Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

VOL I.

No. 4. NEW SERIES.]

THE

[JULY, 1850.

CHURCH MISSIONARY GLEANER.

[graphic]

E

MERCIFUL PRESERVATION OF THE REV. J. REBMANN.-Vide pp. 45, 46.

LIVES OF MISSIONARIES. THE REV. C. F. SWARTZ.

WE desire, in this our new Periodical, to glean from the past as well as from the present, especially from the lives of the earlier Protestant Missionaries. It is now nearly 150 years since the first Missionaries went forth from the Churches of the Reformation. Numbers of devoted Christian men have gone to labour in different heathen lands, and their lives are rich in wholesome instruction. The manner in which they were led to give themselves to God, and to the special work of Missions, their trials, their labours, their lives and deaths, all are full of interest. It is good to read how these men prayed and toiled. It may lead us, by the help of God, to follow their example. We shall have what is interesting and what is useful united. We shall be led on to read, and be the better for our reading. We shall see what it is to be a real Christian, and the blessedness of being so.

We commence with the life of Christian Frederick Swartz, who died at Tanjore on the 13th of February 1798, aged seventytwo years, forty-eight of which were spent in Missionary service.

Bartholomew Ziegenbalg was the first Protestant Missionary to India. He was sent out by the King of Denmark in 1705, to labour at Tranquebar, on the Tanjore coast, amongst the Tamilspeaking people. Here the seed was first planted, which is now becoming a great tree. He was followed by other good German Missionaries, who carried on the work, and completed that which he had begun the translation of the Holy Scriptures into Tamil. One of these good men, whose name was Schultz, after labouring for twenty years in India, returned to Europe in 1742, in consequence of ill health, and took up his abode at Halle, in Germany. The Tamil Mission was not forgotten by him. Although absent in body, he was present in spirit. He wished to do something for it, and resolved to print a new edition of the Tamil Bible. There was in the Grammar-school at Halle a student of the name of Swartz, the son of pious parents. His mother died when he was an infant, but on her death-bed she had dedicated him to the Lord, and her prayers proved to be a rich legacy. When pious parents are dead to their children, the prayers which they have offered for them are not dead, but live on their behalf before God. It was thought that this lad might give help in the printing, and he was told to try and learn something of the Tamil language, that he might be more useful. While he was thus occupied, Swartz heard that new Missionaries were wanted for India, and the thought then, for the first time, came into his mind, of going forth to teach the Gospel to the people whose language he was learning.

It is very remarkable, the way in which the Holy Spirit calls out men for the work He wishes them to do, how He prepares them for it when they have other objects in view, and, when the proper time arrives, bends their will to His own purpose.

LIVES OF MISSIONARIES. THE REV. C. F. SWARTZ.

39

Swartz went home to tell his brothers and sisters of what had come into his mind. They seemed to think his father never would consent, because he was the eldest son, and looked upon as the chief prop of the family. He, however, very seriously opened his mind to his father, who told him that he must take two or three days to consider before he could give him any answer. This was an anxious time to Swartz, and no doubt a time of much prayer. All the members of the family expected very anxiously what the father's decision might be. At length the hour that had been fixed upon arrived, and his father, coming down from his chamber, gave him his blessing, and bade him depart in God's name, charging him to forget his native country and his father's house, and go and win many souls to Christ.

Thus, like Abraham of old, this pious father was willing to surrender his son at the command of God. How privileged the fathers are who have such an opportunity of showing how much they value God's work, by giving up that which is of such value to them-an eldest son, and one of promise, and who thus humbly imitate the love of Him who spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all.

Swartz reached Tranquebar, his first Station, on the 30th of July 1750. The pains which he had taken to learn the Tamil language before he left Europe now proved of great use to him, as he was enabled to preach his first Sermon in Tamil on the 5th of November of the same year, little more than three months after his arrival. His text was one rich in the love of the Gospel-"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest;" and the message of mercy which he then declared he continued to make known, both by preaching and living, for nearly half a century.

He was soon permitted to see that his labour was not in vain in the Lord. He spoke to the people simply, affectionately, and yet with power, and God gave the increase. Many were turned from their evil ways: some even of the most obstinate Brahmins began to inquire. In 1767 he became a Missionary of the ChristianKnowledge Society, and commenced a new Mission at Trichinopoly. This is a much more populous city than Tranquebar, and Swartz had more opportunities of doing good. In 1771 he mentions that he had six Native Helpers, who were of great service to him in enabling him to extend his labours among the people. They were indeed very necessary, so rapidly was his Congregation increasing; so much so, that, during the year we have just mentioned, no fewer than 140 persons were added to it, of whom 99 were grown persons.

