Part II, Chapter II — Heyer Completes His Life-work (1870)
On February i, 1870, the Rev. C. F. J. Becker, the second foreign missionary of the General Council, arrived at Rajahmundry; but three months and one week later Heyer rever- ently and sorrowfully laid the body of the young man to rest in the cemetery of the Mission at Rajahmundry.
Christian Friederich Johan Becker was born at Kjerteminde, on the island of Funen, Denmark, April 17, 1845. After his confirmation he was apprenticed to a gardener who said to him one day, "Friend, you are better fitted for philosophy than for gardening." He continued to work as a gardener, however, and, after having served his apprenticeship, went to Copenhagen to study landscape gardening. He became deeply interested in the Greenland Mission and decided to become a foreign missionary. He entered the Mission Institute of The Danish Missionary Society at Copenhagen May 4, 1863, about a year after it was estabhshed. Besides Becker there were then only two other students in the school. After a four years' course of study he was asked by the Rev. C. W. Groenning to enter the service of The Foreign Missionary Society of the General Synod in the United States. He ex- pressed his willingness to be sent to India and spent about a year in the home of Groenning in special preparation, and eight months more in Copenhagen devoted to the study of medicine and theology. The call which he expected from The Foreign Missionary Society, however, did not come, and he was about to offer his services to The Hermannsburg Mis- sionary Society when Groenning and Heyer persuaded him to volunteer to go to Rajahmundry as one of the missionaries of the Pennsylvania Ministerium. The executive committee of that synod extended a call to him but decided to postpone his departure for India because of a lack of funds. Then, through the aid of friends, he secured permission to sail on
October 15, 1869, as far as Egypt, on the Danish frigate of war "Zealand," which was assigned to participate in the naval ceremony at the opening of the Suez Canal. The Danish Missionary Society, moreover, advanced him the sum of $300 for his travelling expenses from Port Said to Rajahmundry. For the passage through the Suez Canal he paid the price of a first-class passage on a French steamer, but he could not secure a berth and was forced to sleep on deck. He left Suez November 29th, reached Madras December i8th, and spent six weeks in the latter city. From Madras he went by steamer to Coconada and by canal to Dowlaishwaram, where he was met by the catechist Joseph, who escorted him on foot to Rajahmundry. He at once applied himself to the study of Telugu and, as opportunity offered, accompanied Heyer on short tours to different out-stations. On May 8, 1870, at the beginning of the hot season, after a brief illness, he passed away, the first General Council foreign missionary to lay down his life on the field. His body was buried by Heyer and the native Christians by the side of those of Long and the children of Long, Groenning and Cutter. Becker was only twenty-five years old when he died, and had been in India less than six months.
Heyer was again alone on the mission field, but he was soon to be joined by two other young recruits. Some time between the ist and 15th of February he began a school for girls at Rajahmundry and sent a native teacher, Jeremiah, to Tay- lor's petta near Narsapur, thus beginning the work in that part of the country, which since has become the most productive district of the mission field. With Rs. 45, contributed by English residents at Rajahmundry, he built new schoolhouses at Jegurupad and Gowripatnam. Judge J. H. Morris, the Collector of the Godavery district, continued to contribute Rs. 20 a month, or about $150 a year, for the sup- port of the mission work, and his assistant Collector gave about one-half that amount. These contributions enabled Heyer to pay the salaries of his native catechists, each of whom received about $7.50 a month. On February 14th Heyer, in a letter from Groenning, got the sum of 100 Prussian
HEYER COMPLETES HIS LIFE-WORK (1870) 1 45 thaler, contributed by friends in Denmark for the education of three native Christian boys. This made a boarding school for boys possible, and Heyer began one at once with Cornelius, James and WiUiam^ as pupils. Of these the two latter afterward became native pastors.
