say that the doctrine of the Fatherhood of God appeals very strongly to their interest. This is naturally so. The family is the beginning and end of everything in Chinese life and thought, and filial piety, as you know, is considered by the Chinese people to be the highest of all gifts and graces. It is not surprising then that the truth about the Fatherhood of God is generally the starting point in the Chinese evangelist's address, and I have seen the faces of the Chinese again and again lighted up as this great truth has burst upon them for the first time. Then of course arising out of this fact there is another, and that is that the love of the Father as exhibited in the incarnation is of very special importance in preaching to the Chinese people. So far as my experience goes, a Chinaman has no difficulty whatever in believing and accepting the doctrine of atonement as revealed to us in the New Testament. And then the sympathy and kindness of the Lord Jesus Christ during his life amongst men on earth also appeals to the Chinese people. There is so little sympathy and kindness amongst the Chinese. I want to say finally that what China needs is the Gospel adumbrated in the Old Testament and revealed by the New Testament, and not in all those modern theories of the Gospel which men have spun out of their own inner consciousness. Rev. TONG TSING-EN (Baptist Mission, China) : I am happy indeed to-day to speak a little about the Chinese religions with you great people from all parts of the world. There are several religions in China, and I cannot condense my remarks into a few minutes' talk. I shall just tell you two famous ones. They are Confucianism and Buddhism. Each of these has its peculiar and special doctrine of which their disciples are proud, and there are hindrances which keep them from coming to Christ. 302 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE In the first place you know there have been about one hundred philosophers and wise men who have lived in China since the estab- lishment of the Government five thousand years ago. They all adhere to Confucianism. They gave a perfect doctrine called the five moral relations. Especially the piety to the parents, and loyalty and faithfulness to the Emperor. These doctrines have influenced the people for thousands of years. So you see if the Christianity does not emphasise our daily life or we do not complete our duty of our love to men or we do not obey our parents nor respect our superiors, there would be a great hindrance which prevents them from coming to listen to our Gospel. Furthermore, China has been called a literary country ; they have the oldest literature in the world. So if the Christian boys do not like to study the Chinese literature but like to study the English language more, and have become half foreigners, this is another hindrance which keeps them from coming to Christ. They think that we Christians have become the subjects of the foreign countries, as the Mohammedan disciples have become the subjects of Arabia. Now, we, the Chinese, ought to study our literature more. First, we have need of Chinese teachers in our Mission schools and the translator in literary societies. That will show our patriotism and the higher class of people will love us more so, and in that way we can win many souls for Christ. In the next place Buddhism has its special doctrine of ascetic life, separation from adultery and luxury. Their methods are wrong, but their meaning is right. We do not like to leave the world and live a lazy life on the mountain doing nothing, but our hearts and minds ought to be separated from the evil world. Our daily life ought to be clean and white so that the Buddhist disciples, seeing that our Christian life is quite different from that of the common people and is much better than theirs, will like to come near us. Now, you see, if the Chinese Christian wishes to influence these people he must emphasise these three points. Rev. J. CAMPBELL GIBSON, D.D. (English Presbyterian Mission, Swatow, China) : I do not quite agree with what is stated in the Report that in China there is an amazing absence of the sense of sin. The ordinary man boldly declares that he has no sin. I think that is partly a matter of language. I do not think you can in any heathen language speak of sin. There is no word for it, because the idea is not there. You will at once see the point if one were to say to this audience, " You are all sinners." You would all accept it as profoundly true, but if I were to say to you, " You are all criminals," you would rightly resent it. When you appeal to a Chinese audience my experience is that you find them continually responding to the statement that they are sinners, that they come far short of their own moral DISCUSSION 303 ideas, but they have never dared to put forward the hope that sin might be forgiven. That, I say, is the glorious element in our mission to China. One other point as to the hindrance to the acceptance of Christianity is associated with what I have just said. What we want is to give the Chinese their original idea of God, and I rather miss in this Report sufficient recognition that in China there is an ancient magnificent conception of God which still is in the heart of the Chinese people. The God who has been displaced by Buddhism and by Taoism one is bound also to say by Confucianism is the Gcd whom we preach, and we are entitled I think honestly to say so and to call upon them to recognise that their great teacher Confucius, while admirable as an expounder of moral ideals, did a great disservice to China when he allowed the spiritual thought and the personality and the power of God to be displaced from the minds of his people. When you ask what are the greatest hindrances to the acceptance of the Gospel in China I say certainly not Buddhism or Taoism. Idolatry I believe might easily fall in China, because it holds most by their own fears. The great hindrance is, I believe, the theory that Confucianism has taught " man's sufficiency for himself." The great hindrance in China is the great hindrance at home, that man desires to trust himself and is not willing to come as a helpless failure and put himself into the hands of a God who loves him and who is able graciously to forgive him. Rev. ARTHUR H. SMITH, D.D. (American Board, Peking) : There is no one who has lived any length of time in China who has not learned something about the religions of that country. I would like to say that in China we have perhaps the best example in the history of the human race that the good of the past is the enemy of the present. Confucius was one of the world's greatest teachers, yet they have accepted a religion from abroad. Budd- hism came in to supplement the defects of Confucianism. I agree fully with my friend Mr. Lloyd of Foochow, that the Fatherhood of God is the first great proposition to be brought to the Chinese. The most remarkable thing that I know of in China has been that within the last eighteen months young men brought up in the Christian faith have suddenly in a moment's time turned from the pursuit of their own career into the service of the Kingdom of God. I think that is a wonderful thing. We may die out, but the Chinese will never die out. Rev. G. HEBER JONES, D.D. (American Methodist Episcopal Church, Korea) : I wish to lay stress here on two points which so far have not appeared in the discussion, one relating to hindrances and the other to a point where emphasis may be placed in the presentation of the Christian faith to the Chinese people. I can ntroduce these by an incident. A young Chinese, a graduate of 304 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE the Imperial University, speaking to me about his attitude towards Christianity, and the attitude of the young leadership of Japan, said this : " Up to within fifty years ago thought was largely dominated by the Confucian code of ethics, but since then grave conditions have grown up the conditions growing out of in- dustrialism, and out of the rise of large municipalities which confront us to-day, and for which we seem to be without an an- swer. Confucianism seems to be devoid of an answer for the problems which grow out of the relation between capital and labour, and other problems which arise out of that new life developing in the Far East. You missionaries say to us that Christianity is the right answer to these problems, but we have our students who are in the great universities of the West, and they come back and tell us that many of the famous teachers of the uni- versities of the West say to us that Christianity is like Confucianism and Buddhism, in that it suffers from a fatal disparagement in not being able to offer an adeqifate answer to these problems. Indeed we are at a loss what to do, whether to follow the advice of you missionaries and take our stand within the Christian faith, or attempt to take some religion that will go beneath these pro- blems." In proposing Christianity to the educated leaders of Korea and China, and to Japan, can we not in addition to the stress which we lay upon its Divine character, upon its complete and perfect pre- sentation of the Fatherhood of God, upon its doctrines concerning sin and the salvation of man, also stress the point that it offers the only complete and satisfactory answer to the great conditions and changes in society through modern industrialism, commercial- ism, and municipalism ? THE RELIGIONS OF JAPAN Rev. G. C. NIVEN (Church Missionary Society) : You will find in Japan there are three religions, Buddhism, Shintoism, and Taoism. In Japanese Buddhism we have things very like the things connected with Jesus Christ, and we are very fre- quently met with the statement by Japanese, " This is just like Buddhism." The Mohammedan says he has them in the Koran. I know there is going to be a good deal of difficulty between now and the time of capitulation. I should like to endorse here and now with regard to these religions what we have been told in the Report of the Commission. I want to put before you what is the Buddhist priest's idea of the present position of his own religion. A priest came to me one day and said, " You see I am a Buddhist priest, and I do not want to become a Christian. I have come to ask you about your Christian methods in order that I may do some good to my Buddhism in my own church." Another priest came to me, and I noticed he was a man of about forty-five. I DISCUSSION 305 found he had learned and taught himself English. I said, " Where have you learned English ? " and he said, " I am quite clear that very soon Buddhism is bound to go in this country, and because of that I feel I shall have nothing to support myself by, and so as to save myself I am getting ready." Here you have an idea of the priests, and how they copy our methods. Dr. TASUKU HARADA (President of the Doshisha College) : When I speak, I think I represent chiefly the students and the intelligent class of Japanese, but I hope that my remarks will also be applicable to the other classes of the Japanese. As regards the aspects of the Christian Gospel and Christian life which appeal to the Japanese, in the first place, I mention the love of God. Dr. Neesima used to say that he regarded the i6th verse of the third chapter of St. John's Gospel as the Fujiyama of the New Testament " God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son." If there are two words which have created the greatest transformation since the introduction of Christianity into Japan they are the words " God " and " love." They have been transformed into a new meaning since we have received the Christian truth. Especially I must mention the character of Jesus Christ, His courage, His manliness. His sympathy, His simplicity, His serenity, and His self-sacrifice. These will always appeal to the best elements in the Japanese character. You know the Japanese are hero worshippers from top to bottom. If you send men of good, pure and strong character you will not find difficulty in obtaining followers among all classes of Japanese. Again I must mention the great power now which will appeal to the