Sivut kuvina
PDF
ePub

means were used for their conversion, may have posses sed as invincible prejudices against the religion of Christ as the Brahmins of Benares, or of Juggernaut.

Whatever good effects have been produced by the Christian religion in Malabar, may also be produced in Bengal, and in every other province of Hindostan.

CHAPTER II.

Of the extension of Christianity in India by the labors of Protestant Missionaries.

1. In the bill brought into Parliament in 1793 for communicating Christian instruction to our Asiatic subjects, there was a clause, for an "Establishment of "Missionaries and Schoolmasters." Such an establishment (if it ever should be necessary) might seem more properly to follow, than to precede, the recog nition of our national Church in Hindostan. It is probable, however, that the proposition for sending missionaries was less favorably received on account of the reigning prejudice against the name and character of "Missionary." In England it is not professional in church or state. No honor or emolument is attached to it. The character and purpose of it are doubtful, and the scene of action-remote. Even the propriety of sending missionaries any where has been called into question.

2. It is not, however, those who send missionaries, but those to whom they are sent, who have a right to give an opinion in this matter.

The same spirit which sent missionaries to Britain in the fourth century will continue to send missionaries to the heathen world to the end of time by the established church, or by her religious societies.

3. Wherever the Christian missionary comes, he is well received. Ignorance ever bows to learning: but if there be a desire to impart this learning, what barbarian will turn away? The priests will murmur when the Christian teacher speaks as one having authority;

but "the common people will hear him gladly." Whether in the subterranean hut of frozen Greenland, or under the shades of a banian-tree in burning India, a Christian missionary, surrounded by the listening natives, is an interesting sight; no less grateful to humanity than to Christian charity.

4. But who is this missionary? He is such as Swartz in India, or Brainerd in America, or the Moravian in Labrador; one who leaving his country and kindred, and renouncing honor and emolument, embraces a life of toil, difficulty, and danger; and contented with the fame of instructing the ignorant, "looks for the recompence of eternal reward."

There is a great difference between a civilizing mechanic and an apostolic missionary. A mechanic of decent morals is no doubt useful among barbarians. The few around him learn something of his morals with his trade. And it is the duty of civilized states to use such means for improving the barbarous portions of the human race.

But the apostolic missionary, who has studied the language and genius of the people, is a blessing of a higher order. His heavenly doctrine and its moral influence extend, like the light of the sun, over multitudes in a short time; giving life, peace, and joy, enlarging the conceptions, and giving birth to all the Christian charities. How shall we estimate the sum. of human happiness produced by the voice of Swartz alone! Compared with him, as a dispenser of happiness, what are a thousand preachers of philosophy among a refined people!

5. Some of the English think that we ought not "to disturb the faith of the natives." But some of the Hindoo Rajahs think differently. The king of Tanjore requested Mr. Swartz to disturb the faith of his wicked subjects by every means, and to make them, if possible, honest and industrious men. Mr. Swartz endeavoured to do so, and his services were acknowledged by the English government at Madras,* as well as by the King of Tanjore. In the year 1787, "The king of Tan

* By Lord Macartney and General Coote.

jore made an appropriation forever of land of the year. ly income of five hundred pagodas, for the support of the Christian missionaries in his dominions."*

6. In the debate in 1793, on the proposal for sending missionaries to India, some observation was made on Mr. Swartz, honourable to himself as a man, but unfavourable to his objects as a missionary. The paper containing this speech reached Mr. Swartz in India, and drew from him his famous Apology, published by the Society for promoting Christian knowledge. Perhaps no Christian defence has appeared in these latter ages more characteristic of the apostolic simplicity and primitive energy of truth, than this apology of the venerable Swartz.

Without detailing the extraordinary success of himself and his brethren in converting thousands of the natives to the Christian religion, a blessing which some may not be able to appreciate; he notices other circumstances of its beneficial influence, which all must understand.

His fellow missionary, "Mr. Gericke, at the time the war broke out at Cuddalore, was the instrument in the hand of Providence, by which Cuddalore was saved from plunder and bloodshed. He saved many English gentlemen from becoming prisoners to Hyder Ali, which Lord Macartney kindly acknowledged."

Mr. Swartz twice saved the fort of Tanjore. When the credit of the English was lost, and when the credit of the Rajah was lost, on the view of an approaching enemy, the people of the country refused to supply the fort with provisions; and the streets were covered with the dead. But Mr. Swartz went forth and stood at the gate, and at his word they brought in a plentiful supply.

