IN FIRST TOUCH WITH TANJORE.
This ancient kingdom, adjoining that of the Nabob of Arcot on the
southern side, was at this time under the rule of Rajah Tulsi,
otherwise called Tuljajee. It was described by Schwartz as “a well
watered garden upon which a large population managed to live, though
oppressed and robbed in the most unscrupulous manner. If the ground
yields one hundred bushels of rice the King takes seventy and in time
of war the whole is seized without compunction. Therefore it was a
proverb with the people ‘Without stealing we cannot live.’” To this
place Schwartz was destined to bring the later years of his life, with
his ripe experience, wisdom, tact and unquenched enthusiasm.
After some delays, caused by the incessant warfare in the district,
he started on his journey inland to Tanjore, and arrived there on the
20th April, 1769. His first duty was to visit the mission stations
and schools and then he sent word that he would like to interview the
King or Rajah. This was readily complied with and he tells us how
favourably impressed he was with one who, though naturally much under
the influence of the Brahmins, had an open and intelligent mind toward
religion. Tuljajee was by no means an ordinary Indian despot; he was a
good Sanscrit scholar and had indeed written some poems in that classic
language; with a desire for information and of a natural dignity of
manner, this ruler, then in the prime of life, was quite worthy of
that special interest which Schwartz was destined to have in him.
That he was fond of ease and sought any means to indulge his fancies
might be expected. At five o’clock in the afternoon of the 30th April,
1769, Schwartz was ushered into his presence, finding him seated on a
magnificent couch suspended from pillars and surrounded by his high
officers of state. The missionary was invited to take the seat provided
before him and a good feeling was established when in Persian the
visitor spoke to the King, who said immediately that he had received
a good report of him. Schwartz thanked him warmly for these kind
expressions and trusted that God might enrich him with every blessing.
As the interpreter had not fully delivered this statement, one standing
by said, “He wishes you a blessing.” The King was pleased. “He is a
priest,” he said, and was still further impressed when Schwartz, to
enable him to understand more easily, began to speak in Tamil.
He had many inquiries to make of the missionary. Evidently he had
noticed or been told something of the worship in the Roman Catholic
churches, for he asked how it was that some European Christians
worshipped God with images and others without them. The answer was
explicit, pointing out that the worship of images was expressly
forbidden by the word of God and that this corrupt practice was because
the Holy Scriptures had been disregarded and taken away from the
people. In answer to questions as to the Christian religion, Schwartz
with the King’s permission very slowly and distinctly instructed him
in the word of God and warmly condemned the use of idols, which, he
said, the Europeans also worshipped before Christianity came. The King
laughed at this and said, “He speaks plain!” Then followed the story
of how man has fallen and deliverance has come through the death of
Christ, finishing up his discourse with that matchless parable of the
Prodigal Son.
Sweetmeats were brought in, and before eating Schwartz asked
permission to thank God for His goodness, and then with fearless tact
and simplicity he sang to the King some verses of a Lutheran hymn
beginning:
“My God, to thee this heart I bring,”
which had been translated into Tamil by Fabricius, and departed. “I
withdrew,” said he, “repeating my good wishes for his happiness.”
The result of this favourable interview was the urgent request of the
King that he should remain in Tanjore, and therefore, after consulting
the brethren at Tranquebar, Cuddalore and Madras, he returned and
was soon again in the presence of the King. “I explained to him,” he
writes, “the command of God relative to the consecration of the Sabbath
and His merciful intention in giving it, namely, to make us holy and
happy, by devoting it to the concerns of our souls. He then inquired
why we Christians did not anoint ourselves as they did. I replied
that the heathen thought they were thereby purified from sin, but we
knew that sin could not be thus removed--that God had provided a more
effectual remedy, by sending a mighty Saviour who had taken away our
sins by the sacrifice of Himself, and that we must seek forgiveness
through faith in this Redeemer.
