CHAPTER XXVI

THE TUG OF WAR—THE BATTLE OF DIVERSE CREEDS IN CEYLON

Nestorian Christians—St. Francis Xavier—Portuguese—Dutch—Table of

British Missionaries—Roman Catholic—American Mission—Need of a

Medical Mission for Women—Jaffna College—High-caste students—

Commencement of Wesleyan Mission—Its Mission to Burmah.

I doubt whether in any other corner of the earth so small an area has

proved the battle-field for creeds so diverse as those which have

successively striven for the mastery in Ceylon. Certainly there is none

in which successive mercenary invaders, whether heathen or Christian,

have more unscrupulously used the cloak of religion as a political

engine for the furtherance of their own designs, or with more lamentable

results.

This fair Isle, somewhat smaller than Ireland, has for centuries been

distracted by religious and political conflicts, subject to the caprice

of successive rulers of diverse race and faith, each imposing its own

secular and spiritual government on the conquered islanders, and all

alike unstable. From the days when pure, cold, atheistic Buddhism first

sought (quite ineffectually) to drive out the devil-worship which

prevails to this day, and through Hindoo and Malay invasions, bringing

alternate waves of polytheism and monotheism, till Portuguese and Dutch

conquerors came, each in turn determined to enforce their own creed, the

people have been subject to such conflicting teaching, that to a very

great extent all these faiths have partly blended and partly neutralised

one another.

At the present day, although out of a population of somewhat over

3,000,000, 1,800,000 are professedly Buddhists, 630,000 are Hindoos,

220,000 are Mahommedans, and, according to the latest census, 283,000

are Christians, the great mass of these people are still in the thraldom

of the aboriginal devil-worship, which is a system of ceaseless

propitiation of malignant spirits.

As regards the effect on the Christianity of the Isle, it is evident

that creeds enforced by conquerors could not fail to be odious in the

eyes of the people. As to winning their hearts, that was never attempted

until the present century, unless, perhaps, in very early days when

Christianity was introduced from Persia by Nestorian missionaries. Of

this mention is made by Cosmas, a Nestorian Christian, who, writing in

the time of Justinian, tells that in Taprobane (which was the ancient

Greek name for Ceylon) there existed a community of Persian Christians,

tended by bishops, priests, and deacons, and having a regular liturgy.

These are understood to have been merchants attracted by commerce to

this Isle of gems, ivory, and precious timber, which was then the great

emporium of Oriental trade. They are supposed to have established their

headquarters on the shores of the Gulf of Manaar, but by the close of

the sixth century Eastern trade seems to have languished, the Persian

merchants no longer frequented the Isle, and no more is heard of these

Persian colonists. Their influence, however, remained, for when Sir John

Mandeville visited the North-West Province in the fourteenth century, he

states that he there found ‘good men and reasonable, and many Christian

men amongst them.’

Some lingering trace of their teaching doubtless predisposed the Tamil

natives of that district to the Christian faith, for when[221] St.

Francis Xavier (like his MASTER preaching to the fishers on the Lake of

Galilee) made his earliest proselytes among the fisher-folk of Cape

Comorin, those of Manaar sent him an invitation to come and teach them

also. Though unable to go in person, he sent one of his clergy, through

whom about seven hundred received baptism—a baptism which was

straightway crowned by martyrdom, as these early converts were forthwith

put to death by the Rajah of Jaffna, who was a worshipper of Siva. This

martyrdom was followed by the usual results, for ere long the sons and

other relations of the persecuting ruler embraced the Christian faith

and fled for protection to the mainland, to the court of the Christian

Viceroy of Goa.

-----

Footnote 221:

A.D. 1544.

-----

Soon afterward the Rajah himself, terrified by the encroachments of the

Portuguese, declared himself a convert, and induced St. Francis to

secure for him a political alliance with these irresistible invaders,

who accordingly established a sort of protectorate in his realm, which

soon resulted in the assertion of absolute power and the expulsion of

the tyrant from his dominions.

To this day the majority of the Singhalese and Tamil fishers are members

of the Roman Catholic Church, and members, moreover, who pay their

tithes in so liberal a fashion, that, when in 1840 the British

Government abolished the tax on fish, which had previously been an item

of revenue equivalent to about £6,000 per annum, the fishers simply

transferred their payment to the priests, by whom it has thenceforth

been collected. The Portuguese seem to have discovered the island by

accident, while pursuing trading vessels. They found Moorish ships laden

with cinnamon and elephants, and straightway their covetousness was

awakened. They found a people weakened by dissensions, amongst whom they

came in threefold character, as merchants, missionaries, and pirates.

They craved an inch, they quickly took an ell, and in truth a knell they

sounded throughout the weary land.

So soon as they obtained possession of Colombo and the adjoining

districts (A.D. 1505), Don Juan de Monterio was consecrated first Roman

Catholic Bishop of Ceylon, and every effort was made to induce the

Singhalese to declare themselves converts. So great was the official

pressure, enforced by the indescribably brutal cruelty of fanatical

soldiers, that multitudes yielded and submitted to baptism. Amongst

these nominal converts were the kings of Kandy and of Cotta, but this

was not till the former had been driven from his throne, and the latter

compelled to seek the aid of the Portuguese to retain his kingdom. The

example of their kings was followed by many of the nobles, who carried

compliance so far as to adopt the names of the Portuguese nobles who

stood sponsors at the holy font—a circumstance of which we find a

curious survival at the present day in the Portuguese Christian names

combined with native surnames borne by so many of the people of pure

blood, such as _Gregory de Soyza_ Wijeyegooneratne Siriwardene, _Don

David de Silva_ Welaratne Jayetilleke, _Johan Louis Perera_ Abeysekere

Goonewardene, &c.

Although the influence of Portuguese gold, the hope of official honours,

and the dread of barbarous torture combined to produce a general outward

conformity, it stands to reason that the majority of the people

continued secretly attached to the Buddhist and Brahman faiths; and so

great were the concessions made by the Roman Catholic teachers in the

way of assimilation as to call forth serious remonstrance from some of

the stricter Orders.

Thus matters continued till, in the beginning of the seventeenth

century, the Dutch obtained the upper hand in the struggle for

supremacy, and in A.D. 1642 they proclaimed the Reformed Church of

Holland to be the established religion of the Isle. Then followed a

period of most cruel persecution. Many of the Portuguese priests were

deported to India, one was beheaded, all were insulted and oppressed, as

were also the native Roman Catholics, many of whom, however, had now

become so thoroughly in earnest that no amount of persecution could make

them abjure their faith. These were Singhalese, Tamils, and descendants

of the Portuguese.

By way of exhibiting their superiority to childish reverence for images,

the Dutch indulged in such unworthy diversions as mutilating the sacred

figures in the churches, especially that of St. Thomas, the patron saint

of the Isle, into which they knocked great nails, and then shot it from

a mortar right into the Portuguese quarters. Thus Christianity was

presented to the islanders solely as the ground for bitter contentions

between these two bodies of those professing it. The Portuguese

persuasives having been the sword, the stake, and the spear, the Dutch

tried bribery, Government office, and emolument of various kinds.

In curious contrast with their contemptible sacrifice of Christianity to

trade in Japan, the Dutch here set to work with a high hand to establish

the Reformed Faith. Issuing stringent penal proclamations against the

celebration of mass and every other office of the Roman Catholic Church,

they took possession of the churches, established Reformed schools, and

by the close of the seventeenth century they reckoned their nominal

adherents among the Tamil population in the north of the Isle at about

190,000. Nevertheless, Baldæus, one of the earliest Dutch missionaries,

who in 1663 records this triumph, has to confess that, though Christian

in name, they retained many of the superstitions of their Hindoo

paganism.

But the Singhalese of the Southern District were by no means so ready to

adopt another new creed at the bidding of strangers; so to quicken their

intelligence, proclamations were issued to the effect that no native who

had not been admitted by baptism into the Protestant Church could hold

any office under Government, or even be allowed to farm land. Of course,

upon this there was no limit to the numbers who pressed forward to

submit to the test thus sacrilegiously imposed, Brahmans claiming their

right to do so without even laying aside the outward symbols of their

heathen worship.