Japanese is the Christian life as lived in the Christian home. I hear from many Japanese who come back from being abroad criticisms of many points of the Christian civilisation, but when they come to the point of Christian homes they have just one word. They admire Christianity as seen in the best Christian homes abroad. The difficulty of the position comes more in points of theology and doctrinal Christianity. Here I will just say this. In dealing with these young Japanese, we ought to lay emphasis on the points which they will more easily understand, just as when you are dealing with young men or intelligent people in Great Britain or America. If there is anything in Japanese which will hurt their feeling or which will cause their strong opposition, it will be any kind of teaching which will hurt their sense of loyalty to the nation and to the Empire, but when they understand the real attitude of the Christians to their own nation and to the Emperor they will find no difficulty in becoming Christian. Mr. GALEN M. FISHER (Secretary of the Young Men's Christian Association, Tokyo) : It is impossible for me to speak on the religious life of Japan with the authority of a Japanese like Dr. iiarada, but I will give my own observations. COM. IV. 20 306 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE Few educated Japanese to-day are devotees of the ancient faiths. But the principles and the world-view of Buddhism and Confucianism still form the unconscious background of their lives. Therefore the effective teacher of Christianity who would meet their deepest needs should know historic Buddhism and Confucianism as well as possible ; and not only the historic, but the popular forms, too, for even educated Japanese are not un- affected by beliefs that they may smile at. The Japanese student is kept from becoming a Christian chiefly by four difficulties : (i) The supposed conflict between Christianity and Japanese nationalism and social solidarity. (2) The supposed inability of Christian philosophy to give as good an explanation of the world as Buddhism or evolutionary philosophy. (3) The unpractical nature of Christianity its unheroic, feminine char- acter on the one hand, and its inability to cure the evils and dominate the life of Western civilisation on the other. (4) The supposed necessity of subscribing to elaborate systems of doctrine, beyond his experience, even if not repugnant to Hm before he can enter the Christian life. Now m view of these four difficulties, it is clear that the pastor and missionary themselves should first of all know Christianity experimentally and thoroughly, and should be able to state it lucidly and persuasively in the vocabulary of a twentieth century student of science or law, rather than of a thirteenth century theologian. The educated Japanese, to be sure, has a keen and logical mind, and any religious teacher who hopes to influence him deeply will find ability to present a reasoned philosophy of Christian truth of great value. But the Japanese people are after all more practical than philosophical. They are decidedly pragmatic. Hence, by far the most convincing answers to these four sets of difficulties will come not from argument so much as from the life and witness of Christian men whom they trust. As the Japanese tersely puts it : " Better than argument is evid- ence." It is nothing but the method found so effective by the early Christians, as told in the Acts, " a campaign of testimony." Now we may consider these difficulties and suggest the apologetic that has proved to be best fitted to convince educated Japanese, (i) The anti-national, individualistic tendency of Christianity. More telling than arguments proving that Christianity fosters true patriotism is the well-attested fact that during two recent wars there were no braver soldiers nor more patriotic citizens than the Christians. And the life-long records of Christian soldiers, statesmen, and educators, such as Hon. S. Ebara and the late Admiral Kataoka, have outweighed laboured tirades against the anti -patriotic nature of Christianity, even when uttered by such a famous man as Baron Kato, former President of the Im- perial University. The ministry of Christian men and women to lepers, orphans, and ex-convicts, and the faithfulness of Christians- DISCUSSION 307 to their parents have demonstrated that real Christianity is by no means individualistic but is as filial as Confucianism, and more comprehensively social. (2) Again, as to Christian philosophy, more potent than fine spun syllogisms, are the examples of eminent philosophers and scientists, who are earnest Christians. Equally weighty, no doubt, is the testimony of pastors, teachers, and missionaries whose intellectual attainments command respect and whose honesty compels credence. (3) Suspicions as to the unheroic temper of Christianity have been dispelled by the lives of many fearless Japanese Christian samurai, and by the lives of such robust Christians as St. Paul, Martin Luther, Livingstone, Gladstone, and Roosevelt. And the charge of unpractically can be met by an exposition of the teachings of Christ, and also by the lives of merchants and men of affairs both in Japan and in the Occident. But when it comes to the apparent impotence of Christianity before the social evils of the West, what shall we say ? The missionary is struck dumb. We must appeal to the Christians of the West itself to cover this Achilles' heel in the apologetic of Christianity in Japan. (4) And, finally, the stumbling-block of doctrine is got over by making the seeker realise that Christianity is first and foremost Jesus Christ Himself and the filial relation to the Christ! ike God revealed in Him. When Jesus Christ in all the majesty of His four-square character is set forth, the Japanese student responds as eagerly as the student of any Western land. He, too, is chained down by secret sin ; he, too, finds himself unmanned by tempta- tion ; and he will hang on the words of a teacher who will hold up Christ in all His love, His heroism, and His universal sufficiency. The four pastors in Japan who are drawing the most educated men toward Christ are all leading them to conceive the Christian life as a personal and vital relation to God in Christ, and are leaving them to work out their intellectual statement of faith in the light of experience and subsequent instruction. The supreme appeal to educated Japanese is to loyalty loyalty to Christ as a Master worthy of their fealty, and through Christ, loyalty to family and country and Emperor. Christ needs no apology before educated Japanese to-day. What is most needed is that we should make it possible for the magnetic power of His personality to get unimpeded approach to their hearts and wills. Rt. Rev. the Bishop of OSSORY (Ireland) : The Commission wish me to say a few words summing up the discussion on this question because, with very great temerity, and acting under the orders of the Chairman of the Commission, I undertook to act as a sub-committee to deal with the evidence from Japan ; that is, to be more or less of a sieve through which that evidence might pass before it should find its way into the Report. May I 308 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE say as regards the main points that there is a perfect unanimity on the part of all who contributed evidence on this great question. May I say one or two words as to what the main points are. First of all there can be no question whatever but that Christian morality has established itself in the heart of Japan. It is proved from all the information which comes in that there was a few years ago to some extent a set back as regards evangelistic work in Japan and the growth of the Church, and that time of depression has apparently not altogether passed. Meantime it is undoubtedly the fact that Christian morality is enshrining itself in the hearts of the Japanese people, and we have it. on good evidence that there must be at least one million people among the educated classes of Japan who think in terms of Christian morality as regards the conduct of the affairs of daily life. Then again there is wonderful unanimity amongst those who sent in papers as to the sympathetic attitude which missionaries ought to adopt towards the religions of the country, and that there is certainly spiritual value to be attached to many of the ideas belonging to these religions. There are, if I may so express it, nebulous impressions which will ulti- mately condense into thoughts which will be centres of light when they find themselves in the Christian firmamant. Then again the patriotic Japanese believes that there is no power higher than the Emperor, and to him it seems a shocking thing to suggest that the Almighty God Himself is greater than the Emperor of Japan. So it seems to be an unpatriotic thing to support Christ that seems to be the greatest difficulty. May I direct attention of readers of the Report very specially to the fascinating account given by the Rev. Arthur Lloyd, a man of extreme ability and great independence of mind, of that strange theology which has arisen out of Buddhism, perhaps under Christian influence, and which preaches very nearly the theology of the Gospel in certain respects but with very vast differences. ISLAM Rev. JOHANNES LEPSIUS, D.D. (Director of the German Orient Mission) : The Report of this Commission is a very remarkable proof that the general condition of Missions is a totally different one to-day than at any other time. The world's intercourse has put an end to the isolation of the nations. The same pro- blems of philosophy and theology which come up at the univer- sities of Oxford and Cambridge, at Berlin and Jena, are discussed in Calcutta, Peking, and Tokyo, and in the daily papers of Cairo and of Constantinople. A year ago we had two Mullahs in Pots- dam who became Christians, and are now teachers in our Mo- hammedan Seminary. ' One of them was the Sheikh of a Dervish order, the other was a famous professor of Mohammedan theology. They came to the conviction of evangelical truth without having DISCUSSION 309 come into contact with any Christian Church or Mission, only through the study of Mohammedan literature and the Bible. By their experience they came to the conviction that the most efficacious method of destroying Islam at this time would be to create for the Mohammedan world a Christian literature of the highest type of Christian and Mohammedan education and culture. This is the chief problem we aim at in our Mohammedan Seminary in Potsdam. With regard to the formulation of the Christian doctrine suited to the Mohammedan mind, we are convinced that the greatest mistake would be to accommodate Christian truth to Mohammedan error. Neither do we believe that we must adopt the forms of the evangelical message to any modern theo- logical system of Europe or America. When the apostle Paul received his call to preach the Gospel to the Greek and Roman world, at first he convinced himself that his Gospel was the same as that of the other apostles, but then he created his own form of Gospel, his Gospel for the Gentiles. It may be that the Gospel to the Moslems will give us a deeper conception not only of the unity but also of the Trinity of God than that which we received from the Greek dogma. Would it not be a blessing for the Christian Church if, like in the time of the apostles, the Missions were to take again the leadership in theology ? Theology tends more and more to studies of the history of religions. The knowledge of the living religions is the domain of missions. I am convinced that the best way to overcome the vague eccentricities of " Higher Criticism " will be the deeper knowledge of the non-Christian religions which missionary work will give us. Rev. W. H. T. GAIRDNER (Church Missionary Society, Cairo) : How can we present the full Gospel of Christ which un- doubtedly involves a high Christology, and ultimately as we believe a Trinitarian doctrine of the Divine unity, without offend- ing the rightly uncompromising monotheism of Moslems, and without seeming to compromise our own ? (1) We must more often applaud