The district evangelistic work under the missionary's super- vision was divided between Joseph and Paulus, both of whom proved themselves efficient workers. Tota Joseph was born at Guntur in 1839. His father was a sepoy in one of the native infantry regiments. From Guntur the family moved to North Arcot, near Madras, where, after a residence of seven years, Joseph's father died of cholera, leaving his widow with three children, of whom Joseph was the eldest. Returning to Guntur, the children were cared for by their maternal grandparents. Joseph was sent to the mission schools for boys, then in charge of Heyer. He was baptized by Groenning in 1852, at the age of thirteen, despite the opposition of his relatives. When the Rev. and Mrs. W. E. Snyder came to Guntur they took Joseph into their home and treated him, as Joseph himself testified, "like their own child." In 1854 Joseph went with Snyder and Heyer to Rajahmundry. They and, afterward, Heise instructed him and employed him occasionally as a colporteur. On February I, i860, he married Lydia, a native Christian girl. Missionary Unangst performed the ceremony at Guntur. Eight days after the wedding they came to Rajahmundry, where Joseph worked for the Mission as a colporteur in the employ of the Madras Bible Society, and his wife assisted in the girls' school. When Groenning took charge of the work at Rajahmundry, he made Joseph a teacher, and in that position he continued to work under Long, after whose death Unangst raised him to the rank of a catechist to share with Paulus the responsibility of the district work during the absence of a resident missionary.
Nelaprolu^ Paulus was born in the Palnad in 1842. His uncle ^ The family name of William was originally Jerripotu. A jerri is a sort of a centipede. A jerripotu is the male of the species. As the family rose in honor the name became Jeriprolu. * Paulus' family name was originally Nallapotu, which means a black buck. He metamorphosed it into Nelaprolu.
146 THE TELUGU MISSION OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL was the first convert from Hinduism in that district baptized by Heyer, and became the first school-teacher at PollepalH. His parents, Isaac and Rebecca, were weavers by trade, in comparatively moderate circumstances. Paulus was their fourth son. The whole family was baptized by Heyer at PoUepalli. Paulus became a boarding pupil in Heyer's school at Gurjal, accompanied him to Guntur and continued his studies there under Groenning and Unangst. During Groenning's second term of service at Guntur he occasionally employed Paulus in mission work. He married Mary Mag- dalene, a pupil in the Guntur Girls' School. When Judge Morris, Collector at Rajahmundry, asked the missionaries to recommend some one to be employed as a government clerk, who at the same time could serve as a Christian teacher for the Collector's servants, Paulus was recommended and went to Rajahmundry and, afterward, to Masulipatam, when the Collector's office was removed to that town. For a while he was employed as a colporteur by the Rev. Mr. English of Masulipatam, but Groenning persuaded him to return to Rajahmundry and serve the Mission which had educated him. Under Groenning and Long he worked as a teacher, and when Unangst took charge of the Rajahmundry district he made Paulus a catechist, with residence at Muramunda. Heyer wisely left these two native workers where he found them. In Joseph's district the Christians numbered 85 in March, 1870, and there were three famihes of inquirers; in Paulus' district, at the same time, there were 76 baptized Christians and two families of inquirers. In the whole field there were seven Telugu schools, enrolling 200 pupils.
Every morning, when in Rajahmundry, Heyer conducted a devotional exercise. The native Christians living in and near the mission compound were assembled in the large room of the mission house at nine o'clock. After an opening hymn and the Public Confession and Declaration of Grace, the children recited a portion of Luther's Small Catechism, beginning on Monday with Part I, and ending on Friday with Part V. On Saturday a part of "The Order of Salvation in Questions and Answers," which had been translated by
NATIVE PASTOR XELAPROLU PAULUS
NATIVE PASTOR TOTA JOSEPH
NATIVE PxXSTORS TERIPROLU WILLIAM, P. VENKATARATN AM. PANT AC. AN I PARADESI
HEYER COMPLETES HIS LIFE-WORK (1870) 147 Groenning, was recited. After the catechetical work a chapter of the Bible was read responsively and a memory-text was assigned. Then the previous day's lesson was reviewed, and the service ended with a prayer and a hymn.
