Part I, Chapter VII — Dr. Heyer's Second Term of Service and His Success in the Palnad District
THE PALNAD DISTRICT
After Heyer's return to the United States in 1846, "the painful apprehension was felt and suggested by many that, as Gunn's health was feeble and he could not be expected to hold on for any length of time in India's sultry climate, the Mission must soon be abandoned and our promising beginning lost." This pessimistic view, however, did not prevail. The Foreign Missionary Society of the General Synod continued to sup- port Gunn, and after a lapse of two and a half years Heyer was permitted to resume his labors in Guntur.
Although he was not allowed, as he had hoped, to under- take a campaign of missionary education and inspiration, visit- ing conferences, conventions and congregations in the interest of foreign missions, Heyer soon found a field of labor. Before the close of the year "The Home Missionary Society of the General Synod "^ called him to start a German congregation in the northwestern section of Baltimore, Md. He accepted and began his work on the first day of the new year. In three months a congregation of seventy families was organ- ized, and a lot and a building, formerly used by Methodists, located in Biddle street, were purchased. A Sunday School was begun and a class of four catechumens was confirmed. The average attendance at the regular Sunday services was three hundred. Such was the auspicious beginning of St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church in Baltimore.
Besides his work as a missionary in Baltimore, Heyer found time to take a special course in medicine at Washington University, and at the close of the scholastic year 1847, he received the degree of doctor of medicine. He was then fifty- four years old.
' Organized in Philadelphia May 22, 1845.
DR. HEYER S SECOND TERM OF SERVICE 73
His connection with the General Synod's Home Mis- sionary Society and his location in Baltimore necessitated the transfer of his membership from the Pennsylvania to the Maryland synod.
Dr. Heyer continued to cherish the hope of returning to India, accompanied by some younger man, perhaps, he thought, by his youngest son, Theophilus.^ Friends in the Pennsylvania Ministerium urged him to volunteer to re-enter the service of its missionary society. He answered them in a letter pubhshed in "The Lutheran Observer," April 9, 1847.
"Various considerations," he wrote, "induced me to ask leave to return to the United States during the summer of 1846. This request was kindly complied with and I made use of the permission granted, as various missionaries sent out by other societies had done before me. In looking back upon that period of my life during which I resided in India, I cannot say otherwise than that the time was most pleasantly and —with gratitude to the Lord, be it stated—usefully and profitably spent. The mission house, the schools and native congregation in Guntur, erected and collected by my instrumental- ity, will tend to prove this assertion. Hence the conclusion may readily be drawn that I did not leave the field from any dissatisfaction with the place, or the people, or the work. Nor has anyone heard me make the assertion, that I should be unwilling to spend the remaining portion of my life in proclaiming the gospel tidings among the benighted but otherwise interesting people in the Telugu country. My opinion is that two or three young men ought to be sent forthwith to assist Brother Gunn and to enable him to extend the missionary operations in and around Guntur. Should it be thought advisable for me to accompany such a reinforcement, in order to assist them on the way in studying the Telugu language, I should probably not decline the undertaking. ^ Contrary to Dr. Heyer's fondest hopes, none of bis sons entered the ministry. His eldest son, Christian Frederick, after spending some time in Pennsylvania College, Gettysburg, Pa., went to Helmstedt, Germany, where he attended a school for nearly five years. He returned to the United States and studied law for a while. In 1848 we find his name enrolled as captain of a company of volunteers fighting in the Mexican war. He died, aged thirty-four, while Heyer was in India.
74 AMERICAN EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN MISSIONS IN INDLA. If, on the other hand, it should not be thought best to send me back to India, then I am perfectly satisfied to continue my residence in Columbia's happy land. I leave it to the Lord and to the Church, or to the brethren who are the executive of the Church in this matter, to decide."
