Part 12 (2/2)
If any one contemplating mission work in j.a.pan remembers that he was a poor student of languages at college and made little progress in them, let him feel a.s.sured that he can probably serve the Lord better at home. I state this matter strongly because just here is where so many missionaries fail. There are men who have been here ten or fifteen years and yet who experience great difficulty in constructing the smallest sentence in j.a.panese. Such men are not useless; in certain departments they serve well; {204} but they would probably be of more use at home. At least one third of all the missionaries in j.a.pan, if called upon to make an extempore address in j.a.panese, would be found wanting. In view of these facts, how important it becomes that only those men be sent out who have a reasonable expectation of learning the language!
Along with natural linguistic talent, the prospective missionary should have a large amount of perseverance. Nothing but persistent, slavish work through many years will enable one to speak j.a.panese well; and no one should come here who is not willing to stick to an unattractive task until it is accomplished.
It is of primary importance that the missionary have a large endowment of common sense. Nothing else will make up for deficiency in this. It alone gives power to adapt one's self to a new environment and to live under changed conditions. The demands upon common sense here are much greater than at home, because the conditions under which we live are so different, and the practical questions that daily meet us are so numerous. Dr. Lawrence finely says: ”At home so much common sense has been organized into custom that we are all largely supported by the general fund, and many men get along with a very slender stock of their own. But on the {205} mission field, where Christian custom is yet in the making, the drafts on common sense would soon overdraw a small account.”
A knowledge of music will be found of great a.s.sistance to the missionary, the more the better. He will often have to start his own hymns, play the organ, or direct the music. He may have to translate hymns and set them to music, or even compose tunes himself. Good church music is now so essential in wors.h.i.+p that every missionary should have a knowledge of it. But this qualification, while highly desirable, is not indispensable.
The missionary also needs to a great degree the power of self-control.
He should be a cool, conservative man, able to govern himself under all circ.u.mstances. He must not be moved to excessive labor by the present needs of the work, but must exercise self-restraint, husbanding his strength for future tasks. One of the most difficult things to do is to refrain from overwork when the need of work is so apparent. But the missionary must consider the permanent interests of the work ahead of its temporary needs.
To sum up the desired intellectual qualifications: a missionary to j.a.pan should have a good mind, well disciplined by thorough training; an abundant supply of common sense; linguistic ability, and the power of self-control.
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There is one other qualification, that can hardly be cla.s.sed under any of the above heads, i.e., _the missionary should be a married man_.
The vast majority of missionaries in the field to-day are unanimous in this judgment. The experience of the various mission boards and societies also confirms it, and they are sending out fewer single men each year.
Married men make more efficient workers for many reasons. They enjoy better health and are better satisfied. They have a home to which they can go for rest and sympathy, and in which they can find agreeable companions.h.i.+p. They have the loving ministrations of a wife in times of sickness and despondency, and they also have the cheer and relaxation of children's society. All of these things tend to make the missionary healthier and happier, and enable him to do better work.
Again, he should be married because a man of mature years who is single is regarded with more or less suspicion. To the j.a.panese celibacy is an unnatural state, and it is seldom found. Most unmarried men here are immoral, and therefore the unmarried missionary is naturally suspected of leading an immoral life, which cripples his influence.
But the strongest argument in favor of married as against single missionaries is that the former {207} alone are able to build Christian homes. The homes of single men are very poor things at best, and certainly cannot be pointed to as models. But the married man establishes a Christian home in the midst of his people, and sets them a concrete example of what Christian family life should be. This example is one of the most potent influences for good operating on the mission field.
In home life perhaps more than in any other respect j.a.panese society is wanting. The renovation of the home is one of the crying needs of the hour. An open Christian home, exhibiting the proper relations between husband and wife, parents and children, will do much toward bringing this about.
This argument is not intended to apply against single women who come out to teach in the girls' schools. Their work is entirely different, and is such as can be done best by single women. The argument applies only to the missionary engaged in evangelistic work.
Such I believe to be the qualifications essential to successful mission work in j.a.pan. To many the requirements may seem too strict. But the work to which the missionary is called is a high and n.o.ble one, and the ideal for a worker should be correspondingly high. The extreme difficulty of the work, and its great expense, make it imperative that only men adapted to it be sent out. {208}
While setting forth this high ideal of what a missionary to this land should be, no one is more sensible than the writer of the fact that many missionaries, including himself, fail to realize it. But he is glad to be able to affirm that a large per cent. of these desired qualifications are found in the majority of the missionary brethren in j.a.pan.
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XII
PRIVATE LIFE OF THE MISSIONARY
It is our purpose in this chapter to show the churches at home something of the life which their missionaries lead in j.a.pan. We will attempt to draw aside the veil and look at their private life--the holy of holies. This is a delicate task, and I hesitate to undertake it.
And yet I think a knowledge of the trials, perils, discouragements, temptations, hopes, and fears of the missionary may be very profitable to those who support our missions.
Missionaries are men of like appet.i.tes, pa.s.sions, hopes, and desires with those at home. They long for and enjoy the comforts and amenities of life. They have wives and children whom they love as devotedly, and for whom they desire to provide as comfortable homes, as the pastor at home.
There was a time when missionaries were {210} called upon to forego nearly all social pleasures and submit to endless discomforts, but that time is past. The mission home to-day is frequently as comfortable as that of the pastor in America. It is right that the standard of living in the home lands should be maintained by the missionaries abroad, and that they surround themselves with all available pleasures and conveniences. There is no reason why a man should lay aside all pleasures and comforts so soon as he becomes a missionary.
Those who live in the foreign ports in j.a.pan have nice, roomy houses modeled after Western homes. Many of them are surrounded with beautiful lawns and fine flowers, and are a comfort and delight to their possessors. Most of the missionaries who live in the interior occupy native houses, slightly modified to suit foreign taste. By building chimneys, and subst.i.tuting gla.s.s for paper windows, the native houses can be made quite comfortable, though they are colder in winter and do not look so well as foreign ones. The writer has lived in such a home during most of his residence in j.a.pan, and has suffered little inconvenience. Some of the wealthier mission boards have built foreign houses even in the interior, and to-day there are a good many such scattered over j.a.pan.
As has been before remarked, the mission {211} home is one of the most important factors in connection with the work; it is a little bit of Christendom set down in the midst of heathendom. It presents to the non-Christian ma.s.ses around it a concrete example of exalted family life, with equality and trust between husband and wife, and mutual love between parents and children--things not generally found in the native home. It is a beacon-light s.h.i.+ning in a dark place.
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