Those engaged in Christian work in India, who are brought into close contact with all classes of the people, know that there is a very considerable number of non-Christians who secretly believe in Him as their Saviour. This condition is also found to a greater or less extent in other countries as well. Besides these, there are many others who do not accept Him as a Saviour, but who are nevertheless more deeply influenced by Him than they are by the doctrine of their own religions or of their spiritual teachers. I know of quite a number of non-Christian leaders in India who are much influenced by the spirit of Christ but do not realise how greatly He has conquered them.
His Influence on Opponents
It is truly remarkable that the influence of Christ is seen even in the lives of many who are zealous adherents of their own faiths and who take up a position of antagonism to Christianity. So much is this the case that they commonly examine their own religions, and seek to reform them in the light of Christ’s teaching. They even copy many methods of Christians. In presenting modern interpretations of their religions they not infrequently take their old doctrinal terms and pour into them a new content that comes directly or indirectly from Christianity. So far have they gone in this direction that they often present their own doctrines clothed in Christian phraseology, and, as a result, many Christians, and some Western scholars as well, have been deceived and imagine that there is no great difference between Christianity and other great religions of the world.
In this chapter I wish to tell about those who, not having dissociated themselves from their non-Christian environment, still seek to follow Christ in their lives.
“Forbid Him Not”
Narrow-minded Christians often do not consider those to be Christians who believe in Christ, if they have never publicly identified themselves with Christian communities. I do not agree that they are right in not coming out openly, yet I have never been able to feel that they are not Christians. Among them are some whose service for Christ is far greater than that of many Christian workers. Especially is this so in places where it is difficult for Christian workers to go. I have no right to publish the names of any of this class, but I can tell about their faith and their works. Their position is perhaps similar to those to whom John directed the attention of the Lord, “We saw one casting out devils in Thy Name; and we forbade him because he followed not with us. But Jesus said unto them, ‘Forbid him not: for he that is not against you is for you’” (Luke ix. 49-50). There are many Christians among us who would say of such unrecognised workers that they should be forbidden, because they are not members of the constituted Church. But when the Lord has not forbidden them, what right have we to forbid them?
Secret or Public Service
Several times I have met groups of people who, though secret disciples, are yet organised and work for the Lord according to their ability and light.
One day I asked one of them: “Why do you not confess the Lord openly before men?” (Matt. x. 32; Mark xvi. 15-16.) He replied: “There are in our society thousands of men and women who belong to different walks of life. They all believe in Christ as their Saviour, and are baptised in His name, and enjoy His worship and service. Though the society is fully organised, our work is done in secret. Are not all these thousands human beings before whom we make our confession? Now about work. There are diverse ways of doing work. When so many work openly, there must be others of whom the need demands that they work in secret. In our bodies we have inner and outer organs. They all are parts of one body, and are directed by one mind, though the work which they have to do differs greatly. It is just the same in the Body of Christ, which we call the Church. Besides this, Christians are like salt and leaven, which slowly and silently salt, or leaven, other things. Christ has also called us to be fishers of men. You know that when the fisherman casts his hand-net he does it without noise, otherwise the fish would all disappear. At the present moment there are in our society hundreds of fish, big and little, who formerly had run away from Christ when they saw the noisy fishermen. But now He has them safe in His keeping, and none shall snatch them out of His hand; and these, too, in this silent way are trying to bring others to the Saviour. Now, tell me whether this life is according to Christ’s will or not?”
Real Christian Life
There is no doubt that real Christian life, whether open or secret, will always be fruitful, and wherever it is it will have an influence on others for good, and searchers after truth, seeing the reality of lives such as these, will always be drawn to the Source of Life.
Take this instance. Once two preachers went out to the Bazaar to preach. The first was quite clever and eloquent. He began to preach, but after a few minutes a Hindu began to bombard him with questions and he had to stop to answer them, which he did to his own but not to the questioner’s satisfaction. At last, as he was making no headway, he turned to his companion and said: “Now this brother will answer you.” This second preacher was neither a good speaker nor a skilled debater, but he was a sincere Christian and a man of prayer. As soon as he came forward the Hindu at once, with joined hands, bowed to him and, salaaming to him, said to the first preacher: “I have no question to ask him, for I know his life, and I have seen the Living Christ in his life, and have found the way of salvation through him. But my argument is with you, for with your mouth you present the Living Christ, but in your daily life you deny Him. It would be far better if such a mouth were closed for ever, because you have kept me and others away from Christ. I wish I had met your companion years ago, then I would not have been kept away from my Lord for so long a time. Well, ‘Der Āid, darust āid’ (who comes slowly comes rightly). In this, also, there must be some good purpose. May God forgive you.” On hearing this the eloquent preacher went off home with head bowed in shame, and the new convert went with the man of God and dedicated his life to God’s service.
