Instead of joining in the outcry against such persons, I feel rather in
sympathy, and have a desire in my heart to win them to still better
things, and to show them "the way of God more perfectly." I feel that
they are stirred as I was, and are struggling in self-righteousness, not
because they wilfully prefer it to God's righteousness, but because they
are yearning for true and spiritual reality. They are in a transition
state, and the more restless they are, the more assured I am that they
will never attain real rest and satisfaction to their souls till they
have found God, and are found of Him in Christ Jesus.

But the question may be asked, "Is it possible for unsaved people
(spiritually dead) to be so good and religious? Is not such a state an
indication of spiritual vitality?" I answer, without hesitation, that it
is possible. Religion by itself, irrespective of the subject-matter of a
creed, may have a quieting and controlling effect upon the soul. The
Hindoo, the Moslem, the Jew, the Romanist, as well as the Protestant,
may each and all be wonderfully self-possessed, zealous, devout, or
teachable, or even all these together, and yet remain dead souls.

As a boy in India, I remember being greatly struck with the calmness of
the Hindoos, as contrasted with the impatience and angry spirit of the
English. On one occasion I observed one of the former at his devotions.
He, with others, had been carrying me about in a palankeen all day in
the hot sun. In the evening, he most reverently took from his girdle a
piece of mud of the sacred river Ganges, or Gunga, as they call it, and
dissolving this in water, he washed a piece of ground, then, having
washed his feet and hands, he stepped on this sacred spot, and began to
cook his food. While it was preparing, he was bowed to the ground, with
his face between his knees, worshipping towards the setting sun. A boy
who was standing by me said, "If you touch that man he will not eat his