their insistence on mono- theism and insist on ours, just as we say to certain friends in this country that we are the true Unitarians. To appropriate the Moslem formula, " There is no god but God " in preaching, I have found inclines the Moslem to listen favourably to one's sub- sequent words. I believe that, in yachting phrasing, taking your rival's wind in this way is called " blanketing." Mr. Chairman, the blanketing of the mission field is not only good policy but it is probably in accordance with a deep truth. St. Paul " blanketed " the Stoics and Epicureans in Acts xvii. (2) We must remember that historically a great deal happened before the Church climbed to a Trinitarian formula, and we must insist to the Moslem heckler that he accompany us in the early stages and not wish to jump at once from Alpha to Omega. We 310 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE have first of all the significant fact that the Jews were Unitarians and monotheists, and yet that the Jewish Unitarian Saul, accom panied by his brethren Peter and John and even James, naturally and insensibly came to possess the highest of Christologies without apparently feeling the smallest shock to their monotheism. How was this ? There was no doubt the preparation of the Memra doctrine in Palestine, and the Logos doctrine in Alexandria ; and there was the overpowering impression made by Jesus the Christ (for to us the modern " Jesus or Christ " is just the coolest of petitio principiis). We then must preach and represent to the Moslem the glories of JESUS and they will come, safe enough, to a high Christology. And further, we must pay more attention to the development of doctrine in the first three centuries. We want some healthy " pre-Raphaelitism " in theology to-day (pre-Athanasianism), and must not be too obsessed by the more formal and less suggestive period between Nicaea and Chalcedon. But here as everywhere one comes up against the ignorance of us missionaries and the insufficiency of our training. (3) We must remember that Koranic Islam itself gives oppor- tunities for that most unrighteously abused form of argument the tu quoque. The tu quoque in theology is not " Well I know I am wrong, but you are too," nor even " Well I know I have difficulties, but you have just the same " (though this latter is most legitimate) ; rather is it " Why ! you yourself come near the same mysterious and inexplicable truth. So why not accept ours, which fulfils yours ? " For example, God's appropriation of a particular tiling in a particular place, at a particular time for a particular manifestation of His real Presence, which is the soul of the doctrine of the Incarnation and which was insisted on by the theophanies of the Old Testament, has its parallel in the Koran, which, as much as the Old Testament, has its hints of the Shekinah notably in the story of the burning bush. I remember saying, in an address to Moslems, " If the Divine Glory taber- nacled according to you in a lowly bush, why should you think it strange if it tabernacled in a glorious holy human life ? " and I remember how the Moslems admitted to each other that the parallel was not unreasonable. (4) We must remember that the evolution of Moslem theology itself showed tendencies of throwing up a Logos doctrine, which with us was, speculatively, the basis of a trinitarian monotheism. Only with them the eternal, uncreate Word of God was the Koran. Missionaries have often found it helpful to point out (i) *hat this eternal Koran is just a hypostasis in the one divine ousia, and that the Moslem, therefore, ought at least to regard as intelligible the Nicene doctrine of those hypostaseis in one oust a ; (2) that the Christi n development is more noble and helpful than the Islamic, inasmuch as a conscious being is nobler than an unconscious. (5) More work should, I believe, be done to show that the doctrine DISCUSSION 311 of plurality-in-unity may. nay must, be applied to the Godhead, and that when applied it is found to be a fruitful conception. Is it possible that the category of spiritual organism is the category in which reverently to conceive of the Divine Being which is at once the truest, the highest, the most fruitful, the most explica- tory of the special difficulties of the Trinitarian doctrine, nay possibly even of the Theistic position altogether ? Rev. S. M. ZWEMER, D.D. : Mr. Gairdner has stated so accurately and forcibly the whole subject that I simply want to endorse it from a practical point of view. I believe that in the entire missionary problem the emphasis should not be on the funda- mental differences between Christianity and Islamism. The Moslem heart is simply the heart of man Islamised, and the addi- tional difficulties which the Moslem has in accepting Jesus Christ superimposed upon the others. He cannot understand the Father- hood of God ; he denies the Incarnation ; he does not believe in the integrity and authenticity of the Bible we offer him, and he denies the need of an atonement for sin. I believe the enormous difficulty of the average missionary is going to be greatly increased in our day because in our efforts to present this Gospel to the very heart and life of the individual Moslem who is educated, we will find that a man's foes are those inside his own household. I believe very firmly, from my experience of sixteen years in Arabia, in dealing with Moslems, that they are very often agreed upon those very points on which we differ among ourselves. HINDUISM Rev. JOHN MORRISON, D.D. (Church of Scotland, formerly of Calcutta) : There are many Hinduisms, as we have heard already at this Conference. I propose to think of the Christian message in relation to what may be called Modern Hinduism. The last Indian census tells us that there were close upon one million native Indians who could read and write English. These and the millions more who are within the circle of their influence are the Hindus whose Hinduism I am thinking about. May I say humbly, in the first place, when we seek for the aspect of the Christian message that will appeal most to these Hindus or to any people, we must be clear that we know the distinctive message of Christianity to our own souls. Can we put what the gospel has been to us in clear unmistakable language to ourselves or to our brother Christian ? And if we can do that, can we state it in language which can be understood by one who is unfamiliar with our Christian thoughts and Christian terms ? I say that if we can translate the impressiveness of the Christian Gospel in that way, that implies no small reflection on our part on our faith both from within and without. Further, if the missionary's 312 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE message is to apply, to catch on, to grip, he must not only have a distinctive message himself, but he must know the mind of the people to whom he is going. But let them not think he is to teach them about their own religion. I fear, Mr. Chairman, a mis- sionary going as a comparative theologian. I feel that a man should go as a magnetised Christian fellow-man. Although I had drawn up the points in the Christian religion that I had found to appeal to the Hindus, I find it unnecessary to repeat them, because I find that the appeal in South Africa, the appeal in Japan, the appeal in China, the appeal even to Moslems is much the same as the effective appeal to the modernised Hindu people. Rev. G. E. PHILLIPS (London Missionary Society, Madras) : The sentiment was referred to this morning that we were to preach the old-fashioned gospel in the old way. None of us are going to quarrel with that but, with regard to preaching the old way, I want to tell you first how that old way is conceived in Southern India. I have heard many an address in the streets of Madras and in the villages of Southern India of which the sum and substance was like this : " There is one God and His name is Jesus Christ. To believe in idols is foolish, and ridicule has been poured on the idols. You must give up these idols and if you believe in this one God whose name is Jesus Christ you will go to heaven, and if you don't you will go to hell." Now I hope this Conference agrees with me in the feeling that if I received that message and was a Hindu I should have thrown stones at the speaker if I safely could. Do not let us go and say that we can preach the gospel without any training. I firmly believe that we can present Jesus Christ to-day with wonderful force in India as the fulfiller of all that is best in the past of India and I heartily agree with all that has been said in the Report on that head. In the Tamil country which I know best we have many points of wonderful contact of Christianity with the best religious life of the country. The literature which we find is a magnificent literature. I have taken the trouble to try and get a knowledge of that literature. There are stories that our people tell to one another in the ordinary middle-class homes, stories of saints of old, men who were worldly until a certain point in their life when they met a Mullah, a heavenly teacher and, as all in India must do, they received that Mullah as a divine incarnation. They forsook the world and followed him. Surely we can fit that into our message of Jesus Christ. The Report has referred to Mr. A. G. Hogg's treatment of the doctrine of Karma in a book which we as Indian missionaries all rejoice to see. Some people may say that that book is only philosophical, yet I say from experience that I have taken the real substance of that book into the streets of Madras and put it into popular form in the vernacular, and it has met with response and a very real response in the bazaars and streets. And so with all DISCUSSION 313 the other things. The most effective appeal I remember hearing on behalf of Jesus Christ to students in Madras was made, how ? It was made by a brilliant young Indian Christian philosopher, who started from the question of idolatry and who went on to say that this idolatrous instinct with which India is so full has come from a harmless desire to feel something tangible and real and present, and he went on most effectively that that instinct is answered in the personality of Jesus Christ who is the image of God. I believe that in many such ways we can present the old gospel and we can avoid much needless antagonism and we can win the hearts of modern Hindus to Jesus Christ. Brother F. J. WESTERN (Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, Delhi) : In considering points of contact between Hin- duism and Christianity, I wish to draw the attention of the Con- ference to a type of Hinduism of which very little has been said in the Reports of Commissions I. and IV. I mean modern Hinduism as it is found in North India, to which alone my remarks refer. It is a commonplace that the influence of European culture and the influence of missionary work have brought about a national renaissance which has expressed itself on the most purely religious side in movements such as the Brahmo Samaj, the Arya Samaj, the Neo-Vedantism of Sister Nivedita and the Deva Samaj. These stirrings and revivals we often compare with those that took place in the Greco-Roman world in the first centuries of the Christian era, and we are apt to argue that they are signs of the breaking up of the old religion, that they are attempting to find a substitute for Christianity whose fruitless- ness will soon be manifest. But I wish to ask this Conference to consider whether the situation may not be far more complex than this, whether in the near future and even in some degree at the present time there may be, not only a breaking up of Hinduism, and not only a dilemma between agnosticism and Christianity such as faced educated Indians in the early years of the nineteenth century, but a great reformation of Hinduism. If Hinduism were to have a real reformation as it has had in the past before now altering it as widely and deeply as our Reformation in Europe altered Western Christianity, surely will not the question of our attitude towards Hinduism, and of the points of contact between Christianity and Hinduism be