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CHAPTER X.

THE NATIVE CHURCH.

• Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.'—John x. 16.

A FULL and particular account of the origin and development of the native Church in the several provinces of India would take us far beyond the compass of our present design. Our object is rather to speak of accomplished facts than to delineate the mode of their accomplishment.1

A glance at certain salient points is all we can adventure as to the past history of the Church. We may candidly acknowledge, with some humiliation to ourselves, that (as regards protestant missions) to the Danes belongs the honour of first bringing the Gospel to bear upon the natives of India. In 1706, with the sanction and support of the King of Denmark, two young Danish missionaries commenced the Evangelical assault upon Hinduism at Tranquebar, a Danish settlement. Five years before, the

Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts' had been founded in England by a Royal Charter. To the credit of that venerable society be it recorded that, in a time of emergency, it generously accorded help to the Danish missionaries by a

1 The story of the building up of the present native Church is in itself a most copious subject. It is well told in The History of Protestant Missions in India, by the Rev. M. A. Sherring M.A., LL.B., an able and devoted missionary of the London Missionary Society. This interesting work appeared only a few months ago; and we thankfully acknowledge our obligation to Mr. Sherring for many of the facts which appear in our present chapter.

pecuniary contribution to their treasury and by a supply of useful books for their library.

Subsequently the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge' opened a special fund in England for the aid of the Danish Mission. It is recorded that nothing could be more gratifying than the liberality of the English who distinguished themselves on this occasion. People of all ranks, nobility and clergy, ladies and gentlemen, citizens and merchants, contributed to a large amount, some without wishing it to be known.' In the absence of direct missionary enterprise it is gratifying to note this early budding of missionary interest in England. It continued to grow. Some years later we find the Christian Knowledge Society, in concert with the Archbishop of Canterbury, devising fresh means of assistance for the Danish Mission. Three young missionaries of that nation before starting for India visited England; they had an audience of the king (George I.), who gave them a contribution from his privy purse; the Princess Charlotte Amelia also gave them money, and promised that her prayers should follow them. Sermons were preached and collections made in the German Chapel Royal and the Savoy Church; a free passage was given them in a British ship of war, and they left England laden with presents, and carrying from the Archbishop of Canterbury a pastoral letter to Schultze, the senior missionary at Tranquebar.

In 1726 Schultze established a mission in Madras, and in 1729 baptised in that city as many as 140 persons. The Christian Knowledge Society, which had all along aided the Danish Mission, in 1730 sent out its first missionary to Madras. Ultimately that Society accepted the entire responsibility and control of the Madras Mission. In 1736, just ten years after the commencement of the mission, the converts numbered 415 souls.

In the meantime the Rajah of Tanjore had welcomed the Danish missionaries and sanctioned the preaching of the Gospel

throughout his dominions. At the date last mentioned a number of congregations existed in that kingdom, representing a body of 1,140 members. The Tranquebar congregations comprised 1,189 native Christians. Of these latter 636 were communicants. During the next ten years these two missions were augmented by well-nigh 4,000 baptisms.

Thus in Southern India considerably more than a century ago vigorous and prosperous missionary operations were carried on. If we are humbled to think how little we, as a nation, had to do with these operations, we can at least rejoice at the forwardness and success of others in that promising field.

The arrival in 1750 of Christian Frederick Schwartz forms an important epoch in the history of missions in Southern India. The political influence exercised by this simple, but devoted and able missionary, is in itself a remarkable phenomenon. He lived and acted in troublous times; and it may be safely asserted that, in respect of moral power, he was in those times absolutely without a rival. Had not his heart been well established in grace, his head might have been turned by the greatness which was thrust upon him; but, in truth, the strength of his heart accounted for the strength of his character and the extent of his influence. In the midst of the crooked, treacherous policy and bloody strifes of that period, Schwartz stands out in bold relief as a pillar of righteousness and truth. The contending parties hated and distrusted each other, but all revered and trusted the humble, God-fearing, self-denying missionary. Each party in turn sought his counsel and aid; he was the only man whose word was beyond doubt, whose character was above suspicion. 'Padre,' said the Rajah of Tanjore, ‘I have confidence in you, because you are indifferent to money.' When the Government of Madras desired to come to terms with the formidable Hyder Ali, that bold warrior refused to receive a civilian negotiator. Let them send me,' said he, the Christian (meaning Schwartz); he will not deceive me.' The Government

