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INDIA AND 
 SOUTHERN ASIA 
 
 By 
 BISHOP JAMES M. THOBURN, D. D, 
 
 CINCINNATI : JENNINGS AND GRAHAM 
 NEW YORK: EATON AND MAINS 
 

 IuIrary of CONaRESsI 
 Two Copies Received 
 
 MAH 16 1907 
 
 <r— Copyn&'htJLntry 
 GLASS A XXC, NO. 
 COPY B. 
 
 Copyright, 1907, by 
 Jennings & Graham 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Chapter Pagb 
 
 I. IntroductorV, -^ - - 5 
 
 II. The Region Called ^^ India/' - lo 
 
 III. The Empire, - - ^ 17 
 
 IV. The People, - - - - 26 
 V. The Religions, - - - 38 
 
 VI. Missionary Work, - - - 56 
 
 VII. Methodist Missions in India, 71 
 
 VIII. Christian India, - - -SB 
 
India and Southern Asia 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Introductory. 
 
 The; closing decade of the fifteenth cen- 
 tury was marked by two events of surpass- 
 ing importance to the human race. The 
 first was the discovery of America by Co- 
 lumbus, and the second the discovery of 
 the passage around the Cape of Good Hope 
 by Vasco de Gama. The first has attracted 
 the greater attention, especially among the 
 new nations which have grown up in Amer- 
 ica; but it may be doubted whether in its 
 ultimate effects upon the whole human race 
 the achievement of Columbus was more im- 
 portant than the discovery of his Portu- 
 guese rival. The one brought the exist- 
 ence of two great continents to the knowl- 
 edge of Europe, while the other opened a 
 
 5 
 
6 India and Southern Asia. 
 
 highway to a region as vast in extent as 
 the two Americas combined, and contain- 
 ing a population larger than that of all the 
 rest of the world. India had been known as 
 a distant land of semi-fable, China as a still 
 more remote land of mystery, while Japan 
 had not given the Western world a passing 
 thought; but all this was changed when 
 Europe learned that the sea offered a free 
 passage to every adventurer who wished 
 to visit those distant shores, and soon rival 
 nations were hastening to the vast regions 
 which had thus been opened to them as a 
 field of commerce and conquest. 
 
 The opening of the sixteenth century was 
 a little too early for enlightened missionary 
 work, but the Roman Catholic leaders of 
 that period were quick to perceive that 
 India presented such a field for the exten- 
 sion of the Pope's authority as had never 
 been seen before. They lost no time in pre- 
 paring to enter what seemed to them a 
 providential inheritance, and under the lead- 
 ership of the illustrious Xavier a work of 
 vast proportions was undertaken, but this 
 movement was not very successful. The 
 governments of the day also took an inter- 
 
Introductory. 7 
 
 est in the enterprise, but their efforts all 
 ended in failure, and seemed only to demon- 
 strate the fact that neither civil nor mili- 
 tary powers could be successfully entrusted 
 with spiritual functions. During the six- 
 teenth and seventeenth centuries some prog- 
 ress was made, chiefly through the agency 
 of good men who had gone out to India 
 as chaplains, but the real beginning of the 
 modern missionary movement dates from 
 the noted call of William_ Carey, — a call 
 from God which was direct and specific, 
 and which was followed by similar calls 
 on both sides of the globe, until in the full- 
 ness of time the Christian Churches of Eu- 
 rope and America became fully and defi- 
 nitely committed to this vast enterprise, and 
 their combined efforts became known as 
 one of the greatest movements of modern 
 times. Every important Church is now 
 comimitted to this sacred cause, so that 
 every year the fields which are cultivated 
 expand and the prospects which open to 
 the view become more hopeful and inviting. 
 The Methodist Episcopal Church was 
 somewhat late in entering the foreign field, 
 chiefly because of the overwhelming dc- 
 
8 India and Southern Asia. 
 
 mand of the constantly growing work along 
 the frontiers in the home-land, but when a 
 beginning in India was at last made in 1857, 
 God did not fail to give special tokens of 
 approval to this new movement, and it rap- 
 idly gained a strong hold upon the affec- 
 tions and interest of the whole Methodist 
 community in the United States. God 
 richly blessed the efforts of His messengers 
 to India, and very soon it was clearly per- 
 ceived that this movement was adding to 
 the general interest of the Church in other 
 fields. In short, the effort to give the Gos- 
 pel to the people of India led to inquiries 
 concerning the needs of other portions of 
 the vast non-Christian world, and thus 
 helped forward the greater effort to which 
 Christians of every name are summoned, — 
 to make our earth "one great garden of our 
 God." 
 
 In the following brief pages no attempt 
 is made to lay before the reader anything 
 more than an exceedingly brief outline of 
 the field which the Church is trying to oc- 
 cupy, and of the work which is to be ac- 
 complished. This work constitutes a well- 
 defined task, and like every task to which 
 
Introductory. 9 
 
 God summons His people, is perfectly feas- 
 ible, and can be — and must be — crowned 
 with complete success. The Church of the 
 present day does not sufficiently appreciate 
 either her opportunities or her responsibil- 
 ities. Golden days are passing, and golden 
 opportunities escaping our grasp, chiefly for 
 the reason that our people do not under- 
 stand the conditions of Christ's service, or 
 the splendid victories which are within easy 
 grasp of those who bear the name of the 
 blessed Master, and follow in His victori- 
 ous footsteps. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 The: Re:gion Cai.i.i:d "India." 
 
 In speaking of India it has often been 
 remarked that the region bearing that 
 name is more like a continent than a single 
 country. It has been likened to Europe, 
 with Russia excluded from the map, and 
 contains no less than 1,766,597 square 
 miles of territory. Its soil is for the most 
 part extremely fertile, and its productions 
 include almost everything found between 
 the Arctic Circle and the Equator. The 
 great valley of the Ganges is as rich as 
 that of the Nile, and is ten times as ex- 
 tensive. From the Himalayas to the sea 
 the river flows through a vast plain which 
 has been cultivated as far back as history 
 can be traced, without showing any signs 
 of exhaustion, and which still yields a sup- 
 port for a hundred million souls. Other 
 portions of the country are equally fertile, 
 and although an arid and almost desert 
 10 
 
The Region Called '4ndla." 11 
 
 region exists in a part of the Northwest, 
 yet this is much more Hmited in extent 
 than similar sections in the United States. 
 On the whole India may be regarded as a 
 goodly land, and one which must always 
 be regarded as the home of one of the 
 great divisions of the human race. 
 
 A mistaken notion prevails in the outer 
 world concerning the climate of India. 
 Like all other climates, that of India is 
 less than perfect, but as happens in all 
 other parts of the world, many of the ail- 
 ments of the people can be traced to other 
 sources than its climate. The population 
 is dense, the mass of it exceedingly poor, 
 the ordinary dv/ellings small and unsani- 
 tary, the food oftentimes insufficient, and 
 the medical notions of the people as often 
 hurtful as helpful to both those in health 
 and the sufferers from sickness. Euro- 
 peans can enjoy good enough health in 
 India if they care sufficiently for the bless- 
 ing to take a few simple precautions, and 
 live as intelligent Christians ought to do 
 in any and all parts of the world. Asiatic 
 cholera originated in India, it is true, but 
 scarlet fever and diphtheria did not, and 
 
12 India and Southern Asia. 
 
 it is doubtful if either of these scourges 
 has ever gained a lodgment in the empire. 
 
 Many persons of the United States have 
 in some way imbibed the notion that the 
 chief food staple of the people of India is 
 rice, but this too is a very great mistake. 
 Rice is produced in immense quantities 
 along the sea coast and in the large val- 
 leys, but the chief food of the people taken 
 as a whole is millet, of which there are 
 several varieties. Millions of the people 
 are too poor to eat rice. Maize of an in- 
 ferior quality is grown and eaten to some 
 extent by the poorer classes in certain sec- 
 tions. Wheat is not only grown, but ex- 
 ported in large quantities. Cotton is an 
 Indian product, and it seems both prob- 
 able and certain that it was in India that 
 cotton fabrics were first produced. If 
 Egypt excelled in weaving her fine linen, 
 India can claim precedence in putting cot- 
 ton goods on the markets of the world. 
 It was the town of Calicut, in Southwest- 
 ern India, that first gave the name "calico" 
 to the cotton fabric which has become so 
 well known throughout the world. 
 
 Tea is grown high up among the Hima- 
 
The Region Called ^4ndia." 13 
 
 laya Mountains, and also in the extreme 
 South among the hills. Coffee is exported 
 both East and West, and is also sent to 
 Arabia, where it is mixed with the Arabian 
 berry, and re-exported to Europe and 
 America as the ''best Mocha coffee." In- 
 digo was an important production of the 
 country until the discovery of aniline dyes 
 weakened and practically destroyed the 
 commerce in that article. Sugar is a val- 
 uable article of export, and India may 
 claim the credit of having given the world 
 both the product and the name which it 
 bears. In short, India has a fair propor- 
 tion of the good things of this life, and 
 instead of being one of the beggar nations 
 appealing to the outer world for help, she 
 stands in the world's market-place with 
 her wares, and is prepared to sell, buy, or 
 exchange on terms which all the world 
 must respect. If her markets were sud- 
 denly to be closed, the whole civilized 
 world would feel the shock, and all na- 
 tions would be obliged to readjust them- 
 selves to the new situation. 
 
 The people of India differ in race char- 
 acteristics, but have certain peculiarities 
 
14 India and Southern Asia. 
 
 in common. They are known throughout 
 the world as tenaciously attached to the 
 caste system, by which the whole commu- 
 nity is divided into separate castes or 
 orders, ranking from the most highly priv- 
 ileged to the lowest outcasts. This sys- 
 tem is the source of much oppression, and 
 makes it nearly impossible for the lower 
 classes to rise in the social scale, or to 
 enjoy the full exercise of those rights 
 which belong in common to the whole hu- 
 man race. The rules of caste also make 
 it very difficult for any one to change the 
 religion in which he is born, and of course 
 stand directly in the way of missionary 
 work. The invasion of the country by the 
 Mohammedans many years ago gave a se- 
 vere blow to the system of caste, but failed 
 to destroy it, and it remains as a special 
 duty of the Christian missionary to accom- 
 plish this gigantic task. That the work 
 will finally be accomplished no missionary 
 who has studied the situation can for a 
 single moment doubt. 
 
 India is a rich country, but the mass of 
 its people are wretchedly poor. The depth 
 of poverty to which the masses have sunk 
 
The Region Called ^4ndia." 15 
 
 is almost incredible, but their lot is not 
 worse than that of all the non-Christian 
 people on the globe. A very few people 
 are moderately well-to-do, but millions 
 upon millions live constantly upon the 
 ragged edge of starvation. Able-bodied 
 men are glad to obtain employment at 
 from five to eight or ten cents a day. The 
 missionary is sometimes tempted to despair 
 of success when he considers the utterly 
 helpless condition of the people among 
 whom he labors, but he is a messenger of 
 hope to the most lowly people of earth, 
 and goes among them with a promise for 
 the life which now is, as well as for that 
 which is to come. The world will only 
 be saved from its poverty when all its na- 
 tions learn to obey God. 
 
