CHAPTER XI. CORRESPONDENCE RELATIVE TO A TOUR SY MR MITCHELL AND HER HUSBAND IN THE STATE OF GOA AND THE SOUTHERN MARATHA COUNTRY, IN THE BEGINNING OF 1834 -EXTRACTS OF HER LETTERS ADDRESSED TO MR WILSON IN HIS ABSENCE, WITH NOTICES OF HER OPERATIONS AND OCCURRENCES IN BOMBAY - MRS WILSON'S MARATHI TRANSLATIONS, AND OTHER LITERARY PRODUCTIONS. THE following letters were written by Mrs Wilson, when I was absent on a missionary tour in the Konkan, the State of Goa, and the southern Maráthá country:— "BOMBAY, 31st Dec. 1833. .... “MY DEARLY BELOVED SISTERS,—I had just finished tea a few mornings ago, and was sitting alone in the large hall, thinking of you, and calling to mind a thousand tender and endearing recollections of my dear Andrew's infancy, and of the brief period of his childhood which he spent with us, when João * suddenly and unexpectedly made his appearance. . . . . The hour of midnight had arrived before he finished his history; and, long after I had retired to my own room,—not to stretch myself in unconscious slumber—for that was impossible—but to give vent to my feelings in thanksgivings and prayers to our heavenly Father, —he was relating to an astonished audience below stairs all the wonders which he had seen. Ayahs, Hamáls, Masáls, and the other servants of our Indian establishment, had deserted their posts, and were listening to the oracle. Some of them, I dare say, asked if the same sun and moon shone in Scotland which lighted them in Bombay; and to their knotty questions, João sometimes gave very amusing answers. . . . . I can assure you • A servant who had gone to Scotland in charge of our little boy. the sight of Modern Athens was not lost upon him, for he has given such a splendid description of it to the Ayah, that she fancies it like the renowned cities of the sun in fable, and talks of it in Hindustání all day long to little Johnny. If you admired João's appearance, you would admire her much more. Though a Hindú, she is much fairer than he is, and her language and gesture are so elegant, that at home she would appear like an Eastern dame of rank. It is a singular fact, that the Portuguese are in general much darker than either Hindús or Mussalmáns; and the Bráhmans are so fair, that, were it not for their Oriental dress and manners, you might take them for Europeans. ...João told us many little anecdotes of our boy. How my heart beat with tenderness as he repeated all his little sayings on board ship, and described your meeting with him in Edinburgh! I am, indeed, overwhelmed with the thought of your kindness to him. The Lord has given him to you; and he will reward you out of His treasury of heavenly blessings. . . . . Our great desire is, that he may indeed be, as you say, one of the lambs of the Redeemer's flock; and, if he is spared, a herald of the glorious Gospel to India's distant shores. We every day find new occasion to bless God for having put it into our hearts to come to this land, and permitting us to see with our own eyes the dreary and desolate state of a land of idolaters. O how it should fill our hearts with gratitude, and teach us the deep and awful responsibility of those who have had the record of God's unspeakable love and mercy in their hands from childhood, and the overtures of pardon and reconciliation proffered to them times without number. "Mr Wilson is now at Harnaí, on his way to Goa,-the celebrated seat of Roman Catholic dominion in India, and once the abode of the Inquisition, with all its gloomy appendages. The priestly power has now fallen, and its ancient dominion passed away; but, alas! Goa is still in the territory of the beast and the false prophet. Mr Wilson writes me that he was deeply affected on again returning to Harnaí. He was in the room that dear Mrs Cooper once occupied, and where she so often poured out her heart to God in behalf of the poor heathen, and in earnest longings for the salvation of her God. Mr Mitchell intends accompanying Mr Wilson on his tour; and afterwards he will make Bombay, for some time, his head-quarters. When we arrived in Bombay, the strength of our mission was in that part of India (the Konkan). Now, the candlestick is about to be removed, and the Lord may, in justice and in vengeance, say to its people, 'All day long have I stretched out my hands to a disobedient and gainsaying people.' Mr Crawford and Mr Cooper have been, in the mysterious providence of God, removed to their native land. Mrs Cooper and Mrs Mitchell are now before the throne of God. Mr Mitchell's and Mr Wilson's object in this tour is to visit and preach in all the Maráthí towns and villages, which will carry them over an immense tract of country. They were detained longer at Harnaí than they expected, by the illness of a dear friend of theirs, Dr S. He was a person of highly cultivated understanding, and much beloved by all his associates; but his mind was poisoned with infidelity; and, till lately, he lived in utter ignorance of the principles of the religion of Christ. The change in his views and feelings was most remarkable; and, as it is pleasant in this distant land to recount the triumphs of the Gospel, both among natives and Europeans, I shall give you an extract from Mr Wilson's last letter to Dr S. is. I answer, it is well with him. me. "You asked how He died half an hour He rested humbly on past midnight, in peace and great joy. the Saviour, and