India's Problem, Krishna or Christ Part 14

5. The Missionary's Att.i.tude Towards the Non-Christian World.

This att.i.tude is one of considerable importance to the missionary because it furnishes largely the motive of his life work. Before one goes out as a missionary he should acquire some definite and sound views as to the condition of the non-Christians who const.i.tute three-fourths of our race.

This means that he must decide as to his missionary motive,-what motive power shall impel him to leave his native land and go to live among a benighted people surrounded by a thousand disadvantages.

Since the organization of our missionary societies-less than a century ago-there has been an important change of emphasis in the matter of missionary motives. The progress, I might almost say revolution, in theology has worked towards this change. The recent discovery of new sciences, and the utilization of the wonderful modern means of communication whereby a new knowledge of non-Christian peoples has been made possible to us, has affected our consideration of the whole problem of missionary work and has especially modified the missionary motive. Dr.

W. N. Clark, in his admirable book on Christian Missions, discusses fully this question. "The difference," he says, "between our conception of man today and that of a century ago is mainly not that something true has fallen out of it, though that may be the fact with many minds: it is rather that immeasurably much that is true has been added to it.

Unquestionably our conception of man is still incomplete, unbalanced and incorrect, but it certainly has been altered within the century by the addition of much that must remain in any true conception. Our knowledge must have experienced true and legitimate growth and from our present conception of the human world we can never go back to that which our fathers held when they began the work of modern missions ... our thought concerning our fellow-men contains elements of truth and justice that our fathers knew nothing of. The best Christian feeling towards the heathen world today is far more true, righteous, sympathetic, Christlike, than the feelings of those who were interested in missions an hundred years ago.

But the single motive which, standing alone, led to the missionary enterprise has come to be so surrounded by other thoughts and motives as to lose its relative importance, and be less available than it then was as a controlling influence. This is one of the great and significant causes of the crisis in missions."

It is not necessarily true that the paramount motive of a century ago is no longer believed; but that other motives have grown and reached a commanding influence as a power in the Christian consciousness of today. A Christian missionary has indeed changed his views, for instance, concerning the origin and character of Hinduism. Through modern enlightenment and the study of comparative religion no man can go out as a missionary, even as I was expected to go less than a quarter of a century ago, with a general belief that that great religion is entirely of the devil and is in itself evil and only evil continually. The missionary of today must discriminate, must study appreciation and consider historic facts. He must know that ethnic, and all non-Christian religions, have had their uses, and that some still have their uses in the world. They are the expression of the deepest religious instincts of the human soul. And they have, especially such a faith as Hinduism, not a few elements of truth which a missionary should know no less than he should understand the great evils which enter as a part of them.

The greatest missionary motive of today lies in the last commission of our Lord which emanates from the heart, and reveals the essence of our religion. His command to his disciples to go and disciple the nations stands now as the Supreme Christian Command; and its significance is appreciated and emphasized today as never before. And so long as a Church gives increasing emphasis to this, His greatest commission, it must necessarily be in the path of duty, of privilege, of blessing and of power. Above all other missionary motives this must remain supreme.

And there must go hand in hand with this loyalty to Christ, a deepening loyalty to Christianity and a growing appreciation of its uniqueness in the world. Christianity is not one religion among many; it stands alone as the soul-satisfying and soul-saving faith. The scattered lights of other faiths find here their centre, and all their prophesies find here fulfillment. The need of Christianity, by all men, is supreme. Whatever may be said in favour of other faiths we must say of them that they are, in many respects, perverted and are inadequate as a means of salvation.

And in addition to this the missionary must feel that all non-Christian peoples are in supreme need of Christ, the Saviour. This fact we cannot afford to qualify, without, in very truth, cutting the nerve of missions.

When a missionary regards Christ and His mission and message as only an incident in the life and need of our race and ceases to acknowledge that all men need Christ supremely, he had better give up his work; for his missionary motive has lost its foundation and his life work has been robbed of its power.

The missionary is called to go wherever the Macedonian cry of human need and of spiritual helplessness is heard. Our Lord's command was world-embracing in its extent; it was a discipling of _all_ nations; it was a call to be witnesses unto the uttermost parts of the earth.