And no wonder that they assumed the test to be merely an external form,

when in A.D. 1707 they saw the Dutch actually securing peace with the

Kandyan king by a loan of ships to convey messengers to Arracan, thence

to bring Buddhist priests of sufficiently high ecclesiastical rank to

restore the _Upasampada_ order in Ceylon and reinstate Buddhism, which

had fallen into decay during the long-continued wars.

The Dutch, however, had every intention of really educating the people

to an understanding of Christian doctrine, so free schools were

established everywhere throughout the maritime provinces over which they

held sway, and attendance was made compulsory and enforced by a system

of fines. The natives made no objection to sending their boys, but that

girls should be compelled to attend in public was then deemed

scandalous.

Even under the pressure of the new edict, the southern Buddhist

districts never yielded half so many nominal converts as did the Hindoo

population in the north. There was nothing in the prosaic forms of Dutch

Presbyterianism which appealed to their imagination. But the Church of

Rome received a fresh impetus from the fervent preaching of Father

Joseph Vaz, of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri at Goa, who (protected by

the reinstated Christian king of Kandy, who backed his advocacy by the

persecution and imprisonment of non-compliant subjects) gained 30,000

converts from the ranks of those who had hitherto continued staunch

Buddhists.

The Roman Catholics had now resumed worship in four hundred churches

throughout the Isle, and the Dutch deemed it necessary to reassert

themselves by issuing fresh penal laws, resulting in bitter contentions

between these two bodies of the Christian Church, while all the time

heathenism continued rampant, the Dutch themselves declaring that

multitudes of their nominal adherents were incorrigible Buddhists, who

regulated every act of life by the teaching of astrologers, always

calling in the aid of devil-dancers, rather than that of the clergy,

wearing heathen charms, and making offerings in the idol-temples.

But the penal laws which subjected Roman Catholics to all possible civil

disabilities, and even refused to recognise marriage by a priest as

valid, continued in force till 1806, when they were repealed by the

British Government, and religious liberty established. At the present

day scarcely a trace remains of the influence of Dutch Presbyterianism,

whereas the numerous descendants of the Portuguese converts continue to

be devout members of the Roman Catholic Church (combined, however, with

much of the grossest superstition of their heathen neighbours). A very

debased form of the Portuguese language is also extensively spoken, and,

in fact, was till recently in common use amongst all the mixed races,

whereas the Dutch language has entirely died out.

That the Dutch Church, so forcibly established, should have failed to

obtain any real footing in the hearts of the nominal converts is no

wonder, inasmuch as their clergy would not even take the trouble to

master the language of the people, but taught through interpreters. In

1747 there remained in all the Isle only five ministers of the Reformed

Church, and only one of these could even understand the language.

After this, however, they were ably assisted by Schwartz and other

members of the Danish Mission at Tranquebar, who undertook to train

young men for the ministry in Ceylon. But a Church which was so entirely

built up on a basis of political bribery and coercion could not stand

when these incentives were removed, and so this outwardly imposing Dutch

Church has faded away like a dream.

For some time, however, after the British annexation of Ceylon, Dutch

Presbyterianism was recognised as the Established Church of the colony,

and Mr. North (the first British Governor, afterwards Lord Guildford)

not only took active measures for restoring 170 of the Dutch

village-schools all over the island, but also offered Government

assistance to the clergy if they would itinerate through the rural

districts, and so keep alive some knowledge of the Christian faith.

How little the Home Government cared about the matter was proved by the

refusal to sanction the sum expended by Mr. North on the schools, which

accordingly had to be considerably reduced—a parsimony which was deemed

grievously out of keeping with the high salaries granted in other

departments.

Meanwhile, however, seeing the interest thus taken in the matter by

their new rulers, and expecting that religious profession and political

reward would continue to go hand in hand, the number of the nominal

converts, both Roman Catholic and Presbyterian, increased rapidly, but

only to be followed by wholesale apostasy so soon as they realised that

their creed was a matter of absolute indifference to their official

superiors. Thus, whereas in A.D. 1801 no less than 342,000 Singhalese

professed the Protestant faith, ten years later that number was

diminished by one half, the rest having returned to the worship of

Buddha!

Likewise in the northern districts, where in A.D. 1802 upwards of

136,000 of the Tamil population were nominal Presbyterians, the cloak of

‘Government religion’ was thrown off so rapidly, that, four years later,

the fine old churches were described by Buchanan as having been

abandoned, and left to go to ruin, the Protestant religion being

extinct, and the congregations having all returned either to the Church

of Rome or to the worship of the Hindoo gods. The clergy of the

Presbyterian Church had left a district where they were as shepherds

without sheep. Only one Tamil catechist remained in charge of the whole

province of Jaffna, while priests from the Roman Catholic college at Goa

divided the field with the reinstated Brahmans.

So feebly rooted was this Dutch Christianity, that there was reason to

fear that those who continued to profess the ‘Government religion’ were

really those who cared least about any faith; and though they and their

descendants have ever been willing to bring their children to holy

baptism, the very term which describes that sacrament, ‘_Kulawa

denawa_,’ ‘admission to rank,’ recalls the notion of secular advantage

which it conveys to their minds.

Of course, a country in which religion had been thus misused presented

the most disheartening of mission-fields. Nevertheless, in the beginning

of the present century, the London Mission, the Wesleyans, and the

Baptists each sent representatives to try what could be done; but their

early efforts seemed to themselves altogether without fruit. The Church

of England likewise sent chaplains to minister to the British

settlers.[222] About the same time the American Board of Foreign

Missions sent its emissaries to commence work at Madras. On their way

thither their vessel was wrecked off the north-west of Ceylon. This they

accepted as an indication of the Divine will that they were to go no

farther. They accordingly established themselves at JAFFNA, which was

then a very different place from the civilised town and province of the

present day, with gardens and lawn-tennis grounds, its network of

first-class roads and travelling facilities. At that time there were no

roads, only footpaths over heavy sand, which in the rainy season became

impassable. The salt lagoon was not bridged, and the only means of

travel was by canoe and palanquin. Bullock-carts were unknown luxuries,

and where vast cocoa and palmyra-palm plantations now flourish, all was

gloomy jungle, haunted by innumerable leopards, black bears, and other

dangerous foes. Packs of jackals infested the suburbs, making night

hideous with their cries, troops of monkeys and large grey wanderoos

boldly stripped the gardens, while gangs of robbers kept all honest folk

in terror.

-----

Footnote 222:

I may here quote Mr. Ferguson’s Chronological Table of Missions in

Ceylon:—

A.D. 1505. Portuguese visit Ceylon.

— 1544. Roman Catholicism first preached at Manaar.

— 1642. Dutch Presbyterian Ministry commenced.

— 1740. Arrival of Moravian Missionaries.

— 1804. Arrival of London Missionaries.

— 1812. Baptist Mission commenced.

— 1814. Wesleyan Mission commenced.

— 1816. American Mission commenced.

— 1818. Arrival of Church Missionaries (C.M.S.).

— 1840. Arrival of Church Missionaries (S.P.G.).

— 1854. Tamil Coolie Mission commenced.

-----

At this very uninviting spot the shipwrecked Americans took up their

quarters near the old Dutch fort, and devoted all their energies to the

evangelising of the Tamil population—an effort which has been carried on

without ceasing up to the present time with very marked success.

These pioneers were closely followed by the English Church Missionary

Society, whose first messengers commenced work at Nellore, in the

immediate neighbourhood of Jaffna, and there studied, taught, and

preached for twelve weary years ere their patience was rewarded by

making a single convert. Ere that year closed, however, a little band of

ten had renounced idolatry, and formed the nucleus of the future Church,

which, from that small beginning, has very slowly but steadily

developed, and has now just attained that stage of vitality when a

Church begins to recognise its own responsibility towards its heathen

neighbours—a conviction which inevitably results in self-extension.

Of course, mission work was now commenced on an entirely new footing. So

far from aiming at wholesale conversions, all inquirers were henceforth

individually subjected to most searching probation, and a rigid standard

of character has been maintained, with the result that, though the

recognised adherents of each Mission are comparatively few, they are of

true stuff, and many are of the kind which seeks to win others.

