till his son came
in with an English Bible and Prayer-Book. The old man put up his hand to
his mouth in the apologetic manner of the Tamils. "We do not notice the
foolish parts of the service. We like to hear the English. For the sake
of the English we go."

"He did not turn to the East, but he did not keep quite straight; he
just half turned." This from a pastor's wife, about one whom she had
been observing during an ordination ceremony in the English cathedral.
"_He just half turned._" It describes the nebulous attitude of mind of
many a one to-day. India has not our historical background. It has no
_Foxe's Book of Martyrs_ yet. Perhaps that is why its people are so
indifferent upon points which seem of importance to us. They have not
had to fight for their freedom, in the sense at least our forefathers
fought; there is no Puritan blood in their veins; and so they are
willing to follow the lead of almost anyone, provided that lead is given
steadily and persistently; which surely should make those in authority
careful as to those in whose hands that lead is placed.

But the natural instinct of the converted idolater is dead against
complexity in worship, and for simplicity. He does not want something
as like his own old religion as possible, but as different as possible
from it; and so we have good building material ready to hand, and a
foundation ready laid. "But let every man take heed how he buildeth
thereupon."

I hope this does not sound unkind. We give those who hold different
views full credit for sincerity, and a right to their own opinions; but
convictions are convictions, and, without judging others who differ,
these are ours, and we want those at home who are with us in these
things to unite to help to stem the tide that has already risen in India
far higher than perhaps they know. Brave men are needed, men with a
fuller development of spiritual vertebrae than is common in these
easy-going days, and we need such men in our Native Church. God create
them; they are not the product of theological colleges. And may God save
His Missions in India from wasting His time, and money, and men, on the
cultivation of what may evolve into something of no more use to creation
than a new genus of jelly-fish.

The Government official and his friends were still talking among
themselves: "Do we not know what the Christians do? Have we not ears?
Have we not eyes? They do it in their way, we do it in ours. The thing
itsel