Shall the missionary go and preach everywhere the gospel of Christ, whether men invite him or not? In view of recent events in China and in other lands some people (and among them are a few well-meaning Christians) question our duty and even our right and privilege to carry the gospel to a people against its will and when it is satisfied with its own faith.

They claim that this restraint is demanded by true Christian altruism and by the spirit of Christ. That the day has come when the Christian Church should thoroughly reconsider the best methods of missionary approach to such peoples I readily agree. I also maintain that Protestant missions should everywhere scrupulously avoid all Jesuitical methods and political influences and should always strive to minimize, if not ignore, their political rights and magnify the spiritual side of their work. Under these conditions no people has lent an unwilling ear to the missionary's message, or, for a long time, failed to rejoice in his presence and work.

But had missionary societies sent their missionaries only to those people who invited them, or were prepared to give them a cordial welcome, where could they have found work or how achieve the magnificent success of the last century? Imagine the great missionary apostle sending messengers in advance to inquire whether the inhabitants of Lystra and Ephesus, of Thessalonica and Athens were willing to receive him, and turning away his face because, forsooth, they were not prepared to welcome him! The only invitation he did receive was from Macedonia in a vision. The acceptance of the invitation brought to him at once opposition and stripes. Paul said that he _knew_ that bonds awaited him wherever he went. But that did not deter him.

Had our Lord Himself considered the att.i.tude of man towards Himself He would never have come down to men. He came to fling fire upon the earth-to bring not peace but a sword. He was despised and rejected of men. Like Him, missionaries must consider the deep spiritual _need_ and not the _desire_ of a people. Above all, they must be a.s.sured everywhere, in their great life work, that they are sent by G.o.d rather than invited by men.

6. The Relationship Which the Missionary Sustains to the Missionary Society and the Churches Which Support Him.

The relationship into which a man, who becomes a missionary, enters with the missionary society and the churches is a very precious one, and should be fully realized. In a peculiar sense he has become their adopted child-the subject of their prayer and the object of their pride. They have taken him into their own heart and his support and success are their peculiar concern.

He is the connecting link between them and the work which they support and cherish in the far-off land. Whatever of interest, of joy and of responsibility they possess in that work pa.s.ses through him. He is to them the channel through which flow their endeavours. He is the living embodiment of their interest in the work as also of their effort to bring the heathen to Christ. And in like manner he has become to them the articulate cry of the heathen world for help. He represents to them at the same time both the progress of the work, its need and the claims of a heathen world upon them. He is their agent to develop and inspire their infant Mission Church. He is also the almoner of their benevolence.

In all these capacities it is well that he remember, constantly, how much he depends for inspiration as for support upon those who have sent him forth to the heathen and who, under G.o.d, sustain him and his work. He should cultivate full appreciation of their endeavour; he should keep himself in living, loving touch with both society and churches; and he should deem it his duty and privilege to furnish them with all light and intelligence concerning his work. It is thus that he must strengthen their faith and inspire their hearts in the great and far-off work which they are maintaining. It is his opportunity to add fuel to the ardor and enthusiasm of all the churches in the missionary endeavour. In this he has an important function to perform and should endeavour to magnify his office.

In my opinion the relationship between the missionary and those whom he represents at home might easily be strengthened and improved by added recognition and courtesy to him in the home-land. At present the foreign missionary of the congregational churches is simply regarded as their paid agent. This relationship is indeed a pleasant and a cordial one. The American Board is most appreciative of the labors of its missionary agents and deals with them generously. The churches also give them a cordial welcome and a warm hearing. But the missionary has no status whatever beyond this. He returns for a furlough to the home-land and feels himself, in a peculiar sense, a stranger. He has no official connection whatever with his society; his voice is not heard in its councils; his wisdom and experience are not sought in its deliberations. In other words, though possessed of a large stock of knowledge which might be of value to the Board in the shaping of its policy and in the direction of its work at its annual meetings, he has absolutely no voice or place there and stands apart from its organization, beyond the privilege of being its foreign servant. The missionary body has felt this deprivation and isolation during critical periods in the history of the Board; and it still feels that, at least some of its number should be permitted both to enjoy the honour, and also to render the service incident to being corporate members of the Board.

