NATIVE CHRISTIANS.
Native Christians form so large and varied a community that right views
of them can be obtained only by those who consider its component parts.
In Southern India there are thousands calling themselves Syrian
Christians, still more frequently Christians of St. Thomas. Either the
Apostle Thomas or some of his spiritual children went to India, and
founded a Christian Church. Down through the ages the descendants of
these first converts have clung to the profession of Christianity, and
have kept up their connexion with their fellow Christians in Western
Asia. They have the peculiarities of hereditary Christians exposed to a
corrupting moral atmosphere, and possessing limited means of spiritual
improvement. We are told that they have made great progress through
their intercourse with European missionaries.
In Southern India and Ceylon there is a large body of native Christians,
the descendants of the many baptized by Xavier and his companions. Every
one who has read the life of Xavier knows how widely he opened the door
of the Church; with what facility, to use his own favourite expression,
he "made Christians." Many speedily relapsed into heathenism, but a
sufficient number remained steadfast to form a large community, and
their descendants are reckoned by tens, rather hundreds, of thousands.
There is not--at least there was not a short time ago--any reliable
census of their number. Protestant opinion of these native Christians is
very unfavourable. It may be prejudiced, and yet it has been expressed
by persons who have come into contact with them, who know them well, and
who would shrink from doing injustice. Many facts have been stated in
support of an unfavourable estimate. The Abbé Dubois condemned them as a
scandal to the Christian name, and other Romanists have joined him in
confirming the testimony of Protestants.
In Travancore and Tinnevelly, in the far south, there are large native
churches, in connexion with the Propagation, Church, and London
Missionary Societies, composed of Shanars, a people outside the Hindu
pale and greatly despised by them, with a sprinkling of caste people.
When whole villages come over to the profession of Christianity, we
generally find a few who may be regarded as true believers in the Lord
Jesus Christ, with limited knowledge but genuine faith, while the many,
though favourably impressed, simply assent to the action of their
friends and neighbours, and are little changed except in name. They are
on the way to a happy change by having come under new and elevating
influences.
All over Southern India there are native Christian churches, the work of
conversion having proceeded in some cases gradually, individual by
individual, while in other cases numbers have been admitted at the same
time.
[Sidenote: THE CONVERSION OF NON-ARYAN TRIBES.]
Among the non-Aryan tribes, the Kols and the Santhals, occupying the
hills and forests of Central and Eastern India, a great work has been
done during the last thirty years. Thousands have been brought into the
fold of the Christian Church. In habits, character, and condition, these
tribes bear a considerable resemblance to our rude Teutonic ancestors,
and they have been brought to the profession of Christianity in a
somewhat similar manner; with this difference, that they have not been
headed by chiefs in the reception of baptism, and in many cases
commanding it. The first converts were the direct fruit of mission
labour; their number increased, inspired by zeal they told their
countrymen the treasure they had found, and called on them to share it
with them. Many listened to their words and accepted their message. The
work thus spread from village to village, and from hamlet to hamlet,
till it extended to parts of the country never visited by a missionary,
and included many who had never seen a missionary's face, in some cases
who had never seen a white face. A very dear friend and enterprising
missionary, the late Rev. William Jones of Singrowlee, made his way
through a wild roadless country to the border of the Kol region, and
came to a hamlet where the people were startled by the appearance of a
European, as they had never been visited by one before. Though from
difference in language their intercourse was limited, they understood
each other sufficiently to discover, to their mutual delight, that they
had a common faith. The general character of a community formed of a
rude people, emerging from fetish and demon worship, can be readily
supposed. I suspect the converts made by the monk Augustine and his
companions had not a little in their character and conduct to show the
pit from which they had been taken; and yet that was the dawning of a
day for the Anglian and Saxon race in our country for which we have
abundant reason to be thankful. There is no doubt much imperfection in
Kol and Santhal converts, but we may well anticipate for them a far less
clouded day than that which dawned on our forefathers when Augustine
went to them.
In Bengal there are two large native Christian communities, one in
Krishnagurh in connexion with the Church Missionary Society, and the
other in Backergunje connected with the Baptists. In both cases the
conversion of individuals has led to numbers avowing themselves the
followers of Christ. Where conversion is thus what may be called
collective rather than individual, there may be in some a high degree of
spiritual life, but the majority simply go with the stream. It will be
observed that in the statistics of some missions so many are represented
as baptized, so many members of the church, so many adherents, the last
class often outnumbering the other two. These adherents openly declare
their abandonment of idolatry, attend public worship with more or less
regularity, call themselves Christians, and are called Christians by
others. They may be described as in the outer court of the temple, from
which not a few from time to time enter the inner.
In the great Presidency cities, Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras, and their
immediate neighbourhood, the native churches connected with Protestant
Missions are comparatively small. The members of these churches differ
more widely in social position, mental culture, and I think I may add
spiritual character, than any other native churches in India. Some of
the members are highly educated, have acute and disciplined minds, and
have an intimate acquaintance with our language and literature.
