CHAPTER 19

CHAPTER 19.

INDIAN ODYSSEYS

On his way home from military service, Edwin Orr visited 'f Calcutta, Madras and Bombay, getting his first glimpse a i aia India. He decided to return.

It was not until the year 1954 that this became possible. His . travels took him from East Africa via India to the Philippines, so in due course he arrived at the airport in Bombay. From there he made his way to the sacred Hindu city of Nasik, near which, in the Anglo-Indian school at Deolali, the Evangelical Fellow-— ship of India was holding its annual convention.

Orr had met Indians in the United Kingdom, but now he was meeting them in their native India, an India recently become a free and independent nation. At the Deolali convention, he was able to see of what a diverse company the nation of India was comprised; here were Tamils from the south, Punjabis from the north, and Nagas from the east among the registered attendants, sharing not only Indian nationality but Christian |

: faith.

Edwin Orr relished every moment he spent at Deolsli If he found the sacred shrines of Nasik something alien and forbidding,

he found the zeal of the Christians very much to his own satisfaction. Here were people who loved the Lord Jesus Christ with as much fervour as others abroad.

It was at Deolali that he heard the soul-stirring hymn "How Great Thou Art"! being sung by a choir of Naga tribes people from Assam. There also he renewed a friendship with Mr. I.

Ben Wati, a Naga who had studied at Northern Baptist Seminary in Chicago, who later became the secretary of the Evangelical

Fellowship of India.

From Bombay, Edwin Orr made his way south to the State of | Kerala to become the guest of my fellow-bishop in the Church of South India, Bishop Jacob.! He held a successful campaign in Kottayam Cathedral. Malayalam-speaking clergy of our church

Orr also pad to sate 'of our sister Church: ihe: nue Cf Thoma denomination. Thus he began his Kerala ministry with — 400 hearers in Kattanam and concluded with 40,000 at Maramon.

In North India, Edwin Orr had been received by the President _ of India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad,* who found his guest so interesting that he had invited him back to Rashtrapati Bhavan. In South India, Orr found himself a kind of Pied Piper with Indian children, who followed him in droves as he took his evening exercise walking. He amused the children, few of whom could speak English, by talking the language of domestic animals with them. The children shrieked with laughter as the friendly Sahib initiated a conversation with some farm dog which replied to his mimicry in best of faith! Indian adults, respectful of guest- -sahibs, watched in amazement as a crowd of a hundred children of all ages followed the visiting Sahib on his evening itineration.

Adults always respect the intuitive judgment of character made by their children. Orr took advantage of the situation by arranging to have meetings for children only.

What amazed missionaries more was that Edwin Orr "lived by faith" in India, allowing the Lord to supply his needs on the spot, generally through the grateful offerings of Indian people poor in this world's goods but not too poor to make some little contribution of annas or pice.* On one occasion, the Reverend Cyril Thomson (minister of an English-speaking church in our Tamil-speaking area) assisted

Orr in meetings in South India. He reported in a Youth for Christ of Madras bulletin as follows:

It is one thing to hear a well-known preacher stand up and hold forth; it is another actually to live with him. I can honestly say that this was a privilege given to me by the Lord, in that I shared a room for several days with Dr. J. Edwin Orr. He had been invited by the Evangelical Fellowship of India to come to India, but had told them that he would, according to the custom of many years, look to the Lord for his support. This challenged me deeply; no church was supporting him; he had no guaranteed salary; yet his faith was serene.

The last thing he worried about was money. Neither did

Yet. ek were Hady. ret oak siimpen weal. as. for. pepsi when the following happened. He told me one day

© _ that he had been talking to the Lord about the places he should _ visit while in India, and he said "If I am to do all of these ee things, it will cost about a thousand rupees". On the very next day, an Indian (who was dressed in a shirt and dhoti) asked him to accept an envelope, a thank-offering which contained ten one-hundred-rupee notes.* This was the money which Orr had calculated for his North

Indian travels from Amritsar on the western border of the Punjab to Gauhati on the eastern marches of Assam.

In Amritsar, a fortune-teller approached Orr as the latter — was sitting in a motor-car, saying:

"Sahib, I can tell your fortune from the stars! I can ead 1 your future in your eyes!"