Seeking and Finding
It is a matter of common experience that he who seeks finds, and he who finds seeks still further. As Pascal said: “Thou wouldst not have been seeking for me if thou hadst not already found me.” If a man has had no experience of God’s presence, he will not be particular whether he tries to find Him or not. God indeed gives the sense of His presence to all, but it depends on themselves whether they further seek Him or not. God is within reach of us all, but to lay hold of Him it is necessary that our hearts should be attuned to Him. For us to hear the message of wireless, which in the form of song, music, or address is present in the atmosphere, it is necessary to have a receiving set which is perfectly attuned to the message. For if it were not so tuned, the existence or non-existence of the message would be one and the same thing for us.
A Seeker After Truth
A seeker after truth related to me his experience: “In my old religion I had a kind of consolation, but I had no peace. This consolation stirred up in me a desire to seek real peace, and, while I sought it, in a wonderful way it gradually led me on to find the source of Peace. When I had arrived at this position I realised that this impulse and this satisfaction of heart had both come from the Living Christ, in whom all my restless strivings have now found rest.”
I can illustrate my own state, and that of other seekers after truth, who at first did not know Christ, by relating the following story: A few years ago, during a famine, a man in a respectable position found himself without money and at the point of starvation. Through pride or shame he would neither tell anyone of his helpless condition nor beg for help. He could only cry to God. His prayer was soon answered, for a merchant, recently returned from a foreign country, heard of his difficulties and secretly sent provisions to his house at night. Overjoyed at this answer to his prayer, he knelt and poured out his soul in praise to God. Not long after this the famine ended, and the merchant visited him and offered such advances of money as he needed. When his benefactor’s intention dawned on him, in sincere gratitude he fell before him and kissed his feet, and it was only then that he learned that his benefactor was his own elder brother who, he had long believed, had died in a foreign land.
A Pundit
One day I went to preach to the pilgrims at a town on the river Ganges. Just as I took my stand a pundit came and sat by me and asked: “Have you also come here to bathe like other pilgrims?” I said, “No, I have already bathed by faith in the blood of Christ, and by His grace have been saved, and have no need for ceremonial bathing in the Ganges. I have come here to tell these pilgrims about the Saviour.” When the pundit heard this he was amazed, but my own amazement was no less when, with beaming face, he said: “That is splendid, Swami; I too have come for the same purpose,” and with great love he embraced me. On seeing this several of the pilgrims joined us, that they might hear the conversation of the pundit and the Sadhu. We both preached the Gospel to them, and they listened attentively.
Then one of the pilgrims asked: “By Christ, do you mean Krishna, or some other incarnation?” Then the pundit repeated a few Sanscrit verses, and said: “We are preaching not about Krishna, but about Christ, the sinless ‘Incarnation’ promised in the Shastras, for Krishna did not come to save sinners, but to destroy them (Gita iv. 8); but Christ came to save sinners” (Matt. ix. 13; Luke ix. 56 A. V.).
When we had finished preaching the pundit took me to his house and introduced me to his wife and two sons, who were as zealous and earnest Christians as the pundit himself. After we had eaten, we talked for several hours, and he told me that for many years he had been working for the Lord in this way, and that many had believed through his preaching. He was not known to the missionaries and Christians of that place, though the seed that they cast upon the ground was beginning to spring up and grow, they knew not how (Mark iv. 26-29).
I asked him to tell me how he had become a Christian, and he told me his story: “I had often heard about Christ, but owing to my prejudices I used to keep as far away from missionaries and Christians and their Christ as I could. But it once happened that at the Kumbh Mela, at Allahabad, I met two learned men belonging to the Secret Society of Christians. They were Sanscrit scholars, and at first I thought them to be Hindus, but little by little they proved with great clearness that Christ alone is the Saviour. In a few days all my abhorrence and misunderstanding of Christianity disappeared. Then these two Sannyasis, or Sadhus, baptised me in the Jumna River in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. From that day I have spent my time and strength in my Saviour’s service. Had I never met those two Sannyasis it is possible that I should never have become a Christian.”
Law and Salvation
“These two Sadhus,” continued the pundit, “gave me a satisfying explanation of some of my difficulties. For example, they said that as in some other religions the Law is taught, so in the Hindu religion as well, there is the law of Karma (Works and Retribution). The Law makes no one good. It only distinguishes between good and bad, or between what we ought and what we ought not to do. No one ever has fulfilled or ever can fulfil the law, so all are without hope of salvation. It matters not whether the law was given through Moses, or through Rishis (Sages). Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (John i. 17). The law makes no one righteous, but emphasises the need of righteousness, and this need is met in Christ. By Himself becoming man He fulfilled the law for man (Rom. v. 19) and, by giving His own life, He imparted life to those who are dead in sin, and then over all this completed work of salvation He proclaimed, ‘It is finished.’
