DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.636#0524
514 Modern Theism. Rammohun Roys successors.
home, of the Queen Mother at the head of the Government, will raise the
head of my Indian children to their Supreme Mother. I will give them
peace and salvation. Soldiers, fight bravely and establish my dominion.'
This idea of God's Motherhood as a correlative to God's
Fatherhood is, as I have already pointed out, an essential
characteristic of Hinduism (see chapter VII, p. 181).
Mr. Sen's lecture delivered on the 24th January, 1880,
called ' God-vision,' is too full of rhapsody mixed up with
many fine thoughts; but that delivered in the Town Hall,
Calcutta, on the 9th of April, 1879, before at least a thousand
persons, on the subject, 'India asks, Who is Christ?' was
pronounced by those who heard it to be a masterpiece of
oratory1. He not only entranced his hearers by an extra-
ordinary effort of eloquence; he surprised them by calling
upon India to accept Christ. According to Mr. Sen,
Christianity is the true national religion of his fellow-country-
men. India is destined to become Christian, and cannot
escape her destiny. ' You, my countrymen,' he says, ' cannot
help accepting Christ in the spirit of your national scriptures.'
In another part of the lecture we find him using these
remarkable words:—
' Gentlemen, you cannot deny that your hearts have been touched,
conquered, and subjugated by a superior power. That power, need I
tell you ? is Christ. It is Christ who rules British India, and not the
British Government. England has sent out a tremendous moral force
in the life and character of that mighty prophet to conquer and hold
this vast empire. None but Jesus, none but Jesus, none but Jesus,
ever deserved this bright, this precious diadem, India, and Jesus shall
have it.'
It is evident, however, that Mr. Sen intends Christ to be
accepted by his fellow-countrymen as the greatest of all
Asiatic saints and not in the character ascribed to Him by
the Church of England. ' Christ comes to us,' he says, ' as
1 The Rev. Luke Rivington is my authority. He was present with
the Bishop of Calcutta and a few other Europeans. Indeed the lecture
was due to a previous conversation with Mr. Rivington at a dinner-party
given by Mr. Sen to him and a large number of thoughtful natives.
home, of the Queen Mother at the head of the Government, will raise the
head of my Indian children to their Supreme Mother. I will give them
peace and salvation. Soldiers, fight bravely and establish my dominion.'
This idea of God's Motherhood as a correlative to God's
Fatherhood is, as I have already pointed out, an essential
characteristic of Hinduism (see chapter VII, p. 181).
Mr. Sen's lecture delivered on the 24th January, 1880,
called ' God-vision,' is too full of rhapsody mixed up with
many fine thoughts; but that delivered in the Town Hall,
Calcutta, on the 9th of April, 1879, before at least a thousand
persons, on the subject, 'India asks, Who is Christ?' was
pronounced by those who heard it to be a masterpiece of
oratory1. He not only entranced his hearers by an extra-
ordinary effort of eloquence; he surprised them by calling
upon India to accept Christ. According to Mr. Sen,
Christianity is the true national religion of his fellow-country-
men. India is destined to become Christian, and cannot
escape her destiny. ' You, my countrymen,' he says, ' cannot
help accepting Christ in the spirit of your national scriptures.'
In another part of the lecture we find him using these
remarkable words:—
' Gentlemen, you cannot deny that your hearts have been touched,
conquered, and subjugated by a superior power. That power, need I
tell you ? is Christ. It is Christ who rules British India, and not the
British Government. England has sent out a tremendous moral force
in the life and character of that mighty prophet to conquer and hold
this vast empire. None but Jesus, none but Jesus, none but Jesus,
ever deserved this bright, this precious diadem, India, and Jesus shall
have it.'
It is evident, however, that Mr. Sen intends Christ to be
accepted by his fellow-countrymen as the greatest of all
Asiatic saints and not in the character ascribed to Him by
the Church of England. ' Christ comes to us,' he says, ' as
1 The Rev. Luke Rivington is my authority. He was present with
the Bishop of Calcutta and a few other Europeans. Indeed the lecture
was due to a previous conversation with Mr. Rivington at a dinner-party
given by Mr. Sen to him and a large number of thoughtful natives.