It will be seen how frequently and with what success Schwartz placed himself at the disposal of the Government, but he was scrupulously careful to keep clear of any money consideration. He knew only too well that a missionary, undertaking by request the performance of delicate political duties, might easily be suspected of seeking his own advantage, especially in an age and place where bribes, in some sort or another, were rather the rule than the exception. But he could always plead his disinterested aims.
“For two years,” he writes, “I have discharged the duties of a resident. A resident usually receives 700 star pagodas, or £300 sterling. I have not received anything nor have I asked it.”
“My journey to Madras I undertook at the desire of the Government, as tutor of Serfogee. The expenses of the journey I bore myself. I was obliged for conscience’ sake to undertake it, as the legal guardian of the young man.”
While he felt it his duty to assist the ruling powers at any time when his influence might help the cause of peace and the prosperity of the people, it was always his spiritual work which held his heart in thrall. His supreme delight was the proclamation of the Gospel, his vast parish took in its range the countless souls of Southern India; whatever their station or caste, high or low, philosophic or ignorant and degraded, they all alike needed Christ and that was enough for him. Here we get a little glimpse of him in quite an ordinary scene of his busy life, as it impressed Mr. Paezold, his fellow-worker and travelling companion.
“We rested in the evening at Tripatore, a large heathen place, distinguished by two celebrated idol temples, which are situated on an eminence. Mr. Schwartz embraced the opportunity of entering into a conversation with a number of Brahmins and other heathen. He addressed them in a most eloquent and impressive manner, powerfully contrasting the follies and corruptions of heathenism and the state of awful blindness and delusion under which its professors laboured, with the light and purity of the Christian religion and its perfect accordance with the dictates of sound and enlightened reason, and I observe with wonder and delight the eagerness and attention with which the heathen population listened to his instructive discourses. But to attract and keep up such attention, one must really possess the talents and influence of Mr. Schwartz—his intimate acquaintance with the native language, his prudence, experience, and commanding authority. For a considerable time he continued his conversation in a standing position, and though I did not sufficiently understand the Malabar dialect, in which he addressed the numerous assembly, I could still perceive from their lips, their gestures, and the whole of their outward deportment, how deeply interested they felt. Indeed, when certain questions were proposed and certain answers given I repeatedly heard them exclaim, ‘Surely this is true, this is right, thus it should be!’
“The shades of night were coming on and Mr. Schwartz was preparing to retire to a resting place but the people wished to detain him still longer.
“‘Stay with us,’ was their exclamation; ‘we wish to listen to you further. Sit down both of you, you are tired of standing.’
“We therefore sat on the steps of one of their temples, near an enormous idol car, which during their festivals is sometimes drawn by two or three thousand people. Mr. Schwartz protracted his address for another half hour, and when he left them they all united in thanking him for the pains bestowed upon them. But should you, however, ask such people afterwards, what reason they would assign for not embracing a doctrine which it was impossible for them to refute and which they could not help pronouncing truly admirable, they return answers like these:—
“‘We certainly should embrace it, were it not for the world and our means of living. The world would hate, despise, insult us. And even from your own Christian people we should meet with ridicule and contempt. And how can you refuse the demands of nature? You missionaries cannot support us, nor would it be fair to require you to do it. Your governors will make no provision for us. Besides, our ancestors here constantly professed the same religion which we are professing.’”
The reference here to the reception a convert would be likely to receive from the Christian people, by which they meant the Europeans, reveals the religious conditions existing in the time of Schwartz. At no period in the history of Christian missions in India had the cause of Christ received any considerable approval from the representatives of the civil power. In the early days of the Company no impediment was placed in the way of preaching the glad tidings of Christianity, but the ruling classes had studiously avoided any interference with the superstitious and religious customs of the natives. Meanwhile in the region of the Carnatic these idolatries were on the decline and we have seen how readily the message of the missionaries was received, even by the Brahmins. Probably such a scene as we have just considered in the preaching of Schwartz has not its parallel even in modern missions. But when the debate in the British Parliament raised the religious question on the renewal of the Company’s charter in 1793 quite another spirit was made manifest. A jealous fear of weakening our hold on India by disturbing the religious predilections of the natives became a scare and a hindrance, which has taken many years to overcome. The opinion which created this difficulty was very clearly stated by Mr. Fisher, an English chaplain, to the effect that “even amongst many of the most enlightened British officials in the country there could be no more dangerous means of estranging the hearts of the people from the Government and no surer way of endangering the stability of the English rule than by attempting to meddle with the religious concerns of the Hindus, however prudently and carefully one might set to work. All were convinced that rebellion, civil war, and universal unrest would certainly accompany every attempt to promote missionary enterprise, and above all that the conversion of a high caste native soldier would inevitably mean the disbanding of the army and the overthrow of British rule in India.” This false position soon began to bear its natural fruit; if these idolatries were to be considered and protected it might perhaps be a paying policy to patronize them. Therefore we read: “The civil and military servants of the Company were compelled to present offerings with their own hands to idols and to fire salutes in their honour; and Christian Englishmen, whose religious scruples caused them to shrink from these unhallowed compliances, had no alternative but to relinquish their appointments.” The converts had now to contend with a new difficulty which ought never to have been put in their way by the power which emanated from the country from which Christianity came. They not only had to face the separation and hostility of their former relations and friends but the English boycotted them, and heathens and Mohammedans were preferred before them for employment.