There was something in the personality of Schwartz which greatly attracted the Brahmins, who were and still are very loth to discuss the Christian religion. But with this missionary at least they had no such reserve; indeed, they often presented themselves as seekers after truth, and quite frankly admitted the force of many arguments advanced against their idolatry to be reasonable. It must be considered that hitherto they had had little opportunity of judging the claims of Christianity, for in the case of the Europeans it was unhappily absent as any moral force, and as presented by the Roman Catholics it contained an element as idolatrous to their mind as their own. For the first time they had come into touch with a man who had a profound knowledge of their own position and had a friendly and sincere sympathy in meeting their difficulties and bringing light where they were in darkness. He met them as a friend and yet never spared their sinfulness, he never rebuffed them as beyond hope, he cheered them with a loving message of peace from One Who could save to the uttermost. These conversations are of the deepest interest; the difficulties they disclose have not changed and the answers which Schwartz gave are just as wise and applicable as if spoken to-day. His journal is rich in these incidents. A little hut of leaves of the palmyra tree at Ureius near the foot had been put up by him as a place of resort for quiet to which any inquirers were always welcome. One day a group of Brahmins came and he opened the conversation by asking them what was their creed and what it all meant when they taught the people. “The eldest replied, ‘We teach that God is omnipresent and is to be found in everything.’ “‘It is true,’ I said, ‘God is present everywhere and to every one of his creatures but it does not follow from this that you are to adore and worship every creature. If you regard the heaven, earth, sun, and moon, as evidences of the power, wisdom, and goodness of God and as creatures that lead to the Creator you do well; but if you invoke the creature, you ascribe to it the glory which is due to God alone and fall into idolatry. Besides the creature is not perfect but only a frail image of the Almighty. Can an idol which is unable to see, speak, or move, adequately set forth to you the majesty, greatness, wisdom, and goodness of the living God?’ “They acknowledged that it could not. I next demanded of a Brahmin whether he did not perceive that the world was full of sin and that we should all be found guilty and how he might obtain forgiveness? He answered, ‘Through the mercy of God.’ ‘You say right,’ I resumed, ‘but you know that God is righteous and punishes the wicked, how then can a just God be gracious to such sinful creatures so as fully to pardon us and to make us blessed?’ Upon this I explained to them the doctrine of redemption through Jesus Christ and earnestly exhorted them to embrace it.