in their native tongue. It
was not until the year 1857 that, stirred by Protestant example, they
published their first and only translation of any portion of God's Word in
any of the South India vernaculars--that of the Tamil Gospels and the Acts
of the Apostles.

Schultze spent fifteen years in Madras and left a congregation of 700
persons there. From Tranquebar, as a centre, missionary effort spread
extensively throughout the Madras Presidency. This was done through German
missionaries supported mainly by English funds furnished by the Society
for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge.

Perhaps the most commanding figure connected with that work and century
was Frederick Schwartz, the missionary statesman and apostle who arrived
in India in 1750. His efforts extended throughout the Kingdom of Tanjore
and even to the Madura and Tinnevelly districts. Through all these regions
his power was felt and, in company with a few other worthy souls, he
laboured with distinguished faith, wisdom and heroism. The Protestant
Native Church which has so flourished in Tinnevelly and Madura found its
origin and first success under his guidance. He spent forty-eight years in
unremitting effort, influenced powerfully all missionaries who came in
contact with him, and passed on to his reward in 1798.

Thus, before the close of the last century, at least 50,000 Tamilians had
been baptized in connection with this Protestant effort. When we bear in
mind the fewness of the agents, and the very limited tract of country
which they occupied, it is a matter of considerable astonishment that so
many converts were every year baptized in the various missions. In
Tranquebar alone, in nineteen years, there were 19,340 persons baptized;
and during the century, the entire number of converts was nearly, if not
quite, double this amount. In Madras, as many as 4,000 natives were
received into the Christian church. The Cuddalore Mission, notwithstanding
its great troubles, yielded between 1,000 and 2,000 converts; the
Trichinopoly Mission, more than 2,000; the Tanjore Mission, about 1,500;
and the mission established at Palamcottah in Tinnevelly in 1785, also a
few.

It is impossible to know exactly the number of the native Protestant
Christian churches and congregations existing at the beginning of the last
century, or the number of the Christian community in the Presidency.

Probably only a few thousand remained to await the dawn of the new
century.