s when they realise that they have to lead their lives in the
midst of evil, inconceivably great, and with the weight of inherited
tendencies of wrong hindering their efforts to do right. Nor will
charitable persons be forgetful to pray for those who have to try and
shepherd these sheep and lambs, whilst they themselves have to live in
the midst of an atmosphere of evil influences, such as those who live
in Christian countries know little of.

It is satisfactory and significant to note that one of the most
pronounced of the agitators in favour of teaching Christianity through
Hinduism has become one of the most determined and persuasive
preachers of pure Christianity, with a corresponding increase of
far-reaching and productive influence.

The following definitions of what is Hinduism from certain leading and
representative Hindus will be of interest as showing that what has been
said of its nebulous nature is not an exaggeration. The editor of an
Indian paper called the _Leader_, asked the following question:--"What
are the beliefs and practices indispensable in one professing the Hindu
faith, as distinguished from what may be called non-essentials, which it
is left to one's option to believe and to adopt?"

Some of the answers were quoted in the _Delhi Mission News_, vol. iv.,
p. 108, from which the following extracts are taken. They are slightly
abridged, but the original sense has been carefully preserved.

Sir Guru Das Banerjee, an orthodox Hindu of Bengal, of great ability
and eminence, says:--"Owing to the highly tolerant character of
Hinduism and to the great diversity of opinion on the point, it is not
easy to answer the question with any great degree of definiteness. I
think that the beliefs that are generally considered indispensable in
a Hindu are: Belief in God, in a future state, and in the authority of
the Vedas. The practices that are generally considered indispensable
are: The rules prohibiting marriage in a different caste; forbidding
dining with a person of an inferior caste; and the rule relating to
forbidden food, especially beef. But courts of justice have gone much
further, and held dissenting sects which have sprung out of the Hindu
community, such as the Sikhs, to be Hindus, although they do not
believe in the authority of the Vedas and do not observe any
distinction of caste. And Hindu society now practically admits within
its pale all persons who are Hindu by birth, whatever their beliefs