 The rivers of India are not among the 
 longest in the world, but they pour an 
 immense volume of water into the sea. 
 The Indus, Ganges and Brahmaputra are 
 noble streams and serve the double purpose 
 of promoting internal commerce, and pro- 
 viding water for the vast system of irri- 
 gating canals which the Government has 
 been constructing during recent years. 
 
16 India and Southern Asia. 
 
 i 
 
 Visitors from Europe and America who 
 are familiar with the use of railways and 
 steamers for the purpose of commerce are 
 slow to appreciate the fact that the Ganges 
 carries a larger internal commerce on her 
 bosom than does the Mississippi. The 
 larger canals are also used for purposes 
 of transportation of goods and grain and 
 are of inestimable value to the people. 
 
 On the whole the people of India may 
 well be pardoned for regarding their coun- 
 try as one of the most favored regions of 
 the globe. If it were not an especially fa- 
 vored land it would not be — and could 
 not be — what it is, the home of nearly one- 
 fifth of the human race. 
 
 i 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 Tut Empire. 
 
 Many great kingdoms rose and fell in 
 Indian history, but it was not until the 
 reign of Akhbar in the sixteenth and sev- 
 enteenth centuries that any one power 
 gained such authority over all rivals as to 
 become the predominant factor in the whole 
 Indian peninsula. This noted monarch 
 was truly a great man and before his death 
 had become the most powerful ruler on the 
 globe. Several of his successors did much 
 to maintain the high position which he had 
 won for the Moghul race, but the elements 
 of weakness which seem in so many cases 
 to have been inherent in the character of 
 Oriental rulers soon appeared in succes- 
 sive monarchs at Delhi and Agra — the 
 great capitals of the Moghul era — and it 
 was reserved for a new power, hailing from 
 a small island in a distant sea, to unite 
 firmly and permanently all the great sec- 
 
 2 17 
 
18 India and Southern Asia. 
 
 tions of the region known as ''India," and 
 to estabHsh an empire such as the world 
 had never seen before the dawn of the 
 nineteenth century. 
 
 The coming of the English to India 
 was an extraordinary event. It was no 
 part of any human plan, and was distant 
 as the poles from any human intention. 
 A few adventurers sought the distant 
 shores of an almost unknown land for the 
 purpose of trade, and took up a tempo- 
 rary residence there without any thought 
 of making a lengthy stay. Temporary ar- 
 rangements were made, and the authority 
 of local rulers was acknowledged with a 
 respect which amounted to almost slavish 
 submission. But the trade increased, the 
 allurements of the situation began to be 
 felt, the weakness of the local potentates 
 was discovered, and thus in time the traders 
 became soldiers ; battles were fought, the 
 bubble of Oriental pov/er burst, and the 
 adventurers saw before them a straight 
 path leading to conquest, fabulous wealth, 
 and almost unlimited power. 
 
 The story need not be told at length. 
 Suffice it to say that a commercial body 
 
The Empire. 19 
 
 known as the "East India Company," was 
 founded and organized, and by successive 
 steps developed into a mighty Oriental em- 
 pire, and in the fullness of time the present 
 King-Emperor of England went out to 
 India, and in the royal city of Delhi, on 
 the first day of January, 1877, he proclaimed 
 Queen Victoria as Empress of a region 
 which might almost be said to embrace all 
 Southern Asia. No such realm had been 
 known in that part of Asia before, and only 
 one other empire in the whole world can 
 compare with this in either population or 
 power to-day. Making allowance for the 
 normal increase since the last official cen- 
 sus was taken in 1900, the present popula- 
 tion of the Indian Empire may be reck- 
 oned at three hundred millions. China 
 alone in all the world can compare with 
 this empire in point of population, but 
 to-day, in all the elements of political and 
 military power, China is distinctly a sec- 
 ond-rate nation, and can not claim a place 
 above her rival in Southern Asia. ^ 
 
 The people of India are not a con- 
 quered people. The English never con- 
 quered India. iVs has been said before, a 
 
20 India and Southern Asia. 
 
 few English merchants entered the land as 
 traders, and kept a few soldiers as local 
 guards. The soldiers were employed merely 
 for protection and to preserve order lo- 
 cally, but in time it was discovered that 
 Oriental troops could not stand against 
 them. Then the work of expansion began, 
 but in the main Indian soldiers were em- 
 ployed against Indians, and in time In- 
 dian princes were found fighting for the 
 strangers, and thus by using the forces 
 found in the land the power of the adven- 
 turers steadily increased. District was 
 added to district, and province to province 
 until at last the whole vast region from 
 Afghanistan to Siam was brought under 
 the flag of England. The leaders from the 
 first in this stupendous movement have 
 been Englishmen, but more than three- 
 fourths of the common soldiers have been 
 children of the Indian soil. 
 
 The question is often asked, "What 
 would the result be if the Russians were to 
 attempt to invade India? Could the Eng- 
 lish put an army in the field which would 
 be at all able to cope with the immense 
 forces which the Russians could bring 
 
The Empire. 21 
 
 down from Central Asia?" The Indian 
 Government could assemble two hundred 
 thousand European, and five hundred thou- 
 sand Indian soldiers in the field on short 
 notice, and with the tremendous bulwark 
 which the vast Himalayas form on the 
 Northwest frontier, the forces of the In- 
 dian Empire would be able to hold the fa- 
 mous passes through which Alexander 
 marched long centuries ago, not only 
 against the Russians, but against the 
 world ! 
 
 India, though subject to British control, 
 is an empire in herself and is entitled to 
 this distinction among the great powers of 
 the world. If not independent, she is not 
 subject to despotic control, and is endowed 
 with many of the elements of self-govern- 
 ment. If it be said that this privilege 
 can be curtailed at any time, it is suf- 
 ficient to reply that in the ordinary 
 course of administration it seldom meets 
 with a check from the home authorities. 
 A supreme legislative body under the presi- 
 dency of the Viceroy himself makes laws 
 for the Empire, while similar bodies under 
 the presidency of Governors and Lieuten- 
 
22 India and Southern Asia. 
 
 ant-Governors legislate for sections of the 
 Empire in which interests of a more local 
 character require attention. Courts of law 
 of every grade are provided to which every 
 subject — even the lowest — can appeal. It 
 is claimed by those capable of forming an 
 opinion on the subject that the criminal 
 code of India, drawn up by Lord Macau- 
 lay, is the best code of its kind known in 
 the world. Only those who are familiar 
 with the conditions which prevail in Orien- 
 tal nations can fully appreciate the amazing 
 spectacle which this array of open and 
 just courts must present, not only to the 
 people of India, but to all the races of the 
 Orient. 
 
 The principle of religious toleration has 
 been incorporated into law throughout the 
 Empire, and forms a great bulwark to the 
 missionary movements of the present era. 
 The rule just mentioned necessarily in- 
 cludes the toleration of polygamy and cer- 
 tain other customs repugnant to Christian 
 people, but those best acquainted with the 
 situation are convinced that a sudden and 
 violent attempt to reconstruct a society em- 
 bracing three hundred million people, on a 
 
The Empire. 23 
 
 model provided by the most advanced so- 
 ciety in the world, would not only end in 
 failure, but inevitably lead to disastrous 
 confusion, and probably to much sufifering 
 and bloodshed. The final readjustment of 
 society on a Christian model is by no means 
 yet complete in Christian lands, and wise 
 men instinctively perceive that this is a 
 work which must be left to the quiet prog- 
 ress of Christian influences. 
 
 From time to time both in England and 
 America earnest reformers may be heard 
 asking why the British Government does 
 not abolish child marriage and polygamy, 
 but such questions always indicate a very 
 slight and superficial knowledge of the con- 
 ditions which prevail in lands where Chris- 
 tian laws and Christian influences do not 
 prevail. Missionaries find it exceedingly 
 difficult to deal with these subjects in the 
 case of the few converts who gather around 
 them, and the most powerful government 
 in the world could not at a stroke change 
 the ideals and usages of three hundred mil- 
 lions of people, especially when both these 
 ideals and usages have become identified 
 and interwoven with their religious and 
 
24 India and Southern Asia. 
 
 traditional usages. No government in the 
 world — I repeat — could accomplish a task 
 so vast and complicated. 
 
 Will India ever become an independent 
 power, and, as such, take her place among 
 the nations of the earth? This question 
 is sometimes asked by persons who are 
 disposed to study present conditions, but 
 the subject is — and for many years must 
 be — more speculative than practical. When 
 all conditions are fully ripe events some- 
 times move with startling rapidity, but at 
 the present time only a few of the condi- 
 tions required for a change are existent. 
 The people are fettered by caste, separated 
 by discordant religious beliefs, aliens to 
 one another in race, and without leader- 
 ship, either military or civil. It will be 
 time enough to discuss a question of this 
 kind when the millions of the Empire shall 
 have all become Christians, and when the 
 nations of the earth shall have learned an- 
 other method of settling differences than 
 in the arena of the battlefield. For the 
 present it is sufficient to know that for 
 many long years to come the bond which 
 united India to the British people must 
 remain unbroken. 
 
The Empire. 25 
 
 The boundaries of India are more ex- 
 tended at the present time than they have 
 ever been before, while the ^'spheres of in- 
 fluence" beyond the actual boundary lines 
 are also extended far beyond any similar 
 regions in past times. The phrase "spheres 
 of influence'' is understood to mean that 
 the Indian Government will not tolerate 
 interference on the part of any foreign 
 power in the affairs of the regions so 
 designated. Among the tracts so consid- 
 ered at the present time may be included 
 the whole of the eastern shore line of 
 Asia, with parts of Central Asia and Tibet 
 on the North. The whole of the Malay 
 Peninsula, although it has not been an- 
 nexed, is practically subject to orders from 
 the Straits Government at Singapore, while 
 Siam is carefully watched and parts of 
 its territory protected from French en- 
 croachment. India is also becoming in- 
 terested in East Africa, where large num- 
 bers of her people are now settling, and 
 where in time the Empire may possibly 
 acquire a permanent foothold. 
 
3 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Tut F^OFht. 
 
 So i^AR as the people of India are con- 
 cerned, the situation is not entirely unlike 
 that in Europe. The people at large have 
 certain points of resemblance which they 
 hold in common, and by which they could 
 be easily distinguished from the inhabitants 
 of other parts of the globe, and yet among 
 themselves they differ widely in matters 
 of dress, language, and religion. In com- 
 plexion all may be classed among the dark 
 races, and yet in this respect too they differ 
 widely; some being very dark and others 
 comparatively fair. 
 