“Now,” added the pundit, “I and my family believe in Christ, not merely because someone has removed our difficulties, but because we have come to know through personal experience that Christ is indeed our Saviour, and the Saviour of the world” (John iv. 42).
An Egyptian Muslim
I recollect a similar testimony being given to me, when I was in Cairo, by a man who outwardly appeared to be a Mohammedan, but was a Christian at heart. He said: “I had been taught from childhood according to the Law and Commandments of God and, though I really wanted to live up to the Law, I found that I failed so often that at last I became hopeless. I knew that God was the Merciful and the Compassionate, but I got no peace. I saw clearly, whenever I thought of my sinful state, that God and heaven are holy and that, even if my sins were forgiven, I could never enter the presence of the Holy God so long as my sinful nature remained unchanged and unpurified. For years I studied the Quran, Hadis, and other holy books, that I might find how to get rid of the old nature and how to obtain salvation and new life, but all my efforts were in vain. But I thank the God of Love that, even before I had begun to search for Him, He was already seeking for me. Even when I had found Him, and He had found me, I did not fully know Him till I was born again. Now I know Him whose likeness is in me and who, since the foundation of the world, has been mine and I His. My heart is now full of peace, for I have found the real Islam, which is Jesus Christ, who was crucified and now lives for ever. Now I am spending the rest of my life in His service.”
He then went on to criticise the low state of spiritual life in the Church, and added: “It would be better for me to drown myself in the Nile rather than that I should be baptised as a member of the Church, because the life of its members is often little better than that of the members of my old religion. What good would it be if I got out of the thorns to fall into the thistles, or out of the swamp to fall into the mud? It seems better that I should keep apart from them all and remain in touch with my Lord, that, whenever and however I can, I may bear witness to Him. I fully believe that He will accept my work for Him.”
This man was well acquainted with both Eastern and Western Christians and knew their moral, spiritual, and social life. He had never joined the Church though he had accepted Christ, for he found the Church to be lacking in sympathy, love, and Christian fellowship. This state of things is a challenge to Christians to awake and realise their responsibility, for this man by no means stands alone. There are many like him who, repelled by the cold formalism of Church life, prefer to remain apart from it; and the Living Christ Himself will declare to the Christians-without-Christ, “I never knew you” (Matt. vii. 23).
Two Brothers
Another man whom I met several times had, after many years of search, found Christ as his Saviour. He too remained outside the visible Church, but carried on work in his own way, and there can be no doubt that the Lord had blessed his work. One day, in the presence of another man, he gave me a very interesting account of his work. “When I accepted Christ as my Saviour and He received me, I first of all tried to get my own relations to know Him. As Andrew first went to his own brother Peter (John i. 41), I first spoke to my brother and said: ‘I have found Jesus of Nazareth. He has given me salvation from sin and that real peace that I have sought for years.’
“As soon as he heard this he flew into a great rage, and said: ‘Curse you and your peace! You want to leave the Hindu religion and join these Christians whose religion is all humbug. You will bring disgrace on your name and on your family. It would be better if you would go and drown yourself in the well. I pray that Iswar (God) may bring you back to the right way, or that He will smite you with blindness, that you may know the truth, and not leave your religion.’ I said to him, ‘Don’t be angry, but examine these things seriously for yourself, then you will be able to see which religion is false and which is true. You have prayed to your God that I may become blind, but I pray to my God, who is Love, that He will open your eyes so that you may see Him and know Him.’
“When he heard this he calmed down and became quiet. For many days we continued our talks together, and after some time he said to me, ‘Well, there will be no great harm in it if you continue to believe in Christ, and stay as you are doing among us, provided you do not move from here to that poultry-yard of a Mission compound.’ I replied: ‘I have no desire to live at the Mission, for I have not become a Christian out of consideration for any padre or preacher, but for Christ Himself, who is always with me’ (Matt. xxviii. 20). After that he began to read the Bible with me daily, and the Spirit of God began to work in him. God heard my prayer and opened the eyes of my brother who had prayed that I might become blind. Now, not only physical but by spiritual relationship as well, he is a real brother to me”; and turning to the man at his side, he said: “This is that brother.” Then he also, with grateful tears, began to tell of his Christian experience and we three knelt together and in turn prayed for each other. Then with salaams we parted.