“He then asked some questions respecting the King of England and
expressed a wish to visit our country. I took occasion in reply to
say something concerning the religion which is there taught and how
much it contributes to the welfare both of princes and people, adding,
‘This is our wish, that you and your subjects may embrace it, to your
present and future happiness.’ The King looked at me and smiled. His
chief Brahmin often interposed and told him what he had seen among
the Papists at Pondicherry, to which he replied that we were very
different from the Papists. He then desired me to speak to the Brahmin
in Persian, which I did and addressed a short admonition to him, but
he professed to have forgotten his Persian.”
From this time Schwartz with unflagging zeal lost no opportunity of
preaching the Gospel to the people in the open air, until they were so
affected that they cried, “O that the King would embrace it! All would
then forsake heathenism!” He won their hearts. After speaking to some
of the King’s chief officers in the fort one of them came forward and
begged him to accept a present of some money, but this he declined,
explaining that he did not wish to oppose any obstacle to their
acceptance of Christianity by giving occasion to any to suspect him of
interested motives. “He who tendered me the present replied that he
should never think that of me. I answered, ‘That may be but you cannot
prevent others from thinking thus; I seek the good of your souls and
not gifts.’ I accepted a nosegay and so we parted.”
But this free access to the King was short lived. The Brahmins, like
the Ephesians of old crying “Great is Diana,” were discovering only
too plainly that the progress of Christianity would inevitably replace
the old religion and their influence with all its material advantages
would be gone for ever. So every attempt on the part of the King to
show favour to Schwartz was defeated and concealed by those around
him, and the chief Brahmin at last persuaded him that any change would
disturb the whole of the country and that the people did not want the
missionary. This proved how correct was his estimate before when he
said the King was more of a slave than a King, being so much under the
domination of the Brahmins. In his heart, there is no doubt Tuljajee
was most anxious to have Schwartz near to him, but was overborne by his
high officials. In his journal Schwartz says of this crisis:
“Many even of the Brahmins themselves said that the King would gladly
have had me with him but he was afraid of the people around him.
The great about this court saw with regret that he was desirous of
detaining me, being fearful lest their corrupt practices might be
exposed. At length I visited one of his principal officers and after
declaring to him the Gospel of Christ I begged to make my humble salaam
to the King and to ask what was his purpose with regard to me, that
I was come at his gracious summons, ready to serve him from my heart
in the cause of God, but that as I had an engagement at Trichinopoly
it would be necessary that some one should take charge of my duty
there if I were to remain at Tanjore. I requested therefore to know
the King’s intentions. The answer which I received the next day was
this, that I might return for the time to Trichinopoly but that I was
to remember that the King looked upon me as his _padre_. Many of the
common people were grieved that the King should allow himself to be
hindered by his servants from detaining me near him. But God can and at
His own time will, cause this nation to adore and bear His name. May He
compassionate this poor people, now lying in darkness and the shadow of
death, for His name’s sake!”
Subsequently a curious circumstance came to his ears. A Brahmin who
had been earnestly pressed to become a Christian stated that the King
of Tanjore had at one time felt a strong desire to adopt the Christian
faith and gathered together all his chief officers and ministers to a
conference, when he stated what was his conviction in this matter. This
caused a general uproar; they remonstrated with him, pointing out how
faithful his fathers had been to the worship of their gods and how they
had prospered thereby. They insisted upon his putting from his mind
this idea. But the Brahmin said it was a remarkable fact that all these
advisers who had withstood the King’s resolve were now in prison or
wandering about the country as vagabonds and beggars.
Back to Trichinopoly he soon began his work again and once more came
the people as inquirers, not scoffers, to his side.
It is all so natural and their experiences and difficulties were in
their nature by no means confined to their day and generation, and
their sincerity was manifest even when they did not carry it to the
extent of believing in Christ.