 Their origin is hidden in obscurity, save 
 that most of them seem to have entered 
 the country from the passes along the 
 Northwest frontier. Tradition points un- 
 mistakably in this direction, and language 
 also furnishes a clue which is generally 
 accepted as conclusive, especially in regard 
 26 
 
The People. 27 
 
 to those sections of the population belong- 
 ing to the great Aryan family of mankind. 
 It is generally conceded that the races 
 known as Aryan and Dravidian entered 
 the country by the well-known passes men- 
 tioned above, while other less prominent 
 races, known by the general name of Ko- 
 larians, are supposed to have entered from 
 the Northeast. However this whole sub- 
 ject is clouded in more or less obscurity. 
 As a matter of fact we find seven distinct 
 peoples whose languages show a marked 
 affinity to the Germanic tongues of Eu- 
 rope, and hence the term ''IndiorGermanic" 
 is now accepted by the best authorities on 
 subjects pertaining to the civilized lan- 
 guages. The people who are accepted as 
 belonging to the Aryan division, are for 
 the most part of a lighter complexion than 
 the Dravidians and others, and no doubt 
 entered the country at a later era than 
 these darker peoples. It is generally ac- 
 cepted as certain that at the advent of the 
 newcomers the people who had preceded 
 them were driven southward and eastward 
 by slow degrees, and finally became settled 
 in those parts of the country where they 
 
28 India and Southern Asia. 
 
 are now found. Thus invasion followed 
 invasion, each family of strangers naturally 
 driving their opponents before them, so 
 that the late-arriving Aryans got posses- 
 sion of the northern portions of the coun- 
 try where they were found by the British, 
 and which they still occupy. The Dravid- 
 ians were driven southward by the Aryans 
 and are now to be found in the southern 
 part of the country, but as this general 
 movement was gradual and by different 
 routes distinct nationalities took shape and 
 formed new languages and varieties of 
 people. 
 
 The civilization of India at an early pe- 
 riod assumed a distinct type of its own. 
 Owing to the situation in which the people 
 were placed, various divisions naturally 
 were created, and these in time assumed 
 the character of separate nations. The 
 chief divisions or peoples belonging to the 
 Aryan family are the Punjabi, Hindi (or 
 Hmdustani), Bengali, Oriya, Maharati, 
 Gujarati, and Sindhi. The Dravidian peo- 
 ples are represented by the Tamil, Telugu, 
 Kanarese, and Malayan languages. The 
 Kolarians are a much weaker people, and 
 
The People. 29 
 
 are not represented by any strong national 
 body. But in addition to all these more 
 important peoples, a large number of minor 
 tribes are to be found in the less civilize^ 
 portions of the country, including many 
 wandering clans who have developed sep- 
 arate languages and customs. The relig- 
 ion of these more primitive people, of 
 course, is of a most primitive type. Lit- 
 tle is known of their origin, and it would be 
 useless to attempt to trace their movements 
 beyond one or two of the latest genera- 
 tions. 
 
 Of the people of India as a whole, al- 
 though it may be said that as a rule they 
 bear the reputation of not being very war- 
 like, they are less lacking in courage and 
 independence of character than would be 
 apparent at first glance to a stranger. A 
 hundred times in their past history they 
 have shown an aptitude for war second to 
 that of scarcely any race on the globe. 
 Even since the establishment of English 
 rule in the country, they have time and 
 again furnished great armies of brave and 
 effective soldiers, sometimes fighting 
 against the foreign powers, and on other 
 
\ 
 
 30 India and Southern Asia. 
 
 occasions fighting in its ranks. As a rule, 
 however, they live in quietness in their 
 simple villages, and are inoffensive when 
 not molested or unjustly treated. The civ- 
 ilization of India is somewhat peculiar in 
 that it seems to remain stationary. It 
 neither advances nor declines. The simple 
 farming implements now in use are not 
 better than those employed by their an- 
 cestors one or two thousand years ago, — 
 indeed in many cases they are identically 
 the same. It is the same with the Chi- 
 nese, and it might be added, is the char- 
 acteristic of the whole non-Christian world. 
 This inability to change, even in small par- 
 ticulars, never fails to impress the stranger 
 arriving in India as a most remarkable 
 trait. The enterprise of the human race 
 is confined to the nations bearing the Chris- 
 tian name, or to those who by their pecu- 
 liar circumstances have been brought into 
 close contact with various Christian insti- 
 tutions. 
 
 The people of India are very poor. 
 This remark also can be applied to all the 
 nations outside the Christian pale. The 
 word *'poor'' in this connection should be 
 
 I 
 
The People. 31 
 
 understood in a very broad sense. They 
 are not only poor, but extremely destitute 
 of nearly all the comforts of life with which 
 Europeans and Americans are familiar. 
 The average income of a laboring man in 
 good health and of normal strength does 
 not exceed the sum of $25 a year! This 
 reference is, of course, to unskilled labor, 
 but artisans earn correspondingly low 
 wages. The simple food of the people is, 
 of course, very cheap; but in circum- 
 stances even of comparative comfort the 
 workingman can earn barely enough to 
 afford two frugal meals a day, and often- 
 times only a single one. In the mild cli- 
 mate of the country, of course, clothing 
 need not cost much, and the other wants 
 of the family are few indeed. There is 
 something absolutely startling in the con- 
 templation of one or two hundred mil- 
 lion souls living at this dying rate, but 
 such is the condition of uncounted mil- 
 lions of our poor race. If the Christian 
 missionary carried with him no other gift 
 to the vast millions of the non-Christian 
 world than the simple knowledge of Christ, 
 and of the common Father, he would still 
 
32 India and Southern Asia. 
 
 give to the people to whom he goes a 
 boon which would be worth more to them 
 than all the gold and silver and other vast 
 treasures of earth. 
 
 It need hardly be said that nothing at 
 all equivalent to the American or European 
 idea of education was known in India be- 
 fore the arrival of the Europeans, and espe- 
 cially before the advent of the Christian 
 missionary. In the early days of the Eng- 
 lish power it did not occur to anyone that 
 the people could be educated, or that they 
 could ever rise above the low level in which 
 they were found. The first missionaries 
 not only suggested the possibility of a 
 newer and higher ideal, but demonstrated 
 the practicability of the same. It has now 
 become abundantly evident that the people 
 of India are capable of receiving an edu- 
 cation of the highest quality, and that 
 under favorable circumstances they will 
 be able to compete successfully with Eu- 
 ropeans of any and every class. They are 
 not lacking in brain-power, and wherever 
 an opportunity is afforded them, they make 
 good progress and acquit themselves ad- 
 mirably. 
 
The People. 33 
 
 The people of India are conservatives 
 of the conservatives. In this respect they 
 are Hke all Asiatics except the Japanese. 
 They like the old because it is old, and 
 shun the new because it is new. This pe- 
 culiarity, of course, stands in the way of 
 all progress, and is especially unfavorable 
 to missionary success. But, on the other 
 hand, this conservatism is not without its 
 compensations. A willingness to seek 
 change for its own sake is not a good omen 
 of progress. There is a certain danger in 
 attempting too much with newly enfran- 
 chised people, and in the long run it will 
 very probably be found that by avoiding 
 both extremes the missionaries have suc- 
 ceeded in finding a safe mean. 
 
 The people of India are for the most part 
 a much more temperate people than the 
 majority of Europeans. Some of the 
 castes abstain almost wholly from intoxi- 
 cants of all kinds, and it is a painful but 
 true confession to make that intemperance 
 spreads most rapidly among those people 
 who are brought closely into contact with 
 Europeans. In recent years attention has 
 been called to the peril in which the young 
 
 3 
 
34 India and Southern Asia. 
 
 are placed by bringing them up in full 
 sight of liquor shops and drinking habits 
 to which their forefathers had been com- 
 plete strangers. The whole missionary 
 body has taken up an attitude of unquali' 
 fied hostility to the vice of intemperance, 
 not so much for the purpose of reforming 
 the people as of saving them from the need 
 of a future reformation. 
 
 The opium habit has gained a hold upon 
 some classes, but has by no means become 
 a common vice among the people at large, 
 and since the late pronounced stand taken 
 against the traffic by the English Govern- 
 ment, it is confidently hoped that an effec- 
 tive check can be administered to the fur- 
 ther spread of this blighting evil. In all 
 their efforts to promote moral reforms 
 among the people, the missionaries are 
 heartily supported by the leaders of native 
 society. 
 
 The intellectual status of the Indian peo- 
 ple is higher than is generally supposed by 
 Europeans or Americans. In ability to ac- 
 quire knowledge the youth of the country 
 are quite the equals of the average Euro- 
 pean youths. The people of Bengal, who 
 
The People. 35 
 
 are commonly regarded as physically weak 
 and lacking in courage, take high rank in 
 school and college, when permitted to com- 
 pete for prizes with Europeans. A young 
 man in Calcutta when undergoing an ex- 
 amination in the medical course, was found 
 to be able to repeat the whole text book 
 from memory. In like manner many young 
 Bengalis show a remarkable proficiency in 
 mathematics. The Tamil people — who 
 dwell in the south, are said to have the 
 best as well as the most extensive litera- 
 ture of any of the Indian races. But these 
 special cases of proficiency must not be 
 accepted as indications that the people 
 dwelling in other sections of the Empire 
 are lacking in mental power. As intimated 
 above, the people of all the Indian races 
 are more highly gifted intellectually than 
 is supposed in Europe and America, and 
 doubtless in the future will be abundantly 
 able to hold their own in the severe com- 
 petition which seems to await the nations 
 of our world, when all unnatural barriers 
 are broken down, and all the nations of 
 our earth *'flow together." 
 
 The women of India share the disabili- 
 
/ 
 
 i\ 
 
 36 India and Southern Asia. 
 
 ties of their sex in all Asiatic countries in 
 pretty full measure, and have done so since 
 a very early age. Polygamy is common but 
 by no means universal. In making mar- 
 riage engagements no thought of consult- 
 ing the young people ever occurs to any- 
 one, and strangely enough in most cases 
 the selection made by the parents seem to 
 be satisfactory to the parties concerned. 
 The enforced widowhood observed among 
 the Hindus is a source of no little trouble, 
 and is one of the worst features of the 
 Hindu system. All who can afford it, se- 
 clude their females from the gaze of stran- 
 gers, but at various points both the Hindus 
 and Mohammedans are breaking through 
 this restriction. In Calcutta, Madras and 
 Bombay, and to a less extent in Lucknow 
 and other cities of the interior, intelligent 
 natives are sending their daughters to 
 school, and in a large measure ignoring the 
 demands of caste. Women and girls of 
 the poorer classes work in the fields, and 
 are seen in large numbers among the labor- 
 ers who repair the public roads. They are 
 used also as burden bearers, and this part 
 of their work seems the most grievous, 
 
The People. 37 
 
 because their loads are almost exclusively 
 carried on their heads. Womanhood is at 
 a discount in all the Oriental world and 
 has been since time immemorial. India 
 has simply followed the common proces- 
 sion. The ancient Hebrews excelled other 
 Oriental people in the privileges which they 
 accorded to their women, but the Moham- 
 medans from the first have adopted wrong 
 views, and in India have done nothing to 
 elevate the status of the sex. But a bet- 
 ter day has dawned, and abeady some 
 splendid women have been raised up tinder 
 the fostering spirit of Christian missions. 
 
 The barbarous cruelty of the Indian 
 suttee — the custom of burning widows on 
 the funeral pyre of their dead husbands, — 
 has only ceased because English law has 
 suppressed it. In very recent years in- 
 stances of this revolting crime have been 
 reported, and the participants punished, 
 and there can be no doubt that in some 
 sections of the Empire, a rapid increase of 
 such instances would be seen if the strong 
 ar^^"^ sf authority were withdrawn. 
 
