Dr. Pope wanted to found a college from where students would go out to preach Christianity to the local population. For this purpose he enlisted the aid of Tamil teachers and scholars. In the beginning this institution had only two teachers, one was Dr. Pope and the other was Seymour. Pope himself taught Latin, English, Hebrew, History, Mathematics and Philosophy. It was a school that worked both day and night and Dr. Pope was said to be a tough and disciplined school master with a book in one hand and a cane in the other. His motto was “good food, good study and good beatings”. The fame of this school spread and its popularity reached envious heights. The famous Oxford University recognizing the worth of Dr. Pope's efforts, in 1848, gave financial assistance for setting up a library in Sawyerpuram.

Till about the end of 1842, Dr. Pope restricted his teaching to Sawyerpuram but, slowly he widened his circle that by 1844, he was preaching in and around 96 villages. A year later (1845), he founded the “Native Psalms Association” through which, he tried to attract Tamilians to become priests.

During his stay in Sawyerpuram, Dr. Pope is said to have written four books but unfortunately none of them are available. Fr. Arul Thangaiya gives the names of these books as:

1. A Treatise on the Person of Christ.
2. A compendium of Religious Teaching for Schools and Christian families.
3. The Folly of Demon Worship.
4. The Prayer Book in Tamil and the English Church in South India.

Dr. Pope left for England in 1849. Caldwell writing about this, remarks: “The chief drawback to his success was the severity of his discipline which led after a succession of petty rebellions, to his withdrawal.”

A strict disciplinarian was not welcomed in India. While in England, he married and again left for India in 1850. He went to Tanjore where he struck up a great friendship with Vedanayaka