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gladly availed itself of the services of Schwartz in that difficult undertaking. The Rajah of Tanjore on his death-bed begged the missionary to accept the guardianship of his adopted son and heir. At the request of the British authorities at Madras he accepted that post, and also presided over the native Court of Justice.1

But whatever else the exigences of the times might require Schwartz to be, a missionary he would be. He never for a moment forgot the commission he had received from the King of kings. Though a diplomatist, a judge, the guardian of a sovereign prince, and a mediator between contending powers, he could still say, 'One thing I do;' he was ever witnessing for his Master. On one occasion he visited Ceylon, and by his fervent zeal and stirring addresses infused new life into the Dutch missions in that island. He performed other missionary tours, chiefly on foot, to Cuddalore, Madras, Tanjore, and Trichinopoly. Everywhere a holy enthusiasm marked him and left its impress

1 Sir John Shore, afterwards Lord Teignmouth and Governor-General of India, in a minute to the Court of Directors, says of Schwartz, that he has never heard his name mentioned without respect, who is as distinguished for the sanctity of his manners as for his ardent zeal in the promulgation of his religion.'

Alas! another king arose who knew not Joseph.' Ere long a new spirit came over the Court of Directors and their representatives in India; missionary enterprise was forbidden, and again and again were the successors of Schwartz denounced and driven from the country. As late as 1816 an order was issued by the Indian Government, that missionaries were not to preach to the natives, or suffer the native converts to do so; not to distribute religious tracts, or suffer the people to do so; not to send forth converted natives, or to take any steps, by conversion or otherwise, to persuade the natives to embrace Christianity!'-Rev. J. Long's Handbook of Bengal Missions, p. 31.

Those were dark days of reproach! Bless God that that darkness is past and that better counsels now prevail! The following passage from a Government document, printed three years ago by order of the House of Commons, will be read with thankfulness and satisfaction: The Government of India cannot but acknowledge the great obligation under which it is laid by the benevolent exertions made by those 600 missionaries, whose blameless example and self-denying labours are infusing new vigour into the stereotyped life of the great populations placed under English rule, and are preparing them to be in every way better men and better citizens of the great empire in which they dwell.'-Statement exhibiting the Moral and Material Progress and Condition of India during the year 1871-2.

behind him. At length he fixed his head-quarters at Trichinopoly; there, as the agent of the Christian Knowledge Society, for a time he lived and laboured. Here, on an income of forty-eight pounds a year, dressed in dimity dyed black, eating rice and vegetables cooked in native fashion, and living in a room of an old building just large enough to hold himself and his bed, Schwartz devoted himself, with the utmost simplicity, combined with an enthusiasm which consumed him, to his apostolic labours among the inhabitants of the city and neighbourhood.' 1

Some years later he found his way to Tinnevelly. The Danish missionaries had already taken possession of the town of Palamcottah. In 1771 a native preacher had been appointed to this station. Schwartz fostered and furthered the good work which the natives had begun. At length he had the satisfaction of arranging for the confirmation of 100 converts at that place. In 1785 he again visited that mission and administered the Holy Communion to 80 persons out of a congregation of 160. Such was the beginning of that great and glorious work over which we now rejoice in the district of Tinnevelly. Schwartz did not confine his efforts to Palamcottah; he, in conjunction with Joenicke, an able and earnest missionary sent out by the Christian Knowledge Society in 1788, by a series of itinerations helped to spread the truth through other parts of that province. A number of chapels also were set up at his expense. Now the little one has become a thousand.' In the present day the two great missionary societies of the Church of England can rejoice over a native Christian community of upwards of 60,000 persons.

After the decease of Schwartz and Joenicke the work in Southern India languished for want of men. In 1807 there were only three missionaries to superintend the districts of

1 Sherring's Protestant Missions in India, p. 33.