A Christian Home in India
A CHRISTIAN HOME IN INDIA
My father, Dewan Bahadur A. S. Appasamy, was a Hindu.
When he was a young man of 24, he accepted Christ as his Lord and Saviour.
He was baptised in 1871.
He became a lawyer and built up a successful practice, living at Palayamkottai, a Church Missionary Society station in the extreme south of India.
In his 54th year, after a serious illness, he responded to an inner urge and, retiring from his legal practice, devoted the rest of his life to prayer and evangelistic work.
My father was very regular in attending church worship on Sundays, both morning and evening.
He looked an impressive figure when he went to church—a tall, well-built man, darkskinned, with bright, penetrating eyes, clad in dhoti and long coat, a large turban on his head, all spotlessly white. He received
Holy Communion regularly.
He listened attentively to the Bible lessons in church as well as to the sermons.
But he always felt that some of his deeper spiritual problems were not dealt with from the pulpit.
At home he was ceaselessly engaged in the spiritual quest.
Every morning he read a passage from the New Testament.
His large New Testament in English, in bold, clear type, was much thumbed.
But for some reason he did not study the Old Testament.
Perhaps he was put off by the many difficult problems connected with it. A book of readings by the great English Baptist preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, appealed to him, and he read it daily, year after year.
My father had an enquiring mind.
He often quoted St Paul's teaching, 'Prove all things; hold fast that which is good' (1 Thess.
5:21).
Also he quoted from the Tamil classic Kural: 'Whatsoever you hear and from whomsoever, find out the real truth; that is knowledge.'
He taught us that everything should be tested by scripture, reason. and experience.
These are the three tests which are laid down in Indian Logic.
He had an accurate knowledge of Hinduism.
Though he was not a scholar himself, he asked Sanskrit and Tamil scholars
A. J. APPASAMY
to explain to him the meaning of difficult passages in the Hindu scriptures.
He spent much time in meditation.
Daily he went on solitary walks or for drives in a cushion-lined coach drawn by. bullocks..
On various important passages from the Bible he lingered long in meditation.
During the last 12 years of his life he practised Yoga, and in his book, Fifty Years' Pilgrimage of a Convert, he has told us how Yoga helped him.
He was an ardent evangelist and eagerly passed on to others his experience in Christ.
He often visited his Hindu friends and invited them to his house so that he could tell them what
Christ had done for him.
®ometimes he would go to one of the schools run by the C.M.S. and give a course of addresses on Christian life and experience to the sixth form boys.
When the Indian Missionary Society was started by the Tirunelveli Christians he was chosen as its first President.
He continued in that office to the end of his life.
This Society has done much evangelistic work in the Hyderabad area on the initiative of Bishop V. S.
Azariah, Mr Azariah (as he was then) used to spend long hours with my father, talking over with him the problems of missionary work in Dornakal.
Every year in the annual meeting of the I.M.S. my father was asked to give a message, for which he prepared carefully.
He was anxious to bear his testimony to Christ in print.
When we grew up we helped him during the holidays, taking down his dictation and writing out the many corrected copies.
A Tamil book, Why I Became a Christian, and the English book, Fifty Years' Pilgrimage of a Convert, were thus written.
He printed the first editions at his own expense and distributed them free.
The second edition was brought out by the Christian Literature Society, Madras.
For nearly 25 years my father was able to pursue this life of study, prayer and writing, but not without distractions.
He had bought some property (mostly paddy fields) and had planned to live for the rest of his life on the income from it.
But the management of the property often raised difficult questions.
Suits had to be filed sometimes.
Arrears had to be collected from defaulting lessees.
The limited water supplies had to be increased.
There were times when the monsoon failed and new problems
A CHRISTIAN HOME IN INDIA
arose.
All this took up two or three hours daily.
The men and women working in his paddy fields required much help.
They needed places for Christian worship.
My father built two such places, one of them at Rajaputhukudy village, a strong, solid church of masonry which could accommodate a hundred people.
He was also anxious to give education to the children.
Two elementary schools were started, one of which is now a higher elementary school with about 200 pupils.
A man of outstanding gifts, he had also many failings. These were the failings of a self-made man.
As a young man, he had given up his Hindu father and mother and had to depend upon his own efforts to earn a living.
Being a man of keen intelligence, shrewd judgment and steady industry, he had made good.
And he tended to be very impatient with people who were slow, irresponsible or indolent.
He had much confidence in his own ability and was inclined to brag, in spite of his deep faith in God.
