when on his death-bed, desired to entrust to his protecting care his adopted son, Serfogee, the present Rajah, with the administration of all the affairs of his country. On a spot of ground, granted to him by the same prince, two miles east of Tanjore, he built a house for his residence and made it
An Orphan Asylum.
Here the last twenty years of his life were spent in the Education and Religious Instruction of Children, particularly those of indigent parents, whom he gratuitously maintained and instructed; and here, on the 13th of February, 1798, surrounded by his infant flock and in the presence of several of his disconsolate brethren, entreating them to continue to make religion the first object of their care, and imploring with his last breath the divine blessing on their labours, he closed his truly Christian career in the 72nd year of his age.
The East India Company,
anxious to perpetuate the memory of such transcendent work,
and gratefully sensible of the public benefits which
resulted from his influence,
Caused this monument to be erected Ann. Dom., 1807.
The removal of Schwartz from his earthly sphere of labour was the heaviest blow which Christian missions had yet received. His name is one of the very first to be written in the bede roll of great Indian missionaries. The Church thanks God for their glorious service, and for the splendid spirit with which they did their Master’s will. But in the days when Schwartz closed his great career the missionary cause was still in its infancy, the pioneer example as regards our own country was the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, who had so nobly stood as foster parent to the Danish missionaries in Southern India, and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, who took over the work. But a crisis was rapidly approaching, for the enthusiasm which made Germany hitherto the fount and origin of missionary enterprise was cooling under the spell of a materialistic wave, a change which Schwartz did not fail to feel even at his distance from Europe, and lamented over. He had left behind him some faithful colleagues, in whose hands the work would be safe, but he foresaw difficulties which would arise when in their turn—and they were not young men—the responsibility of pastoral oversight and leading would fall into other hands.
The loss of Schwartz was felt all the more because he was such a remarkable personality, one of those men of whom it is fairly admitted that it is extremely difficult for another to take their place. Many men can do mighty works, but only the few can beget love and inspire, not only amongst their friends and converts, but in the hearts of worldly wise civilians, and the priests of pagan religions, a sincere and respectful confidence. It may be said in truth of Schwartz that in both these directions he had no equal in his day.
He was wont to bewail his own imperfections, and those of his letters which portray the inner reflections of his mind, show his humility, and how little he thought of himself. But we may take with confidence the judgment of his contemporaries, who had not only a personal knowledge of him, but saw with their own eyes the reality of the work he had done in India.
The Rev. Dr. Kerr, the senior chaplain at Fort St. George, who was careful to make the fullest inquiry, and to whom was entrusted the erection of the monument in St. Mary’s Church from the East India Company, paid him a high tribute in a sermon. Speaking of Schwartz, after following his honourable career in the East, he sums up his character in these words:
“Such a course of life, zealously pursued for a long series of years, and accompanied with that sweetly social disposition for which he was remarkable, gained him many friends and thousands of admirers. The blessing of the fatherless and the widow came upon him, and his hope was gladness. He rejoiced evermore in witnessing the divine effect of his honest endeavours, and if he did not make converts of all with whom he associated, he seldom failed to make friends of them with whom he happened to communicate. Not that he ever compromised a paramount duty from any false politeness or deference to superior station; for he decidedly and openly declared the condemnation of all who boldly and openly set gospel rules at defiance, as often as an opportunity for the purpose occurred. His reproof, however, was tempered with so much good nature, the desire of doing good to the offenders was so obviously his intention, that he seldom provoked the smallest ill-will by the strong but fatherly remonstrance which irreligious conversation and conduct frequently drew from him. Indeed, he seemed peculiarly gifted by divine providence with a happy manner, which enabled him to turn almost every occurrence, whether great or trivial, to the praise and glory of God.”