The Missionary Society of the Pennsylvania Ministerium celebrated its anniversary in a public service in St. Michael's German Lutheran Church, Philadelphia, on the evening of June I, 1847. Heyer was the principal speaker and delivered a very impressive address. On the afternoon of June 3d this society resolved to ask Heyer to go back to India and pledged a sum sufficient to pay his salary, but requested The Foreign Missionary Society of the General Synod to bear the expense of his outfit and journey to India. To prevent a repetition of the misunderstanding concerning furlough or resignation, Heyer was asked to promise that he would not leave the mis- sion field unless the society failed to pay his salary or ill- health compelled him to leave India.
All the details having been satisfactorily adjusted, Dr. Heyer severed his connection with St. John's Church, Baltimore, July I, 1847, and then devoted four months to an itinerary in the Pennsylvania and New York Ministeriums, present- ing the cause of foreign missions and arousing greater inter- est in the Guntur Mission wherever he preached.^
Heyer's reports of the interest and benevolence of the Collector of the Guntur district, J. Henry Stokes, Esq., induced a number of societies to send gifts of appreciation to that gentleman in India. The Women's Missionary Society of the congregation in Harrisburg, of which the Rev. C. W. Schaeffer, D. D., was the pastor, sent a mahogany rocking- chair for Mr. Stokes and a reticule for his wife. The missionary society of Salem Church, Lebanon, Pa., sent two solar ^ At the 52nd annual meeting of the New York Ministerium held September 4th, in New Germantown, N. J., Heyer delivered an address and was encouraged by the adoption of the following resolution: "Resolved, That the increased interest in our mission in India by the approaching departure of Brother Heyer to that field, calls loudly upon our pastors and people to give their hearts with more earnestness to the blessed work of spreading the gospel among the heathen."
DR. HEYER'S second TERM OF SERVICE 75 lamps. The Executive Committee of The Foreign Missionary Society of the General Synod sent a copy of Harper's Pictorial Bible. In his letters of acknowledgment and thanks Mr, Stokes' nobility of mind is so strikingly revealed that at least one of them deserves to be quoted: "To the Misses E. Rauthrauff and L. Young, Lebanon, Pa. "Dear Friends: By the good hand of our God upon him, our dear brother, Mr. Heyer, reached this place (Guntur) in peace and health on the 9th of May, and delivered to us your elegant note and the beautiful present of the pastor and mem- bers of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Lebanon. We value the present most highly and desire that it may often remind us of our unseen friends in the West. Still more do we feel grateful for that love of which the present and note are the expression, proving that there is among those who desire to love the Lord Jesus Christ a bond of union wider and stronger than that of language, country or blood. 'There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.'
"At the same time we cannot but find this touching remembrance deeply humiliating, reminding us of what we ought to have done in His service, whose blood-bought ones we profess to be, and encouraged by the kindness we have already so undeservedly experienced, beg of yourselves and the congregation of Zion's Church the further favor: (i) That you will set apart a special season to pray for us, that we may have grace to be faithful unto the end and not hinder the Lord's work by our deadness and inconsistency, and for the Guntur Mission and District; and (2) that you will try and send us more help. The fields are white already to harvest, adults wishing to listen to the Gospel, boys and girls anxious to be instructed, the children asking for bread and no man breaketh it unto them.
"Believe me to be your much obliged and grateful fellow- servant,
J. H. Stokes."
76 AMERICAN EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN MISSIONS IN INDIA Besides the gifts intended for Mr. Stokes, Heyer received many articles for his personal use and for the Mission, and considerable money for school work. He provided himself with a daguerrean apparatus with which to take pictures in India.
