Mrs. Polak and her children deserve qually to be mentioned; for their sufferings and hardships were, in some ways, even more difficult to bear. They had to face he social ostracism of their own country vomen, a thing which pierces with peculiar acuteness the Englishwoman's eart. Their children also had to grow up n unnatural conditions. I remember little eo Polak looking into my face with his reat round eyes and saying 'when my ather was in prison,'...I felt at the time a ind of shock, that one so young should ave experienced so early the hard tyranies of the world. And one other Euroean lady must never be forgotten by rateful Indian hearts,-brave little Miss chlessin. Joining the movement when uite a child she had grown up in it, aking it her own. At the office every ay in 110 Field St. Durban she would be t her post, managing all the corresponence, typewriting, and finance. Then she would go back by the last train at night › Phoenix, where she lived a life of simple overty as a disciple of Tolstoi. No heart as truer and braver than hers in that arkest hour, when all the leaders were in rison with the one exception of Mr. West hose arrest seemed imminent. Indeed, verily believe, if Mr. West had been onvicted, she would have continued to un the office, edit 'Indian Opinion,' anage the accounts, and fill, as far as a roman could, the post of leader, so long s the struggle lasted. Never disconcerted r disheartened, however thick and fast isaster came, she was of that mould from hich heroines are made.

But it is not of this inner group of ufferers and workers that I intend to rite in this letter. I have now in mind wo European ladies who were working 1 quite.other spheres of life. Each of them I her own way helped materially owards the peaceful solution which has ow been reached.

The first was Mrs. Drew, the sister of ord Gladstone and daughter of the great 'rime Minister,-the daughter who shared the full her father's intimate thoughts, nd lived her own life wrapped up in is. It was in Pretoria that I first let Mrs. Drew and her deep sympathy ith the Indians made itself manifest at nce. She invited Mr. Gandhi specially to ee her as soon as she knew we had arived, and spoke to us with the utmost

gentleness at a time when our hearts were sorely in need of kindness. Later on in Cape Town she invited us both again to Government House, and we spent one unforgettable morning with her, while she went into every detail of the Indian grievances, mastering their complex nature with marvellous insight and rapidity. Hour after hour passed, but still we talked on; and Mr. Gandhi was able to lay every point before her. She had been present at my lecture on Rabindranath Tagore (whose writings were among her treasures) and every now and then our talk would wander away from the Indian struggle close at hand to the Indian Renaissance in the Motherland itself which Rabindranath represented. She heard with the deepest interest of my going to Shantiniketan and smiled at the eagerness with which I spoke about it and the longing I expressed. She saw the passion that was in my eyes, as she drew out my inner thoughts in her motherly, womanly way. I can see you have lost your heart in India,' she said to me; and then we went back again to the problems of the 'India' near at hand in South Africa. Before we left she asked very specially to be given an opportunity to see Mrs. Gandhi, and another morning was arranged for this purpose. Her position, as sister of the Governor-General, made any outward action on her part, such as an invitation of this kind, a public concern, canvassed and criticised. She never trespassed or interfered in politics themselves; but she did what was infinitely better for our cause,— she expressed openly to the world the sentiments of her own true woman's heart. While others in S. Africa were boycotting the Indians on the tramways and railways and footpaths, she received them to her own house as her guests and friends.

Markedly different in temperament but equally true in womanly sympathy, was Miss Molteno, the sister of the Speaker of the House of Assembly. She had come up from Capetown specially to meet Mr. Gandhi and the Indian leaders. Born in South Africa, and belonging to one of the leading families who had settled long ago at the Cape, she shared with Olive Schreiner, the novelist, the reputation of being 'pronative.' The word was used insultingly but she was proud of it. She had maintained unimpaired her African sympathies throughout a long life of harsh and bitter