Early in April, accompanied by Becker, Heyer made a short tour, going first to Dowlaishwaram, where the reopened school was found to be in a flourishing condition, as many as 35 pupils being enrolled. At Jegurupad the new schoolhouse was being built. At Muramunda two men and two women were baptized on April 3d, and the Lord's Supper was ad- ministered to 21 persons. Five days later at Metta 21 were baptized, 4 from Metta, 11 from Peddahem and 6 from Gowripatnam. Returning to Rajahmundry for the Good Friday and Easter services, Heyer administered the Lord's Supper to 23 persons from the district under Joseph's over- sight and baptized a young man from Dowlaishwaram. The number baptized by Heyer up to May 15th was 31. He spent the hot season at Upparda on the sea-coast as the guest of the Collector, Judge Morris.
When the sad news of Becker's death reached Europe and America, Schmidt was already on his way to India.
Hans Christian Schmidt was the third foreign missionary of the General Council. He was born May 25, 1840, in Flens- borg, Schleswig, which at that time was a province belonging to Denmark; but now it belongs to Prussia. The following autobiographical sketch of his early Hfe is very interesting: "When my father was married and began housekeeping, he got a neighboring artist to paint for him a picture in oil, representing Christ on the cross, with this verse painted under the picture
"'My only boast is in the wounds,
Thy hands and feet received for me.'
"Some years later a good bishop asked him if this were still his only boast. My father replied in the afiirmative, and to the day of his death he remained faithful to this confession.
"I was the eldest of six children. On my baptismal day my father dedicated me to the work of the Lord as a foreign mis- sionary, and appropriately asked Mr. C. W. Groennlng, then a student preparing for work as a missionary, to be a sponsor. My father had taken the deepest interest in Mr. Groenning and also in his companion, Mr. Graff, who afterward went to Africa as a missionary. Mission tracts and pamphlets in the German and Danish languages were circulated by my father and his friends as a labor of love, and many contributions for missions were gathered by him. He was familiarly known as the pious shoemaker.
"Missionary Groenning, in a letter written in India, speak- ing of my sainted mother, said, ' She always reminded me of Mary who sat at Jesus' feet.' As a young woman she was so interested in the cause of missions that, as often as her Chris- tian friends gathered in her home, she would bring out the mission box and ask them to remember the poor heathen. She organized a women's missionary society in Flensborg, which sent many contributions and garments to Greenland and other mission fields. "Under the blessed guidance of such parents it is not sur- prising that I early learned to know and love the Saviour, and that I should ultimately choose to become a missionary. Mission tracts were my first literature. I was especially interested in the Eskimos; and to be a missionary to these people seemed to me to be the greatest calling on earth. My father never told me of my dedication to this calling. He preferred rather to commit all things to God's overruHng provi- dence. I was not permitted to hear from my parents the words of approval and encouragement which they would have given me when I became a missionary, for when I did they had already been called to their heavenly home ; yet it is a distinct joy to know that a kind Providence led me in the way they wished me to go. My mother died in 1849, my father in 1855. I was attending a Moravian school in Christiansfeld when my father died, and I left school to return to my home and help provide for my stepmother, brothers and sisters. As I left the school one of the teachers said to me, "I had hoped that you would become a missionary." This hope, however, at that time seemed beyond realization. I was led to experience
HEYER COMPLETES HIS LIFE-WORK (1870) 1 49 more and more the grace of God and my interest in missions constantly increased.
"Toward the end of 1863, 1 was called to enter the Danish military service. Schleswig then belonged to Denmark. I was appointed on the general's staff and in this position learned a great deal about administrative work, which was afterward useful to me as a missionary. We were obliged to remain at our desks until late at night, whether we had work to do or not. I employed my leisure time making a collection of German hymns relating to Inner Mission work, and to the preparation of several Danish tracts. One of these was afterward trans- lated into German and published together with a collection of hymns by the Gossner Missionary Society.
