{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_24528/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_24528","id":"gutenberg_24528","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/24528","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Religion/Spirituality","Missionaries","Missions -- China","Pamphlets"],"text":"Produced by Free Elf, Diane Monico, and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA frank discussion of the \"rights\" of missionaries\n\nHave We No Rights?\n\nMabel Williamson\n\nChina Inland Mission\nOverseas Missionary Fellowship\n\nMoody Press\nChicago\n\n\n\n\nCopyright (C), 1957, by\nTHE MOODY BIBLE INSTITUTE\nOF CHICAGO\n\nReprinted, 1973\n\n_Printed in the United States of America_\n\n\n\n\n_Contents_\n\n\nCHAPTER                                                          PAGE\n\n1. Rights                                                           7\n\n2. The Right to What I Consider a Normal Standard of Living        11\n\n3. The Right to the Ordinary Safeguards of Good Health             23\n\n4. The Right to Regulate My Private Affairs As I Wish              33\n\n5. The Right to Privacy                                            39\n\n6. The Right to My Own Time                                        47\n\n7. The Right to a Normal Romance, If Any                           55\n\n8. The Right to a Normal Home Life                                 67\n\n9. The Right to Live With the People of My Choice                  81\n\n10. The Right to Feel Superior                                     91\n\n11. The Right to Run Things                                       103\n\n12. He Had No Rights                                              125\n\n\n\n\nNOTE: Most of the Scripture quotations have been taken from the\nAmerican Standard Version.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER 1\n\n_Rights_\n\n\n\"Well,\" said mother, setting down a cup she had just wiped, and\npicking up another, \"the older I get, and the older my children get,\nthe more I realize how little right a person has even to her own\nchildren. By the time they get--well--into high school they aren't\nyours any more.\"\n\n\"But, Mother,\" I protested, dropping a dripping dishcloth into the\ndishpan and looking at her in amazement, \"of course we are yours!\nWhose else would we be?\"\n\nThere was silence for a moment. Then, \"You--you belong to yourselves,\"\nshe said quietly.\n\nAmerica--the land of freedom and opportunity! The land where\neveryone's rights are respected! The land where the son of a shiftless\ndrunkard can grit his teeth and say, \"I'm going to be rich and famous\nsome day!\" Here in America we pride ourselves on the fact that\neveryone has the right to live his own life as he pleases--provided,\nthat is, that he does not infringe upon the rights of someone else.\n\nRights--your rights; my rights. Just what are rights, anyway?\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nA group of half a dozen missionaries were gathered for prayer in a\nsimply furnished living room of a mission house in China. For a few\nminutes one of the group spoke to us out of his heart, and I shall\nnever forget the gist of what he said.\n\n\"You know,\" he began, \"there's a great deal of difference between\n_eating bitterness_ [Chinese idiom for 'suffering hardship'] and\n_eating loss_ [Chinese idiom for 'suffering the infringement of one's\nrights']. 'Eating bitterness' is easy enough. To go out with the\npreaching band, walk twenty or thirty miles to the place where you are\nto work, help set up the tent, placard the town with posters, and\nspend several weeks in a strenuous campaign of meetings and\nvisitation--why, that's a thrill! Your bed may be made of a couple of\nplanks laid on sawhorses, and you may have to eat boiled rice, greens,\nand beancurd three times a day. But that's just the beauty of it! Why,\nit's good for anyone to go back to the simple life! A little healthy\n'bitterness' is good for anybody!\n\n\"When I came to China,\" he continued, \"I was all ready to 'eat\nbitterness' and like it. That hasn't troubled me particularly. It\ntakes a little while to get your palate and your digestion used to\nChinese food, of course, but that was no harder than I had expected.\nAnother thing, however\"--and he paused significantly--\"_another thing_\nthat I had never thought about came up to make trouble. I had to 'eat\nloss'! I found that I couldn't stand up for my rights--that I couldn't\neven _have_ any rights. I found that I had to give them up, every one,\nand that was the hardest thing of all.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThat missionary was right. On the mission field it is not the enduring\nof hardships, the lack of comforts, and the roughness of the life that\nmake the missionary cringe and falter. It is something far less\nromantic and far more real. It is something that will hit you right\ndown where you live. The missionary has to give up having his own way.\nHe has to give up having any rights. He has, in the words of Jesus, to\n\"deny himself.\" He just has to give up _himself_.\n\nPaul knew all about this. If you do not believe it, look at I\nCorinthians 9. \"Have we no right to eat and to drink?\" he asks. \"Have\nwe not a right to forbear working?... Nevertheless,\" he goes on, \"we\ndid not use this right.... Though I was free from all men, I brought\nmyself under bondage to all, that I might gain the more\" (vv. 4, 6,\n12, 19).\n\nPaul, as a missionary, willingly gave up his rights for the sake of\nthe Gospel. Are we ready to do the same?\n\n\"But,\" someone will ask, \"why should this be especially true for the\n_missionary_? What rights must be given up on the mission field that a\nconsecrated Christian at home would not have to give up?\"\n\nThe following chapters picture some of them.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER 2\n\n_The Right to What I Consider a Normal Standard of Living_\n\n_\"Have we no right to eat and to drink?\"_--I Corinthians 9:4\n\n\nThe white-haired mission secretary looked at me quizzically. \"Well,\"\nhe said, \"it's all in your point of view. We find that these days in\nthe tropics people may look upon the missionary's American\nrefrigerator as a normal and necessary thing; but the cheap print\ncurtains hanging at his windows may be to them unjustifiable\nextravagance!\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nMy mind goes back to a simple missionary home in China, with a cheap\nrug on the painted boards of the living-room floor. I can see country\nwomen carefully skirting that rug, trying to get to the chairs\nindicated for them without stepping on it. Rugs, to them, belonged on\nbeds, not on floors, and they would no more think of walking on my rug\nthan you would on my best blanket! I think of our dining table set for\na meal, and visitors examining with amazement the silver implements\ninstead of bamboo chopsticks; and white cloth instead of a bare table.\nI think of having overheard our cook say proudly to a chance comer,\n\"Oh, of course they have lots of money! Why, they always eat white\nbread; and they have meat every day, nearly; and as for sugar--why,\nyou just can't imagine the amount of sugar they use!\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nEnglish service was over, and we went home with a lady doctor and\nnurse of another mission. They had invited us to Sunday night supper.\nThe sermon, delivered by a missionary of still another mission, who\nwas stationed in the city, had been striking and thought-provoking.\nThe text had been Luke 8:14: \"And that which fell among thorns are\nthey, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares\nand riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to\nperfection.\"\n\n\"This verse must refer to missionaries,\" the speaker had begun,\n\"because it says that when they have heard, they go forth.\"\n\nHe had gone on to describe a picture he would like to paint. All\naround the border were to be the \"cares\" and \"riches\" and \"pleasures\"\nthat hindered the real work of the missionary. Subjects that hit home\nwere mentioned--there would be a big account book that tied the\nmissionary down so that he had no time for a spiritual ministry; a\nteacup, symbolizing the round of entertaining that may develop in a\ncity where there is a relatively large missionary community; a house\nand its furnishings, needing constant attention; and so on. The\nconclusion of the sermon had been very solemnizing, because of all\nthese cares and pleasures and things that are second to God's best, it\nis tragically possible that the missionary may \"bring no fruit to\nperfection.\"\n\nAt the supper table we had an interesting discussion of the sermon and\nits implications. Then the lady doctor made a remark that I have never\nforgotten.\n\n\"When Frances and I set up this house,\" she said, \"we agreed that one\nprinciple must never be violated. We would have nothing in our\nhouse--its furnishings its arrangement--nothing that would keep the\nordinary poor people among whom we work from coming in, or that would\nmake them feel strange here.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nA standard of living--what does it amount to? How important is it?\nDoes it matter whether we missionaries sleep on spring beds, or those\nmade of boards (I prefer the latter myself!), whether we eat with\nchopsticks, or fingers, or forks; whether we wear silk or homespun;\nwhether we sit on chairs or on the floor? Does it matter whether we\nare poor or rich? Does it matter whether we eat rice or potatoes?\nDoes it matter whether we live in the way to which we are accustomed,\nor adopt the way of living of those to whom we go?\n\nIt may matter quite a lot to ourselves. Most of us like potatoes\nbetter than rice. That is to say, most of us like things the way we\nare used to having them rather than some other way. What is to be our\nattitude on the mission field? Are we free to try to have things the\nway we would like them, and to live, as much as possible, as we would\nat home? Or ought we to attempt, as far as we can, to conform to the\nway of life of the people among whom we live? This, of course, brings\nus to other questions: Does it matter to the people to whom we go\nwhether we conform or not? And, more important, does it matter insofar\nas the progress of the Gospel is concerned? Will our conforming help\nto win souls to Christ?\n\nThe first thing to be said in answer to these questions is that the\nstandards of missionary living necessarily must vary with local\nconditions. In some places there is a mixture of races and peoples,\neach in general keeping with its own customs and dress, and yet mixing\nfreely with the others. In such places there may be many Westerners,\nand Western ways may not only be familiar, but even adopted to a\ncertain extent by the local people. In situations like this there may\nbe little or no need for the missionary to change his ordinary way of\nlife.\n\nMost missionaries go to places where the way of life is different from\ntheir own, and to people to whom their way of life is strange and by\nwhom it is not understood. It is natural for us to like people who do\nthings in the way in which we like them done. We are attracted to\nthose who seem the same as ourselves, and turn (perhaps unconsciously)\nfrom those who seem queer and different. People of other lands are the\nsame. When we see someone whose complexion, features, clothing,\nlanguage, manners, and customs are different from our own, our natural\nreaction is to stare, or laugh, or both. It is not natural to be\nattracted to those who are different from ourselves. The missionary\nwants to attract people. People must be attracted to him before they\ncan be attracted to his message. They must accept him before they will\naccept his message. The more we can conform to their way of life, the\neasier and more natural and more rapid their acceptance of us will be.\n\nThe report of a China Inland Mission conference of missionaries held\nin England a few years ago includes as one of the lessons learned from\npast experience of missionary work in China, \"the will to conform as\nnearly as possible to the social and living conditions of the people\nto whom we went.\" This means, of course, that different missionaries\nwill live according to different standards. For example, my sister\nFrances and I are both members of the China Inland Mission. During the\npast few years I have been living in the modern and wealthy city of\nSingapore. I lived according to an ordinary middle-class\nstandard--which meant running water, electricity, gas, and modern\nplumbing. I was conforming to the social standards and living\nconditions of the people to whom I went. During the same time my\nsister was in the Philippines, living in a palm-leaf hut in a clearing\nin the jungle, carrying her own water and sleeping on the floor. She\nwas conforming to the social standards and living conditions of the\npeople to whom she went. Paul says: \"I am become all things to all\nmen, that I may by all means save some\" (I Cor. 9:22). He found what\nthe present-day missionary finds, that to some extent he must adopt\nthe way of life and the standard of living of the people to whom he\nwas sent.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nNow, in what measure will it be desirable to adopt the local way of\nlife? What principles will guide us? Well, in the first place we will\ncertainly want to become familiar enough with it so that we feel at\nhome in their homes. If we find their way of sitting uncomfortable,\nand their food unpleasant, they are not going to enjoy having us as\nguests. I may think it disgusting to eat my rice off a banana leaf\nwith my fingers, but if I show that disgust, I probably will not be\ninvited again. And my hostess may decide that I am merely an\nunmannerly foreigner, and that there is no profit in pursuing my\nacquaintance, or in listening to the strange stories of Someone called\nJesus that I am so fond of telling. It is also in their homes that we\nmay become really acquainted with them, and learn to know their needs.\nWhen we have become familiar with how they eat, how they sleep, how\nthey work, how they play, what they like, what they dislike, what they\nhope, what they fear, how they think, how they feel--when we really\nunderstand them, then, and only then, will we be able to present the\nGospel to them in an adequate way.\n\nIn the second place, we will want to live in our own homes on the\nmission field in such a way as to make our neighbors feel at home when\nthey come to call on us. The fundamental attraction will not be\nexternalities and material things. Even though I live in a little hut\nthat is identical with their own, if in my heart I just do not like to\nhave them around, they will know it, and they will not be attracted to\nme. But if not only the love and the welcome are there, but also a way\nof life that corresponds to their own, the approach will be made still\neasier.\n\nThis does not mean, of course, that I will unthinkingly accept all\nlocal standards. If I go to Central Africa, I probably will not decide\nthat wearing clothes is an unjustifiable luxury. There is no need for\nme to neglect to sweep the floor of my palm-leaf hut just because my\nneighbors do not sweep theirs. The fact that everyone else chews betel\nnut, or plays mah-jongg, does not mean that I will take up these\npractices. But I will want, as far as possible, to live the sort of\nlife that it would be suitable for a native[1] Christian to imitate.\n\nAnother point must also be considered here. We missionaries might\nvoice it like this: \"I would love to live as the native peoples do, if\nI only could; but I just can't take it!\" It is true that we may not be\nable to live entirely as they do and keep our health. The man who was\nborn and bred in the tropics finds the climate just what he likes. The\nsame climate takes all the energy out of the missionary who has come\nfrom the temperate zone. Foreigners are more susceptible to local\ndiseases than natives. If the missionary eats only what the local\npeople do, his health may break down. If he himself does all the\nhousehold chores in a land in which there are no modern conveniences,\nhe may find that he has very little time left in which to study the\nlanguage or preach the Gospel. On most mission fields it is found that\na certain amount of variation from the local mode of life is necessary\nif the missionaries are to continue in good physical and mental\nhealth.\n\nWe can, however, gradually get used to unfamiliar things. I remember\nonce, after I had been in China a few years, visiting a neighboring\nmission station. New workers had arrived there, a young couple fresh\nfrom language school. I was eager to meet them, but they did not\nappear. In answer to my inquiry, the reply was, \"Oh, they were invited\nout to a feast last night, and it's upset them both! They are both in\nbed!\"\n\nMy heart sank. Whatever use will these young workers be, I thought, if\nthey can't eat Chinese food? They won't be able to go to the country\nand minister in all the little country churches that are so much in\nneed of help--they can't get Western food there! They had better have\nstayed at home!\n\nAfter a few years had passed, however, the young man mentioned above\ndid start to do country work, and he did it very acceptably. What is\nmore, he even came to prefer an ordinary country meal of local food to\nthe best Western dishes that his wife could give him at home! Seeing\nthat, I began to realize a thing that should be a comfort to all young\nworkers who find the food or the living conditions difficult. _Over a\nperiod of time familiarity not only turns difficulty to ease, but\noften even removes the \"dis\" from dislike!_\n\nThe young worker goes with an older one to make a call or two.\nEverything is new. Everything is strange. Everything is nerve-wearing.\nIf a seat is offered, it is uncomfortable. If food or drink is\noffered, either may be unpleasant. Even if he understands more or less\nof what is being said, the conversations are tiring. And by the time\nhe reaches home he is utterly worn out. As far as he is concerned,\nhowever, that is not the worst. He looks at the older worker who has\ntaken him out--someone getting on in years, perhaps a bit stooped, and\nobviously not in the pink of health. This missionary has done all the\nyounger one did, and more. He also preached a few times to crowds that\ngathered, and he carried on endless conversations, but just listening\nmade the younger worker tired. Yet this older man somehow has arrived\nhome as fresh as a daisy!