CHRISTIAN FRIENDS, MANY of you have seen and heard Negro clergymen from Africa, such as Bishop Crowther and Mr. Johnson; but not until the present year has one of the Society's Native ministers from India visited this country. We have just been welcoming the Rev. W. T. Satthianadhan, pastor of two Native congregations at Madras, and Examining Chaplain to the Bishop of Madras, who has come to England with Mrs. Satthianadhan and their son Samuel. He made an interesting speech at the Society's Annual Meeting at Exeter Hall on April 30th, in which he related his own history as follows: I will begin with the history of a Hindu convert. At the age of fourteen this person was sent to an Indian school in connexion with this great Society. One of the books used in that school was of course the Bible. This school was conducted by a blind teacher, and the Bible was taught regularly every day; but the youth was so bitter against the study of the Bible that one day he instigated the other scholars to request the teacher to give up the Bible, accompanying this with a threat that if the request was not complied with they would all leave the school. But the teacher was not moved by such a threat. “You may all leave the school," he said, "but give up the Bible I never will." The youth was therefore obliged to continue the study of the Bible against his will. He continued there for two years. In the meantime the teacher paid particular attention to the inculcation of Scripture truths, and applied them to the hearts and consciences of his students in such a way that they were much impressed by them. Under the instruction of this admirable teacher the youth remained another three years, and then there began gradually to dawn upon his mind not only the folly of heathenism, but the truth of Christianity, and the necessity of closing with the offers of salvation through Jesus Christ. He went through a great mental struggle; he was not prepared to give up his parents and his home, but the Spirit of God worked mightily in his heart. The young man was at length enabled by God's grace to give up his home and everything he felt dear, and to betake himself to the foot of the cross, where he found rest for his weary soul. His conversion made a sensation in the district, and emptied the school. He, himself, became an object of persecution, and was dragged before two magistrates, European and Native; but the Lord helped him throughout all his troubles, and he is now a herald of the cross to his countrymen; and, by a strange providence, is now privileged to address this audience. Bless the Lord, O my soul! From the very first I would say with devout thankfulness, the lines have fallen to me in pleasant places. The blind teacher I have referred to was William Cruickshanks, a man highly honoured of God, who left his mark on the country, and on the district of Tinnevelly in particular. Through his instrumentality, twenty other Hindus belonging to very respectable families were brought to the knowledge of Christ. I was admitted as a student of the Institution under Bishop Sargent, who had the training of many young men, some of whom are now ministers of the Gospel. After two years' course of study there, I was appointed to North Tinnevelly, and after five years' work, I was transferred to the station at Madras, where I have been labouring for the last fifteen years. This excellent clergyman is therefore a fruit of the Society's educational work in India; and many of our best converts have been brought to Christ, first to know Him and then to confess Him, in a similar way. Let us pray God to bless the eleven hundred schools which the Society maintains in India. Mrs. Satthianadhan, on the other hand, was born and brought up as a name you will remember as the first Native clergyman in South India, and who entered into rest some years ago. Her great grandfather was a convert from Hinduism, so she belongs to the fourth generation of Indian Christians. Some of the 1100 mission schools mentioned above are for girls; and in the city of Madras, Mrs. Satthianadhan and her daughters carry on six of them, which are attended by about 440 Hindu girls. What a happy thing for us that we can have the privilege of helping this dear Christian brother and sister in their good work by subscribing to the Church Missionary Society! In his Annual Letter to the Society, Mr. Satthianadhan, like many other of our missionaries in South India, refers to the dreadful famine which last year desolated that country, and caused the death of more than half-a-million of people : The year will long be remembered in Southern India. Its career has been marked by famine, pestilence, distress, and death unparalleled by any such calamity within the memory of the present generation. Were it not for the unbounded benevolence of England, combined with the unparalleled effort of Government to mitigate the evil, many millions would have perished. The debt of gratitude which South India owes to England is very great indeed, and it will, I trust, produce favourable impressions on the minds of the people as re gards the religion of England. I am thankful to inform you that it has already produced such an impression on many a Native mind. They cannot but be struck with the large-hearted charity of England. Some heathen people have been heard to say thus:-"We can understand Christian people sympathizing with and helping their fellow-Christians in distress, but for them to manifest such generous feeling towards the heathen is a marvel; surely there must be some strange power in their religion." The picture on our first page represents a small "relief camp," as it