Less than a month before the date fixed for the saihng of the missionary, the money to pay his passage still remained to be raised. A call was sent out to all friends of the Mission to meet on October 27th and 28th in St. James' Church, New York City, the Rev. Charles Martin pastor, to make a final effort, in connection with the farewell meeting, to raise the necessary money. Gloom brooded over the beginning of the conference. Twelve pastors, representing the Pennsylvania, East Pennsylvania, New York and Hartwick synods, were present.^ It was announced that the balance in the treasury of The Foreign Missionary Society was $125, and nearly seven times that amount was needed to meet the immediate demands of the enterprise. The first rift in the overhanging cloud was made by a letter from Dr. Mayer, pastor of St. John's Enghsh Lutheran Church, Philadelphia, enclosing a contribution of $250 from that congregation. The treasurer of the Hartwick synod paid over $100; the pastor of St. Matthew's Church, Philadelphia, $50; and St. James' congregation, New York City, made five of the ministers present at the conference life-members of The Foreign Missionary Society by paying $25 for each one. After the offering at the public service in the evening had been taken, enough money was gathered to pay Heyer's passage, send Missionary Gunn six months' salary and leave a balance of nearly $150 in the treasury. So deep was the impression made by this liberality that the conference passed the following resolution: "Resolved, That from the gloomy prospects by which we were surrounded ^ The Rev. F. W. Geissenhainer of the Pennsylvania Ministerium, the Rev. Dr. Stork of the East Pennsylvania Synod, the Revs. Dr. H. N. Pohlman, W. D. Stroebel, C. F. E. Stohlmann, Chas. Martin, Chas. A. Smith and Wm. B. Askam of the New York Ministerium, the Revs. J. Z. Senderling, Wm. N. Scholl and Reuben Dederick of the Hartwick Synod. Those who sent letters of excuse and good wishes were the Revs. J. Few Smith, McCron, Mayer, J. R. Reiser, J. C. Baker, Demme and Reichert. This list includes the staunchest supporters of the Guntur Mission.
DR. HEYER S SECOND TERM OF SERVICE 77 yesterday morning, because of the happy success which crowned our efforts ere the evening closed upon us, we feel called upon in the spirit of the Apostle to thank God and take courage."
The vessel on which Heyer took passage was delayed in Boston harbor until December 4, 1847, when the intrepid missionary started on his second journey to India. Madras was reached in one hundred and thirty-four days.^ From Madras he sailed in a slow coasting vessel northward, landing at Masulipatam May 8, 1848. Here Mr. and Mrs. J. Henry Stokes, who were spending the hot months at the seaport, welcomed him back to India. Guntur was reached overland, Heyer travelling partly on horseback and partly in a one- horse bandy. On Tuesday morning. May, 15 1848, the mis- sionary reached his destination.
During Heyer's absence of nearly two and a half years Gunn had managed the mission work as well as his feeble health had allowed. He had gone to Rajahmundry in Sep- tember, 1846, to assist Valett in the ordination of missionaries C. W. Groenning and Heise. Directly after the ordination Valett and Groenning visited Guntur, and while they were there a severe storm which broke during the night of October 2 2d, partly demohshed the mission house. Mr. Stokes con- tributed Rs. 1 100, about $350, for the immediate erection of a new bungalow; and funds were received from The Foreign Missionary Society to complete the building into which Gunn and his family moved on July 20, 1847. In his report, dated September, 1847, Gunn stated that since Heyer's departure, almost two years previously, he had baptized two adults and three children. One of the adults baptized was Stephen, a Mala, a former disciple of a priest, whom Heyer had interested in Christianity and who, after his baptism by Gunn, was placed in charge of a newly organized Telugu school on the outskirts of Guntur, thus becoming the first native Christian teacher in the Mission. The first native catechist employed was Nicodemus, who was appointed in March, 1847. Mrs. Gunn superintended a girl's school in
1 The voj'age to India now takes about thirty days.
78 AMERICAN EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN MISSIONS IN INDIA Guntur, teaching the older pupils the art of needlework, for which the wife of an English official furnished the necessary material. After May, 1846, when the school in Dachepalli was abandoned, the mission work was confined entirely to Guntur. Gunn's feeble health prevented him from undertak- ing extensive touring. Once during December, 1847, ^^id January, 1848, he acompanied Heise of Rajahmundry, and Beer of Narsapur, on a trip to the Palnad district, where he contracted fever from which he was just convalescing when Heyer returned to the Mission.
After his arrival Heyer waited a month for the extreme heat to pass and then, toward the end of June, reopened the mission schools. In the English school twenty-six boys were enrolled; in the Telugu school, forty-four; in the old Guntur school, under Stephen, eighteen boys. Rebecca, Stephen's wife, a baptized Christian, took charge of the girls in her husband's school, who numbered about twelve. Mrs. Gunns' girls' school enrolled thirty. Gunn and his family occupied the new bungalow, while Heyer lived in a room in the old mission house. Two small buildings, costing $150 each, were erected in the mission-compound in September, 1848. One was used as a teacher's residence, the other as the girls' school.