\n\nThe new worker, in his first station, often has to go through a stage\nin which he finds everything uncomfortable, unattractive, and\ndifficult, but there is no need for him to become discouraged. Even\nthat older worker probably did too, although he may have forgotten it!\nThe change comes slowly, and the young missionary may not be able to\nsee it for a long time, but if he everlastingly keeps at it, he will\nsurely find that, after a few years, familiarity has made the\ndifficult easy. Most people will find, as well, that it has even made\nthe distasteful pleasant!\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nA mother was coaxing her little daughter to eat her vegetable. \"But I\ndon't like it!\" the child objected.\n\n\"But you will,\" encouraged the mother. \"Just eat it a few times and\nyou will get used to it. It won't be long before you really like it!\"\n\nThe child sat stock-still for a moment, considering. Then she burst\nout, \"But I don't _want_ to like the horrid stuff!\"\n\nOther people's ways, other people's customs, other people's\nstandards--do we _want_ to like them? Or do we cling tenaciously to\nour own, insisting that they are the only good and right ones? It is\nthe attitude of mind and heart that matters. If we are willing to give\nup our own standard of living, willing to live as far as possible\naccording to someone else's standards, then surely it is the business\nof our Master to make that possible in such degree as He sees is\nneeded and best. Before we go to the field then, let us give up all\nright to our own standard of living, and be ready contentedly to\nembrace, as far as He makes possible, that of the people to whom He\nsends us.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER 3\n\n_The Right to the Ordinary Safeguards of Good Health_\n\n     \"They must count the cost, and be prepared to live lives of\n     privation, of toil, and perhaps of loneliness and danger.\n     They will need to trust God to meet their need in sickness\n     as well as in health, since it may sometimes be impossible\n     to secure expert medical aid. But, if they are faithful\n     servants, they will find in Christ and in His Word a\n     fulness, a meetness, a preciousness, a joy and strength,\n     that will far outweigh any sacrifice they may be called upon\n     to make for Him.\"\n\n                         _--The Overseas Manual of the\n                            China Inland Mission\n                            Overseas Missionary Fellowship_\n                            (1955), p. 4.\n\n\nI carefully spread a large handkerchief on the desk to keep my arm\nfrom sticking, took up my pen, and began painstakingly to practice\nwriting the intricate Chinese characters before me. Every few minutes\nI stopped to wipe the perspiration from my face.\n\n\"How about going out to Uncle Wong's with me?\" My sister had come into\nthe room. \"The pastor's wife intended to go with me, but now she has\ncompany and can't go. It will give you a good chance to practice\ntalking Chinese, so the time won't be wasted--as far as your study\ngoes, I mean.\"\n\nWe got our umbrellas, palm-leaf fans, and tract bags, and started off.\nThe sun was beating down, and the temperature certainly was higher\noutdoors, but the breeze gave an illusion of coolness, and the\npleasant country road upon which we soon entered was enough to make up\nfor a little extra heat. The two miles were quickly covered, and we\nfound ourselves greeted effusively by Mrs. Wong and her daughter.\n\n\"Imagine you two teachers coming out here today, when it's so hot! We\nare entirely unworthy of such consideration! Why, you might make\nyourselves ill, not being used to such heat in your honorable country!\nDo sit down and rest! This bamboo bed here in the shade of the house\nis a cool spot. Daughter, get the teachers fans. Oh, you have brought\nthem with you! Yes, fans are indispensable in this weather! Quickly\nstart the fire, daughter, and heat water for tea! Oh--\" a sudden\nthought struck her, \"we have no tea leaves in the house! Daughter, you\nrun to the neighbors and borrow some. Don't go to any of these folk\nnearby. They are all poor and probably wouldn't have any. Go to Fourth\nAunt's, over in the other end of the village.\"\n\nAt home we always kept a crock of cooled boiled water on hand, but\nhere there was nothing like that; and drinking unboiled water was as\nunthinkable to her as it was to us. We protested vigorously that we\nwould just as soon have \"white tea\" (boiling water) as tea made with\nleaves, but Mrs. Wong would not hear of such a thing. Suddenly an idea\nstruck her.\n\n\"Oh,\" she said, \"I know something much better! Daughter, just run to\nthe garden and pick some cucumbers! They'll be better than hot tea\nanyway, and quench one's thirst just as effectively.\"\n\nThe daughter ran off. After a few minutes the big son came along with\ntwo brimming buckets of cold well water and poured it into the stone\nwater butt, which had been almost empty. \"Do you prefer to wash your\nfaces in cold water or hot?\" Mrs. Wong asked.\n\n\"Oh, cold, please!\" we both replied, already feeling in anticipation\nthat cold water on our hot faces; but Mrs. Wong, conscience-smitten,\nwas already lighting the fire. \"Oh, I shouldn't have asked such a\nfoolish question!\" she rattled on. \"Of course cold water won't remove\nperspiration. No, no, it's no trouble. It will be warm enough in just\na minute.\"\n\nThe hot water was ladled into the basin, and Mrs. Wong looked\ninquiringly around the room. I poked my sister. \"She's looking for a\nwashcloth,\" I whispered in English. \"Quick, tell her we have one, or\nshe'll be putting their already used one in!\"\n\nFortunately the family washcloth hadn't been discovered by the time\nours was produced; and we proceeded to wash. I, being the younger,\ndutifully allowed my sister to use the water first. \"Don't wash too\nclose around your eyes,\" said my sister in an aside to me. \"Someone in\nthe family might have sore eyes, and there might be germs on the\nbasin.\"\n\nAfter we had finished with the basin of hot water, Mrs. Wong took\nadvantage of it, having found her own washcloth in the meantime. Just\nat that moment the daughter returned with her apron full of cucumbers,\nand politely offered a large one to my sister. Her mother quickly\nsnatched it away.\n\n\"As big a girl as that, and you don't know anything about hygiene!\"\nshe reproved, sternly. \"You haven't even washed them!\"\n\nAs the cucumbers were being washed with the cold well water, I thought\nto myself that they were probably no more germ-free after the bath\nthan before. Unboiled water from shallow wells is not necessarily free\nfrom germs. I said nothing, however. After the daughter had finished\nscrubbing the cucumbers, the mother got a knife and carefully peeled\ntwo big ones. Then she handed them to us. Her own she did not bother\nto peel.\n\n\"We Chinese are very unhygienic,\" she apologized. \"Of course _you_\nwouldn't eat cucumbers without peeling them!\"\n\nWhat would she have thought if she knew that to our minds neither the\nwashing in cold water nor the peeling made them safe to eat? I glanced\nat my sister, who was usually very particular about seeing that all\nraw fruits and vegetables were scalded before eating, and was\nastonished to find that she was placidly and unconcernedly munching\nher cucumber. She and Mrs. Wong were already striking up a lively\nconversation about something else. I followed her example, and found\nthe cucumber very refreshing.\n\n\"How can you be so particular about scalding things at home, and then\ngo out to the country and eat unscalded cucumbers?\" I asked, as we\nwere wending our way home.\n\n\"Oh, we couldn't possibly offend Mrs. Wong by refusing to eat what she\nhad to offer us!\" was my sister's reply. \"We certainly ought to be as\nparticular as we can when we are in our own home; but when we are\nguests, and it's a question of offending someone--well, I think the\nLord looks after those cases!\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTeacups! Beautiful Kingtechen china of the thousand-flower pattern,\nthin and exquisite; or perhaps just a rough earthenware cup, with the\nhandle missing. Everywhere we went in China we found teacups.\nEverywhere we went the first thing we were offered was a cup of tea.\nFragrant tea, bitter tea, hot tea, cold tea; tea served in\nhand-painted china, tea in an earthenware bowl--whatever the cup was,\nwe lifted it to our lips and drank. What was the first thing we\nthought of as we tasted the tea? Whether it was pleasant or otherwise?\nThe kindness of the one who offered it to us? Or the dangers that\nmight lurk on the edge of that cup? For tea, even very hot tea, cannot\nbe expected to sterilize the rim of the cup; and who knows who used it\npreviously, or what dangerous disease he might have had? It had been\nwashed, of course, or at least rinsed out, but--\n\n\"Don't the Chinese scald their dishes when they wash them?\" you ask.\nWell, do you? \"M-m-m, not always, but the danger is much less in\nAmerica,\" you say. That may be true; but it is hard to realize the\ndanger of infection in one's own home, wherever it may be; and even\nthose who live under what we might call unhygienic conditions are no\nmore conscious of the danger in their own homes than you are in yours.\nI used to think, sometimes, that the most dangerous thing we met with\nin China was just an ordinary teacup, and that the germs that lurked\non its rim were more menacing than tigers or bandits. (Let me hastily\nadd that in all my fifteen years in that country, and having partaken\nof tea from ten thousand teacups, more or less, in many places and in\nmany homes, I am still quite alive, and in good health and spirits!)\n\n\"Now, that wouldn't worry me!\" you think cheerfully. \"I'm just not\nparticular!\"\n\nI am sorry, but that is not at all the conclusion I want you to draw\nfrom the above remarks. I am giving no one license for not being\ncareful. No child of God should feel at liberty to disregard what he\nknows to be the rules of good health, just because he feels like it,\nmuch less the man or woman on the mission field.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe cook comes in with a basket of foodstuffs fresh from the market.\nThe young missionary spots a particularly luscious plum, picks it up,\nand takes a bite.\n\n\"Mary!\" a scandalized senior gasps. \"_Whatever_ are you thinking of?\nEating that plum without scalding it first! You'll likely get cholera\nor typhoid and die!\"\n\nYes, in most mission stations the rules of hygiene are adhered to very\nstrictly, and it would be a hardy junior worker who could come through\nalive without observing them.\n\nPerhaps several years have gone by. You are in charge of the home\nyourself, and the \"discipline\" relaxes a bit. Perhaps you even resort\nto washing your fruit in cold boiled water instead of scalding it,\nbecause scalding does spoil it so! Then the younger workers are sent\nto you, and you become the head of a new family. One day, suddenly,\none of them gets a violently upset stomach. Is it cholera? The nearest\nhospital is two days' journey away. You catch your breath, and go\nahead caring for her the best you can with your limited medical\nknowledge, a constant cry going up from your heart to the only One who\ncan help, to Him who is the only all-sufficient One! If you are\nfortunate your junior recovers. From that time on, all the fruit that\nappears on your table will be thoroughly scalded.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThis is not a chapter on missionary health. It does not purpose to\ninstruct you in the rules of hygiene. Rather it inquires into\nattitudes. Is the missionary to be as particular as he can about\neverything (fussy, some may call it), or should his faith be great\nenough so that he overlooks the rules of the doctors? Or perhaps, are\nthere times when the one attitude is desirable, and times for the\nother?\n\nThe Lord of the harvest has sent us forth. A dead laborer, or even a\nsick one, is not much use. It is surely our duty to take all sensible\nprecautions, and whenever possible to use the safeguards to health\nwith which modern science has provided us. We have no right at all to\ndisobey the rules of hygiene just because we happen to feel like it.\nBut on the other hand, when those among whom we are ministering,\npeople whose training is different from ours, who have no conception\nof modern hygiene, out of the love in their hearts provide us with\nthings to eat and drink, surely then is the time to say with Paul,\n\"asking no questions for conscience' sake\" (I Cor. 10:27). Surely in\ncases where adhering strictly to the rules of hygiene would hinder the\nfulfilling of our commission, we can trust the One who sent us forth\nto look after us.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER 4\n\n_The Right to Regulate My Private Affairs As I Wish_\n\n     _\"Wherefore, if meat causeth my brother to stumble, I will\n     eat no flesh for evermore, that I cause not my brother to\n     stumble.\"_--I Corinthians 8:13\n\n\n\"Please, teacher,\" said a voice at my elbow, \"wouldn't you like to\nwash your face?\"\n\nWe were having a week in the country. For the fifth time that day, our\nfirst full day out, there stood the pastor's wife, holding out to me a\nbasin of steaming water. She had just the right combination of\nhumility and pride in her manner. I quickly stifled the desire to say,\n\"I don't want to wash! What in the world do I want to wash my face\nfive times a day for?\" Then I mumbled thanks, and reached wearily for\nmy washcloth. But a little later I tackled her about it.\n\n\"Do you always wash your face as often as this?\"\n\n\"Why, of course!\" was the quick reply. \"All clean people do! And I was\nbrought up in a very clean family.\"\n\nI let the matter drop, and washed my face (and my feet) as often as\nshe thought best for the rest of the trip.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nGrandmother Bay's little granddaughter had just come back from\nShanghai. Grandmother Bay proudly appeared at church accompanied by a\nprettily dressed, well-behaved child of about nine. After the service\nseveral of us sat chatting. One old lady looked at the child's pretty\nfrock, and then gave a quick glance at her grandmother.\n\n\"I suppose that's the Shanghai style,\" was all that she said, but\nGrandmother Bay divined her meaning.\n\n\"Just what I thought myself!\" She quickly caught up the remark. \"It's\npretty material, and nicely made--cut a bit closely, but I suppose\nthose Shanghai tailors do it that way. But the sleeves! Practically no\nsleeves at all! It's almost indecent! But you know, she has hardly a\nscrap of the material, and I haven't been able to match it. Otherwise\nI should have lengthened them immediately. It's too good a garment to\nthrow away. I don't know what in the world to do about it!\"\n\nI sat listening with my mouth open. The child was little enough so\nthat I would hardly have been surprised to see her running around the\nyard with nothing on but a pair of trousers, as many smaller girls\ndid. (The boys needed still less!) The objectionable sleeves were just\nlong enough to cover her shoulders. What was wrong with that for a\nchild of her size?\n\nI looked at the two women, trying my best to understand their point of\nview. What I saw made me gasp. In that area the older women all wore\nthigh-length loose jackets, and loose trousers, as their regulation\nattire. It was warm, and one of the two women had just pulled up her\ntrouser legs. Her short stockings reached about eight inches above her\nankles, and were held in place by tight round garters. She vigorously\nfanned her bare knees as the two, with serious, troubled faces,\ncontinued the conversation about the \"indecent\" dress.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhat is decency anyway? In certain groups in India it is not decent\nfor a woman to show her face, but her bare feet peep from beneath her\nlong robes. Things that look perfectly all right to us look indecent\nto someone else; and things that look indecent to us may look\nperfectly all right to someone else!\n\nA young missionary goes inland to her first station. \"I'm not going to\nlook frumpy!\" she declares, and takes all her prettiest dresses. When\nshe comes out in gay colors that are not worn in that backward area,\nor in short sleeves when everyone else has elbows duly covered, her\nsenior missionary attempts to suggest a bit of alteration in her\nwardrobe. All suggestions, however, are indignantly rejected. She\nplunges enthusiastically into work with the children, using pictures\nvery effectively to supplement her limited vocabulary. One day her two\nfavorite scholars do not appear, and she asks her helper, a bright\nhigh school girl, the reason. The embarrassed and evasive answer does\nnot satisfy, and she keeps after the poor girl until finally she is\ntold the truth. An hour later her senior missionary finds her weeping\nin her room.\n\n\"She said,\" she chokes, \"she said----that their mother won't let them\ncome any more because I----because I can't be a good woman; I dress\nlike a--a prostitute!\"\n\nWhat is wrong? Why does the eager young missionary have to go through\nall this heartache? Just because she is not willing to see with\nsomeone else's eyes. Her own standards are the only right ones. She\nlearns by hard experience the fact that other people _do_ see things\ndifferently from us, and that it _does_ make a difference. After all,\nthis is their country, and these are their customs. We cannot expect\nthem to adjust to ours. It is the foreigner in the strange land who\nhas to adjust to the ways of that land.\n\nTo learn a new language, the ear must be alert to hear just that\nlittle turn with which a sound is pronounced that makes all the\ndifference between a foreign and a native accent. To become adjusted\nto a new people, the eye and the heart must be alert to perceive\nclearly, to understand and take in their feelings and their reactions.\nMay God grant us the seeing eye and the hearing ear!