mainly from the
educated classes, among whom the higher castes largely prevail; nearly
four-fifths of the Aryas are said to be of the twice-born castes,
which is a very significant fact. So that both in its popular
character and methods, as well as in the high social position and
educational training of its members and in its rapidly growing
numbers, the Arya Somaj is a movement of considerable importance.

The principles of this Somaj, as enunciated in its creed, are not such
as to grip men with power. They emphasize the unity of God, the
infallibility of the Vedas; and the general aim of the Somaj is "to
do good to the world by improving the physical, social, intellectual,
moral, and spiritual condition of mankind." Its moral code is of a
high order.

It is thoroughly national in its spirit, and makes much capital out of
the present spirit of racial antagonism. It is a significant fact that
during the recent season of "Unrest" the government regarded the Arya
Somaj as a hotbed of sedition and a nourisher of hostility to the West
and to western things.

The Arya Somaj is awake to the importance of training men as
messengers of its Gospel of Theism. It has established a _Guru Kula_
at the foot of the Himalayas, where quite a number of young men are
being trained in its doctrines and supplied with its enthusiasms. From
this theological seminary many have already gone forth, in the
orthodox style of religious mendicancy, to impart their teaching and
spread their movement far and wide, without any expense to the
society.

There is to-day, in North India, no enemy to the Christian cause so
wide awake and so bitter as the Arya Somaj. It is so thoroughly
national in its spirit, is so compactly organized, and lends itself
so easily to the racial and political agitation of the day, that
Christianity finds in it its greatest foe in those regions.

Let it not be thought, however, that we do not appreciate the living
spark of theistic truth which this movement represents, combined, as
it is, with hostility to the caste system, which is India's greatest
curse, and its antagonism to many of the superstitions and unworthy
ceremonials of the ancestral faith.

That movement must not be condemned too severely which is a bulwark
against drink, caste, idolatry, early marriages, and which vigorously
promotes female education, the remarriage of widows, and various
philanthropic institutions.

V

It may not be improper to clos