BISHOP SARGENT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XIX, Issue 6424, 20 June 1882, Page 5

BISHOP SARGENT.

iTiliS distinguished > missionary arrived by the mail steamer Zealandia last _ night ;on a visit to Zealand, and ; is an'npunced to, ; deliver an address on' the I growth of the Native Church in South India, at the: missionary meeting in,.the Choral ■.Hall tp-morrow, night. He is well qualified :to speak on this interesting subject, .having ;fpr many years laboured in the .Madras Presidency. . Bishop Sargent began his missionary work, ..after being at Suviseshapuram, a small mission station, where he Succeeded in gathering together a congregation, and eventually in building one of the prettiest and most Ehglish-lo iking churches in the south of India. , But. this was -not the commencement of Bisnpp Sargent's missionary labours. Several,years before he had dedicated himself to the missionary cause, and had acted as a lay agent of the C.M.S. He was born in Pans, in 1815, but was brought up and educated in Madras,-where he first became connected with the society. --Shortly after his appointment, -as lay agent, he proceeded to ' England, and studied at Islington College ; and in 1841; and 1842 he was fully ! ordained, and subsequently returned to India. ; Upon his return he was sent to Suviseshapuram, where he was eminent ly successful, and did a great deal of good work.' But Bishop Sargent was too iiseful a worker to be left long at so small a station, ■where his energy, devotion, and zeal were necessarily confined to a limited circle; and accordingly he was removed to Palamcotta,, where he took'charge of Triaity Church, one ; of the oldest churches in Tinnevelly. Here he has continued' to labour with untiring devotion and 'gratifying results. Very pleasantly situated is Palamcotta. It is'one of the few lovely spots in Tinnevelly which for the most part is flat and uninteresting. -Over "the copper coloured river which runs by it, is a beautiful bridge, which has to be crossed to reach the missionstation. Far, as . the eye can see, stretches a wide expanse of brilliant green rice fields, which fornia pleasing and refreshing picture. Next •to the church, perhaps the moat interesting place in Palamcotta is the girls' school, known by the name of the "Sarah Tucker Institution." It was established twenty-twp years ago in memory of this admirable lady, and in building it her friends tried to carry out her great wish of educating the women of India. The object of the school is to train native Christian girls as school mistresses. To keep a girl at this institution only costs £4 103 a-year, and this pays for her education, food, and clothes, a sum which will make ■many a New Zealand mother'envious of the good fortunes of the natives of. Palamcotta. Probably Bishop Sargeant will have a good deal of interesting information to give the meeting to-irorrow evening aboutthe country of Tinnevelly, independent of the progress of missionary work there. Many, of the customs of the country are as curious as tney are little known outside India. To-night Bishop .Sargent is announced to preach m at. Matthew's Church.