experiences. She spoke with horror and anguish of the Boer War, which for a time had shattered her dreams of a united country. Her nationalism was of no narrow type. It included every dweller in South Africa, of whatever colour, creed or race. But her heart went out most of all to the original dwellers on the land. That which repelled others from them, only drew them closer to her own pure nature. She was loved by them in return, and was called by the dear name of Mother. Till quite recently the Indian trouble had not reached her notice. Capetown, where she lived, is far distant from the Transvaal and Natal. But this last and greatest struggle of all had gained first her anxious attention and then her ardent enthusiasm. Not content with mere words she had come all the long journey from Capetown to Durban to see what could be done to help. Her visit exactly coincided with our landing. So it came about that on the first Sunday morning when the Indian community at Durban had gathered to welcome us from India, she was present also and was welcomed from Capetown. Mr. Gandhi asked her to speak first, but she would not do so on account of shyness. I had to speak instead and my own words had only one refrain (how could it be otherwise?)-I could only speak of the Mother. And I was moved more than I could say as I tried to bring the Mother's gift of love to her far-off children on that alien shore. I spoke both in Hindustani and English and my words were translated into Tamil. Mr. Pearson came next and his words were akin to mine. Then Mr. Gandhi again pressed Miss Molteno to speak: and this time she rose at last with great diffidence and fear. Her hair was nearly white and her face worn with suffering endured. She began nervously, almost timidly and I thought her voice would not be heard beyond the platform. But as she spoke of Africa, her own Motherland, she forgot everything of self. Her whole countenance changed and her face became like that of one inspired. She called upon those downtrodden, outcast Indian coolies before her to rise to a new height of greatness-to claim by their very wrongs and hardships a rightful part in the building up of the Motherland of Africa. "We have all of us," she declared, "got to suffer for our Motherland. Only as you learn to call Africa your

Motherland: only as you are ready t suffer for her: only thus can you becom worthy and true children of her sacred so: Suffering is the divine right to citizenshi in Africa; for Africa has been watered wit blood and tears of men and women. Africa has been the burden-bearer of the sins c the world."

It was a wonderful utterance and my own poor speech looked thin and pae beside it. She went on to say that from her childhood she had lived among the lonely hills, by the side of rushing mountain torrents, and on the high cold starlit veld of Africa, wandering up and down among her own people. Three things had become clear to her-things which seemed to be long to the very soil of Africa and part of the blood of her peoples. One was the power of music. The voices even of harsh speaking Dutch and English grew mellow in that land of soft skies and dewy hills. The heart of the African could be stirred br the sound of a human voice singing song of love as by no other power in the world. "We all become musicians and singers," she said, "after a time in Africa and in the end this will bring harmony to our discordant natures." She believed that the bitter enmities between the different races would be broken down at last by the power of song. Indians must give their own contribution to this harmony of song. The second power was that of suffering. Nowhere in the world had suffer ing been borne like that of Africa. And it had made the heart softer, not harder. In the long run the appeal of suffering would be heard. There were generous natures ready to listen to the appeal. Last of all the power of womanhood in Africa would use the twin powers of music and suffering in the noblest service of peace and good will. It was the woman's part in Africa to unite race and race together by the gentle refinement of true love. Womanhood in Africa. crushed and depressed in the past, would now come forth from the fire of suffering pure and true as gold. Indians might bear their part here, as in other ways. For womanhood with Indians was sacred.

It was a brave speech, bravely uttered and spoken with a true woman's tenderness and devotion; but after it was over she was all-ashamed of its poverty. Had she said too much? Had she contradicted anything I had said before her? Had she overstepped the mark? These were the

I

testions she asked me me nervously. sured her that for my own part I could ish my own speech had never been given all, if only hers could be remembered. ter it was all over Mr. Gandhi took her share his fruit-meal with him. She was rictly a vegetarian because of the pain d wrong to God's creatures which the king of life involved. Mr. Gandhi attend to her wants with the chivalry which aracterises his every action. It was autiful to see his face as he waited on her. In the afternoon I went to St. Aidan's ission, which which is the centre of an ucational colony under missionary auses. I may have something to say a future letter about the Indian issions in South Africa that will be inful reading reading and I shall say it ithout any shrinking. But here in Irban the picture is one that may rejoice e heart. Mr. Baillie, who is in charge, s been the soul of goodness all through e long struggle. He has received, on count of his openly expressed sympathy th Indians, coldness and contempt from ; own countrymen. But this has only oduced in him a deeper respect and urtesy towards Indians themselves. the time when all the leaders were in son, he stood out as their champion, d day after day went down to the dian centre at 110 Field Street doing all could to help. His name is known all er South Africa among Indians. His ssionary work also has been a great on to the Indian community. For he s built up the only School and College ich carries forward Indian education the college standard and qualifies an dian for the teaching profession.