"When the period of my service in the Danish army had expired, the question of becoming a missionary again forced itself upon my mind. Just then my godfather returned from India, and his account of the mission work there led me to think of it as my field of future service. Finally, there being no obstacle left to prevent my becoming a foreign missionary, I announced my decision to Mr. Groenning, telling him that his report of the needs of the India Mission appealed to me as a direct call of God."
For two and a half years Schmidt lived in Groenning's home, preparing himself for work among the Telugus in India. Like Becker, he looked forward to service under The Foreign Mis- sionary Society of the General Synod and was disappointed in not receiving a call. Then he accompanied Heyer to the United States and was ordained by the Pennsylvania Minis- terium in Trinity Church, Reading, Pa., May 26, 1869, with the view of being called by its executive committee as a for- eign missionary to India. The call was extended at a meeting of the committee on August 27th, but for a number of reasons Schmidt's departure was delayed. Meanwhile he served a German mission at Carlisle, Pa. Finally, in March, 1870, arrangements for his departure were completed. The service of commissioning was held in St. Johannis Church, Phila- delphia, the Rev. A. Spaeth, D. D., pastor. On March 24th he sailed from New York on the "Rising Star." Several days were spent in Flensborg where, on May 23d, a farewell meeting was held, the Rev. C. W. Groenning delivering an address. Groenning advised Schmidt to remain in Europe until the early fall, in order to escape the hot and rainy seasons in India. Acting on this advice, Schmidt spent some time visit- ing the mission institutions at Hermannsburg, Barmen and Basle. He then proceeded leisurely through Switzerland, Austria and Italy. At Trieste he heard of Becker's sudden death and at once decided to run the risk of an earlier arrival in India. On July 9th, he took a ship at Suez, bound for Madras. At Coconada, where he arrived August 3d, he was met by a native Christian whom Heyer had sent to escort him to Rajahmundry. From Dowlaishwaram they rode in an ox-cart, arriving at Rajahmundry on August 4, 1870. Two weeks after Schmidt's arrival Heyer wrote to the corre- sponding secretary of the executive committee, the Rev. B. M. Schmucker, as follows:
"My personal affairs render it necessary that I should be at home during the summer of 187 1 ; otherwise I might remain longer in India, for I do not dislike the work, and the Lord has, thus far, vouchsafed me a comfortable measure of health, although I have entered upon the seventy-eighth year of my earthly pilgrimage. I have written to you about a young man who has finished his studies in Copenhagen, and my opinion is that his services should be engaged; but for various reasons it is also desirable that a graduate from some one of our institutions in America should be sent out.
"I have made a contract for repairing the old bungalow. It will require about $200. When repaired the building may be used as a chapel, schoolhouse and dwelling.
"Every morning except Sunday a class of eight children comes to my room to learn Enghsh. The most of them ought to be trained for service as teachers and catechists.
"We had formerly a large English school in Rajahmundry, with over one hundred pupils; but at present the Government suppHes the town with Enghsh schools. It even has a college with eight hundred students.
"A part of The Church Book has already been translated
HEYER COMPLETES HIS LIFE-WORK (1870) 151 into Telugu. I should like to have a small edition printed, containing the church service and hymns, if you could furnish the necessary funds, say, $75 or $100.
"On the seventh Sunday after Trinity the Holy Communion was administered in Rajahmundry, forty-five communing."
Thus the work of reconstruction was making commendable progress under Heyer's supervision. A few weeks after his arrival Schmidt left the station, in order to visit the principal out-stations and gain an insight at first hand into the work over which in a very short time he was to exercise control. The catechists, Joseph and Paulus, accompanied him through their respective districts, acting as his interpreters. It must be admitted that a heavy burden of responsibihty was to be put on this young man, only thirty years of age, unacquainted with the language, the customs of the natives and the work of the mission, and that, despite these disadvantages, he acquitted himself with ability from the very beginning.