\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\"Oh, they're terribly strict at that Bible school!\" someone remarks.\n\"There are rules about how long your dresses must be, and how you must\nwear your hair. I wouldn't stand for it! Why, it's things like that\nthat give Christianity a bad name!\"\n\nPerhaps. At the same time, one who has shown that he is willing to\ngive up his own standards and conform to someone else's, even though\nhe may not see the reason for those standards, has shown an attitude\nthat will take him a long way on the mission field. The \"how I do my\nhair and what kind of clothes I wear is my own business!\" attitude so\nfrequently met with, both at home and on the field, is not a promising\none. If we have fully given ourselves to Christ, nothing is our own\nbusiness--it is all His.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER 5\n\n_The Right to Privacy_\n\n     _\"There were many coming and going, and they had no leisure\n     so much as to eat.\"_--Mark 6:31\n\n     _\"But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with\n     compassion for them.\"_--Matthew 9:36\n\n\nI had just come back from a strenuous month in the country. Mr. and\nMrs. Sprightly, the young married couple who were in charge of the\nmission station, and I were relaxing around the tea table. I told\nabout the work I had been doing, and answered interested questions.\nFinally the talk drifted into lighter channels, and Mrs. Sprightly\ntold a funny incident she had witnessed the previous day in a\ncourtyard down the street when she had been out for a walk with her\nlittle boy.\n\n\"I always like to have Sonny with me when I go out,\" she concluded,\nphilosophically. \"When he's along I can stick my nose in anywhere I\nlike. All I have to do is to say, 'My little boy wants to see what\nthat is,' and I can wander into their courtyards, or even into their\nhouses, and nobody thinks anything about it!\"\n\nCuriosity is a common trait, and especially so among those who are\nuneducated and unsophisticated. Missionaries often find those to whom\nthey go frankly curious. But, strangely enough, there is something in\nmany of us that rebels against having one's private life a matter of\ncommon knowledge! The one who has grown up without becoming acquainted\nwith the meaning of the word _privacy_, on the other hand, may find it\nimpossible to understand why the missionary desires to be alone once\nin awhile!\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe young missionary hears the sound of Chinese music from somewhere\nup the street. To her ears it is weird and unintelligible, but the\nchildren at their play instantly recognize the tune, and raise their\nvoices in a shout.\n\n\"The new daughter-in-law[2] is coming! The new daughter-in-law is\ncoming!\"\n\nA friendly youngster pokes his head in at the missionary's door.\n\"Wouldn't you like to come and see the new daughter-in-law?\" he asks\npolitely. \"The sedan chair is just arriving. Hurry!\"\n\n\"But--dear me!\" protests the missionary. \"Whose home is this new\ndaughter-in-law coming to? Is it a family we are acquainted with?\"\n\n\"Oh, _that_ doesn't matter!\" the boy assures her. \"Why, everybody goes\nto see a new daughter-in-law!\"\n\nThe missionary, reluctantly allowing herself to be pulled along by the\nhand, finds it even as the child has said. Crowds of children, and\nolder people too, are swarming in at the open gateway through which\nhas just passed the gaily decorated sedan chair. Though the courtyard\nis fairly commodious, it is packed with people, talking,\ngesticulating, pushing to get a better vantage point from which to\nview the bride when she alights. The groom and his parents are\ngraciously welcoming invited guests, entirely unconcerned about all\nthe hubbub. The bridal chair is set down to a great popping of\nfirecrackers, the appointed welcome committee of several girls and one\nolder woman draws the curtain and assists the bride to her place in\nthe yard, and the ceremony proceeds. After it is completed, the bride\nis escorted with much formality into the house, and to the bedroom\nprepared for her, where she is seated upon a bed resplendent with red\nsatin quilts. Then the guests, invited and uninvited, pour into the\nroom. They subject the bride and her clothes to an interested and\ncareful scrutiny, commenting upon everything, with much joking and\nlaughter. As soon as one group gets tired and takes its leave,\nanother is ready to push in and view the \"new daughter-in-law.\"\n\n\"The poor girl!\" says the missionary. \"She looks ready to drop! When\nwill they ever leave her to herself?\"\n\nNot until late that night--and the same performance will start again\nearly the next morning. Why, if there were not a continuous stream of\nvisitors for three days, the wedding would be thought rather a flop!\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe day had been a busy one. The first visitor had appeared before\nbreakfast, a precursor of a seemingly never-ending stream. There were\nuneducated country women, whose curiosity could only be satisfied by\ngoing through every room in the missionary's house and minutely\nexamining each article that met their eyes. There were those who were\neducated and formally polite, and dexterously steered the conversation\ninto other channels every time we endeavored to present the claims of\nChrist to them. There were Christians, some coming with their\ntroubles, others with plans for forwarding the work of the church, and\nstill others with requests for us to set a time when we could go with\nthem to call upon their unsaved friends or relatives.\n\nFinally at four-thirty, after we had ushered out a couple of callers,\nwe returned, for the first time that day, to an empty room.\n\n\"Come, quickly!\" I said to my sister. \"Let's go out for a walk before\nsomeone else comes!\" I felt as though I would go crazy if I did not\nget away--away anywhere, just so it was a place where we could be\nalone. We hurriedly slipped out the back gate, around the pond,\nthrough the back streets, and out the city gate.\n\n\"Which way do you want to go?\" my sister asked.\n\n\"Oh, just anywhere into the country,\" I said immediately, \"where there\naren't any people!\"\n\nMy sister stood stock-still, looking at me in amazement. \"Aren't any\npeople!\" she repeated. \"Aren't any people! _Where_ in China do you\nthink you'll find a place where there aren't any people?\"\n\nI stood still and looked around me. The flat countryside was dotted\nwith villages, and crisscrossed with paths. Farmers were busy plowing\ntheir tiny fields. Coolies in groups of two and three were returning\nhome from the city, scattering in all directions along the many\nfootpaths. People, people everywhere, even out there in the country!\nThese were the people whom I had come to China to seek; yet if I could\nonly get away from them for a few hours! If there were only some\nwooded gully or mountain thicket where I could be out of sight of\neveryone! But there were no mountains; the country was as flat as a\ntabletop. I mentally searched the familiar countryside for a place of\nrefuge. Good, fertile land, cut up into tiny fields; well-kept crops,\nwith not a weed anywhere; here and there a little grove of\ntrees--surely in among the trees we could be out of sight! But no!\nThere was no undergrowth, no weeds, not even any fallen leaves. All\nhad been gathered, carefully dried, and put in the fuel pile. Why, if\na strong wind came up in the night, the owner of the trees would rise\nfrom bed and hurry out to sweep up the precious leaves as soon as they\nfell, just so no unscrupulous neighbor could come and steal them\nbefore daylight! And all the lower branches of the trees had long\nsince been trimmed off for fuel. A grove of trees would hide me from\nthe sight of no one, and there was no better place.\n\nThe full force of an unpleasant fact suddenly hit me, a fact that I\nhad never before completely realized. There was absolutely no place\nthat I could go to be alone! The best that I could do was to go home\nto the mission station, into the house, up to my room, and close the\ndoor. Even then, who knew how soon someone would call me?\n\nThen, in a flash, a little story I had read in a magazine long before\ncame to my mind. A friend dropped in to visit a busy mother. The\nfamily was large and poor, and they lived in only one room. It seemed\nto the visitor that the one room was swarming with children. The\nmother met her with a beaming face.\n\n\"But how can you be so happy,\" asked the visitor, \"when you can never\nget a minute to be alone? How can you find quiet even to pray?\"\n\n\"It used to trouble me,\" was the quick reply, \"until I found out the\nsecret. When things get too much for me, I just throw my apron up over\nmy head, and I am all alone with the Lord.\"\n\nDear Lord, forgive me! I thought. What about _that_ poor mother? And\nwhat about the Lord Jesus? He wanted solitude just as we do, and He\nwent with His disciples across the lake to an out-of-the-way spot to\nbe quiet. The multitudes heard where He was going and followed by\nland. When He stepped from the boat, there were thousands upon\nthousands waiting for Him. How did _He_ react? Was there anger in His\nheart, or resentment, at never being allowed to be alone? No; for it\nsays that when He saw the multitudes, He welcomed them (Luke 9:11).\nDear Lord, give me that same heart of love for the multitudes!\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nPrivacy and solitude are good things, no doubt--in moderation. Most\nmissionaries get less of them than they would desire. There are\nprobably few missionaries who have not been irritated at one time or\nanother when their houses and their persons were subjected to amazed,\nor delighted, or even half-contemptuous scrutiny by the curious.\n_Can't they have the decency to keep out of what is my own private\nbusiness?_ the missionary thinks. Yet if we belong to the day, if we\nare children of light, why should any act of ours, or anything\nbelonging to us, need to be hidden in the dark? This is not to\nrecommend a needless parading of things that normal people prefer to\nbe reserved about. Let us remember, however, that people must come to\nknow us before they can accept our message, or before our testimony\nhas any value to them. Why should I desire to keep hidden _anything_\nthat has to do with myself--_if the sharing of that thing might help\nto draw someone to the Saviour?_\n\nFOR YE WERE ONCE DARKNESS,\nBUT ARE NOW LIGHT IN THE LORD;\nWALK AS CHILDREN OF LIGHT.--Ephesians 5:8\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER 6\n\n_The Right to My Own Time_\n\n     \"_Come now, ye that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into\n     this city, and spend a year there, and trade, and get gain:\n     whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow.... For that\n     ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall both live, and\n     do this or that._\"--James 4:13-15\n\n\n\"Mrs. Ning and I are going out to see Grandma Woo, who has been sick.\nWouldn't you like to come too?\"\n\nI was sitting at my desk, with all the paraphernalia of Chinese study\nspread out before me. I looked at my desk, looked at the clock, looked\nat my sister, and then asked, \"How soon will you be back?\"\n\n\"Oh, we shouldn't be too long! Of course Mrs. Ning walks slowly, with\nher small[3] feet; but it's only a mile, and we don't need to stay\nvery long. You never know, but we ought to be home in plenty of time\nfor dinner.\"\n\nWell, I thought to myself, I suppose I ought to go; but I wanted to\nfinish translating this chapter, and I'll be doing well to get it\ndone in three hours. And I had thought that I'd get it finished this\nmorning, and be able to write letters this afternoon. Still--\n\nUnfortunately for my peace of mind, I knew two things. One was that my\nsister thought that I ought to go, and the other was that she was\nright.\n\n\"Well,\" I said finally, \"I'll go; but let's not stay long.\"\n\nWe got our sun hats, joined Mrs. Ning, and started off. Her feet were\nnot more than six inches long, and she _did_ take such tiny steps! Try\nas I would to walk slowly, I continually found myself going ahead of\nthe other two. My sister by nature is in more of a hurry to get things\ndone than I. Still, here she was, wandering along beside Mrs. Ning as\nif she had all the time in the world, listening intently to a tale\nabout Mrs. Ning's third aunt's cousin, and putting in sympathetic\ninterjections and questions now and then.\n\nI could not seem to get interested in the story, even though Mrs. Ning\nwas telling how she had tried to get this third aunt's cousin to bring\nhis troubles to the Saviour. I could not understand all of what she\nsaid, and was unable to keep up with all the ins and outs of the poor\ncousin's troubles, so finally I gave up trying. It was a beautiful\nday. The sky was blue, and the wheat, high and greenish-gold, rippled\nin the wind. We turned off the road and followed a little path\nrunning through the wheat fields. My sister almost unconsciously began\nslipping the full heads of grain through her fingers, one after the\nother, as she passed. She always loved the wheat, and so did I, but\nsomehow today I did not want to touch it. I only wished that we would\nhurry.\n\nAt last we arrived at the village, and made our way to the home of old\nMrs. Woo. As usual, a crowd of dirty, staring youngsters followed us\ninto the house. We sat on benches that were about eight inches wide,\nand sipped \"tea\" that could be called so only by courtesy; since,\nhaving no tea leaves, they had instead just put a few slices of raw\nsweet potato into the kettle when it went on the fire. Old Mrs. Woo\nwas up and around again, and feeling lively.\n\n\"I'm so glad you've come! I've been telling my neighbors all about the\nLord Jesus, and how they ought to believe in Him, but I'm afraid I\ndon't do it quite right. Now that you've come you can tell them! Here,\nyou, Kitten,\" speaking to one of the crowd of children that had\nfollowed us into the house, \"you run home and get your grandma to\ncome. And you, Girlie, your second great-aunt said that she wanted to\nbelieve. Run fast and tell her that the teachers have come. All of you\nyoungsters, you scoot home as fast as you can and get your mothers and\ngrandmothers to come and listen to the doctrine!\"\n\nIt took quite a lot of persuasion to get the children to go; and\nperhaps the mothers and grandmothers were busy. We waited in vain for\nquite awhile, but finally in came three or four women, one with a\ncloth shoe sole she was quilting, and another carrying a baby. After\nquite a bustle, they were all seated and given bowls of tea. Then out\ncame the poster that my sister always carried, and the Gospel was\nexplained to them in very simple words. With great effort I managed to\nkeep my mind on the message, and understood most of it. I\ncongratulated myself internally. At last I had successfully wrested my\nmind from the absorbing but uncomfortable subject of all the things\nthat I had wanted to get done that day!\n\nThe preaching was finished. The women got up to go, assuring us that\nthey would come with Mrs. Woo to church the next Sunday. We got up\ntoo, and started to say good-by.\n\n\"What! Go home!\" said Mrs. Woo. \"Who could think of such a thing! Of\ncourse you'll stay for dinner with me! Why, it's almost ready!\" (We\nknew perfectly well that the only womenfolk in the family were herself\nand her daughter-in-law, and that neither had left the room since the\ntea had been brought in.)\n\nMy sister and Mrs. Ning protested, and even I managed to add a few\npolite words. But my thoughts were not so courteous. Stay for dinner!\nWhat an idea! Why, that would mean that we would not be home before\nthe middle of the afternoon at the earliest! And besides, the meal\nwould probably be some miserable stuff that I could hardly force down!\nOh, well, likely she was only asking us in order to be polite, and did\nnot really mean it!\n\nWith great difficulty we made our way toward the door. Mrs. Woo and\nher daughter-in-law hung on us until we could hardly move, protesting\nloudly that they would not think of letting us leave. My blood began\nto boil. I guess we had the right to go home when we wanted to! They\nwere actually trying to force us to stay! Well, I would not stay in\nany case now! This was just too much!\n\nWe had reached the open door, and just then caught sight of an old\nwoman hobbling rapidly across the yard toward us.\n\n\"Oh, Girlie's second great-aunt!\" called Mrs. Woo. \"Here you are at\nlast! Why didn't you come sooner?\"\n\n\"Well, I had company, and I just couldn't get away. But finally my\ndaughter-in-law came back, and I left them with her and came as\nquickly as I could. I was so afraid that the teachers would be gone.\nBut, oh, surely you're not leaving?\"\n\n\"Oh, no, of course they're not leaving! You don't think that I would\nlet them come under my roof and not keep them to a meal! It will be\nnothing like they're used to, of course; but still a meal is a meal!\nNow, just sit down, teachers, please, and Mrs. Ning. Girlie's second\ngreat-aunt has wanted to believe for some time, but her son is very\nmean to her, and he won't let her go to church. Do you think that she\ncould believe at home?\"\n\nI could not believe my eyes. My sister and Mrs. Ning sat down\nobediently and began to talk very sympathetically with the old woman\nwho had just come. What! Were they actually going to stay to dinner?\nAnd not a word to me, just as if what I wanted did not matter at all!\n_They_ could talk to this old lady, and tell her about the Lord, but\nall _I_ could do was just sit! Of course I was supposed to listen; but\none could not put her brain to listening to this queer Chinese _all_\nday long! And what about all those things that I had wanted to get\ndone?\n\nThe dinner was no better than I expected. In fact, it was worse.\nGirlie's second great-aunt stayed too, upon urging, and they all\ntalked on and on. They were trying to teach her a little prayer, and\nshe was so stupid! Over and over and over, and still she could not say\nit by herself.