Christian Frederick Schwartz
‘© A beautiful life, as brilliant and powerful as we find in any of the centuries before him.” ‘Standing out clear from all,—to Christian thought and the history of the Church, perhaps the most conspicuous figure in India of the eighteenth century.”
W. FLEMING STEVENSON.
THE honour of having sent the first Protestant mission to India belongs to Denmark; but the majority of the European workers, for the first fifty years at least, were Germans. So also was the famous missionary at whose life we shall now glance, Schwartz, if one of the earliest, was also one of the most successful of Indian missionaries : he worked in India for forty-eight years, having never even once come back to Europe during that time.
Christian Frederick Schwartz was born in Sonnenburg. a small town in the Electorate of Brandenburg, in October 1726. After an elementary education in Sonnenburg he was sent to a more advanced school in the neighbouring town of Custin. Before this he had been “confirmed” according to the rites of the Lutheran_Church, but received little impression. At Custin a lady brought him some books to read: one of these was “ Demonstrations of the Footsteps of a Divine Being yet in the World,” by A. H. Francke. It was a narrative of the rise and progress of the Orphan House at Glaucha, near Halle. The reading of this book proved the turning point in his life.
In 1746 he proceeded to Halle, where he lodged in the Orphan House while he pursued his studies in the University. His intercourse with Francke did him great good, and strengthened his resolution to devote himself to God.
The project was being spoken of at that time of printing at Halle a new edition of the Bible in Tamil, under the superintendence of the missionary Schultz. This idea was never accomplished, but while the project was still on foot, Schwartz and another student were recommended to acquire what knowledge they could of Tamil, in order to qualify them to help in correcting the printing of the book. While engaged in the study of this language, which occupied him for several months, Francke asked him if he would go to India; and he resolved to do so if he could receive his father’s consent. This with some little difficulty was obtained, and in August 1749 Schwartz with other two missionaries left Halle for Copenhagen. In this city they were ordained to the ministry by Bishop Horreboa.
Returning to Halle they made preparations for their final departure; and left Germany for England, ex route to India. In London they were kindly received by the Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge, and by other friends, including the king’s chaplain: “whatever could in any way contribute to our comfort and encouragement, that he did.” Schwartz was called on to preach in the Royal Chapel; and the Directors of the East India Company granted the three missionaries a free passage to India.
They embarked at Deal in January 1750, and arrived at Cuddalore in the following July. Long afterwards it was observed that for a century after the founding of the Danish mission, and in the course of which some fifty missionaries had proceeded to India, no vessel had been lost in which any of them sailed.
We shall now look at his work among the Hindoos. A wealthy native merchant said to him, “Sir, be not displeased, I wish to ask you a question. Do all Europeans speak like you?” Schwartz replied that all Europeans were not true Christians, but that there were many who were really so, and who sincerely prayed for the Hindoos that they might become acquainted with Jesus Christ. “You astonish me,” said he, “for from what we daily observe and experience we cannot but think Europeans, with but few exceptions, to be self-interested, incontinent, proud, full of illiberal contempt and prejudice against us Hindoos, and even against their own religion, especially the higher classes. So at least I have found it with the majority of those with whom I have had any intercourse.”
Meeting a Hindoo dancing master with a female pupil, Schwartz told them that no unholy persons should enter into the kingdom of heaven. “ Alas, sir,” said the poor girl, “in that case hardly any European will ever enter it.”
This incident is of the same tone as some remarks he made years afterwards. “The wretchedness of many young people here is difficult to be described. Of such, how many are in a short time removed into eternity. They arrive in this country, to make, as it is called, their fortunes, and usually go down to the grave under circumstances sorrowful indeed.”
His fellow missionaries soon discovered Schwartz's talents, and appointed him to superintend all the Christian schools and churches south of the river Caveri. This involved much itinerating work which he cheerfully rendered.
Various drawbacks occurred in the conduct of the mission. These arose from political circumstances, such as the success of the French in some of their military enterprises in India. But notwithstanding this feeling of uneasiness the Danish mission celebrated its jubilee on 9th July 1756, the anniversary of the day’ on which fifty years previously Bartholomew Ziegenbalg and Henry Plutscho, the first Protestant missionaries to India, landed at Tranquebar. ;
In this year, 1756, three Mohammedans were baptized. at Vepery, the first-fruits of Islam to Christ on the coast of Coromandel.