On August 24th or thereabouts, a delegation from Velpur visited Rajahmundry and requested that a school be started in that village. Heyer went at once, travelling in an ox-cart, and began mission work there. Having promised to visit Narsapur, he started for that place on October 7th, accompanied by Joseph and Paulus and a number of servants. Captain C. Taylor loaned him a palankeen for the journey. Mr. R—— , a government official in the Department of Public Works, sent his private house-boat to meet the mis- sionary six miles from Narsapur, and had a tent erected for his convenience at Narsapur. Here he held a service on Sunday morning, October 9th, at which he baptized 19 men, women and children, administered the Lord's Supper, and married a couple of native Christians. In the afternoon he preached at Taylor's petta in front of a native Christian's house. On Monday he went to Argatipalem, where there were ten inquirers under the instruction of Jeremiah, to whose work the firstfruits in this region must be attributed. One infant was baptized at Argatipalem. On Tuesday Jagganathpuram was visited. Here there were eight families of inquirers and eighteen children in a mission school. From Jagganath- puram he went to Parravalli by canal and then in a palankeen to Velpur, where he baptized 25 adults. Returning to Parra- valli an incident occurred on the way, which Heyer related as follows: "I heard people calling after me and was told that seven other candidates had come from another village desiring Holy Baptism. Not wishing to disappoint these people, who had come so far, I halted and baptized them, as PhiHp did the eunuch, near the road close by a tank." After an absence of a week Heyer was back in Rajahmundry. He considered this to have been one of his most successful tours as a missionary in India.
On the last day of the year 1870, Heyer wrote the following report
"One year ago I found one catechist, one school-teacher and a dilapidated building at Rajahmundry, one catechist, one school-teacher and a schoolhouse at Muramunda, and one schoolhouse and a few children at Metta. On Easter Sunday, 1870, twenty-five communed at Rajahmundry, and on the pre- ceding Sunday twenty-two at Muramunda.
"At the close of this year there are seven schools, namely, at Rajahmundry, Muramunda, Metta, Jegurupad, Peddahem, Jagganathpuram and Taylor's petta. One hundred and two persons were baptized during the year. On Christmas day, 1870, seventy communed at Rajahmundry. The day before Christmas two hundred adults and children gathered around a Christmas tree, and on the day after Christmas, Monday, a Christmas dinner for all, consisting of rice and curry, vege- tables and mutton, was served at the expense of J. H. Morris, Esq. Presents of clothing, books and fruits were distrib- uted to old and young, principally at the expense of Cap- tain Taylor and his daughter-in-law. I also had two weddings and baptized five adults. Three lads about sixteen years old are being supported by contributions from mission friends in Schleswig."
On January 22, 187 1, the fourth foreign missionary of the General Council, Rev. Iver K. Poulsen, arrived at Rajahmundry,
HEYER COMPLETES HIS LIFE-WORK (1870) 1 53
Iver K. Poulsen was born September 24, 1846, at Ringk- joebing, Jutland, Denmark, He was the seventh of ten children. When he was fifteen years of age he became a teacher of a village school and taught for three years. Through a maternal uncle he became interested in foreign missions. By reading mission tracts and reports and by asso- ciation with two pious fellow-teachers his interest developed into the desire to go to some foreign mission field. He ex- pressed his desire to the director of The Danish Mission So- ciety, and in August, 1865, he was admitted into the Mission Institute of that society at Copenhagen. In 1870 he was graduated and at once offered his service through the Rev. C. W. Groenning to the General Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in North America, as a missionary at Rajahmundry, to take the place of his departed friend Becker. He was accepted and called, and sailed from London on Septem- ber I, 1870. Groenning advanced him $450 for his travelling expenses. The voyage to Cape Town lasted eighteen days, and ten days were spent there. In Madras, which he reached January 12, 187 1, he was entertained for a week by the Rev. Mr. Kremmer, a Leipsic Society missionary. On January 21st he arrived at Coconada, where Schmidt met him. From Dowlaishwaram they walked to Rajahmundry, arriving on the 2 2d. The executive committee of the Pennsylvania Ministerium had applied in advance to the officers of that synod for authority to ordain Poulsen after his arrival in India. In the presence of the native Christians and English residents, Poulsen, therefore, was ordained at Rajahmundry January 26, 187 1 . Schmidt preached the ordination sermon in Danish; the catechists, Joseph and Paulus, read the Scripture lessons responsively in Telugu ; and Heyer performed the act of ordination in English.
