636 HIS SUDDEN DEATH. dear servant was cut off, by a sudden attack of fever; just at a time when we might have hoped for a great increase of usefulness; for though the excitement connected with the revival had passed away, the happy effects, in the increased number of his fellow-labourers, and the lively testimony to the coming of Jesus, with a flourishing school, were all indications that the Lord's blessing rested on the mission. He seems to have been in the act of writing a letter, when the messenger of death called him away. The words written were as follows: "I am very glad to acknowledge that I have received your kind note, by which I understand that the Lord is so gracious to help me by a pious gentleman in my want. So I delayed to answer your letter until this day, by thinking that I could acknowledge it after I had received the money from Mr. F. Groves." These few lines, written in his usual clear and firm handwriting, in answer to one which told him of 100 rupees, sent by his kind friend Lord Congleton, through Mrs. Groves, were the last he ever wrote. The letter was finished by his son, as follows: "RESPECTED MADAM, "Before my father finished this letter, he caught the fever. Now, I am sorry to say that my father is no more with us, to strengthen us in the way of the Lord, but he lives with my God, to enjoy eternal pleasure, and to receive the crown of life, that the Lord hath promised to them that love him. "The last words of my father were For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.' 'I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of life, that the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but unto all them that love his appearing' Afterwards he instructed me and others to take care not to have any fellowship with bad men, and to bury him in the church-yard. So he gave up his life in peace on the 14th instant, in the night, about nine o'clock. LETTER FROM HIS SON. 637 We sent word to all my father's congregations who were near and in far places. All of them came to sympathize with us, and stopped three days, and spent the next Sunday with me. Now I am obliged to take my father's duty, to look over the congregations, as I did as his agent when he was alive. I hope the Lord will guide me in the work of the ministry, to edify the body of Christ, to which my father put the foundation, as it is in Ephesians ii, 20, 21. "We hope that you will not forget to pray for us, and for all the congregations, and giving my best regards to all the saints and Christian gentlemen, I hope you will tell them all about my father's death, and they will write letters, with the word of God to comfort me. Please excuse my poor English. "I remain, dear Madam, yours in the Lord, The following information was given in answer to a letter from Mrs. Groves, asking questions in connection with the printed accounts, from which extracts have been given. It is a comfort that Aroolappen's son had the benefit of being many years associated with his father in the work of the Lord, whɔ gives an account of the way the Spirit constrained him to work from his youth. It is in reference to his early entrance into this ministry, that he says to Mrs. Groves, "I am the one who left the school to preach with my dear father, and we then felt a call to the work of the Lord. Twenty catechists are serving the wants of the several congregations offering morning and evening prayers daily; also they find their own livelihood with the little assistance I can give them of my land produce. I have shared all that you sent with the mission agents and they send their humble regards to you. I also have a great desire to help them as much as I can, should the Lord enable me to do so. Many of the Christians who went about preaching during the revival, are now settled in one place, seeking reasonable livelihood, and shew themselves good 638 THE FOLLOWING ANNUAL MEETING. members of the congregations, and they all have a strong desire to see the coming of the Saviour. "I am about to build up my father's tomb, also a proper school-room; our present school is in the prayer-house. If it is possible I must also build over the foundations my father had laid for the chapel. "In conclusion, I beg you to pray for our mission, for our school, and for all our endeavours. My dear mother, sisters, and catechists send you their humble regards, as well as our friends, wife and myself do the same. "I remain, respected Madam, your's very truly, "C. P. AROOLAPPEN." The following account of the first annual meeting after Aroolappen's death, January 1st, 1868, has been sent by his son, who says, as we may well believe, "The whole assembly felt very sorry that they did not see their old Pastor's face in this new year as in the last." He says: "The meeting was conducted on the 1st of January, 1868, at Christian-Pettah, for which all my fellow-labourers and congregations came, and we spake about the arrangements to lead the flock according to the Scriptures. "After resolving that the word of God was to be their only guide, they made four simple rules, such as they felt needful to meet the circumstances of the people. "1. All the catechists must keep daily reports of the congregations, to know whether they are present or absent at the prayer-meetings, morning and evening. "2.-Day Schools should be kept in each of their own villages in the night, because the children of the villages that are poor are obliged to go to work for themselves in the day-time. "3.-Every catechist should be present at the monthly meeting. "4.—The collection should be received from the congregation every Sunday, and two especial collections every year for the ARRANGEMENTS MADE. 639 books to be received from the Bible Society, and for the construction of buildings, as Schools and Churches. "I am intending to re-establish the boarding school, which was stopped by my father's death. I have obtained a certified master, acquainted with English and Tamil, and with his aid began the school afresh, from the 12th February 1867. From that time the school has been getting on satisfactorily. Boys of different castes attend the English class, and their number at present is twelve, and we have a Tamil class too, under the same master, amounting to about twenty. The master's name is Guyanapragasum, whom I have accepted with proper certificates of his person, and I pay him seven rupees; the govern. ment also pays him an equal amount. The number of boys is daily increasing, and I think it will be necessary to have a separate master for the Tamil class. I have a great desire to maintain a boarding school, but the great debt we have incurred in paying the taxes during the past few years of scarcity is not yet defrayed, and forces me to be careful in not fulfilling the desire immediately, but I hope the Lord will render His assistance, to keep up some at least for the use of the mission. "I have received a letter from Mr. F. A. Groves, with a bank-note of a hundred rupees enclosed; I hope it will assist me in building the boarding school, and to collect about seventy children for the present." They then exhorted one another, says C. P. Aroolappen, with various parts of Scripture, and dwelt specially on Heb. xiii, 7, 8, comforting cach other with the fact that "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever." May this thought sustain all our hearts while remembering these many congregations in this wilderness, deprived as they are now of the one who for so many years cared for them, and may the good Spirit which, from the father's account, rested on his son at his first entrance on the ministry of the word of life, still be his guide and helper, and though, it may be, he feel as others do for him, his own weakness, may it teach him to lean on the strength of the Lord. It is interesting to see his account of the revival, that the Spirit still stirs up some to exhort others, and may it stir up our hearts to look more to Him as the great Shepherd of the sheep, to whom alone the apostle commended those he addressed in the Hebrews as the One who is able to make them "perfect in every good work, to do His will, working in them that which is well pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen." Heb. xiii, 21. |