SUCCESS OF THE GOSPEL IN INDIA AND CEYLON.
My dear Children--I have told you that India is a very dark land, but
there are a few bright spots in it. Through the blessing of God upon the
prayers of his people in Christian lands, and upon the prayers and
labors of his missionary servants, many of the heathen of India and
Ceylon have forsaken their idols, and are now enlisted under the banner
of Jehovah Jesus. In the Travancore and Tinnivelly districts to say
nothing of the success of the Gospel in other places, thousands and tens
of thousands of the people have embraced Christianity. In hundreds of
villages where but a few years ago the name of Jesus had never been
heard, it is now known and adored.
You have often heard of Ceylon. If you will look at the map of
Hindostan, you will find it close to that country. Here Christianity has
begun to prevail. This island is two hundred miles long, and in some
places quite wide. A large part of it is covered with what is called
jungle. Jungle and wilderness mean the same thing. In this jungle there
are many wild beasts, such as elephants, bears, wild hogs, and
buffaloes. In it also, there are men, women, and children, running wild,
just like the wild beasts. This people are called Verders, or wild
people. They wear scarcely any clothing. They have no houses. When it
rains, they creep into holes, or go under overhanging rocks. Their beds
consist of a few leaves. Sunk almost to the level of the brute, they
live and die like their shaggy companions of the forest. Even upon these
the Gospel has tried its power. More than fifty families have settled
down, forming two pleasant, and now Christian villages. They have
schoolmasters and Christian teachers.
I must give you a description of two revivals of religion which
occurred while I was in the island of Ceylon, in the year 1833. Before
those revivals took place, there was no particular manifestation of much
seriousness at any of our stations. It was in the month of October of
that year, that we began to feel that we must labor more, and pray more
for the conversion of perishing souls. A protracted meeting was spoken
of, and it was determined that one should be held at our seminary in
Batticotta--a seminary which was established for the purpose of raising
up a native ministry. On the morning of the day in which the meeting was
commenced, Mr. Spaulding and myself went to that station to assist Mr.
Poor, the principal of the seminary, in laboring with the students. In
these labors we spent five days. It was good to be there. No sooner had
we begun our exercises, than a blessing from on high was experienced.
The windows of heaven were opened, and the Holy Ghost descended. This
was evident from the spirit of prayer which was poured out upon the
pious students of the seminary. They were heard "a great while before
day" pleading, in their social circles, that God would have mercy upon
their impenitent companions, and bring them into the kingdom of his
grace. We trust, also, that a spirit of prayer was given to those of us
who took a prominent part in the meeting. At the termination of our
exercises, with the exception of a few lads belonging to a Tamul class,
who had lately been admitted to the seminary, there was not, so far as I
know, an individual connected with it, who was not humbled at the foot
of the cross, either to lie there until healed of his wounds, or to
show, if he perished, that he must perish under circumstances of a very
aggravated nature.
After we had finished our meeting at Batticotta we went to the female
seminary at Oodooville, to hold similar meetings. Before we reached that
station, the church-members there, after having heard what God was doing
at Batticotta, became very much aroused to pray for the influences of
the Holy Spirit to descend upon the impenitent in their seminary also.
Soon after we reached the station, we held a meeting with the girls.
Some of them were then deeply concerned for the salvation of their
souls; but it was not until Wednesday afternoon, that we knew how
powerfully the Spirit of God had been at work. The meeting which we held
with the seminarists at that time was one of the most solemn meetings
which I ever attended. One of them, a girl of high caste, and of a very
good family, said to her companions in that meeting, "My sisters, I have
been a proud one among you. I hope that if you ever see me proud again,
you will tell me of it. I used to tell the missionaries, that I had
given myself to the Saviour, but I had not done it." Another of the
girls burst into tears, and cried out aloud. As she could not restrain
her feelings, and did not wish to disturb the assembly, she arose and
left it. She retired to one of the prayer-rooms adjoining the seminary,
there to weep alone. She, however, was not left alone. Mr. Poor, one of
my missionary associates, followed her, and endeavored to administer the
consolations of the Gospel to her; but she refused to be comforted. All
her distress seemed to arise from a single source. "I told you a
falsehood," said she, "last Monday, in saying that I had dedicated
myself to the Saviour, when I had not." Perhaps she thought at that
time, that she had thus dedicated herself to the Saviour, but
afterwards found that she had deceived herself. In this wretched state
of mind, she continued until half-past ten o'clock that night, when she
came into Mr. Spaulding's house, where I then was, and wished to know
what she must do to be saved. She was told, as she had often been told
before, that she must dedicate herself entirely to her Saviour. She went
away, and returned the same night at about half-past eleven o'clock,
saying, that she had found HIM.
