Pam > India . tm rm a rl an r 7 Z Oe ON, WD oy OF S| ae mo + ~~ ae | 34 eo. A farewell address to the reverend oimeon Cornelius ry Ve. med vehwek on Cliath Dea OWN é TIT) A FAREWELL ADDRESS TO THE REVEREND SIMEON CORNELIUS PRESIDENT OF THE ARCOT ASSEMBLY, SOUTH INDIA Dear Brother: TIE representatives of the Reformed Church in America /| gathered here today would be strangely lacking in our 2 (5) | appreciation of a historic event in the annals of our (sVrdi) Reformed Church did we fail to give earnest expression to the gratitude which your memorable visit and inspiring messages call forth from our hearts. Be assured that we bespeak the profound feeling of the whole body of our church’s ministry as we bid you farewell and Godspeed on your return to your native land. It is fitting that in every possible way we should commemorate the first official visit ever made by a representative of the South India United Church to the Reformed Church, which has been so closely con- nected with all its history. We want you to cherish in your heart choice memories of our welcome warmly, gratefully and respectfully extended to one who has endeared himself to our whole church not only because of the great cause which he represents and into which so much of the lifeblood and treasure of our church have been poured, but who has become a brother beloved because of personal qualities which have brought again the assurance of the love of Christ, which breaks down every barrier of nationality and race. The task you have so nobly undertaken and so courageously and graciously accomplished in trying to interpret India and the Arcot Assembly to the Reformed Church has been a great one finely ful- filled. Practically every quarter of the church save the extreme western Classis has been visited; you have spoken in one hundred and fifty churches, besides many other union meetings where some- [2] times a whole Classis was represented. It would be hard to over- state the almost heroic nature of such a task. Coming from the tropics to encounter the snow and ice of our northern clime; rushed about from place to place on our network of railways; plunged into the turmoil and confusion of New York, you have held firmly to your course. We regret deeply that you should have met with untimely acci- dents during your visit, but as you return we assure you that the re- sult of your labors will mean that in the future there will be a link between our church and the work in India, a warm, sympathetic bond which would not have been possible had it not been created by your living presence here. We feel assured that from these con- tacts you will have gained a new conception of the devotion of the great body of our church to the task of carrying out the last command of our Master, to go and make disciples of all nations, a task greatly complicated by difficulties and problems at our own doors which we trust our brethren in India will better comprehend because of your visit and for which we ask their sympathetic understanding, cooperation and unceasing prayer. As your ship sets her prow homeward we sincerely trust that in addition to her cargo of merchandise or of fellow travellers it will carry our offerings of love and good will through you to all our fel- “low-workers in Christ of the South India United Church, expressing to them the conviction that because of your visit to us we are more than ever brothers serving one Cause, one Book, one Lord. That your return to India may be a happy one and that you may be spared for long years of fruitful service in your homeland is the prayer of the Reformed Church in America. for Tue Pastors’ AssociaTION for Tue Boarp oF Forzticn Misstons NEWSYORK MS Sia: C: Wy APRIL 26, 1926