I CHAPTER V. 
 
 The R:e:i,igions. 
 
 India is somewhat famous for its relig- 
 ions, having developed the two great 
 systems known as Buddhism and Hindu- 
 ism, and meanwhile has provided the finest 
 field for the active propagation of Mo- 
 I hammedanism to be found anywhere on 
 
 I the globe. The people of India, including 
 
 I \ all races and tribes, seem to have a pecu- 
 
 liar religious temperament, and blank in- 
 fidelity has never found a congenial soil 
 in any part of the land. The scantiest rec- 
 ords of the earliest ages indicate the pres- 
 ence of blind devotion to various forms of 
 polytheism on the part of many, and of 
 more intelligent nature worship on the part 
 of the few more cultured persons. 
 
 The first Aryan invaders found a most 
 degraded form of worship among the peo- 
 ple of the land. Their objects of venera- 
 tion and worship included snakes, mon- 
 38 
 
The Religions. 39 
 
 keys, elephants, crocodiles and other 
 creatures. Apparently they were attracted 
 by the size and strength of the animal, or 
 by its ferocity. Careful observers have 
 often noted the fact that in much of the 
 worship of people, especially of those of 
 little cultivation, the grotesque element 
 seems always to have a special attraction. 
 No connected or intelligent idea of the 
 religious beliefs of those early people can 
 be obtained because of the scarcity of the 
 records concerning them, but references 
 to them and their customs are found in the 
 writings of the early Aryans, giving us a 
 general impression of their religion and 
 degree of cultivation. 
 
 The early Aryans entered India at a 
 period long before the rice of Buddhism, 
 which is generally conceded to have taken 
 place about six centuries before our era, 
 and if this opinion is correct, it follows that 
 the early Aryan writers must have flour- 
 ished at a far earlier date. By all accounts 
 they were men of simple but intelligent 
 habits and ideals, and with a fair amount of 
 culture. They were very much unlike the 
 more superstitious and ignoble people who 
 
40 India and Southern Asia. 
 
 represented the descendants of these first 
 Aryans at the time of the rise of Buddhism. 
 
 The precise manner in which Brahman- 
 ism took its rise is not clearly known. It 
 would seem, however, that there was a dis- 
 tinct and rapid decline in the character of 
 the Aryan leaders. The order of Brah- 
 mans had no existence at the outset, but 
 seems to have grown up by a gradual 
 process, and, like priests in every age, these 
 men learned the secrets of using religious 
 veneration and authority as a means for 
 their personal promotion. Perhaps the 
 worst of all tyrannies is that of spiritual 
 masters, and the success which the Brah- 
 mans achieved in their efforts to usurp 
 authority has become well-known through- 
 out the globe. 
 
 It is not probable that these men de- 
 liberately constructed the system which af- 
 terwards served so well to further their 
 own interests and strengthen their author- 
 ity, but like similar movements in all ages 
 it was the result of influences some of 
 which seemed harmless enough at the time. 
 The various steps by which the earliest 
 Aryan society was reorganized has been a 
 
The Religions. 41 
 
 subject of much interesting study, espe- 
 cially since the writings of Max Miiller 
 were published forty odd years ago. Very 
 naturally many writers as well as hosts of 
 readers have been led into the mistaken 
 notion that the simple nature worship of 
 the early Aryans was one and the same in 
 origin, and in most details, with the per- 
 fected system afterward known as Hindu- 
 ism. This, however, is by no means clear. 
 It is more probable that many centuries 
 elapsed before modern Hinduism assumed 
 the phases which it bore when the first 
 Europeans came to the country. It need 
 hardly be said that nothing could be more 
 unlike the simple ideals cherished by the 
 early Aryans in the Northwest, than the 
 Hinduism which William Carey knew on 
 the banks of the Hughli, or that Hinduism 
 which the earliest Christian missionaries 
 encountered when they landed in South 
 India. The early Aryans were not poly- 
 theists, nor does it seem that they wor- 
 shiped images of any kind. They rever- 
 enced the sun and moon, the mountains and 
 rivers, and, of course, the mighty ocean. 
 They ascribed a duty or office to each of 
 
42 India and Southern Asia. 
 
 the great objects of nature. It does not 
 appear that they adopted any special ob- 
 servances such as the worship of idols, or 
 of serpents or of living creatures of any 
 kind. In other words, there was a dis- 
 tinctly downward step taken by those who 
 succeeded in transforming the simple faith 
 of the Aryans into the somewhat repulsive 
 cult known to-day as Hinduism. 
 
 In order to understand the character of 
 Hinduism as it practically exists in India 
 at the present time, the student must al- 
 ways bear in mind that the caste system 
 forms an important — and it might almost 
 be said a predominant — feature of the 
 Hindu religion. It is frequently said by 
 missionaries in reply to questions from 
 strangers in the country, that the caste 
 system is not a feature of the Hindu re- 
 ligion, though in practical life it is Hindu- 
 ism itself. Nobody could be included 
 Vv^ithin the pale of the religion who did not 
 believe in and accept caste and pay scru- 
 pulous regard to all its rules. The out- 
 caste is very much more than merely a 
 person excluded from the bounds of polite 
 society. In many respects he is treated as 
 
The Religions. 43 
 
 a dead man. His punishment is not only 
 bitter, but cruel. Caste is the chief bond 
 which holds Hindu society together at the 
 present time. Its influence permeates every 
 section of society, and it is rigidly opposed 
 to the ingress of all reforming or progres- 
 sive agencies which may be brought into 
 the country from the outer world. 
 
 But the situation is by no means as hope- 
 less as the above statement of the case 
 might indicate. Beyond all questions the 
 bonds of caste have grown steadily weaker 
 during the past generation. Very many of 
 the more intelligent people of the land 
 freely admit that the system rests like a 
 great blight on the nation. The advance 
 of education, of course, weakens its bonds, 
 while the increasing intercourse of India 
 with the outer nations of the earth is con- 
 stantly felt in aid of every progressive en- 
 terprise. The shadow of the system may 
 linger for many centuries, but its power is 
 rapidly giving way, and the multitudes who 
 belong to the lower grades of society are 
 learning to breathe more easily than their 
 ancestors were ever able to do. 
 
 As was mentioned on a preceding page, 
 
44 India and Southern Asia. 
 
 Buddhism took its rise five or six centu- 
 ries before the beginning of our era. Its 
 founder was a notable man living in a 
 part of the province now known as Oudh, 
 and he is known to students by the various 
 names of Gautama, Buddha, and Sakya 
 Muni. By all accounts it would seem to 
 be fairly well settled that he was an honest 
 and able reformer. His methods doubt- 
 less seem strange to Western students, but 
 all Oriental leaders of his class were en- 
 tirely unlike the ideals formed by 
 Europeans or Americans who make their 
 observations from entirely modern points 
 of view. Much uncertainty exists as to 
 actual facts concerning the events of his 
 life, but for some reason and in some way 
 he succeeded in making an extraordinary 
 impression upon all classes throughout the 
 borders of the land. As a matter of fact 
 the Brahmans opposed him bitterly and 
 desperately, but it would seem, that they 
 had become intolerable to the common peo- 
 ple on account of their tyranny, and the 
 reformer touched a deeply popular chord 
 when he preached against them and their 
 extortionate ways. He probably deserves 
 
The Religions. 45 
 
 all the praise that modern writers give him, 
 but he did not prove fully equal to the great 
 occasion which called him forth. He was 
 supported by some of the reigning princes 
 of the time, and he alone of all India's great 
 religious leaders succeeded in making his 
 influence to be felt in regions beyond the 
 confines of his own land. Buddhist mis- 
 sionaries crossed over to Ceylon and 
 preached successfully there, and, as all the 
 world knows, some missionaries penetrated 
 into Tibet and China and met with extraor- 
 dinary successes there. In short, Bud- 
 dhism took its place as one of the great re- 
 ligions of mankind, and although it ulti- 
 mately failed to hold the ground it gained, 
 yet the history of the movement will al- 
 ways furnish a fascinating story for the 
 student. 
 
 An amazing discovery was made by a 
 French traveler named Hue who visited 
 Tibet nearly two generations ago. The 
 traveler was a loyal Roman Catholic, and 
 was exceedingly surprised to find that in 
 many points the ritual which the Buddhists 
 of Tibet observed, followed precisely the 
 same routine which the Roman Catholics 
 
46 India and Southern Asia. 
 
 observe in many of their services to-day. 
 Attention was called to this subject by 
 many writers, but up to the present time 
 the assertions made by M. Hue have not 
 been denied or challenged. A statement 
 of the facts was published at Rome a dozen 
 years ago by Bishop Burt, but there, as 
 elsewhere, the Roman Catholic authorities 
 declined to notice it. Stranger still, it was 
 affirmed by the late Sir William Hunter, 
 the leading historian of India, that the 
 founder of Buddhism was actually canon- 
 ized at Rome by one of the Popes of a past 
 generation, and this statement, too, has 
 failed to meet with any contradiction on 
 the part of a Roman Catholic authority. 
 
 Much to the regret of students of Indian 
 history, very little can be learned concern- 
 ing the cause and nature of the decline of 
 Buddhism throughout the country. The 
 process, whatever it may have been, seems 
 to have been very quiet and to have at- 
 tracted but little attention. No doubt the 
 movement was extremel}^ slow, and this 
 will probably account for the fact that no 
 startling incidents such as great battles, 
 changes of dynasties, or other important 
 
The Religions. 47 
 
 political events accompanied the movement. 
 Very possibly it was brought about by the 
 agency of those Indian princes who suc- 
 ceeded the ones who had favored the move- 
 ments in its earliest stages. It is not diffi- 
 cult to understand how such a change 
 might have taken place with comparatively 
 little observation. The Buddhists were 
 warlike enough at some periods of their 
 rule, but this would seem to have been the 
 exception with them. Their opponents, on 
 the other hand, were thoroughly organized, 
 full of bitter enmity, eager to regain their 
 lost ground, and selfishly aware that their 
 personal interests were at stake on the 
 issue. It seems exceedingly unfortunate 
 that so promising a movement should have 
 been so completely overthrown and even 
 all traces of it removed, but no doubt if 
 all the facts could be brought to light it 
 would become clearly apparent that Bud- 
 dhism at its best was not the system which 
 Providence designed for the permanent 
 deliverance of Ind;a from tyranny and 
 misrule, or for the upbuilding of all South- 
 ern Asia into an empire mighty enough to 
 be worthy of the name, and capable of 
 
48 India and Southern Asia. 
 
 proving a blessing to its own people, and 
 in a large measure to the whole Asiatic 
 world. 
 