"Friends, is not my case amazing?
What a Saviour I have found."
My dear young friends, are there any of you who have never given your
hearts to Christ? If so, let me entreat you to follow the example of
that dear little girl of whom I have now been speaking. She found it to
be necessary to give her heart to the Saviour, and I hope that she did
give it to him. O that you too might give up your hearts to him. Alas,
if you do not, you must soon go down to eternal burnings where you will
be constrained to cry out, Lost, lost, lost for ever! Be careful, my
dear children, O be careful that this young girl does not rise up
against you in the last day, and condemn you. She must do so--she will
do so, if you do not, like her, choose Christ as your portion. But I am
digressing, and must go back to the point I left.
The next day, one of our missionary sisters, who had lately reached
Ceylon from America, came to Oodooville, to witness the nature of the
work which she heard was in progress at that place. As she was entering
Mr. Spaulding's house, she was met by one of the most consistent
church-members of the seminary, who declared that she had lost her hope
of being a Christian. Perhaps this church-member was disposed to write
bitter things against herself because she did not feel all that warmth
in religion which marked the conduct of those who, at that time, were
indulging the hope that they had passed from death to life. After the
sister to whom I alluded had been in the house a little while, she
requested Mrs. Spaulding to allow her to have an interview with such of
the girls as were entertaining a hope of their interest in the Saviour.
These were twenty-two in number. This interview was granted. As she
knew nothing about the Tamul language, I acted as her interpreter.
Through me, she requested the girls to give a statement of their
feelings. One of them arose, and said, "I feel as happy as an angel. I
feel joys that I can express to no one but my Saviour; and I am just as
certain that my sins are forgiven, as if I had sent up a karduthaase,"
that is, a letter to heaven, "and received an answer to it." Another of
the girls said, that the missionaries had often talked with her about
her dedicating herself to the Saviour, but that she did not then know
what it meant. "I now know," added she, "what it means, for God has
taught it to me." Another of the girls said, "Though they put me in the
fire, I will never forsake the Saviour."
Now, my dear children, I must bid you farewell Probably I shall never
see you, unless you come to this heathen land, until I meet you at the
judgment-seat of Christ. If you do not become missionaries, most of you
will probably die, and be buried where you now are. Probably I shall die
in this heathen land. But we shall not always sleep in our graves. After
a little season, the archangel's trumpet will sound, and you in
America, and I in India, shall hear his voice proclaiming, "Awake, ye
dead, and come to judgment." And we shall all at once rise from our
graves, and stand before our Judge. And where shall I then see you?
Shall I see any of you on the left hand of Christ, and hear him say,
"Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and
his angels?" O, if I should hear that dreadful sentence pronounced
against you, how would my heart die within me. How could I bear to hear
it. Oh, I could not--I could not bear to hear it. My dear children, if
you are yet out of Christ, I entreat you, _at this very moment_, to lay
down this book, and throw yourselves at the feet of your Saviour. Tell
him, that you are lost sinners, deserving to be cast into everlasting
burnings. Tell him, that though you have been wicked children, you will
leave off your wickedness, and be his for ever. Plead with him, with as
much earnestness as a _drowning_ man would plead with you to save him,
to give you the influences of his Holy Spirit, to create within you a
clean heart, and renew within you a right spirit, without which you are
eternally undone; and continue to plead, until he pardons you, and
receives you as his children. By all the sufferings of the Son of God,
by all the joys of heaven, by all the torments of hell, by the
solemnities of your dying bed, by the value of your immortal souls
_which, if once lost, must be lost for ever_, I beseech you thus
_immediately_ to throw yourselves at his feet, and plead with him to
make you his. Neglect this duty--neglect giving yourselves to Christ,
even for one minute, and it may be, that you will be lost, yea, LOST FOR
EVER.