The Washington herald., 1909-01-30
YOUNG PEOPLES TOPICS.

India Is coming into the worlds eye.
The cables are carrying a steadily In
creasing number OF news dispatches from
that troubled land. Sedition. assassina-
ton. unrest, revolt, and reform are max
ing news rapidly. The missionary mes
sages from this country Of great endeavor|
are now tinged with an up-to-date Pc
Htical and social interest He who does
not know anything later about India than
the time Of Carey. or even Of the time Of
the mutiny, needs enlightenment.
Everything that India IS to-day asking
the United States and Canada to-day
have, thanks 20 a Christian heritage
After little mere than q hundred years
there are now more than a thousand or
dained male Protestant missionaries IN
India and a native church with a member
ship Of more than million. The ratio Of
Christian increase, moreover, is four times
as rapid as that Of the population at
large.
Some Of the heroes OF missions IN India
are Christians who never left their home
land. but whose interest and devotion
has borne unreckoned fruit in the that
distant country
one day I visited the leper station at
Anahabad with the missionary. 8Ir. sam
uei Higginb0tbam. who has It in charge.
This is not the place 10 record the sights
OF that memorable day. We stayed out
OF doors until past noon and the tempera-
ture was 80 degrees In consequence 7
became seriously I'll. But the only tine
Mr HigginbOtham gets for his leper asy-
lUm work s these between hours when
he should be resting IN the shelter Of bis
home Ny own little experience. hazard
Gus as il was, taught ne the price that
some missionaries are paying for the
service they are doing, and I am inclined
% include many OF these undistinguished
missionaries Of the present day in the role
Of heroes
The tremendous Increase Of converts IN
some parts OF India, and especially in the
Methodist Episcopal fields. has laid 81
gantc burdens-greater. in a way. than
Carey ever knew-upon the shoulders OF
leading missionaries. such as Bishop
Warne. be OF the statesman-like vision
and child-like heart.
India has throughout her history been
I the scene Of religious conflict. One faith
has succeeded another. Only to-day the
newspaper reported armed fighting be
tween AEohammedans and Hindus in Ben
gal Buddhism has been crowded out into
the fTinges Of the country. making its last
stand IN Ceyl0n. Now the greatest strug-
gle Of all. the final one, is on, with Chris
tianitv arrayed against all non-Christlan
faiths. The progress of the battle is in
I creasingiy dramatic: the issue wlii mean
not only the redemption from ignorance
superstition. and misery o. one-ffth Of
the human race. hut it VIII also mark
/ the conquest Of the greatest stronghold
/ Of heathendom.
The people Of India. Ike those Of Athens.
are too religious" as Paul said. The
whole life Of the nation IS inpregnated
with the religious idea, with the religious
practices and religious beliefs, 70 a degree
nowhere else to be paralleled. Yet q low
er Level Of Immortality and degrada-son IS
reached in connection with the religious
rites Of India than have been abe 10
discover anywhere else IN the world.
Multform Hinduism. with its million
deities and its blight OF caste. is the prin-