\n\nFinally, when I had given up all hope--I had sat in stony silence all\nthe afternoon--we got up, made our farewells, and started home. The\nsun was setting as we entered our front gate. I was tired (why, I did\nnot know; I had not done a thing all day), hungry (I had not been able\nto eat much of the dinner, no matter how it had been urged upon me),\nand disgusted. And the worst of it was that it did not seem to bother\nmy sister a particle. She took it all as a matter of course. Was this\nwhat I was going to have to go through; what I had come to China for?\nFor I began slowly to realize that today's experience was not just one\nisolated incident; it was likely to happen any day in the year.\nSomething was wrong somewhere. What?\n\nSuddenly it came over me. It was only that I had had my day all\nplanned out, and did not want my plans interfered with. Because they\nhad been interfered with, I had done nothing but sulk. All the things\nI might have enjoyed I had not enjoyed at all. I had made myself\nmiserable for a whole day, just because my time had been disposed of\nby someone else, and not by me.\n\n\"Dear Lord,\" I said, \"I'm not going to go through this again! I know\nit was really You who disposed of my day when I wanted to do something\nelse with it! Give me an open mind, Lord, so that whenever I go to the\ncountry, whenever I start a new day, I'll be able to accept whatever\ncomes, and rejoice in it!\"\n\nIt is amazing how much difference a little thing like one's mental\nattitude can make. After that, when I went to the country, I never\ntook with me any preconceived notions of what time I would return. I\nmight get back home for my noon meal, or I might get back by sunset,\nor I might even stay overnight--what difference did it make? My time\nbelonged to the Lord, and it was up to Him to dispose of it. I found\nthat with this attitude of mind I could go anywhere, take advantage of\nany opportunities offered, stay more time or less time than I had\nexpected, and still enjoy every moment, because God had planned it,\nand had worked it out in the best possible way.[4]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER 7\n\n_The Right to a Normal Romance, If Any_\n\n\nI was in the CIM Mission Home in Vancouver, B. C., an accepted\ncandidate. In two more weeks I was to sail for China, the land where\nthree of my sisters were already laboring as missionaries. One had\nbeen out for six years, had been married while on the field, and was\nalmost ready for furlough. The other two sisters had been out a\nshorter period. They were both single, and stationed together. That\nday I had received a letter from them written from a little hill\nresort operated by our Mission, where they and others had gone to\nescape the worst of the summer heat. Now, for missionaries, a summer\nresort is the most common place for a romance to develop! The letter\nwas a gay description of their life there, and ended with the\nfollowing sentence:\n\n\"There are thirty-three of us here now: seven married couples with\nnine children, nine single ladies, and one single man! There is one\nmore single man expected, we hear, but even at that, I'm afraid there\nisn't much hope for us!\"\n\nThe dinner bell rang, and I hurried down. But who was that elderly\ncouple in the old-fashioned clothes? Perhaps I had been told that they\nwere to arrive that day, but if so I had not remembered it. They were\nintroduced all around the circle--missionaries who had just come from\nChina! We sat down, and I found myself beside the lady.\n\n\"What did they say your name was?\" she asked, apologetically. \"I have\nsuch a time remembering names.\"\n\nI told her, and she immediately pricked up her ears. \"Williamson!\" she\nsaid. \"Don't you have a sister in China?\"\n\n\"Yes, I have three there,\" I replied.\n\n\"Well, isn't that a coincidence! When I was in Shanghai I heard--no,\nyou couldn't have heard it yet, for the news was just out--I'm _sure_\nit must have been your sister! Anyway, just before we left Shanghai\nthere was a great hubbub about the news of a new engagement, and I'm\nalmost certain--Dear,\" turning to her husband, \"who was it that we\nheard was engaged, just before we left Shanghai?\"\n\nHer husband did not remember. \"Well, I'm almost sure it was your\nsister, anyway!\" she declared.\n\n\"My sister! But it couldn't be!\" I replied rather dazedly, thinking of\nthe letter I had just received. \"Which one? What was her first name?\"\n\nUnfortunately she could not remember that, nor did she know that\nthere were two Miss Williamsons in China. And as for the name of the\nman--she had no idea about that, either. The whole thing seemed\nextremely vague, and altogether unlikely, and I dismissed it from my\nmind.\n\nA week later I received another letter from my two sisters. To my\namazement I read the news that the younger of them had just become\nengaged to the single man who had arrived at the hill resort the day\nafter the previous letter was written!\n\nAfter I had partly recovered from the shock, my mind went back to what\nI had heard of the courtship of my married sister, also in China. The\nman who later became her husband was stationed at a place a thousand\nmiles from where she was. They had been very slightly acquainted when\nthey were in Bible institute in America, six or seven years before.\nSuddenly he started writing to her, and after two or three letters,\nasked her to marry him. When she went down to Shanghai for the\nwedding, practically all she knew of him was from his letters.\n\nThe other sister, who went with her at that time, told me later that\nwhen they went to the railway station in Shanghai to meet the expected\ngroom, who did not arrive until the day after they did, she almost had\nheart failure. After they went to bed that night she could not go to\nsleep for thinking, \"What if she shouldn't want to marry him, now\nthat she's seen him! I'm sure _I_ wouldn't!\"\n\nSucceeding days set her mind at rest, however, for it was quite\nevident that the promised bride _did_ want to marry him--and so it\nturned out all right after all!\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\"What a strange family you come from!\" you say. \"Your sisters rush\ninto marriage in such a precipitous way!\"\n\nNo, not at all. Such courtships are fairly common among missionaries.\nThe reason for this is obvious. There is very little opportunity on\nthe mission field for becoming acquainted with eligible persons of the\nopposite sex. Unless the missionary is prepared to give up his calling\nin order to marry, his range of choice is necessarily limited to other\nmissionaries; and missionaries, when at work, are usually widely\nscattered. Most of our mission stations had only one household, with\nonly two, three, or four missionaries. Obviously, it would not be very\nlikely that two single workers of opposite sex would be included in\nthe group; to say nothing of the fact that such an allocation of\nworkers would normally be considered highly unconventional! Usually\nsingle women workers were sent to one station, and a man (or men, if\nthere were that many) to another. Missionary travel, except for going\nto a summer resort, was usually confined to one's own district, and\nmissionaries working outside that district met very infrequently.\n\nAnother factor that must be taken into consideration is the\nrestriction which local custom puts upon social mingling of the sexes\nin heathen lands. Most missionaries live in near contact with the\npeople, and it is only right that they should do so. The missionary\nwho prefers to withdraw from the people is not likely to make many\nconverts. Local people, both Christian and heathen, are encouraged to\ncome freely into the missionary's home, and much of his work may be\ndone by just such quiet contacts. The missionaries come in as\nstrangers. They present a new way of life. Is it any wonder that, as\nmuch as is possible, everything that they do is watched? Sometimes the\nwatching is in order to criticize; sometimes it is in order to\nimitate; but always they are watched. If what the watchers see seems\ngood to them, they may give themselves to the One about whom the\nmissionaries preach. If they see things that offend them, they may\nstumble and turn away. Because of this, local conventions _must_ be\ntaken into consideration; and in many heathen lands what we would call\nonly ordinary friendliness between two persons of opposite sex would\nbe looked upon not only with disapproval, but even with suspicion.\n\nMission rules in regard to such matters are usually very strict, as\nthe following quotation from _The Overseas Manual of the China Inland\nMission Overseas Missionary Fellowship_ (1955) will show!\n\n     It is important that the missionary in his daily life among\n     Eastern peoples should maintain a standard of dignity and\n     courtesy which is essentially Christian and not merely\n     Western. It must be remembered that a careless disregard of\n     local conventions will give offense to nationals whose good\n     opinion is of value, and may prove a serious hindrance to\n     the progress of the Gospel. Great care should be taken\n     particularly by lady workers when extending hospitality to\n     missionary brethren or _vice versa_, lest any action lead to\n     misunderstanding and injury to the work. Engaged couples\n     should also be especially careful of their deportment,\n     remembering that they will be setting a standard of behavior\n     for young Christians no longer bound by old conventions and\n     looking, perhaps, for guidance to their missionary\n     friends.... Engaged couples will not be designated to work\n     in the same center (pp. 21, 22).\n\nSo, between the limitation that a narrow circle of eligible\nacquaintances sets, and the restriction entailed in conforming to\nlocal custom, young missionaries may often feel that the chance for\nany normal kind of romance is snatched from them. Small wonder that\nthe summer resort and the post office, the two avenues of courtship\nleft open to them, are speedily utilized, and that engagements are\noften made on what would seem at home to be too short acquaintance!\nIf _you_ knew that you had only a few weeks in which to become better\nacquainted and do your courting, and that when those few weeks had\npassed each would return to his own station, with no opportunity of\nmeeting again for at least another year, perhaps you would speed\nthings up too!\n\nIf the choice of a life partner were a matter to be decided purely \"on\none's own,\" then this sort of situation on the mission field might\nlead to many a tragedy. Thank God, that is not the case! After all, He\nis the One whom we want to make the choice for us, and He can be\ndepended upon. Certainly any young missionary should make this a\nmatter of definite prayer. If God has chosen the two for each other,\nHe will see to it that they meet; and He will bear witness in their\nhearts as to His leading, so that they need not hesitate or fear. If\nwe set our hearts on some certain thing, irrespective of whether or\nnot it is His will, disaster will result. If we commit the matter\nentirely to Him, and trust Him to work out His own perfect will, we\ncan go ahead, with confidence, knowing that the union (if He indicates\nit) will be as the path of the just, that \"shineth more and more unto\nthe perfect day.\" If anyone doubts this, let him look at any\nmissionary couple. In spite of all the difficulties and dangers, the\npercentage of happily married couples must be greater among\nmissionaries than it is anywhere else!\n\nTo any thinking young person, another problem, not yet discussed, must\nbe evident. If there are twice as many single women as single men on\nthe mission field (and there are), some of the women must either marry\nmen who are not missionaries, and so leave the field, or else remain\nsingle. The shortage of men on the mission field is often deplored,\nand it is true that in many cases the work would be better off with a\nlarger proportion of men. I shall always remember, however, hearing\none of my sisters say: \"Before I came to the mission field I thought\nthat the reason there were more women than men on the field was that\nmore of the women were wholly consecrated to the cause of Christ; but\nafter I had been out for some time I changed my mind. Now I believe\nthat God calls more women than men because _more women are needed_.\"\n\nThe army of unmarried women missionaries on the field is there, not\nbecause there happen to be more women than men on the field, and,\nsince we do not believe in polygamy, some were left over; but because\nthere is a work that they can do that no one else can. Most men need\nwives, and the fact that a man has a wife and family is more of a help\nthan a hindrance in most types of missionary work. A man missionary\ncan leave his family for weeks or months, and even though married, he\ncan engage in the arduous itineration that is often necessary. But a\nmarried woman missionary, as soon as she becomes a mother, is bound to\nher children, and that usually means that she bound to her home. She\ncan engage in missionary work in the place where she lives, but she\ncannot travel easily. She cannot go out for weeks or months with a\nwomen's evangelistic band. She cannot go from church to church,\nholding Bible classes for the women. In many places, when teams of men\nworkers go about, the women are left almost untouched. There must be\nwomen workers to reach the women. There is plenty of work for the\nmarried woman missionary to engage in; but there are certain types of\nwork which her responsibilities will not allow her to undertake.\n\n\"That's the type of work I want to do!\" declares one young woman. \"To\nspend weeks and months in the country villages, living in the people's\nhomes and really becoming one with them--that's the only work that\ncounts! _I_ shall never be married.\"\n\n\"Oh,\" says another, \"I'm sure there is much work a married woman can\ndo that would be impossible to the single woman. Anyway, I wasn't cut\nout for a spinster! It doesn't matter if there _are_ only half as many\nmen as women; _some_ of the women get married, and I'll be one of the\n'some.'\"\n\nWell, friends, both of you are wrong. It's not up to you to say what\nsort of work you want to do, and it's not up to you to say whether you\nwill be married, or one of the single crowd. Since most girls want to\nbe married, it is a good thing for each to face the possibility that\nGod _might_, for a reason, want her to remain single; but that does\nnot mean that I am encouraging anyone to take a vow of celibacy! I\nknow of one young woman missionary who told various fellow workers,\nand even some of the local Christians, that she was never going to get\nmarried. The Lord began to deal with her--at the same time that a\nyoung man was laying siege to her heart! She finally surrendered to\nthe Lord, and gave up her cherished dreams of the kind of missionary\ncareer she had mapped out for herself. A few years later she was a\nhappy missionary wife and mother!\n\nMost of the above is particularly directed to young women, but it may\napply to young men as well. In a limited number of cases it may be\nnecessary for men to remain single, particularly those who engage in\npioneer work of a sort that would be impossible for women. This\nprobably means giving up anything that could rightly be called a\n\"home.\" Even where two single men are together, \"batching it\" is\nusually a sorry business; but when the call of the Lord comes, He will\ngive grace. In that respect it is much easier for women. Two\nunmarried women can live together and make a home that seems like a\nhome; most men do not seem to have that gift!\n\nThe advantages and disadvantages of the single woman missionary, as\nover and against those of the married woman (or vice versa) are often\ndebated. The single woman certainly has the advantage in being able to\ngive all her time and energy to the work, though the married woman can\ngive help to married women in a way that an unmarried woman cannot. It\nis not a matter for anyone to decide arbitrarily. Remember that \"each\nman hath his own gift from God, one after this manner, and another\nafter that\" (I Cor. 7:7). Whatever God has called us to do, we _can_\ndo. Each state has its own blessings. When one sees the \"trouble in\nthe flesh\" (I Cor. 7:28, K.J.V.) that bringing up children on the\nmission field entails,[5] it is almost enough to make one feel that\nthe single state is the easier. It _is_ easier in some ways, of\ncourse. Yet remaining single is not easy either. Every human heart\nlongs for someone to \"belong to,\" and perhaps the hardest thing that\nthe single missionary has to face is that she can never, never say to\nanyone, \"I'm going to stay with you.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER 8\n\n_The Right to a Normal Home Life_\n\n     \"After marriage a lady worker continues to be a missionary\n     in active service and her changed status will afford new\n     opportunities for service. She will need rightly to\n     apportion time to language study, home duties and her\n     calling as a missionary. This will require changes in\n     outlook and habits, but if the responsibilities of married\n     life have been prayerfully accepted the varying claims on\n     time and strength will not result in a permanent conflict of\n     loyalties.\n\n     \"The establishing of a Christian home should be for the\n     glory of God and the spread of the Gospel. One danger to be\n     avoided is that of missionaries becoming so absorbed in\n     their home as to neglect an active ministry amongst the\n     people to whom they have been called. It is the mutual\n     responsibility of both husband and wife to see that each\n     does not hinder the other from fulfilling his or her\n     ministry. Where there are children, it is recognized that\n     new responsibilities are involved, but care should be taken\n     that family claims do not monopolize the time and energies\n     of either parent. Children who grow up in an atmosphere of\n     loving yet firm discipline are not only a joy to their\n     parents but an asset to the work of the Gospel. But when\n     children are over-indulged or uncontrolled, whether on the\n     field or at home, serious harm to God's cause as well as to\n     the reputation of the Mission may result.\"\n\n                         _--The Overseas Manual of the\n                            China Inland Mission\n                            Overseas Missionary Fellowship_\n                            (1955), p. 22.