very seriously altered ? I believe myself that one can see to-day the beginnings of a reformed Hinduism I mean a Hinduism, not merely Arya Samaj ism or any other sectarian religion. Tangible proof of such a reform is difficult to give, but one important point is referred to in the Report of the Commission the very widespread use of the Bhagavad-Gita as a book of theology and devotion. This book has been, one might almost say, re-discovered by English educated Hindus, and many are learning from it not only quietism, but to 314 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE borrow words of Professor Hogg, quoted in the Report the strenuous mood, and the consecration of life to service. In the Punjab, though the Arya Samaj is important as a sect, I believe that it is and will be far more important as a force which makes for the reformation of the main body of Hinduism ; while I gather that in Bengal men do not often join the Brahmo Samaj, because they can find what they need within the bounds of Hin- duism, as it is nowadays interpreted. What then are we to say of this new Theistic Hinduism which has learned so much from Christianity, and from Christian thought in general? It cannot, of course, have ultimate stability as set over against the Gospel message, but may have power for hundreds of years. Can we think of it as a praeparatio erangelica, or are we to regard it as raising new and mighty barriers to the triumph of the Gospei ? This question I shall not attempt to answer, but wish to put it before the members of this Conference as deserving our most careful study. May I add here that there is much here that concerns what the agenda calls the commonplace missionary. For the study of modern Hinduism, a knowledge of Sanskrit, though desirable, is not necessary ; the chief documents are human, and the way to an interpretation is sincere friendship and belief in the light that lighteth every man. Rev. W. A. MANSEIX (Methodist Episcopal Church, India) : I desire to speak to-day about the influence of the revival in India upon the Christian message. I think that people who have had any experience in presenting the gospel in India will be convinced that there is a lack of Christian conscience in those to whom we present the message ; there is a lack of sense of sin ; and that makes it necessary to say that any amount of teaching from us will not create that which does not exist we cannot create a conscience. There is nothing that can produce this conscience but the Spirit of God working in a revival, and I am sure that there are days to come in India when we shall see that there is a shorter way to accomplish much of what we have been trying to accomplish in the years past. In many parts of India we have instances of the Spirit of God coming among whole congregations, melting them down and breaking them up, and making them conscious of a deep sense of sin, that a whole lot of teaching could not bring about. Behind and over and above teaching is a sense that God can act in mighty power, that the day of His power is not far distant, and that the supreme duty of the Christian Church in all the world is to pray for the power of the Holy Ghost to come upon all our people, that they may be moved upon by Him, and that His power may produce that which no amount of teaching can produce. Rev. K. C. CHATTERJI, D.D. (Punjab, ex-Moderator of the DISCUSSION 315 Presbyterian Church of India) : I have felt thus far shy in coming to this platform and in speaking to this large assembly, for fear of not being able to speak so loud as to be heard by everybody ; but now that the subject of Hinduism is being discussed, and it appears that I am the only Hindu convert present here to say a word about it, I have overcome my shyness and appeared here. I have no desire to review the Report of the Commission, but shall say two or three words in reference to our dealings with Hindu enquirers. My first word is that in dealing with Hindu enquirers and candidates for learning the truth of the Christian religion, we should acknowledge fully and clearly all that is good in Hinduism. I say this because it has not been done in the past. If you examine the controversial literature written by foreign missionaries, and native missionaries too, you will find that there is a great deal of exposure of the evils of Hinduism, but not a word of the recognition of that which is good in it. This is a fact, my friends, and the consequence is, since we mis- sionaries do not acknowledge it, or have not done so in the past, the educated Hindus have come forward and pointed out what is good in their own religion. They are doing it largely, extensively, so as to shut our mouths. We think it is fair to them that we .should do it, it is just to them that we should do it. Besides that, we who are bearers of the message of love from God, let us not in our dealing with these people show that we are wanting in love to them. My second remark is that in dealing with Hindus we should deal in full sympathy with their difficulties. Many of the difficulties have been pointed out here. The caste difficulty is perhaps one of the greatest, but I should like you to remember that it is only an outward difficulty. But there is a subjective difficulty in the Hindu mind. The Hindu mind cannot easily accept the Gospel of salvation, of grace. Not only the Hindu philosophers, but in the Punjab, the part' of the country where I live, the educated people and the cultivators of land all believe that man must receive punishment for Ms own deeds, that there cannot be any vicarious punishment. When I became a Christian as a young man, I was brought up in mission schools from the beginning, I was taught to love the Saviour. I loved the Saviour, I loved Christian precepts, loved my teachers, in fact, every word they said I considered as the gospel. I could never see any defect, any fault in them ; I could even accept the great Gospel of the Trinity, which has been a great stumbling- block to many men, but the stumbling-block which I could not accept was that one man was sent in order that others should be saved. As a man sows so shall he reap. That means simply this, whatever his acts are that must be his recompense. One man cannot suffer the recompense for another man's acts. There cannot be anything like vicarious suffering and vicarious detth. But, in my own case the difficulty disappeared when I read first, 316 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE " As in Adam all died, so in Christ shall all be made alive." That verse acted as a charm on my life, and I studied it more and more and still read it. I -will just mention the third point which I believe. Hindu minds cannot accept the doctrine of exclusive salvation in Christ. These are the salient points, my brethren. Rev. G. T. MANLEY (Church Missionary Society, London) : I would like to draw your attention to one point which I think is apt to be overlooked in this study. I have been reminded several times that it is our duty as missionaries to build upon the beliefs which we find among the people. My point is that we should build upon beliefs which are actually believed and not upon those which are only supposed to be believed. There are two reasons for this. First of all the principle upon which the whole discussion to-day is based is that the message as it leaves the mouth of the speaker is not the same as the message which reaches the heart of the hearer, because it has to pass through the sieve of the pre- existing ideas and the pre-existing experience of the hearer himself. For that very reason it is of importance to take into account the beliefs which he has and not the beliefs which may be current in the community in which he lives. Then again our object surely in preaching the Gospel is not simply to find the quickest or the easiest way to men's hearts, but to find the surest way there. It is not the most popular address that always produces the deepest change. I would say, therefore, let us find out not simply what is current on the surface of the beliefs of the people, but those beliefs which are deep down in their hearts. Let me illustrate this by the Indian student class, the only class with which I am personally familiar. One might say that their belief is based on three factors, speaking roughly. There is the religious factor, which is a vague kind of Pantheism. That to my mind is right on the surface m most of them in my experience. Then I would mention the college factor which I think is more important. Those who have had training in a Government college have received a very heavy veneer of English Materialism, Agnosticism, Herbert Spencerism or whatever you are pleased to call it. But, deepest of all, I have found that in every case where I have got into close touch there has been what I would call the family factor. To illustrate this I remember an Indian student in Cambridge who, when I first met him, told me he was a Hindu. A little later I got down to a lower strata and he told me he was an agnostic ; but,, when I got to know him in his daily life I found he had a prayer which he re- peated day by day and which he had learned as a child. That was nearer to him than anything he had learned afterwards. The inner citadel of the Indian student's heart I am quite sure is what he has learned at his mother's knee and in his own home. In dealing with the educated class of Indians we are dealing with a very simple-hearted people, a very affectionate people, a people DISCUSSION 317 whose needs axe the same as our needs and whose thoughts are probably at the bottom much more like our own thoughts than most of us are prone to think. The ordinary Christian student wants to know the Saviour who can give him courage to face other men, above all he wants to know the Saviour who can come and comfort him in that greatest of all conflicts that so many of us in this hall need, when he comes to face the question that he has got to give up his own mother and his own home ; and it is when we get right down to that home factor that we get down to the man. Rev. WILLIAM DILGER (Basel Missionary Society, formerly in India) : As you study that part of the Commission's Report that deals with Hinduism, it will appear to you that Hinduism is a most complex and intricate system, a religion with a great variety of aspects. In Hinduism there are gods many and lords many, innumerable sacred books, a great number of philosophical schools, and quite a variety of ways of attaining the Supreme Good. To the outsider and to the newcomer in the mission field this is simply bewildering. But through the mists of this be- wildering chaos their shines one friendly star, an idea, that touches a sympathetic chord even in the Christian's heart. That is the idea of redemption. Ever since the days of the Upanishads, the people of India have been craving, seeking, and praying for moksha or mukti. Now tnoksha means deliverance or redemption. " From the unreal lead me to the real, out of darkness lead me into the light, from death lead me to immortality " this is the prayer of one of the ancient Indian sages. When I first discovered this, not only in the Sacred Books of the Hindus, but in the souls of all sorts and conditions of men in India, it was a revelation to me. I thought that I had found a most useful and welcome point of contact between the message of the gospel and the religious consciousness of the Indian people. And whenever in delivering the missionary message I touched upon the subject of moksha, the most eager interest of the people was aroused and they listened to my message with bated breath. The Hindu seeks deliverance not from the guilt of sin, but from the pains and suffer- ings of transmigration, of the innumerable births and rebirths in which he believes he receives the fruits and the reward of his works in former births. And because the misery of transmigration is inseparably bound up with his whole existence, he despairs of, and longs to be delivered from existence itself. This is what he calls moksha or redemption. But he realises the fact that such deliverance can only be found in union with the Supreme