A man with a large family and with many clerks and servants, he expected implicit obedience, and often there were outbursts of anger on his part when people did not do as they were told.
He must have been aware of his faults for we often heard him reciting in his unmusical voice a Tamil lyric of penitence composed by his teacher in school, H. A. Krishna Pillai.
It was this teacher's love and personal work, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, which had led my father to the feet of Christ.
As Thy true worshipper I sing not; As Thy pure one, I act not.
For I, deceiver, pass each day in sin.
Although today I live, it is th'uncertain life Of one of whom tomorrow Tis said that he is dead!
For senseless me, save for abundant Grace, There is no saving way, O God.
O therefore say to me, 'Fear not!'
And grant to me safe refuge."
My mother's father, W. E. Ganapathi Pillai, was a man of considerable social standing.
As a Hindu he had belonged to a caste whose special prerogative was to chant Tamil Bhakti 1 Rakshanya Yatrikam, Tr. by E. E. White, p. 326.
A. J. APPASAMY
hymns in the Hindu temples. When my grandfather heard Christian teaching he gave up his former social position and became a humble follower of the Lord Jesus.
He joined the Government Revenue Department and by dint of ability, hard work and character he rose high. My mother was only 14 when she married, and the wedding was on a grand scale.
The bridegroom was a stranger, aged 27, but the bride's family fully believed that he would make good.
He lived to be 79 and she, 81, and they were devoted to each other.
My mother was humble, gentle, patient and loving.
She was also deeply religious, though her religion differed from my father's.
She was an extreme Protestant and believed that only Protestants would go to heaven.
There were six children—four boys and two girls.
During one of my mother's confinements her hearing became badly affected.
On account of this handicap she lived in a world of her own, attending to her children and house-keeping.
She was very fond of reading, and there were always books under her pillow.
One book to which she was attached was Andrew Murray's Abide in Christ in Tamil translation.
In church she always sat in the front pew on the women's side and a relative or friend sat next to her to show her what was being read or sung.
There were family prayers every evening.
My mother read a passage from the Bible, and my father made a comment or two and then offered a prayer.
I was born on September 3, 1891. My recollection of my early life begins only from my seventh year.
My father spent six months every year at Palayamkottai, three months at Kodaikanal, and three at Courtalam.
He used to say that he was following the old Indian ideal according to which a man lives first as a student, then marries and has a family, and then goes with his family to the forest for prayer and study.
He regarded himself as being in the third stage, or Vanaprastha.
As he wanted much solitude he would take with him only one of the children during the school holidays.
I was taken more often than the others.
There was a faithful servant who cooked for us.
We had no company.
My father was fond of beautiful sights and sounds, and nature was for him a real pathway to God.
During these visits to the hills I also acquired-some of my love for nature.
My father could not walk long distances but he had some Brahmin
A CHRISTIAN HOME IN INDIA
friends, former colleagues in the legal profession, who came to Kodaikanal for their holidays; he used to send me for morning and evening walks with them.
So I had the peculiar experience of spending most of my time with much older folk.
The girls in the family learnt Carnatic music.
As a boy I listened to their violin practice for two to three hours every day.
They became experts and had such sweet voices that they were asked to sing in the C.M.S. Centenary Hall where there would be large audiences.
Seated on the platform the girls in our family would sing beautiful Tamil lyrics.
One of the lyrics is still clear in my memory:
That day, that day is good, When you do something good to others, That day, that day is good.
Many large prints of oil paintings by Ravi Varma, a member of the royal family of Travancore, were hung i in our houie: They brought vividly before us the classical stories of India, most of them from the Ramayana and Mahabharata. There was a picture of Harishchandra, the king who gave up his throne and agreed to send his wife and child into slavery so that he might keep his word.
'Nala and Damayanti, the romantic young people who fell in love through hearing of each other's accomplishments from a swan, were also depicted.
A picture of Sakuntala, a Rishi's adopted daughter with whom a king fell in love during a hunting expedition, became familiar to us.
From early life we realised that there is a cultural heritage of India both in music and in art.
DECISION FOR CHRIST
ie When I was thirteen, a remarkable Englishman held many meetings at Palayamkottai.
He was Mr R. T. Archibald of the Children's Special Service Mission.
He was very young.
He played with us and moved freely with us, We looked forward to his meetings after school.
He pleaded with us to yield ourselves to Christ.
He taught us to love the Bible and to study it with care, marking the great verses with ink so that they stood out impressively.
