The irreproachable German missionary
German missionary Christian Friedrich Schwartz |
“The knowledge and integrity of this irreproachable missionary have retrieved the character of Europeans from imputations of general depravity,” a British officer said of German Lutheran missionary Christian Friedrich Schwartz, who served in South India for forty-eight years without a break in the 18th century.
It is a little
difficult to account for the extraordinary power exercised by Schwartz over the
minds of the men of his day and for long afterwards. Something must be
attributed to his wide knowledge – in addition to Portuguese, English, and
Tamil, he had mastered Persian, which was then the language of the court, and
Hindustani; to the charm which enabled him to move easily in all classes of
society; to the extreme simplicity of his life – Schwartz spent nothing on
himself and died a rich man, leaving considerable sums as endowment for the
work that he had started; and to his reputation for utter self-forgetfulness
and integrity. But central to everything was a simple and stalwart faith, and a
total dependence on the merits of the Redeemer. Men who met Schwartz knew that
they had seen a man of God." - from "A history of Christian
missions", by Stephen Neill
Anglican priest Stephen Neill |
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