The branches of the mission at Cuddalore and Madras were seriously interfered with by the hostilities between the French and English armies ; but Tranquebar, where Schwartz was stationed, belonged to a neutral state, and thus escaped the horrors of war.
In 1760, some of the native Christians of the Dutch mission in Ceylon having requested that the Danish missionaries should visit them, Schwartz set out for that island and visited Jaffnapatnam, Colombo, and other towns. This visitation of the Cingalese churches occupied three months. “The Word of God being so scarce in that island, I assure you that the Divine service was conducted in a very solemn and edifying manner. Indeed my inmost soul was moved by it.”
In 1762 Schwartz determined to extend his labours in India beyond the limits of the Danish territory, and accordingly set out on foot to Tanjore and Trichinopoli, where he preached to both Christians and heathens. From that time his work was chiefly connected with those two cities even more than with Tranquebar.
At Caroor, near Trichinopoli, he found work of all sorts among the Hindoos and Europeans, for whose benefit he held divine service with the soldiers. The country around was rich and beautiful, “well watered even as the garden of the Lord.” i
These were years of continual war, battles and sieges following in rapid succession; but amid it all the missionaries pursued their way ; sometimes in the besieged towns, having their goods seized, and the converts often cruelly used: but through it all the work went on which they were sent to do, At the siege of Madura by the English, Schwartz is reported to have been signally useful to the English army.
In 1766, at the request of the Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge, and with the approval of the Royal Mission College at Copenhagen, Schwartz left Tranquebar and settled at Trichinopoli.
In regard to his personal appearance and character we have this description: “His garb, which was pretty well worn, seemed foreign and old fashioned, but in every other respect his appearance was the very reverse of all that could be termed forbidding or morose. Figure to yourself a stout well-made man, somewhat above the middle size, erect in his carriage and address, with a complexion rather dark though healthy, black curled hair, and a manly engaging countenance expressive of unaffected candour, ingenuousness and benevolence, and you will have an idea of what Mr Schwartz appeared to be at first sight.”
The following particulars may be acceptable. His annual income at Trichinopoli was about £48. “Let us see, then, how he managed with this income. He obtained of the commanding officer a room in an old Gentoo building, which was just large enough to hold his bed and himself, and in which few men could stand upright. With this apartment he was contented. A dish of rice and vegetables dressed after the manner of the natives was what he could always sit cheerfully down to; and a piece of dimity dyed black, and other materials of the same homely sort, sufficed him for an annual supply of clothing. Thus easily provided as to temporalities, his only care was to do the work of an evangelist.” He was never married.
The English garrison being without a chaplain, Schwartz regularly preached to them. The government of Madras granted him £100 a year for these services, and this benevolent man spent it in building a mission house and hall and school: and after furnishing these buildings he resolved to retain only half for himself and devote the other half to the use of his congregation.
In 1768, the English being involved in war with Hyder Ali, Schwartz found an addition to his work in attending the sick and wounded from the English camp.
At a visit to Combaconum he talked himself quite weary with various heathen, and one of the catechists read them our Lord’s warning against false prophets, whereupon a Brahmin declared aloud, “It is the lust of the eye and of pleasure that prevents us from embracing the truth.” On this Schwartz makes the unusual but just remark; “St Paul enumerates idolatry among the works of the flesh. Ifit were only an error of the wxderstanding, the greater number of heathens would already
D have forsaken it, but being a work of the flesh, and Christianity requiring its crucifixion, they stop there.”
Another Brahmin used the plain words, “The reasons why we do not embrace the Christian doctrines are avarice, pride and voluptuousness,”
The Hindoos were accustomed to justify themselves after this fashion:—We cannot be better than the gods : now the gods everywhere practised lying, impurity, injustice and revenge; these cannot, therefore, be sinful. In the temples the most flagrant actions of the gods were described in images and pictures, and as the result the people were sunk in vice and misery. “They that make the idols are like unto them.”
“But we faint not,” said Schwartz: “we know that Christ is ordained as a light of the Gentiles.”
In regard to the hindrances to the conversion of the heathen it was his conviction that the principal cause which prevents most of the Hindoos from embracing Christianity is the fear of man, In regard to the Brahmins in particular he writes: “Nothing but fear keeps them at present from embracing the Christian religion... . For my part I entertain a cheerful hope of seeing better days, and therefore rejoice in the present opportunity of preaching the salutary doctrine of Christ, frequently recalling to my mind that there is a time of sowing preceding that of reaping.”
