Vol 2 Page 302

COMMENTS ON “SWAMI VERSUS MISSIONARY”

[The Theosophist, Vol. I, No. 6, March, 1880, p. 142]

[The above-mentioned article is a reply of the Rev. J. Gray to the remarks of Munshi Samarthadan on the debate at Ajmere, in which the reverend gentleman attempts to correct a few “inaccuracies.” H. P. B. has the following to say on this subject:]

A Hindu translation of the above having been sent to Swamiji, he writes, under date of Benares, 10th February:

When the meeting was held at Ajmere by me, I asked the Padri to come forward the next day and discuss, but his answer was that he would not come. Therefore, I now reply to him that it does not suit me to carry on the discussion he now proposes. If any well-educated bishop should be ready to conduct a discussion of this kind in your journal, there need be no doubt but that I would accept a proposal similar to the one now made.

Though our columns might be occupied to better advantage than with debates upon Christianity, which is moribund in its own strongholds and never was a vital issue in India, yet, that there may be no appearance of partiality in our management, The Theosophist will print the discussion suggested by our Brother if any bishop should be willing to expose his head to the thundering blows of a “Heathen” mace of logic. Meanwhile it might not be a bad idea for some Padri Sahib to read the following editorial from a recent issue of the New York Sun:—

[Here follows an article which attempts to find the real cause of the decline in the number of theological students in the divinity schools of some of the most important Protestant denominations. —Compiler.]