WESTERN CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE

April 19, 1876

THE KIND OF MEN WE WANT FOR MISSIONARIES

1. We want men of piety and Christian experience. I need not say that the first requisite of a missionary is piety; but none of us have too much, and, in many cases, a little more would be of decided advantage. And if it is not brought from home, it is not likely to be acquired here. It is also highly important that to piety there should be added a good share of Christian experience. The missionary in China, as in all other heathen lands, is cut off from the religious associations of his native country; he is in the midst of a people who neither know nor care any thing about God, and whom it is very difficult to approach through any social medium; his own countrymen stand coldly aloof from him, and afford him neither aid nor sympathy. Native converts are few, and, as a rule, have attained to only the lowest stages of religious experience. Besides, two or three years must pass by before he can communicate intelligently with them. Hence it is a mistake to send here young converts, however full of missionary zeal. There is no outlet at first through which that zeal may be expended; and it is too apt to be gradually lost in the dull and prosaic work of acquiring the language, which, for many months, must absorb the missionary's entire attention. Thus young Christians are apt to lose their religious fervor, and, as a consequence, their spiritual enjoyment, and to become gloomy and low spirited, and unfit for a work which, more than any other, requires intense ardor in order to success. Let the new missionary be a man whose faith has been tried by at least some years of spiritual conflict.

2. We want men of talent. Do not suppose, as some do, that, although a man may not be qualified for proclaiming the Gospel message in a civilized country, he will do well enough for carrying it to the heathen. The Chinese are acknowledged to be among the shrewdest people in the world at driving a bargain; and it is not likely that men who are adepts in business will be fools in all other respects. Indeed, the character of their philosophy is a sufficient refutation of such a theory. The missionary needs a cultivated mind, stored with the treasures of science and history and all kinds of knowledge. He will have ample occasion to draw on all these treasures, by way of illustration or application, in his preaching; nor is it a matter of small consequence to impart instruction of this kind along with the truths of Christianity. The more he knows on all subjects, the better will he be fitted for teaching those who are supposed to know but very little; and any gifts he may have in the way of eloquence, mother-wit, etc., will not only stand him in good stead among this people, but will be appreciated by them.

3. We want men who have a facility for the acquisition of language. You will find a language here as old as the hills, and as tough as it is old. You will need a quick ear to detect the differences of intonation, and a lithe tongue to imitate them. You will want, with all your aptness, a patience and courage which will not be daunted by months of seeming toil without progress; and which, through sheer dogged perseverance, will gradually overcome all the difficulties you will meet in articulation, accent, and idiom.

You will want a quick and retentive memory to learn to recognize and distinguish thousands of characters, and the varied and manifold meanings -- often of the most heterogeneous kind -- that are attached to them. And unless missionaries are able to acquire the language so as to speak it well, they can never expect to preach well.

4. We want men without any hobbies as to missionary work. Do not bring any preconceived notions as to the correct way of converting heathen, nor be ready to fall out with every plan which does not exactly tally with your own. Missionaries, who have been in the field from ten to thirty years are likely to know as much of the peculiar difficulties of the work, and the most effectual method of meeting them, as men who have not yet had time to learn how to give an intelligible order to a coolie. At all events, their opinions are entitled to some deference. Men fresh from the homes and society of civilized lands, know very little of the real condition of heathen, and the proper way in which to deal with them. Even native Church members stand on quite a different footing from what they occupy in Christian countries. Rules and relations which are highly necessary in the one case may not apply at all in the other; and considerable experience is required in order to a full appreciation of the "situation." By all means, with all your endowments, bring a full share of modesty with you.

5. We want men of sound health, and who will take care of it. It is a great risk to send to this climate any one not naturally of a good physical constitution, or predisposed to any ailments. Such persons are very likely to break down in health about the time they are ready to enter actively upon the work, and to be compelled to return home. The time of such persons spent in the mission field is not only lost to the Church at home, but is of no practical benefit to the work abroad. Should we not rather say it is wasted than lost? Are there sufficient mission funds to justify the risk of sending unhealthy persons to a foreign field, with all the expense of outfit, travel, and salary? It is not sufficient to have zeal and talent, and faith and depth of Christian experience; without a robust constitution, you will not be likely to stay here long enough to do any thing of importance for the advancement of Christ's kingdom. A physical frame finely developed and inured to hardship and exercise, together with a temperament naturally cheerful and serene -- these are what you absolutely need in order to do much good as a missionary. If you are disposed to be gloomy or morbid or low-spirited, by all means stay at home. China is no place for those who get the blues. Nor do we want men who are disposed to shirk a little muscular exertion where it can be avoided.

6. Lastly, a word in regard to your wives, if you expect to bring any. Let them be the exact counterpart of yourselves -- that is, supposing you to come up to the foregoing requirements -- intelligent, devoted, modest, smart, pious, hale, industrious, economical. If your wife is weakly or nervous, depend upon it, China is not the place for her. You will probably have to spend one-third of your time in taking her about from place to place for a change (to say nothing of the expense involved), and even at last be obliged either to break off your missionary career in the very midst by accompanying her home, or to consent to a painful and unnatural separation by sending her there alone. If she is fond of silk dresses and gold earrings and costly watch chains, better let her stay where she can display such finery to the best advantage. We don't want it flourished in the faces of these wretched, poverty-stricken heathen. You want a woman of a serene and cheerful

disposition, and of good common sense, a neat housekeeper, one who will be the sunlight of your home and helpmeet in your work.

If any or all of these hints are of any value, it is to be hoped you will act upon them. Do not take so serious a step as offering yourself for the foreign missionary work, without first seriously considering whether you are in some degree fitted for it, religiously, intellectually, and physically. Get the judgment of judicious friends in your behalf. If they decide favorably, and you feel a burning desire in your heart to preach Jesus to those who have never heard of him, then come in God's name and in the power of his Omnipotent Spirit, and help us to break up this dry fallow ground, hard and stiff from forty centuries of moral drought, and to sow it with the precious seed of the Divine Word.

A.S.

Kiukiang, December, 1875