Being. This is another most valuable point of contact between the message of the Gospel and the religious consciousness of the people of India. For we also believe that only in the communion with our heavenly Father through Christ Jesus we can find complete and final re- 318 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE demption from sin and all evil. But here the affinity ceases and the contrast becomes manifest. If you ask the Hindu what kind of Being the Supreme Deity is, he will tell you that according to his sacred books and his approved views the Supreme Being is Existence, Cogitation, and Bliss, and that this involves a state of dreamless sleep or a state still more devoid of personal self-consciousness than dreamless sleep. It is not a person but a thing and with this abstract unity man must be united ; in it he must be completely absorbed if he is to obtain moksha or redemption. As the rivers fall into the sea, blending their water with the waves of the ocean and losing completely their separate existence, so the individual soul is to blend with the absolute soul, losing its individual exis- tence and its personal self-consciousness completely. The boys in my school and the people in the villages, when asked what moksha really was, used to give me this answer, " Moksha is anni- hilation." Now this is exactly the opposite of what the gospel of Jesus Christ offers to the believer. The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. This is the Supreme Good of the gospel in striking contrast with the Supreme Good of Hinduism. This I hold is the message that we are to bring to the people of India. We are not to preach a new doctrine or a new theory of redemption, but the living Christ as the embodiment of God's redemption and eternal life. It is to be admitted that the Hindus do not as a rule welcome the message and the gift of God. They often look upon it as far inferior to their own idea of redemption. But then their redemption is only an idea, an abstract conception of their philosophy ; and ours is a reality which can be tasted by experience. Rev. J. P. JONES, D.D. (American Board, South India) : India is a land of thought. Perhaps no people on earth have thought more profoundly, have speculated with more intense religious earnestness than the people of India through all these centuries. India has abundance of thought, and as I say it is deeply religious. Even what we would regard as the greatest error of all India to-day, that pantheistic conception, is really but an over-emphasis upon the truth, a perversion of a glorious doctrine, and I believe that there are many of the doctrines of Hinduism to-day which can be brought into subservience to the thought of Christ. But I have another thought which I wish to impress at this time and that is, How shall this be done ? India, as I have said, has abundance of thought, but India has not, and it never has had. a religious idea incarnated in any life. Among the millions of the gods of India there never was one which they themselves exalted before the people and said, " This is the God you have to follow." Do you know that the most popular god in India to-day is the incarnation of lust, the next god that come* to that is the incarnation of devilry, and the other one that con- DISCUSSION 319 taminates South India is the incarnation of cruelty. We need to show the people that we have One who has incarnated in His own life the highest ideals that man has ever known, and let me say that this is the greatest need of India to-day, and if you are to come to the transformation of the thought of India it must be reached through taking them face to face with Christ, bringing them into the Divine presence and showing to them Him who is. the realisation of true righteousness, who is the very revelation of God in the perfection of His love. Not only is this what India needs, but it is what she is seeking for to-day. I believe that there is nothing to be found among those men to-day which is more general than the appreciation of Christ as we bring Him to them. Rev. Dr. MACKICHAN. D.D. (Principal of the Wilson College^ Bombay) : What is the object which this Report has in view ?" It is to set before us the way in which we ought to approach the Indian mind with the message of the Gospel. Some ofie has told us to-day that he is an iconoclast. It seems to me that our mission is to present Christ to the people and win them from their idols, so that they, and not we s shall become iconoclasts. I concur most heartily with all that is said with regard to the desirability of approaching the mind of India along the avenues of its own thought. We do not for a moment imagine that we are to accept the conclusions of that thought as true, and regard our mission to be simply that of lifting up to some higher platform the thought of the people. We have a distinctive message to bring to them, we have a message the eternal import of which can never change, but that message we must convey in a way that shows that it answers the deepest necessities of the soul, and that it is the- answer to the questions over which the people have brooded throughout ages. There is no land like India in the world in which religion has taken so deep a hold on the mind of the people, and surely it becomes us as missionaries to know what that religious mind is, and to endeavour to present Christianity as the satisfaction of its deepest desires. The apostle Paul used this method, and I may say that one of the greatest difficulties that the Hindu feels in his attitude towards the Christian faith is that which Paul referred to in his celebrated address at Athens. They ask, Does it mean nothing that through thousands of years our nation has brooded over the thought of God ? Does it mean nothing that all through the ages we have struggled with the problem of God and religion ? Have we lived all our lives outside the limits of the divine Providence and the divine religion ? Did not Paul teach the Gentiles in that address that the care and thought of God was not confined to one people, but that all nations were within its wide and loving scope ? Unless we are prepared to make them feel that God has had thought of them 320 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE through the ages, that God has been working through His divine Providence in their lives, and unless we can approach them, in that spirit we do not approach them with the sympathy for which their hearts crave. This does not mean, and I trust it will never mean, that the contents of our message are to be adapted and changed to suit the thoughts of the people of India. Their philosophy is a grand philosophy. It is based upon metaphysical thinking of the highest order, yet it has not reached a true and saving conclusion. We have to tell the Indian that we sympathise with his struggle, and we sympathise with his failure, and that Christ whom we preach to him brings to him the message which satisfies his longings and fulfils his desires. In this sense Christ is the fulfiller, not simply the supplementer of something that has been discovered and achieved, but one who fulfils the desire and the striving of the soul, one who in the truest sense meets the soul's human need. Rev. CANON C. H. ROBINSON, D.D. (Society for the Pro- pagation of the Gospel, London) : When I entered the room this afternoon I had no intention or thought of speaking. It is only by your direct request that I have risen to speak, and I have done so because I feel that as I had the privilege of drawing up the first draft of the Report on Hinduism, I thought that I ought perhaps to embrace the opportunity of trying to correct what seemed to me two misconceptions which this Report has to a certain extent produced. It has been suggested more than once that this Report has adopted a vein of optimism, and that the Hinduism which we describe is not the Hinduism of India. I frankly admit that the Commission has adopted a vein of optimism, and I do not think any one could read all the reports through without adopting such a vein. The Hinduism of India to-day does suggest some very real points of contact with our own faith. I have to thank Dr. Chatterji for adopting the conclusion of our Report that missionaries in the past have not seen so much good in Indian literature as they ought to have done. Yet once more we are not unaware of the fact that there are many Hindus, indeed, who fall far short of their ideals. The Report is based upon the assumption that the work of the Christian missionary, if it is to follow the lines laid down by the founder of Christianity, must be constructive, not destructive. Christ is the Sun of Righteousness we believe, but in order to prepare for His complete manifestation we have not got to extinguish the stars which have helped to illumine the darkness of the non-Christian world but to guide seekers after the truth in their search for God. The chief reason why the noble ideals of the great Eastern religions do not ennoble the lives of more of their adherents is that they tend to create a spirit of despair in those who accept them. DISCUSSION 321 GENERAL QUESTIONS APPLYING TO ALL RELIGIONS Rev. ROBERT A. HUME, D.D. (American Board, Ahmednagar) : I desire, first, to express grateful acknowledgment to this Com- mission for its Report and especially for the concluding chapter of General Conclusions. It is not some critical dispassionate summation. Every paragraph pulsates with life. To me the characteristics of that concluding outlook are its sympathy, insight, penetrative use of history both for encouragement and warning, progressiveness, courage, suggestiveness, and consequent hopefulness. May every one of us make and take time to ponder on this lucid and glowing statement, for it brings to the front the most vital factor of missions, not men, not money, not methods, not organisation, but the living Christ and the universal, active. Holy Spirit. In the time at my disposal I would briefly emphasise a few points in that concluding chapter. (1) The value for the mission field of to-day, both for courage and for warning, of an understanding both of the New Testament and of the history of the early Church. (2) The problems which confront the home Churches are coming to be, nay are, the problems on the advanced fields of some missions. Christians and non-Christians in such fields read the same papers, magazines, and books which conservative and pro- gressive circles read in the West. The Report of this Commission repeatedly shows that it is both impossible and undesirable to seek to prevent Christians and non-Christians in such advanced mission fields from knowing the reasons for and against views which are widely considered hi the West. Only disbelief in truth, in divine Providence, and in the Holy Spirit would approve a policy of fear. (3) Missionary and indigenous Christian workers, who often have little opportunity of keeping well abreast of present-day scholars of the West, have reason to be thankful for the distinct and reiterated assurances in the Report of this Commission that modern thought is helpful to the spiritual life and power of the Western Church, and is fitted to be even more so in the mission field. (4) The historical and usual order is that understanding the Person of Christ precedes an understanding of the Person and work of the Holy Spirit. Every-day missionary experience gives illustrations of this. A sense of dissatisfaction and unrest is the sad undertone of Indian thought and life. But only after the Holy Spirit has applied the things of Christ to public sentiment and to individual consciences does the Christian sense of sin awaken. Dr. HENRY T. HODGKIN (Friends' Foreign Missionary Associa- COM. IV. 21 322 tion, formerly in China) : I have again and again asked myself what is the outstanding contribution which is to come from China to the full understanding of the Christian gospel, and I say with great hesitation, but simply as my own conviction, that I believe no contribution will be greater than that which comes from the sense which one gets in China, and which the Chinese have, of the solidity of the people, the