Page:Life in India or Madras, the Neilgherries, and Calcutta.djvu/395

Rh himself to the work of preaching, while he studied theology and the duties of a Christian minister.

The religious opinions of this excellent man now grew daily more clear. He sat at Jesus' feet and learned of him, whom, from the first, he had regarded as God manifest in the flesh. One morning, returning from the bazaar, where he had met a native who advocated the doctrine of Unitarianism, which had been brought from England to India by a Hindu of Madras, he came with much excitement to Mr. Laidler, of the London Mission. Collecting himself, he exclaimed, “Oh, sir, I have been conversing with a native from Madras, and he says that Jesus Christ is not truly God, but only man!" Then, apparently unconscious of his presence, he said, over and over to himself, “Oh, he must be God! He must be God!" This encounter led him to search the Scriptures more deeply, and to establish himself more fully in the faith. It prepared him to stand for the defence of the gospel against this and other errors.

In the year 1822, Shunkuru was set apart, after much prayer and fasting, to the office of pastor of the native church in Bangalore. He was now known by the name of Samuel Flavel,