“In undertaking all the secular duties thus imposed upon him, the missionary was never lost in the statesman. He still gathered his children and catechumens about him daily, preached whenever a little company of people could be assembled and superintended the labors of the increasing number of missionaries sent by various European societies to India. These all recognized him as their real leader, and it was universally felt that the first preparatory step for successful missionary labor in southern India was to catch the inspiration and receive the counsel of the untitled missionary bishop at Tanjore. Around his residence building after building was erected--chapels, schoolhouses, seminaries, missionary homes, etc.--all set in a beautiful garden, filled with rare tropical plants. What a refuge for the wearied and perhaps discouraged catechist! What a scene of beauty and peace to allure the steps of the hopeless devotee of a heartless idolatry! But the center of attraction for all alike was the radiant countenance of the grand old man upon whom his seventy years rested never so lightly--never too tired to entertain the humblest visitor, always ready to help by word or deed in any perplexity.” [Sidenote: Illness and Death.] In October, 1797, the old man fell ill. Thinking that his end was at hand he sent for the young rajah whose guardian he had been and urged him once more to hear the heavenly invitation. Would that we could record that this young man answered, like so many of his humble subjects, “I believe”! Improving somewhat, Schwartz summoned his pupils once more and went on with his work. The end came at last in February, 1798. With his grieving mission family gathered about him, he fell asleep, his last words being, “Into Thy hands I commend my spirit. Thou has redeemed me, Thou faithful God.” [Sidenote: A Noble Tribute.] Claiming him for their own, those for whom he had labored provided for his burial. The rajah who followed the bier as chief mourner built a handsome monument on which he is represented as kissing the hand of his dying friend. The East India Company placed a memorial in the church at Madras with the inscription, “Sacred to the Memory of Christian Frederick Schwartz whose life was one continued effort to imitate the example of his blessed Master. He, during a period of fifty years, ‘went about doing good.’ In him religion appeared not with a gloomy aspect or forbidding mien, but with a graceful form and placid dignity. Beloved and honored by Europeans, he was, if possible, held in still deeper reverence by the natives of this country of every degree and sect. The poor and injured looked up to him as an unfailing friend and advocate. The great and powerful concurred in yielding him the highest homage ever paid in this quarter of the globe to European virtue.”