Memoir of Anthony Norris Groves/Preface 3
As ten years have now elapsed since the issue of the second edition of this Memoir, we have thought it well, without altering what has been already published, to add such additional matter, in the form of a supplement, in connection with persons and work which have been frequently alluded to in the Memoir, as shall give an increased interest to the work. It is true death winds up the history here of those who are removed; but it does not close the effect of their life, in the influence it has brought to bear upon others; and while they are dead they still speak; and the influence of the spirit remains while the body is slumbering in the tomb.
The last few years have witnessed the removal of some with whom Mr. Groves was particularly connected; and among them that of his faithful Ninevite servant, (see pp. 220 and 532, &c.) who followed him from Bagdad, remained with him during his sojourn in India, and eventually came to England with his widow, and who departed this life on the 13th of August, 1865. A short memoir of this devoted servant has already been published,[1] under the title of “Faithful Hanai,” to which we would refer our readers.
Another who has been removed is Miss Paget of Barn-staple, the devoted friend of Mr. Groves’s early and latter days, of whom a short biographical sketch is now given, and it is hoped that the record will not be unwelcome. To those who are aiming after a more complete consecration to God, its perusal will afford both strength and encouragement, in the contemplation of one whose unworldly Nazarite separation to God gave a peculiar charm to her society, and gives a special freshness to her memory.
The third who has been removed, to whom we would allude, is the native missionary John Aroolappen, whose interesting history has been dwelt on at some length, including important details of the Revival which originated in his Mission in 1860, and spread through many of the mission stations in South India. He was truly to Mr. Groves a son in the gospel; and the history of the Christian-Pettah Mission will long remain an interesting and instructive episode, among the records of Indian missionary labour.
The Supplement ends with some details of the Godaveri Delta Mission, which began with Messrs. Bowden and Beer, to whom frequent allusion has been made in the latter chapters of the Memoir. The sowing time has been long, and there has been much sowing in tears; but the Lord has, of late years, been unmistakably working, and there are now, scattered through the district, many who are “believers in Christ Jesus, and called to be saints.” May all who read these memorials, with all saints, be kept ever faithful, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that their labour is not in vain in the Lord.
- ↑ Faithful Hanai, or disinterested service, by Henry Groves. Published by Nisbet and Co., Berners Street, London; and by Mack , Park Street, Bristol.