After the arrival and ordination of Poulsen, Heyer felt that he could leave the Mission with Schmidt in charge, assisted by Poulsen. **The New Era" was about to sail from Coco- nada, and Heyer lost no time in arranging to sail with her on January 30th, although he was to be the only passenger and was obliged to pay $250 for the voyage to England. On
154 THE TELUGU MISSION OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL April I St the Cape of Good Hope was rounded, and on the 28th of that month the ship crossed the equator in the Atlantic Ocean. Heyer occupied himself during the long voyage by instructing the captain and some of the crew. On Sunday he preached to the men on board. "Carl Golden," he wrote, "a poor boy who had been very much neglected by his parents and who had got a very bad name on board, being considered incorrigible, attracted my attention. On one occasion, when the captain had beaten him with a thick rope, I asked for permission to try if I could do anything with him. Since that time he is allowed to leave his work for an hour every morning and to come to my room to learn to read, write, cipher and repeat the Catechism. I treat him kindly, and this seems to have made a more favorable impression on him than all the whippings he has hitherto received. Besides this boy there are two elder lads on board, who asked for instruction. I attend to them in the afternoon. The captain himself desires to learn French, and I give him daily lessons." What a blessing the presence and influence of this saintly old missionary brought to that ship's crew only eternity will reveal.
The EngHsh Channel was reached June 12th, and Heyer at once took another vessel for the United States. He spent the winter at Somerset, Pa. A call was extended to him by the congregation at Frostburg, Md., in April, 1872, but he dechned it. The Ministerium of Pennsylvania at its meeting in 1872, requested him to visit its congregations in the interest of foreign missions; but he did httle deputation work. It could hardly have been expected of a man of his advanced age.
In October, 1872, he was elected chaplain and house-father of the Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. He felt that this would be congenial work and accepted the position. At the consecration of the enlarged Seminary building in Frankhn Square, Philadelphia, he offered the prayer of con- secration. After the occupation of this building he Uved in one of the rooms and devoted himself to the duties of his office. When on September 4, 1873, the Rev. A. Spaeth, D. D., was installed as a professor of the Seminary, Heyer assisted
HEYER COMPLETES HIS LIFE-WORK (1870) 1 55 at the service; but almost immediately afterward he was con- fined to his bed with illness, and on the night of November 7, 1873, at the age of eighty years, three months and twenty days, he fell asleep in Jesus. The funeral service was held in the Seminary building and his mortal remains were buried by the side of his wife in the cemetery at Friedensburg, near Somer- set, Pa. In his last will and testament he remembered the Theological Seminary at Philadelphia and the Rajahmundry Mission.
The Reverend John Christian Frederick Heyer, Doctor of Medicine, minister of the True God, servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, pastor, preacher, pioneer, patriarch, who spent his eventful life on the wild frontiers of the United States, in settled pastorates in Pennsylvania and Maryland, in respon- sible positions and high ofiices in several synods, in the home- mission fields of many states, and in the American Evangelical Lutheran Missions among the Telugus in India—who in a brief biography could do full justice to this remarkable man? We have made an effort, however, to present a clear, true picture of his unique character, to furnish a connected descrip- tion of his unusual career and to offer a true estimate of the high value of his service in the Lutheran Church in America, especially in connection with the history of the American Evangelical Lutheran Missions in South India.