 To give a complete sketch of the popular 
 worship of the present day would lead to a 
 repetition of some previous paragraphs, but 
 let it suffice to say that the Hindu utterly 
 denies that he worships the visible object 
 as such, but insists that it is God in the 
 idol. At this point their pantheistic notions 
 come to their help. The first Hindu whom 
 the writer ever questioned on the subject 
 was standing in front of his own little tem- 
 ple in full view of a hideous idol within. 
 \ When asked why he worshiped such an 
 
 object he replied that his views and mine 
 were identical, but that as God was every- 
 where he was, of course, in the idol. Popu- 
 lar pantheism had taken full possession of 
 his mind, and yet he was quite unwilling 
 to join in the worship of the one omni- 
 present God unless the intervening object 
 set apart for that purpose served to con- 
 centrate his thoughts and aid his attempts 
 at devotion. In one form or another 
 through the long course of years which 
 have passed, the writer has heard the soph- 
 
The Religions. 49 
 
 istical statement repeated hundreds and 
 hundreds of times. It ought not to con- 
 fuse the reasoning of a child, but as a mat- 
 ter of fact it serves to satisfy the minds of 
 many milHons. 
 
 The ordinary mode of worship of a 
 Hindu is simple enough. He goes to the 
 little temple nearest his home, or perhaps 
 to the small shrine enclosing some idol, 
 and presents his offering, such as it may 
 be — a flower or a little meal, a small coin 
 or some other article of slight value; he 
 next bows or prostrates himself before the 
 idol, then rises and retires. Possibly some 
 Brahman attendant may sprinkle a little 
 water on him, but in most cases the wor- 
 ship is complete when the above slight form 
 of service has been carried out. In no 
 case, however, is there any prayer offered. 
 In some instances the service may be more 
 elaborate, and the devotee may repeat some 
 sacred words of devout adoration, but in 
 no case is there any prayer. It is difficult 
 to make Christians in America understand 
 this. Prayer, in the Christian sense of the 
 word, is distinctly a Christian exercise. 
 Prayer is talking with God, Many Chris- 
 
 4 
 
so India and Southern Asia. 
 
 tians fail to comprehend this definition, 
 and we surely should not wonder that the 
 Hindus wholly fail to comprehend it. The 
 tendency to drift into cold formality when 
 engaging in the worship of God, seems to 
 be inherent in human nature, and can 
 therefore by no means be put down either 
 to the credit or discredit of any particular 
 race. 
 
 Hinduism as a system is undoubtedly 
 losing ground to-day. Many marked indi- 
 cations of decay have been noted by close 
 students of the system, but it is too soon 
 for anyone to assume that it is in a mori- 
 bund state. It is still the religion of nearly 
 two hundred million people, vast multi- 
 tudes of whom are devout adherents to 
 their faith. Though most people believe 
 it is waning, it still confronts the mission- 
 ary and the reformer at every step. At 
 some points reforms may be noticed, while 
 at others heresies of many kinds are dis- 
 turbing the surface of portions of society. 
 Like the almost endless variations of calm 
 and storm in the ocean, so the great mass 
 of Hindu humanity is losing ground at 
 3ome points, is disturbed by reform move- 
 
The Religions. 51 
 
 ments at others, is threatened by permanent 
 defeat at still other points, and yet those 
 who are most hopeful for the future must 
 learn to wait patiently until the various 
 agencies now at v/ork produce results 
 deeper and more widespread than any 
 which have yet been witnessed. 
 
 Several reform movements among the 
 Hindus have attracted much attention dur- 
 ing the past thirty or forty years. The 
 most prominent of these is that known as 
 the Brahmo-Samaj, founded originally by 
 Ram Mohan Roy, but best known by its 
 greatest leader, Keshub Chunder Sen. 
 This gentleman was an eloquent speaker 
 both in English and his native tongue, and 
 in character possessed many qualities 
 which belong to the reformer. At times he 
 seemed to approach very near to an open 
 avowal of the Christian faith, but his 
 death at an early age disappointed the hopes 
 of his friends, while dissensions in the 
 ranks of his followers caused a severe 
 check to the development of the move- 
 ment. 
 
 A somewhat similar movement, though 
 on a far smaller scale, has occurred in 
 
52 India and Southern Asia. 
 
 Bombay, while still a third movement pop- 
 ularly known as the Arya-Somaj, has at- 
 tracted much attention in North India. It 
 does not seem possible, however, that re- 
 form movements which stop short of a full 
 and complete acceptance of Christianity 
 will ever secure a strong grasp on the peo- 
 ple of the country, or lead to permanent 
 improvement. 
 
 It remains only to notice Mohammedan- 
 ism among the great religious powers 
 recognized at the present time in India. 
 This violent and intolerant form of faith 
 entered India in the wake of conquering 
 armies in the eleventh century. No doubt 
 the invaders of that day were devout fol- 
 lowers of the Arabian Prophet, and, as a 
 rule, they carried with them religious lead- 
 ers who were reserved expressly for the 
 work of teaching and otherwise directing 
 the multitudes who were induced either by 
 fear or hope of reward or preferment to 
 accept the new faith which was thus sum- 
 marily thrust upon them. The Hindus, as 
 is well known, made a stout and even des- 
 perate resistance to the invaders, but for 
 the most part in vain. Various artifices 
 were employed to induce the people to 
 
The Religions. 53 
 
 accept the new faith, especially that of 
 offering employment to those classes who 
 could best serve the purposes of the Tartar 
 invaders. Thus the work went on, making 
 steady progress, until Baber, the first 
 Moghul emperor, laid the foundations of 
 a power which in the time of Akhbar at- 
 tained a position of power and glory which 
 made it renowned the world over. At that 
 period it seemed safe to assume that the 
 Mohammedans could meet with no check 
 until all Asia should be overrun with their 
 victorious armies, but from the very first 
 the Moghul dynasty revealed elements of 
 weakness which at a comparatively early 
 day led to its overthrow, and with this 
 fall of the imperial power the aggressive 
 faith of Islam seemed to lose much of its 
 vitality. In more recent years a movement 
 sometimes spoken of as a revival of Mo- 
 hammedanism has been at work in some 
 parts of North India. In remote country 
 districts also, a steady work of proselyt- 
 ing is going on among the ignorant and 
 wretchedly poor peasantry especially in the 
 more backward rural districts of Bengal. 
 On the other hand, conversions to the ranks 
 of Christianity from the follov/ers of Islam, 
 
54 India and Southern Asia. 
 
 although not numerous, are yet slowly in- 
 creasing, and some eminent preachers have 
 been received from their ranks, especially 
 in North India. 
 
 Before dismissing the subject of relig- 
 ion it may be well to call attention to the 
 number and extraordinary character of the 
 various forms of asceticism which prevail 
 among the people. The ascetics themselves 
 are objects of devout veneration on the 
 part of most devout Hindus, and they in 
 turn adopt their mode of life and practice 
 their austerities from religious motives. 
 These motives are manifold and often dif- 
 ficult to understand, but in all cases seem 
 to be more or less connected with relig- 
 ious considerations. All the world has 
 heard of the men who hold up their arm, 
 or in some cases both arms, until the joints 
 become rigid, and the muscles shrunken 
 beyond all hope of recovery. Men of this 
 type are not often met at the present time, 
 but when they appear devout Hindus offer 
 them tokens of veneration, and sometimes 
 prostrate themselves at full length at their 
 feet. 
 
 But all men of this class are by no 
 means honest or sincere. Many are im- 
 
The Religions. 55 
 
 posters and thoroughly bad men. But no. 
 degree of badness seems to deprive them of 
 the veneration of the multitude, or to sug- 
 gest any question concerning the merit or 
 demerit of the whole system of pious men- 
 dicancy. It is true that among the lower 
 and more ignorant classes this kind of life 
 is frequently given up for a time and some- 
 times resumed again, but this does not of- 
 ten occur in cases where a long course of 
 initiation has been followed, and where a 
 devotee has reached a stage where his 
 reputation for sanctity has a practical value 
 to its possessor. 
 
 The worship of religious devotees seems 
 to have a strong fascination or drawing of 
 some kind in the minds of the people, and 
 the practice is so common that it may be 
 fairly placed in the list of religious be- 
 liefs, or forms of worship, known and rec- 
 ognized among the Indian people. It need 
 hardly be added that the practice is de- 
 grading and misleading on the part of the 
 worshipers, and utterly ruinous to recti- 
 tude of character on the part of the 
 devotees. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Missionary Work. 
 
 For a hundred years India has been 
 known as the chief mission field of the 
 world. A little more than a century ago 
 almost the entire world was closed against 
 the missionary. The few people who were 
 accessible to him, such as the inhabitants 
 of lonely islands in distant seas, and the 
 scattered tribes of American Indians, did 
 not give any promise of success on a scale 
 which would impress the world. God's 
 call to the Churches began to be recognized 
 here and there, but not by any means gen- 
 erally, until it became manifest that the 
 settlements of the English in Bengal were 
 to be permanent, and that the expansion 
 of their authority was likely to continue at 
 least for many years. When in addition 
 to this fact, it also became evident that 
 missionary work would be tolerated, if not 
 actively protected, leading Christians in all 
 56 
 
Missionary Work. 57 
 
 Protestant lands quickly perceived that 
 God's hand was directing the movements of 
 the period in such a way as to make mis- 
 sionary work possible on a wider scale 
 than had ever been seen before. This led 
 to the opening of the period of Carey and 
 Heber, of Judson and Newell, of Coke and 
 Duflf, and the long list of noble men and 
 women who bore aloft the missionary ban- 
 ner during the early years of the last cen- 
 tury. 
 
 At the beginning of the century many 
 fields attracted attention, and men of cour- 
 age and devotion went forth to Africa and 
 Greenland, and to lonely isles of the sea, 
 but before long it became evident that the 
 time had not fully come for a world-wide 
 crusade, and that the first great advance 
 would have to be concentrated on the vast 
 field in Southern Asia which God was so 
 strangely opening to his servants under 
 the Protestant flags of England, Denmark 
 and Holland. To this field nearly all the 
 Churches of the Protestant world have been 
 sending their messengers, especially in re- 
 cent years, and although China may before 
 very long take precedence among all the 
 
58 India and Southern Asia. 
 
 great mission fields of the world, yet for 
 the present India, with a Christian govern- 
 ment, with full religious liberty, and free 
 access to every part of the Empire, must 
 inevitably continue to maintain her position 
 in the van of the united missionary host 
 of our world. In view of this impending 
 responsibility every disciple of our common 
 Master should take pains to understand the 
 task which God is setting before his peo- 
 ple. Various questions have already sug- 
 gested themselves to the reader such as 
 these: What constitutes missionary labor? 
 Does it consist of preaching alone, or of 
 teaching also? Does teaching consist of 
 instruction given in schools, or does it in- 
 clude industrial training? What about 
 theological instruction? About literature? 
 Do the people need to be taught the ele- 
 ments of modern civilization? How is a 
 literature to be created ? What about med- 
 ical instruction? In short, many questions 
 of this kind present themselves, and other 
 questions will doubtless arise as the work 
 advances. 
 