Having visited Tanjore in 1769, he was introduced to the king of that place, the Rajah Tuljajee: and with this prince and his successors Schwartz’s history is much interwoven, Meanwhile he worked at Trichinopoli.
“Padre,” said the son of the Nabob at Trichinopoli, “we always regarded you Europeans as a most irreligious race of men, unacquainted even with the nature of prayer, till you came and told us you had good people amongst you in Europe: since you are come here indeed we begin to think better of you.”
Seeing the opportunity of influencing the Mohammedans of India by the Persian language, the Gospels in Persian were to some extent circulated among them, and an attempt was made to procure the whole of the New Testament in that language, but such a translation could not be got then. But though Schwartz failed in this, the thing itself has been long ago accomplished. Henry Martyn did this work. The Persian translation of the New Testament is his enduring monument: and it has been widely circulated both in India and in Persia.
What with school work, visitation of the troops, the regular services of the churches, evangelistic and pastoral tours among the natives, and private conversation, his time was well occupied. “The day being cool,” he writes, “I went round the fort, the poor heathen collecting in numbers to hear the Word of God. After conversing with them, a Mohammedan approached and asked me, ‘What was the difference between his religion and mine?’ To which I replied, ‘ We both have a heavy burden of sin to carry. You have none to remove it, but we have in Jesus Christ a perfect Deliverer.’”
The blessing of God rested on the work year by year, and the native church continued to increase. Many instances occurred of conversion both among Roman Catholics and the heathen; and the genuineness of the change was shown by the way in which they withstood allurement and persecution. “The increase in the congregation,” he writes in 1771, “has been greater than the preceding year, 140 persons in all having been added to it. We have also remarked more of the work of God in the heart of the catechumens, which has encouraged us cheerfully to persevere.” His work among the Europeans was equally fruitful, many of the soldiers coming out:clearly and fully in the Christian life.
He was always careful not to speak harshly:
“Were we 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 exhort him to see clearly.”
Among many interesting conversions was that of a man said to have been more than a hundred years old. Notwithstanding his extreme age he comprehended well what he.was taught,.and he was baptized.
The Rajah of Tanjore proposed to employ Mr Schwartz as a mediator or ambassador in some political negotiations with the English, but was overruled by his officers. The rajah used these remarkable words to Schwartz, “Padre, I ~have confidence in you, because you are indifferent to money.” .
By the combined efforts of the English Government of Madras and the Nabob of Arcot, Tanjore was captured, and the.rajah deposed. But these proceedings did not meet with the approval of the authorities in England, by whose orders the rajah was restored to his throne. The rajah’s restoration once more opened the way to Schwartz for freely preaching in Tanjore. The war had greatly hindered him.
The languages in which he had hitherto carried on his work were English, German, Tamil and Persian, but at the request of the rajah he also acquired Marathi. The princes of Tanjore as descended from the Maratta conquerors used this language; and by thus learning it, Schwartz increased his influence in that court.
An additional missionary having been appointed at Trichinopoli, Schwartz was able from 1778 to reside chiefly at Tanjore, though he continued to visit Trichinopoli and to superintend the work in both places.
At the request of the Governor of Madras, Schwartz undertook a piece of political work: some might blame him for it, but he thought it right to comply with the request. It was that he should go to Seringapatam to have a personal interview with Hyder Ali for the purpose of ascertaining his actual disposition with regard to the English, and to assure him of the pacific intentions of the Madras government. It was thought that Schwartz’s knowledge of Hindustani, and his incorruptible integrity, qualified him for this mission of peace. And viewing it as an endeavour to avoid war and bloodshed, he also thought it would be wrong to refuse. Accordingly he undertook the journey and arrived at Hyder Ali’s court, and had the desired interview or several of them. He gives some curious information about the court CHRISTIAN FREDERICK SCHWAKTZ, 47
of that prince and the terrible severity with which he governed his subjects. This embassy, well as Schwartz endeavoured to carry it out, proved quite ineffectual to secure the desired end, for Hyder Ali not long afterwards invaded the Carnatic with an army of about a hundred thousand men. This involved a war which lasted three years, during which time the sufferings of the natives were extreme; famine prevailed. Schwartz writes, “We have suffered exceedingly in this fortress from hunger and misery. When passing through the streets early in the morning the dead were lying in heaps.” “A vigorous and strong man is scarcely to be met with: in outward appearance men are like wandering skeletons.” Apprehending the outbreak of this war, Schwartz had purchased 12,000 bushels of rice at a low price, and this enabled him not only to support his catechists and schoolmasters, but to assist many others: indeed he was able to feed a considerable number for seventeen months. “Such distress I never before witnessed, and God grant I never may again.”
