DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.614#0403
360 BENARES, PASO? AND PRESENT,
And, when the -warm feeling and poetic imagination of
the Hindus are directed to our common Christianity;
when their hearts have been vitalized by its influence;
when they have, as a people, risen into the region of
holy thought, and of earnest prayer to their Father
above; then may it be expected that they will make
sudden and rapid progress in civilization, and in what-
ever contributes to a nation's greatness, and will share
with us in the exalted privilege and honour of extend-
ing the kingdom of Christ, and of hastening His uni-
versal reign.
I venture, therefore, to predict a Future for India, of
unparalleled glory and lustre. And why should not
Benares still hold a foremost place in her history ? Why
should not she take the lead of all Indian cities, as she
ever has done, and show, by her own example, and for
their imitation, how she can abolish useless social bur-
thens, can abandon exploded errors, and can accept the
Truth in all its forms; how she can strive after and
attain to the highest and purest happiness, and can bring
herself, with God's help, to hate whatever He hates, and
to love whatever He loves ?
I will sum up these remarks on the religious and
social condition and future prospects of India, by an ex-
tract from an article in an American Quarterly Review,
from the pen of the Eev. Dr. Thomson, a Bishop of the .
Methodist Episcopal Church of the United States, who
lately journeyed in India, on a tour of visitation to the
missions of that body, situated chiefly in Bohilkhand and
Oudh. Speaking of British ascendancy in India, Dr.
Thomson writes:—" What will this power effect ? Judge
And, when the -warm feeling and poetic imagination of
the Hindus are directed to our common Christianity;
when their hearts have been vitalized by its influence;
when they have, as a people, risen into the region of
holy thought, and of earnest prayer to their Father
above; then may it be expected that they will make
sudden and rapid progress in civilization, and in what-
ever contributes to a nation's greatness, and will share
with us in the exalted privilege and honour of extend-
ing the kingdom of Christ, and of hastening His uni-
versal reign.
I venture, therefore, to predict a Future for India, of
unparalleled glory and lustre. And why should not
Benares still hold a foremost place in her history ? Why
should not she take the lead of all Indian cities, as she
ever has done, and show, by her own example, and for
their imitation, how she can abolish useless social bur-
thens, can abandon exploded errors, and can accept the
Truth in all its forms; how she can strive after and
attain to the highest and purest happiness, and can bring
herself, with God's help, to hate whatever He hates, and
to love whatever He loves ?
I will sum up these remarks on the religious and
social condition and future prospects of India, by an ex-
tract from an article in an American Quarterly Review,
from the pen of the Eev. Dr. Thomson, a Bishop of the .
Methodist Episcopal Church of the United States, who
lately journeyed in India, on a tour of visitation to the
missions of that body, situated chiefly in Bohilkhand and
Oudh. Speaking of British ascendancy in India, Dr.
Thomson writes:—" What will this power effect ? Judge