 All parties agree that preaching should 
 be the chief agency of the missionary, but 
 
Missionary Work. 59 
 
 the term '^preaching" must be taken in a 
 very broad sense in a modern mission field. 
 The formal services with which people are 
 familiar in Christian lands are simply im- 
 possible among half-taught people in a 
 heathen land. It is thought by not a few 
 who have given attention to the subject, 
 that the missionaries in India and the 
 Orient generally have valued the style 
 which prevails in the Western world too 
 highly. We should all remember that the 
 preaching of our Savior affords a better 
 pattern than that with which the world — 
 and especially the Western world — has 
 been familiar since the days of Whitefield 
 and Wesley in England, and of Finney and 
 Edwards in America. We forget that our 
 Savior Himself was an Oriental preacher. 
 His style of discourse was supremely 
 lofty, and withal wonderfully simple. His 
 two most memorable discourses were deliv- 
 ered while He was seated on the ground. 
 Thus far, the native preachers of India 
 have too closely followed the style of their 
 missionary leaders, but here and there a 
 marked tendency to return to Oriental 
 methods has attracted notice. The wayside 
 
60 India and Southern Asia. 
 
 teachings of our Savior are worthy of 
 far more attention than they have received. 
 Perhaps the weakest point in our Western 
 usage is the notion that to be able to give a 
 discourse of any importance, a somewhat 
 large audience is necessary. This unfor- 
 tunate notion is sometimes painfully illus- 
 trated in the homeland, where a preacher 
 meeting a small congregation is apt to leave 
 out portions of his sermon, assuming that 
 a mere handful of hearei:s do not merit as 
 full a discussion as a larger audience. An 
 Indian missionary has called attention to 
 the fact that many converts are won in 
 village communities by simple men seated 
 under trees, or in some place of village 
 resort, and conversing in an informal man- 
 ner with friends and neighbors gathered 
 around them. Informal conversation car- 
 ried on by a man who recognizes his re- 
 sponsibility as one speaking in the name of 
 his Master, must ever prove a very effi- 
 cient means of reaching the hearts and 
 minds of the masses of the people of the 
 East. 
 
 Teaching as well as preaching is an es- 
 sential part of missionary work, and has 
 
Missionary Work. 61 
 
 been since the time of William Carey. It 
 is not necessary, however, to establish a 
 school in order to teach pupils the rudi- 
 ments of religious knowledge. The chief 
 object is to secure the attention and train- 
 ing of the young, at an age when their 
 minds can be impressed most effectively. 
 Nearly all Indian missionaries have to a 
 greater or less extent adopted a policy of 
 maintaining mission schools. Though the 
 wisdom of this policy has repeatedly been 
 challenged, yet no common policy has been 
 reached. Perhaps at the present time the 
 majority have either already adopted, or 
 wish to adopt, the policy of educating the 
 Christian youths in preference to all others, 
 but also to admit non-Christian children 
 if they wish to enter on the same terms as 
 the Christians. It is probable that in the 
 early future the Christian community will 
 increase to such an extent that the ques- 
 tion will settle itself. In other words, there 
 will be so many Christians thronging the 
 schools that no room will be found- for 
 others. 
 
 Another phase of the educational ques- 
 tion is that of the rival claims of primary 
 
62 India and Southern Asia. 
 
 and higher education. Some missionaries 
 of experience advocate the poHcy of pro- 
 viding primary schools alone, while others 
 think that the ultimate benefit of a Chris- 
 tian education upon a whole community 
 will be greater if fewer students are edu- 
 cated, but these few thoroughly prepared 
 for wide influence in later life. Much may 
 be said on each side of the question, but 
 it is undoubtedly true that the few Chris- 
 tians who have thus far risen to prominence 
 in the land are exerting a very marked influ- 
 ence for good among the natives, and are 
 doing very much indeed to commend the 
 Christian religion to their countrymen, and 
 must prove a very great blessing to all 
 classes. 
 
 Theological schools have been brought 
 forward in recent years as an agency de- 
 serving the most cordial support of the 
 different missionary societies, and are much 
 needed, especially in view of the rapid 
 growth of the Christian community. This 
 term, however, is one which requires defi- 
 nition. It may certainly be doubted whether 
 theological schools formed on the some- 
 what rigid pattern of similar institutions 
 
Missionary Work. 63 
 
 in England and America can supply the 
 kind of training which is needed by Orien- 
 tal men and women. The tendency men- 
 tioned above of desiring to follow very 
 closely in the footsteps of the foreign mis- 
 sionaries is a natural one, and in view of 
 the high respect which the average native 
 of India feels for the foreign teacher, it 
 seems to become almost inevitable. Here 
 and there institutions of high grade might 
 be of use, but they should in every case 
 be conducted in careful accordance with 
 a determination not to follow foreign ideals 
 too closely. 
 
 The reader in America can hardly con- 
 ceive — much less understand — the situation 
 in which a thousand, or perhaps several 
 thousand, simple villagers are suddenly 
 brought within the pale of the Christian 
 Church. Their religious ideals are most 
 elementary. Their very instincts 'prompt 
 them to follow closely the examples within 
 their reach, and hence their teachers oc- 
 cupy a position of supreme importance. 
 They can be very easily misled, and hence 
 all possible care should be taken to famil- 
 iarize them with the leading truths of the 
 
64 India and Southern Asia. 
 
 Christian faith, and to avoid all questions 
 which are apt to raise doubts in their 
 minds, or suggest problems which the in- 
 tellects can not fathom. 
 
 In recent years much attention has 
 been given to the subject of industrial 
 training for young Christians in India. 
 The need of such training can be seen at 
 a glance, but when the practical question 
 of undertaking the task comes up, it is 
 quickly discovered that it is beset with dif- 
 ficulties. Work of all kinds is so extremely 
 cheap in India, that at best it is quite dif- 
 ficult to compete in the general market, 
 even though the products of the workshop 
 may be better than those in general use. 
 In order to secure purchasers the articles 
 should not only be of higher value, but 
 also be furnished at a rate which in Amer- 
 ica would seem merely nominal. In or- 
 phanages, and special schools organized 
 for the purpose, something has been done, 
 and many earnest men and women are 
 studying the subject, but it is too soon yet 
 to speak with confidence of the practical 
 value of such enterprises. In God's good 
 time some way out will be found from the 
 
Missionary Work. 65 
 
 difficulties which just now seem to be insep- 
 arable from the task. The subject is worthy 
 of much serious thought, but in the lim- 
 ited pages of this booklet more space can 
 not be afforded it. 
 
 At an early day the idea was suggested 
 to friends of missions that medical skill 
 might be used to unlock the doors which 
 so often are closed against the foreign mis- 
 sionary. Some of the very first mission- 
 aries were medical men. In a general way 
 it might be said that in no case does this 
 kind of service absolutely fail, though like 
 many other good things it has its limita- 
 tions. A medical man can not do satisfac- 
 tory work unless he devotes his entire time 
 to his calling. Missionaries of this class 
 are sometimes heard to express their re- 
 gret that they ever studied medicine, and 
 explain that the "doctor invariably swal- 
 lows up the missionary," and that while 
 their medical practice enables them to enter 
 closed doors, it also adds to their respon- 
 sibilities, and keeps them from the spirit- 
 ual work which their hearts prompt them 
 to undertake. Perhaps it would be a wise 
 policy for every medical missionary to have 
 
 5 
 
66 India and Southern Asia. 
 
 a lay colleague who could follow up the 
 spiritual openings which occur, and thus 
 relieve his medical brother from his em- 
 barrassment. 
 
 In the case of lady doctors the situation 
 is somewhat different. These valued work- 
 ers have fewer claims apart from the spe- 
 cific tasks connected with their profession. 
 They are not expected to preach or take 
 charge of schools, although in a very real 
 sense they may be said to perform pastoral 
 duties among those women who are not 
 accessible to the male missionary. Medical 
 women of this class have certainly accom- • 
 plished much good, and have been led out 
 into broader fields than those of which they 
 dreamed before going to the mission field. 
 An illustration of this occurs in the case 
 of Miss Clara A. Swain, M. D., the first 
 medical lady to enter a foreign missionary 
 field. Dr. Swain was sent out to India in 
 1870 by the newly organized Woman's For- 
 eign Missionary Society. It seems almost 
 incredible that at so late a day she became 
 the pioneer of a movement which now 
 spreads to some extent all over the heathen 
 world. Many doubted the wisdom of the 
 
Missionary Work. 67 
 
 experiment at the time — for it was an ex- 
 periment — but her success surpassed all ex- 
 pectations. She was not only received with 
 kindness, but in some cases with enthusi- 
 asm, and lived to become the pioneer not 
 only of women's medical practice in India, 
 but of medical instruction to the women 
 of the soil, and in a few years the Govern- 
 ment of India became so interested in the 
 movement, and so well satisfied with the 
 success which had attended it, that an order 
 was issued opening the great medical col- 
 leges of the Empire to men and women on 
 equal terms. 
 
 It remains to notice the result of higher 
 education among the women and girls of 
 India. It was only about the middle of the 
 last century that the thought occurred to 
 any one that an effort should be made to 
 provide at least the elements of education 
 for the women of India. A few attempts 
 had been made, especially in Calcutta, but 
 the utmost that was hoped for was that the 
 people might be willing to have their daugh- 
 ters educated in the simple elements of a 
 primary education. In 1870 Miss Isabella 
 Thoburn went out to India with a special 
 
68 India and Southern Asia. 
 
 conviction that her work was to be chiefly 
 the promotion of higher education among 
 women and girls. It so happened that Dr. 
 Swain and Miss Thoburn went out on the 
 same ship, sent out by the same organiza- 
 tion, and each was the pioneer of a great 
 work. Miss Thoburn's success was com- 
 plete, although it took some time to work 
 out a visible result. She lived to found the 
 first Christian college for women ever 
 erected, not only in India, but anywhere 
 on Asiatic soil. Other similar institutions 
 are following, and the possibilities for a 
 woman to secure a higher education are 
 now established beyond doubt. 
 
 Very naturally supporters of foreign mis- 
 sions in England and America will ask how 
 long their support must continue. Will 
 the native Churches of India ever reach 
 a point at which they will become so inde- 
 pendent as to require no further assistance 
 from without? What is the present meas- 
 ure of their ability to support pastors 
 taken from their own class, and living 
 among them as pastors do elsewhere? To 
 answer this question plainly, there must 
 first be a statement made as to the con- 
 
Missionary Work. 69 
 
 dition of the average Christian community 
 in countries Hke India and China. The 
 poor people who so largely constitute our 
 membership in these lands are more than 
 willing to do their whole duty, but most 
 missionaries shrink from laying upon them 
 any burden which involves even the small- 
 est gift of money. A laboring man earns 
 five or six cents a day, his wife possibly 
 as much more, and children of working 
 age also earn a trifle, but the parents are 
 not always able to secure steady work. 
 Prices fluctuate, and the support for one 
 year may not suffice for another; sickness 
 and trouble of various kinds may also fall 
 to their lot. Yet in many cases the native 
 pastor is supported by people whose in- 
 come is almost incredibly small. In some 
 cases women have been known to cast their 
 flimsy ornaments on the collecting plate, 
 and also take the rings from their fingers 
 and toes for the same purpose. Now and 
 then, but very rarely, a lady's ring may be 
 found on a collecting plate in an American 
 Church, but so far as the spirit of giving 
 is concerned, the Indian sister has perhaps 
 
70 India and Southern Asia. 
 
 the more wilHng spirit of the two. It cer- 
 tainly can not be laid to the charge of the 
 poor Christians of India that they do not 
 possess a willing spirit, when the duty of 
 giving is presented to them. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Methodist Missions in India. 
 
