Among the Tamils of Southern India by J. S. JAMES

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 7, 1912

Among the Tamils of Southern India

By J. S. JAMES

J. S. JAMES

AFTER an absence of two months from the Tinnevelli district, it was a pleasure to visit our work there again, in company with Elder G. G. Lowry, who has been in charge of the work since my departure. After a short visit at Trichinopoly, the chief Hindu and Roman Catholic center of southern India, where we have a native evangelist and a number of interested students of the truth, we journeyed on to our main station, near Nazareth, where we were welcomed by old friends and believers.

Shortly after Brother and Sister Lowry took charge of the work at Nazareth, they began a series of meetings and Bible studies with a view to preparing another company for baptism. On Dec. 2, 1911, just as the Sabbath was closing, our people all gathered on the shore of a near-by lake, where Elder Lowry buried nine persons with their Lord in baptism. It was a solemn but glad occasion to all present; and as we turned away from the water’s edge to mingle among the multitudes yet unwarned and unsaved, we felt more than ever before the need of the fulness of the Holy Spirit in our lives to make our labors and ministry more fruitful.

Of this company, four were young people from our school, four came from practical heathenism; and one from the Anglican church. We rejoice to see our students giving their hearts to God, and studying to fit themselves for workers among their own people. Eight of the older students have thus far been baptized. The teachers are all earnest believers and workers, and we desire to keep the spiritual tone of the school high, that it may do its part in preaching the gospel.

The following week we visited our new out-station eight miles east of Nazareth, where we found our native workers busily engaged among the people, a number of families interested, and a large territory ready for the preaching of the truth. Some public meetings were held, and plans arranged with the workers there for a more vigorous campaign. The following Sabbath the workers at this station met with the company near Nazareth, where we all celebrated the Lord’s Supper. This was a blessed occasion, and the hearts of all were knit more closely together. I left the next evening for Bangalore, about six hundred miles north, where I arrived three days later.

The next day after reaching home, I received the sad news from Elder Lowry that our evangelist in charge of our out-station, and his little girl of eight years, were seized with cholera the day following my departure, and both died in less than ten hours. The reader can scarcely realize the suddenness with which disease and death overtake one in this land. One may shake hands with a friend who is happy, strong, and well, and before the dawn of the morrow, he may be shoveling earth into the grave of this friend. While the loss of this faithful, consecrated man seems almost irreparable, still the influence left behind him, his dying words of comfort to his family and his bright hope in the better resurrection, was a triumph for the cause of truth. The work he laid down still goes forward, while we pray the Lord of the harvest to supply us with faithful men to take his place.

We have every assurance that this field is ready for the sowing of the seed of truth. In these days when the Lord is to close up the work quickly, we need not sow to-day, and say, “There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest;” but we sow to-day, and the harvest is ready on the morrow. Here is one of the many instances that illustrates this, and also emphasizes the value of sowing the seed by the printed page: A Tamil tract fell into the hands of a man living about forty miles west of Nazareth. A friend standing near glanced over his shoulder and read a few lines. Those words aroused his interest. He secured some more tracts, read them, and then found his way to our mission to learn more about the truth. Elder Lowry began instructing him, and his interest grew. He was one of the nine recently baptized. To-day he is an earnest colporteur, sowing our literature in the surrounding districts. Already calls are coming from villages where he has worked, beseeching us to send them a teacher to give them further instruction in the truth. We also have a colporteur in Madras, who is meeting with many interesting and encouraging experiences selling our literature.

Thus the work grows and extends so we can scarcely keep pace with it. Our first edition of Tamil literature is nearly exhausted, and I have ordered new editions printed and hurried on to our men, and am busy getting out some new tracts and books so our workers can have a better selection to draw from. All are working hard, and are happy as they work. Brother and Sister Lowry are carrying heavy burdens, many times going beyond their strength to do justice to the calls for help. We need another family in this field at once to be making the necessary preparation in the language before taking up the burdens and responsibilities of district work. This will require at least one year. In response to our appeals for help, the reply comes back, “We have excellent workers waiting to go forward, but no money in the treasury to pay transportation and maintain them in the field.” Verily, the ends of the earth are calling for God’s people to fulfil their heaven-appointed trust. O that the Lord would cause to pass before his people a true panorama of real conditions in these dark lands, and roll upon each believer in this message a corresponding spirit of liberality!