RESPONSIBILITIES AND PATIENCE.
Age was creeping on apace and almost every letter written by Schwartz
contains some reference to the filling up of years and the nearness
of eternity. But he is happy enough in his work and in no haste to
be gone. In saying good-bye to his friend, Mr. Huddleston, who was
returning to England, broken in health, he gives him a little fatherly
counsel, in a letter dated 7th February, 1792, begging him to practice
patience and contentment and be quite restful in the will of God.
“This lesson,” says he, “we learn with difficulty; however, if we
humble ourselves and believe as we ought, that God directs all to our
advantage, we shall willingly, if not cheerfully, resign over our own
will to His divine and perfect will. You take now your farewell and I
do the same. Having lived nearly forty-two years in this climate, my
strength decreaseth and I look for a blessed eternity.
“God has dealt kindly, very kindly, with me. He has led me as a
father, forgiven me ten thousand talents which I owed Him, has given
me a knowledge of His love and the love of my Redeemer, has made me,
unworthy creature, an instrument of His grace to convey some knowledge
of the Redeemer to others; so that I have a lively hope of finding some
with whom I shall sing the praises due to the blessed Jesus for ever
and ever.
“To complain I have no cause; except when I consider how often I have
disobeyed Him. Then I have reason enough to complain of myself. But I
know the exceedingly great mercy of my God, who is willing to cover my
sins and to heal all my infirmities.
“You, my dear friend, are younger in years and may still live for some
time. I entreat you to give your whole heart to Him, who can fill it
with eternal joy. All worldly goods are deficient in that respect. They
may please us but they cannot make us truly happy. Let us therefore
take our refuge in Him who has loved us and given Himself for us. Live
to His glory, and forget not that the true disciples of Jesus crucify
the flesh and the lusts of it. Be guided by the blessed Spirit of
God--trust not in your own strength--watch and pray and the God of
peace be with you.
“May we see one another in a world where sin and sorrow are not to be
met with!”
While writing these farewell lines to his friend, Schwartz enclosed
another letter to his wife, whom he had possibly never seen, but
he feels that after spending years of intimate friendship with her
husband in India he need make no apology for writing this letter to
her. Here also he gives judicious counsel and says some things about
the education of children which can never grow old or out of date.
He also laments the decline of loyalty to Scriptural teaching which
characterizes the theological literature of his day. In both these
respects this letter would be quite as appropriate if written in our
own times. We have progressed and travelled far, and in many respects
India and England are so different that Schwartz would rub his eyes
were he to re-visit these lands to-day, but the problems and the perils
of the Church are, though under a different guise, still the same
to face and to solve if we can in our own times. He is sending his
blessing to the circle of his friend’s family at home and writes:
“I must confess that the education which many parents give their
children is highly detrimental. Their understandings are not furnished
with divine knowledge, their wills are not bent to love and obey God,
their passions are not properly restrained or directed. At last they
grow up without fearing, obeying, and honouring God, they are ashamed
of showing anything relative to true Christianity. They are taught to
do their duty, without knowing the source from which they ought to draw
strength.
“I find that in many of the latest publications the atonement of the
Redeemer and the divine operations of the blessed Spirit of God,
are altogether forgotten, nay exploded. If the foundation of true
Christianity is destroyed, what superstructure can be raised? I
therefore cannot but entreat you to learn the way to heaven from the
Sermons of your Redeemer and the Epistles of St. Paul and the other
apostles. My favourite chapter is the third of St. Paul’s Epistle to
the Philippians. There you will find the genuine character of a true
Christian.
“All worldly things though not sinful in themselves, appear to that
exalted Christian as dross. He wishes to find Christ as his treasure
and greatest gain, by Whom he has obtained mercy, pardon, peace, and
the hope of everlasting life.”
Schwartz began perceptibly to lose strength but not heart. We gather
this from a letter written by one of the missionaries at Tranquebar who
found it necessary to seek his advice upon some matter and met him by
appointment at Tripatore.