Two gardeners stopped their work to ask Schwartz this question: “We
have not yet obeyed our own Shasters, how should we now keep the true
law? When we leave you, we forget what we have heard.” He told them to
pray. “But how shall we pray?” This was his advice, a bit of wisdom for
all time. “Act like starving beggars. Do not they know how to set forth
their hunger and distress? Set before God your ignorance, obduracy and
misery, and beseech Him to open your eyes and discern Him and His true
word. This you may do, even in the midst of your labours. But come also
and allow yourselves to be instructed. Try this for ten days, it will
assuredly be better with you if you follow this advice. _Consider that
in a few days, perhaps, you may be happy or miserable for ever_, give
therefore all diligence and seek your everlasting salvation.”
The Nabob’s son, accompanied by the Brahmin, asked Schwartz to question
him on the subject of religion. “The great question is,” said Schwartz,
“how shall we be freed from sin, from its dominion as well as its
punishment.” The Brahmin excused himself on the ground that he was
not familiar with the Persian language but his companion replied for
him, “Hate and forsake anger, sensuality, envy and so you will be
clean.” “You require life from the dead. Say to a dead man, walk! and
see if he would obey.” The young Nabob had his answer ready: “What is
not done deliberately will not be imputed to us.” Then the missionary
replied: “You separate the holiness from the goodness of God. He will
doubtless forgive but in such a way as that His holiness be not thereby
obscured--namely, through Jesus Christ.” The young man walked away
saying, “Certainly we must confide in God so as to fear Him.”
In the midst of all these labours, these incessant conferences and
preaching, his own soul was being nourished and kept by divine grace.
Few men have left behind them such undoubted evidence of their work,
instances abundantly testifying to the zeal and capacity of the worker,
his singular winsome attraction by which men were drawn to him and the
success which so often followed his ministrations. He never spared
himself; like his Master he often had not so much as leisure even
to eat. But what were his own personal experiences during all this
activity? We know that with any real and serious worker for God, the
height of his success is the measure of the depth of his own sense of
unworthiness. The man who like the Apostles stood without fear before
the face of a King, was in his own soul humble and adoring at the feet
of his Lord and Master.
Here is a picture of an ideal missionary’s day. It is the steady,
persistent, loved and reverent talk of one whose very life is the
service of his God. What fresh interest there is in these simple
records of his journal and how little he thought that thousands would
find, in the years he would never see, inspiration and help by their
perusal!
[Illustration: ST. MARY’S CHURCH, FORT ST. GEORGE]
“October 22nd. I went out early to the river. Near the river was a
pagoda, where grew a beautiful and shady tree. I seated myself beneath
it and asked the heathens who came near, what the pagoda was for and to
whose glory it was erected? Who the idol was, what he had accomplished,
and what his wife was called. When they had quietly replied to all,
I said to them: ‘All you have now said relative to the idol, clearly
shows that he was a poor, dying and withal very vicious man, and
therefore you grievously sin against yourselves in appropriating the
glory which pertains to the true God to a sinful creature. After this
the supremacy of God, as well as the deep corruption of men, the
unutterable love of God in sending a Saviour, and the way to obtain a
participation of this wonderful grace of God, were pointed out. One of
them said: ‘It is our fate to be heathens and therefore a favourable
reason must come before we can get free from it.’ ‘Can you call that
fate,’ I said, ‘which you yourselves acknowledge to be evil and yet
persist therein, against better knowledge and against conscience?
Will God, to whom you and I must render an account, accept that as a
suitable reason or excuse? Will you not bewail it for ever that you
waste the period of grace? It is the fear of men which holds you all
in bondage.’ To the last assertion they assented. In the afternoon I
had a conference with many people adjoining the fort. They all listened
attentively. An animated young heathen said, ‘Show me God so that I
may behold Him and I will be your disciple.’ I said: ‘You talk like a
sick person who desires health without a physician. There is a way,
true and revealed by God Himself, by which man arrives at a vision
of God. That way is denominated true poverty of spirit, patience,
meekness, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, etc.’ This was
all explained and afterwards the young man was questioned, whether this
deterred him. But the way seemed to him to be too difficult.
