it not be supposed that the
Christianity of the East will have the social complexion of that of
the West. In the earliest days of Christianity, we are told by the
great Apostle to the Gentiles that there were "heresies" in the
Church. These were _social_ heresies or class divisions. It was later
in the West that "heresy" became an error of _belief_. The Indian
Church will also have heresies of life rather than of thought. The
caste spirit will not vanish entirely from India, even when it becomes
Christ's land; because while India is always indulgent and tolerant
concerning beliefs, she is particular about class distinctions. And
this, doubtless, will be the weakness of the Indian Church of the
future. But she will have her strong points, also, and in these she
will glory and through them glorify her exalted Lord.

CHAPTER VI

THE BHAGAVAD GITA--THE HINDU BIBLE

The Bhagavad Gita (translated "The Song of the Adorable One" and "The
Divine Lay") is rightly regarded as the gem of all Hindu sacred
literature. Hindus maintain (and few will question them) that in
beauty of language and in elevation of thought it stands supreme among
their _Shastras_, or sacred writings.

Educated Hindus proudly claim for it superiority to all sacred books
of other faiths.

Of all ancient Brahmanical writings it is to-day the most cherished by
the members of that faith. The ancient Rig Veda is at present only a
book of antiquarian interest. The Upanishads, which are the
fountainhead of Hindu thought and philosophy, are only the text-books
and treasure-houses of philosophers and metaphysicians. But the Divine
Lay is extolled and used alike by men of western culture, by
conservative pandits, and by the masses as their highest book of
doctrine and their richest treasury of devotion.

Even many Hindus who have come under the fascination of the Christ,
carry with them upon their journeyings the New Testament in one pocket
and the Bhagavad Gita in the other, as the common guide and
inspiration of their quiet hours of meditation.

It is thus universally recognized that there is no book which wields a
larger influence than this in the religious life of the two hundred
and thirty millions of Hindus to-day; and there is none which is more
worthy to be called the Hindu Bible.

I

In strange contrast with the bulky tomes of Brahmanism and of the
great epic, Mahabharata (which, with its two hundred and forty
thousand lines, is the lon