The Gist of Japan: The Islands, Their People, and Missions

by R. B. Peery

PHYSICAL QUALIFICATIONS.—I regard physical qualifications as of supreme importance. Many of my readers will think that the spiritual should precede the physical, but with this opinion I do not agree. Health is absolutely essential to successful work; deep spirituality, while greatly to be desired, is not so essential. Many men have failed on the field and have been forced to withdraw because of a lack of physical qualifications, while few have failed for lack of spiritual qualifications. I think it is true that young men who when in college and seminary appear to be almost consumed with missionary zeal and enthusiasm, who are pointed out as examples in spirituality, and who are burning with a desire to get into the foreign field, do not make as good missionaries as some others. Men who pledge themselves in youth, and who, actuated by a wild enthusiasm, which has more zeal than knowledge, urge themselves upon the mission boards, do not do as good work as those chosen by the boards themselves, who may never have considered seriously foreign work before the call was extended to them. Enthusiasm and zeal are good things in their place, but they are apt to lead men to extremes. People who enter mission work simply because they are filled with a burning enthusiasm and zeal are not likely to stay as long or work as well as those who enter upon the work with more hesitation, after careful deliberation and a counting of the cost.

Wallace Taylor, M.D., of Osaka, Japan, himself an experienced missionary of the American Board, says: "I should advise that men be chosen for their physical and mental adaptation and ability rather than for their burning zeal for the foreign work. To maintain health and be a successful missionary a man must possess more judgment than enthusiasm and more discretion than zeal. Enthusiasm and zeal are good qualities in a missionary, but to these you must add that which is better—judgment, wisdom, and self-control. The burning fire shut up in the bones, that cannot be controlled, only consumes vital energies and speedily produces failing health. We need men who can stand and face the white harvest and the many calls to work, and yet with cool deliberation preserve their strength for future work. We want men sent for their cool deliberation and self-control rather than for their burning zeal and enthusiasm. We need men who are intellect rather than a bundle of nerves. A nervous, excitable, uneasy person will fret and wear himself out in from six months to three years in Japan."

It is desirable, then, in the first place, that the missionary be a sound physical man. No one should be accepted by a mission board for work in Japan who cannot secure a policy in a reliable life-insurance company, and it would be well if the medical examination were made by an examiner for such company. The examinations made by a physician appointed by the mission boards are usually mere farces, for the desire to go as a missionary frequently covers up many physical weaknesses and prevents a thorough examination. The examination should therefore be made by a disinterested medical man, who will not be influenced by such motives.

It seems hard to subject candidates for mission work to such rigid examinations, and perhaps refuse to send them because of some small physical defect; but the interests of the work make it imperative. Otherwise the young missionary will, in all probability, break down and have to go home in three or four years, before he has been able to do any active work. The experiment will have cost the board a large amount of money and a loss of several years, and the missionary some of the best years of his life, probably making of him an incurable invalid. In so serious a matter as this the boards cannot afford to be swayed by sentiment. Nothing but sound business principles should be followed.

The same physical requirements should be made for the woman as for the man. She, too, should be subjected to a medical examination, and any serious defect in her constitution should cause her immediate rejection. It seems hard to subject the wife to this test, as she is not a missionary in the strict sense of the term, and to many the requirement will be distasteful; but for their protection, and for a judicious use of consecrated funds, the boards should require it. A little thought will show that the failure of the wife's health is just as disastrous for the mission as the failure of her husband's. It cripples his efficiency while on the field, and ultimately drives him home. Most boards operating in Japan have not made this requirement, and as a consequence many missionaries' wives are in poor health, and as many men have had to return home because of the failure of their wives' health as for any other one cause.

The mission boards should not appoint too young men to work in Japan. It is well known that young men cannot endure so well as older ones change of climate and hard work. Those who are physically and mentally immature will very probably be unable to bear the strain. In general, no one should be sent out under twenty-five years of age, and it would be safer if all who came had attained the age of thirty. Against this it is argued that a young person will acquire the language more readily than an older one, and this is doubtless true. But health is of first importance.

SPIRITUAL QUALIFICATIONS.—Although I consider spiritual qualifications after physical ones, I nevertheless regard them as of great importance. It is highly desirable that every missionary be a deeply spiritual man, fully consecrated to the cause of Christ. The consecration needed in the missionary is little different from that needed in the home pastor. If he has given himself and all that he has to Christ, he will be ready to work for Him anywhere. Those who come to the mission field without such consecration, expecting the grandeur of the work to beget it, will be bitterly disappointed. In many instances contact with heathenism weakens more than it strengthens consecration. The societies should require that those who are to do spiritual work should be consecrated, spiritual men.

The missionary should be sound in the faith, should clearly discern and readily accept the fundamental doctrines of Christianity, and should be able to distinguish between essentials and non-essentials, tenaciously holding to the former, while allowing liberty in regard to the latter. He will encounter many strange things in his new environment; many of his pet theories will be exploded, and he will meet much that will try his faith. His belief in the essentials of Christianity should be so strong that even if his views undergo a change in non-essentials he shall not be shaken at the center. He must be able to defend his faith against its enemies, as well as to impart it to those to whom he is sent. To do this his own hold upon it must be firm and unyielding.

The missionary should have a positive, not a negative, faith. His position should continually be one of offense, not of defense. His faith must be aggressive and dominant in its hold upon others, must be both persuasive and constructive. He must be sure of the faith in which he trusts, and must be positive in his presentation of it to the world.

It is especially important that the missionary's doctrinal development be full and rounded. He should see all the doctrines of the Christian system in their proper relation to one another, and should give due importance to each. A one-sided, eccentric man, who has struck off from the main line of doctrinal development and is on a side-track, having exalted some one phase of the Christian teaching or life to the exclusion of others, is not fitted for mission work. He can be used to better effect at home, because there he is continually under restraining influences, while here there are no restraints. For this reason what would be only a harmless eccentricity at home may result in great mischief abroad. Those who are to found the church in Japan, to shape its theology and its life, should be well-rounded men, who will not unduly exalt any one doctrine, but who, having a comprehensive view of the Christian system, will give due importance to every part.