sense that when you are in a family you are not simply one man, but that you are one of a whole, that the individual is not the unit but the family, and in a sense that each unit is built so closely into all the others that in some way which I think we hardly yet have realised in our own indi- vidualistic ideas, if one member suffers all the members suffer with it. I believe that as we go forth, scattered armies from one denomination and another, to this warfare to win the East into the great dominion and kingdom of Jesus Christ, we are being brought up to this question of unity, not simply by the greatness of the difficulties we have to face but by the fact that we are in an atmosphere where unity means more than it means here in the West, and we have gone out thus in scattered armies to do the work for God which we believe we were called to do and we are coming back immeasurably the richer. Rev. Professor A. R. MACEWEN, D.D. (United Free Church of Scotland, Edinburgh) : Those who know how the minds of young men in our Colleges are moving are very thankful that this Com- mission has presented so frank and fair a Report with so wide an outlook, but I rise to emphasise the special need of the study of the teaching of the past upon this great subject. For eighteen centuries Christianity has been struggling with non-Christian religions. Sometimes it has been successful in the struggle, sometimes it has been worsted. We can learn invaluable lessons by comparing the attitude taken by Christians teachers towards other religions in the days of defeat with the attitude taken in the days of victory. For the most suggestive period is the earliest, viz., the second and third centuries when Christianity gained possession of the Roman world. In that period it had as its rivals religions of almost unlimited variety with attractions for men of every mood and every grade of intellectual ability. Some of these religions had the best philosophers of the time as their advocates, while neither philosophers nor moralists showed any appreciation of Christian teaching. Yet the non-Christian religions were completely discomfitted and Christianity became the religion of the Roman world. The attitude of missionaries in this struggle varied, but in the main it was one of definite antagonism to pagan religions, although not to pagan thought. Some of them condemned paganism wholesale, others recognised that God had never left Himself without a witness, and a few of them acknowledged that the old idolatries had been part of God's DISCUSSION 323 training of the nations. Yet even these last were unsparing in their condemnation of the religions of their times, and repudiated every proposal to blend pagan usages, or traditions, or ideas, with Christian beliefs or worship. Mr. Chairman, the Report tells us that some of those who have submitted statements to this Commission have expressed the opinion that missionaries should " never be iconoclasts," and again, that they should " seek to transfigure the non-Christian religions " by a long-continued and sympathetic study of their significance. No doubt this is true in one sense : yet it is a method of denning the duty of mis- sionaries which may be misunderstood and misrepresented. With all the help which Comparative Religion is furnishing to a true appreciation of Christianity, we must not allow that science as shaped by Unitarian and pantheistic thinkers to hide the fact that there will always be a radical antagonism between Christian beliefs and the beliefs of paganism. Pray do not misunderstand me. With all our progress, we have a great deal to learn from the tolerance and comprehensiveness of early Christian teachers, especially from their grand thought of Christ as the everlasting Word, who reveals Himself to all men, which bulked so largely in the thinking of the early centuries. Indeed what I desire to say is that in this as in other respects we require to consider thought- fully the spirit in which the first missionaries of the Cross gained their victories, and to appropriate its varied lessons, nor are we entitled to disregard the warnings that come to us from the past. There have been times when Christian Missions have attempted to blend Christianity with ancestor worship and with other pagan customs. In China and Japan three hundred years ago there were prosperous and promising Missions which after violent contro- versy fell into disrepute and ruin, and undoubtedly the chief cause of this calamity was the endeavour to comply with or assimi- late the religious usages of China and Japan. If there is one fact clear to students of the past, it is that Christianity gains and keeps hold of the non-Christian world by the unswerving assertion of positive and exclusive beliefs. One of the most suggestive items in this fine Report is found on the section dealing with Japan, where we read that when a company of native schoolmasters were asked to specify the " Western form " and " Western elements " of Christianity which perplexed them, they replied that they did " not know the meaning of such terms " in the teaching of mission- aries who made the open Bible the basis of their teaching. Such a testimony is to be placed side by side with a fact which emerges not once but repeatedly in other Reports with regard to the teaching which missionaries are actually giving, one after another from widely separate fields and with different denominational ideals men report that the statement of faith which they find to have most value and on which they lay most stress is the Apostles' Creed the very creed in which the Church of the second and third 324 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE centuries embodied the beliefs which it asserted in its struggle with the non-Christian religions. The truths which are being set forth by the missionaries of this Conference are neither " western " nor " eastern," neither " modern " nor " ancient " ; they are the truths through which the Church has always found and still finds everywhere its life and power and growth. Mr. ROBERT E. SPEER (Secretary of the Foreign Mission Board of the Presbyterian Church in U.S.A.), in closing the discussion on behalf of the Commission, said : In closing on behalf of the Commission this truly noble discussion on this fundamental question I wish to draw out four points on which I hope from the temper of the discussion to-day we shall find ourselves to agree. In the first place we are all agreed that Christianity is the final and absolute religion. We believe this on what we were convinced were adequate grounds before we compared Christianity with the other religions of the world. The effect of that com- parison has been to confirm and solidify this conviction. And it is precisely because we hold this conviction that we believe we dare take the most generous and fearless attitude towards all the other religions. It has been said with regard to our Report that it has emphasised the higher aspects of the non-Christian religions, and that is true. It is true also that in a complete presentation all facts would need to be looked at, not only the best but also the worst facts of pagan society, and the best and worst facts also of Christian society. But dealing with the problem in part as we were obliged to do, it appeared to us that we should do as we would be done by. We thought it best to compare the best in each pagan religion with the best in Christianity. Just because we hold so firmly to the finality and the absoluteness of the Christian faith, we dare go further than any other religion dare go, in laying down our goods for comparison with any other goods in the world. And it is not only the most generous attitude that we feel ourselves able to take, but also the most fearless. Our real confidence in Christianity will be shown by our con- fidence in this regard. We hold to the truth of the absoluteness of Christianity, but does that truth hold us ? As Richard Holt Hutton told us, it is not what truth a man holds, but what truth holds the man that matters. Many a man thinks he holds a truth that really does not hold him. A man may believe that he holds the principle of the security of Christianity, when the principle that holds him is the insecurity of Christianity. We trust that we both hold and are held by the truth of the finality and absoluteness of Christianity. In the second place, after all, the question that is before us is not whether we believe that Christianity is the final and absolute religion, but how are we going to get the world to believe it. To say here in this Conference, " On such and such grounds DISCUSSION 325 Christianity is the final and absolute religion " is not necessarily to lay out those grounds on the basis on which we can convince the world that Christianity is the supreme religion. The question is not whether we are prepared to call Christianity supreme, but how are we really going to make it supreme, and how get it accepted as such by all the world. The moment we set out on this talk we meet thinking men and bow to measure the Christian truth with the truth or error which these men also believe. We must deal especially with the most devout men of the other religions. We know that in our own lands the best men are the men most religious and devout. The strongest men in other Christian lands also are as likely to be the most religious men. These are precisely the men that we wish to win to Christ, and exactly as we would wish ourselves to be approached, we must go to the men with the message by which we trust that they may be won. That is the second conviction, not on what ground do we believe that Christianity is the final and absolute religion, but how may we induce religious men on the other side of the world to share our conviction ? The third point is the point of the reaction of the contact of Christianity with the non-Christian religions and peoples, not upon Christianity, but upon our apprehension and conceptions of Christianity. No one of us believes that we have the whole of Christian truth. If we believed that we had the whole of this truth that would be the surrender of our conviction that Christi- anity is the final and absolute religion. How is it possible for us in a small fragment of the long corporate experience of humanity, a few races in a mere generation of time, to claim that we have gathered all the truth of the inexhaustible religion in to our own personal comprehension and experience ? We know that we have not, by reason of the primary and fundamental conviction we hold of the value of Christianity. We see this also as we lay Christianity over against the non-Christian religions of the world. We discover, as we do so, truths in Christianity which we had not discerned before, or truths in a glory, in a magnitude, that we had not before imagined. The comparison does not impoverish Christianity ; it does not result in our subtracting anything from the great bulk of Christian truth on which we have laid hold. It is true that from one point of view our lessons are not to be learned from the non-Christian religions but from the non-Christian races, but there is a sense in which the non-Christian religions, while they are encumbrances upon the religious life of man, are also expressions of that religious life, and as we bring our faith over against them we shall not bring back into our faith what was not in our own faith before, but we shall discern what we had not discovered was there before. And it is not only the conviction that we hold regarding Christianity, and the actual reaction of missionary work upon our conception of Christianity, which are 326 THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE expanding our understanding of our faith, but we are driven to such an expansion by the obvious inadequacy of our present understanding to deal with the problem of our Churches at home, we begin to see that only a Christianity understood by universal application to known life can avail to meet the needs of human life in any community or nation. Only a Gospel that is laid down upon all the life of man will enable it to deal with any of the problems