“As evening approached and I was about to depart, a man of
respectability sent to me out of the fort, requesting me to wait a
little as he was desirous of speaking with me. He came rather late and
then we discoursed about the Christian doctrines, as well as heathenism
and its soul destroying nature. He heard in silence. The Lord’s Prayer,
which I paraphrastically explained to him, pleased him.”
At this period, September, 1770, some of his letters are full of
self revelation. In those which he sent to his intimate friend, Mr.
Chambers, with whom he had so much real and personal fellowship, he
seems to lay bare his heart and we see the inner workings of a noble,
loving and lowly spirit. Such confessions, aspirations and meditations
are too precious to pass into obscurity. He is still speaking to us in
our later age, and we seem to know and love him better for such words.
“I thank you for your tender (I might almost say too tender) regard
for me, poor sinner. I wish, nay, pray heartily that you may always
appear clothed with the righteousness of your Divine Redeemer. Just now
we considered to our mutual edification in our evening prayer, that
excellent chapter, Romans v.: ‘Being therefore justified by faith we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, rejoice in the hope
of glory, rejoice even in tribulation.’ What inestimable blessings are
these! And all purchased by Christ and given freely to all hungry and
thirsty souls! O that we might open our mouths wide and be filled!
As I read you once that passage in the garden, so I could not help
reflecting on it, nay I shall remember you as often as I read it. May
the Spirit of God be poured out in our hearts, and may He display to us
the incomparable wonders of the grace of God towards us!”
He had been reading in the Revelation about the Epistle sent to the
angel of Ephesus, whose first love had been deserted and now while
still cold and indifferent many things were being performed more from
custom than love. The thought of a soul in that condition deeply
touched him. He writes:
“I cannot say how that tender and mournful complaint moved me. It
was as if Jesus stood before me, telling me ‘I have that against
_thee_.’ My heart was quite melted down. Yes, no doubt too many things,
otherwise good in themselves, are done without that noble spirit of
love. O that my heart might bleed for that unaccountable coldness
with respect to the love I owe to my blessed Redeemer! I repent of it
sincerely, though not so as I wish, remembering how great the fall
is. But how cheering is the promise which that beloved Redeemer gives
to all those who overcome that coldness and strive to be fervent in
love. They shall ‘eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the
paradise of God, they shall enjoy the sweet favour and love of God,
they shall see and taste how good the Lord is.’ May this inestimable
promise keep up a fire of love in our heart! May we condemn all
coldness and mere formality in religious exercises! I hope your heart
is burning with the love of Christ, as the heart of the disciple on
the road to Emmaus. Indeed, materials to kindle that fire within us
are not wanting, provided we take care and be vigilant. Let us then
mutually excite one another as long as we have opportunity, and let not
the multiplicity of business damp that holy flame, which ought to be
burning continually. My heart wishes you may be always a shining light!”
Later on he is writing again, full of good wishes for his friend in the
New Year:--
“O may Jesus be glorified in your precious soul, so as to be your
wisdom and righteousness, sanctification and redemption! We were
reading and meditating this evening on Colossians ii. wherein Jesus
is set forth as our all--the sun, the centre, and fountain of all
our bliss. Whatsoever we want we find in Him, and are as the Apostle
says ‘complete in him.’ In Him we are circumcised by putting away the
body of sin, which is the true spiritual circumcision when we are
buried, by being baptized in His Name, in Him we are raised from the
dead by believing in Him and His divine resurrection, by Him we are
quickened with a true sense of the paternal favour of God, having our
sins pardoned. If then we have all in our Divine Redeemer, how just
and comfortable is the conclusion that we are not to look out for
any happiness in the new moons, etc. Why should we run to the shadow
having and possessing the body? Why should we complain of want of
comfort and strength, having Jesus? Let us stir up one another to a
faithful adhering to the fountain of all our bliss. But let us receive
Him entirely as our all--love, serve and glorify Him as such by our
whole life.”