Orr waved him away. He returned to his task:

"Sahib, I can tell your fortune from the stars! I can read your future in your eyes!"

Orr waved him away again. When the fortune-teller solicited custom the third time, Orr said:

"That's nothing! I can read your thoughts!"

The persistent fortune-teller was taken aback. This was a new development, a Westerner who claimed oriental powers of magic, no less!

"Are you a professional, Sahib?" he asked.

"No,"' said Orr. "An amateur!"

"But you claim that you can read my thoughts?"

"Yes," replied Orr.

The disconcerted fortune-teller stepped back for a moment.

Then he approached the car again. i "Very well, Sahib," he said. "Kindly read my thoughts, if you please."

With a smile on his face, Orr replied:

"You think that I am a big fool and that you will get some money out of me. You are mistaken!"

The fortune-teller brought his hands together in Indian Salute, laughed pleasantly, and said:

ae On S HGumnievs across the top of India Tai istan through the Khyber Pass, into Kashmir via Jammu, into 4

Nepal by a route unauthorized, and into other Himalayan states.* His arrival in Srinagar occurred during the Indian-Pakistani dispute, when Indian troops were in occupation and. tourists had dwindled to a trickle. In fact, it seemed that he was the only tourist to dismount from the IAC plane that day. A horde of touts soliciting custom for houseboats, rugs, ivory, jewellery and the like descended on Orr. Orr laughed them off and increased his pace. The competing mob of men grew less and less as Orr disclaimed any interest in any merchandise or services, until only one man persisted.

_ "Sahib," he said. "I can get anything you want—houseboat, jewellery, anything!"

""No, thank you!" said Orr firmly.

After half a mile of refusals, the Kashmiri smiled knowingly and said:

"But the Sahib must want something!"

Orr stopped in his tracks.

""How about shooting?"

"Ha!" said the guide. "I can rept that. What do you want to shoot?"

"You!" said his victim, with a smile.

The man capitulated. Instead of trying to sell something, he attached himself to Orr to enjoy the conversation further. So he and Orr became good friends.

In New Delhi, Edwin Orr applied for a visa to visit Nepal.

The Royal Nepalese authorities were so far behind in modern business methods that they were refusing to consider applications to visit Katmandu without at least a month's notice. Orr still had not received his visa when he reached the borders of Nepal.

So he simply walked over and hired a guide for his itineration.

In Calcutta, many weeks later, the Canadian agent forwarded _ a Nepalese visa which Orr treated as retroactive permission to _visit the hermit kingdom.

North of the border at Kalimpong, Orr encountered a Tibetan caravan of yaks and men slowly wending its way to Lhasa. It was an expected scene, with a mountain backdrop, prayer-wheels,

e ~ ta

"Or be :

Bifina Pn ah : em ; .

I i Ae eee hivtpioes 'Edwin Orr found that the view of Kanchenjunga from the bedroom window of Kalimpong far surpassed his glimpse of _

Everest. He thought that Kanchenjunga looked more impressive __ than any peaks he had ever seen, whether Mount McKinley in Alaska, or Aconcagua in the Andes, or Mont Blanc in the — (

Alps, or Kilimanjaro in East Africa, or Mount Cook in New Zealand. tee When Pandit Nehru, many months later, was addressing a croud of 100,000 in South India, Orr was surprised to hear him say, instead of political haranguing: fens 'What is India? It is the snows of the great Himalaya. It is

_ the swaying palms of Kerala. It is the people who live in this land..."

Orr thought to himself:

"Then I too know India!"

His travels had taken him through fifteen of India's states, After several trips, he had spoken to more than 1,000,000 in ageregate. Edwin Orr felt the spell and call and appeal of India. oe His last 1954 campaign was held in Calcutta in the William

_ Carey Memorial Baptist Church. Calcutta in April is oppressively _ hot and cholera stalks the streets. The Reverend Walter Corlett, the minister of that church, ventured to sound out Orr about the financial aspects of their campaign.

"T can estimate what my congregation will give in the way of a thank-offering," he said, "so I am wondering how you will be able to proceed on your way to California."