Thus the position of Ceylon in regard to Christian missions is that of a

canvas on which successive artists have tried their skill, each striving

to obliterate the work of his predecessors, resulting in an undertone of

heavy neutral tint; whereon, at the present moment, many draughtsmen are

simultaneously endeavouring to work out a Christian design, although

sorely at variance concerning the detail and colour of its several

parts.

The various Protestant sects do indeed seek to work in harmony, though,

of course, their differences must sorely perplex the heathen who is half

inclined to forsake his ancestral faith. But reckoning all together,

Episcopalians, Wesleyans, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, and

Baptists, these, even according to the census, only constitute a total

of about 70,000, and of these only about 35,000 are recognised adherents

of any Protestant mission. Here, as in India, many who would be no

credit to any creed can assume the name for their own ends. The Roman

Catholics, who are content to acknowledge very nominal conversions,

reckon their co-religionists at upwards of 212,000 but a very large

number of these are Christians solely in name, descendants of converts

of bygone generations, and absolutely ignorant of even the distinctive

outlines of Christian faith.

Of these two great branches of the Church Catholic, it can certainly not

be said that they are working in union in their Master’s cause, but

never does their estrangement appear so grievous as when thus displayed

in presence of an overwhelming majority of the heathen, whom each seek

to lead to the same Saviour—at least we would fain believe that such is

the object of the whole Catholic Church, though practically even the

largest charity must admit that a vast number of the Roman Catholic

converts merely exchange one idolatry for another. I have already

mentioned having myself seen, in one small chapel the image of Buddha on

one side and that of the Blessed Virgin on the other, receiving divided

worship; and as to the processions in the Tamil districts, it is

scarcely possible to distinguish those of so-called Christian images

from those of the Hindoo gods (which are worshipped alike by Buddhists

and Tamils), to say nothing of the fact that each are escorted by

companies of riotous devil-dancers and truly diabolical musicians, both

hired from heathen temples.

But even a most orthodox Roman Catholic festival is startling when

considered as a legitimate feature in the worship of ONE who has

revealed himself as ‘a jealous GOD,’ saying, ‘MY glory will I not give

to another, neither MY praise to graven images.’ Here, for instance, is

an account of the Midsummer pilgrimage of our Lady of Maddu as described

by the ‘Jaffna Catholic Guardian’ in 1884:—

The annual festival of this celebrated sanctuary was solemnised with

the customary pomp, fervour, and devotion. As the fame of this holy

spot spreads, so does the number of pilgrims increase from year to

year. This year the number assembled on the festival day was

calculated to be between fifteen and twenty thousand. Yet the order

and quiet that reigned throughout the time the festival lasted was

simply admirable. The cheerfulness and resignation of the people

amidst the discomforts and privations of a jungle life, far away from

any human habitation, _and especially in a place where water is

scarce_, was a source of edification to everyone. Nothing could be

more touching than to see the pious fervour with which the pilgrims,

_both Catholics and Hindoos, Buddhists and Moors_, from early dawn

till late in the night, flocked around the altar of our Holy Mother

_to thank her_ for favours received, and _to supplicate her_ for the

grace they stood in need of. The temporary church could not contain

the crowds that gathered at the morning and evening services.

The mixed multitude of pilgrims here represented as worshippers at the

shrine of the Blessed Virgin is certainly remarkable.

Perhaps we need scarcely wonder that the Protestant catechists, who

insist on a radical change of creed, sometimes meet with more serious

opposition from the Roman Catholic priests than from the heathen. For

instance, a catechist was recently selling books and tracts from village

to village in the Negombo district. The purchasers included sundry Roman

Catholics, who in that neighbourhood are numerous. One of these invited

the catechist to bring his books to the verandah of his house, and sent

a private intimation to the priest, who in the course of a few minutes

arrived, angrily denouncing the sale of such pernicious literature. The

catechist vainly pointed out that the books he was selling were all the

simplest teaching about Jesus addressed to Buddhists, but the irate

priest refused to hear him, and informing him that he had already

collected and burnt more than a hundred of the books sold in other

villages, he confiscated the whole remaining stock. Reckoning the prices

marked on those for sale, he paid down the money, but appropriated all

that were for gratuitous circulation, and, notwithstanding the

protestations of their owner, he carried off the whole lot to burn them.

During this scene a crowd of Romanists gathered round, and were worked

up to such excitement, that the catechist was thankful to escape from

the village without personal injury.

Of the three races whom both Catholics and Protestants seek to

influence, _i.e._, the Singhalese, Tamils, and Moormen, the most

satisfactory mission results have been obtained amongst the Tamils of

the Northern Province, Jaffna, as I have already stated, having long

been the headquarters of the American Congregational Mission, as also of

a Church of England and a Wesleyan branch, all, happily, proving their

love to one Master by working in sympathy, shoulder to shoulder, as

beseems loyal soldiers of the Grand Army, who are too deeply engrossed

in a real war with dark idolatry to contend over small differences of

regimental uniform.

Each of these missions has its own schools and chapels, scattered over

the many villages of the surrounding districts. The most notable feature

in all three is the recent recognition of the tremendously antagonistic

power of the heathen wives and mothers, ‘the backbone of the nation,’

whom it is always so difficult to reach on account of Oriental customs

of feminine seclusion; not that these are by any means so stringent in

Ceylon as on the mainland. So a great effort is now being made by each

of these missions to establish schools, and especially boarding-schools

for girls, and in every possible way to win the women.

This effort was indeed commenced at the very beginning of the AMERICAN

MISSION, when it was found that Tamil parents were willing to send their

boys to school, but declared that it was absurd to send girls, as they

could no more learn than sheep! One day, however, a heavy tropical

rainstorm came on so suddenly that two little girls sought shelter in

the mission-house. As the storm continued they could not leave till

evening, and they were hungry and began to cry. The missionary lady gave

them bread and bananas, and the younger sister ate, but the elder

refused.

Presently their parents came to seek for them, and when they learnt that

the youngest had eaten bread prepared by anyone not of their own caste

(worst of all by a foreigner), they were very angry, and declared that

the child was polluted, and that they would be unable to arrange a

suitable marriage for her. They were in sore perplexity, but decided

that the lady had better keep the child and bring it up.

To this she gladly agreed, and the little one was soon quite at home.

Her new friend sprinkled sand on the floor of the verandah, and thereon

wrote the 247 letters of the Tamil alphabet, a few every day, till her

young pupil could write them all herself. Some little Tamil playmates

came to see her, and were so delighted with this new game that they came

again and again, and very soon they were all able to read, to their own

great delight and the surprise of their parents.

Seeing how happy and well-cared for the first little girl was, other

parents consented to intrust their children to the foreign lady, and

thus in 1824 commenced the Oodooville (or, as now spelt, Uduvil) Girls’

Boarding School, probably the earliest effort of the sort in a heathen

land.

(I may remark in passing, that in 1887 several girls in the Oodooville

training school passed far ahead of any of the boys, a circumstance

which proved quite a shock to the Tamil believers in feminine incapacity

for intellectual studies!)

This school grew to very great importance under the care of Miss Eliza

Agnew, ‘the mother of a thousand daughters,’ as she was lovingly called

by the people. When herself a child only eight years of age, at home in

New York, her school-teacher, in giving a geography lesson to her class,

pointed out the large proportion of the world which is still heathen.

Then and there one little pupil resolved that, if God would allow her,

she would go and teach some of these to love her Saviour.

Domestic duties tied her to her home till she was a woman of thirty,

when the death of her only near relations left her free to follow her

early impulse, and she was allowed to join the newly-established

American Mission at Jaffna. There she worked without intermission for

forty-three years, loved and loving, and teaching successive

generations, the children, and even some grandchildren, of her first

pupils. Upwards of a thousand girls studied under her care, and of these

more than six hundred left the school as really earnest Christians.

These became the wives of catechists, teachers, native pastors, lawyers,

Government officials, and other leading men in the Jaffna peninsula, so

that the influence exerted by this one devoted Christian woman has been

beyond calculation. Hundreds of these families attended her funeral,

sorrowing as for no earthly mother.

The two sisters who told me these details, and who themselves carried on

her work and tended her last hours, added: ‘In hundreds of villages in

Ceylon and India there is just such a work waiting to be done by

Christian young women as that which, with God’s blessing, Miss Agnew

accomplished in the Jaffna peninsula. Heathen lands are open to-day as

they have never been open before; the stronghold of heathenism is in the

homes. It is the women who are teaching the children to perform the

heathen ceremonies, to sing the songs in praise of the heathen gods, and

thus they are moulding the habits of thought of the coming generation.

