ish directness, filial trust and full expectancy. Nothing has touched
me more in my contact with native Christians than to feel the directness,
simplicity, unquestioning trustfulness of their prayers even in times of
greatest adversity.

The native Christian possesses a mystic temperament. The inhabitants of
that land, through many centuries of training, have become natural mystics
in religion. This national heritage the native Christian retains; and
properly chastened and directed by Christian truth and faith it will add
depth, beauty and power to his religious life. Under these conditions I
shall have no fear of mysticism in the Christian Church in India. Deep
spirituality and a yearning after the hidden things of religion is more
natural to the East than to the West. The West is practical and worldly;
the East is mystical and other-worldly. The native Christian, at his best,
is manifesting some of this spiritual power. He takes naturally to the
Pauline emphasis upon the life "hid with Christ in God," and to the mystic
union which exists between Christ and His own.

It is here that the native Church in India is, I believe, to show an
inspiring example to the Church of the West. If the Christian of India is
not to be as practical or indeed as spiritually sane as his brother of the
West, he will probably illustrate more of the hidden mysteries and power
of the spiritual life. In this respect the spiritual power of the East and
that of the West will be, in their separate emphasis, mutually
complementary.

The Indian Christian, true to his native temperament, is and will continue
to be strong in the so-called passive virtues, and weak in the positive or
aggressive ones. Patience, meekness, gentleness, endurance--these are the
graces which preeminently adorn him and which give colour and shape to his
religious character. Here, again, his life will be very different from
that life which has characterized, thus far, the Western Christian. The
masculine virtues of assertion, boldness, aggressiveness have
characterized the West. We have been strong and continue strong in that
aspect of our faith which we associate with the words assertion and
attack. The West has, true to its environment and training, developed
Christian character mostly, I will not say exclusively, on the positive
side of life. The equally important passive virtues we of the West have
much neglected if not despised as weakness. The East is even today
manife