Individuals among them have made sacrifices by becoming the followers
of Christ, of which the only adequate explanation is that they have come
under the power of an all-controlling faith, of the faith which gives
the victory over self, the world, and the devil. Persons more
established in the faith of Christ than some of these are, more
thoroughly assured that He is the Son of God and the Saviour of the
world, I have never met. In these churches there are degrees of culture
and social standing, till we come to unlettered persons in the humblest
rank of life, some of whom are, I doubt not, as genuine Christians and
as devoted to the Saviour as their brethren of higher social standing
and larger mental attainment.
[Sidenote: THE NATIVE CHRISTIANS OF NORTHERN INDIA.]
I now proceed to speak of the native Christians of Northern India, with
whom for many years I have been closely associated, and of whom I can
speak with a measure of confidence.
In the North-Western Provinces, as in other parts of India, we have
different classes that go under the name of native Christians. Most
drummers of native regiments have been Christians, in the sense that
they have been baptized persons. Many are descendants of Portuguese, who
have gradually become mixed with the lower classes of natives, and
cannot, except by dress, be distinguished from them, their hue being
often darker than that of the people. These Portuguese descendants are
numerous all over India, in the South very numerous, and hold very
different positions in society, but those I have known in the North have
been mainly of the drummer class. To these have been added a
considerable number of natives, the waifs of native society, who have
attached themselves to European regiments as camp-followers, not a few
of whom have so separated themselves from their own people that they
have found it convenient to profess the Christian faith. I have known
individuals of this class who bore a good character, and were regular in
their attendance on public worship. We had a number of them in our
native Christian congregation at Benares, and we had for years a weekly
meeting in their quarters. I cannot, however, speak highly of them as a
class, either as to intelligence or goodness. Not a few went to a place
of Christian worship only on Christmas Day, or on the occasion of a
marriage or baptism, and their general conduct was no honour to the
Christian name. Yet these people are proud of being ranked as
Christians. We had a striking illustration of this at Benares. A person
died, the son of an English colonel by a Muhammadan wife. I knew the man
well. He often called on me, and was eager for discussion. He
continually avowed himself a follower of Muhammad. He was never seen in
a place of Christian worship, and was often seen in the mosque. When he
died, the relatives of his mother made arrangements for the funeral; but
the drummers and Christian camp-followers gathered in numbers, went to
the magistrate, and claimed the body on the ground that the man had been
baptized in infancy. As the result of inquiry it was found that at the
father's instance he had been baptized, and on this account the body was
made over to the Christians, who carried it to the grave in triumph, as
if they had achieved a great victory for their faith, the chaplain of
the station reading the funeral service. The native Christians connected
with the different missions in Benares for the most part kept aloof.
I have already spoken of orphans and their descendants, and need say
nothing more about their character. They form a considerable portion of
the native Christian community in the North-West.
[Sidenote: UNWORTHY ADHERENTS.]
All our missions have had accessions from both Hindus and Muhammadans,
but chiefly from Hindus. I heartily wish I could say all have joined us
from right motives. This I cannot say. It is undeniable that persons
have joined us from unworthy motives, some because they have broken with
their brethren, others who are pressed by want in hope of support, and
others again in anticipation of a life of less toil if they can get
under the wing of a missionary. There have even been individuals who
have made it a trade to be baptized, who have told most plausible
stories, have hung on missionaries for a time, and have then set out in
quest of new pasture. They remind us of the wild Saxons, who submitted
to baptism again and again that they might obtain the white dress given
on each occasion to the baptized. Some missionaries have been far more
ready than others to administer baptism, but as a rule they have
examined candidates closely, have made all possible inquiry, and have
baptized them only on obtaining what appeared satisfactory evidence of
sincerity. Some who proved most unworthy manifested the greatest
apparent earnestness, possessed a considerable degree of knowledge, and
were hailed by us as a valuable accession. I narrowly escaped baptizing
a man who turned out the leader of a band of thieves. He came to me
professing an ardent desire for baptism, paid frequent visits, made
marked progress in knowledge, and was well spoken of by persons who said
they knew him; but circumstances occurred to bring suspicion over him,
and he suddenly disappeared. Long afterwards we found out that he was a
leader of an infamous following.
To give one of many illustrations of the way in which persons try to
connect themselves with us, I may mention that one day a well-dressed
native, mounted on a good horse, rode up to my door. On coming to my
room he told me he had come to be baptized, as he was convinced Christ
was the Saviour of the world. He was urgent for immediate baptism. Life
was uncertain, he might die at any hour, and how could he know he was
safe if he did not come under the wing of Christ? I told him if he
believed in the Lord Jesus Christ it would be well with him, whether
baptized or not, and that I could not baptize him till I should make
inquiry and know more about him. It occurred to me that he had a motive
for such urgency which I could not discover. I sent for one of the most
judicious of our native Christians, and begged him to find out what the
object of the man was. He took him away, and soon returned to tell me he
had got it all out--that the man had had a violent quarrel with his
relatives, and had vowed to bring disgrace on the family by becoming a
_Kristan_--a Christian. I recalled the man, and told him he must come to
me from another motive and in another temper, if I were to baptize him.
He rode away, and I never saw him afterwards.
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