of mankind. These problems are in their sense universal problems, and they can never be dealt with until we deal with them with a Gospel understood from its world application and known as a comprehensive world power. And last of all, not only is it necessary that we should have a world-conquering gospel, a gospel understood by applying it to all the life of man in order to deal with our problems in the world anywhere, but we need to the end of the empire of Christi- anity the converse of what I have been saying, we need an immense deepening and quickening of the Christian life at home. We can carry no message save the message that we have and we come here upon the great need of the missionary enterprise to-day. This is the truth to which our Report refers at the close. The great need of the missionary enterprise now is that new life and power at home, that experience of the sufficiency of God, that laying hold of the fulness, the as yet untested fulness of the power of God in Christ by which alone we may hope to be able to go out to conquer with our truth the whole life of man. Once again, as Dr. Cairns said in the noble words which conclude our Report and this is the only way in which the new life can come at home, once again on the altars of the Church's devotion the ancient fires begin to burn and shine. We have had as we have studied these reports great visions of undeveloped possibilities in our Gospel, unutilised offers and promises of God, in Christ, to the life of man. Our appeal has been not that we should seek in the non- Christian religions for truths which are not in Christianity, but that we should seek in Christ the truth which we have not yet known, and the power which we have not yet experienced, but which is there for the Church in all the fulness of God in the day of her faith and obedience. INDEX Africa, 7-37 passim. American Indians. See Indians. Amida Buddhism in Japan, 76-7, 84, 98-9, 103, 106, 222, 308. Amitabha, 40, 57, 227. Ancestors, worship of among animists, 6, 26, 219 ; among the Chinese, 39, 40, 41-2, 46-7, 222, 225 ; in Japan, 73-4, 80-1, 82, 87, 88, 102-3 [cf. ix. 286-7]. Animism, definition of, 6 ; need for distinguishing double meaning of " soul " in beliefs of, 296-7 ; religious value of, 7-12 ; place of fear in, 7-9, 19, 169, 218^9, 300; absence of consolation in, 10 ; beliefs of, dictated by physical necessities alone, 10, 33. 3 ' traditional nature of, 9, 12 ; relation of, to morality, n, 13-15. 27-8 ; social solidarity of, 15, 16-17 ; evidences of dissatisfaction with, 17-9 ; attitude of the missionary towards, 19-24 ; points of contact with Christianity, 22, 24-8 ; ideas of sacrifice, 27 ; of prayer, 27, 28 ; influence of contact with, on faith of missionaries, 35-7 ; importance of study of, 19-20, 299-300. See also God, Christianity, Immor- tality, Hindrances. AryaSamaj, 165, 178, 203, 245, 3i3- Atonement. See Cross, the doctrine of the. Attitude of the missionary. See Missionary. Babis, 123. Bahais, 123-4, 131, 143, 239, 288. Bantu tribes, animism among, 7-37 passim. Beef, eating of, a hindrance to Christianity, 163-4. Bhagavad Gita, 159-61, 179, 196, 3i3- Bhakti. See under Hinduism. Brahmo Samaj, 165, 178, 184, 245. Buddhism, position of, in China, 38-9 ; in Japan, 76-8 ; in- ability of, to meet spiritual need, 78, 90-2, 232, 305 ; active revival t>f, in Japan in sectarian forms, 76-8 (see also Amida) ; underlying pantheism of, 86 ; points of contact with Christianity, 56-7, 98, loo ; Southern Buddhism, 236, 275, 281-7. See also China, Japan. Burma, 7-37 passim, 281-7. Butler's Analogy, 221. Caste, 157, 164-6, 168, 195. China, religions of relation to one another, 38-9, 44 ; elements of religious help and consolation in, 39-42 ; material blessings chiefly sought, 40-1, 42-3 ; dissatis- faction felt by adherents of, 49-52 ; attitude of the missionary towards, 52-4 ; points of contact with Christianity, 54-8, 303 ; idolatry in, 46. 50 ; in- 328 INDEX China, religions of fluence of contact with, on Christian faith, 68-70, 322 ; need for the study of, 53 ; inadequacy of, to meet j present situation, 221-9. See also Ancestor Worship, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, God, Christianity, Immortality, Hindrances. Christianity, elements in, that make special appeal to Animistic peoples The Fatherhood and love of God, 29-30, 31, 218, 219, 295, 300; the power and omniscience of God, 29-30, | 31, 218, 219; redemption | from the power of spirits and demons, 30-1, 295-6, 300 ; the doctrine of the atonement, 31-2 ; the hope! of a future life, 32-3, 296,! 299, 300 ; the actual Chris- j tian life, 33, 296; thei higher morality of Chris- 1 tianity, 296 ; the stories j and parables of the Gospel, j 297 ; the resurrection and j the judgment, 298. The Chinese The message of the one God, ! 58-9, 70, 71, 72 ; the; Fatherhood and love ofj God, 58, 61, 70, 301, 303 ;| the life and character! of Christ, 59, 301 ; the doctrine of the Cross, 59. 70 ; the message of Christ as a present Saviour, 59-60, 71 ; the actual Christian life, 60- 1, 71, 72 ; the spirit of Christian brotherhood, 60- 1, 71, 72 ; the hope of a future life, 61, 71 ; deliverance from evil spirits, 61. The Japanese The message of the one God, 104-5, IO 7. I0 8, no; | the Fatherhood and love of God, 105, 305; the Christianity, elements in, that make special appeal to worth of the individual, 105 ; the life and character of Christ, 105-6, 107-8, IO 9. 35. 37 I the actual Christian life, 105, 107 ; the spirit of Christian brotherhood, 105 ; the at- tractiveness of Christian homes, 305 ; the hope of a future life, 105 ; the gospel of salvation from sin, 106, 1 10 ; the sacrifice of Christ, 102, 106. Moslems The life and character of Christ, 147, 148, 154; the Cross of Christ, 131, 148, 1 50 ; the appeal of the Bible, 148 ; Christ as a present Saviour, 148 ; the actual Christian life, 148, X 54. J 55 J the Christian's peace in death, 148 ; the Christian ideal of marriage, 148 ; the philanthropic activities of Christian missions, 148. Hindus The life and character of Christ, 169, 187-90, 211, 212-3, 248, 319 ; the doctrine of the Cross, 187, 190, 192, 212-3 I the power of a new life, 189, 211, 212, 317 ; the Christian message of brotherhood, 213; the Fatherhood and love of God, 169, 189, 190 ; the hope of a future life, 190 [cf. ix. 198-205 for appeal of Christianity in early centuries]. Christianity, elements in, that awaken opposition Among animistic peoples The high moral demands of the Gospel, 33 ; spirituality of Christianity, 33 ; its emphasis on individual re- sponsibility, 33 ; the doc- INDEX 329 Christianity, elements in, that awaken opposition trine of the resurrection of the body, 33-4. In China The lofty moral demands of the Gospel, 42, 63 ; the supernatural in Christian- ity, 44-63 ; the divinity of Christ, 44, 62-3 ; the doc- trine of the resurrection, 44 ; the exclusive character of Christianity, 62 ; the absence of rules in Chris- tianity, 45 ; Sabbath observ- ance, 48. In Japan Exclusiveness of Christi- anity, no; its doctrine of universal brotherhood, 88-9, in; its supposed un- heroic character, 306-7 ; the supernatural, 111-2, 121 ; the divinity of Christ, 87, 113 ; the doctrine of the resurrection, 87. Among Moslems The doctrine of the Trinity, 135, 137, 149, 309-11 ; the divine Sonship of Jesus, 136, 137, 149 ; the doctrine of the Cross, 136, 137, 149, 150, 154; spirituality of Christianity, 149 ; lack of definite precepts, 149 ; the practice of Christians in eating swine's flesh and drinking wine, 149-50. In India Historical element in Chris- tianity, 166-7, 188-9 .' tne doctrine of the Cross, 167-8, 191-2, 315-6 ; the doctrine of the personality of God, 194 ; the exclusiveness of Christianity, 187, 192-3 ; its lofty moral demands, 195, 196 ; the belief in one life followed by the judg- ment, 193 ; the lack of a satisfying explanation of the existence of evil, 193 ; Christianity, elements in, that awaken opposition the doctrine of eternal punishment, 194 ; the teaching of brotherhood fas opposed to^caste, 195. See also Hindrances. Christianity, the final and uni- versal religion, 97, 176-7, 232-4, 268 [cf. ix. 1 56-72]. Commission, Report of the. See Report. Confucianism, position of, in China, 38-9 ; in Japan, 75 ; agnostic character of, 44-6, 8 1, 86, 231 ; self-sufficiency fostered by, 303 ; points of contact with Christianity, 54-6, 100-1 ; growing dis- satisfaction with, in China, 51 ; inadequacy to meet present situation, 232, 304. See also China, Japan. Conversion, hindrances to. See Hindrances. Cross, the doctrine of the effect of, among non-Christian peoples, 31-2, 59, 70, 106, 131, 136, 137, 148-50, 154, 167-8, 187, 190-2, 212-3, 3IS-6. Dervish sects, 125, 128. Druses, 126. Dutch East Indies, 7-37 passim, 12 S~SS passim, 218-9. Everlasting life. See Immor- tality. Evidence, received, value of the, 3, 273. Fear, place of, in animism, 7-9, 19, 169, 218-9, 3 : appeal of Christianity as delivering from, 30-1. Future life. See Immortality. God, conception of, among ani- mists, 25 ; among Chinese, 55-6, 63-6, 226-7, 303 ; among Japanese, 86, 97-9, 330 INDEX God 103-4, no- 1 ; among Moslems, 124-5, 127-8, 142-3, 145, 146, 240-2 ; among Hindus, 159, 177-87, 196-9, 245-6, 252-8 ; ap- peal of the Christian message of the unity and sovereignty of, to non- Christian peoples, 29-30, 58-9, 71, 72, 104-5, JO7-8, 218-9 [cf- i x - 199-200] ; ap- peal of the message of His Fatherhood and love, 29-30, 58-9, 72, 105, 169, 189-90, 219, 295, 300, 301, 303, 305 ; relation of the Chris- tian view of, to the Mos- lem, 135-7. IS - 1 . !53, 240-2 ; possible enrichment of the present Christian conception of, from the conflict with non-Christian religions, 135, 153, 220-1, 228-9, 241-2, 250-67. Higher criticism, influence of, among animistic peoples, 34 ; in China, 66-8 ; in Japan, 112-7, 235 ; among Moslem peoples, 1 5 1-2 ; in India, 200-4. Hindrances to the acceptance of Christianity Among animistic peoples The power of tradition, 12, j 1 6, 299; fatalism, 13-4;! social solidarity, 15-6, 33 ;j the low level of intellectual development, 13-4 ; im- morality, 12-3, !4-5. 33 I convivial customs, 17; ab- sence of sense of sin, 32, 295 ; spirit of materialism, IO . 33. 3 I anti-European sentiment, 17 ; bad ex- amples set by Europeans, 14. In China Natural depravity, 42 ; especially mendacity, 42 ; ! opium smoking, 42 ; gam- j Hindrances to the acceptance of Christianity bling spirit, 42 ; material- istic spirit, 42-3 ; idolatry, 46 ; lack of any sense of sin, 43 ; racial pride, 43, 45, 48, 301-2 ; wrongs committed by Christian nations, 43, 48 ; inconsist- encies of Christians, 302 ; agnostic temper bred by Confucianism, 44 ; self - sufficiency of Confucianism, 303 ; intellectual dullness, 44 ; innate conservatism, 45 ; social solidarity, 46 ; power of ancestor-worship, 46-7 ; consequences of a profession of Christianity, 43, 48 ; apparent inability of Christianity to provide a solution of social problems in the West, 303-4. In Japan Natural depravity, 83 ; lack of veracity, 83, 85 ; im- morality, 83-4 ; strength of the national spirit, 85-6, 88-9, no-i, 306-7, 308 ; agnostic temper of Con- fucianism, 86 ; spread of western rationalism, 86, 87, 115-7 ; social solidarity, 87 ; power of ancestor worship, 87-8; apparent in- ability of Christianity to provide a solution of social problems in the West, 90, 306-7. A mong Moslems Natural depravity, 133 ; absence of sense of sin, 133-4 ; polygamy and laxity of divorce, 1 34 ; legalism of Islam, 134; spirit of fatal- ism, 134 ; religious pride, 134 ; belief in infallibility of Koran, 134-5 ' persecu- tion attendant on pro- fession of Christianity, 1 37 ; growth of Pan-Islamism, 150. INDEX 331 Hindrances to the acceptance of Christianity In India Natural depravity, 161-2, 195 ; absence of sense of personal responsibility and hence of sin, 162-3 ; the eating of the flesh of the cow by Christians, 163-4 ; caste, 164-6 ; widespread ignorance, 166 ; influence of pantheistic ideas, 166 ; lack of faculty of consistent thinking, 166, 196 ; the doctrine of Karma, 168, 193- See also Christianity, ele- ments in, that awaken opposition. Hinduism, complexity and in- definiteness of, 156-7, 317 ; pantheistic basis of, 156, 186, 194-5, 2 45-6, 254, 2 93, 3*8 ; tendencies to a theistic view in, 159-60, 178, 181-4, 197-8, 245, 314; conception of redemption (moksha) in, 156, 159, 178- 87, 249-59, 317-8 ; (a) through devotion and faith (bhakti), 159-60, 178-80, 183, 187, 256-7 ; (b) through knowledge and insight, 156, 159, 180, 257-9; pessimis- tic temper of, 171, 184-5 ' doctrine of Karma in, 156, 168, 183-5, I 9 I ~3. 