Worcester morning daily spy., 1898-02-23
REV. DR.. BARROWS.
Notable Address Before the
Worcester Y. P. S. c. E. Union.
Chicago Divine Appears Before a Large
and Enthusiastic Audience at Old
South Church.

Chufch, tuesday evening, When ne
stepped upon the pulpit platform to ad-
dress the members of the Worcester
union of the Y. P. S. C. E. The audito-
rum of the church was wellSalled and
there was a good many people occupy
ing seats in the galleries.
The platform was tastefully decor
ated. On the right side rested large
easel, upon which was portrait of
George Washington, draped with the
American flag. Large pots OF red hya-
cinths were on either of the desks. Sit
ting upon the platform with DR.. Bar
rows was George e. Copeland, president
of the local union, who briefly INTRO
duced the speaker.
DIR. Barrows, after giving an account
of a Christian Endeavor convention
which he attended in Lahore, India, re-
ferred to the great pleasure which he
had in being with DR.. F. e. Clark sew
eral times in India, and then he devoted
his address to his announced theme,
'The Christian conquest Of Asia" In
part, he said:
81 have returned home from a voy-
age round the world with a new and
deeper sense of the gospels efficacy, af
ter hearing the old Christian hymns
sung in Arabic and Marathi in Hindi
and Karanese, in Tamil and Bengal,
and in the languages of China and
Japan. Many a time in the early
morning hours, the voices Of little chill
dren carrying old tunes in strange
tongues have f1oated to our ears across
the mission compound of some city in
the Punjaub, or on the spicy and surf
beaten shores of Ceylon, and my heart
beat faster as 1 realized the oneness of
Christian hope and faith and love in
the breasts of all disciples, and as I
felt thn GVVnat GLORY of that
pei which it is your work and mine to
carry to all those whom God loves and
for whom the Savior died.
| find and you also find, among some
people in our country, a skepticism with
regard to the wisdom and success of all
Christian effort in Asia, an unbelief
springing sometimes out Of a lack of
knowledge, of the real results of Chris
tian missions, and occasionally from the
feeling that Christianity has nothing
supremely important to give to the fol-
lowers of Buddha and Confucius, and
to those who, it is supposed, have been
trained in the great PHILOSOPHERS of In
dia.
1t is very common for travellers and
naval officers to circulate the report
that they have found nothing to praise
and much to condemn in the work of
the missionaries. Such critics might
learn something from the testimonies of
great British statesmen in India, one of
whom, Sir Alexander Mckenzie, COVER
nor general of Bengal, a strong friend
of missions, said to me that he looked
forward to the time when there would
be national turning Of the people of
India to the gospel of Chrst-when the
work already begun should go forward
rapidly under the leadership of native
Christian prophets. These critics Of
missions might learn much from Col
onel DENLY, for twelve years our eff
cient minister at Pekin, or from Con-
sui General Jernigan of Shanghai or
even from the Indian Social Reformer,
non-Christian paper, published in Ma
dras, which has recently said that ''if
you wish to find examples OF the no.
blest beneVolence you must go to Chris
tianity and not to Hinduism and has
also expressed the opinion that "the
highest types of Christian character yet
evolved by our race were found among
some Of the Christian missionaries in
India.''
TRUTH, JUSTICE, KINDNESS.
In India the three great evangelizers
are truth, justice and kindness, and in
some respects, the greatest of these is
kindness, Indians are proud, appre-
ciative and grateful people. The memory
of their kindly acts is a chief treasury
in my life, and | met many missionar-
les who feel very keenly that the king
dom of Christ has been retarded in the
past by failures to touch the Hindoo
spirit with that love whose magic is
potent over sun and star" The Chris
tian messenger does not lose any of his
immediate and permanent influence
over non-Christian lands by freely and
gladly acknowledging the presence of
admirable elements in the theory and
system of the religion which he comes
to Supplant. He loses nothing and
gains much for the propagandism so
dear to his heart, by permitting love
to infuse and surround all his zeal, q
love which recognizes good in persons
and systems, love which finds express
sion in courtesy, kindness. unpreten-
tiousDess and approachablenes of de-
meaIior, and the habit as well as the
temper of brotherliness. Oh, the souls
that have been lost to Christ in India,
as well as in America, by roughness,
violence Of spirit, by pompous con-
descending, and domineering ways to-
ward men of gentler tone and finer
fibre, who sometimes think they dis
cover more of the meek and lowly Jesus
in the mild Buddha of the past or the
humble ascetic of today than in the
red-faced and bullying European Chris
tians, with whom they come in con-
tact.
SCRIPTURES IN THE COLLEGE.
In so enormous work as that UNDER
taken by Christians in India, there is
need of every variety of effort. All hon
or to the evangelists who preach Christ
in the villages, but equal honor belongs
to the representatives of the Young
Mems Christian Association, who are
opening the Scriptures and preaching
Christ in the colleges, and to the
scholarly missionaries who confront the
best Hindoos with an equal or a higher
culture. l do not anticipate the regen-
eration of India as the result of native
reform movements, even Of the highest
spiritual quality. Noble theistic ideas
are not adequate unless they are in ac-
cord with Christian theism, God in
Christ Eclecticism is not life and pow
er Men need in order to integrate all
truths into living oneness, the per-
Sonal Christ the everything son of God
and son of man. l am more convinced
than ever that the message which the
Christian missionary or Christian lee
turer carries to India and the farther
east, must be the distinctively gospel
message 1t must not lack those ele-
ments of positiveness which have al
ways been the chief strength Of Chris
tian testimony 1t must centre in him
the historic Christ, who sums up all
that is most blessed and distinctive in
our faith 1t must build on the intel
iact,1aI and snj1Jtua1 foundations al