 The: Methodists of England promptly 
 joined in the movement which followed 
 the enterprise of Dr. Carey, and in the 
 year 1815 Dr. Thomas Coke and a party 
 of young men sailed from England for 
 service in Ceylon and South India. Dr. 
 Coke had already done service in America 
 and the West Indies, and was full of mis- 
 sionary spirit, and qualified in many re- 
 spects for the leadership of such a move- 
 ment as he wished to inaugurate in India, 
 but he was in advanced years, and there- 
 fore unfitted for the hardships of the mis- 
 sionary service of that time. Before reach- 
 ing India he was one morning found dead 
 in his cabin, and the party of young men 
 had to proceed to their field and enter upon 
 their work without their leader. They 
 planted missions both in Ceylon and on the 
 mainland, and were joined from time to 
 71 
 
72 India and Southern Asia. 
 
 time by able and devoted comrades, the 
 most prominent of whom was the well- 
 known William Arthur, while R. Spence 
 Hardy and Daniel Gogerly attained emi- 
 nence in the line of Oriental scholarship. 
 However, the Wesleyans did not for many 
 years extend their work into other parts 
 of India, nor did they succeed in achiev- 
 ing marked success within the boundaries 
 of the fields to which they had been as- 
 signed. Their work was thorough, and 
 their foundation well laid. 
 
 The American Methodists were very slow 
 in entering upon the foreign missionary 
 movement, for it was not until the year 
 1856 that they sent forth their first mis- 
 sionary to India. Their pioneer was the 
 well-known Dr. William Butler. He was 
 given instructions to establish a compact 
 mission field in some part of North India, 
 the definite plan of the Missionary Society 
 being that of selecting a field large enough 
 for twenty-five men only, a number which 
 was considered large in that day of small 
 things. The field chosen consisted of the 
 small province of Rohilkhund, together 
 with half of the adjacent province of Oudh, 
 
Methodist Missions in India. 73 
 
 the whole field being not so large in area 
 as the State of Indiana. Reinforcements 
 were sent out to the pioneer, and an en- 
 couraging beginning was made, but it so 
 happened that the great Indian mutiny- 
 broke out only a few months after his ar- 
 rival, and he was compelled to flee for 
 refuge to Naini Tal, in the lower Hima- 
 layas. When the worst of the storm was 
 over his two colleagues, who had reached 
 Calcutta and stayed there during the mu- 
 tiny, came up and joined him, and as soon 
 as it was considered safe they all repaired 
 to their stations at Lucknow and Bareilly. 
 Early in 1859 six additional missionaries 
 reached the field, and in September the first 
 formal "Annual Meeting'' of the Mission 
 was held at Lucknow. Twelve mission- 
 aries were present, including three English- 
 men who had joined Dr. Butler in India, 
 and also one native preacher named Joel 
 Janvier, who had come to Dr. Butler from 
 the American Presbyterians at Allahabad. 
 At that stage of missionary progress this 
 little band of thirteen workers seemed like 
 a vigorous — and in a sense a vast — army. 
 The spirit maintained by these men was in 
 
74 India and Southern Asia. 
 
 some respects remarkable. They talked 
 and planned together as if they were al- 
 ready sharing a part in a great work. They 
 boldly asked the authorities in America to 
 organize them into an Annual Conference, 
 with all the rights and privileges pertain- 
 ing to such a body. They assumed at the 
 very outset that they were about to enter 
 upon a very great work, and so little did 
 they conceal either their hopes or their 
 assurance of success, that some friends in 
 America thought it prudent to remind them 
 that they were as yet living in a* day of 
 small things, and were perhaps tempted 
 to look too far into the future. It always 
 happens when a new mission is founded in 
 a country where the people speak a strange 
 language and follow a strange religion, 
 that much weary delay must occur and 
 many discouragements and disappointments 
 be endured. Nor did these new mission- 
 aries prove an exception to this rule. 
 Meanwhile the Civil War broke out at 
 home, and for a time it seemed impossible 
 for them to remain at their posts, but they 
 were so nobly sustained by the Missionary 
 Society that they not only held their own 
 
Methodist Missions in India. 75 
 
 ground, but received reinforcements enough 
 to double the number of American mis- 
 sionaries on the field before the conclusion 
 of the war. 
 
 In the year 1864, to the very great sur- 
 prise of many leading men in America, the 
 General Conference gave the missionaries 
 in India an Annual Conference organiza- 
 tion. This was considered a most extraor- 
 dinary step at the time, but events have 
 proved its wisdom, while the precedent thus 
 formed has been followed to great advan- 
 tage in the other mission fields of the 
 Church. The work moved on, converts 
 were gradually gathered around the mis- 
 sionaries, native preachers were raised up, 
 schools and orphanages established, but al- 
 most twenty years elapsed before the in- 
 crease of converts began to attract atten- 
 tion. It was once remarked by an eminent 
 orator that experience was the only lamp 
 by which his feet were guided, and this re- 
 mark holds true to a very great extent in 
 foreign missions. But many missionaries 
 have no experience by which their feet 
 may be guided except their own ; they are 
 working under new conditions, they are 
 
76 India and Southern Asia. 
 
 walking in untrodden paths, and thus, of 
 course, are obHged to become their own 
 teachers in acquiring many of the most 
 important lessons of life. 
 
 Some movements during the years 1874-5 
 gave rise to a conviction on the part of 
 some leading missionaries that God had 
 a wider work for the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church in India than had been contem- 
 plated by the good men who first laid out 
 plans for the work. It was the universal 
 custom for all the missionary societies then 
 operating in India to lay down fixed boun- 
 daries for their fields, and it was under- 
 stood that all missionaries would respect 
 these boundary lines, at least to a reason- 
 able extent. Here and there when an effort 
 had sometimes been made to change some 
 boundary lines a little friction had been re- 
 ported, sometimes on the part of one mis- 
 sion and again on the part of another, but 
 the fact that such an uncertainty existed 
 made it difficult for our missionaries to act 
 freely, and some even went so far as to 
 object to any extension of boundary lines 
 whatever. The rule, however, had never 
 been enforced with reference to work 
 
Methodist Missions in India. 77 
 
 among Europeans in the country, and as a 
 large number of these people were found 
 scattered all over the Empire, our mission- 
 aries, following the precedents and instinct 
 which had always characterized their breth- 
 ren in all parts of the globe, had gone freely 
 to minister to all persons who spoke the 
 English language, and who were not other- 
 wise supplied with gospel preaching. God 
 blessed these efforts, and calls from various 
 places began to reach the missionaries. In 
 the meantime, in the providence of God 
 William Taylor reached India on one of 
 his great tours, and, not knowing any na- 
 tive language, very naturally began to 
 preach wherever he went in English. God 
 blessed the Word from his lips, and many 
 were converted. In some places Methodist 
 Churches were organized, and almost be- 
 fore they knew it the missionaries found 
 that their Church was represented by zeal- 
 ous Christian believers in Western and 
 Southern India, as well as in Bengal. It 
 seemed unreasonable to hold aloof from 
 these Churches, especially as they asked to 
 be incorporated in the common body, and 
 eagerly sought to be provided with the 
 
78 India and Southern Asia. 
 
 oversight on which all Methodist Churches 
 depend. In this unlooked for way our little 
 work in Rohilkhund and Oudh expanded 
 until it reached not only all parts of the 
 great Indian Empire, but also extended its 
 influence far down the Malay Peninsula 
 to the great city of Singapore. 
 
 This vast extension of our work only 
 served to deepen the conviction of our 
 leaders in India that an organization 
 adapted to the new work should be per- 
 fected so as to meet all requirements in 
 cases of emergency. Experience had amply 
 proved that it was altogether impossible to 
 refer all questions to parties living on the 
 other side of the globe. Appeals which 
 were made were sometimes neglected, some- 
 times misunderstood, and at best seldom 
 met with satisfactory treatment. A repre- 
 sentative body of missionaries met at Alla- 
 habad in 1879, ^^d asked the General Con- 
 ference to authorize the organization of a 
 Central Conference, having jurisdiction 
 over all general interests in India. This 
 request was a bold one, and created no 
 little disquiet in the minds of many lead- 
 ing men at home. When first presented to 
 
Methodist Missions in India. 79 
 
 the General Conference it failed to receive 
 its approval. Many matters had to be ex- 
 plained, many objections made and an- 
 swered, and not a few changes inserted 
 in the proposed plan, but finally in 1884 
 the General Conference authorized the or- 
 ganization of such a body, to be known as 
 the Central Conference in Southern Asia. 
 About the year 1888 it began to be no- 
 ticed that a new spirit of inquiry was mani- 
 festing itself among the large body of peo- 
 ple composing what are known as the 
 ''depressed classes." These people do not 
 form a single class or caste, but are divided 
 into different castes, or sub-castes, accord- 
 ing to the part of the country in which they 
 live, and the occupations in which they en- 
 gage. Mentally and physically most of 
 them compare favorably with those who 
 occupy a higher social position, and experi- 
 ence has thus far proved that with fair 
 opportunities they can rise steadily and 
 somewhat rapidly in the social scale. Under 
 various names, and subject to various con- 
 ditions, an immense proportion of the peo- 
 ple of India belong to these depressed 
 classes, and it is evident at a glance that 
 
80 India and Southern Asia. 
 
 India can never become Christian in any 
 true sense until the milHons of these lowly 
 people are reached and rescued from their 
 low estate. 
 
 It was among these people that the new 
 spirit of inquiry first appeared, and it soon 
 became apparent that it was not only wide- 
 spread, but had many signs of permanence. 
 Converts multiplied, and inquirers were 
 reported from far and near. For the first 
 time in the history of the mission baptisms 
 began to be numbered by the thousand, and 
 so great was the success in some quarters 
 that prudent men began to doubt the gen- 
 uineness of the work, but as time passed it 
 became evident that whatever elements of 
 weakness there might be in the movement, 
 God's hand was manifestly directing it. 
 
 Perhaps the best result of this move- 
 ment was the new spirit which was breathed 
 into the native Christians. They seemed to 
 be touched with a new inspiration. They 
 were moved by what has been called ''the 
 instinct of victory." They joyously ac- 
 cepted the spirit of self-sacrifice. Many 
 of them preached with power. The Amer- 
 ican brethren saw the need of a larger staff 
 
Methodist Missions in India. 81 
 
 of ordained men, and although the Annual 
 Conference, held in Bareilly in January, 
 1889, rejoiced greatly when ten men stood 
 up together and were ordained to the Chris- 
 tian ministry, yet only three years later no 
 less than fifty-three were ordained at a ses- 
 sion of the same Conference, held at the 
 same place. It soon became necessary to 
 organize a second Conference in Northwest 
 India, where the good work spread with 
 even greater rapidity and over a wider ter- 
 ritory. Later still, a similar movement be- 
 gan among the people known as Gujaratis, 
 living in the region north of Bombay, where 
 many thousands were gathered into the 
 Church and many valuable recruits found 
 for the Christian ministry. 
 
