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Have Christian Missions to India Been Succe
So Christianity is not a religion whose principles or doctrines is fixed, but is a growth; as it develops, it becomes in the eyes of its votaries more perfect and true. And how does it develop and grow? Sometimes by the addition of new dogmas, sometimes by factions, i.e. the addition of sects and denominations. If the new dogmas are accepted by the people who never take the trouble of thinking for themselves they become a part of Christianity. Thus, current opinion becomes truth to them. It becomes “truth” as soon as it is accepted; the same thing becomes falsehood as soon as it is rejected, the truth of yesterday is not the truth of to-day and the truth of to-day will not be the truth of to-morrow. And still all these added and rejected dogmas pass in the name of Christ who knew nothing about them and are propagated under his name and as if by his command, and the result has been disastrous.
We all fully understand that the debasement of a nation's coinage is most disastrous to its commerce and revenues. It is an acknowledged fact to-day, the world over, that the spiritual coinage has become debased. It is also a fact that all religions worthy of the name are making great efforts to purify and return to their original standard - I should have said all religions except Christianity. The intellectual Hindus do not deny that their religion, as understood by the masses to-day, is not in its pure and unadulterated state as formerly, and the all-important question with them is – what are the real ideas expressed in their sacred literature ? Christians surely must know, even with greater certainty, that the 19th Century Christianity is not the religion taught by Jesus. Christians well know that their religion has become changed and corrupted as comparative theology and philological and other criticisms of their sacred books are more advanced than in the case of other religions. But Christian theologians are well aware that they were to attempt to purify their religion of today and bring it back to the standard of apostolic days, the result
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