was called, where the starving people were fed from the money subscribed in England. There were many "relief camps" opened by the Society's Missionaries: the one in the picture was at Sachiapuram, in Tinnevelly. The Rev. Hugh Horsley writes respecting it : Part of the money contributed by friends is spent in giving food daily to destitute persons. If any one were to visit the camp in the morning or evening he would find from fifteen to twenty men, women, and children, each with an earthen vessel, in which to receive their frugal meal. It often happens that some patience has to be exercised while the food is being prepared. In the interval a woman is busy teaching some easy texts of Scripture, which she repeats aloud, the people repeating after her. In this way she teaches her pupils a number of easy and appropriate verses of Scripture. In due time the food is served out and very soon disposed of. It is very pleasing to notice that those who are Christians are not forgetful to thank the Author of every blessing for the food He has so graciously provided for them. The Rev. J. D. Thomas had a very much larger "relief camp" near Madras, where at one time, 6000 destitute people had two meals provided for them daily. He gives a deeply interesting account of a highcaste Hindu converted through this instrumentality : A young man of the Vellalar caste, one of the highest of the Sudras, came to the camp from a village about thirty miles distant. Soon after his arrival he heard one of the catechists preach about the "Prodigal Son," and this awakened in him a desire to be saved. He was brought to me, and appeared really desirous of becoming a Christian. I told him of the cross he would have to bear, the ignominy and scorn of all his relatives, the expulsion from his own home and caste. I held out no hope of his getting employment from us by professing Christianity, but told him that he would have to labour with his own hands, and earn his bread as heretofore. But I also told him of the glorious reward-the crown of life held out to all who really loved God, and believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, and followed Him faithfully. I spoke to Him of sin-the ruin it had brought upon man, and the only remedy-the precious blood of Jesus the Son of God. He continued to remain at the reliefhouse, earning his food by work done. The catechists were instructed to teach him more of Christianity; and as he was able to read, I desired him to learn the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, and Ten Commandments, which he did, and daily attended the prayers and instruction. His brother, friends, and people of his own caste, as well as the heathen at the camp, could not but notice his conduct, and treated him with coldness and suspicion, and jeered and taunted him with joining the Christians. His parents got to hear of this, and came up from their home in great anxiety. With tears they entreated him not to leave them, but to return home with them. But he remained steadfast and refused to leave. His brother and friends treated him with contempt, would not let him eat with them, or have anything in common, and frequently jeered and abused him, and called him a " Pariah;" but this only seemed to drive him nearer to the Christians to throw in his lot with them. His After about four months of this ordeal, and after frequent intercourse with the young man, I felt convinced of his earnestness and the sincerity of his motives, and, finding by examination that he had acquired an intelligent knowledge of the leading doctrines of our holy religion, I had the happiness of baptizing him on Sunday, the 5th August. name is Gnanayuthum. A large number of his heathen acquaintances, men and women, came to the church to witness the ceremony, and stayed through the sermon, which I preached on the words -"Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." The heathen have an idea that baptism is a process of defiling a man, and causing him to break his caste by making him drink water in which leather has been soaked! Those who were present were agreeably surprised to find that such was not the case, and were struck with the simplicity and solemnity of the service. Oh that many more may be brought to know and love Jesus! I do feel thankful for this one soul given us as our hire for work done in the relief-house, and feel that our labour has not been in vain in the Lord. But starvation is not the greatest calamity that has overtaken the people of India. Hear Mr. Satthianadhan's own words, in his speech at Exeter Hall :- "There is another famine which exists in all its horrors not only in the Madras Presidency, but throughout the whole country and throughout the world. In India you will see Hindu temples and Mohammedan mosques raising their proud heads. You will see idols in every city and every village. You will see vast crowds worshipping at the shrine of Vishnu, and prostrating themselves before idols of wood and stone. The country is suffering from this spiritual famine. It is sometimes said that India is the brightest gem in the British crown. Whatever may be our view on that matter, we must all agree that it is our duty, as Christians, to give ourselves no rest, to spare no pains, till we see India set as the brightest gem in the crown of our Royal Immanuel." Subscribers and Collectors of One Penny a week are entitled to a copy of this Paper free. Contributions to the Church Missionary Society are received at the Society's House, Salisbury Square, London; or at the Society's Bankers, Messrs. Williams, Deacon, and Co. Post Office Orders payable to Edward Hutchinson, Esq., Secretary. |