His mind has been dwelling upon the exhortation of St. Paul that we
“be strong in the Lord.” He knows what it is to meet with powers of
darkness and enemies which are for ever attacking him without and
within. But he takes heart and admonishes his friend to be faithful.
“Let us stand, therefore, having our loins girt about with truth.
The truth of the Gospel, particularly concerning the Author of our
salvation, is like a girdle that will keep close and, as it were, unite
our strength. But as the principal truth of the Gospel concerneth the
righteousness of Jesus Christ, let us above all take and put on that
perfect righteousness as a ‘breast plate’ which covers our breast and
screens our conscience, so that no accusation or condemnation can reach
and disturb it. And as the Gospel contains and sets forth that glorious
righteousness of Christ let ‘our feet be shod with the preparation
of peace.’ When our enemies deride our relying on the righteousness
of Christ and ask us from whence we have it, let us say ‘So it is
written.’”
In a subsequent letter he has been referring to the dismissal of some
one, unworthy doubtless, from the work. He believes that God will bring
good even out of this evil.
“Whatever we do let us do it with humility and submit the whole to God
who can mend and rectify what is amiss. When I read the Evangelists,
particularly the speeches of our Saviour to His disciples towards the
latter end of His ministry, I think they consist mostly of admonitions
to humility. And when we consider how long God has borne with us,
I think we should not soon lose patience when we endeavour to mend
others. Yesterday we treated in church of Ephesians vi. 1-6. To walk
worthy of our vocation or calling, how necessary! And in order to do
so, humility is placed in the front. Meekness follows as a consequence
and forbearance. O may the Spirit of Christ lead and strengthen us at
all times.”
After quoting from his Greek Testament those wonderful verses in
St. John’s Gospel, chapter xvii. 3, 11, 14, 18, 21, he urges again
the blessing of unity, writing: “Let us, therefore, according to
that heavenly pattern and divine admonition, strive to be one, one
in doctrine, one in adhering to Christ, one in loving Him, one in
despising and renouncing the world, one in loving one another, and one
in bearing the cross. As God has made us equal in the share of the most
glorious benefits of the Gospel, one baptism, one hope, one glorious
Redeemer, so He has thereby designed us to be the same in brotherly
love. And as without joint prayer that brotherly love cannot be kept in
proper vigour, let us endeavour to keep up that holy exercise.”
With Schwartz the practice of brotherly love was part of his daily
life, it seemed natural to him to show charity and to make no
difference in dealing with native or European. It was his custom at
the meetings of the missionaries for worship and prayer to admit the
natives and in not a few instances it was seen that good results
followed this practice. It will be sufficient to mention one case of
which Schwartz makes a note in his journal:
“Here I had a few days ago an example which pleased me very much
though attended with trouble. A young man of twenty-four years, of the
Shraf caste, resolved to visit us at an evening prayer--heard the word
of God explained, joined in prayer, meditated what to do--came to a
settled resolution to join the despised people of God. Not poverty, not
quarrel, but a desire of being happy inspired him. He was engaged to
marry a young woman, the daughter of a rich man at Seringapatam. The
day of their wedding was appointed. He told his mother that he would
fain marry the girl but not with idolatrous rites. The mother said, ‘I
wish I had killed you as soon as you were born, etc.’ All this happened
before his being baptized. The relations got him cunningly and kept him
a close prisoner; but he found opportunity of making his escape and
came hither to Tanjore. His mother and others made a great noise and
came and begged I would not admit him. I replied in the presence of the
Brahmins and a number of people that I never forced anybody and that I
could not reject him if he desired me to instruct him. Further, I said,
‘Here he is; ask him whether he likes to go with you or stay with us.’
The young man said, ‘Mother and friends, if you can show me a better
way to heaven I will follow you--but I will not live any longer in
idolatry.’ I remained in my house; the young man went to the chattiram;
his relations followed him and fairly carried him off to Vellam; but he
again contrived to make his escape. After that I instructed him daily
and baptized him. May Jesus triumph over all His enemies shortly.”