If we are to win the world for Christ, we must lay our hands on the

hands that rock the cradles, and teach Christian songs to the lips that

sing the lullabies; and if we can win the _mothers_ to Christ, the

_sons_ will soon be brought to fall at the feet of their Redeemer.

‘Zenanas, which forty years ago were locked and barred, are to-day open.

We have been told by Hindoo gentlemen that there are many educated men

in India to-day who are convinced of the truth of Christianity, and

would confess Christ, were it not that a wife or mother, who has never

been instructed about Him, would bitterly oppose their doing so.’

They added that in India alone there are 120,000,000 women and girls;

that in Great Britain alone there are about 1,000,000 more women than

men, and yet the total number of women who have as yet volunteered for

this honourable work in India, counting all in connection with every

Protestant Missionary Society, is barely 500; and knowing from full

personal experience the gladness of life and fortune consecrated to this

grand cause, they ask; ‘Cannot many more women be spared from their

homes, and cannot more go who are possessed of private means, and here

realise how satisfying is this life-work?’[223]

-----

Footnote 223:

For most interesting details of the work of these two sisters, see

‘Seven Years in Ceylon,’ by Mary and Margaret Leitch. Published by S.

W. Partridge and Co. Price 2_s._ 6_d._, post free.

-----

From their own personal knowledge of pitiful cases of the terrible

suffering of women, owing to the total lack of the very simplest medical

skill, and to the barbarous system of so-called ‘sick-nursing’ (which

makes one marvel how sick persons ever survive), these ladies specially

plead for trained medical women to come to the aid of their sisters in

Ceylon and India. But on this subject I cannot do better than quote part

of a letter from Dr. Chapman, a native Christian doctor at Jaffna, who,

speaking of the need for a Medical Mission for Women in Ceylon, says:—

A favourite prescription is a pill made of croton seed. One pill will

act, perhaps, forty times! The stronger the pill is the better, so

they think. Sometimes one pill is enough to kill a person. Two cases

of such mistreatment, and death from that cause alone, happened

recently to two Christian women, both of whom were teachers in

mission-schools.

He also writes at some considerable length about the heathen doctors not

allowing their patients water or sufficient food, and speaks of many

cases of death simply from starvation.

Speaking of barbarous native customs in regard to child-birth, he says:—

A few days ago I was asked to go to a house where a woman was being

confined. The woman was tied to the roof of the house by a rough rope

and kept standing upon her knees. She was also supported by other

native women. The room was very small, and as no ventilation was

allowed, was very hot. The poor woman and her friends were in profuse

perspiration. She was held up in this position _three days and two

nights_. She was not allowed to rest or lie down at all. The friends

of the woman, who were holding her up, took turns with each other and

rested themselves, but the poor woman had no one to change with.

When I reached the house, her limbs were cold, and she was not able to

hold up her head, and was fast sinking. I ordered that they should

take her down and let her lie on the ground, and that they should give

her brandy and ammonia.... I did everything in my power to save her,

but she died the following night.

_In all such cases of confinement the women are held up in this

standing posture for days and nights until the child is born or the

woman dies._ The reason of this great superstition, among the poor and

the rich, among the educated and uneducated, among the Christians and

heathen, all alike, is that they think gravitation will assist the

mother in the birth of the child. By thus being held up for days

without rest or food, the mother loses her whole strength, and, in

many instances, becomes unable to bring forth her babe.

However, if a child is born, the mother is taken to another room and

is bathed, that is to say, she is laid on a cold mud floor and cold

water is dashed all over her till she is thoroughly chilled. This is

immediately done with all possible haste, without letting the mother

rest a moment, of course causing a fearful shock to the system.

If she escapes this crisis, she is laid on a mat, and a

strongly-spiced paste is given her to eat, which is made of pepper,

garlic, and ginger. Nothing else is given her for three days. No water

is given. On the fourth day rice is given, with hot spices and dried

fish. She is daily bathed in hot water; spices and oil are freely

given her to eat; not a drop of water is she allowed to drink. The

mother is allowed to nurse the child only on the fifth day. Every

woman must get fever on the fifth day. Fever is good, they think.

Before the fifth day the child is fed with some decoction.

The population of the province is about 316,000, and taking the

birth-rate at 3 per cent., there must be some 9,480 births every year,

and yet there are no trained midwives to assist in such cases.

The fact that this doctor was only called after the woman had been tied

up to the roof of the house for three days and two nights, and when it

was too late for him to render any aid, shows the extreme reluctance of

the people to call for the help of a male doctor at such times.

Miss Leitch tells me that in such cases she has gone into homes where

the poor exhausted woman was lying shivering on a cold mat, and

literally dying for want of a warm drink, while the house has been

crowded with relatives bewailing as for one already dead. By turning

them all out and applying needful warmth, she has had the happiness of

seeing the poor mother recover, but knew that, however exhausted she

herself might be, she dared not leave the house, as all the relatives

would at once return, and pandemonium would again surround the sick-bed.

In many houses devil-dancers are called in to exorcise the evil spirits

supposed to be present, and the wretched patient is distracted by the

beating of tom toms for hours at a time.

Here, then, is one grand field of work for Christian women, as yet

wholly unoccupied, and assuredly, of all phases of work, is that which

most closely assimilates to His, the merciful MASTER, Who won men’s

hearts by healing all manner of sickness and disease.

A very important step was taken this year when Dr. Kynsey, the principal

medical officer of Ceylon, sought the Governor’s sanction for the

admission of female students into the Medical College at Colombo, there

to be trained as doctors for their countrywomen. The College will be

open to them from May 1, 1892, when they will attend the same lectures

as male students, but have separate class-rooms for anatomy, their

studies being directed by Mrs. Van Ingen, a fully qualified lady-doctor,

herself trained in the Indian Medical School for Women, founded by Lady

Dufferin in 1885.

That great scheme has already resulted in the establishment of

thirty-eight hospitals specially for women, with forty lady-doctors,

while 204 female students are now being educated to aid the suffering

women of India.

Scholarships and other inducements will be offered to attract students

in Ceylon; and, as in India, the scheme will be worked on entirely

unsectarian lines, no attempt being made to influence the religion of

either students or patients.

It is certainly much to be regretted that Christian medical missions

should have been unable to occupy this field, and secure so important a

means of influence, instead of its becoming an altogether secular

agency.

As regards the quiet extension of purely spiritual work, many of the

native Christian women now recognise the duty of trying to influence

their heathen sisters by visiting them in their homes; and though such

work implies very great effort on the part of those in whom the second

nature of custom has exaggerated natural timidity, a considerable number

are now doing excellent service as Bible-women, even making their way in

the wholly heathen villages.

Some of the Tamil women who have undertaken this good work are the wives

of Government officials, doctors, or lawyers, so that their words are

the more certain to carry weight with their countrywomen, who invariably

receive them with respect, and acknowledge that only a strong conviction

of religious duty, combined with a remarkable love to their unknown

neighbours, could possibly have induced them to come forth from the

privacy of their own homes. This movement was commenced in Jaffna in

1868 by the Wesleyan Mission, and was successfully adopted by the

English Church and American Missions there. The latter has upwards of

forty of these good pioneers now working in various parts of the

peninsula.

From one district the superintendent writes: ‘The Bible-readers teach in

the forenoon, and every afternoon go from village to village, collecting

the women and holding meetings. Thus twenty villages are visited. The

great interest of our work consists in the willingness of the women of

all classes to learn to read for themselves. There are now in this

district 373 women under instruction. One hundred can now read the

Bible, and all the rest are learning. The majority of the women are of

the Vellala or farmer caste. Last year we had nine Brahman women, now we

have twenty-two. Of other classes we have a few from the barber,

carpenter, washer, and tree-climber (_i.e._, toddy-drawer) villages.

Many of these attend the weekly meetings of the “Helping Hand Society”

for study and recitation.’

