7. The Missionary and the Mission To Which He Belongs.
When a man becomes a member of a foreign mission he soon realizes that he has become a part of a compact organization. All its members are bound together by the warmest ties of friendship and love. Largely separated from the world and knit together by common purpose as by all their highest ambitions, they verily become a big family whose love increases as the years multiply, and among whom the spirit of dissension can only create the deepest sorrow and greatest bitterness. It is, therefore, of the utmost importance that every one who becomes a missionary should be a man of peace; should know how to live in harmony with all his brethren. He should cultivate that spirit and should aim to see eye to eye with those who are thus so intimately connected with him. In loving sympathy they should unite in the serious concerns of their life-work. One of the first requisites demanded from a missionary applicant from the American Board is that he be of a peaceable disposition—able to live harmoniously with others. And it is not only a suggestion that should [pg 223] be heeded by every missionary; it is also a rule which should be enforced by every missionary society.
Each mission has behind it a history, and, before it, more or less of an aim and policy. It should be the ambition of every member of that mission to study and honour the one, and to be faithful and loyal to the other. The history of most missions in India is precious and full of instruction. They have sainted heroes and most interesting traditions. The missionary should not only study the records of his own mission and draw from them every possible lesson for his life; he should also enter heartily into the spirit of the mission and endeavour cordially to bring himself en rapport with its highest wisdom, deepest purposes and most cherished schemes for the future. It is not necessary that he be satisfied with all that the mission has done; he should also aim, in the spirit of humility and of patience, to constitutionally influence his brethren to his own new views and better way of thinking, if he have any. Above all, he should aim to conserve rather than to destroy. The blessings of the past should be utilized in attaining higher things for the future. Revolutionary methods are ill-adapted to add blessing to such a work. It should also be the aim of the missionary to so further the work of his mission that it may soon cease to be a necessity. A mission, at best, is but a temporary thing. It should constantly aim to so nourish and strengthen the native church as to make itself unnecessary. And it should be the aim of the missionary to hasten, with all speed, this consummation.