The situation is no better in his relation to the home churches. He is a member, probably, of some church in the home-land; but, upon his return home he has no status whatever in any Conference or a.s.sociation, or as a member of a Ministerial body among his home brethren. In his deputation work at home he finds welcome, as a stranger or as an outsider, and not as a member or as an integral part of any body or a.s.sociation.

The position of the missionary is different among the Methodists. Every minister of that body finds that, by becoming a foreign missionary he does not separate himself from home ties and privileges. His ministerial connection is preserved intact, so that he has a status in the churches and in the missionary society.

7. The Missionary and the Mission To Which He Belongs.

When a man becomes a member of a foreign mission he soon realizes that he has become a part of a compact organization. All its members are bound together by the warmest ties of friendship and love. Largely separated from the world and knit together by common purpose as by all their highest ambitions, they verily become a big family whose love increases as the years multiply, and among whom the spirit of dissension can only create the deepest sorrow and greatest bitterness. It is, therefore, of the utmost importance that every one who becomes a missionary should be a man of peace; should know how to live in harmony with all his brethren. He should cultivate that spirit and should aim to see eye to eye with those who are thus so intimately connected with him. In loving sympathy they should unite in the serious concerns of their life-work. One of the first requisites demanded from a missionary applicant from the American Board is that he be of a peaceable disposition-able to live harmoniously with others. And it is not only a suggestion that should be heeded by every missionary; it is also a rule which should be enforced by every missionary society.

Each mission has behind it a history, and, before it, more or less of an aim and policy. It should be the ambition of every member of that mission to study and honour the one, and to be faithful and loyal to the other.

The history of most missions in India is precious and full of instruction.

They have sainted heroes and most interesting traditions. The missionary should not only study the records of his own mission and draw from them every possible lesson for his life; he should also enter heartily into the spirit of the mission and endeavour cordially to bring himself _en rapport_ with its highest wisdom, deepest purposes and most cherished schemes for the future. It is not necessary that he be satisfied with all that the mission has done; he should also aim, in the spirit of humility and of patience, to const.i.tutionally influence his brethren to his own new views and better way of thinking, if he have any. Above all, he should aim to conserve rather than to destroy. The blessings of the past should be utilized in attaining higher things for the future. Revolutionary methods are ill-adapted to add blessing to such a work. It should also be the aim of the missionary to so further the work of his mission that it may soon cease to be a necessity. A mission, at best, is but a temporary thing. It should constantly aim to so nourish and strengthen the native church as to make itself unnecessary. And it should be the aim of the missionary to hasten, with all speed, this consummation.

8. The Relation of the Missionary to the People Among Whom He Lives.

Having entered upon his work and settled among the people of his choice, he must seek to realize the best possible relation to them. This relationship will be a varied one.

He must be a leader of the Christian community. In India, today, there is special need for missionaries who are born leaders. The people of that land are defective in the power of initiative; but they are most tractable and docile. They love to follow a bold and a wise leader of men. And the missionary, from the very necessity of his position, should be able to direct and guide the Christian community into ways of holiness and of Christian activity. He is to be a leader of leaders. He should marshal the mission agents connected with him in such a way as to lead the native Church into highest usefulness and most earnest endeavour for the salvation of souls.

He should be strong as an organizer and administrator. In missions the word organization is becoming the keyword of the situation. There is no danger of over-organization, so long as the organization is endowed with life and does not degenerate into machinery. The best organized activities of today are the most powerful and the most useful. And the missionary will find his highest powers for organization taxed to the utmost in his missionary work. And as an administrator there will be made many claims upon him daily. I know of few qualifications that are more essential to the highest success on the mission field than conspicuous ability to organize and wisdom to administer the affairs of a mission. Missionaries frequently fail at this point and need therefore to strengthen themselves in this particular.