Another superintendent of ten Bible-women tells of their weekly visits

to 375 women in their respective village-homes. Each of these women

undertakes to learn by heart[224] each week four verses of the Bible and

part of a hymn, the portions selected being those assigned in the

village day-schools, in order that the little girls, on their return

home in the evening, may thus become pupil-teachers, helping their

mothers and grown-up sisters to learn their lessons. In truth, the story

of the Mission records some very pathetic instances of how the ewes

follow the lambs—in other words, how the simple faith of little children

has resulted in the conversion of their parents. Of course, the primary

object of each visitor is to teach every woman to pray, and they have

reason to hope that a very large proportion of their pupils do so, many

having had the courage openly to confess their conversion.

-----

Footnote 224:

‘To memorise’ is the expressive American abbreviation.

-----

In addition to this house-to-house visitation, these ten Bible-women

teach sewing to upward of 250 girls at twelve day-schools; they also

teach in the Sunday-schools, and otherwise make themselves useful in

arranging women’s meetings.

Similar reports, more or less encouraging, come from the other

districts, in one of which, at a meeting of heathen women, one told how,

fifty years ago, when quite a child, she had been for six months at one

of the Mission boarding-schools, when her parents removed her in

consequence of an outbreak of whooping-cough, and she had not been

allowed to return. But those six months seemed to remain in her memory

as the one bright spot of life.

To some of the high-caste women, the fact that the Bible-women are

mostly of low caste is in itself an objection to submitting to their

teaching, which is only overcome by the ambition of learning to read;

the fact, too, of having to sit on equal terms amongst pupils who are

also of low caste is at first a great barrier to women of the higher

castes attending any meeting. In many cases, however, this difficulty

has been overcome, and a kindliness hitherto undreamt of seems to herald

the dawn of the faith which teaches unselfish loving-kindness.

Remembering how the first girl was given to the care of the

missionaries, because, having eaten of their bread, she was polluted, it

is touching to hear now of an annual meeting at Batticotta of the Native

Missionary Society, at which upwards of a thousand communicants

assemble, the native Christians of the town providing an abundant meal

of curry and rice for all visitors—a putting aside of caste prejudices

which is indeed a triumph of grace.

Formerly some heathen families who sent their daughters to the

mission-schools used to insist on elaborate ceremonial ablutions before

allowing them to re-enter their home in the evening!

The regular work of the American Mission at Jaffna is carried on by

eleven native pastors and about sixty assistants, under the supervision

of five married missionaries. Here, as in the Hawaian isles, the

venerable American missionaries, several of whom have here toiled

ceaselessly for half-a-century, are affectionately designated ‘Father’

of their flock. Thus the late much-loved Principal of the College,

Father Hastings, is succeeded in office by Father Howland. Father and

Mrs. Spaulding, and I think Father Smith, also each gave upwards of

fifty years’ work to Jaffna, and have left sons and daughters who follow

in their steps. Each district has at least one chapel, but great efforts

are made to carry on systematic preaching in as many villages as

possible, and it is hoped that the numerous books, Bibles, and portions

of Scripture sold by colporteurs will prove silent teachers in many

homes. Not only all the schools, but also the police-courts are found to

be suitable preaching centres, on account of the large number of people

who generally congregate in the neighbourhood.

It is also hoped that much good may result from the multiplication of

what are called ‘moonlight meetings,’ which are informal meetings in the

homes of any of the people who care to call together their friends and

neighbours for religious discussion or instruction. The workers of all

denominations agree as to the advantage of diligently prosecuting this

system, which seems to find much favour with the people, who in some

districts assemble to the number of several hundreds. In some of the

Singhalese districts even Buddhist priests sometimes attend these

meetings in quite a friendly spirit.

Naturally, however, this is not always the case, the zeal of the

Christian preachers sometimes awakening a corresponding energy in the

more rigid Buddhists. For instance, the marked success of the moonlight

meetings in the neighbourhood of Cotta, near Colombo, induced the

Buddhists to commence holding opposition services. The majority of the

people, however, refused to countenance these, declaring that the

Christians ‘were only doing their own work and trying to do good, and

that to commence such meetings simply out of spite or envy showed a very

bad spirit!’

As regards open-air preaching in the streets or other public places,

Buddhists and Christians being alike protected by the British

Government, have precisely the same liberty and security.

The total number of Church members in connection with the American

Congregational Mission is as yet only about 1,300, but the attendants at

public worship are about 7,000; and there is reason to believe that a

very much larger number are converts at heart, although the fear of

domestic persecution, and the difficulties of strict Sabbatical

observance and of disposing of extra wives, prevent many from professing

themselves Christians.

One of the most remarkable Christian institutions in Ceylon is the

College for Tamils at Batticotta, in the Jaffna peninsula, which

originated in a purely spontaneous effort made in 1867 by the native

Christians in that district to secure for themselves and their

descendants a superior education both in English and Tamil. They

succeeded in raising 1,700_l._—a large sum in a land where the wage of a

labourer is but 6_d._ a day. This nest-egg was supplemented by 6,000_l._

from America, and in 1872 the college was started under the control of a

board of directors. These are the Government Agent of the Northern

Province, eleven representatives of the native Christian gentlemen of

the community, and the senior missionaries of the three Christian

regiments which work in that province in such admirable brotherly union,

namely, the CHURCH OF ENGLAND MISSION, and the AMERICAN and WESLEYAN

MISSIONS, all of whom are in full sympathy with the work of this noble

institution.

While the college is undenominational, it is essentially Christian, and

the form of worship adopted is Congregational. Not one heathen teacher

has ever been employed in it, and all students are required to live on

the premises, and are thus continuously under strong Christian

influence.

It might be supposed that Hindoo young men of high caste would object to

paying full price for board and lodging in a college where a standing

rule is that all inmates shall refrain from heathen practices, and from

wearing idolatrous marks on their foreheads; but so highly is the

education prized, that no objection to these conditions is ever

made,[225] and the Hindoo students not only eat, sleep, and live with

the Christians, but unite in the daily study of the Bible, and are

present at morning and evening prayers, the Sabbath-school, and Church

services of the American Mission.

-----

Footnote 225:

Perhaps I ought to say ‘no objection by those really concerned.’ In

point of fact, a party-cry of ‘religious intolerance’ was raised a few

years ago by certain wealthy Hindoos, who, although too indifferent to

establish schools for themselves, made this a ground of attack on

missionaries, who rightly insist on all children who attend Christian

schools coming with clean faces, that is to say, without the temple

marks of cow-dung ash on their foreheads.

So many Europeans seem to think that they cannot yield sufficiently

courteous recognition to heathen customs, that the strong words of

Bishop Copleston on this question may well be remembered: ‘It matters

everything what we teach by our action to our heathen neighbours and

to our Christian people. Let us teach that the symbol of Siva—if it

means anything but a dirty face—is an outrage on the majesty and love

of the One True God, that it is what Scripture calls “an abomination,”

to be abhorred by all loyal children of the One Father. And let us

remind our own people that THERE IS SUCH A THING AS A SOUND AND TRULY

RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE, WHICH IS NOT TOLERANT OF AFFRONTS TO OUR GOD;

WHICH WILL NOT TREAT AS ONE AMONG MANY FORMS OF RELIGION THE WORSHIP

OF IDOLS AND THE DENIAL OF OUR LORD.... Our heathen neighbours will

have reason to thank us in the end, and in the meantime will respect

us, if we are determined both to speak and act the truth in love.’

-----

This college takes no grant-in-aid from Government, and until June 1891

it was not affiliated to any university,[226] as experience proves that

students who are working for passes grudge the time bestowed on Biblical

study, which does not count in their examinations. Naturally a college

which recognises the training of Christian catechists and schoolmasters

as the primary object of its existence prefers to be independent of a

purely secular superior.

-----

Footnote 226:

The directors state that the decision of Government to give up

Cambridge and introduce London has compelled them to affiliate the

Jaffna College to that of Calcutta.

-----

The result of this system has been that, out of about 350 students who

have been educated here, fully 150 have gone out into the world as

Christians and communicants, and are leading such consistent lives as

tend greatly to uphold the honour of their faith.

In India, on the other hand, where in the Government schools absolutely

secular education is given, with entire disregard to religion—even

Bible-reading being set aside—the statistics of the four universities

show that only between four and five per cent. of the graduates are

Christians; the rest, for the most part, while learning to despise

heathenism, drift into agnosticism, and even atheism.