During this trying period the work of the mission not only did not fall back, but even made cheering progress, while as regards Schwartz himself his Christian character attracted universal con- fidence and esteem; and even Hyder Ali, notwithstanding his cruelty and the desolation which he was spreading so widely, yet ordered his officers “to allow the venerable padre to pass unmolested and to show him respect and kindness, for he is a holy man and means no harm to my government.”
Hyder Ali’s career of conquest was cut short ~by the defeats inflicted on liim by Sir Eyre Coote and Warren Hastings, and in 1782 he died at Chittore. The war, however, was continued by Hyder Ali’s son Tippoo. After it had proceeded for some time a new attempt was made by the English to secure peace, and once more they applied to Schwartz to accompany the peace commissioners as their interpreter. He agreed to do so, and went so far on the way to meet the Sultan Tippoo, when he was stopped by the Sultan’s officers, peace having been otherwise concluded. Colonel Fullarton, the commander of the English troops, writes of him at this time, “The knowledge and the integrity of this irreproachable missionary have retrieved the character of Europeans from imputations of general depravity.”
Returning to Tanjore he was a second time requested to join the peace commissioners, but not being well he declined. In the account which he gives of this declinature he says: “When one considers all, high and low, rich and poor, rulers and those that are ruled, one is struck with grief and a variety of passions. What blindness, insensibility and obstinacy, greediness and rapaciousness! A thousand times I think with myself, ‘God, must all those people die, must they all give a strict account of their lives, must they all ‘appear before the tribunal of Jesus the mediator and judge? How little do they mind their end and the consequences of their lives!”
He had now been in India considerably more than thirty years, and speaking of the heathen he says, “They are almost entirely devoid of feeling : they hear the doctrines of the gospel explained and even applaud them, and yet go on in their old way as if they had heard nothing about it. Some Brahmins lately said to me, ‘ We have no objection to hear these things, but heavenly objects do not make much impression upon us.’ This avowal is certainly too true; and they are moreover so timid that they would not dare to profess the faith of Christ before their relations. This is truly stoney ground which requires much seed and returns but little fruit.”
In consequence of these prolonged wars and misgovernment by the native princes, the people inhabiting those parts of India were reduced to much destitution. The Rajah of Tanjore not being able to agree with the East India Company in regard to the way in which these distressed people should be governed, a commission was appointed by the English Governor for the purpose of endeavouring to aid the inhabitants and to induce the rajah to agree to certain needed reforms. And on this commission Schwartz was invited to sit as an ordinary member, the other members being some three or four Englishmen of the highest rank. Schwartz agreed to the proposal, and to aid on all occasions that did not involve violent or coercive measures, which, however expedient the English government might esteem them, he nevertheless considered unbecoming his position and character as a Christian minister. On this commission he did work which the government highly valued. So highly were Mr Schwartz’s services in this matter esteemed by the government and council of Madras that they resolved to grant him a salary of £100 a year as interpreter to the Company at Tanjore.
In December 1790, a Christian Hindoo named Sattianaden, who for some years had been engaged as a preacher in the service of the mission, was ordained by Schwartz and the other missionaries according to the rites of the Lutheran Church, “Tt was a sacred and most delightful day to us all,” says Schwartz. Sattianaden had already approved himself as a trustworthy man, humble and disinterested. “His love to Christ and his desire to be useful to his countrymen are quite apparent: his gifts in preaching afford universal satisfaction. His love to the poor is extraordinary, and it is often inconceivable to me how he can subsist on his scanty stipend—3 star pagodas per month, about twenty-four shillings, and yet do so much good.” Sattianaden’s career justified the hopes which were entertained of him.
In 1791 he writes, “Though I feel age and the infirmities connected with it, I have much cause humbly to praise God that He so graciously strengthens me to pursue my daily labours among both Christians and heathens. .. , I baptise no one whom I have not instructed daily for two and sometimes three months. There are two villages of Christians round our garden, one of Pariah and the other of Soodra caste; and these can conveniently attend our daily worship. That which you for so many years desired, that we might have a village of Christians, God has brought about without our interference.”
In 1792, writing to the Society for the Propaga- tion of Christian Knowledge, he says that, though past the sixty-fifth year of his age, he was in good health and able to discharge his duties, and that 87 converts had been baptized during the previous year.