had large communications of divine grace given to him. The funeral was very affecting. . . . . The officers of Camp (at Dhápulí) assembled, and Mr Mitchell conducted divine worship. He delivered a very appropriate address. The procession to the burying-ground then commenced..... We passed through a small grove, and came to the narrow mansion. Mr Mitchell read the 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians; and we committed the body to its kindred clay, in the sure hope of a blessed resurrection. Three volleys were fired. We then went to Major Sutherland's, where I expounded the 7th chapter of Revelation. To-day, I preached the funeral sermon from Hebrews xi. 23. Mrs S- was present.' . . . . A thousand blessings on each and all of you, and on our child, who we joy to think has found such favour in your eyes. Poor João was literally crying when he saw me begin this letter. He sent too .... ... many compliments to Mr John and the ladies. . . . . Ever yours, most affectionately,-MARGARET." To MRS WILSON'S SISTERS. "BOMBAY, 31st January 1834. "Most gladly would I sit up all night to express the overflowing of my love towards you and my precious boy; but, alas! I dare not; all I can do is simply to tell you that I and Johnny are well; and that, when I last heard from my husband, he had improved much in health by his tour, and was actively engaged in the work of his important and glorious mission. He and Mr Mitchell were then many hundred miles distant from Bombay, preaching at sunrise, at noonday, under the heat of a burning sun, and sometimes at midnight—not in prisons, but in places resembling them, old ruined temples-whither many strangers and pilgrims resort, sometimes for the purposes of repose and shelter, sometimes to offer incense to their gods. They were obliged to sleep in these temples, as there are no travelling bungalows in the districts; and they were consequently furnished with many opportunities of declaring the message which they have to publish. By this time they have probably reached Old Goa, and are wandering among the convents, monasteries, and chapels of that celebrated place. In my next letter, I hope I shall be able to give you an account of it, taken from his journal. ... "Our house is quite crowded at present, and we are in a sad bustle. On one side I have Mrs T. Candy, who is in a state of extreme weakness, and not expected by the medical men here to live many weeks. On the other side, I have Mrs S- and her children, who are just on the eve of embarking for England. . . . Dear Mrs C. is quite a missionary in spirit and in conduct. She has only been a year in India. She has learned the Maráthí language, got a little school of her own, and had begun several little translations, when her strength began to decline, and ever since she came to live with me, which is more than a month ago, she has been gradually losing strength. . . . . Mr Candy and Captain Molesworth went to the Mahabaleshwar hills, and left her with me, hoping that she might be able to join them when the weather became warmer. Her increasing weakness obliged us to send for Mr Candy. He is now with her, and I feel less anxious than I did before his arrival. Her mind is perfectly of the Hindú religion, with all its impurities, and with all its ceremonies, had a striking effect on the spectators, and impressed them with his sincerity and earnestness. I wish I could send you a picture of him as he knelt down to receive the water of baptism, with his two almost naked children, one carried on his side (as is common in eastern countries,*) and the other standing by him. He is a tall athletic figure, and the Indian dress, even in its worst form, has something picturesque in it. There was certainly much primitive simplicity in the sight; and, when we thought of the sufferings to which this open avowal of his faith will expose him, we were reminded of the early Christians, who were tortured and persecuted, and who wandered about in sheep-skins and in goat-skins, without any sure dwelling-place. How would your affectionate heart have felt, on witnessing this scene! Every feeling of holy love, and of deep compassion, would have gone forth in earnest and supplicating prayer for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and for those magnificent displays of Divine power and mercy, by which the hearts of hardened and stupid idolaters are subdued, and compelled to lay down the weapons of their rebellion, and submit to the Cross. I cannot describe the feelings with which we again remembered you, when we sat down at that blessed table, which was to us an earnest and foretaste of the joys of heaven. There are times when I cannot divest myself of the feeling, that wide seas separate us, and that we may never meet again in this world. you, and our sweet little A., I feel with the poet, Thought grows pain; And memory, like a drop that night and day Thinking of But, O! it was not so this evening, for earthly things seemed to pass away, and I thought only of our meeting at that table where Jesus keeps the feast with his disciples, and where all his guests participate in his kingly honours, and are clad in his own glorious robes. On returning from chapel at 9 o'clock this evening, the whole native town was illuminated in honour of the Díwáli. A torrent of light seemed to issue from every house; lamps were * See Isaiah lx. 4, and lxvi. 12. |