\n\n\nWhat a wonderful thing is a Christian home! What a privilege to be\nable to establish, among thousands of darkened, pagan homes, one that\nis truly Christian; and to be able to live out the love of Christ in\nactual family relationships before people who know nothing of it!\n\nThis privilege has not been given to me. The Lord has not led me in\nthat path. And yet, as I have observed many young couples on the\nmission field, and older ones too, I have been able to see a little of\nthe price they have had to pay. The outsider, looking on, saw only the\nlove and blessing that radiated from these homes. But as I lived in\nsome of them, I found that these young couples were faced with\nconstant problems, and even frustrations, and I wondered whether or\nnot I could have overcome all obstacles in the gallant way in which\nthey did.\n\nShall we take a look at the sort of thing a young married couple on\nthe mission field has to face? We will call them John and Mary, and\nmake them just ordinary folk who meet the kind of situations most\nyoung missionaries meet.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nA home of her own--that was what Mary longed for. She and John had\nbeen married a few months before leaving for the field, had studied\nfor a term in language school, and now were living with an older\nmarried couple until their acquaintance with the language and the\ncustoms of the people was enough to warrant their being sent to a\nstation of their own. Mary found the language easy, but John found it\nhard; and they had been on the field for more than two years before\ntheir desire for a home of their own was realized. It was just as well\nfor Mary that she was quick with the language. Little David was born\nwhen they had been out only a year, and looking after David meant that\nshe had several hours less each day for study than John had.\n\nWhen they finally got to their new station, they were surprised to\nfind that long, uninterrupted hours for language study, which they\nstill needed, were almost impossible. There was a little church in the\nplace to which they had been sent, and of course they wanted to do\nwhat they could, with their limited language, to help. They found a\nlanguage teacher, but he was not as good as their previous one. Mary\nhad a girl to help her in the house, but she was untrained, and for\nthe first few months Mary thought that it was more work training her\nthan it would have been to do the work herself. They had many\nvisitors, both Christians and others. John loved to sit and talk with\nthe men who came, and although his facility in the use of the spoken\nlanguage developed, the progress he made in the book work required by\nthe course of study was extremely slow. Mary often longed to shoo the\nmen visitors out the door, lead John into his study, set him down at\nhis desk, and shut him in with his books!\n\nWith the care of the baby and the responsibility for the home\ndevolving upon her, it was a good thing that Mary did enjoy study. She\noften said that she thought the Lord gave her, as a young mother,\nspecial help with the language, because He knew how much she had to\ndo! Because she was so busy, however, she often sat up later at night\nover her books than was good for her health, and she became tired and\nworn out. The flu came along, and she was an easy victim. Poor John!\nHe had to be nurse, housekeeper, and baby-tender, all at the same\ntime. The thing that worried Mary the most about being ill was that\nshe was keeping John from his studies.\n\nMary was not entirely back to normal health when David's little sister\nwas born. What a darling she was! Before her illness, Mary had been\ngiving a short Bible talk at the women's meeting every other week;\nbut now it seemed impossible to find time for the hours of preparation\nsuch a talk entailed. Because of her slow recovery it was finally\ndecided that she and the children must go to a hill resort earlier\nthan usual that summer. When she returned, she was horrified to\nrealize that it had been six months since she had given a message in\nthe native language.\n\nShe was feeling much better in every way, however, and settled down to\n\"get back into the work.\" The girl who helped her had developed\nnicely, and now the two children could be entrusted to her care. In\nspite of John's slowness at the language, he had always been able to\nmake himself understood, and the little church was growing. With his\nencouragement, they had started a preaching band, and went to nearby\ntowns and villages with the Gospel. Sometimes they stayed away for\nseveral weeks at a time. They insisted that John accompany them; and\nindeed, he would not have been happy anywhere else. But more and more\nMary found herself left alone at home with the children. Where was the\nhappy home that she had wanted to establish for John? He was as dear\nand as kind as ever when she saw him--but he was away so much! And\nduring the times he was at home, there were often visitors to see him.\nOn evenings when there were no visitors she always longed to say,\n\"Come and sit in the easy chair, John, and we'll have a cozy time\ntogether,\" but her Puritan conscience usually overcame the promptings\nof her heart, and instead she would look at the clock and say\nbrightly, \"Oh, there's still time for you to get in an hour or two of\nstudy! Isn't that nice!\"\n\nThe time passed rapidly. John _did_ persevere with his language study,\nand very slowly got off the required examinations. Mary never had as\nmuch time as he did for study, but she usually kept ahead of him in\nthe book work. She did not dream of trying to rival him in his\nknowledge of the spoken colloquial! At first she used to save up her\nproblems for him to deal with, but she found that when he returned\nfrom a country trip he was always so tired that she did not like to\nburden him, and soon she was struggling alone with most of them. The\nchildren grew rapidly, and usually kept in health, although there were\nseveral occasions when they had serious illnesses. At such times she\nwould realize afresh that, although the nearest fully qualified doctor\nwas several days' journey away, the Great Physician was always near!\n\nWhen David was four, two new missionaries, fresh from their term at\nlanguage school, were sent to be with them--two bright, happy girls,\nwhom Mary welcomed with all her heart. The care of the larger\nhousehold took more time, but she did not grudge it. One was quick at\nthe language, and one was slow. When the discouraged one would come\nwith her troubles, Mary would comfort her by telling her that John had\nbeen slow too! The two girls became very fond of the children. Mary\nwas almost overscrupulous about not allowing them to disturb the two,\nwho were supposed to be giving all their time and effort to language\nstudy. The quick one, Alice, raced through two language exams, and\nthen had a week in the country with the women's evangelistic team\n(organized a year previously, Mary being one of the chief promoters).\nIt was what Mary had longed to do herself ever since the band was\nstarted, but--well, she had her babies! After all, they _were_ the\nmost precious children in the world! But when Alice returned, bubbling\nover with the novelties and thrills of a week in the country\n(fortunately she was not afflicted with a delicate digestion, and\ncould eat anything with relish--and comfort!), poor Mary, had all she\ncould do to \"rejoice with them that do rejoice.\" Afterward, in the\nprivacy of her own room (John was not at home, and the children were\nasleep), she finally let go, and the sobs came--stifled by the\nbedclothes, so that the children would not be awakened.\n\nAnd then it was time for furlough! The homeland seemed strange at\nfirst, but they soon got used to things. Everyone was extremely kind,\nand showered them with gifts. The meeting with loved ones and friends\nwas all that they had expected; but the strain of living with their\nchildren in other people's homes (even though they were the homes of\ntheir own dear ones) made things difficult. The relatives constantly\npetted the children, and discipline became a problem. Finally they\nwere able to get an apartment of their own for a few months, and David\nstarted kindergarten. John was constantly in demand as a deputation\nspeaker, and he traveled back and forth, speaking in many places.\nSometimes Mary thought, with a sigh, that she saw less of him on\nfurlough than she had on the field!\n\nCertainly they were having a wonderful time at home, but still it\nwould be nice to get back to the field again! Then, with the thought,\ncame a stab of pain--for she knew that when that time arrived it would\nmean sending little David off to school. The school for missionaries'\nchildren was a long way from their part of the field, and the most\nthey could hope for after that was to have David during the summers,\nand on their furloughs. Her little David! Going so far from home,\namong strangers! Perhaps she could keep him awhile, and teach him at\nhome. If only the leaders of the Mission were not so strict about\ninsisting that all children of school age be sent to the school for\nmissionaries' children! What did they know of a mother's love for her\nlittle boy? But before this thought was fully formed, her heart was\nreproving her. Of course they knew. Most of them had children of their\nown. It was all for the children's good. She had no training for\nteaching, and look how busy she had always been! Wherever did she\nthink she would get time to teach David?\n\nBesides, her mind ran on, David needed to be with other children of\nhis own age and race, and to get the \"give-and-take\" that school life\nprovides. Kindergarten had already been a help. And on the field there\nwere so many other difficulties! While they were still there, she had\ntried her best not to let David feel that he was different from, or\nsuperior to, the children he played with; but she just couldn't let\nhim do all the things that they did. And he had always wanted to know,\nwhy--why couldn't he wipe his nose on the back of his hand, as all the\nother children did? Why did he have to go to bed at a certain hour,\nwhen all the other children stayed up as long as they wished? She\ncertainly had never said, \"It's because you are an American, and we\nare different,\" but somehow David had seemed to acquire that sort of\nattitude, and to feel that he was superior to the local children. She\nstill remembered how helpless she had felt in trying to deal with the\nsituation!\n\nWell, it did seem that sending him away to school would be necessary\nif he were not to grow up proud and overbearing. Then too, she\nremembered the day she had to spank him because he had become angry\nand shouted at one of his little playmates in very filthy language.\nWhere had he learned those words? (He had picked up the language, good\nand bad alike, without even trying!) She wouldn't even have known what\nthe words meant, but she had overheard the Bible woman scolding him,\nand had gone out to see what was wrong. The Bible woman hadn't wanted\nto tell her, but she would not be satisfied until she did. No, if her\nboy was going to learn filth like that by being inland with her, there\nwas no help for it--he must go to school. \"Dear Lord,\" she prayed,\n\"You know what's best, and I suppose he's got to go; but, oh, Father,\nit's like tearing my heart out to send him!\"\n\nThe time came. John and Mary went back to the field. David went off to\nschool, bravely choking down the sobs, but with a pathetic, lost look\nin his eyes that stabbed his parents' hearts. They tried to forget it,\nand to rejoice in the thought of soon meeting again the dear group of\nChristians in their old station. But, no! A sudden call came, an\nurgent call to a hard place, in an entirely different part of the\nfield. After much discussion and prayer, it was settled. There was no\nchance to go to their old station, even for a visit. Soon they were\nfar away, among strangers, living in two rented rooms, and trying to\nstraighten out a very difficult church situation, the like of which\nthey had never before experienced.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nStories end, but life goes on and on. And the human mind always seems\nto magnify the present difficulties, and glamorize the possible\nfuture. John and Mary thought that they had it rather hard their first\nterm, and that the second would be easier; but when the second term\nactually began, and they looked back on the first, they thought it had\nbeen nothing but child's play!\n\nLooking at that first term objectively, we can see that John and Mary\nreally did have a relatively easy time. For one thing, they lived in\nonly two places all that time. For one reason or another missionaries\noften have to move time and again. Someone who is doing an absolutely\nindispensable job breaks down and must go home on furlough, and you\nare the only one who can take over. Or the work is being expanded, and\nthe older workers are scattered farther afield as new ones come in.\nPerhaps there is a war, and your station is in the fighting area, and\nyou have to evacuate. Whatever the reason is, suddenly you find\nyourself in the midst of breaking up your home, packing and moving,\nand then settling in a new place, finding new people and problems\nwith which to get acquainted, and perhaps a new dialect to learn.\n\nOther things had been comparatively easy for John and Mary too, that\nfirst term. They did not have any fellow workers who were \"difficult.\"\nIt was not their lot to start work in virgin territory, or where the\npeople were unfriendly. They did not get into any difficult church\nsituations. The church people were eager to co-operate with them, and\nquick to profit by their teaching and example. Even in the matter of\nhealth, they did not have a more than average amount of illness. And\nthe story of their accomplishments during that first term could truly\nbe used as a model for the young missionary's emulation!\n\nThis is not to say that John and Mary had no difficulties.\nDifficulties are the normal thing on the mission field, and they had\ntheir share. But they met their difficulties, and they made good. How?\nChiefly by giving up some of their \"rights,\" and foremost among the\nrights they gave up was their chance for a normal home life. There was\nrarely an evening when John was at home and without a visitor; and if\nsuch an evening came, he spent it at his books. Later he was away from\nhome for days and weeks, so that the home had to function without the\nfather much of the time. John had to give up his right to spend a\nnormal amount of time with his wife and children. Even Mary could not\nspend as much time with the children as she would have liked, nor\narrange things for them as she might have wished. And then, after the\nfirst few years, their home was not theirs alone. Most of the time\nthey had other people living with them. All the way through they had\nto put the Lord's work first, and their home second.\n\nYet was not this attitude of self-sacrifice the thing that made their\nhome a real Christian home? If they had put their home first, not the\nwork--if that home had become a self-centered thing, a thing enjoyed\nfor its own sake--would it not have failed to be what they wanted it\nto be? A home that is absorbed in itself is not a truly Christian\nhome. John was willing to be away so much, and to sacrifice so much,\nbecause his love for his Master was the all-consuming passion of his\nlife. It was for exactly that reason that his presence--and even the\nconsciousness of his absence, and the reason for it--did bless that\nhome. John and Mary gladly took others into their home, really wanting\nthem, not because they did not appreciate having their own home to\nthemselves, but because their concern for the work was greater than\ntheir natural desires. They counted the cost, and sent their child\naway from them, away to school, because they knew that it was best for\nthe child and best for the work. Love for Christ was greater than love\nfor home, or for children, and greater even than love for each other.\nIf they had held on to their right to home, and given it first place,\nthat would have meant losing it--losing the Christ-centered home that\nthey wanted. But in giving it up they found it--found a home that\ntruly showed forth the love of Christ, because that love was the\ncompelling force of their individual lives.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER 9\n\n_The Right to Live With the People of My Choice_\n\n\nThe six months of language school were almost over. Exams had been the\norder of the day. In spite of the fact that the results of their\nlabors were not yet known, half a dozen young women gathered in the\ndormitory to celebrate with a cocoa party. Some were sprawled on the\nbeds, one was seated on the floor, and another two were presiding over\nthe concoction simmering on a tiny, smoky kerosene stove.\n\n\"You know, I couldn't sleep a wink last night!\" declared one. \"I was\nthinking about Mr. Gibb[6] coming to appoint us to stations, and\nwondering what my senior worker will be like, and I got so worried I\nstayed awake all night!\"\n\n\"You know the Lord is working it all out! We've been praying about it\nfor so long! You shouldn't worry about it!\" reproved another gently.\n\n\"Well, I tried, but the more I tried, the wider awake I got.\"\n\n\"You _are_ foolish!\" put in another. \"Mr. Gibb isn't even coming until\ntomorrow, and then who knows how soon _you_ will have your interview\nwith him. It will take him several days they say, and your name begins\nwith _T_.\"\n\n\"It's all right for you to talk!\" retorted the first girl. \"You have a\nsister out here, and you're taking it for granted that you'll be sent\nto her. Of course you're all right! But what about the rest of us who\nhave to be separated, and sent off to live with entire strangers? How\ndo I know whether my senior worker will _like_ me or not?\"\n\n\"_You_ don't need to worry,\" put in the quiet voice of a girl who had\nnot spoken before. \"You are gay and lively, and everybody likes you.\nI'm quiet and awkward, and never know what to say. I'm sure my senior\nworker will be disappointed when she gets me!\"\n\n\"Just listen to me a minute!