Mr. Swartz, at different times, aided the English government in the collection of revenues from the refractory districts. He was appointed guardian to the family of the deceased King of Tanjore; and he was employed repeatedly as mediator between the English

See Account of Proceedings of Society for Promoting Chris tian Knowledge, for 1788.

government and the country powers. On one occasion, when the natives doubted the purpose and good faith of the English, they applied to Mr. Swartz; "Sir if you send a person to us, send a person who has learned all your Ten Commandments."*

7. Some of the English think that we ought not to disturb the faith of the Hindoos! After the apostolic Swartz had labored for fifty years in evangelizing the Hindoos, so sensible were they of the blessing, that his death was considered as a public calamity. An innumerable multitude attended the funeral. The Hindoo Rajah "shed a flood of tears over the body, and covered it with a gold cloth."+ His memory is still blessed among the people. The King of Tanjore has lately written to the bishops of the English church, requesting that a monument of marble may be sent to him, " in order," he adds, " that it may be erected in

* See Society Proceedings for 1792, page 114. Should Mr. Swartz's name be mentioned in any future discussion, the honor of the English nation is pledged to protect his fame. The bishops and clergy of England, in their account of proceedings of the "Society for promoting Christian Knowledge," for 1792, have sanctioned the following character of Mr. Swartz.

"He is an example of all that is great and good in the character of a Christian missionary. He hath hazarded his life through a long series of years for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. His behaviour, while it has endeared him to the common orders of men, has procured him admission before the throne of the proudest monarch of the east. There do we find this worthy servant of God, pleading the cause of Christianity, and interceding for his mission; and doing it without offence. There do we find him renouncing every personal consideration; and, in the true spirit of the divine Lawgiver, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy any pleasure or distinctions which this world could afford him; esteeming the reproach of Christ and the advancement of a despised religion far greater riches than Indian treasures."

See Dr. Glasse's Charge to a Missionary proceeding to India. It will not be foreign to the subject of this Memoir to insert another passage of that Charge:

"Happy will it be, if our conquests in India should open the way for a further introduction of the Gospel, and for the extension and enlargement of Christ's kingdom. What a lustre would such an accession give to the British conquests in the Eastern World, when it should appear, that we have been conquering, not for ourselves alone, but for Him also in whom we believe."

† Serfogee Maha, Rajah of Tanjore. See Society Proceedings for 1801, p. 141. Let us hail this act as the emblem of the whole Hindoo superstition bending to the Christian faith.

the church which is in my capital, to perpetuate the memory of the late Rev. Mr. Swartz, and to manifest the esteem I have for the character of that great and good man, and the gratitude I owe to him, my father and my friend.”

8. But whence was this Swartz? and under what sanction did he and his predecessors exercise their ministry as Christian preachers to the heathen?

The first person appointed to superintend a Protestant mission in India was Bartholomew Ziegenbalgius, a man of considerable learning and of eminent piety, educated at the University of Halle in Germany. Having been ordained by the learned Burmannus, Bishop of Zealand, in his twenty third year, he sailed for India in 1705. A complete century will have revolved in October of this year, since the mission in India be gan. Immediately on his arrival, he applied himself to the study of the language of the country, and with such success, that in a few years he obtained a classical knowledge of it; and the colloquial tongue became as familiar to him as his own. His fluent orations addressed to the natives, and his frequent conferences with the Brahmins,* were attended with almost immediate success; and a Christian church was founded in the second year of his ministry,† which has been extending its limits to the present time.

* A volume of these conferences was published in London in 1719, 8vo.

A building was now erected at Tranquebar, at the expense of 250 perdous, and was named New Jerusalem. It stood without the town, "in the midst of a multitude of Malabarians, near the high road, built all of stone." It was consecrated August 14, 1707, in the presence of a great concourse of Heathens, Mahometans, and Christians! to whom a sermon was preached both in Portuguese and Malabarick. From that time the missionaries statedly preached in this church three times a week in both these languages. Of their indefatigable diligence, in this interesting mission, some judgment may be formed from a single fact, mentioned by Ziegenbalgius in 1708. "As for myself, (to whose share the learning of the native language of this country is fallen) I have explained hitherto the Articles of the Christian Faith in six and twenty Sunday sermons. These I dictated to a Malabarick Amanuensis, and then got them by heart. word by word."-The labors of these pious missionaries were so blest, that their Congregation increased every year; and the first ehurch being too small for its accommodation, a larger one was erected eleven years afterward. It was consecrated in the name of

« EdellinenJatka »