“I reached that place,” he writes, “at seven and at eight Mr. Schwartz
arrived, whom I had so earnestly desired to see. He was not able to
quit his palanquin without difficulty; and I soon perceived that, since
I saw him at Tanjore a year and a half ago, his energy and strength had
become much impaired. It went to my very heart, as I reflected with
sorrow that we were not likely to retain this dear brother long amongst
us. He himself observed, ‘I am getting nearer the grave, travelling
no longer does for me, my heavenly Father will not I trust permit me
to lie long sick and incapable of work, but take me soon to Himself,
if it be His will.’ He complained of a severe cold that affected his
teeth, the loss of which would much grieve him, as it would hinder his
speaking.”
Weary as he was, he had to brace up his energies to face new and
serious difficulties, one being the unsettled and unsatisfactory
arrangement as regards Serfogee. In reply to many pathetic appeals
beseeching his old friend’s protection, Schwartz prevailed upon the
Board of Directors at Madras to send some soldiers to bring away this
unhappy young prince and also the two Royal widows, and the whole
matter was laid before Lord Cornwallis, who at that time was finishing
up an arduous but successful campaign against Tippoo Sultan. But
unfortunately in the confusion and disagreement of the ruling powers of
that day, the pressing needs of his case got shelved and indefinitely
postponed. Ameer Sing, with all his wrong-doing and shameless
incompetency, was allowed to continue on the throne of Tanjore for four
years more. By this time a state of anarchy existed.
A new complication arose: the poor subjects, jealous of the peaceful
character of the Christians and their steadfast refusal to join in
plundering expeditions, encamped themselves with the avowed purpose
of extirpating Christianity, root and branch. Many of the Christians,
therefore, armed themselves in self-defence. Once more, as peacemaker,
Schwartz hurried to the scene of action and by the spell of his
personality persuaded the malcontents to disarm and go back to their
ploughing and sowing on the fields. His grateful comment is “My heart
rejoiced at the kind over-ruling providence--surely He is a God that
heareth prayer.”
Although the rights of Serfogee were delayed, his friend Schwartz,
seeing that the comfort and even safety of the young prince were in
peril, obtained permission to take him and the two widows away to
Madras, and on the 10th January, 1793, we find Schwartz leading a troop
of the Company’s soldiers into Tanjore, and, despite the opposition of
Ameer Sing, bringing the captives safely away to a place of security.
It will be seen how frequently and with what success Schwartz placed
himself at the disposal of the Government, but he was scrupulously
careful to keep clear of any money consideration. He knew only too
well that a missionary, undertaking by request the performance of
delicate political duties, might easily be suspected of seeking his own
advantage, especially in an age and place where bribes, in some sort or
another, were rather the rule than the exception. But he could always
plead his disinterested aims.
“For two years,” he writes, “I have discharged the duties of a
resident. A resident usually receives 700 star pagodas, or £300
sterling. I have not received anything nor have I asked it.”
“My journey to Madras I undertook at the desire of the Government, as
tutor of Serfogee. The expenses of the journey _I bore myself_. I was
obliged for conscience’ sake to undertake it, as the legal guardian of
the young man.”
While he felt it his duty to assist the ruling powers at any time when
his influence might help the cause of peace and the prosperity of
the people, it was always his spiritual work which held his heart in
thrall. His supreme delight was the proclamation of the Gospel, his
vast parish took in its range the countless souls of Southern India;
whatever their station or caste, high or low, philosophic or ignorant
and degraded, they all alike needed Christ and that was enough for
him. Here we get a little glimpse of him in quite an ordinary scene
of his busy life, as it impressed Mr. Paezold, his fellow-worker and
travelling companion.
“We rested in the evening at Tripatore, a large heathen place,
distinguished by two celebrated idol temples, which are situated on
an eminence. Mr. Schwartz embraced the opportunity of entering into a
conversation with a number of Brahmins and other heathen. He addressed
them in a most eloquent and impressive manner, powerfully contrasting
the follies and corruptions of heathenism and the state of awful
blindness and delusion under which its professors laboured, with the
light and purity of the Christian religion and its perfect accordance
with the dictates of sound and enlightened reason, and I observe with
wonder and delight the eagerness and attention with which the heathen
population listened to his instructive discourses. But to attract
and keep up such attention, one must really possess the talents and
influence of Mr. Schwartz--his intimate acquaintance with the native
language, his prudence, experience, and commanding authority. For a
considerable time he continued his conversation in a standing position,
and though I did not sufficiently understand the Malabar dialect, in
which he addressed the numerous assembly, I could still perceive from
their lips, their gestures, and the whole of their outward deportment,
how deeply interested they felt. Indeed, when certain questions were
proposed and certain answers given I repeatedly heard them exclaim,
‘Surely this is true, this is right, thus it should be!’