A missionary should be as much the conserver of the good as a destroyer of the evil which he finds among the people. Much of that which he will see in India, for instance, will at first, and perhaps for a long time, seem strange and outlandish to him; but let him not decide that it is therefore evil. The life of the Orient is built on different lines from that of the Occident. Many things in common life, in domestic economy and in social customs will, and must, be different there from what they are here. Their civilization, though different from ours, has a consistency as a whole; and we cannot easily eliminate certain parts and subst.i.tute for them those of our own civilization without dislocating the whole. Therefore, it is often safer and better to conserve what seems to us the lesser good of their civilization than to introduce what seems the greater good of our own.

The missionary must be careful to distinguish between those things which are real, and those which are apparent, evils among the customs of the people. There are some customs, such as are connected with the degradation of woman and heathen ceremonies which are fundamentally wrong and must be opposed always. There are others which seem uncouth and unworthy, but which are devoid of moral or religious significance. Of two missionaries, the one who studies to utilize the existing good among the habits of the people will find greatest usefulness. Some waste their time, destroy their influence and minimize their usefulness by a destructive way of attacking everything that is not positively good and beating their head against every wall of custom.

The missionary should be a prophet to rebuke and to condemn evil. He will find numberless evils on all sides of him-in Church, in general society and in individual life among the people. He must not hesitate to use constantly his voice as a protest against all forms of evil. This duty is the more inc.u.mbent upon him as there are none among the people to protest and to denounce the most flagrant, demoralizing and universal evils of the land. One of the most discouraging things concerning the situation in India is, not the universality of certain evils, but the utter absence of those who dare to withstand them and denounce them as sins before all the people. Missionaries have done more in that land to rightly characterize certain gross evils and to call the attention of the people to them than have any other people in the land. And they have recognition for this. And this prophetic function of the missionary must be exercised with increasing faithfulness for the good of the land and for the purity of the Church of G.o.d.

In that country the missionary must also stand before the people as their exemplar. He must represent, not only Christianity at its best, but also the civilization of the West in its purest and most attractive garb. India has always greatly needed such human types of n.o.bility of character to encourage and stimulate the people to a higher life. With all modesty and due humility the missionary is called upon just as much to live as he is to teach the best that is found in his religion and in the civilization of his mother country. In India, the life of the missionary has spoken more loudly than his words. There are millions in that land today, who, while they deny and reject the teaching of the missionary, give him unstinted praise both for what he is and for what he has done for the country.

The testimony of Sir William Mackworth Young, Lieutenant-Governor of Punjab is only one of many such;-"I take off my hat to the humblest missionary that walks a bazaar in India," he said, in a recent public address, "because he is leading a higher and a grander life and doing a grander work than any other cla.s.s of persons who are working in India. If the natives of India have any practical knowledge of what is meant by Christian charity, if they know anything of high, disinterested motives and self-sacrifice, it is mainly from the missionary that they learn it.

The strength of our position in India depends more largely upon the good-will of the people than upon the strength and number of our garrisons, and for that good-will we are largely indebted to the kindly, self-sacrificing efforts of the Christian missionary. It is love which must pave the way for the regeneration of India as well as for the consolidation of England's power."

The missionary must never lose this crown of glory in India. He must hold it most precious and strive to add to the glory which he thus reflects upon his Faith in that land.

Chapter VIII.

MISSIONARY ORGANIZATION.

Thorough organization of any work is essential to its highest efficiency.

The Missionary Department of the work of the Christian Church should, therefore, be well organized. As missionary effort expands, grows in intensity and increases in power, it must find a growingly efficient organization in order to adequately express itself and to attain further growth.

1. A thorough Missionary Organization at home is the first requisite in order to highest success. Thus only can the missionary work abroad be maintained and fostered; because, by this means only can missionary ardour be kindled in the churches. A Church which is not adequately marshalled for activity in heathen lands will soon become self-centred and will easily forget the claims, if not the very existence, of the heathen.

A Foreign Missionary Society of well organized efficiency has, up to the present, been the best agency in the development and furtherance of the foreign work of every denomination. And the day does not seem near when this agency can be dispensed with.