\" another voice spoke up. \"I'll tell you\nthe one way out of this difficulty. Everybody wants a congenial fellow\nworker. Well, there's only one way to be sure, and that is--pick your\nown! That's what I'm going to do!\"\n\n\"Don't be stupid!\" clamored three or four voices at once. \"Pick your\nown! Just as if we'd be allowed to pick our own senior workers! What\nare you talking about?\"\n\n\"Just what I said. I'm picking my own senior worker! Of course I may\nnot be able to do it right away--I may have to live with one that Mr.\nGibb picks for me for a year or two--but I'm getting the one I've\npicked for myself in the end!\"\n\nAt that juncture two girls jumped upon the speaker, and rolled her\nfrom the bed to the floor. \"Just because you are engaged you don't\nneed to think you are better than we are!\" and the serious discussion\nbroke up with a laugh.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWith whom am I going to live and work for the next six months? For the\nnext six years? For the rest of my life? Who will be the one I will\nsee the first thing in the morning, and the last thing at night, and\nall the time in between? With whom will I sit down at the table three\ntimes a day? Who will be my fellow worker, my companion in recreation,\nthe one who spends time with me at the Throne of Grace, pleading for\nsouls, and for the upbuilding of God's Church? Yes, it's quite a\nquestion. For somehow, mission boards usually seem to recognize only\none legitimate reason for allowing a missionary to choose his or her\nown fellow worker, and that one reason is marriage. Even married\ncouples will probably be asked to take one or more younger workers\ninto their homes; and if you are one who remains single, why, you will\njust have to let the superintendent, or committee, pick your\ncompanion and fellow worker for you.\n\nWhen I was in high school it was one of my ambitions to learn to be at\nhome in any environment. Whether a wealthy home or a poverty-stricken\none, whether an American culture or the culture of some other group, I\nwanted to be able to live in that environment as though I had grown up\nin it. This ambition was no doubt laudable and its attainment is very\nuseful to the missionary. I found later, however, that it does not\nquite go to the heart of the problem. My ambition at present is not so\nmuch to be able to live happily in any _environment_ as to be able to\nlive happily with any other _missionary_.\n\nThis statement may horrify some of my readers. If I had said I make it\nmy ambition to be able to live happily with anyone, you would have had\nno bone to pick with me. But no, I _must_ say, _with any other\nmissionary_! Am I trying to imply that some missionaries are hard to\nlive with? That class of God's devoted servants who have given up all\nto go for Him to the far corners of the earth? Let anyone else be hard\nto get along with, but surely not missionaries!\n\nWell, missionaries (excepting some feeble folk like me) are the salt\nof the earth. At the same time, my experience on the foreign field\nleads me to the conclusion that it takes a good deal more grace to\nlive happily with one's fellow workers on the foreign field than it\ndoes at home. Why? The reasons are varied. I think I can safely say\nthat most missionaries are rather strong-minded. If they were not,\nperhaps they would never have gotten to the foreign field! They know\nwhat they want to do, and they know how they want to do it. Most\nmissionaries will agree on the task to be accomplished; but what are\nthe best means to accomplish it--that is not always so easy to agree\nupon! The older worker may think the younger worker's plans wild and\nimpracticable. The younger worker may think the older worker stodgy\nand in a rut. Perhaps both may be right. Happy the fellow workers who\ncan learn to discuss their pet ideas without heat! Happy the fellow\nworkers who can develop just the right combination of initiative and\nco-operation!\n\nIt is hard to realize how closely one is shut up to a fellow worker on\nthe mission field. Probably there are no others of your own race in\nthe place where you live. At home one can live with one group, work\nwith another, and have special friends that are entirely apart from\neither group. On the field there is no one else--no one who speaks\nyour native tongue, understands your background, or has the same\npattern of thought as yourself. Perhaps you are stationed with one\nother worker. Every human heart longs for some special friend; but\nthis fellow worker may not be one you would have chosen for a special\nfriend. Perhaps she has some mannerisms that are irritating to you.\nPerhaps you like dogs and she hates them. Perhaps she believes in\nbeing extremely economical and you like to spend money more freely. In\nsome ways, as two single missionaries live and work together, the\nrelation is as close as that between husband and wife; but in this\ncase the two _have not chosen one another_. Of course the relationship\nis not established for life; and the missionary who finds herself\npaired off with an uncongenial fellow worker may console herself by\nhoping that a change will come soon. That frame of mind, however, is\nnot exactly conducive to the sort of adjustment that would make for\nthe most effective carrying on of the work.\n\nEven married couples will feel this to a certain extent. A young\nmarried couple will probably have to live with an older couple for the\nfirst two or three years on the field. Owing perhaps to the shortage\nof men, and perhaps to other reasons, it even happens that sometimes a\nyoung married couple is sent to live for their \"breaking-in\" period\nwith one or two older single lady missionaries! The initial period\npasses, and they are given a home and a work of their own. But they\nare not likely to be left alone long. Younger workers will be coming\nalong, and most married couples are rarely without other workers\nliving in their homes. Besides this, it is likely that the husband\nwill need to be away from home for weeks and even months at a time,\nleaving the wife at home with the little ones and the junior workers.\n\nThe single worker feels the force of this even more strongly. Two good\nfriends _may_ be placed in a station together; or what is more likely,\ntwo who have been placed together may become especially good friends.\nThe fact that they are good friends, however, cannot be a reason for\nplacing them together, nor for leaving them together. Any of us would\nrealize that. The placing of workers is determined by the best\ninterests of the work. If, when the best interests of the work are\nconsidered, it seems right to place two special friends together, or\nto leave them together, well and good. If not, why, that's the end of\nit!\n\nNot being able to choose my own fellow worker will present two\npossible difficulties for me. One is that I may be placed with someone\nwho does not appeal to me. The other is that I may be separated from\nsomeone with whom I strongly desire to remain. The first difficulty is\none that comes along now and then. Probably most missionaries, at one\ntime or another, have had a period of living with someone with whom\nthey did not seem to \"hit it off.\" The second difficulty is, for the\nunmarried worker at least, of much more common occurrence. Over and\nover again it happens. Just when you and someone else have lived\ntogether long enough to rub off the rough corners, and come to a place\nwhere you really \"fit,\" along comes an upheaval, and you are\nseparated. We like to put down roots. We like to make friends and stay\nwith them, but on the mission field frequent change of location and of\nfellow workers is the normal thing. New personnel is constantly being\nadded, and older workers are constantly retiring. New stations are\nconstantly being opened. And the single worker, time and time again,\nfinds herself being separated from a fellow worker with whom she would\nprefer to remain permanently!\n\nSome will notice that I have been using pronouns in the feminine\ngender. This is not without reason, since by far the majority of\nsingle workers on the field are women. And, as has been said, one of\nthe hardest things the single woman worker must face is that she can\nnever say to anyone, \"I'm going to stay with you.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\"What a negative sort of outlook!\" exclaims someone; and we must thank\nthat one for reminding us that there is a _positive_ side. There is\nOne whom we _may_ choose for our Companion. (How amazing that I should\nbe allowed to _choose Him_!) And it is just because we have already\nchosen the one Companion who will not leave us that we may not choose\nanyone else--not even a husband or wife--without reference to Him. As\nsoon as we choose Him, then He does all our choosing for us.\n\nAccording to old Oriental custom, marriages were arranged by parents\nwith the aid of a middleman. Sometimes when things went wrong after\nmarriage one of the couple, or both, would blame the middleman. When\nmarriages are made after the Western pattern, there is no one to blame\nbut oneself. Before I left America I used to think that marriages\narranged by parents, through middlemen, must necessarily be unhappy.\nBut after I had been on the field for a time I decided that in China\nthe proportion of happy marriages among those outside of Christ was\ngreater than marriages of those of the same group in America, even\nthough almost all the marriages in China were made after the old\ntraditional style! People who choose partners for themselves do not\nalways choose wisely. Older people, with more experience, may make a\nwiser choice than the young people themselves would have done. It\n_may_ be better to have a trustworthy middleman than to try to do the\nchoosing oneself!\n\nIf this is true of an earthly middleman, how much more it is true of\nthe One who chooses for _us_! The earthly middleman may do very well\nin many cases, but certainly he makes some mistakes. The One who\nchooses for us makes no mistakes. So whether it be a matter of\naccepting a fellow worker you would rather not have, or of letting go\none whom you would like to keep--remember the One who does the\nchoosing for us makes no mistakes.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER 10\n\n_The Right to Feel Superior_\n\n\nThe meeting of the Missionary Union had closed. The Bible Institute\nstudents were leaving the room in groups, and many of them were\ndiscussing the message which they had just heard.\n\n\"What did you think of his last point?\" asked one.\n\n\"That about race prejudice, you mean? About not thinking that because\nour skin is white, we're better than anyone else? To tell the truth,\nit seemed a bit superfluous to me. I suppose race prejudice and race\npride still do exist, but not in a group like this. Why, we're\npractically all missionary candidates!\"\n\n\"Just what I thought myself!\" rejoined the first. \"You'd think he'd\ngotten his audience mixed. But he knew he was talking to missionary\ncandidates, all right. That's the strange part. The rest of his\ntalk--it was the real stuff. But that one point--I just couldn't make\nit out.\"\n\n\"Oh, he's just fifty years out of date, that's all,\" commented\nanother. \"That's the way it was when _he_ went to the field--the\nimperialistic white man and the downtrodden native--but times have\nchanged. People wouldn't act like that now. Each race has its own\nculture, and its own contribution to make to enrich the culture of the\nworld. We realize all this now. The Christian world has come a long\nway since _he_ was in training. Pride of race! We're more likely to be\nashamed of our race, if he only knew it. Look at the state the world's\nin--all trouble stirred up by the white race!\"\n\n\"Some of those old missionaries _were_ imperialistic, all right!\" A\nslight, blond youth joined the conversation. \"You should hear some of\nthe tales my father tells! Ordering the native people around as if\nthey were slaves! Such cases were few and far between, of course. But,\nyou know, I don't think that's the sort of thing he was driving at.\nTimes may change, but not the human heart. Pride is just as easy a sin\nto fall into as it ever was. Thinking that we're better than someone\nelse--it may not be because of our race, but merely because the other\nfellow is poor or uneducated--we can't just dismiss it and say, 'I'm\nin no danger of that.'\"\n\n\"Well, perhaps there's something--\"\n\n\"Aw, just because you grew up on a mission field--\"\n\n\"You know, _I_ think--\" Several began to talk at once. Suddenly a gong\nrang, and the group scattered in all directions.\n\n\"Oh, Ann, I've been wanting to find you! A bunch of us are planning to\ngo to Tong's for a Chinese meal. Do you want to come along?\"\n\n\"Chinese meal? Dear me, I've never had one. Do you have to eat with\nchopsticks? Don't they serve you rats and mice and all sorts of\nhorrible things?\"\n\n\"Of course not, you silly! There are the most delicious things! And\nyou don't have to eat with chopsticks unless you want to. In fact,\nthey always give us knives and forks unless we especially ask for\nchopsticks. But I adore strange ways! This will be my third time for\nChinese food. We always ask for chopsticks--it's the most fun trying\nto use them! Though I must admit that we usually give up halfway--the\nfood is so delicious and we're so hungry we have to. Then you'll\ncome?\"\n\n\"Well--to tell the truth, I'm afraid it will be some awful stuff I\ncan't eat.\"\n\n\"I'm surprised at you, Ann! You're a missionary candidate, aren't you?\nYou'll _have_ to get used to strange--\"\n\n\"No, but it seems so sort of uncivilized to eat with sticks, or\nfingers--and all out of one dish, isn't it? Ugh!\"\n\n\"Now don't be fussy! Didn't you hear that missionary talk last night?\nYou've got to appreciate other people's ways on the mission\nfield--can't go around thinking your ways are best!\"\n\n\"I know.\" Ann was suddenly very serious. \"But there's only one thing\nabout it that bothers me. What if your own ways really _are_ best?\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nChopsticks, or knives and forks--which are best? Not which are the\nmost intriguing, or cause the most hilarity, but which really and\ntruly are the most useful for their purpose--that of conveying food to\none's mouth in a convenient and graceful manner. Don't condemn Ann\noffhand. If I were to ask _you_ this question, what answer would _you_\ngive?\n\n\"Well--really--\" you say. \"After all--\" Yes. That's just it. You, and\nAnn, and millions more can't help realizing (or is it feeling?) that\nyour way _is_ best. But what about the millions in China and Japan?\nHow would they answer the question? Did you ever stop to think that\ntheir reaction would be just as immediate, and their answer just as\nsure? And I think I am safe in saying that a larger proportion of them\nhave actually tried using the other person's implements than we have.\n\nWhen a group of ex-China missionaries get together at home and go to a\nChinese restaurant for a meal, the first thing they do after ordering\nis to request that the food be served in bowls, and they be supplied\nwith chopsticks instead of knives and forks. Why? Ask any of them. The\nreply you will probably get is, \"Oh, it doesn't taste the same when\neaten with knives and forks!\" And the strange part about it is that it\nis really true.\n\n\"But,\" you say, \"chopsticks are so difficult to use!\" Not at all! You\njust need a little practice. Even knives and forks are difficult for\nbeginners to manage. You would know that if you had watched as many\nbeginners (adults) try to use them as I have.\n\n\"No, but you can't cut anything with them!\" Of course you can't. The\nkitchen is the place for cutting up food. To serve a slab of meat on a\nplate, and expect the eater to saw off pieces with a dull knife--it's\nutterly barbarous! Chinese food is properly prepared, bite-size, in\nthe kitchen.\n\n\"Oh? But what about soup or gravy? You can't eat _them_ with\nchopsticks!\" Quite true; neither can you eat them with knife and fork.\nChinese eat soup with a spoon, or drink it from a bowl.\n\n\"Well, chopsticks are awkward, in any case!\" Awkward? What are you\ntalking about? They are just like pincers--you nip a bite and pick it\nup daintily, instead of spearing, or shoveling, as you do with a fork.\n\nIt's amazing how hard it is for an American (I won't speak for other\nnationalities!) to come to the place where he will appreciate the\nfact that the ways of people in other lands are in many cases better\nfor them than our ways would be. If you are going to the foreign field\nin order to teach \"the American way of life,\" you had better stay at\nhome. In saying this I do not mean that Americans do not have some\nskills that it might be advantageous for the people on some foreign\nmission fields to learn. But any missionary who has the feeling that\nhis ways of doing things are better just because they are \"civilized\"\nways, or \"American\" ways, or just his own ways, is heading for\ntrouble.\n\nWhen I first went to China I thought I had no feeling of race\nsuperiority. Then an incident occurred that showed me I was not as\nhumble as I had thought. It was at the Chinese New Year season.\nChinese New Year is the time of preparing all sorts of special foods,\nand frequently at that time some of the Christian women would send us\na bowl of this, or a plate of that. There was a neighborly feeling\nabout it all that warmed my heart. Then one year a fairly wealthy\nChristian woman, who had just recently moved to our city, sent her\nservant over with a gift of a different kind. It was not food this\ntime, but money. In purchasing value the amount would have been\nequivalent to an American dollar or two. It was the first money gift\nthat had ever been presented to me by a Chinese.\n\nI had always been pleased with the gifts of food, but somehow, when I\nsaw what this gift was, I reacted strongly against it. There was\nsomething in me that rebelled. \"_I_ don't need your money!