“The shades of night were coming on and Mr. Schwartz was preparing to
retire to a resting place but the people wished to detain him still
longer.
“‘Stay with us,’ was their exclamation; ‘we wish to listen to you
further. Sit down both of you, you are tired of standing.’
“We therefore sat on the steps of one of their temples, near an
enormous idol car, which during their festivals is sometimes drawn by
two or three thousand people. Mr. Schwartz protracted his address for
another half hour, and when he left them they all united in thanking
him for the pains bestowed upon them. But should you, however, ask such
people afterwards, what reason they would assign for not embracing a
doctrine which it was impossible for them to refute and which they
could not help pronouncing truly admirable, they return answers like
these:--
“‘We certainly should embrace it, were it not for the world and
our means of living. The world would hate, despise, insult us. And
even from your own Christian people we should meet with ridicule
and contempt. And how can you refuse the demands of nature? You
missionaries cannot support us, nor would it be fair to require you
to do it. Your governors will make no provision for us. Besides, our
ancestors here constantly professed the same religion which we are
professing.’”
The reference here to the reception a convert would be likely to
receive from the Christian people, by which they meant the Europeans,
reveals the religious conditions existing in the time of Schwartz. At
no period in the history of Christian missions in India had the cause
of Christ received any considerable approval from the representatives
of the civil power. In the early days of the Company no impediment was
placed in the way of preaching the glad tidings of Christianity, but
the ruling classes had studiously avoided any interference with the
superstitious and religious customs of the natives. Meanwhile in the
region of the Carnatic these idolatries were on the decline and we have
seen how readily the message of the missionaries was received, even by
the Brahmins. Probably such a scene as we have just considered in the
preaching of Schwartz has not its parallel even in modern missions.
But when the debate in the British Parliament raised the religious
question on the renewal of the Company’s charter in 1793 quite another
spirit was made manifest. A jealous fear of weakening our hold on
India by disturbing the religious predilections of the natives became
a scare and a hindrance, which has taken many years to overcome. The
opinion which created this difficulty was very clearly stated by Mr.
Fisher, an English chaplain, to the effect that “even amongst many of
the most enlightened British officials in the country there could be no
more dangerous means of estranging the hearts of the people from the
Government and no surer way of endangering the stability of the English
rule than by attempting to meddle with the religious concerns of the
Hindus, however prudently and carefully one might set to work. All
were convinced that rebellion, civil war, and universal unrest would
certainly accompany every attempt to promote missionary enterprise,
and above all that the conversion of a high caste native soldier would
inevitably mean the disbanding of the army and the overthrow of British
rule in India.” This false position soon began to bear its natural
fruit; if these idolatries were to be considered and protected it might
perhaps be a paying policy to patronize them. Therefore we read: “The
civil and military servants of the Company were compelled to present
offerings with their own hands to idols and to fire salutes in their
honour; and Christian Englishmen, whose religious scruples caused them
to shrink from these unhallowed compliances, had no alternative but to
relinquish their appointments.” The converts had now to contend with a
new difficulty which ought never to have been put in their way by the
power which emanated from the country from which Christianity came.
They not only had to face the separation and hostility of their former
relations and friends but the English boycotted them, and heathens and
Mohammedans were preferred before them for employment.
“You do your work by halves,” was the remark of a Brahmin to Schwartz.
“After you have instructed us you say, ‘Go and labour.’ But what shall
we do? If you could get us situations suited to our abilities, you
would see things wear a different aspect. But you take us out of all
our connections and are not able to place us in any other.”
“This,” adds Schwartz, “is an appeal which bears with too much force on
us unfriended missionaries. Yes; we are constrained to admit that if
any one confesses the Christian doctrine he is despised, not only by
his own connections but by Europeans also. This is a hard trial.”