I went to St. Aidan's that Sunday ternoon after the long morning meeting. r. Gandhi, Parsee Rustomjee, Mr. Musa d all the Indian leaders had come over the Church and Miss Molteno was with em. I took as my text St. Paul's descripon of love in Corinthians XIII,-my vourite chapter in the New Testament. here in that little Church, with large imbers standing outside the doors and indows, and thronging all the pathways, was a moving sight to witness. There was sense of love and unity difficult to describe. it Miss Molteno was moved far beyond ything I had noticed in the morning. fter the service, she could hardly speak : first. She told me that the vision of a

United Africa had come so closely and concretely to her while I was speaking, that she seemed almost to touch it with her hand. She bade me go forward with that message up and down South Africa. "They are thirsting for that", she said, "Boer and English and Kaffirs alike: and one day Love will conquer."

I was obliged to hurry away because I had to take the service again in the evening at the English Church called, St. Thomas. Berea. I spoke there of the India that the English in South Africa had not yet come to realise, the India of the greatest civilisation and culture the world had ever seen: the India which was even now recovering her past greatness. I had taken as my text,-"There came wise men from the East." A leading paper the next day sarcastically remarked that no doubt Mr. Pearson and I had come from the East, but it was presumptuous on our part to set up a claim for wisdom. It suggested further that I might have chosen a less conceited text for my sermon.

I met Miss Molteno again when she was staying in Capetown with her brother the Speaker. I had been preaching in Capetown Cathedral a sermon of stern denunciation. It was my last Sunday in South Africa and there were things that I had seen with my own eyes concerning the treatment of the Indians that I could not let pass by. While I was preaching however I felt that the spiritual atmosphere round me was frozen and hard` and impenetrable; and though I spoke without censoriousness, I felt my message had failed. I could not pierce that icy respectability. I was baffled and defeated and came away downhearted.

Miss Molteno met me after my sermon and began at once to upbraid me. I had not expected this from her, and wondered what was the reason. She had come with such longing, she said, to hear a message that should heal and unite the people of her country, but I had made division worse divided. I tried to defend myself, saying that all I had said was true. "Yes, yes", she answered, shaking her hand impatiently. "Of course it's all true, every word of it, and I have lived to fight for the truth as you call it all these years. Look at the lines in my face! Have I not suffered for the truth? But your sermon left me cold, cold,-cold

and lifeless. Oh! why didn't you preach to them as you did at St. Aidan's? Is n't love true? Is n't love the only final truth? Oh! you don't know South Africa yet: you don't know it, as I know it, after all these years of suffering. How can you? Ah! there is cruelty and lust and pride and hate enough, at the surface, in English and Dutch and Indian and Kaffir alike,-in all of us. But there's love at the centre, there's love at the centre. And it's only love that's true and lasting. When you and I and all the rest of us are dead, love goes on, love goes on."

I wish I could explain with what intensity of conviction she said these words. I could feel at once that she was right, with her pure woman's instinct, as she had been right before in her speech to the Indian community at Durban. I went away restless, unsatisfied and ashamed. But when in the evening I went for the last

time of all to speak in a church in the suburbs of Capetown I felt the strengt of her pleading. I had no time to prepar another sermon, but I threw away the manuscript which I had prepared. Instead of this I preached over again the sermon which I had given in St. Aidan's Durban, whose subject was love.

Miss Molteno was there, but I did not see her again that night. When I reached the boat, however, five days later, 03 which I was to return to England, she was waiting for me at the docks. She was full of apologies for having spoken to me in that manner after my sermon in the Cathedral. She felt that she had pained me when I was tired and worn out. I told her it was one of the best and kindest things I had received from my South African friends.

TH

HE object of the present article is twofold. It is to show, first, that, contrary to orthodox religious opinion in the West, Christianity is a theory of life, a religion, fitted to a given time, a certain level of civilisation, and was an advancement upon current Hebrew life and thought in the same way that the revelations of previous teachers and prophets had been; and second, that the process of spiritual growth in the Hebrew civilisation, as that is revealed in the Bible, is very similar to that described in the last article with respect to the English development. By tracing the course of Hebrew thought and idealism to its culmination in Christianity

I think we shall be able to conclude that

Christianity stands for an exalted spiritual view of life, a view similar to that towards which the whole modern world is moving; and that it presupposes a very advanced civilisation. A keen realization of these facts will, I think, enable us to prepare

more enthusiastically for future changes and advancement.

