Sundar the Man

A WESTERN missionary who has loved India through a long lite may perhaps be pardoned for writing this chapter. Ever since meeting Sundar Singh the question as to the great difference between him and most other Christians, and also the Sadhu’s unusual power of drawing men to Christ, has been uppermost in his mind. Absolute loss of all things and an entire submission to the will of Christ together with a profound enthralling love for his Saviour gives at least a partial answer to the problem.

’ In India as in our Lord’s day “ to the poor the Gospel is preached,” and has found acceptance, and brought to many thousands a better life and a freer heritage. In some cases there is trouble and loss and even persecution, but the cases are few and far between where absolute loss of aJl things is the price of fellowing Christ.

But, as will be seen in a succeeding chapter, the conversion of Sundar to Christ brought with it not only the loss of all things but great persecution and hardship. All he got by becoming a Christian was Christ; and this incomparable gift swamped everything else, so that since that time it has been an ecstasy of delight to him to suffer with and for his Master. When more of India’s sons accept the Saviour in this spirit, the Christian Church in this land will enter into her rightful heritage and become the evangelizing power that shall bring India to her Saviour.

Wherein lies Sundar Singh’s power to draw men to Christ ? Early in life he had an awakened conscience, and for long sought peace in the sacred books with which he was familiar. Failing to find in them what he sought he turned to the New Testament. Imagine his ardent and highly-strung mind intent on the story of Christ as related there! A new Book—not a worn-out creed, nor the story of how Old Testament prophccies had been fulfilled, nor yet a thing he had read from a child and grown accustomed to! There was no staleness in the Gospel story to him. Christ walked this earth again, lived and spoke in every line; and as he read, the marvel of the story grew, until obsessed by the vision he counted all things as dross that he “ might win Christ and be found in Him.” He had no books to explain the New Testament or to cloud its meaning. There were just the New Testament, God and his own sought long and hopelessly for God, and had found here all, and more than he had sought.

The picture of this Hinda boy sitting under a tree out of sight of friend or foe, immersed in the reading of his Urdu Testament’ and sobbing over its contents, is one that brings tears to the eyes, and calls us to pause and ask ourselves, ‘“‘ Have we so learned Christ?” It takes us back to foundation things, and stripped of our learning and knowledge we cry out for that same simple experience—just to mect Christ as he did.

From those days to the present, Sundar Singh has wandered in company with his Lord over the length and breadth of India, with his Urdu New Testament in his hand, and with Christ in his heart, and a look of Christ upon his face.

\

In The Goal of India the Rev. W. E. S. Holland says :

India is the spiritual mother of half mankind. . No book that sets out to unveil for other peoples the heart of India could put anything else but religion in the very forefront. . To the Indian that is all that really matters

: nothing else can ever satisfy his soul. The climax of India’s religious ideal has ever been renunciation. There is something of the magnificent in the sadhu’s measureless contempt for suffering and hardship. . . . Christ will redeem India’s ancient ideal: India needs to see Christ as well as’ hear about Him. . . . India needs the simple Christian, who in a life of gentleness ‘and patience, of lowly love and humble service, will unveil to her the beauty of Christ.

Herein lies one great secret of Sadhu Sundar Singh’s power over men wherever he goes. Taking the old ideal’ of renunciation he has spiritualized it, and men see in him a reflection of the great renunciation of Christ Himself—not seeking suffering for suffering’s own sake, as is the case with Hindu asceticism, but enduring it with cheerful acceptance as being the will of God for him. In the words of Keshab Chandra Sen :—

Behold Christ cometh to us as an Asiatic . . . to fulfil and perfect that religion of communion for which India has been panting—yea, after long centuries shall this communion be perfected in Christ.

Sadhu Sundar Singh in himself reminds men of this great fact, and looking beyond him they “Behold the Man” who “for our sakes became poor.”

Can one wonder that whenever he makes his public appearances large crowds gather to hear him? India must be won for Christ by her own sons, and in Sundar Singh we see a man whose appeal goes straight to the heart of an Indian, be he Christian or otherwise. His appearance, his utter self-abnegation and poverty, his presentation of the Gospel message, even the manner of his conversion combine to make that appeal irresistible

SUNDAR THE MAN ll to the people of India. They understand and believe in such a man. Thus this son of India possesses a key to the hearts of his countrymen no foreigner can ever hope to have, however great his love for India and her people may be.

An Indian gentleman thus speaks of him :—

A tall young man in flowing toga and a short black beard delivering his message with the fire of a prophet and the power of an apostle! As the sweet words flowed from his lips the Sadhu stood before us as a symbol of the spiritual culture of the East set aglow in the resplendent light of the Gospel.

Whilst an American adds :—

The beauty that he daily gazes upon draws the deep souls of India who have not yet beheld it, but have seen it in him. His life is his power, and that life has to be lived to make that pare felt. :

The Young Men of India for July, 1918, publishes the following :—

It is almost an impossible task to present any appreciation: of him (the Sadhu) in words. He is a man who has taken up the life of a sadhu because he believes that God has called him to this method of labour for Him. He utterly disowns the idea that in the life of the sadhu there is any intrinsic and special holiness. . . , His addresses, like his personality, are radiant with a calm, deep and glowing faith in God, and it is impossible to be in his company without realizing that he is one to whom God is a familiar friend. . . . He conveys the message which is the heart of his own life through addresses filled with vivid and often piquant illustrations drawn from his own experience ... and he presses home his points with unforgetable similes and illustrations. It is a fortunate thing for the Indian Church that the first man who has become widely known as a Christian Sadhu should be one of such simple humble faith, and so purely a Christian personality.

The Sadhu is not emotional or fanatical. Every gift he possesses he ascribes to Christ, and to Christ alone. He belongs to no sect and is not a member of any order. In himself he calls Indians back to simplicity, self-sacrifice, and a pure whole-hearted devotion to Christ, that secks only after God and works perpetually for the souls of men. Life to him is only of value so far as it serves these great ends, and standing before men as the embodiment of these ideals his appeal to India is irresistible.