I cannot refrain from quoting a paragraph on this subject from a

non-Christian Bombay paper. The writer says: ‘Education provided by the

State simply destroys Hindooism; it gives nothing in its place. It is

founded on the benevolent principle of non-interference with religion,

but in practice it is the negation of God in life. Education must

destroy idolatry, and the State education of India, benevolent in its

idea, practically teaches atheism. It leaves its victims without any

faith.’

This lamentable result, which is flooding India with a multitude of

highly-educated utter sceptics, was vividly brought home to the

Christian workers in Jaffna when they found the existing college totally

inadequate for the number of promising young men in the schools, who

were consequently compelled to cross over to India, and there seek the

‘higher education’ in Government schools.

Many of these were apparently on the verge of professing themselves

Christians, but after a course of two or three years in totally heathen

and grossly immoral surroundings, they invariably returned either as

bitter heathen or atheists; a state of matters all the more distressing

as they were in many cases betrothed to Christian girls in the

mission-schools.

It was evident that the Christian college at Jaffna must be placed on

such a footing as to enable it to meet this ever-increasing need. A sum

of 30,000_l._ was required for its immediate extension, and it is

delightful to know that this has been almost raised by the efforts of

the two sisters of whom I have already spoken, and who came to Britain

and to America for this purpose.

There is every reason to believe that this college is destined to fill a

very important part in the evangelisation of India, for this reason,

namely, that a singularly large proportion of the Tamils resident on the

peninsula of Jaffna are of very high caste, and the 15,000 children

attending the Christian day-schools and the 2,500 communicants connected

with the three Missions are mostly of high caste. It is scarcely

possible for Europeans to realise how deeply ingrained in Hindoo nature

is the reverence for all members of the upper castes, however poor they

may be, and the natural tendency to look with contempt on low-caste men.

Now it so happens that in India the majority of converts are of low

caste, and these, as a general rule, are not only intellectually

inferior to the higher castes, but are generally too poor to afford the

highest course of education. Consequently, Brahman teachers, whose caste

secures unbounded reverence, are frequently found even in the

mission-colleges and high-schools, with the badge of heathen gods on

their foreheads, instructing the students in the highest classes, while

native Christian teachers take the lower subjects. Possibly the native

pastor who gives the Bible-lessons is by caste a Pariah, and however

excellent he may be, is, as such, despicable in the eyes of the Hindoo

student.

Thus the social barrier of caste enters even into the Mission colleges,

acting as a very serious drawback. Of course the various Missions would

gladly replace the Hindoo and Mahommedan teachers by thoroughly educated

and influential Christian men, could such be procured. The Principal of

the Lucknow High School alone states that he would thankfully engage two

hundred Christian teachers for the schools of the American Mission in

that district, were such available; but as it is, heathen teachers are

engaged of necessity.

Now in these respects Jaffna is very remarkably favoured, and is

apparently destined to become to Southern India what Iona once was to

Scotland—the school for her teachers. It must be borne in mind that

Tamil is one of the four great Dravidian tongues, and is the language of

13,000,000 of the inhabitants of the Carnatic, extending from Cape

Comorin to Madras. Glorious indeed is the prospect thus unfolded, that

(as has been said) ‘after having received its two false religions from

India, Ceylon shall, by a Christ-like retribution, send over her sons to

preach the one true religion to India’s millions.’

Already a large proportion of the students trained in Jaffna College

(men whose attainments fully qualify them for secular work on salaries

of from £5 to £10 a month, with prospects of promotion) have voluntarily

chosen to devote their lives to Christian work as teachers, catechists,

or pastors on a salary of £1 10_s._ to begin with, and no prospect of

ever rising above £4 a month.

Several of the most able have volunteered to leave their beloved Isle in

order to undertake posts in mission-schools at Rangoon, Singapore,

Madras, Madura, Bombay, Indore, and many other parts of India, where

they are working most successfully, thus profitably trading with their

birthright-talent of good caste. One of these young men, who for some

time has been working in Ahmednugger on a salary of £4 a month, was

offered £10 a month if he would accept work elsewhere. He refused,

saying that he believed he could do more good where he was, and where he

has won extraordinary influence with a large class of high-caste young

Hindoos.

It would be well if some of those who are ever ready to sneer at the

imaginary pecuniary advantages which are supposed to influence native

Christians, could realise the full meaning of a few such details as

these, and also the extraordinarily generous proportion of their salary,

or other worldly possessions, which is almost invariably set aside by

the converts in Ceylon (and in many other lands) as their offering for

some form of Church work—tithes, which we are so apt to deem excessive,

being accounted quite the minimum to be offered.

It is quite a common thing in the gardens of Christians to see every

tenth palm or other fruit-bearing tree specially marked in token that

its whole crop is devoted to some sacred purpose. Poultry is reared for

the same object, and the eggs laid on Sunday are set apart as an

offering; and even the very poor families who possess no garden find a

method of contributing their mite; for when the mother is measuring out

so many handfuls of rice for each member of her household, she ends by

taking back one large handful from the common store, and places it in

‘the Lord’s rice-box,’ the contents of which are periodically emptied,

and being added to those of many neighbours, make up a considerable item

in the teacher’s store.

I have already referred to the well-developed missionary spirit of these

Jaffna Christians. So early as 1848 this showed itself in providing

funds to work a purely native mission to the 28,000 heathen inhabitants

of the large group of islands lying to the west of the peninsula. One of

these isles, Ninathevu, is the special care of the Christian students in

the College, who there built a school, and now continue to raise the

funds for the support of their own missionary and his wife by devoting

many of their recreation hours (while the others are playing cricket and

other games) to cultivating a garden and selling its produce.

These young men also do their utmost for the conversion of the Hindoo

students in the college, and on Sunday afternoons they disperse

themselves over eight or nine of the neighbouring villages, holding

Sabbath-schools, which are attended by about 400 children. One of the

young men invested £5 in an American organ to enliven the services in

one village—an extravagance which called forth remonstrances from his

relations, till he proved that he had simply abstained from spending it

on tobacco.[227]

-----

Footnote 227:

In looking over missionary subscription lists, I see that several

sensible men have sent considerable sums under the very suggestive

heading of ‘SAVED FROM SMOKE.’ I could not but think how much

pleasanter many of my acquaintances would be if only they would follow

this example, and leave the atmosphere untainted. Considering that men

in general do not work harder than the majority of women, and their

diet and drink are certainly not more stinted than that of their

sisters, can there be any valid reason why, in every household, the

lords of creation should expend on this item of self-indulgence a sum

which, were it devoted to missionary purposes, would entitle that

family to rank high among contributors to the good cause?

-----

The Blue Ribbon Army are also doing good work, and have successfully

established brotherhoods at Jaffna, Galle, and Kandy.

There are at present seventy-six young men in the college, nine students

of divinity, and about 400 boys and girls attending the schools. The

total attendance at the village day-schools under the management of the

Principal of the College is about 2,500, and the American Mission has

about 8,000 children in other schools, of whom it is certain that a

large proportion will grow up as Christians, notwithstanding the

disadvantage that about one-third of the teachers employed are

unavoidably heathen.

The happy results of the hearty co-operation of the English and American

missionaries at Jaffna are especially observed in the union of all Young

Men’s Christian Associations throughout the peninsula, and in their

healthy tone. The special value of such associations may well be

imagined when each member composing it has had to nerve himself to come

out from the idolatrous worship of his kinsmen, and to endure the cross

of their ridicule and persecution; and to many this has been meted in

full measure, and bravely and patiently borne.

The three Missions also hold union Bible-meetings, at which the people

are addressed by representatives of all three Missions, and are thus

spared the confusion which is so often entailed by the antagonistic

attitude of Christian sects one towards another. Here, while each

retains its individuality, all unite in one common cause, which surely

is the true solution of that much-talked-of phantom, Church union.

