T[ Mozoomdar and his fellow-disciples of the Brahmo-Samaj claim that they can understand and interpret the teachings of Jesus far more accurately than is possible with the occidental mind. Jesus was an Oriental and they are Orientals. They, therefore, can see the truth which He taught as it stood in His own mind. They have comprehended as we do not the problems which confronted Him. To them the doctrines which He proclaimed in gorgeous imagery and poetic parables are not dis- torted by our western literalism. To them the work of our Lord and Master is revealed. Surely there is some force in this claim. But whether it is just or not, it must be clear that the point of view is of the utmost importance. If we are going to China, or Japan, or India, or the islands of the sea for the purpose of inducing them to take on our civilization and adopt our cult, we must first of all be able to see our own message as they see it, and we must moreover have a sympathetic knowledge of the doctrines and beliefs which we are seeking to overthrow and supplant.1
1 L. von Kobell, Conversations of Dr. Dollinger, 18. J E. H. Capen, The College and The Higher Life, 206.
256 ADAPTABILITY
(3) Nor should we stop here. We should enter into the new life ourselves. If we are among Orientals, we must become Orientals. If we are with people who speak a different language, we must learn their language. If their dress is different from ours, we must conform to their style. This is the way to reach the heart of things.
K I know that some will condemn me as holding a doctrine of expediency ; but I have no fear of condemnation from men of liberal minds and large hearts, whose condemnation I should be sorry to have, while the others would, more than likely, condemn me for any possible view that ventured to differ a hair's-breadth from their own. You know the old saw, " My doxy is orthodoxy, any other doxy is heterodoxy." Many a life has been lost in this country for learning no more than our alphabet: should more lives go merely for declining to learn the Arabic alphabet ? Few, very few, will go further ; few went further before, when it was strongly in vogue, and no Christianity to counteract it. Do we not ever see that, in the case of the real Mussulmans who come here, the most unpromising feature about them is their obstinacy and bigotry, which will not allow them even to look at our Gospel! I believe we shall gain a great point when Christianity ceases to be called the white man's religion. The foolish phrase, "Kusoma Kizungu," creates needless suspicion. I am ever battling with it among our own people, and trying to get them to use "Soma Luganda" instead. When will they learn that Christianity is cosmopolitan and not Anglican ? But there is so much in our ways and methods that strengthens the idea of foreign rule — English men, English church, English formularies, English Bishop ! Nor can the evil be readily rectified, until we are become more prepared to look on Africa as our home, or, if you like, till we become more truly identified with Africa than heretofore. Here, too, I fear, I shall be con- strued wrongly. But I allude only to mental affinity.1
III.
The Limits of Adaptability.
In our times these words, " Becoming all things to all men," have acquired an unmusical sound. Those who have professedly acted on this principle have sometimes been viewed askance, partly with suspicion, and not always without reason. There
1 Mackay of Uganda, 361.
i CORINTHIANS ix. 22 257
has been the absence, apparently, of fixed principles ; an in- difference not only to dogmas, but also to truth; a liberality running to seed in mere licence; and a charity so broad as to border on defection and impurity. They have protested too much. Under the pretence of putting on the mantle of the Apostle, they have but used his robe as a convenient cloak to hide a self-seeking which he would have been the first in fiery words to condemn. For there is a cant of philosophy as well as of orthodoxy, and a kind of freedom which is spurious as well as one which is heaven-born and Divine.
1. Let us be sure that we have the right aim. St. Paul had only one aim — "that I may by all means save some." Some become all things to all men that they may by all means destroy some. Satan himself can become an angel of light if it suits his purpose. There are others who become all things to all men to avoid trouble and persecution. They can be very religious in a prayer-meeting where none but Christians are present, but when they get out into worldly society they so adapt themselves to the fancies of their associates that there is no mark by which they can be recognized as Christians. That is as far removed as possible from the spirit of St. Paul. Dare we, without hypocrisy, quote this declaration of his as the watchword of our own lives ? Are we jealous about tradition and usage rather than about saving men? Are we tenacious of our comforts and luxuries when by sacrificing them we might rescue our brother for whom Christ died? Are we standing upon our dignity, unwilling to adopt some method that we think to be beneath us, while we are surrounded by multitudes who perish ? Do we think indeed that it is possible for us to save our own souls while we are indifferent to the salvation of others ?