Mr. Stokes' assistant collector, Mr. Newill, was, like his chief, a generous supporter of the mission work. He con- tributed about half as much as his superior. Being more familiar with the vernacular than either of the missionaries, he translated a number of tracts for them and prepared a Telugu hymn book and an almanac for the year 1849. These he had published at his own expense for use in the Mission.
Up to the close of the year 1848, the fruits of the mis- sionaries' labors were meagre. The number of native adult communicants in the Guntur congregation was less than a dozen. The schools proved to be of very little evangelistic value, principally because the teachers were Hindus and strove merely to make their employment as mission agents a stepping-stone to some civil service in government employ. The pupils in the English school, moreover, looked forward
DR. HEYER's second TERM OF SERVICE 79 to the same goal. Heyer's early attempt at a boys' boarding school for training native workers had not been repeated. Stephen, the only Christian teacher in the Mission, was still an experiment; Nicodemus, the other native Christian helper, was more of a colporteur than a catechist. Gunn was a confirmed invalid and the burden of the work rested on Heyer. In 1849, God, in a most unexpected manner, opened a door of opportunity to Heyer, and he was permitted to enter it and begin the most fruitful period of his work as a foreign missionary. On January 2 2d, that year, he left Guntur on a tour of the Palnad district,^ where he spent about a month visiting village after village, preaching the Gospel and dis- tributing Bibles and tracts. When he returned to Guntur he reported having baptized twenty-two persons who had received some instruction in the Christian religion from a native Christian whose name was John, whom Gunn had baptized while Heyer was in America. Twenty of them, belonging to five families, all of the weaver caste, were resi- dents of PolepaUi.
When Mr. Stokes heard of Heyer's success he advised him at once to establish a station in the Palnad district and offered to build a house for the missionary. Heyer accepted both the advice and the offer and moved to Gurjal, April 12, 1849, thus establishing the second station of the American Evangelical Lutheran Mission in India.^
On the Sunday after his arrival in Gurjal Heyer organized a congregation there, and on the last Sunday in May he bap- tized eleven adults and children living in Polepalli. Schools were started in Gurjal and Polepalli, and in Dachepalli, where a previous attempt had been made. Each of these schools started with about twenty boys.
Heyer found aboundant opportunity in his new field to use his knowledge and skill as a physician. In a letter written
^ Heyer, accompanied by Valett, had made his first tour of the Palnad dis- trict in 1844.
^ Heyer took with him Nulla Multhu, a Telugu catechist, who afterward was dismissed, and a Christian teacher who had been in the employ of the American Mission in Madras.
8o AMERICAN EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN MISSIONS IN INDIA two months after his arrival in Gurjal he stated that he had occasion to treat as many as two hundred different cases.
In Heu of trained teachers Heyer employed the more in- telligent converts. Samuel was assigned to the Veldurti school, opened in August; John, to the Polepalli school; Devasikamani, to the Gurjal school; Jacob, to the Tumuru- cotta school; and Appiah was employed as a colporteur. Heyer realized, however, that in order to make the most of the opportunity presented in the Palnad district, it would be necessary to train young men for the work. He, therefore, took a number of promising boys into his home and provided for their board and lodging at a monthly expense of Rs. 6 for each boarder. For this purpose he used funds contributed by Guntur friends and the money given him in the United States for school-work. The first pupils in this boys' board- ing school were Jacob, Matthew, Paulus, Barnabas and Rettivardu.
After eight months of labor Heyer had baptized fortytwo persons in the Palnad,—more than twice as many as in Guntur during the first six years. On November 25, 1849, the Lord's Supper was administered in Gurjal for the first time to fourteen communicants.
While Heyer was living and working in the Palnad dis- trict the third American missionary reached Guntur.