His Indian assistant was equally remarkable for his love of boys. Together they took us—a large number of us—by storm: we could not but heed their appeal.
That was in 1904.
Archibald kept in close touch with us in after years, praying for us and writing to us.
Fifteen years later, he called on me while I was studying theology at Oxford, and we had lunch together, reviving old memories.
At the age of thirteen I did not realize the meaning of what had happened.
Only my subsequent life and reflection convinced me of its importance.
But that a change had taken place was evident to me and to others.
From that time, I began to read the Bible carefully.
I formed regular habits of prayer. I found joy in attending religious meetings.
'The missionary cause became dear to my heart.
About a hundred of us who had decided for Christ were taken that September to a Boys' Camp at Courtalam at the foot of the Western Ghats with their blue hills, lovely falls and clear streams.
Mr V. S. Azariah was one of the speakers.
He had spent much time in the Connemara Public Library, Madras, and had made a careful study of the needs of evangelistic work in India. Though we were in our early teens, he gave us many facts and figures.
A map of India was spread before us.
He pointed out to us where the Hindus were in a majority and where the Muslims and the Christians and the Parsees lived.
One particular part of his address still remains fresh in my memory after sixty years.
He held his watch in his hand and
DECISION FOR CHRIST
paused for a minute.
He always spoke with slow and measured emphasis: "During this minute, twenty people in India have passed into eternity without ever having heard of Christ.
Will you boys decide to serve Christ and to proclaim His name?'
In response to that appeal, I dedicated myself to work in His Church.
My parents were quite glad to hear of my decision to enter the ministry.
Only an old family servant was disappointed. 'You ought to become a judge!' he said.
Though quite illiterate, he had caught the current idea that to join the Indian Civil Service was the thing for an ambitious young man.
-On May 23, 1907 I was attending the Missionary Conference in the American Church, Kodaikanal.
One of the speakers was Mr V. Krishnasamy Iyer, a brilliant lawyer who had a flourishing practice in Madras.
I met Mr Krishnasamy Iyer later that evening, as he walked along the Lake Road.
'What profession do you intend to follow?' he asked.
'I would like to become a clergyman.'
He said: 'I disapprove of making uncultured men religious workers.
A clergyman must have intellectual training also. You should know the explanations for the seeming inconsistencies between Christianity and science.
You should lead Christians and non-Christians through the labyrinth of controversy and show that Christianity is the best religion. Such men as Butler and Newman were up-to-date in their scientific knowledge.'
I answered, 'Modern sermons lack the energy and enthusiasm of ancient sermons, because too much attention is paid to intellectual matters.'
He said, 'While a minister of God acquaints himself with science, and arms himself with arguments in favour of his religion, he must be in incessant communion with God and must not lose sight of spirituality, Intellectual grasp combined with spiritual strength is the greatest requisite for a servant of God.'
All this confirmed my desire to get the advanced training necessary for work among educated men.
I was amazed at the intense patriotism Mr Krishnasamy lyer showed.
He said: 'I am very proud that the Asiatic Continent gave birth to Jesus Christ.
Christ valued the East and her people,
A. J. APPASAMY
for He ordered that He should be born in the East and He illumined the Eastern magi and not Western astronomers.'
Later my religious ardour began to disappear.
I am inclined to attribute the change to the passage of time and the lack of stimulants to a holy life. My regular habits of Bible study; prayer and attendance at church, and my interest in religious questions, continued.
But I went through them as a matter of course.
In the year 1908—I was seventeen then—I had my season ot doubt.
Rev. W. Howard Campbell, a well-read missionary of broad views, to whom I applied for help, sent prompt and often satisfactory replies to my queries.
During those years of doubt my eyes did not, however, become blind to the supreme majesty of the character and teaching of Jesus Christ.
I still clung to my habit of prayer.
Indeed a belief in prayer was the only positive element in my creed, I had to base even my belief in the existence of God on that.
This is how I argued: 'I pray.
My prayers are answered.
Therefore, there must be a God who answers prayers.'
Very simple reasoning, but very, very satisfying!
My mother fretted about my growing indifference in matters spiritual.
She suspected that every book I read might poison me.
When I associated with a boy who had no belief, she was afraid that I would become an athiest.
I began to read Hindu books to improve my knowledge of Tamil and she was afraid that I might become a Hindu.
I myself was considerably exercised over the change. But how could I command a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit?
My devotional habits did not help me much.
