Had  they  been  obliged  in  despair  to  abandon
the  enterprise  of  converting  that  nation  to
Christ,  it  would  have  been  a  result  not  to  be
wondered  at.  Instead  of  this,  what  do  we
find, — a   native    church    already   numbering


A  ttititde  of  Chrisliaftiiy.  3 1 3

upwards  of  two  hundred  thousand,  only  one
to  a  thousand  Hindus  mdeed,  but  doubling
itself  in  fifteen  years, — a  rate  of  progress
which,  if  continued,  would  make  India
Christian  within  two  centuries, — less  time
than  it  took  to  make  it  Buddhist ; — and  that
church  is  showing  a  vitality  which  proves
that  it  will  continue  to  exist  even  if  it  be  cut
off  from  the  support  of  Christian  nations ;
that  it  will  be  triumphant  if  these  do  their
duty  by  it.  If  ever  there  was  a  time  when
the  churches  of  Great  Britain  were  en-
couraged by  past  experience  and  present
prospects  to  strain  every  nerve  to  win
India  for  Christ,  the  present  is  that  time.
Difficulties  and  hindrances,  though  still
great  and  many,  are  surely  disappearing.
Those  principles  of  human  nature  wdiich
Hinduism  has  ignored  are  surely  asserting
their  sway  to  its  overthrow,  and  the  past
religious  history  of  India  points  to  Christ  as
its  only  jDossible  completion.
These    principles    are    consciousness    and  Hinduism

-»■  ^  opposed  to

conscience.     The  former  bears  witness  to  our  Jj^tur^
own  personality,  the  latter  to  the  paramount


314  Hindicism  and  Christianity.