\" was my\ninstinctive reaction. Fortunately I had enough politeness left to\nrealize that I could not refuse it without offending the giver, and so\nI did take it, mumbling my thanks, which I did not feel, and watched\nthe servant depart. Then I sat down to think it out. _Why_ did it make\nme so uncomfortable to accept that gift? When I finally got to the\nbottom of it, I decided that the real reason was that I unconsciously\nfelt that it put me in an inferior position. Accepting a gift of food\nwas different--that was just neighborliness. But a small gift of\nmoney! That is normally given by a superior to an inferior--a father\nto his child, a mistress to her servant, one who has sufficient for\nhis needs to one who has not. In this case the giver did not look at\nit like that, of course. Money gifts were a common thing in her\ncircle, and to her the amount was not too small. But my unconscious\nreaction was that I was being put in an inferior position, and this\nwas the thing at which I rebelled. How could I, who was this woman's\nsuperior (this was my unconscious feeling), take this money, and so\naccept the place of being her inferior?\n\nThe position of a missionary is something like that of a teacher. He\ncomes to tell people something that they do not know; to introduce a\nFriend of whom they have not heard. He certainly knows more about\nChristianity, academically and experimentally, than the people to whom\nhe goes--otherwise there would be no point in his going. He probably\nknows more about the world in general than the people to whom he goes.\nHe may know better ways of living and working, even for their\nenvironment, than they do. How can a person be conscious of how much\nmore he knows than someone else, and still not feel _superior_? Those\namong whom he works may realize that he knows much that they should\nlearn, and may look up to him as a superior being. This makes it even\nharder. How can he overcome the superiority complex that comes from\nrace, or from looking on oneself as _civilized_, or even just from\nrecognizing that one has more education and experience than those\namong whom he works?\n\nThe first step in conquering this superiority complex is to realize\nthat it is there. Most of us have it without realizing it. If we\nrealize that this thing probably exists somewhere in our make-up, it\nwill be easier to recognize it when it suddenly rears its head, as it\ndid with me. Seeing it for what it is is the first step in conquering\nit. The second step, I think, is to become thoroughly acquainted with\nthose to whom we go. Perhaps if we know more about them we will not\nfind them so inferior. Go and live their life with them, twenty-four\nhours of the day. Don't just put yourself in the position of an\nobserver, but try to do the things that they do. You will probably\nfind that you are not as proficient in doing most of the things that\nthey do as are their ten-year-old children! If your people are\n_uncivilized_, go into the jungle with them and try to wrest your\nliving from the jungle--try to find or make everything that you need.\nIf they are _civilized_, but poor and backward, go into their homes,\nand live their lives with them. See how they grow their own food, and\nthat without the use of modern machinery; how they grind their own\ngrain into flour, salt or dry their own vegetables, butcher their own\nmeat--if they have any; how they raise cotton, pick it, card it, spin\nit, dye it, weave it into cloth, and make the clothes for the family\nwithout the aid of a sewing machine. And then watch them (as I often\nhave) make beautiful embroidery for relaxation! By the time you have\nbecome really familiar with (I won't say proficient in) their way of\nlife, I think you will have lost most of your feeling of superiority.\nYou will no more think of them as \"ignorant savages,\" or \"those from\nlower cultural groups.\" Instead, they will just be John, and Mary, and\nPeter, and Paul--or whatever their names happen to be--real people,\nlike you and me; real people, who are amazingly skillful in some ways,\nand amazingly stupid in others, just like the rest of us.\n\nThere is one more thing we need to do in conquering that superiority\ncomplex. We need to realize what a difference having Christ makes.\nThose to whom we minister may live in the midst of filth and disease.\nTheir minds may be dull, and their hearts dark and full of fears.\n(Were our ancestors any different when Christ found them?) But see\nthem come to the One who is the Light of the world, and watch the\ntransformation that takes place. Then realize more deeply than ever\nall that you owe to Christ, and the greatness of His power in making\nthe one who comes to Him literally \"a new creation.\" What these people\nneed is not a training that will educate them out of their\nenvironment. What they need is not to learn to use knives and forks\ninstead of chopsticks or fingers. What they need is a LIFE that will\ntransform them, and enable them to live a life of victory over sin and\nthe Devil within their environment. This imparted life may gradually\ntransform that environment too--probably it will; but that is a\nsecondary thing. There is one thing that is essential, and one\nalone--the impartation of the life of Christ. It does not matter how\nlow, how ignorant, how degraded the person is, Christ is _able_ to\ntransform him into someone far superior to me; and it may be that\nthat is _just what He is going to do_. Who am I, a poor redeemed\nsinner, to look down upon anyone else? Who am I to challenge Christ's\npower, and refuse to believe that anyone can be made new?\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_Dear Lord, forgive me for feeling that I am superior to anyone! Open\nmy eyes to see how deep was the pit from which I was digged! Grant\nthat I may make myself one with the people to whom Thou art sending\nme, and that by faith I can see them transformed by Thy power, even\nbefore that transformation has taken place!_\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER 11\n\n_The Right to Run Things_\n\n\nA new mission station opened! Another conquest of the Gospel! Have you\never wondered how it was done? Suppose you are a missionary, and have\nalready passed successfully through the language-learning stage.\nSuppose you are assigned an area where the Gospel has never been\npreached, an area teeming with people, very few of whom have ever even\nheard the precious name of Jesus. You probably have a fellow worker.\nYou have good health, a reasonable knowledge of the language and local\ncustoms, and a heart on fire for God. You have a certain amount of\nfinancial resources. What do you do? How do you start in?\n\nLet's see what Mr. Beaver did. When assigned to this new, untouched\nfield, his heart and the heart of his wife were deeply moved. Ten\nthousand souls and more, and probably not one of them a Christian! Ten\nthousand souls and more, and it might well be that none of them had\never heard the Gospel preached in any adequate way! Ten thousand souls\nand more, and the large majority of them had never even heard the\nname of Jesus! What an opportunity! What a challenge!\n\n\"Such a challenge calls for action,\" ruminated Mr. Beaver. \"It calls\nfor immediate action, and yet action that is well planned, and will be\nas effective as possible. How can we reach the largest number of souls\nfor Christ in the shortest time? But what can two people do, anyway?\nWe must have helpers. We must have a church building, and a native\nevangelist or two. We must have a street chapel. We must have a\nChristian school, for through it we can reach countless numbers of\nyoung people. Our church and school will be established in the central\ncity of the area, of course. But then, think of all the smaller towns\nand villages! As soon as things get going in the city, we must start\noutstations in strategic market towns as well. We must organize tent\ncampaigns, making use of modern equipment--public address system,\nrecordings, films, and all the rest. We must also start a social\nwelfare program that will help us to get in touch with the poorer\nclasses--and aren't the bulk of the people always poor? A certain\namount of relief funds, administered carefully to the deserving, will\nmake the love of Christ known in a practical way, and surely will\nattract folk to our church.\"\n\nSo ran the thoughts of Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, and, because they were\n\"go-getters,\" their plans were soon put into effect. A fine piece of\nproperty was purchased. Buildings were erected: a residence for\nthemselves, a preaching hall opening directly on the main street, fine\nschool buildings, and a beautiful church building. Crowds of people\ncame to listen to the singing, to see Christian films, and to hear the\nGospel preached in simplicity and power. It was not long before people\nwere giving their names as inquirers. The missionaries' servants were\namong the first to respond, and their friends and relatives followed.\nOther helpers around the place were needed: a gardener, a gatekeeper,\nand so on, and naturally these were chosen from among the first\nconverts. Soon the busy compound was like one happy family--all\ngathering the first thing in the morning for prayer, and joining their\nvoices in song, praising the One of whom they had never heard three\nmonths ago, but who now was their acknowledged Saviour. Callers came\nfrom morning till night. Mr. Beaver was never too busy to see them, to\nhear their tales of woe, to point them to the Saviour, and to give\nthem a little judicious help.\n\n\"It's not too wise,\" he thought, \"to give out a lot of money for\nnothing. I don't want to make paupers of these people. What they need\nis jobs, and someone who will encourage them to work, training them if\nnecessary. Let's see--I've got quite a bit of relief funds in hand;\nand there's plenty of work that needs to be done to improve this\nproperty. So-and-so [one of the new inquirers] is a builder; I'll put\nhim in charge of operations, and we'll take on all these poor people\nwho need help--much better than giving them help outright--and we'll\nreally put this place into shape. Not only will our property benefit,\nbut it will also give these people a chance to hear the Gospel again\nand again, until they really understand it. I'm sure that many of them\nwill accept the Lord if this plan goes through!\"\n\nAnd so things went. Such large numbers gave their names as inquirers,\nand they studied and attended services so faithfully that within six\nmonths the first baptismal service was held. What joy it brought to\nthe hearts of Mr. and Mrs. Beaver! Two other such services were held\nbefore the first year was up, and by that time Mr. Beaver felt it\nright to appoint deacons, and to get the church on an organized basis.\nHe chose several of the most promising young people, including one who\nhad served in his home, and sent them off to a Bible institute,\nlooking forward with great joy to the time when they would graduate\nand come back to help him in the work. Then he would be able to let\nhis original evangelists go (they were getting a bit too bossy anyway,\nand thought they knew how the Lord's work should be carried on better\nthan he did!), and have only his own spiritual children associated\nwith him in the work. They would all work happily under his direction,\nand surely the Lord could bless more where the workers were all one in\nheart. Well, he wouldn't say that these evangelists were _not_ one in\nheart with him, but still--sometimes he felt that there was just a\nlittle something lacking. Sometimes they didn't support his plans with\nall the enthusiasm that they might.\n\nBy the time three more years had passed, Mr. Beaver had put up church\nbuildings in six market towns, and was just waiting until his first\nyoung people graduated from the Bible institute and came back before\nstarting regular weekly services in the last three of the six towns.\nHe traveled constantly, and wherever he went the people flocked to him\nfor help and advice. True, there were one or two that turned against\nhim, but one couldn't expect the Lord's work always to be easy; and\nthe large majority looked to him as children to a father. There were\nelders as well as deacons in the church now, and when he presided at\ntheir meetings and looked over the group, his own spiritual children\nnow taking their places as leaders in the church, his heart just\nmelted. True, they were a bit hesitant about going ahead, and always\nconsulted him before making plans, but that was only natural and\nright. After all, they had only a few years' experience in the church\nand couldn't be expected to know how best to govern the House of God.\nIndeed, several times he had found it necessary to put his foot down\nwhen one of them, a little less experienced and more reckless than the\nothers, had advanced his own ideas of how church affairs should be\nmanaged. But he had soon subsided and realized his mistake. What a\nhappy family the church was, indeed, with everything working out just\nas he had planned it! Truly God was good!\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAt the time when Mr. Beaver went to his new station and began putting\nhis magnificent plans into effect, another worker was sent, in the\nsame way, to a new area. Mr. Trainer was perhaps not so dynamic an\nindividual, but he knew just as clearly what his plans were for the\nchurch that was as yet unborn. \"The church, which is his body\"--the\nBody of Christ! The Church which is, through the indwelling Christ,\nthe light of the world! The Church, where each member is in vital\ncontact with the Head, and so, necessarily, is in vital contact with\nevery other member! The Church, each member of which is indwelt by the\nHoly Spirit, and each member of which feels his responsibility to live\nand witness for the One who means all in all to him! The church Mr.\nTrainer wanted to plant was a church which was all this--a church\nwhich was a living plant, with its roots going down into God; a\nchurch which did not look to the missionary, or any other man, for its\nneeds, but which was centered upon Christ; a church which would be\ngiven \"gifts\" by the Holy Spirit, and would be able to use those gifts\nto the edifying of itself, and the bringing of souls into the kingdom.\n\nMr. Trainer, like Mr. Beaver, went to the central city of his area and\nlocated on a main street. His \"compound\" was a tiny rented house, with\na pocket-handkerchief-size courtyard. He did no building at all, and\nhis few rooms were sparsely furnished. Books were the only things he\nseemed to own. There were books everywhere, said his callers, but not\nmuch else--some perfectly ordinary furniture, and that was all. He had\nno street chapel, and no paid workers brought in from the outside; but\nday by day he set a table and a few stools in his gateway, covered the\ntable with attractive Gospel literature printed in the language of the\npeople, and there he sat and read. Passersby stopped to examine his\nbooks. One and all received an attractive Gospel tract, and had the\nmessage explained in simple language as long as they cared to listen.\nSome bought Gospels and other booklets. A few got into the habit of\ndropping by every evening, when work was done; and Mr. Trainer taught\nthem to sing Gospel songs and choruses, and read the Word with them.\nAt other times he went from shop to shop, giving out tracts, and\ninviting people to call when they had time.\n\nThe compound of Mr. Trainer was tiny, compared with that of Mr.\nBeaver. He had no school, and no church building. He did not even hold\nchurch services at first--who was there to come? Not another Christian\nin all that area. He did not attract huge crowds. He did not spend\nlarge sums of money, nor employ large numbers of people. People did\nnot come to him for financial assistance--what would be the use, when\nhe did not seem to have any more money than anyone else? But he\nattracted a few, a few \"whose heart the Lord opened,\" and day by day\nhe taught them more about the Saviour. It was a full year before he\nhad a baptismal service. The numbers baptized were far smaller than\nthose baptized by Mr. Beaver, but the joy in his heart was just as\nreal.\n\nEven before these converts were baptized, Mr. Trainer started teaching\nthem about the Church. He taught them that they were indwelt by the\nHoly Spirit. He led them daily to the Throne of Grace, and from the\nbeginning they learned to pray. He encouraged in them the desire to\nwin others of their own households and their friends. He encouraged\nthem to witness, both in their own group, and to those who did not\nknow Christ. He encouraged them to bring others to the little evening\ngathering, and then to testify in front of these whom they had\nbrought. He did not make too many concrete suggestions, but prayed,\nand waited for the Holy Spirit to suggest ways and means of witnessing\nto them. Soon he was invited to their homes to talk to others in their\nfamilies about the Lord. He always made such occasions an opportunity\nfor the one who invited him there to speak, asking for that one's\npersonal testimony, as well as speaking himself. Sometimes others of\nthe group went along, and they too had a chance to testify. Then it\ncame about quite naturally that the little informal evening meeting\nwas held in the different homes, rather than always in that of Mr.\nTrainer. Soon different ones were taking turns leading, with\nspontaneous testimonies, or sharing of \"wonderful thoughts\" from the\nWord that came to them in their own private devotions. They would tell\nabout opportunities they had to witness for the Lord, and there would\nbe prayer all around for the requests brought before the group. Soon\nother souls were coming to the Saviour, not because of the direct\nefforts of the missionary, but rather through the instrumentality of\nthese young Christians. That, felt Mr. Trainer, was the greatest\ntriumph of all!\n\nAlthough he was eager to start street meetings, Mr. Trainer did not\nwant this to be his own personal effort, but rather a church effort.\nSo he restrained himself and said nothing, but prayed constantly\nabout the matter. What was his joy when one day one of them asked,\n\"Couldn't we have a meeting somewhere where more people would come,\nand we could preach the Gospel to them?\" When no one seemed to be able\nto think of a building both suitable and available, he permitted\nhimself to make a suggestion about open-air meetings he had attended.\nNever having heard of such a thing, some were doubtful, others amazed.