hose men that afternoon was 1 John v. 11 and 12:
"God hath given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that
hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not
life." I was longing to get to the women, but when they began to read
those verses and ask about the meaning, I could not go without trying to
tell them. Oh, how one needed at that moment Christ to become to us
Wisdom, for it is just here one may so easily make mistakes. Put the
truth of God's relation to the soul subjectively--"He that hath the Son
hath life"--before thoughtful Hindus such as these men were, and they
will be perfectly enchanted; for the Incarnation presents no difficulty
to them, as it would to a Mohammedan; and perhaps, to your sudden
surprise and joy, they will say, that is exactly what they are prepared
to believe. "Christ in me"--this is comprehensible. "The indwelling of
the Spirit of God"--this is analogous to their own phrase: "The
indwelling of the Deity in the lotus of the heart." But probably by
trading on words and expressions which are already part of the Hindu
terminology, and which suggest to them materialistic ideas, we may
seriously mislead and be misled. We need to understand not only what the
Hindu says, but also what his words mean to himself, a very different
thing.

That talk ended in a promise from the men that they would arrange a
meeting of Hindus for the Iyer, if he would come and take it, which of
course he did. I should like to finish up by saying, "and several were
converted," but as yet that would not be true. These deep-rooted ancient
and strong philosophies are formidable enough, when rightly understood,
to make us feel how little we can do to overturn them; but they are
just as "Dust" in comparison with the force of the "Actual" entrenched
behind them. Only superficial Dust; and yet, as in every other case,
nothing but the Breath of God can blow this Dust away.

[Illustration: Another widow. She was never a wife; and, moved by some
sort of pity, they let her keep one jewel in each ear. She is a
Vellalar; her people are wealthy landowners. She was ashamed of having
yielded to the weakness of letting us take her photo; and when we went
to show it to her, she would not look at it. She has no desire whatever
to hear; and she and the young girl on the step at her feet are resolute
in opposing the teaching.]

We left the old men to their books and endless disquisitions, and went
on to the