It seems to me that a very fit emblem of the Christian Church is that of

a mighty WHEEL, of which CHRIST is both tyre and axle-tree, and HIS true

servants in all the Christian regiments are the spokes. All are bound

together in HIM, and so, although they may not touch one another, all

unite to do HIS work in the progress of HIS kingdom. So the Wheel, which

for ages has been the symbol alike of Buddhism and of Sun-worship, seems

to me a most appropriate emblem of the true SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Though the WESLEYAN MISSION in this island cannot record such startling

success as has attended its work in the fallow fields of the Fijian and

some other Pacific groups, it has a special interest as being _the very

first Oriental station of this denomination_. Its commencement was so

strongly advocated by Dr. Coke, that the Wesleyan Conference consented

to sanction his collecting funds and selecting companions willing to

accompany him thither.

Accordingly, on December 30, 1813, he embarked with six missionaries,

two of whom were married. But the voyage, then in slow sailing-vessels,

was a very different business to the pleasure-trip of the present day by

swift steamers. To reach Ceylon they had to travel _viâ_ Bombay, a

voyage of about six months, and ere they sighted the Indian land two of

that little company had been called home. The first of these was Mrs.

Ault, wife of one of the missionaries. She died in February. But a yet

sorer trial awaited the Mission in the sudden death of their leader, the

zealous and energetic Dr. Coke, whose master-mind had originated the

whole movement, and whose death, ere even reaching their destination,

proved sorely bewildering to the survivors, the more so as they were

unable even to cash his bills, and so provide money for their

maintenance. They found good friends, however in Sir Evan Nepean,

Governor of Bombay, and Lord Molesworth, Commandant of Galle, where they

finally arrived on June 29, 1814, having left Bombay nine days

previously.

The Dutch Church being virtually dead, there was at that time no other

mission of the Reformed Church in Ceylon, or rather none had secured any

footing; therefore, after a fortnight’s consideration, and much prayer

and consultation, they resolved to divide the land, three of the six

being sent north to commence work in the Tamil districts at Jaffna and

Batticaloa, while the other three were to remain in the southern

districts among the Singhalese Buddhists, establishing their

headquarters at Galle and Matara. The former had, of course, to begin by

learning the Tamil tongue, while their brethren in the south had to

acquire that of the Singhalese.

In the three years that followed, the arrival of six other missionaries

enabled them to commence work at Trincomalee, Negombo, Kalutara, and

Point Pedro, and to spare one of their number to commence a mission at

Madras. One is reminded of ‘the grain of mustard-seed’ on learning how

small were the beginnings of the work which, though it has not yet

‘overshadowed the land,’ has certainly taken firm root in every

province. At Port Pedro the first seed was sown in 1818, when a piece of

land on the seaside was rented for the equivalent of 9_d._ a year, and

thereon was commenced a school attended by twelve boys.

In 1819 these scattered workers met at Galle to estimate their progress.

They found that in the past five years 249 persons had become Church

members, which of course implied a very much larger number of attendants

at Christian services, and included several Buddhist priests.

Seventy-five schools had been established, at which 4,484 children were

receiving instruction. Mission-houses and chapels had been built, a

considerable number of native catechists had been trained to teach their

countrymen, and a printing establishment in Colombo was pouring forth

thousands of portions of the Scriptures and of tracts.

Wherever it was found possible so to renovate the old Dutch churches as

to make them safe, these were occupied, but the majority had gone so far

to ruin and decay that the walls had to be taken down and rebuilt, so

that it was in most cases found simpler to build afresh. One of the most

important of the new churches was that built in 1839 at Batticaloa,

where progress was particularly satisfactory, and was marked in the four

following years by no less than 758 baptisms, of which 447 were of

adults.

The Batticaloa station embraces a large number of villages scattered

along the seaboard for a distance of eighty miles, and is worked from

two mission-centres—one at the capital, which is known to the natives as

Puliantivu, and the other at Kalmunai. The latter, however, seems as yet

to have afforded comparatively small encouragement; but recently an

awakening seems to have commenced, a symptom of which is the largely

increased attendance of native women at the village meetings, after one

of which the native minister was surprised and gladdened by the remark

of a heathen man of good position, ‘I verily believe that your religion

will soon overspread this place, and surely stamp out ours.’

The opening at Kalmunai of a girls’ boarding-school is in itself a sure

detail of success, as has been well proven by a similar school at

Batticaloa, in the immediate neighbourhood of which the Wesleyans have

also nine day-schools for girls and about twenty for boys, with a total

of about 2,500 pupils.

At Trincomalee, Port Pedro, and most of the other stations, the same

care is extended to the girls; indeed, at Jaffna the Wesleyan Mission

established a boarding-school for their benefit so early as 1837.

Certainly it could only accommodate six girls, but it has gone on

steadily increasing, and now numbers upwards of 100 boarders. Parents of

the upper class, who will only allow very young girls to attend

day-schools, do not object to send their daughters to boarding-schools,

paying a moderate fee towards their expenses; and so well pleased are

they to see them turn out so neat, clean, and punctual in their habits,

so well instructed in the art of needlework, and especially in making

their own clothes, that they are content to accept the probability of

their becoming Christians, a result which very frequently follows, so

that such schools are likely to exercise an ever-enlarging influence on

the homes of the next generation.

In many parts of the country, however, mothers, and especially

grandmothers, who themselves have had no education, fail to see its

advantage for their descendants, and many girls who were converts at

heart have been removed from the schools and compelled again to kneel

before idol shrines. Of course here, as in all other heathen lands, a

very large number of hearers are convinced of the truth of Christianity,

and many are practically Christians at heart, but have not yet found

courage to face the inevitable domestic persecution that awaits them

when their inward conviction results in outward profession.

One thing certain is that, sooner or later, every school yields some

converts, and the testimony of all the Missions is that more than half

the adults who eventually become Christians attribute their conversion

to teaching received in the schools, which they had ignored at the time,

but which, like well-laid fuel, was ready to ignite in due season. In

many cases these early impressions smoulder on through half a lifetime

ere the convert finds courage openly to confess the faith which must

subject him to such severe domestic persecution. For instance, amongst

those who have recently sought baptism from the Church Mission at

Jaffna, one was the hereditary manager of a famous Hindoo temple, who

for thirty long years had vainly striven to silence the inward voice

which first spoke to his conscience at the Mission-school.

Another is an old man seventy-five years of age, who in his boyhood

attended the American school. He was a very hopeful pupil, and was the

subject of much special prayer. He was, however, removed by his

relations, all of whom were strict worshippers of the Hindoo gods. From

the time he left school he never entered a heathen temple, but, like

Nicodemus of old, he sought God secretly by night, dreading the

persecution which he knew would result from confessing his Lord.

Sometimes he spoke to his wife about Christianity, but she called him a

madman, and so he still shrank from taking up such a cross as that of

open avowal. At last, when attacked by a severe illness, he vowed that

if he recovered he would confess himself to be a disciple of Christ. He

did recover, and kept his vow; whereupon his own daughters turned him

out of the house, and the old man would have been left to starve had not

a still older Christian catechist, who was a distant connection of his

own, offered him a home under his roof, thus securing a little interval

of peace ere this true friend, ‘Old Philips,’ was himself called to his

rest—a good and faithful servant, who since his own baptism in 1830 had

never ceased working diligently and successfully for the conversion of

others.

Remembering all the prayers that were offered, sixty years ago, on

behalf of that promising school-boy one cannot but think how apt is the

illustration of the husbandman who, ‘with long patience,’ waits for the

precious fruit.

The aim of the Society is to establish in every village a school with an

able teacher, who, while fulfilling all requirements of the Government

code of education, shall make the religious instruction of the children

his primary care. To provide such Christian teachers, and also local

preachers to keep up a constant series of services for the heathen in

all the villages, the Wesleyan Mission has established at Jaffna a

Training Institute for male teachers, which shall supply native agents

for the building up of a healthy native Church in the Tamil districts.

To those who have noted how sure a test of vitality in any branch of the

Church is its recognition of the duty of winning others, it is

especially interesting to note that the native Wesleyan congregations at

Jaffna and Batticaloa (having for many years entirely supported their

own pastors) have now established among themselves societies which send

out catechists to preach in certain jungle-villages. These are

maintained by funds locally subscribed by the native Christians as

thank-offerings for having themselves been called out of heathen

darkness.

The Wesleyan Church at Jaffna also sends Tamil ministers to Colombo and

its neighbourhood to minister to their countrymen who have migrated

thither.

