"I WANT to hear the end of your account of what you Christians think
about man and his miseries," said the zamindar, as again he stood on
the railway platform beside his new friend.
"I would rather tell you of the way of escape which God has made for
man out of his miseries," replied the Christian. "I know the way, for I
am in it; I wish you to know it also, for it is open to you."
The two men seated themselves, the one to speak, and the other to
listen.
"God pitied lost man," continued Karim, "yet Divine justice and truth
required that by man punishment should be borne. No mere human being
could help his brother, because every one was himself under the same
condemnation. You, for instance, could not pay a brother's debt,
because you are in the same strait as he."
"I could certainly help no one out of a bog in which I am sinking
myself," sighed Matrá.
"So God sent His own Son into the world to become a man, that He might
suffer as man, and for man," said Karim.
"Stop! You told me that there is but one God, and now you speak of His
Son!" exclaimed Matrá. "Do you Christians worship two Gods?"
"There is but one God," replied Karim with reverence, "and yet we find
from our Scriptures that in this One there are three Persons, the
Father, the Son, and the Spirit, so closely joined that they are One,
and yet each in Himself a distinct object of devotion."
"I do not understand," said Matrá.
"Man cannot understand the deep things of God, but what is revealed we
must believe. A simile makes it more simple to my own mind," continued
Karim, "and it may make it more simple to yours. Is the sun in the sky
one object or two?"
"Certainly there is but one sun," replied Matrá.
"When we speak of the sun, we mean the sun and his beams also, for the
sun and his beams are as one. Yet, seen through a mist, the sun appears
shorn of his beams, and sometimes, on the other hand, we see the rays
when the sun himself is hidden. In one sense, therefore, they are
distinct, while in another they form but one glorious sun."
"It is a mystery," said the zamindar thoughtfully, "but I think that
all religions have mysteries."
"The great God," continued Karim, "sent His Son into the world to
save sinners by the sacrifice of Himself. Christ came as the sunbeams
come down, to enlighten, warm, and bless. As a body was needed for
sacrifice, the Saviour assumed a mortal body. He was born of a pure
virgin. Thus the Lord Jesus Christ was Man that He might suffer, whilst
ever continuing to be God that He might save."
"A deity putting on a mortal form—that is an avatar," said Matrá. "I
did not know that Christians, like Hindus, believe in avatars."
"Your Brahmins," said Karim, "tell you that one of your deities nine
times became incarnate, and that while inhabiting a body—as a fish,
a tortoise, a boar—he performed wonders, or committed crimes. We
Christians believe but in one sinless avatar; that God's Son appeared
as a mortal, that He might conquer Satan, give an example of perfect
holiness, and then die as a sacrifice for sin. The Lord Jesus,
before His avatar, knew perfectly well what His life on earth would
be, and what its terrible close. He knew that He would be despised
and rejected, poor and afflicted, He knew that He would be put to a
death of torture, nailed hands and feet to a cross. His death was the
punishment of sin, but of sin 'not His own;' He stood in our place,
bore the shame of our guilt, and paid our debt with His blood."
"Do you indeed believe this?" exclaimed the astonished Hindu.
"As firmly as I believe in my own existence; so firmly that I would lay
down my life as a witness to its truth, as thousands of Christians have
laid down their lives."
"The Son of God slain as a sacrifice for sin! It sounds so strange, so
wonderful!" cried Matrá.
"It is love passing knowledge," said Karim. "Love in the Father to
send His Son; love in the Son to be willing to die for man. The idea
of sacrifice is no new thing to Hindus. Do not your books tell of the
wondrous merit of the sacrifice of a thousand horses? But what is the
value of the blood of a crore of horses, weighed against one drop of
the blood of an Incarnate God!"
"And what do you think that you gain by this great sacrifice?" inquired
Matrá.
"Everything!" exclaimed the Christian with animation, his whole face
radiant with joy. "First, there is the debt of sin wiped out as if it
had never been, full and free forgiveness. Then there is peace with
God—adoption into His family, and an inheritance of endless glory
and joy in the kingdom of heaven. No mere absorption, no loss of
individuality, which is the highest hope of the Hindu, but conscious
happiness, unutterable bliss in the society of blessed saints and
angels dwelling together in perfect love in the presence of the
Heavenly Father of all."