George J. Martz, a native of Frederick, Maryland, after having completed his theological studies in the Seminary at Gettysburg, accepted the call of The Foreign Missionary Society of the General Synod and was commissioned on April 4, 1849, iri St. Luke's Church, Valatie, New York, Dr. Wm. D. Stroebel, the corresponding secretary of the society, read- ing its instructions to the new missionary. He sailed from Boston April 19th, and reached Madras August 18, 1849. Here he waited for Gunn who was coming thither on sick leave. Gunn left Masulipatam the same day Martz reached Madras, leaving his wife and children behind in Guntur. Rev. C. W. Groenning had gone from Ellore to Guntur to take charge of the work in the absence of Gunn. After staying with Gunn in Madras for several weeks, Martz left that city on September
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DR. HEYER's second TERM OF SERVICE 8 14th and proceeded to Guntur. Groenning immediately turned the work over to the newly arrived missionary and went back to Ellore. Mrs. Gunn with her children, Martin Luther and Ellen, also left Guntur March 5, 1850, on an overland journey to join her husband in Madras. She found him greatly improved in health in the home of the kind and hos- pitable Dr. Scudder. After an absence of ten months from Guntur Gunn and his family returned on June 27, 1850, his thirty-fifth birthday; but the pulmonary disease which he had contracted could not be permanently checked. The strain of preaching and travelling was too great for his weak physical condition, and he confined himself almost entirely to writing letters to America and to giving counsel and advice to the inexperienced Martz.
Heyer's work in the Palnad continued to meet with suc- cess. Although he had gone to the district with some reluc- tance, because it was commonly reported that the heat was almost unbearable and the danger of getting fever very great, he, nevertheless, carried on his work with his usual vigor, living in almost apostolic simplicity. It is related that, realizing the danger of death in the district, he had a coffin made in Guntur and sent to Gurjal, and that soon after his arrival in that village he had a grave dug near his house. At times, when the roof of his house leaked badly, he slept in the coffin. Strange to say, he was not sick a single day, and on leaviag Gurjal to return to Guntur he burned the cofl&n, filled in the grave and, standing over it, triumphantly exclaimed "Oh, death, where is thy sting? Oh, grave, where is thy victory?" Tours of fifty miles and more on foot were frequently made by Heyer in the district. "Sometimes," he wrote, "when I could find no better shelter, I spread a blanket over the legs of my table to exclude the night air, and slept beneath it, as though it were a small tent."
By the end of the year 1849 Heyer had baptized thirtytwo adults and twenty-four children in the Palnad district and the number of inquirers was steadily increasing. Six schools in as many villages, all having Christian teachers, enrolled 103
82 AMERICAN EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN MISSIONS IN INDIA pupils, some of whom were girls. Small buildings for school and church purposes had been erected in Gurjal, Polepalli, Veldurti and Macherla. On nine acres of ground, donated by Mr. Stokes, Heyer, in 1850, began the experiment of estab- lishing a Christian colony near Gurjal, modelled after those he had seen in the Leipsic Mission.^ Reports of his success in the Palnad were spread abroad and a number of missionaries from other missions visited him in 1850, among others the Revs. Sharkey and Darling of the Church Missionary Society's mission at Masulipatam. During the year 1850 Heyer bap- tized no less than 126 adults and children. Mr. Stokes felt that this success ought to be followed up, and in April, 1850, offered to contribute Rs. 500 in case the Executive Committee of The Foreign Missionary Society sent out a single man from America, and Rs. 800 in case it sent out a married missionary before the end of the year. His conditions could not be met; but before the year had ended one additional missionary had been called and was under appointment and the services of a second were secured early in 185 1.
The most important event of the year 1850 was the trans- fer of the Rajahmundry Mission with its missionaries from the North German Missionary Society, which had established it, to The Foreign Missionary Society of the General Synod. We now, therefore, turn in our next chapter to the early history of the Mission at Rajahmundry.
* This enterprise, however, was soon afterward abandoned. It will interest the reader to know that Gurjal is now the residence and station of an American Baptist missionary, who is a Swede and was originally a Lutheran.