 But our successful work has been by no 
 means confined to the above named regions. 
 With the progress of the work it has been 
 found necessary to increase the number of 
 Conferences from one to nine. One of 
 these lies for the most part among the for- 
 ests and remote people of Central India. 
 One includes the once remote State of 
 Burma, the region made famous by the 
 labors and sufferings of the Judsons, One 
 6 
 
82 India and Southern Asia. 
 
 embraces the Malay Peninsula, and the 
 great tropical islands of Borneo, Java, and 
 Sumatra; while still another includes 
 within its boundary lines the now famous 
 group of islands known as the Philippines. 
 The writer of these lines joined the India 
 Mission in 1859, ^^ which time the boun- 
 daries of the Mission were strictly limited 
 to the small section of country in North 
 India mentioned on a preceding page. Con- 
 verts were received from the first, but in 
 such limited numbers that nearly thirty 
 years elapsed before the encouraging prog- 
 ress of the work in North India began to 
 attract notice. From this time forward its 
 progress was extremely promising, and a 
 new spirit seemed to animate the whole 
 Christian community. Questions and criti- 
 cisms were heard concerning the sound- 
 ness of the conversions reported, but the 
 missionaries seldom paused to defend their 
 course, which they believed to be a plan 
 of God's direction. In the following years 
 the progress has not been uniform, but 
 when the results are tabulated, and due al- 
 lowance made for the fact that all progress 
 in heathen lands must necessarily be slow, 
 
Methodist Missions in India. 83 
 
 the latest statistics are not only satisfac- 
 tory, but in some respects surprising. For 
 instance in 1859 the number of communi- 
 cants, including probationers, was thirteen, 
 v/hile to-day they number over 125,000. 
 The total Christian community is more than 
 175,000, while "other advance movements 
 are reported from different points in the 
 wide field. Other doors are opening — 
 more doors indeed than we can hope to 
 enter for many years. Barriers which for 
 long years seemed immovable are breaking 
 down and disappearing, tokens for good are 
 graciously given us day by day, and all the 
 workers are full of good cheer and faith 
 in the future. 
 
 In this rapid sketch no attempt has been 
 made to tell the story of our expansion 
 from point to point, until at last our vast 
 field is spoken of officially, not as India, 
 but as ''Southern Asia." The first advance 
 beyond the bounds of India proper was 
 into Burma, where our banner was planted 
 in the city of Rangoon in the year 1879. 
 There, as in so many other places, the 
 work was commenced among the Euro- 
 peans who had heard of our work in Cal- 
 
84 India and Southern Asia. 
 
 cutta, and had invited us to come to them. 
 Success attended this effort, and in the 
 course of a two weeks' stay there a firm 
 foundation was laid for the future work 
 of our Church in that part of the world. 
 Preaching was commenced in three differ- 
 ent languages, and property secured, and 
 arrangements made for a permanent occu- 
 pation of the field. Our work there has 
 had its share of the vicissitudes which at- 
 tend missionary labors everywhere, but it 
 has had a very satisfactory measure of suc- 
 cess. A Conference has been organized, 
 and work is carried on not only among the 
 Indian settlers, but also among the Bur- 
 mese themselves, who until very recently 
 were considered extremely inaccessible, but 
 are now evincing an interest in the work 
 which is most encouraging. 
 
 The next advance to the distant city of 
 Singapore, was in some respects the most 
 singular enterprise undertaken by our 
 Church in that part of the globe. The city 
 is very nearly two thousand miles distant 
 from Calcutta. We had no one to invite 
 us there, and our first missionaries were 
 obliged to go among complete strangers, 
 
Methodist Missions in India. 85 
 
 but special tokens of God's favor were soon 
 given them, and a foothold secured which 
 has expanded into a well organized Annual 
 Conference. Bishop Oldham was the pio- 
 neer in this movement, and the interesting 
 story of his successful movements there in 
 building a church and large school has fre- 
 quently been told. Singapore is now the 
 center of the work done by that Confer- 
 ence, which has missionaries or other work- 
 ers farther up at Penang, and at several 
 points of the Malay Peninsula, as well as 
 on the great islands of Borneo, Java, and 
 Sumatra. 
 
 But the most striking result of our en- 
 trance and occupation of Malaysia has been 
 seen in the providential opening of the door 
 to the Philippines. When our missionaries 
 first went to Singapore they learned that 
 all the islands in that vast region were open 
 to them except this group. The Spaniards 
 had from the first forbidden the entry of 
 any missionaries except Roman Catholics, 
 and it was well understood everywhere in 
 the East that their rule was extremely rigid, 
 and would not be relaxed in the slightest 
 degree under any circumstances. On this 
 
86 India and Southern Asia. 
 
 account our missionaries in Singapore felt 
 a peculiar interest in the Philippines, and 
 from the first some of them prayed daily 
 that in some way God would break down 
 the barrier of centuries, and throw the 
 doors of those beautiful islands open to all 
 disciples of our common Master who might 
 wish to labor there. This faith was so 
 strong that when the second day of May, 
 1898, brought the news of Admiral Dewey's 
 victory at Manila, their surprise was not 
 unmingled with a realization that the long 
 continued prayers had been answered. 
 
 The Missionary Society lost no time in 
 sending a messenger to investigate the op- 
 portunities of opening up work there. The 
 story of our entry can not be inserted here, 
 but suffice it to say that no mission of our 
 Church to Roman Catholics has met with 
 a success at all commensurate with that 
 achieved in the Philippines in these few 
 years. The work is still new, the dangers 
 have been many and severe in character, 
 but nevertheless the missionaries on the field 
 report a Church membership, including pro- 
 bationers, of over 17,000, while the body of 
 adherents is estimated at a much larger 
 
Methodist Missions in India. 87 
 
 figure. The people are hungry for the 
 Word of truth, and there seems to be no 
 limit to the possibilities set before our mis- 
 sionaries, provided they can be supported 
 vv^ith reinforcements and a moderate appro- 
 priation of funds."^ 
 
 To sum up: God has given our people a 
 great work to do in Southern Asia. The 
 more the situation is studied, the more 
 amazing does the progress appear. Our 
 missionaries began by preaching in a single 
 native language, but they are now preach- 
 ing in at least thirty-seven different 
 tongues. And yet it must be constantly 
 remembered that in this great field, as in 
 China and elsewhere, the work is only in 
 its beginning. It must finally assume pro- 
 portions, the very mention of which now 
 would be bewildering. It can not be re- 
 peated too often that the project even in 
 its simplest terms surpasses in magnitude 
 anything of the kind which has ever been 
 attempted before, for indeed it embraces 
 the human race ! 
 
 *The story of our work in Malaysia, including the 
 Philippines, has been written by Bishop Oldham, and will 
 soon be published. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Christian India. 
 
 Wii,iv India ever become Christian? 
 Some good people doubt it, chiefly because 
 of peculiar views of prophecy ; but on the 
 other hand, a great multitude of spiritually 
 minded Christians confidently affirm their 
 belief and expectation that India with her 
 teeming millions will in the fullness of 
 God's time be given to the Eternal Son for 
 His inheritance. To this grand consum- 
 mation all things seem to be tending, and 
 He with whom nothing is impossible as- 
 suredly seems to be preparing the way for 
 greater achievements than any seen in past 
 ages, and victories are reported which seem 
 to portend the final triumph which shall 
 give India an inheritance and a name among 
 the Christian nations of the earth. When 
 India becomes Christian, what will be the 
 condition of her people ? Will they remain 
 poor, and live constantly on the ragged 
 88 
 
 LCFC. 
 
Christian India. 89 
 
 edge of starvation? Will life continue to 
 be one long struggle against grinding pov- 
 erty and many forms of injustice and 
 wrong? Will they live in mud huts and 
 see their children grow up in ignorance, 
 and exposed to the blighting influence of 
 bad customs and bad associations? 
 
 No, the future of Christian India will be 
 unlike her past in many ways. In the first 
 place, the nations which fear God and keep 
 His commandments do not, and can not, 
 continue to live in a state of permanent de- 
 pression. An eternal law of God makes 
 this impossible. The poverty of the world 
 may be traced to sin, but never to right- 
 eousness. The good and holy are some- 
 times poor to human seeing, as the Master 
 Himself was, but there is such a thing as 
 having nothing and yet possessing all 
 things. Christian India will not be poor 
 in the ordinary sense of the word. The ac- 
 ceptance of Christ will place them under 
 the care of Him who once fed starving mul- 
 titudes and who now provides for starving 
 nations. 
 
 Christian India will be the home of an 
 intelligent people. There is no defect in 
 
90 India and Southern Asia. 
 
 the Indian brain. So far from it, in fair 
 competition the Indian youth contests suc- 
 cessfully with the youth of his own age 
 from the British Isles, and can compete 
 under fair conditions with young men of 
 his own age from any country in the world. 
 If these youths can do this now in the face 
 of the disadvantages under which they have 
 grown up, how much more certainly will 
 they succeed in that brighter day when they 
 are freed from the disabilities which heath- 
 enism imposes. 
 
 Christian India will hold an honorable 
 place among the nations of the earth. In 
 that better day when all nations flow to- 
 gether; i. e., mingle and commingle to an 
 extent never yet seen, the people of India 
 will profit by their wider associations and 
 lose some peculiarities which sometimes 
 affect strangers unfavorably. But no one 
 must too readily assume that all the giving 
 must be one-sided — ^that, for instance, Eu- 
 rope has as much to give, but needs noth- 
 ing for herself in return. Such an assump- 
 tion would be a very mistaken one. India, 
 and for that matter all the nations of Asia, 
 can place Europe under obligations of many 
 
Christian India. 91 
 
 kinds. What does not Europe owe to Asia? 
 For uncounted centuries Europe occupied 
 the less favored position, and but for the 
 older continent her barbarism might have 
 continued for many long and weary cen- 
 turies — perhaps to the present day. At this 
 late day it does not become any people to 
 boast too freely of either their lineage or 
 history. 
 
 Speculative thinkers often give them- 
 selves needless trouble in wondering what 
 the fate of the race will be when the earth 
 no longer yields enough food for the people 
 living on its surface, but all such fears are 
 groundless. Through a long course of 
 years new sources of supply have been dis- 
 covered as needed, and we may well trust 
 that in coming years other sources will be 
 found sufficient for every emergency. In 
 this connection the experiments of Mr. Bur- 
 bank suggest in a most striking manner 
 that the one peril which the human race has 
 least need to fear, is that of the race perish- 
 ing for the want of food. 
 
 Let India be brought to Christ, and her 
 future is assured for all the years to come. 
 When she takes her place among the Chris- 
 
92 India and Southern Asia. 
 
 ^ 
 
 1 
 
 tian family of nations God will bless her, 
 and the eternal laws of nature, as well as ^ 
 the laws of grace, will begin to act in her f 
 favor, and thus her long and weary struggle 
 against the powers of evil will end in a 
 glorious release, and a new career of pros- 
 perity and peace. 
 
MAfi 16 190? 
 
10 
 
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