2O 7. elements of religious help and consolation in, 158-61 ; dissatisfaction felt by ad- herents of, 168-71 ; points of contact with Christianity in, 177-87, 313-4, 3.17-8 ; attitude of the missionary towards, 171-7, 312-3, 315, 319-20 ; need for thorough study of, 157-8, 171-2 ; in- fluence of contact with, upon Christian faith, 204 - 10 ; possibility of a far-reaching reformation" of, 313-4 ; criti- cism that insufficient ac- Hinduism, complexity and in- definiteness of count taken in the Report of popular Hinduism, 276-8, 293, 299, 319. See also God, Christianity, Immortality, Hindrances [cf. i. Index]. Historical sense, lack of, among Hindus, 166-7, 188. Holy Spirit, the, 254-6, 258-67. Immortality, belief in, among animistic peoples, 26-7 ; in China, 50, 56, 57, 63-5 ; in Japan, 90-1, 98, 102-3 J in India, 196-9 ; among Moslems, 146 ; the appeal made by the Christian doctrine of the future life, 32-3, 61, 71, 105, 190, 296, 2 99, 3 [cf- ix- 200-1] India, animisim in, 11-12, 15, 17, 19, 157, 298-9; the outcaste classes, distinct from real Hinduism, 157. See also Hinduism. Indians of South America, 7-37 passim. Islam. See Mohammedanism. Japan, religions of present position, 73-81 ; elements of religious help and con- solation in, 81-3 ; emphasis on loyalty and patriotism in, 80, 88, 101-2, in, 229- 30 ; dissatisfaction felt by adherents of, 90-4 ; points of contact with Christianity, 97-104 ; attitude of the missionary towards, 94-7 ; need for the study of, 306 ; influence of contact with, on Christian faith, 117-20 ; in- adequacy of, to meet present situation, 232-4 ; danger of their yielding place to naturalism, 115-7, 2 3 2 > 235-6. See also Buddhism, Confucianism, Shintoism, God, Christianity, Immor- tality, Hindrances. 332 INDEX Kaffirs, 7-37 passim. Karma. See under Hinduism. Kurds, 125, 143. Laos, 25. Literature, need for Christian, in India, 204 ; among Moslems, 309. Mahabharata, 161. Missionaries, attitude of, to non- Christian religions, 19-24, 52-4, 94-7, 317-42, 171-7. 267-8, 278-9, 308, 315, 316, 319-20, 322-6 [cf. iii. 263-5 ; ix - 189-94. 197-8]. Missionaries, preparation of need for a high standard of theological training, 235-6, 249 ; importance of a thorough study of the | non-Christian religions, 1 9- 20, 53, 138, 157-8, 171-2,1 174, 269, 271-2; necessity: for special training of in- j tending missionaries, 1 39, ! 202, 269-70. Mohammedanism, various tend- ! encies in, 122-6; deistic and legalistic character of, i 129, 131, 134, 143, 145,1 236-7, 238-9 ; significance of the sects as a revolt from the foregoing, 123-5,! 128-9, I 3 I , 238-9; traces; of pantheistic tendencies in, 124, 143 ; conscious antagonism of, to Christ- ianity, 122, 138, 140-1, 243-4 '> points of contact ' with Christianity, 127-9, 131, 141, 142-7, 310-1; j unworthy conception of womanhood in, 237-8 ; con- ception of revelation in, 144; place accorded to Jesus in, 143-4 ; Shiah belief in incarnation and atonement, 123, 128, 129, 143, 145-6 ; dissatisfaction felt by adherents of, 129-33 ; elements of religious help Mohammedanism, various tend- encies in and consolation in, 126-9 : attitude of the missionary towards, 137-42, 309-11; influence of contact with, on Christian faith, 151-4. See also God, Christianity, Im- mortality, Hindrances. Moksha. See under Hinduism. ! Nanak, Guru, 184, 210. | Naturalism, 225-7, 231-3. See also Rationalism. Non-Christian religions, revivals within, 78, 132 ; attitude of missionaries towards, see Missionaries ; need for study of, see Study. Opportunity, urgency of the present, in China, 221-9 ,' in Japan, 229-36 ; in general, 215-6, 266-7, 293-4- Pantheism. See under Hin- duism, Mohammedanism, Buddhism. Papuans, 16. Paraguay. See Indians. Prayer among animistic peoples, 27-8 ; their belief in, after conversion, 30, 36, 219 ; among the Chinese, 40, 45, 55, 71 ; appeal of Christian prayer to Japanese, 105 ; among Mohammedans, 127, 128. Preparation of missionaries. See Missionaries. Ramanuja, 178, 179. Ramayana, 161. Rationalism, spread of western, 46, 67-8, 86-7, in, 113, 115-7, 200-4. Redemption. See under Hindu- ism, Cross. Religion the necessary basis of human society, 233. INDEX 333 Report of the Commission, scope and plan of, 1-5. Resurrection, effect of Christian doctrine of, on non-Chris- tians, 33-4, 35, 44, 87, 298 ; St. Paul's teaching regard- ing, 240, 256. Revivals within non-Christian religions. See non - Chris- tian Religions. Ritschlian system of theology, 221. Shangti, worship of, 45, 55, 63, 65-6, 72. Shiah doctrine, 123, 128, 131, 143. US- Shinshu, 76-7,81,91,98, 103, 118. Shinto, 73-5, 82, 100, 229. See also Japan. Siam, 281-7. Sikh religion, 184. Sin, absence of sense of, among animistic peoples, 32, 294 [contrast 296-7] ; in China, 43 [contrast 301] ; in Japan, 92-3, 101 [contrast 106], 1 08, 109 ; among Moham- Sin, absence of sense of medan peoples, 133 ; among Hindus, 162-3, 169 [cf. n. 42] South Africa, 7-37 passim. Study of non-Christian re- ligions, need for, 19-20, 53, 138, 157-8, 171-2, 174, 269, 271-2. Suffism, 124-5, 128, I 3 I > 1461239. Sumatra. See Dutch Eastlndies. Supernaturalism of Christianity, 251, 259-67. Supreme Being. See God. Taoism, 38-9, 57-8, 64. See also China. Tenrikyo, 93. Theology, need for a living, 5 ; suggestions of the evidence for, 214-68. Totemism, n, 12. Training of missionaries. See Missionaries. Tukaram, 159-60, 178. Tulsi Das, 161, 163, 178, 210. Wahabis, 125. LIST OF CORRESPONDENTS AND AUTHORITIES QUOTED, AND OF SPEAKERS WHO TOOK PART IN THE DISCUSSION THIS Index has been prepared to facilitate reference. The extent to which any correspondent is quoted is not to be taken as an indication of the importance attached by the Commission to his paper in comparison with other papers. Alvarez, T. E., 134, 143, 149. Andrews, Rev. C. F., 160, 164, 178, 189, 199, 203. Armstrong, Rev. W. D., n, 24, 32. Awdry, Bishop, 84. Balmer, Rev. W. T. ( 16, 23, 29. Barnum, Rev. Herman N., 125, 127, 146. Bashford, Bishop, 68. Beattie, Rev. J., 50, 52, 67. Bergen, Rev. Paul D., 52, 69. Boggs, Rev. W. B., 190. Bonnar, Rev. W., 164, 189. Bosanquet, Miss A. C., 83. Braun, Rev. F. S., 201. Cairns, Rev. Prof. D. S., 292-4. Calcutta, Bishop of, 158, 161, 167. Caldwell, Bishop, 187. Callaway, Rev. G., 29, 30. Callenbach, Pastor J. R., 296-7. Cameron, Bishop, 7, 17, 20. Campbell, Rev. W. H., 195. Chad wick, Miss J. E., 25, 32. Chamberlain, Rev. L. B., 185. Chang, Pastor C. C., 45, 61. Chatterji, Rev. K. C., 314-6. Cornaby, Rev. W. A., 51, 52, 59, 70. Cox, Rev. S. W., 25. Dahle, Rev. Lars, 298. Dale, Canon, 14, 16, 21, 32, 136. Davis, Dr. J. D., 92, 94, 103. Dearing, Rev. J. L., 119 Dilger, Rev. Wilhelm, 25, 156, 162, 176, 180, 191, 198, 317-8. Dodd, Dr., 20, 25, 31. Douglas, Rev. G., 42. Draper, Rev. Gideon F., 92, 1 18. Faber, Ernest, 54. Farquhar, J. N., 173, 181, 184. Fisher, Galen M., 305-7. Foster, Rev. Arnold, 49, 52, 54, 56. Fraser, Mr. A. G., 168, 188, 200, 281, 283-7. Fraser, Rev. Donald, 17, 25, 27, 32. Fry, Rev. E. C., 97, 117. Fukuzawa, Mr., 84. Fyffe, Rev. R. S., 8, 281-2, 284-7. Gairdner, Rev. W. H. T., 127, 128, 135, 140-1, 151, 153, 309-11- Garritt, Rev. J. C., 69. Gibson, Rev. J. Campbell, 302-3. Graves, Bishop, 58, 60, 67, 69. Greaves, Edwin, 166, 171, 192, 198. Greene, Rev. D. C., 117. Grierson, Dr. G. A., 196. Grubb, Rev. W. B., 18, 21, 25. 26, 28, 32. 335 336 CORRESPONDENTS AND AUTHORITIES Gulick, Rev. Dr. S. L., 75, 77, 95, 102, 114, 119. Haden, Rev. T. H., 82, 85, 101, 113, 114, 119. Hahn, Rev. Fred, 11-12, 19, 20, 21, 31, 32. Hail, Dr., 81, 90, 100, 103, 108. Harada, Dr. Tasuka, 305. Harris, Rev. Wm., 281-7. Herrick, Rev. G. F., 129, 147. Hodgkin, Dr. Henry T., 41, 51, 56, 68, 321-2. Hogg, Mr. A. G., 173, 184-5, 193- Holland, Rev. W. E. S., 199, 204. Holmes, Dr. G. W., 124. Honda, Bishop Yoitsu, 86, 113. Hooper, Rev. Dr., 161, 189. Howells, Principal, 191. Hume, Rev. R. A., 213, 321. Ibuka, President, 92, 95, 99, 103, 106, 108. Imbrie, Rev. Wm., 92, 95, 99, 103, 106, 108, 113, 117, 121. Inouye, Professor, 75, in. James, Rev. W. R., 192. Jays, Dr. T., 297-8. Jessup, Rev. H. H., 130, 131, 141. Johnson, Archdeacon, 7, 25, 29. Jones, Rev. G. Heber, 303-4. Jones, Rev. J. P., 168, 193, 204, 318-9. Joseland, Rev. F. P., 40, 53. Junod, M., 7, 13. Kaftan, Julius, 251. Kawai, Rev. P. G., 80, 82, 88, 90, 93, 94, 97, 98, 105, 116. Kennedy, Rev. P. B., 132, 134. King, Rev. Copland, 16, 23, 29, 32. Kingsbury, F., 212. Kranz, Pastor, 49, 57. Kruyt, Rev. Albertus C., 18, 27, 28, 32. Kume, Professor K., 74, 78. Lahore, Bishop of, 158, 166, I7S-6. jLatimer, J. I., ;D. Lea, Rev. Arthur, 92, 102. Leith, Rev. D. G. M., 162. JLepsius, Rev. Joh., 308-9. Lloyd, Rev. Arthur, 76, 77, 86, 98, 112, 118-9. I Lloyd, Rev. LI., 301. ! Lucas, Rev. B., 174, 177, 186, 196. Macalpine, Rev. A. G., 295-6. M'Alpine, Rev. R. E., 87, 96, 105. MacEwen, Rev. Prof. A. R., 322-4. MacGillivray, Rev. D., 69. M'Kenzie, Rev. Murdoch, 64. Mackichan, Rev. Dr., 319-20. Maclagan, Rev. P. J., 59, 70. Macnicol, Rev. N., 160, 161, 170, 180, 198, 204. Madras, Bishop of, 162, 169, 195, 202. Makino, Baron, 93. Manley, Rev. G. T., 316-7. Mansell, Rev. W. A., 314. Mathers, Rev. J., 156. Miller, Rev. E. Rothesay, 91, 99, 106, 115. Miller, Dr. W. R., 134, 143, 149. Monahan, Rev. C. H., 277, 298-9. Morrison, Rev. John, 311-2. Moule, Archdeacon, 59, 69. Mukerjee, N. C., 188, 212. Muller, Max, 140. Murray, Rev. D. A., 81, 94, 104, 106, 115, 119, 120. Nassau, Rev. Dr., 10, 15, 21, 22, 24, 25, 28, 29, 32. Nihal Singh, Canon, 212. Niven, Rev. G. C., 304-5. Ohlinger, Rev. Franklin, 49. Okuma, Count, 86, 116, 232. Okumura, 1 1 1. Ossory, Bishop of, 307-8. Pierson, Rev. George P., 115. Pieters, Rev. Albertus, 83, roo, no, 1 20. CORRESPONDENTS AND AUTHORITIES 337 Phillips, Rev. G. E., 312-3. Price, Bishop, 54. Ramabai, Pandita, 212. Rice, Rev. Walter A., 124, 128, 144, 146, 147, 148, 149. Richard, Dr. Timothy, 44, 51, 57- Richter, Dr. Julius, 293. Robinson, Rev. Canon C. H., 320. Robinson, Rev. J. Cooper, 85. Ross, Rev. B. J., 27, 32. Rowland, Rev. G., 8 1, 83, 117. Rudra, Principal, 204. Sanders, Rev. W. H., 26. Schneder, Rev. D. B., 82, 87, 91, 97, 101, 115. Schosser, Rev. A., 211. Sharrock, Rev. J. A., 156, 157, 188, 201. Shedd, Rev. William A., 123, 124, 127, 128, 139, 140, 143, 144, 145, 146. Shortt. Rev. C. H., 79, 116. Simon, Herr, 140. Slater, T. E., 157, 160, 163, 167, 171, 175, 192, 194, 199. Smith, Miss Anna M. L., 126. Smith, Dr. Arthur H., 45, 48, 59, 64, 70, 303. Smith, Stanley, 52, 58. Soper, Rev. Julius, 96, 101. Sparham, Rev. C. G., 59. Speer, Mr. Robert E., 324-6. Steinthal, F. W.. 156, 159, 167, 169, 172, 183, 189, 197, 202. Sundermann, Herr, 18, 25, 30. Swan, Mr. George, 125, 128, 132, 139- 153- Takahashi, Rev. T., 106, 121. Takakusu, Professor, 78. Tiele, Gifford Lectures, 242. Tisdall, Rev. W. St. Clair, 131. Tong Tsing-en, 301-2. Tsuzuki, Baron Keiroku, 74, 76, 86, no, 1 1 1-2. Tylor, Primitive Culture, 6. Uchimura, Kanzo, 105. Vale, Rev. J., 69. Walshe, Rev. W. G., 44. Wandres, M. W., 25. Wang, Mr. C. T., 45, 47, 61, 63. Warneck, Lie. Theol. Joh., 6, 8, 9, IO, 12, 13, 15, l6, 2O, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 29, 33, 36, 216, 218, 219, 271, 299-301. Westcott, Canon G. H., 164, 192. Western, Brother F. J., 313-4. Wherry, Rev. John, 43. Whitehead, Rev. G., 14, 21, 281-7. Whitehead, Rev. W., jun.,28i-7. Wilder, Rev. G. A., 15, 17, 29. Winkler, Dr. Joh., 8, 13, 25, 28. Woodd, Rev. C. H. Basil, 115, 1 20. Woods, Rev. Henry N., 69. Woodward, Rev. H., 85, 89, 95, no. Young, Rev. J. C., 136. Zwemer, Rev. S. M., 130, 138, 139, 148, 150, 311. COM. IV. 22 Printed by MORRISON & GIBB LIMITED Edinburgh of California from which H wa. borrowed. ' QL APR 13 1998 MJ> Form L9- 1 BV2391. E2D 1910 A 001 243 049 2