CHAPTER VI.
"I WANT to hear the end of your account of what you Christians think about man and his miseries," said the zamindar, as again he stood on the railway platform beside his new friend.
"I would rather tell you of the way of escape which God has made for man out of his miseries," replied the Christian. "I know the way, for I am in it; I wish you to know it also, for it is open to you."
The two men seated themselves, the one to speak, and the other to listen.
"God pitied lost man," continued Karim, "yet Divine justice and truth required that by man punishment should be borne. No mere human being could help his brother, because every one was himself under the same condemnation. You, for instance, could not pay a brother's debt, because you are in the same strait as he."
"I could certainly help no one out of a bog in which I am sinking myself," sighed Matrá.
"So God sent His own Son into the world to become a man, that He might suffer as man, and for man," said Karim.
"Stop! You told me that there is but one God, and now you speak of His Son!" exclaimed Matrá. "Do you Christians worship two Gods?"
"There is but one God," replied Karim with reverence, "and yet we find from our Scriptures that in this One there are three Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, so closely joined that they are One, and yet each in Himself a distinct object of devotion."
"I do not understand," said Matrá.
"Man cannot understand the deep things of God, but what is revealed we must believe. A simile makes it more simple to my own mind," continued Karim, "and it may make it more simple to yours. Is the sun in the sky one object or two?"
"Certainly there is but one sun," replied Matrá.
"When we speak of the sun, we mean the sun and his beams also, for the sun and his beams are as one. Yet, seen through a mist, the sun appears shorn of his beams, and sometimes, on the other hand, we see the rays when the sun himself is hidden. In one sense, therefore, they are distinct, while in another they form but one glorious sun."
"It is a mystery," said the zamindar thoughtfully, "but I think that all religions have mysteries."
"The great God," continued Karim, "sent His Son into the world to save sinners by the sacrifice of Himself. Christ came as the sunbeams come down, to enlighten, warm, and bless. As a body was needed for sacrifice, the Saviour assumed a mortal body. He was born of a pure virgin. Thus the Lord Jesus Christ was Man that He might suffer, whilst ever continuing to be God that He might save."
"A deity putting on a mortal form—that is an avatar," said Matrá. "I did not know that Christians, like Hindus, believe in avatars."
"Your Brahmins," said Karim, "tell you that one of your deities nine times became incarnate, and that while inhabiting a body—as a fish, a tortoise, a boar—he performed wonders, or committed crimes. We Christians believe but in one sinless avatar; that God's Son appeared as a mortal, that He might conquer Satan, give an example of perfect holiness, and then die as a sacrifice for sin. The Lord Jesus, before His avatar, knew perfectly well what His life on earth would be, and what its terrible close. He knew that He would be despised and rejected, poor and afflicted, He knew that He would be put to a death of torture, nailed hands and feet to a cross. His death was the punishment of sin, but of sin 'not His own;' He stood in our place, bore the shame of our guilt, and paid our debt with His blood."
"Do you indeed believe this?" exclaimed the astonished Hindu.
"As firmly as I believe in my own existence; so firmly that I would lay down my life as a witness to its truth, as thousands of Christians have laid down their lives."
"The Son of God slain as a sacrifice for sin! It sounds so strange, so wonderful!" cried Matrá.
"It is love passing knowledge," said Karim. "Love in the Father to send His Son; love in the Son to be willing to die for man. The idea of sacrifice is no new thing to Hindus. Do not your books tell of the wondrous merit of the sacrifice of a thousand horses? But what is the value of the blood of a crore of horses, weighed against one drop of the blood of an Incarnate God!"
"And what do you think that you gain by this great sacrifice?" inquired Matrá.
"Everything!" exclaimed the Christian with animation, his whole face radiant with joy. "First, there is the debt of sin wiped out as if it had never been, full and free forgiveness. Then there is peace with God—adoption into His family, and an inheritance of endless glory and joy in the kingdom of heaven. No mere absorption, no loss of individuality, which is the highest hope of the Hindu, but conscious happiness, unutterable bliss in the society of blessed saints and angels dwelling together in perfect love in the presence of the Heavenly Father of all."