"Don't worry," said Orr. "The Lord always sends what is needed when it is needed."

One afternoon, Mr. Corlett greeted Edwin Orr with a eablegram which had just arrived. It was from Dr. Billy Graham, at that time campaigning in Harringay in London. The cable stated that he was hearing of the great blessing in Orr's Indian ministry and offered his fare home via London—about £250 or $700 in air transportation.

Orr shared the cable with Corlett, who was delighted. But his _ delight turned to dismay when Orr said quietly that he was

she: going to turn An » Billy Gahan s kind offer.

¢ _ but Orr explained, as Corlett recalled it:@ Rega "7 think that Billy has made this offer just out of theldsind: ness of his heart. It would be so nice to accept it. In fact, many

_ folk would take it just because it is Billy who is offering it. But J feel that the Lord can supply the need in the place where it is needed. Besides, if I take it, someone is sure to say that a man who found that the faith principle operated all around the world discovered that it did not operate in India. That is not fair to i God or to Indian Christians."'

So Edwin Orr cabled Billy Graham his thanks but assured him that the Lord would provide in some other way. The thankoffering of the Carey Church was sufficient to carry the evangelist

_ via Singapore and Jakarta to Manila. There his funds dwindled.

_ He paid a visit to the headquarters of the Thirteenth United _ States Air Force, where the Adjutant to the Commanding

General gave him the liberty of the post and every favour befitting a former combat chaplain at large of that organization. Quite incidentally, the Adjutant offered Orr base transportation—the use of a jeep. Orr declined in favour, of enjoying the comparative luxury of the base after the hardships of travel. The Adjutant

_ then offered his transportation to an air base in California, which Orr gratefully accepted, flying across the Pacific as guest of the Air Force.

What had prompted Billy Graham to cable his generous offer? Murray Albertyn in his research discovered a letter from Orr to various friends including Graham which mentioned that some of the poorer people in India had put little gifts of farthings, eggs and tapioca in the thank-offerings." Only Billy Graham in the pressure of his work at Harringay responded in typically generous way.

When the clergy of the Mar Thoma Church pressed Orr to consider returning for ministry, Orr, knowing that many _ American visitors brought substantial donations in cash, told them:

"If I return, it will be on an apostolic basis. Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I unto you!"

_ In Kerala, the Metropolitan of the Mar Thoma Church, the four Mar Thoma Bishops and Bishop C. K. Jacob of our Church

a ere enjoying ater b _ tea site wae: guest, De 'Edwitt On The conversation v was quite | _ lively and entertaining. no Bishops of the Mar Thoma Gherehi: are bound by a ou on m 2 celibacy which does not apply generally to the Mar Thoma clergy, whereas Bishops of our Church of South India are as free tor), marry as our presbyters and laymen.

Mischievously, one of the Mar Thoma Bishops asked Edwin ee Orr:

"Do you think that the rule of the Mar Thoma Church regard_ ing the celibacy of their Bishops is better for all practical purposes

' than the rule of the Church of South India in this matter?"

Orr glanced around the gathering. He and our Bishop Jacob were outnumbered heavily and though both were happily married, there was no gainsaying the fact that these dedicated

— 'bachelor bishops were unencumbered in their devotion to the work.

| "No," said Edwin Orr, with a twinkle in his eye. "'The Bishops of the Church of South India have the greater advantage

. .

"But why? Tell us why!'? demanded one of the younger Bishops.

There was a broad smile on Orr's face. pet "Well," said he, '""The married Bishops not only have a better a half but also better quarters."

The Most Reverend Juhanon Mar Thoma, the Metropolitan of the Mar Thoma Syrian Church of Malabar, wrote in Evan. gelical Fellowship :® Following Dr. Orr's visit to Travancore last year, our Bishops

| and Clergy were unanimous in their desire to bring him back for parish evangelism throughout our Dioceses. His first meetings were held in the village of Mavelikara, with 500 people under a pandal in the Mar Thoma churchyard. The crowds increased till 5,000 were gathering nightly causing the cinemas to abandon their shows. There were larger crowds at Mallapally, and well-sustained interest in village after village. After six weeks of preaching, with only two. days rest, the Evangelist had preached the Good News to an aggregate of 400,000 people, concluding in the historic Mara__ mon Convention. The Reverend C. G. David interpreted.

