A man should not go out as a foreign missionary unless he has a definite call from God to go. It must be laid so strongly upon his heart that he feels the necessity of going forth unto the heathen. There must be a constraining power and a felt conviction within, that in the mission field alone can he find rest and peace and power.
The missionary should be a man of pronounced and positive spirituality—a man who loves the Word of God, who finds meditation in it sweet, and who finds relief, strength and joy in frequent daily prayer. [pg 211] The depressing influences which beset his spiritual life are many. The all-pervasive, chilling influence of heathenism, and its dead and deadening ceremonialism tend to exercise an increasing power over him. He will not, at first, realize this influence; but as an insidious and an ever swelling tide of evil it will come into his soul, unless he is well guarded and daily fortified against it by frequent communion with God. In India the hardening influence of the all-surrounding heathenism is as subtle as it is potent in its influence upon the life of any Christian worker and needs to be overcome by constant spiritual culture.
The life of the European Christians who reside in that country is so far from being Christlike and is so wanting in these spiritual traits which should characterize an earnest Christian, that the missionary constantly has to guard himself against its influence upon himself.
The loneliness of the missionary—his frequent and long-continued absence from those means of grace which so largely minister to the spiritual strength of a pastor in this country—is something deeply felt. Few men realize the extent of the spiritual helps which the Christian society of America renders to the aspiring life of a man of God. In his loneliness, in the far-off land, the missionary feels its absence keenly.
Moreover, all the native Christians of the community of which he is the official head look up to him for inspiration. Is he wanting in faith, hopefulness and cheer; is he depressed and discouraged; is he lacking in the power of prayer and of sweet communion with God? It is marvellous how quickly this frame of mind is transmitted from him to the [pg 212] people of his charge. The pastors, catechists and other mission agents of his field all look to him for their ideal and seek to draw from him their inspiration in spiritual life. Is he down; then they are down with him. In coldness as in spiritual ardour they faithfully reflect his life and temper. It is, indeed, true that many of these live spiritual lives which bring inspiration and spiritual joy to him. The simplicity and earnestness of the faith of most of the native Christians is beautiful. Still, in many respects, he finds the community a heavy spiritual drain upon him; and, if he is to maintain himself as a worthy leader in the higher Christian life, he must live constantly with God and find daily strength in Him.
In India, specially, there are needed a few definite spiritual gifts which I desire to emphasize and which a missionary should aim to cultivate.
The first in order, if not in importance, is patience. To us of the West the Orient seems preëminently slow. To them of the East we of the West rush everything unduly and are the victims of impatience. There is much truth in that homely skit of Kipling's:
“It is bad for the Christian's peace of mind
To hustle the Aryan brown;
For the Christian riles but the Aryan smiles,