For the southern districts, namely, Negombo, Colombo, Kandy, Galle, and

Matara, the native ministers are, of course, either Singhalese or

Burghers. They are said to be not only eminently good men, but in many

cases so well versed in Buddhistic learning as to prove more than a

match for such priests as have sought to draw them into controversy. As

an instance of the excellent work done by some of these men, I may refer

to that of one now gone to his rest—the Rev. Peter De Zylva, a

Singhalese bearing a Portuguese name. He was appointed to begin work in

the district of Moratuwa Mulla (commonly called Morottoo, which lies

between Colombo and Kalutara), as being a part of the country notorious

for its ignorance and the prevalence of devil-worship. Here he commenced

visiting from house to house and conversing in the bazaars with all who

would speak with him, but many months elapsed ere he was rewarded by any

symptom of success. At length, however, his words, exemplified by his

own good life, began to take effect, and at the end of twenty years he

had the joy of knowing that, out of a population of about 4,700, 600 of

the villagers had become faithful followers of his Lord.

One of his earliest converts was the Kapurala or priest of a

devil-temple, close to which he had established a preaching-station.

Without leaving his temple, the old man could not choose but hear the

hymns and prayers and preaching which began so strangely to influence

those who had hitherto been his own followers. Ere long he himself was

convinced that HE of whom De Zylva preached was a better Master than his

cruel devil-spirits; so locking the temple, which was his own property,

he presented the key to the Christian teacher, and bade him do as he saw

fit with all the poor idols, for that thenceforth he would worship only

the Saviour, of whom he had now heard. And the old priest proved a

faithful and an earnest helper.

The good work thus begun has continued to prosper, the converts proving

their faith by the self-denying liberality of their alms. They now

support two Singhalese pastors, and have built chapels and

mission-houses. One of the former, which was recently opened, is a large

substantial building, erected from a native design under native

superintendence. All labour for the roof and windows was contributed

gratuitously, a hundred carpenters (not all Wesleyan converts) each

freely giving a week’s work; they commenced on Monday morning, and

finished on Saturday night, the Christian women of the district bringing

gifts of food for all the workmen.

Although such purely voluntary work as this is probably exceptional, the

members of this Mission have found the people so wonderfully ready to

afford help in every village where a school or chapel has been erected,

that the Mission has rarely borne more than half the cost of the

building. For instance, in the Port Pedro district, near Jaffna, several

handsome school-chapels have been erected almost entirely through the

liberality of natives who still bore on their foreheads the symbolic

marks of the Hindoo gods, and who not only granted the sites, but also

presented all the palmyra-palm trees for rafters, the plaited

palm-leaves for the thatch, and handsome gifts in money. Of course, in

such cases it may be assumed that the educational advantages thus

secured outweigh their antagonism to the teacher’s creed. Besides, in

many cases the assistant teachers are heathens, and, consequently, the

majority of the pupils continue to worship the Tamil gods.

With regard to Wesleyan educational work in the Southern Province, there

are two important training colleges, namely, the Richmond College at

Galle, and the Wesley College at Colombo, where there is also a

high-school for girls, as well as one for boys. An industrial school for

girls has recently been established at Kandy, where the daughters of

poor parents are instructed in sewing, knitting, and biscuit-making.

Badulla also has an excellent school for girls.

At Colombo an industrial home for destitute boys and girls supplies

willing workers for the cotton-spinning mills. In the same city the

Mission owns a valuable printing establishment. It has also established

a mission to seamen, which provides for visiting the ships in harbour

and inviting the sailors to special Sunday services. Comparatively few,

however, are able to come ashore, as merchant vessels in harbour

recognise no day of rest, and the hot, noisy toil of discharging and

receiving cargo goes on night and day without intermission, Sunday and

week-day alike.[228]

-----

Footnote 228:

In the busy harbour of Hong-Kong, Sunday labour is now reduced to the

minimum by the strictly-enforced requirement for a special license at

very high rates for all Sunday-work. Thus sailors and officers may

enjoy the exceptional privilege of a Sunday at rest. What a boon

similar harbour-regulations would prove in other ports!

-----

The workers in this Mission have latterly been very sorely hampered by

pecuniary troubles, serious and repeated reductions in the grants from

headquarters in England having put them to great straits in order to

find the means of subsistence for the native agents; for, apart from the

grief of being compelled to abandon the half-cultivated mission-fields,

such retrenchment would necessarily imply casting into destitution men

who had served the Mission faithfully. Of course this lack of funds has

seriously hindered extension, the Mission having been compelled to

refuse the services of various promising young men, who wished to enter

the native ministry.

This is the more to be regretted as the Wesleyans have but recently

commenced a work which promises immense success if only the labourers

were forthcoming, namely, that in the hitherto uncared-for province of

Uva, where, as I have already mentioned,[229] the people of about 800

villages are sunk in the most degrading ignorance and superstition.

-----

Footnote 229:

Page 331.

-----

The Rev. Samuel Langdon, chairman of the Wesleyan Society in Ceylon,

writes from his ‘Happy Valley Mission’ that he has not a tenth of the

men or the funds necessary to do justice to the work in that province.

Could Christian schools be at once established in all those villages, a

very great step would be gained. Otherwise, under the energetic leading

of English Theosophists, Buddhist schools will be opened by teachers

trained in Government schools, and will secure the Government grant. It

will then be far more difficult to secure a footing in this now vacant

field.

The Wesleyan Mission in Ceylon to all nationalities at present numbers

seventeen European clergy, with about 200 native assistants of all

sorts. The total number of Church members does not exceed 4,000, but the

regular attendance at school and public worship is about 20,000.

There is one detail of progress which I must not omit (believing as we

do that the truest evidence of life in any branch of the Christian

Church is its readiness to seek extension by undertaking mission-work),

and that is, that in the autumn of 1887 the Wesleyan Church in Ceylon

commenced a mission to Upper Burmah, which, by its annexation to Britain

in the previous year, was for the first time practically open to such

effort. Two European missionaries, accompanied by two young Singhalese,

went to begin work among the Buddhists of Mandalay, with its 5,000

priests. Truly a tiny band to attack so strong a foe!

They landed without one friend to welcome them, and totally ignorant of

the language; but they immediately secured three advantageous sites for

Mission-stations, with ample space for extension. So earnestly did they

commence the study of the language, that very soon they were able to

address the people in their own tongue, and found that the totally new

idea of God as our ever-present loving Father soon attracted attentive

hearers. They illustrate their indoor teaching by good magic-lantern

views, all of Scripture scenes, so that the truth may reach the mind by

eye and ear simultaneously.

The beginning made by the two young Singhalese has been so satisfactory,

that it is greatly hoped that others, both men and women, themselves

converts from Buddhism, will volunteer for the work, and that England

and Australia will furnish the requisite funds for their support.

------------------

NOTE.—I have often been struck by the manner in which, on their return

to England, some men who have lived in various countries without

taking any personal interest in Christian work, authoritatively decry

the practical results, and even the very efforts, of those who are

devoting their lives to Mission work.

Such an one had been for some time indulging in this strain about a

district where he had been stationed for a considerable period, and

where he declared ‘the missionaries did nothing.’ Presently a Bishop

who overheard him came forward, and very gently asked him how long he

had been resident in his present quarters in one of our Midland

cities. ‘About two years,’ was the reply. ‘Ah, then,’ said the Bishop,

‘I shall be so very glad to have your unbiassed opinion of the working

of the Young Men’s Institute there. You never heard of it? Dear me, I

wonder at that; it is such a very wide-spreading organisation. I hope

you like the system of our Schools, and especially of our Industrial

and Night Schools, where so many rough lads and wild hoydens are

transformed into comparatively respectable members of society?’

Once more the ‘accuser of the brethren’ had to confess his ignorance,

and his interrogator continued: ‘Well, what do you think of the system

of our Working-Men’s Provident Institution? of our Free Hospital? of

our Orphanage and Asylum? of our Night Refuge? of our Ragged Church,

crowded with poor tattered creatures who never show in our streets? of

our Band of Hope and our Home for Strangers? And what is your personal

impression of the workers in our Home Mission?’ Of course there was

but one reply to all these questions. ‘Then,’ said the Bishop, ‘do you

not think that possibly it may have been the same at —— Station in

India?’