Through the ministry of the 'Word Pra the moving. of the ; Spirit, there was a precious reviving of all present. On March 3, — there were 20,000 men gathered under a pandal in the dry © river bed at Maramon. The gospel was preached in great

| power, and more than 2,000 men came forward to register their names for counsel, repenting and turning to God.

Two of the great needs of Indian Christianity are the practice of Christian giving, tithing being greatly neglected, and abandonment of dissension all too common. Dr. Orr's ministry was used of God to provoke many Christians to the good works of financial support of Indian missionary work at home and abroad.® His messages in Anaprampal resulted in the church there sending missionaries to the borders of Tibet. Orr also helped considerably to reduce some clerical bickerings.

Not only did Orr preach for the Mar Thoma and Church ot South India people in Kerala, but also for the Jacobites af

Kuruppampady. There were many who read his book, Full Surrender, in Malayalam.

When, in 1958, Edwin Orr returned to Tamil Nad, he had already preached in campaigns in places as varied as Coonoor, a hill station, and Vellore, the great medical centre, and Madras, the metropolis. In 1958, he campaigned for us in Salem, Erode and Coimbatore.

From the year 1952, a Revival had been going on in our midst.

Though the results had not been spectacular, several hundred conversions already had taken place, and dozens of prayer groups had been praying for the spread of the Revival movement, many of our people having realized the immense possibilities of a revived Church while many voluntary workers actively engaged in the preaching of Christ and Him crucified.

In 1958, Edwin Orr was invited to be one of the principal speakers in the vast Maramon Convention conducted by the ancient Syrian Church in Kerala. But before going to the Convention, Orr helped us in our Diocese for six weeks, spending a fortnight each at Salem, Coimbatore and Erode, where some of our important churches are. His work in our midst began on 12th

January and concluded on 23rd February 1958.

Ha cianats . to write in some detail about his meetings in _ batore as I was able to attend most of them and came in very close contact with him at that time. They began on 27th January.

During the first ten days of his Mission, he spoke to our Christians. tote <7 2B There were fourteen churches in the city and they all worked together in a fine spirit of fellowship. The pastors as well as the _ congregations of the Church of South India, the Mar Thoma,

Lutheran, Brethren and Pentecostal churches attended his meetings in large numbers. These took place in the spacious grounds of our Immanuel Church of South India. The audiences ranged from 1,000 to 1,500 each evening. Many Roman Catholics

__ as well as Hindus came to hear him.

Dr. Edwin Orr is a born teacher. He asked for a blackboard — a and taught this huge class, writing on the blackboard the — essential points of his address. He often asked questions of the audience; he also invited them to ask questions, being quite ready with apt answers to questions. This gave an informal character to his address.

Edwin Orr demonstrated a thorough grasp of the teaching of the Bible on fundamental Christian doctrines and quoted it constantly from memory. He gave the references to help his

Tamil interpreter, who turned up the passages and read them.

When speaking to Christians, his subjects were Sin, Forgiveness, Confession, Sanctification, Surrender and the Holy Spirit.

To nominal Christians, he spoke on such subjects as Backsliding, False Profession, and Assurance of Salvation. His teaching was. oa clear and logical and every point was well illustrated, mostly with incidents for which he could vouch himself.

He used his book Full Surrender as a text book for his large classes. Most men hear an address and go away with a vague impression of what they hear. Even immediately after a meeting, they forget the main outline of an address. To help people to keep a permanent record of what they heard, Edwin Orr asked that copies of Full Surrender in English be sold in meetings.

Most of our folk cannot read English. So Orr arranged for a Tamil translation of this book to be printed and ready in time for his meetings. Hundreds of our people who had passed through experiences of revival were hungry for spiritual instruction based closely on the Bible, so they appreciated this opportunity to

'Galen to or' s ai teaching and to read the t i written out simply and clearly the same message.