This state of affairs continued for many months.
; My father held the view that my religion was probably becoming more mature.
He said, "The young leaves of a mango tree are tender and have unusual beauty.
Not so the mature leaves.
Their early charm goes.'
Then came another awakening.
In 1911 I attended a College Students' Camp.
There, the Holy Spirit spoke to me.
A course of studies on Immortality infused new strength into my hopes.
The death of a class-mate was the occasion, during the camp, of a memorable address.
The speaker—by whose personality I had already become attracted—described the life after death with such
DECISION FOR CHRIST
vividness and force that I came to regard death as a glorious thing.
I kept up the habit of Bible study.
The words of our Lord Jesus Christ, in particular, influenced my thoughts and deeds. The books of the Bible which captured my imagination were Job,
(because of the praises lavished upon it by men of letters like Carlyle, Froude and others), Isaiah, (because of its eloquence), the Gospel of John (because of its mysticism) and the Epistle to the Romans (because of its logic and philosophic depth).
The Psalms failed to thrill me.
The wisdom of Proverbs appeared to me commonplace and monotonous.
The method of studying the Bible, which appealed to me most, was the biographical.
I loved to group the incidents around the great men of the Bible.
I had experienced the happiness of surrendering myself entirely to God as revealed in Jesus Christ.
My temptations were many.
Chief among them were pride and self-centredness.
I was afraid that at any moment I might be swept off my feet by them. Prayer and meditation on Jesus Christ helped me much.
My father and I met Dr Sherwood Eddy' every season at Kodaikanal.
We had lunch with him every Sunday and he had lunch with us every Saturday.
Eddy had private means and was an honorary missionary.
When the call to serve Christ in India came to him, he gave up his ambition of making 'big' money in the lumber business in the United States.
What impressed me most about Eddy was his steady and unremitting application.
Except when he came out for his meals, the door of his study was closed.
Most of his fellow-missionaries were taking it easy on their holiday, going out for picnics, boating on the lake and playing tennis.
But he was glued to his desk.
Soon we knew what such diligence could achieve.
Eddy undertook to give a series of Bible readings in the American Church on Thursday afternoons in the mid-week prayer meetings.
Generally this prayer meeting was poorly attended.
But when he gave his Bible studies on the book of Isaiah and expounded clearly and earnestly Isaiah's deep belief in a living God, the large church was filled with missionaries.
Eddy's repeated declaration 'I believe in God' (summing up Isaiah's teaching) keeps ringing in my ears.
A. J. APPASAMY
Eddy also came and stayed with us in our home at Manorama, Palayamkottai, for a month once.
He was beginning his study of Tamil and was anxious to live in a Tamil home and speak the language with Tamil people.
At Palayamkottai too he applied himself heart and soul to his work, Apart from an hour every day for his morning devotions and fifteen minutes for glancing through the daily paper, he concentrated on language study, wearing a picturesque green shade over his eyes to keep the glare off.
The only exercise he took was a steady run round the compound of our house.
When Dr John R. Mott invited Eddy to do student work all over Asia in 1911, the Madurai Mission lost a valuable missionary.
But Asia (and later the world) gained a powerful evangelist.
He became a beloved colleague of Mott in many of his world-wide evangelistic campaigns.
In the summer of 1916, Sherwood Eddy invited me to spend a month of my summer vacation in his home at Forest Hills on Long Island, near New York City.
I was then studying in the Hartford Theological Seminary. Forest Hills was a lovely suburb.
Eddy went to New York daily for his work when he was not speaking in conferences and camps.
A remarkable Sunday morning service still lingers in my memory.
Dr J. H. Jowett was the Pastor of a wealthy church on Fifth Avenue, New York.
Eddy and his family were members there.
I said I would like to hear that famous preacher.
The church was full and the sermon was a masterpiece of pulpit oratory on the text 'And cast their crowns before the throne'
(Revelation 4:10).
On this unusual text Jowett preached a powerful sermon pleading with his people to commit themselves wholly to Christ.
His earnestness, his apt illustrations and his choice language won for him an attentive hearing from beginning to end.
In the 1920's Eddy visited Madras and asked that he might mect a small group of representative Christian workers there.
A few of us spent a day with him.
He had now begun to preach the social gospel, the application of Christ's teaching to the manifold and complex problems of human society—the race problem, relation between capital and labour, sex and family life, war and peace.
He was trying to cover an immense range of subjects, so varied indeed that only a team of experts could deal with them.