A Sikh Sardar
One day I went to preach in a village where the people were chiefly Sikhs. When they knew that I was a Sikh convert they bitterly opposed my preaching and began pelting me with pieces of brick. A man was sitting there listening attentively. He at once got up and told the people to stop, and saved me from their attack. Later on, I learned that he was a respectable and influential landowner. When the people began to disperse he took me with him to his house and entertained me hospitably. After I had rested, he took me aside and without reserve opened his heart to me, and said: “A few years ago I went to see a fair. There was a man there selling religious books and I stopped to look at a Gospel. Some bigoted Arya Samajists standing by warned me and others never to buy these books, but a Sadhu who was passing, said: ‘No, no, do not fear, and do not be narrow-minded. No one’s life has ever been affected for evil by reading them, but many lives have been changed. I, too, am in the habit of reading this book. If Hinduism, Buddhism, Mohammedanism or any other religion is so weak and unconvincing that it can be defeated by merely reading this book, then it is not worth believing. It is better that we should follow a religion like this, which can overcome all others, and which, by freeing its followers from sin, makes them strong and victorious.’
“At once,” continued the Sikh, “a controversy began between the Arya Samajist and the Sadhu, and, acting on the Sadhu’s advice, I bought a Gospel and came away. I regret that I never met that Sadhu again. When I came home I began to study the Gospel daily and its effect has been such that it has changed my life altogether. Now I realise that Christ alone is my Saviour, and the Saviour of the whole world, and I daily repeat the prayer which He taught His disciples. Now I have in my heart that perfect peace which I never had before. I thank Him for it from the depth of my heart, and whenever I get a chance I too tell the life-giving teaching of the Lord. So far I know the baptism of the Spirit, but not that of water. Can you baptise me?—because, in my old age and weakness, I cannot leave my home and go and live among those foreigners who, being Indians, are yet not Indians. They have become European in all their ways, and are not one whit better morally and spiritually than my people here, but are indeed, in some ways, much worse. Besides this, I do not think that it is the Lord’s will that I should move from here and go to live with them. Some of them are, no doubt, true Christians, but the majority of them are in no way better than non-Christians. It seems to me better to live on here and do what I can for the Lord according to my ability.” And with tears in his eyes he added: “I have perfect assurance that if He were to come today, or if I were called at once into His presence, He would in no wise cast me out” (John vi. 37).
As he sat there wiping his eyes, I began to recount to him my own experiences and persecutions, and to tell how God had wonderfully preserved me. I stayed with him for a few days and he helped me in every way in my preaching. As I myself do not baptise, I advised him to send for some padre; and to be like the man from whom the Lord cast out the legion of evil spirits, and whom He sent back to witness in his own house and among his friends what great things the Lord had done for him (Mark v. 19).
In my opinion, it would have been better if, instead of separating new converts from their friends and relatives, they had been allowed to stay on in their old homes, and there to give their witness. Then they would have been stronger through the struggle and persecution which they would have had to face. Without doubt they would have had to face many dangers and temptations and difficulties; but this also should be remembered—that in their new environment, freed from the social restraints of their brotherhood, they have to meet equally great dangers and difficulties. Judging by my own experience, I would say that the difficulties are just as great, though they differ in kind, from those in the old home.
In this chapter I have attempted to show that the quickening work of the Living Christ is not confined to our organised churches, but is going on among non-Christians far in excess of what is commonly known, or of any estimate we can make. And it is undoubtedly true that people from all races of the world will continue to enter into the Kingdom of God, while thousands of the sons of the Kingdom—the members of the visible Church—will be cast into outer darkness (Matt. viii. 11-12).
తెలుగులో సారాంశం
సంఘంలో అధికారికంగా చేరకపోయినా, క్రీస్తు పని వారి జీవితాల్లో కనిపిస్తున్న వ్యక్తులను సుందర్ సింగ్ ఈ అధ్యాయంలో పరిచయం చేస్తారు. క్రైస్తవ్యాన్ని వ్యతిరేకించేవారి మీద కూడా క్రీస్తు ప్రభావం ఉందని చెబుతూ, రహస్యంగా క్రీస్తును విశ్వసించి సేవ చేసే ఒక సంఘం గురించి వివరిస్తారు. బజారులో వాదనలో ఓడిన వాక్చాతుర్యం గల ప్రసంగీకుడు, ప్రార్థనాపరుడైన సాధారణ విశ్వాసి కథ; గంగానది తీరంలో కలిసిన ఒక పండితుడు, ఆయన కుటుంబం; కైరోలో కలిసిన ఒక ఈజిప్టు ముస్లిం; సోదరుని ప్రార్థన ద్వారా మారిన మరో సోదరుడు; సువార్త చదివి జీవితం మారిన ఒక సిక్కు భూస్వామి — వీరి సాక్ష్యాలను ఆయన పంచుకుంటారు. జీవించే క్రీస్తు కార్యం వ్యవస్థీకృత సంఘం హద్దులకే పరిమితం కాదని ఈ అధ్యాయం సారాంశం.