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Between the date of the first symptom of his terrible disease and the close of his pain by release from the body,
he was in the sick room at "Homeleigh", alternating between hope and fear. While his body was so much
wracked by the anguish of his treacherous malady, his spirit was gradually gaining strength and grace. His soul
yearned for the salvation of his kith and kin. In proportion to his being purified by pain, refined like gold
in the furnace of affliction, there grew up in him a great desire to see the dear ones in distant Jaffna enjoy
the peace that passeth understanding. His letters are full of an affectionate solicitude for the welfare of those
he loved. On the 21st of May 1900, just after he had a favourable turn in the progress of the disease, he writes
to his sister [Mrs. Tambyah]
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Much has been done for me by Dr. Goodheart and Sir Douglas Powell, but more by the prayers that
have gone up to heaven on my behalf from this place, from your house, and my brother's house. Let your Christian
life be exemplary.
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To me he wrote on the same date:
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I hope you are getting on professionally, and, what is more, that you are growing spiritually.
Please don't think me narrow minded when I say that mere theological studies have never been helpful to the higher
life, to rise nearer to God, and my prayer for you both is not that you may know about your religion, but that
you may have the joy and the profit of it.
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On the same day he writes to his brother, the Maniagar, very hopefully as to the future, and setting forth a lesson
in spiritual experience forty three days after his first attack:
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I should have been very sorry and heartbroken to find all my work stopped in this way, had I not
the assurance that God orders all things rightly and for our good. Our eldest brother is a man of prayer, and
I feel that the good God will not disappoint him.
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His next letter to his eldest brother. dated 25th May 1900, breathes trustfulness:
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God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform - I can leave my future safe in His hands -
I think I shall require more absolute faith in Him
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The photograph given in this book, taken in the sick room by a friend, accompanied the letter.
On the 15th of June, he writes again to the same brother:
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I have received your letters regularly. There has been only one single letter from Jaffna. But
Mr. Tambyah writes pretty often. I am progressing well, and today I am especially well.
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This seeming progress was only a slow marching towards the end. Faith however never flagged or failed
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My faith is growing stronger and stronger, and about two or three days ago I had a message from
the Lord that His hand is already on me. So I am trusting and waiting patiently for the manifestation.
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The hand of the Lord was truly upon him, and the manifestation was undoubtedly awaiting him, but not in the manner
he then knew of. In his letter he is solicitous about his kith and kin:
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I desire to know where people at home in Jaffna are standing spiritually. If my sickness has brought
them to the feet of Christ, I shall be thankful to God for this affliction.
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This message of the living is now the message of the dead. May those who loved him alive, and lamented him dead,
hasten to hear his voice speaking thus across the years.
The Mudaliar, by reason of his extreme evangelical associations, had suggested to Chellam the anointing by Mrs.
Baxter. In reply he says:
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About anointing, after much prayer I have come to the decided conviction, no. |
On the 29th of June he writes to his eldest brother:
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I received your letter and sister-in-law's yesterday, and was very glad to hear of brother Singar's
conversion. I think God has a purpose in laying me on the bed of sickness, and He will not raise me until it is
fully accomplished. I hope and pray our mother, and others who do not know Him, might see how merciful and good
He is, and come to Him.....We that have believed do enter into His rest. This verse describes the state of my
soul.
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In the name of the dear dead, let me plead with the living whom he loved that His words may be heeded, that in
all God's dealings a great purpose may be seen.
His next letter dated 4th July is written in a feeble hand showing clearly to the uncomplaining sufferer that the
end was not far. However, despite the slowly gathering clouds of evening, the vision of faith is undimmed, a faith
standing firm in complete surrender of his will to God's:
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You have tried to be as faithful as possible to me. Self-will and conceit I did have, and I am
sorry I have often showed them to you, but thank God He has brought my will in submission to His own, and my conceit,
if it has not vanished, is fast vanishing.
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As in all his letters so in this there is an affectionate message of love and remembrance to all to who he owed
those duties of courtesy and kindliness. There are messages to all his relatives individually, to the servants,
and frequent mention is made of Agil and Thamby.
On the 12th of July he writes:
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I am writing to Mr. Vedanayagam. I was very much touched by his pleading with me that I may stand
fast in the faith. |
The disease was making rapid strides, and the doctors were giving medicines merely to soothe more than to save.
In the last letter he writes:
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I am close to God now. I think this is a grand opportunity to bring mother to Christ. Mr. Tambyah
says she is very near to it. I hope you are praying for her, and a letter from you to her would be very good.
Instead of justifying themselves, if our people would only confess that they have fallen short of the glory of
God, He would never reject them. I am trusting in God for everything.
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Among his papers, now in my possession, is a pencil draft of a few resolutions dated July 21, 1900. They were
written at a time of much physical weakness and suffering, and, there can be no doubt, of hope of recovery. That
there was such a hope not only in Chellam's mind but in the mind of others too, cannot be denied. Yet it is noteworthy
that in Chellam's it was akin to a trustful confidence that in life or by death he was in the hands of God:
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1. That I may rejoice in the Lord.
2. That I may feel His presence always, especially in times of weakness and suffering.
3. That I may love all and take interest in the welfare of their souls
4. That I may count all things lost for Christ, and set the glory of God as the only object of my life.
5. That I may not count service for the Lord sacrifice but privilege
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Early in August he was weaker than before. He was conscious of the fact. He was also conscious of the hand of
God in all things. To his eldest brother he writes:
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Physically I am about the same. But I am in the Lord's hands ........I am weak. It is difficult
to fight the evil. But God is very gracious. I have consecrated myself wholly to God. He will guide me, I feel
sure.
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More and more trustfully he writes, the closer he drew to the end of his career. On August 15, 1900 thus:
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I have been weak all along, but God graciously granted more strength and better sleep, and taught
how I should walk with regard in the details of life. He gave me this word which I value very much, "Rest
in the Lord and wait patiently for Him." I am trusting the Lord. It is evening time.
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Did he know that in the morning of his life he was nearing eventide, at high noon it was getting dark? Perhaps
not. On August 17 1900 he writes to his sister [Mrs. Tambyah] hoping for a speedy recovery, a letter full of courteous
and considerate remembrances of men and things. A letter of August 24, 1900 is a triumph of spirit over suffering.
The writing is very shaky, unsteady and feeble. The letter is pathetic from the point of view of the great bodily
suffering it discloses; it is at the same time a song of joy of one climbing up the golden stairs:
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Spiritually I am brightened, asking my God for growth. Physically I am very weak .....The best
thing is to commit everything to God. I am trying, with God's help, to rest in the Lord and wait faithfully for
Him.
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This was his very last letter, written five days before his death.
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