An interesting view of Schwartz’s work is given by one of his fellow missionaries writing in 1791. “ His garden is filled from morning till late in the evening with natives of every rank who come to him to have their differences settled. . . . Both morning and evening he has a service at which many of the Christians attend. A short hymn is first sung, after which he gives an exhortation on some passage of Scripture and concludes with a prayer. Till this is over, every one, even the most respectable, is obliged to wait. The number of those who come to him to be instructed in Christianity is great. Every day individuals attend requesting him to establish a Christian congregation in their part of the country.”
About the same time Schwartz writes, “As many of the natives daily come to me from all parts of the country, I had the best opportunity of declaring to them the counsel of God for their salvation. Those who came at seven in the morning attended our morning prayers. Others who called at eight heard the instructions given to candidates for baptism. Sometimes .forty or fifty persons are present, both of high and low castes. Frequently from fifteen to twenty Brahmins are sitting by while I am catechizing. I say to them, ‘Sit down and you will hear what doctrines I teach. I trust you will dedicate yourself to the service of your Creator and Redeemer and forsake your wretched idolatry.’ They quietly sit down for an hour and hear anything I have to say. Thirty years ago they would have looked on this as the greatest scandal... . My hope that this country will be brought to a saving knowledge of the gospel daily gains strength; but whether I shall live to see the change, the Lord only knows, nor indeed is it material. My chief care is to train up young people in the service of Christ.”
The Rajah of Tanjore’s adopted son was named Serfojee, and on the father’s death the education of this youth was entrusted by the English government to Mr Schwartz's care: his influence over the young man was excellent. “For two years I have discharged the duties of a Resident. A Resident usually receives 7000 star pagodas, or 43000 sterling. I have not received anything, nor shave I asked it. My journey to Madras I undertook at the desire of government, as tutor of Serfojee. The expenses of the journey J dore myself, 1 was obliged for conscience’ sake to undertake it as the legal guardian of the young man. His life was in the utmost danger. He is now at Madras, learns English and reads good books. What effect this may have on his future life is known to Him alone who trieth the heart and reins.”
And so this good man continued to work year in, year out, steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, dwelling as a father in the midst of the native Christians, for the church was built in his garden, and they had their houses erected close to it.
Schwartz died at Tanjore on 13th February 1798, surrounded by his fellow labourers, both European and native, and even to the last he ceased not to witness for Christ with great joy.
Bishop Heber, who visited Tanjore and Trichino-- poli in after years, while he says that once he had been doubtful as to the wisdom of all the political work in which Schwartz had engaged, yet records that this impression had been a mistake. “Schwartz,” writes the bishop, “was one of the most active and fearless, as he was one of the most successful missionaries who have appeared since the apostles. To say that he was disinterested in regard to money is nothing: he was perfectly regardless of power; and renown never seemed to affect him, even so far as to induce an outward show of humility. His temper was perfectly simple, open and cheerful. . . . His converts were between six and seven thousand, beside those whom his predecessors and companions in the cause had brought over.”
The respect in which he was held by the natives of South-eastern India was extraordinary: he enjoyed the confidence of poor and rich, of the peasant and the prince. In the midst of war he walked securely through the enemy’s country. Even Hyder Ali, when executing vengeance on the English, remembered that there was one European against whom he had no resentment.
Serfojee, the rajah whose cause Schwartz had so successfully espoused, erected in Schwartz's memory a monument executed in England by Flaxman, and had it placed in the church at the fort at Tanjore. And the East India Company also sent out a monument which they erected in the church at Madras. The inscription on it is very long, but it testifies to the universal regard in which the memory of this apostolic man was held,—“ his life was one continued effort to imitate the example of his blessed Master.” “The East India Company, anxious to perpetuate the memory of such transcendent worth, and gratefully sensible of the public benefits which resulted from his influence, caused this monument to be erected A.D. 1807.”
This short view of the labours of this eminently good man may be concluded with the first sentence from his will, in which he bequeathed all he possessed to the work of the mission— “In the name of God. Into Thine hands I commend my spirit: Thou hast redeemed me, Thou faithful God! Wherein I have sinned— and I have often and greatly sinned against Thee—forgive it graciously for the sake of the reconciliation-sacrifice of Jesus Christ my Lord, and let me find mercy. Grant me, for Christ’s sake, a blessed departure out of this sorrowful world, and a blessed entrance into that joyful life. Amen.”