The Heathen listened in thousands to the Word, and would gladly have come under instruction, but for the Cross. The great difficulty is, that their idolatry encourages them to indulge themselves, while the Gospel commands men to crucify and deny sinful

40 LIVES OF MISSIONARIES. THE REV. C. F. SWARTZ.

self. Once a Brahmin said, "It is the lust of the eyes and of pleasure that prevents us from embracing the Truth." This was a true confession. Swartz remarks-"The Apostle Paul numbers idolatry among the works of the flesh, from which the sinful flesh derives support in more ways than one. If it were only an error of the understanding, the greater number of the Heathen would already have forsaken it. But being a work of the flesh, and Christianity requiring the crucifixion of the flesh, they hang there. May Divine Power rescue them from it, through Jesus Christ! Amen."

Swartz, however, persevered in his own faithful and affectionate manner. "Were we," he says, "to address the Heathen in an angry and cutting manner, it would be just as if we were to throw sand in a man's eyes, and then bid him see distinctly and accurately. But addressing them in love and meekness, or, when overhearing some evil speech, we graft on it a representation of Christianity in its loveliness, they usually listen with attention and reflection.

The following is a pleasing account of one of his Converts, given by Swartz

A young man from the country was met by a Helper, who brought him to us. He remained with us several days, heard in silence, and declared he was convinced of the abomination of Heathenism. He then desired to go into the country, intending to return with his mother and his betrothed wife. After a few days, he arrived with the mother, and they then placed themselves under instruction. Both were of a quiet, and, in the eyes of the world, of a moral disposition. The young man began to attend to reading, which he had before almost forgotten. At the Evening Prayer hour-when we read a chapter in the New Testament, and when the Helpers inquire as to what is difficult to them-he was very attentive. Beside the other instruction given him, he had to read over to himself frequently, during the day, the chapter to be read at the evening hour of prayer, when he read it aloud before us all, distinctly, and without hesitation. By this daily exercise he soon learned to read. He and his aged mother prayed most earnestly, and we all remarked with joy that God was in the youth. He received the name of Sattianaden, or, Possessor of the Truth. His friends and relatives were ill-content. He, after this, went into the country to bring his wife and mother-in-law back with him; but this was attended with sorrow, for the wife came in much distress, would listen to nothing, and wept when she was addressed. The aged mother-in-law came likewise from a distance, but soon returned; "for," said she, " there is no standing it every day there are twenty coming to me to converse about Christianity this is not to be borne;" and so she returned into the country. Our Sattianaden now learned the Truth more and more; went forth and returned with the Helpers; carried my bag for me in my journeys very humbly; and showed his humility in little things. His brother-in-law came one day from the country, and set on him with so much wrath, in public, that the whole street was full. He would not enter the house, but insulted as he sat on the threshold. The Helpers wanted to set him right,

THE INDIAN SETTLEMENT, RED-RIVER COLONY.

41 but it proved in vain. After a day his anger lessened, and he became more sociable. He was civilly invited to attend the Evening Prayer, which he did. We all conversed with him, and he acknowledged that he was in fault; promised that he would soon come with his wife, and place himself under instruction; confided to us his son, a dear little lamb, six years of age, to be instructed in the School; and then returned to the country. Sattianaden I have received as a Helper, and he now goes forth in peace; only I never send him forth alone, but in the society of an elder Helper; so that should he be roughly treated, which is no unusual case here, he may have some one with him to console him

Sattianaden was afterwards ordained.

(To be continued.)

THE INDIAN SETTLEMENT, RED-RIVER COLONY.

IN our last Number we related the arrival of the Bishop of Rupert's Land at the Red-River Colony. We now proceed to mention some of the many encouraging circumstances which serve to show how truly and deeply the Christian Indians value their privileges. The Bishop had arranged to spend Christmas-day at the Indian Settlement, and on the 24th of December he proceeded thither. He thus describes the circumstances of his visit

The ride from the Fort to the Indian Church is the prettiest in the Settlement, and the day was bright and beautiful, so that I saw it to great advantage. The greater part of the way you drive through the woods, until you suddenly come on the river at a small island, where the river widens and forms a larger sheet of water, almost like a lake, between the island and the Indian Church. The flag was hoisted in front of the house of the Chief Pigwys, and before Mr. Smithurst's house, in honour of my arrival. In the afternoon I visited the Chief, and conversed with him for some time; and, hearing that his grandson was to be baptized the next day, I promised to do this myself. In the evening, according to good old English custom, Mr. Smithurst distributed some meat and vegetables among the poor: he gave six pounds of beef and a quarter of a bushel of turnips to each of the widows of the Settlement: their number he found to have increased by deaths to 23. We had Service in the Church in the evening, as they have always a short Indian sermon, bearing on the Sacrament, the evening before every administration of the Lord's Supper.

The following morning, the weather had entirely changed: a very high wind, with a severe and drifting snow-storm. We found, notwithstanding, no empty places in Church. Above 250 assembled to celebrate the birth of their Saviour, and out of these 86 joined together in commemorating His dying love at His Holy Table. There is a remarkable stillness during Service in the Indian Church, great reverence of manner, and we noticed that many of them were in tears while kneeling to communicate. Mr. and Mrs. Hunt had joined us, having been prevented from attending the Lord's Supper with us at St. Andrew's Church. I preached in the morning from St. Luke ii. 15, telling them that I

« AnteriorContinuar »