We arranged three public meetings for Orr. One of our eos had the happy idea that they might be held in the large stadium

oe opt which belongs to the Coimbatore Municipality, near the Church _ where he was speaking. Continually, important public meetings are held in the Stadium, as for example, for Pandit Jawaharlal

Nehru and other famous men. Permission for Edwin Orr's meetings was given willingly and readily, and all that the Municipality charged was a rupee a night for the use of electric lights!

S eS e On the 7th, 8th and 9th February, Edwin Orr delivered three addresses. 2,000 people came to hear him on the first two nights; on the third, there must have been over 5,000 people, including hundreds of Hindus, both men and women. The last day of the _ Mission fell on Sunday. A procession started from Christ Church at four in the afternoon, marched to the Lutheran Church and then proceeded to the Stadium. Three thousand persons walked in the procession, with fifty banners which displayed verses from the Bible written in bold and artistic letters. The audiences in the Stadium listened intently to all his three addresses. Practically no one left the meetings. The Fact of God, the Problem of Sin and the Way of Salvation were the themes upon which Edwin Orr spoke.

When arranging the programme for Dr. Orr we requested him to lead a prayer meeting each morning and to give an address every evening. About 200 persons gave us their names and addresses and told us that they needed further instruction in the spiritual life. All this made Dr. Orr's days in Coimbatore quite full.

In addition, he gave to our Christian workers four lectures on Revival Movements in the Church. Facts were well stored in his retentive memory. Without any notes whatsoever, he kept us listening with close attention as he showed us how God the Holy Spirit had been actively at work in His Church throughout the ages. I know of no other English-speaking scholar who has made such a deep study of this subject and who has written so extensively upon it. He fully believes in Revival Awakenings, but at the same time studies them with a critical and well-trained mind. Our Christian workers were given a clarity of vision in

? st irrin * Pe had bcienaed several 'big evangelistic campaigns in. i Coimbatore during the previous six years. 'The Orr campaign Dee drew far larger crowds than any others. In previous campaigns we had failed to do the follow-up work effectively. So we became anxious to keep in personal touch with the men and women to whom God had spoken in these meetings in 1958. The results Hoe were all better conserved.

The teaching methods Orr used appealed to some of our nae people who had tended to regard revival meetings as merely emotional and not of lasting value. By natural temperament and — by extensive study, Dr. Orr had learned to take a more restrained and sober view of what happens in revival movements than some of the visiting evangelists who had visited us in previous years. It was good to see the close co-operation of both Indian

When Edwin Orr came to Coimbatore, we saw for ourselves how he lived by prayer from day to day. From Australia he had

travelled via South Africa to India, from which he had to return — to his home in California after an absence of two years. These long journeys had to be paid for.

A poor Diocese could not afford to pay such heavy travel expenses. There was no organization behind him to meet them. His faith led him to undertake

In his meetings, we took offerings. Always they were small amounts. One or two women who had been blessed offered their gold bangles. Orr was very grateful for all the gifts which were handed over to him. We clearly saw God at work in providing immediate needs. This was not enough for all his journeys in India, but he was not at all worried and went about his task

believing that God would supply his needs in His own good time.

War-time journeys in Oceania and the mainland of China occupied another chapter of this volume. In Asia, our great continent with its majority of the world's population, Edwin

Orr had already traversed Japan, Korea, ten provinces of China, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaya, Burma, Ceylon, the Himalayan kingdoms of Sikkim, Nepal, Kashmir and Afghanistan.

In previous years, he also had toured Islamic countries,

" urkey, n In 1983, 'David Dre! was wath a few of Islam, farther inland from which an adventuring : would have been put to death as a trespasser.!° He was ivy very interested in Islam, having read the life of the Prophet

Mohammed through thirteen times and that before his eleventh birthday.

On his way to India, Orr flew alongside of Sir Zafrullah Khan, Pakistani Foreign Minister, who practised the requirements of his faith en route, interrupting conversations to kneel in prayér.

Orr surprised him with his knowledge of things Islamic. He enjoyed talking to Muslims. Yet Edwin Orr had come to the conclusion that the world of Islam was 'the most difficult of all the world's mission-fields.

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