The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1880-12-01
THE STR UGGLE AND THE
TRIUMPH OF CHRISTIAN
MISSIONS.

MISSIONS.
From 1892 to 1912 the missionary
work was prohibited in British India
By the efforts of Wherefore in 1912. a
charter tolerant to missions was granted
to the East India Company, but steady
opposition to the work continued both in
England and India. In the year 1852 as
much as $3,750,00O was paid from the
public treasury for repairs of temples,
for new idols, and new idol-cars for
priests, musicians, painters, and dancing
women. In England missions were ridi-
culed in the best society. Sydney Smith
made them the topic of his wit, and spoke
of "the maniacs who were sent out to
spread over the fine regions of the world
the most unjust and contemplate opinion
of the gospel" This feeling was not con-
fined to the Church of England When
the Rev. DIR. Carey, the pioneer of Eng
lish missions in India, proposed in re-
ligious assembly to discuss the question
of the duty of the Church with regard to
missions, he was ordered to sit down.
And just about the time that Sydney
Smiths article appeared, the Scottish
General Assembly declared a similar mo-
ton to be fanatical and absurd
In 1878 very different tone on the
part of the British Government was indi-
Gated in the report of the Secretary OF
State for India: "The Indian govern
ment, he says, cannot but acknowledge
the great obligation under which it is
laid by the benevolent exertions of these
600 missionaries whose blameless exam
pie and self-denying labor are infusing
new vigor into the stereotyped life of the
great populations placed under English
rule" And commenting on this report,
the London Quarterly ReUieV said {:
"This testimony of the Indian govern
ment to the Importance and value Of the
indirect results of Indian missions is one
of the most remarkable facts that can
claim to have place in missionary his
tory"
Great progress has been made in In
dia since the date of this report O871
-'72). That great country stands to-day
on the verge Of a great social and reli-
gious revolution; not great many years
will pass before it will call itself Chris
tan nation. We wonder what Sydney
Smith would think if he could rise from
his grave and contemplate the work of
Christian missions in India now. He
would take up the ZHeistic Quarterly,
organ of the disciples of Keshab Chunder
Sen, and read the following beautiful
tribute from "the advanced thought" of
India to Jesus:
Wherever he treads, flowers spring up under
his feet; wherever he stands, all sorrow and self
complaint are hushed. His long, uncut locks of
hair, in which the pure zephyr Of the mountain
plays his trailing garments Of seamless white
whose touch the diseased and sinful eagerly long
for, his beautiful feet washed with precious ONT
ments and rubbed with woman's hair, his self
immersed air, absent eyes, frightened forehead,
which show that his spirit is far away, commun-
ing with beings we do not see, point him out to
be the prophet Of the East, the sweet Jesus oil
the Galilean lake"
To the testimony quoted might be
added that Of Lord Laurence, Sir Bartle
Frere, Lord Napier, Sir Donald Mcleod
and Sir Richard Temple. In an address
at Birmingham last June, Sir Richard
Temple stated that he had governed 105
millions Of the inhabitants of India, and
had had official relations with 50 millions
more, and he then went on to describe
the benefcent influence Of the missiona
ries among them. We have not space K
quote his remarks. They were concluded