s. The real difficulty of controversy with Indians,
so far as it may be expedient to embark in it at all, which is
doubtful, is that their arguments are often so discursive, their
reasoning so childish, their illustrations so comically beside the
mark, that it is scarcely possible to deal with them seriously.

They are particularly fond of illustrations drawn from Nature, and
they always regard the illustration as a conclusive answer to an
argument. If you point out its want of applicability, they reply by at
once giving another illustration equally inapplicable. For instance,
the broad-minded modern Indian argues that all religions ultimately
lead to God, and so that they are all equally good; and he gives as
his illustrative proof, that many rivers starting from a variety of
sources eventually empty themselves into the sea. And he looks upon
this, not merely as an illustration, but as a clinching argument
against which nothing can be said. But if you demur he will put the
case in the reverse order, and he will say that just as in Poona City
there are many tanks, but the water which supplies them all comes from
the great reservoir many miles away, so the various forms of religion
found in different countries came originally from the same source, and
are therefore identical.

A Hindu, defending the multiplicity of gods, said to me that of course
there was only one Supreme Being, but that he was too great to be
approached by ordinary mortals, and that it was through the lesser
deities that man had access to him. To make this clear, he used the
following illustration. He said that if a man had a grievance he could
not go direct to the emperor and state his case, but he must begin by
approaching the district collector, and ultimately his petition might
reach the ears of the emperor. Happily this illustration gave the
opportunity to say that in the Kingdom of Christ the poorest outcast,
or the little child, can have direct and immediate access to the King
of kings, whose ears are always open to the prayers of all His people.

Moral maxims, such as they are, are often put into the same
illustrative form. The following maxims are for the guidance of an
ascetic:--

"As the uncomplaining earth suffers injuries and affronts without any
sign of resentment, so should the ascetic be unperturbed by any
ill-treatment and indignities he may be subjected to.

"Into the serene sky ascend the glad sounds of mirth, the fierce roar
o