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 honour and emolument, embraces a life of toil, difficulty, and danger; and contented with the fame of instructing the ignorant, "looks for the recompense 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"jore made an appropriation forever of land of the yearly in"come of five hundred pagodas, for the support of the Chris"tian missionaries in his dominions."t * 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 ⚫ By Lord Macartney and General Coote. † See Account of Proceedings of Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, for 1788. ་ 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 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."* See Society Proceedings for 1792, page 114. Should Mr. Swartz's name be mentioned in any future discussion, the honour 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 1752, 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 ad. "mission 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 16 spirit of the divine Lawgiver, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the "people of God, than to enjoy any pleasures 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 iz "whom we believe." 7. Some of the English think that we ought not to disturb the faith of the Hindoos! After the apostolic Swartz had laboured 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 bo"dy, 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 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 began. 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. 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. † 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 in 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 lan 9. During his residence in India he maintained a correspon dence with the King of England and other princes, and with many of the learned men on the continent. In the year 1714, he returned to Europe for a few months on the affairs of the mission. On this occasion he was honoured with an audience by his Majesty George the First. He was also invited to attend a sitting of the Bishops in the "Society for promoting "Christian Knowledge;" where he was received with an eloquent address in the Latin language ;* to which he answered in the Tamul tongue; and then delivered a copy of his speech translated into Latin. 10. The grand work to which the King and the English bishops had been long directing his attention, was a translation of the Scriptures into the Tamul or Malabarian language. This indeed was the grand work; for wherever the Scriptures are translated into the vernacular tongue, and are open and common to all, inviting enquiry and causing discussion, they cannot remain a dead letter; they produce fruit of themselves, even without a teacher. When a heathen views the word of God in all its parts, and hears it addressing him in his own familiar tongue, his conscience responds, "This is the "word of God." The learned man who produces a translation of the Bible into a new language, is a greater benefactor to mankind than the prince who founds an empire. The "in"corruptible seed of the word of God" can never die. After ages have revolved, it is still producing new accessions to truth and human happiness. So diligent in his studies was this eminent missionary, that before the year 1719, he had completed a translation of the whole Scriptures in the Tamul tongue; and had also com 66 guage of this country is fallen) I have explained hitherto the Articles "of the Christian Faith in six and twenty Sundays sermons. These I "dictated to a Malabarick Amanuensis, and then got them by heart word by word."-The labours of these pious missionaries were so blest, that their Congregation increased every year; and the first church being too small for its accommodation, a larger one was erected eleven years afterward. It was consecrated in the name of the Holy Trinity, October 11, 1718; and the missionaries soon after observed, in a letter to king George I, "We are now constanly preaching in it in three languages" Amer. Ed.] * Niecampius, Hist. Miss. Orient, page 190. [This Address was delivered by WILLIAM NICHOLS, A: M. Řector of Stockport, a member of the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge. It is printed in the Account of the Danish Mission to the East Indies, London, 1718, and there dated" December 29, 1715." Amer. Edit.] Like Wickcliffe's Bible it has been the father of many versions [Mr. Ziegenbalgh, in one of his Letters, having mentioned Madras, Vizagapatnam, Bombay, &c. observes, "In all these places the Damulian (Tamul) is the current language, and consequently the fittest vehicle for conveying the Christian Truths to these people." The whole New Testament, in the Damulian language, was printed for the benefit of the Malabarians, in 1714. A copy of this Version is in the Library of Harvard College. Amer. Edit.] posed a grammar and dictionary of the same language, which remain with us to this day. 11. The peculiar interest taken by King George the First in this primary endeavour to evangelize the Hindoos, will appear from the following letters addressed to the missionaries by his Majesty. George by the Grace of God, King of Great Britain, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c. To the Reverend " and Learned Bartholomew Ziegenbalgius, and John Ernest "Grundlerus, Missionaries at Tranquebar in the East Indies. "REVEREND AND BELOVED, "Your letters dated the 20th of January of the present year, "were most welcome to us; not only because the work un"dertaken by you of converting the heathen to the Christian "faith, doth by the grace of God prosper, but also because "that in this our kingdom such a laudable zeal for the promo"tion of the Gospel prevails. "We pray you may be endued with health and strength of "body, that you may long continue to fulfil your ministry with "good success; of which, as we shall be rejoiced to hear, so << you will always find us ready to succour you in whatever may tend to promote your work and to excite your zeal. "We assure you of the continuance of our royal favour."* "Given at our palace of Hampton"Court the 23d August A. D. "1717, in the 4th Year of our "Reign. "GEORGE R. 12. The King continued to cherish with much solicitude the interests of the mission after the death of Ziegenbalgius; and in ten years from the date of the foregoing letter, a second was addressed to the members of the mission, by his Majesty. "REVEREND AND BELOVED, "From your letters, dated Tranquebar, the 12th Septem"ber, 1725, which some time since came to hand, we received "much pleasure; since by them we are informed not only of 66 your zealous exertions in the prosecution of the work com"mitted to you, but also of the happy success which has hith"erto attended it, and which hath been graciously given of "God. Niecampius, Hist. Miss. page 212. [By a letter from the Danish missionaries to the king of Great Britain, written at Tranquebar January 2, 1717, it appears, that Ziegenbalgius was at London the preceding year, and gave his majesty a verbal account of the whole undertaking." Amer. Edit.] |