Christianity has always been a mystical religion in the West; and the reason for this is that it was the product of a civili zation that was far in advance of European civilization. Until quite recent times Christianity, owing to its exalted spiritual idealism, had not been comprehended by the West: hence the habit of attributing to Christianity a divine origin. It was utterly impossible that the semi-barbaric Teutons who overran Europe in the early centuries of the Christian era could com prehend the social and spiritual idealism embodied in Christ's teaching. A people whose life and outlook are essentially physical cannot be expected to comprehend deep spiritual truth. Spirit itself must be developed before spiritual truth can be perceived.

Thus it is impossible to say what any nation may owe to an imported religion:

vhat England, for instance, owes to Christianity. We can only say that it is not likely to owe what might at first be hought. Christianity has been the acceped religion of Europe for something like thirteen centuries; yet the fact is, as we are just beginning to realise, that at no time during the whole of that long period has the real essence of Christianity, the truths and ideals for which Christ distinctly stood, been so much as perceived by Europe. As a matter of fact, the West is only just attaining the spiritual altitude whence the real nature of Christ's teaching can perceived.

Christianity has not meant the same thing to Europe all along the line, but has changed its meaning from time to time as development has taken place. Until quite recent times Christianity has been conceived by Europe as a purely religious ideal, and not in any sense as a social ideal. To the untutored mind of the Middle Ages Christianity meant Renunciation, which was symbolised in the Cross. Christ was God's sacrifice for the sins of the world; and as God sacrificed his beloved Son, so ought man to sacrifice all things that he might have peaceful and unbroken communion with God.

Christianity is often described as coming in the fullness of time to accomplish an appointed work. And that is a just description, for it was the herald of a quite new order of existence, and the only hope of salvation from an enslaving materialism. It stood for a conception of life which involved a distinct breach with the past. As I have already hinted, Christianity occupied the same place in Jewish history that Democracy occupies in ours. Christianity and Democracy are the crowning points of two great and slowly developing civilisations. We have shown that this is true as regards Democracy. We will briefly trace the history of the Jews, as that is depicted in the Bible, and I think we shall see that it is also true as regards Christianity.

As the most casual reader can not but be aware, the Hexateuch or first six books of the Bible, is not the product of a single age. Whether as regards style, spirit or matter, differences are manifest which prove it to be the product of at least three distinct ages. In the period covered by these six books, which are among the earliest writings of the

Hebrews, three awakenings take place, and three discoveries are made. These awakenings occur at three different levels of civilisation and the discoveries which they are evidence of are the following: heroism, the moral law, the human soul. Evidence of the first of these awakenings is to be found in the stories that are scattered about these six books, especially those of Genesis, Exodus and Joshua. These stories, when strung together, give a connected account of the early doings and wanderings of the Israelitish people from earliest times, and constitute what is known as the Primitive document. They were probably written about the ninth century B. C. The second document, the Deuteronomic, which was written about seventh century B. C., is an attempt to reinterpret the history recorded in the aforementioned stories, to point the moral of it, so to speak, and to exhort the people to the acceptance of a higher and purer morality. But its tone is intensely materialistic nevertheless, for material prosperity is made the condition of moral improvement. The third, or priestly document, was probably written about the fifth century B. C., and reveals an attempt to wean the people from a materialistic to a purely religious life. A tendency towards ritualism and symbolism is to be noticed, while it is about this time that a regular priesthood comes into existence. But we must examine these three documents a little more closely.

As already stated the first or Primitive document consists of stories describing the doings of the Patriarchs and the wanderings of the Children of Israel, while they were in the Nomadic state, and until they settled down in Israel. They reveal the struggles which the Israelites had in their efforts to become a separate people, a nation in a land of their own. As regards morals, their conception of God and life, etc., these stories shew that they were very crude indeed. Like the Teuton tribes who settled down in England about the fifth century A. D., these people had no idea of the existence of the human soul, or of a righteousness that was valuable for its own sake. Indeed they were utterly unconscious of spiritual values of any sort. Their idea of God was strongly anthropomorphic; their ideal man possessed great physical strength and skill and was versed in all the arts of cunning; while their ideal