\nHe answered questions about how such meetings were run, but made no\nrecommendation. He heard no more about the subject for a week or two,\nand then suddenly the whole group (who had been consulting together,\nit seemed) came to him, eager to have an open-air meeting, with his\nassistance. Careful preparations were made, musical instruments some\nof them had were requisitioned, and the first street meeting was held.\nAlthough no actual decisions for Christ were made, a good crowd\nlistened, and the Christians were so pleased that from that day the\nopen-air meeting became a regular thing.\n\nTrying to witness or bring a short Gospel message in these meetings\nbrought home to the young Christians their need for more Bible study,\nso a regular Bible study class was instituted two nights a week,\ninstead of the usual meeting for testimony and prayer. At first they\nconcentrated on helping the speakers prepare their messages for the\nnext street meeting. Later they chose a Book of the Bible, or a\ncertain topic, and asked Mr. Trainer to lead them in their study.\nNotebooks were filled, and practical methods of Bible study became\nfamiliar processes, but most of all they learned to look to the Holy\nSpirit to take the Word given by His own inspiration and interpret it\nto their hearts.\n\nWhen the very first ones came to the Lord, Mr. Trainer had suggested\nthat they meet on the Lord's Day. He had usually taken charge of that\nservice himself. By the time there were a dozen or so baptized\nChristians, he encouraged them to feel that they, like the Jerusalem\nchurch in Acts 6, should choose deacons. The group spent much time in\nprayer, looking to the Lord for His guidance, and when the deacons\nwere actually chosen, all felt that they were not just their own\nchoice, but men chosen by the Holy Spirit. After they were chosen, he\nturned over all the services to them, and suggested that they take\nturns in leading the Sunday morning service, and also speaking at that\nservice. He would be glad to take his turn with the others. And so it\nwas carried out.\n\nAll this time they had been meeting in the various homes. The\ninconvenience of unsuitable rooms and never having enough benches had\nbeen felt for some time, so when the deacons took over they decided\nthat something must be done about it. Didn't other places have church\nbuildings? Why couldn't they? Some of the group had the idea that\nthere was some kind of a mission or church somewhere that provided\nmoney for such things, so off they went to inquire of the missionary.\nHe explained to them clearly that there _were_ mission boards that\nprovided funds, in whole or part, for church buildings in many places;\nbut that this did not seem to be the New Testament way, nor was it the\nway to build a strong local church. \"It would be far better,\" he said,\n\"to meet in a shanty put up by yourselves, than in a beautiful\nbuilding that cost you nothing.\" They had several long talks on the\nsubject, and soon all the Christians were deeply concerned. It seemed\nimpossible to out-argue Mr. Trainer. At the same time it seemed even\nmore impossible to do what he thought they ought to do--contribute\nenough money to build their own church building! Only twelve or\nfifteen baptized Christians, and several of them women or young people\nfrom homes where the head of the house did not believe--what could\nthey do? Mr. Trainer would only counsel them to pray. And pray they\ndid--there seemed to be nothing else they could do. Finally the\ndeacons made a special offering box for gifts for the new church\nbuilding, and the money began to come in. The gifts were more than\nthey expected; and yet they were but a drop in the bucket compared\nwith what was needed. Time passed, and the fund slowly grew.\nSuggestions of \"church bazaars\" and \"fun fairs\" were made several\ntimes (wherever had they heard of such things?). Mr. Trainer counseled\nagainst them, but did not feel that he had the authority to forbid.\nAfter all, the church was standing on its own feet, and it stood or\nfell to Christ alone! But he spent much time in prayer, and none of\nthese suggestions was put into effect.\n\nOne Sunday an electrifying announcement was made. A wealthy\nbusinessman in the city was offering them a suitable piece of property\nfor their building as an outright gift! The Christians redoubled their\nefforts in giving, and that month they received ten times as much as\nthey had received in any one month before. A church in a city not too\nfar away heard of their efforts, and sent a contribution. Church\nmembership was growing, and all the new believers became interested in\ngiving. Then two of the deacons made a proposal: \"Why can't we do most\nof the work on the building ourselves? That will make it much less\nexpensive!\"\n\nThe plans needed careful working out, but assistance was given by\nsomeone's neighbor, who was a builder, and finally the work started.\nMany of them put in long hours of back-breaking labor after their\nregular work for the day had been completed. Difficulties appeared,\nbut prayer and perseverance prevailed. After the building was started,\nmany more gifts came in; and great was the rejoicing when the simple\nlittle chapel was at last finished, and used for its first Sunday\nmorning service! Throngs of interested neighbors and friends turned up\nfor the meeting, and several of the deacons took turns at preaching. A\nguest speaker had also been invited, the pastor of the church that had\nsent an unsolicited offering to help with the building. The meeting\nwent on for more than two hours, but everyone was happy, and again and\nagain praises ascended to God for their own church building!\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nA couple of years passed. The work of Mr. Beaver and Mr. Trainer\ncontinued as begun. Then suddenly the country was threatened by war.\nWorse still, the missionaries were labeled as \"enemy nationals.\" A\ngeneral evacuation took place. Both Mr. Beaver and Mr. Trainer were\ndue for furloughs; and even if they had not been, remaining on the\nfield could only bring harm to the Christians. Both of them gathered\nup a few things and departed, escaping from the country just in time.\nIf they had remained a few days longer, they would have found\nthemselves in concentration camps. When they arrived at home, each had\na thrilling tale to tell of how God had worked in saving souls and\nbuilding up His Church, and also of personal deliverance in time of\ndanger. At the end of every message they gave came these words: \"Pray\nfor the Christians there. Because of the war, there is no way of\ngetting news from them, and we have heard nothing since we left. Pray\nthat they may be kept true, and that in spite of war and distress, the\nchurches may grow and expand, and that many more souls may be brought\nto Christ.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe war was over. Friendly relations between countries were again\nestablished. Both missionaries had had profitable furloughs: time for\nrest and spiritual refreshment, and many opportunities to make known\nthe needs, the difficulties, and the triumphs of the mission field.\nThen--something happened. Both men fully expected to get back to their\noriginal fields of work, to see again those dear Christians, their\nsons and daughters in the Lord--but neither did. Another call came to\neach, and neither could return to his former field. Others went\ninstead--others who knew little about the history of the stations, or\nwhat work had been done there. What did these men find in these two\nfields? I think you can guess!\n\nMr. Beaver's station had always been supplied with plenty of money\nfrom abroad. By becoming a Christian a man could obtain a certain\namount of relief money, perhaps a job, or free schooling for his\nchildren. Many had learned \"the language of Zion\" and had been taken\ninto the church who had never had a change of heart. When war broke\nout and the missionary left, the jobs were finished, and the school\nclosed down. There was no one to pay the evangelists, and they\ngradually drifted away to other places or into secular jobs. The\ndeacons and elders had been accustomed to taking orders from Mr.\nBeaver and had had no real experience in looking after things\nthemselves. Even some of those leaders were of the group that had\njoined the church, not because they had really repented and turned to\nChrist, but for the material benefits they could get.\n\nAs soon as Mr. Beaver left, they quarreled among themselves as to\nwhich one would take his place and be the \"big chief.\" There was no\none capable of taking services, because such things had always been in\nthe hands of Mr. Beaver and his paid workers, who now were gone. None\nof the elders or deacons had ever preached a sermon in his life. Some\ntried, but their efforts did not draw the crowds, and attendance soon\ndwindled to almost nothing. Then quarrels about the property began.\nTrue, it belonged not to them, but to the mission board; but surely it\nwas up to the church to look after it while the missionary was gone!\nSeveral so-called Christian families moved into the empty buildings,\nwith or without the agreement of the deacons and elders; but then,\nthought they, the buildings _should_ be occupied, and of course these\npeople will pay us rent! (They never did.) Church services gradually\nceased. A few faithful Christians remained true to the Lord, and met\nin a home for occasional services; but since none had been trained to\nlead meetings, all they could do was sing, read the Bible, and pray.\n\nBut what had happened at the other station? There the case was far\ndifferent. They had gone through the sorrows of war, but they had done\nso with the Lord at their side. Continuing the work of the church was\nno problem--they had been doing it themselves all along. Money was\nhard to get, and many young men had to go to war; but the hearts of\nthe people were open as never before, and they had baptisms once and\nagain. They missed Mr. Trainer very much; but they were driven more\nthan ever to the Lord, and found Him sufficient for their every need.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIt is easy to say that one man was right and the other was wrong. But\nhow many of us would not have followed in the footsteps of Mr. Beaver\nif we had not been warned? And how many of us missionaries today, even\nthough warned, are not still in danger of making ourselves the little\ncenter around which the mission station revolves?\n\n\"It's all very well to say that the Christians should take the\nresponsibility from the very beginning,\" we think; \"but _here_ it is\nimpossible. These people are too poor! And they are too ignorant! No,\nthey certainly would do everything wrong if I let them take the lead!\"\nAnd so we go on telling everyone what he ought to do, and seeing that\nhe does it; and in the eyes of the young believers the Christian life\nbecomes simply a matter of doing what the missionary says.\n\nThat is not the way that Paul built churches. Great and dynamic\ncharacter that he was, he so taught and led his groups of young\nChristians that when after a few months or a year or two he left them\nthey were able to carry on by themselves, and even to grow. He did not\nput up church buildings for them, nor schools, nor give them \"grants.\"\nHe brought them to the place where they could function as living\nchurches, in direct union with the Head, and not centered upon\nhimself. His efforts were directed to building up churches that would\nbe able to stand alone, because they stood in the strength of the One\nwho upheld Paul.\n\nWhy is it so easy for us missionaries to think that we know how to do\nthe work of the Lord better than any mission field convert, especially\nif that one has been led to the Lord by us? Doing the Lord's work is\nnot fundamentally a matter of knowledge, training, or even experience.\nIt may be true that I have had years of Bible training, and the little\nold woman with whom I am going out visiting has never been to any sort\nof school a day in her life; that I have traveled around the world,\nand she has never been thirty miles from the place where she was born;\nthat I have heard the Gospel and studied the Bible all my life, and\nshe has known it for only a few short years. I was born again\ntwenty-five or thirty years ago; she has been the Lord's own for three\nor four years. Suppose we go to call on someone who is ill or in\ntrouble. I get out a poster, and carefully explain the Gospel. The\nwoman we are visiting listens to me with her mouth open; and after\ntwenty minutes of as clear and simple preaching as I am capable of,\nwhen I am just getting to my climax, she lays her hand on my sleeve\nand asks earnestly, \"Did you make this dress yourself?\"\n\nMy heart sinks to my boots. Is that what she has been thinking about\nall this time? Is that why she fixed her eyes on me so intently?\nWhat's the use anyway?\n\nThen the old lady who is with me starts in. _She_ can't even tell\nclearly the bare outlines of the life of our Saviour; but she turns to\nthe woman, one whose life and thoughts she knows (wasn't she just like\nher before she was saved?), and says, \"Look at me! I used to have\nthis trouble and that trouble and the other trouble, and then I came\nto Jesus, and asked Him to forgive my sins. He did it and took all my\ntroubles away, and gave me peace and joy in my heart as I never\ndreamed of. Come to Him and you can have it too!\"\n\nWhen the one on whom we are calling says suddenly, \"I'm going to\nbelieve too,\" it is far more likely to be the result of my companion's\ntestimony than of my fine Gospel message!\n\nAre you a missionary volunteer? When you get to the mission field,\nremember that a simple, earnest testimony from one who is \"just like\nwe are\" will usually bring far more in the way of results than your\nown best efforts. Don't think that the missionary is the only one who\ncan bring souls to the Lord. The one who has just been saved may\neasily become a more effective witness than you yourself.\n\nNo matter how uneducated and degraded the group, there are always in\nit one or more who are leaders. No matter how poor and ignorant he is,\nthe one who has been truly saved, and knows that he is saved, is\nalways capable of witnessing to others of his own group. No matter how\npoor a little group of Christians is, if they continue in prayer and\npatient effort they will surely be able to provide for themselves a\nmeeting house that is as good as their own homes, or a little better.\nThe Church of God is not dependent upon Gothic arches and stained\nglass windows, upon ministers in Geneva gowns and upon robed choirs.\nIt is not dependent upon material resources, or this world's learning.\nNone of these things are essentials. The only things that are\nessentials to the Church of Christ are found in Christ and in the\npenitent and forgiven soul, no matter what his race or culture or\neconomic status. The Church of Christ can function on any level at\nwhich men for whom Christ died are living.\n\nIt is very easy for the missionary to become a little \"pope.\" God\nforbid that we should do this! God forbid that we should consider\nourselves the exclusive channels for bringing God's grace to needy\nsouls, or the only ones capable of hearing God's voice! God forbid\nthat we should forget that every believer, as soon as he is born\nagain, is indwelt by the Holy Spirit! And may God open our eyes to\nways and means of doing what is perhaps the greatest task of the\nmissionary, the task of bringing the young church to the place where\nit can get along without us, the task of working ourselves out of a\njob!\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER 12\n\n_He Had No Rights_\n\n\nHe had no rights:\n\n    No right to a soft bed, and a well-laid table;\n\n    No right to a home of His own, a place where His own\n    pleasure might be sought;\n\n    No right to choose pleasant, congenial companions, those who\n    could understand Him and sympathize with Him;\n\n    No right to shrink away from filth and sin, to pull His\n    garments closer around Him and turn aside to walk in cleaner\n    paths;\n\n    No right to be understood and appreciated; no, not by those\n    upon whom He had poured out a double portion of His love;\n\n    No right even never to be forsaken by His Father, the One\n    who meant more than all to Him.\n\nHis only right was silently to endure shame, spitting, blows; to take\nHis place as a sinner at the dock; to bear my sins in anguish on the\ncross.\n\nHe had no rights. And I?\n\n    A right to the \"comforts\" of life? No, but a right to the\n    love of God for my pillow.\n\n    A right to physical safety? No, but a right to the security\n    of being in His will.\n\n    A right to love and sympathy from those around me? No, but a\n    right to the friendship of the One who understands me better\n    than I do myself.\n\n    A right to be a leader among men? No, but the right to be\n    led by the One to whom I have given my all, led as is a\n    little child, with its hand in the hand of its father.\n\n    A right to a home, and dear ones? No, not necessarily; but a\n    right to dwell in the heart of God.\n\n    A right to myself? No, but, oh, _I have a right to Christ_.\n\n    All that He takes I will give;\n    All that He gives will I take;\n    He, my only right!\n    He, the one right before which all other rights\n      fade into nothingness.\n    I have full right to Him;\n    Oh, may He have full right to me!\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n\n[Footnote 1: This word is not used in any disparaging sense, but\nsimply meaning \"originating in a given place.\"]\n\n[Footnote 2: Colloquial Chinese term for a bride.]\n\n[Footnote 3: Bound small in childhood.]\n\n[Footnote 4: Adapted from _The Lord Stood by Me_ (Philadelphia: China\nInland Mission, n.d.), pp. 67-75 (out of print).]\n\n[Footnote 5: Cf. ch. 8.]\n\n[Footnote 6: General Director of the China Inland Mission at that\ntime.]\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nTRANSCRIBER'S NOTES\n\nTitle Page: The title and author have been changed from lower case to\n  title case.\n\nPage 45: Typo corrected: vistior to visitor.\n\nPage 105: Typo corrected: gardner to gardener.\n\nPage 119: Typo corrected: happend to happened.","title":"Have We No Rights? A frank discussion of the \"rights\" of missionaries","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":26068}